Business Marketing & Finance Resources

You have heard how easy it is to make money online but are skeptical about it. Yes, there are a lot of scams out there. However there are also money making gems which you can capitalize without any investment risks on your part.

Yes, internet can give you many opportunities to make money from the comfort of your own home. You can be your own boss without reporting to anyone and without anyone reporting to you. Unlike any brick and mortar businesses, if you know how to make money from the internet, there is with almost no financial risk on your part because there is no investment required if you choose not to invest your money.

The bad news is that, most internet work from home internet businesses are doomed before they can take off. This is because an online business is just like any other businesses which need dedication, perseverance and some educated knowledge.

So, is it easy to make money over the internet? Yes, it is, if you know how to. Many people thought that once they have their websites or blogs set up, they are in business. This thinking is wrong. Having your online websites up is just the beginning of your online journey.

About 3 years ago, I responded to a newspaper advertisement about easy ways to make money online seminar. I booked my seat and was listening to speaker after speaker on how they made a fortune over the internet. At the end of the seminar, I was convinced to part with a few thousand dollars to buy a few websites, some books and CDs about internet marketing education and making money from home.

When my websites went life, I was elated. I started waiting for my first customer. Days and then weeks went by. Then I begin to realize that not only do I not have any customers, I hardly even have any visitors to my sites. My websites are virtual ghost towns.

Then I started to do more research on website marketing, join some online courses and bought some online marketing tools. To cut the chase, it took me another year and plenty of trial and errors to finally see my websites climbing up the search engines and getting thousands of visitors everyday. Now my internet businesses are making me plenty of money, however, it was a long and tedious process.

Since I now know how to get my websites found by thousands of people every day from the search engines, then I can create more successful websites and sell more things. Do you think I was happy? Well in a way, yes. But internet marketing also sapped up a lot of my strength and energy.

You see, I have to reply to customer’s enquires everyday, send out orders, keep inventory etc Just like any other businesses. Yes, these are happy problems because I am getting businesses while 90 percent of internet businesses don’t.

This was until I stumbled across upon a certain website. Upon reading this website, I was reminded that success coaches like Anthony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki always teach about building multiple passive income streams to be wealthy. Yes, my internet businesses can be classified as multiple income stream and are earning me money which I have never earned before, but they are certainly not passive. There was a lot of work involved.

Now, I got my hand on the internet marketing education book from that website and learned how to make multiple passive income streams without spending a single dime, well, except for the price of the book. I was taught to build blogs. Yes, make money over the internet by blogging.

With the information, I started a few blogs, each bringing me its own income and money without me doing anything if I want to unless I want to improve on them. So what are these businesses without investment risks and products of your own? Some of you may already have known, but not doing anything about it. They are affiliate marketing and pay-per-click advertising.

Investment is the cornerstone of both the politics of democracy and the economics of capitalism. A person in such a place has the freedom to do as he or she pleases with the resources that he or she is able to accumulate for him or herself. As such, there is an opportunity unlike in any other political or economic system for unprecedented gains from directing resources in the right direction: More bluntly spoken, by making the right investments.

Under a democratic capitalist society, each citizen’s responsibility for the welfare of his or her own life is ultimately their own. Government is there by definition to provide opportunities and protect its citizens from undue harm; however, there is no promise of wealth or abundance in democracy or capitalism. Employers are encouraged by market forces to pay employees only what the market will bear, not to make them rich, no matter how hard that employee works. But under this political and economic system, there is more opportunity for wealth and abundance through strong investments than through any other.

The bottom line is this: Investments are meant to be wealth and abundance accumulators. Strong investments are meant to outstrip any and all forces which weigh down upon money and detract from wealth and abundance, namely taxes, inflation, and the cost of everyday living. Strong investments leave real profit in the pocket of an investor even after all of these things have been taken into account.

Strong investments create residual income, meaning that an investor should not have to keep working on the investment after investing to accumulate wealth. In short, the money of the investor starts working for the investor, instead of the other way around. Strong investments pay commensurate to their risk, not below.

Strong investments are able to float above short term market forces such as interest rate changes, increases in cost of living, industry problems, and even individual company rumors. Investments are solid and able to be counted on even in bad times. As a matter of fact, during bad times is the best point in which to reinvest in strong investments.

Investments are easily sold. Many investors mistakenly believe that if they have made a good or timely buy, then they have made strong investments. However, investments are only worth as much as someone else is willing to pay for them. Notice how many of the top companies are valued mostly by market cap and conjecture of what the information that they hold is worth, not by actual dollars in the company. Investments have more than just ample cash flow; although this is hardly a disadvantage. They also have tangible and intangible assets that people want.

Does your business provide products and services to other businesses or to government agencies? If so, then you know that one of the big problems you face is having to wait 30 to 60 days or longer before your invoices are paid.

This can be particularly troubling for your company if your business is growing fast and you are adding new customers and clients on a regular basis, because your supplier’s credit terms are much shorter than 30 days as a rule. And you need capital to pay your suppliers and your other overhead and expenses.

One solution you should consider to this problem is to factor your accounts receivables, which is simply another name for invoices. Many well known and respected businesses today are using this form of financing to provide the working capital they need to more effectively operate and grow.

Moreover, an accounts receivable factoring facility is a lot easier and quicker to set up than traditional bank financing. And can be set up in a matter of days, because the factor bases their decision on the credit worthiness of your customers or clients, not upon your personal or business credit.

This can be particularly important if your business is a relatively new business or your company has had some financial difficulties in the past, because with factoring providing your customers have a good credit position, you can still get the funding you need with factoring.

Whereas, with traditional bank financing banks require audited financial statements, lots of collateral and personal guarantees. And even with all of these requirements the process can still take months. In addition to this in today’s economic climate many banks are retreating from the business loan market making bank financing even harder to obtain.

With invoice factoring a factor will advance you up to 90 percent of the value of your commercial or government invoices. Then once the factor collects on the invoice in 30 to 60 days they will rebate back to you the remaining ten percent balance, less a small discount for their services.

Another good thing about accounts receivable factoring is that it is a naturally growing source of capital for your company that will grow right along with your company. Since the amount of money that you can receive in advance is based upon the amount of your current invoicing, as your business grows the amount of money you can obtain will also grow as well.

And, as with any kind of financing agreement that you enter into you should always carefully read and fully understand the full agreement. What’s more, you should always have a competent attorney in the area of business finance review all financing documents, and explain anything that you don’t fully understand.

Yes, factoring your accounts receivable can be an excellent way for your business to get the money you need to more effectively operate and grow your business. Without the cash flow problems created by having to wait 30 to 60 days or longer for your customers and clients to pay your invoices.

If you are willing to take a calculated gamble and invest in the stock market then growth investing may be for you. Growth investing is the practice of taking a small company that has the potential to shake the market up or revolutionize a market which in turn will create large growth in a short period of time paying off for you in a very large way.

If you are not comfortable with calculated risks, or for that matter any risk whatsoever, than investing in high growth stocks that are hailed as the next Apple may not be the right investment strategy for you, but if you are willing to take a chance in order to gain a mind-numbing return next year there is no better strategy than growth investing.

Most of the large cap top 10 stocks today all began as small or medium startup companies that showed a large potential for growth, but in order to purchase a large amount of stock in them back then you would have needed the courage to ignore more practical investment advice, ignore the pricey valuations, the ability to see the gold at the end of the rainbow, and believe that these businesses had the right business goal and strategy to make it.

Of course, many businesses that meet these criteria can crash and burn within years leaving them the same place in stock history as a one hit wonder on the top of the billboard charts, however the ones that do succeed have paid investors off past their wildest dreams. After all, imagine how the people who tossed in the first hundred in shares for Apple feel now.

To get down to the basics, growth investing essentially is a strategy that involves making your stock picks based on high predictions of growth rates that will soon escalate over former leaders on the stock market. In order to identify which companies will be able to do this growth investors look for new technologies or market niches that have the potential to change the way people live or look at a specific type of product. The earlier referenced Apple is a great example of such a company as well as Google which virtually has single-handily revolutionized the internet browsing experience.

For those who are unable to conceptualize this, growth investing is almost the stark opposite of value investing in which investors are concerned with what is happening at this moment instead of what can happen in the future. Growth investors thus play on the other side, looking at what can happen in the future without much notice of the current share price or the intrinsic worth of the company with the belief that both of these figures have the potential to grow.

Those who follow growth investing look for growth stocks that they feel will grow at a large substantial rate making an initial large share purchase well worth the investment. There are of course risks to this theory, since if you choose the wrong company and it flops instead of becoming a market success you will likely lose a large portion of your investment. On the other hand, if you are right than as the company reinvests their capital gain earnings without paying a dividend the stock shares quickly jump in price.

Although new products and technology are the most common areas of the stock market to find growth stocks, there are plenty of opportunities for those who are interested in growth investing in other areas as well since any company that is about to make a full recovery such as McDonald’s did five years can also be a great grab at the right time.

Commuting to and from work everyday can take its toll on every person who may have spent five or ten years of his life waking up every morning and dreading the traffic, the pollution and the now-familiar faces of his officemates. Because of this, working at home has always been an attracted option for almost everyone.

But not everyone can start a home based business from scratch. A home based business, no matter how simple, will require capital and resources. But the twenty four dollar question being asked by most people is “would it be possible to start a home based business with minimal capital?”

A home based business is generally cheaper to establish compared to a regular business primarily because the former will require minimal overhead. A big part of capitalization needed for a regular business will go to the initial and monthly rent expenses but this is not necessary for a home based business.

Household facilities like telephones and refrigerators, computers and other office equipment can also be used for the home based business so there is no need to put up additional capital for these. The only capital you have to put up is for marketing although you can be creative and still use existing materials for this.

There are plenty of home based business ideas to choose from depending on your hobbies, interests and experiences. If you are good in cooking and budgeting you can start with a catering business. You do not need to buy anything else except your raw ingredients and perhaps some basic professional dishes for catering. You can start with the business using the ordinary kitchen utensils you have and you can invest on more professional equipment as you earn from the business.

If you own a computer and a printer you can already start a printing and computer home based business even with minimum capital. Among those you need to buy includes extra ink for your printer, and perhaps bond and specialty papers. This home based business will require your creativity and computer experience so no need to invest more than what is necessary if you are still starting the business.

Another cheap home based business is photography and photo editing. If you have a digital camera and a computer plus you have the basic knowledge in photography and digital photo editing and storing then you can already start the business. You can start a home based photography shop, taking advantage of the fact that most people are too busy to go to malls or photo shops to have their pictures taken. Most clients would need photos for job and passport applications.

You can also offer photo restoration or transfer of their existing photos to CD.
There are other home based businesses that requires little o no capital at all depending on the resources you already have. It is a matter for researching and taking stock of what you know, what you have and what you intent to put up as a business venture.