Please welcome Steve, an online friend behind MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. This is an inspirational story about starting a business. You can do it — and it doesn't have to be very expensive.
Let's face it. When it comes to building wealth and making life-changing money, your day job will not cut it. While a steady job will help you pay the bills, starting a business is the best way to increase your earning potential.
However, most people never dare go this route. Why? It's because there is this common misconception that starting your own business is risky and requires a large amount of upfront investment. The problem is that when most people think about entrepreneurship, they envision large companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple. After all, what are the chances of starting the next billion-dollar company?
Most people don't realize that you don't need to hit a home run to start a successful business that meets your needs. If all you want to do is make a six-figure income, then you need a base hit. And getting a base hit doesn't require a lot of upfront investment or much monetary risk at all.
My Story
About five years ago, I was literally forced into the world of entrepreneurship. When my wife discovered that she was pregnant with our first child, she decided to quit her job as soon as she gave birth to become a stay-at-home mom. But the big problem was that she made a six-figure salary, a healthy sum of money that we would have to forfeit when she quit her job.
Now realistically speaking, we could have made things work on just my salary, but we didn't have any desire to change our current lifestyle. For example, we could have stopped eating out. We could have pinched pennies by eating more ramen noodles and drastically cutting our entertainment budget, but we didn't want to live that way. So to replace her lost income, we devised a plan to make 100K in a little over a year.
Miranda has discussed many different ways to make money on her blog already, and she does pretty well as a freelance writer and professional blogger. But my wife and I wanted to sell tangible goods, so we decided to go the ecommerce route. After all, the best way to make money is to sell something right? So my wife and I decided to launch an online store selling wedding handkerchiefs and linen napkins to newly engaged couples who were actively planning their wedding.
Pretty random right? But this random idea made us over 100K in profit during our first year of business and has grown in the double and triple digits ever since. Today, my wife runs our business from the comforts of home, works only a few hours a day, and makes many times her original salary. And the best part is that she gets to spend most of her time with our two kids.
How Much Did It Cost To Start?
When most people think about starting a business, especially an ecommerce business, they immediately assume that there's a large upfront cost. But what if I told you that we only invested $629.90 to launch a six-figure business within a year?
The reality is that starting a business online is well within your reach and there's very little risk at all. In fact, my wife and I didn't even really have to invest $629.90. We could have gotten by with far less. How is this possible? I'm going to break down the costs for you below.
The first and most important thing that you need is a web host, like Blue Host. A web host is a service that essentially provides the computer on which your website is run. Web hosts range in cost, but you can easily find a quality shared host for as little as $5.95 a month.
The next thing that you need is an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate is a digital document that allows all of your store's transactions to be transmitted securely. Naturally, since your shop will be processing credit cards, your SSL certificate will ensure that no one can steal your customers' credit card information. An SSL certificate will run you about $13 a year or about a dollar a month.
The final thing you need is a merchant account and gateway to process credit cards online. Merchant accounts usually will run you about $30 a month and are easily obtained online.
What About The Website Design?
But what about your website? Doesn't it cost thousands of dollars to design a great-looking website? Won't it cost me an arm and leg to hire an engineer to design a usable shopping cart so I can start selling online? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT!
The beauty of the internet today is that there are many incredibly powerful opensource solutions out there that are available for free. In fact, most if not all of the web software is already written for you. All you need to do is install it on your web host. For example, the online store my wife and I currently run is based on OSCommerce, a free opensource shopping cart, and we pay absolutely nothing to use it.
The best part is that you don't need to know anything about web design to get a great-looking website. By paying about $50, you can purchase a great-looking pre-made store template from a designer. In fact, once you know what you are doing, you can easily launch an online ecommerce shop in less than a day for as little as $37 or $87 if you decide to purchase a website template.
Does This Sound Risky To You?
Do you have $87 lying around somewhere? If so, you have enough money to plant your own money seeds today. With such a small upfront monetary investment, there really is no reason not to try. After all, your day job will only take you so far, whereas your business has limitless upside potential.
It is amazing how the internet has given us the accessibility and tools to really make a go at it on our own without a major risk. Thanks for the inspiring post.
What a great story. I think many people fear entrepreneurship, but really it seems to me they should fear having a job. A job = someone else is in charge of your security. Having a business puts you squarely in the driver’s seat when it comes to your success.