Online/Offline

Online/Offline business is a regular business and can come in many forms. The only difference is that your office/store (yes, real stuff, even laundry detergent)/place of business is online, whether a free website, or a measly $9.95 a month website. This saves money (especially at $10 a month) on electricity, rent, tons of taxes, and all the other trimmings that comes with having a store on the corner or in a mall. Lets just call it no less than $900 a month.

So that said, you can start a computer repair business that is mobile, and have your office totally online and cell phone. Or a cosmetic business, or whatever.

The example I am going to use is SMS marketing, a type of marketing that is really getting big, but not every business even knows about it (though you have seen it before, even a year ago).

So I start my SMS (text) marketing company, get a website, and have a designer create my logo, and also a tag line. That cost me $9.95 for the website, $5 for the logo, and $5 for the tag line.

I invest a week in developing all my information:

How do I obtain SMS shortcodes
How much will it cost me as a company monthly
What statistics and advertising is used
What do I need to sell it
Where do I look for clients
What is the average retail value

Then I build on that information:

I sign my company up to obtain a shortcode or I put extra money into it to obtain a reseller license (shortcode is $20, reseller is $250 a year, but worth the license)
I build my website (my office) with the information and a few media hypes, as well as a training backend provided all by the information I obtain (more copy and paste with a twist) and the training material from the company I purchase shortcodes from
I create all my materials for advertising, selling, and closing
I develop my marketing plan
I set my fees


So I have already accomplished the above myself, and it took me a whole week and a half.
I purchased a license for $250
I set up everything on the website (well, almost, since I still have a few things to do)
I created everything
I developed the method of marketing that would work best
And my fees are broken down like this:

       Cost of SMS for me                                              Cost of SMS for my clients
$250 + $17 monthly for each client       $150 sign up (with promo materials) + $50 monthly (base)

So WHAT IF I DIDN'T WANT TO PAY $250 upfront out of my pocket?
Well, I didn't want to do that, so what I would have done instead is set up everything except the reseller account, and then start my marketing plan. MY ONLY GOAL is to sell two packages, that is it. That not only pays for the upfront $250 ($300 - $250) but also puts $50 in my pocket, not to mention each month I automatically get paid $66 to my bank account.

Okay, so the business of SMS, once you sell it, is all in their control, you just collect a monthly payment, and support every once in a while (or if they want to upgrade, you gain a higher monthly payment).

The total investment, if you look at it from two angles:

Pay up front: two weeks time, $9.95 for the website, $10 for the logo and tagline, and $250 for the license = $269.95

Not paying the license upfront: two weeks time, 9.95 for the website, $10 for the logo and tagline = $19.95

Then there is the issue of the actual work involved (NEXT BAT BLOG POST)