How To Start An Online Business Free In Your Spare Time

By | July 27, 2019

If you are looking to make money at home then learning how to start an online business Free in your spare time is the ultimate item to add to your to-do list. Did I mention you can start for free? Yes, even in 2019 you can start an online business for free.

You get two websites and ten real training classes to turn your passion into a money-making business. Fire your boss once you learn the skills to take your part-time online business into main-stream full-time employment.

I’ll show you how you can start for free just to test drive your online business to see if you have what it takes to be your own boss and work from home with your very own online business!

To learn more how you can > Start For Free < an online business that gives you two websites for free – just to test drive your online business ability then click on the button below!

 

 

 

Free Online business

Working From Home Opportunities

To start working from home you obviously need something to venture into to earn online income. This is a no brainier. However, the opportunities are almost endless. From A to Z there are online opportunities that by taking a little risk you open the door to success.

 

A warning though, even though I do my best to only list legitimate job opportunities, there are scams out there that prey on people that are not careful, so do your due diligence in researching any opportunities available. 

 

Some of these work from home jobs are your usual freelance type jobs that require some experience in the field in which you are applying. Amazon, for example, has been in business since 1994.

They are now the largest online retailer in the world. Their mission is to become the premier customer company where customers can “find anything they might want to buy online.”

Furthermore, entrepreneurial individuals are invited to “make money with” Amazon, including opportunities to register a business, advertise products, self-publish, become a vendor, and sell products, apps, and services through its platform.

Amazon employs nearly 92,000 employees around the world. The company has employed part-time, seasonal, and remote job employees in the past, and continues to hire employees when needed.

In addition to their corporate headquarters, fulfillment centers, and university employment, Amazon continues to employ a work from home program designed to cater to international candidates eager and qualified to work remotely. Past jobs also include opportunities in account management, customer service, as well as retail.

These jobs are listed through FlexJobs Staff.

 

amazon associates

 

You can also work as an Amazon Affiliate and endorse their products on your website to earn commissions on any product sold via your website link. This is the easiest way to earn commissions as an affiliate to Amazon. The easiest way is to have your own website, but some people forego a website and advertise through Google Adsense. To learn more about this platform, please click on the button above > Sign Up For Your Free Trial < or join the Amazon Associates Program.

I recommend researching what may be available to you that follows your experience or your passion. Working from home is breaking the mold of traditional type employment of being employed by a company to actually being your own boss and working for yourself. This includes anything that you want to sell, whether it is your services or actual retail sales.

Freelance is working for yourself. The rewards are much higher than actually being employed by a company, as customer service representatives, for example.

There are a number of websites all listing traditional jobs for people who want to work from home. I suggest doing something different. If you would rather play it safe and work for someone else that is fine. No one is blaming you for playing it safe. For people who are more of an entrepreneur spirit working for yourself has even greater rewards and benefits.

This is why this article will focus more on the possibilities for self-employment rather than traditional jobs.

As listed in my previous article, Creating a Plan on How To Retire At 60 is a great example of creating an online business model to pay down your debt to build wealth. By working for yourself you are in control of your money and hence, you are in control of earning more income.

 

Home-Based Business

How To Start A Home-Based Business

To give you an actual example, I will tell you what my wife is doing now. My wife is a seamstress for a real uniform company here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She operates a 4-head embroidery machine, and she embroideries company logos, people’s names, etc, onto their clothing. My wife is an entrepreneur that wants to start her own sewing company with another lady friend that is also a good seamstress.

They have come to me for assistance in getting them into a business. They wanted to rent an office space where they could sew and embroider clothing for people. I told them first of all, you need customers and incoming revenue before you can think about renting an office building for your business. I told them to take these steps.

  • Research company names with our home State database of company names, find a name that no one owns, Create a business name with a business logo. Research website Domain names for this company. Buy Domain name. Register company name with State, get tax certificate.
  • Get business cards printed up with company name and logo with the website name.
  • Start marketing your business by handing out business cards, telephoning friends and previous clients. Advertise on Facebook, radio, and/or newspaper.
  • Once a company name and logo registered with the state, I’ll design, build, and market a company website for the local market area.

 

As of today, these ladies are designing their company name and company logo. I’ll get business cards from VistaPrint delivered, for $10.00. We will start a marketing campaign locally so that people will learn about their website. They will start out doing the work at home. If all goes well, they will acquire enough business to quit their day jobs and work from home.

The step by step plan I gave my wife above is the same plan that I would tell anyone to do to have a legitimate home-based business. The reason I recommend registering with the State is three-fold.

First and most importantly, for copyright and brand name recognition. You don’t want to get sued later on once your business starts growing because someone else also has the same company name as you do. They may try to steal your customers.

Secondly, you want to have the same domain name for your website as your company name and to also have the company logo registered (copyrighted). This is your brand. It will be legal and you are protected by law against anyone that uses your logo.

The third and another important reason to get registered with your state is so that you can be entitled to deduct all your business expenses as a legitimate home-based business expense.

I learned all of this back in 2006 when I wanted to open a store on eBay and start selling online to make extra income. I really wanted to have an online website but at the time, I didn’t have any skills in building a website, so I opted to sell on eBay. eBay already had the traffic. All I had to do was open a store and sell my wares.

I tell you how I got started in my home-based business to SAVE you some expenses and time.

I went to my city hall to register my company name as an Internet retailer. The fee was only $50 per year. I then had to go to the State Revenue Office to apply for a Tax certificate (so I could charge taxes for in-state sales). This was a free certificate.

Once I  had my tax certificate I could legally buy at wholesale prices and sell at retail prices. I was very new at this online business so I never actually set up to buy from a real wholesaler company. A bad move on my part.

I learned years later that I was buying my drop-shipping merchandise from a middleman, which wasn’t a real wholesaler. Consequently, I wasn’t buying my merchandise at actual wholesale prices, which made it extremely hard to sell my products for any profit.

To learn from my mistake, first, find a real wholesaler at WorldWideBrands.com . This website is the only website in existence that has all the real wholesaler-distributors that supply any product at wholesale prices to merchants that sell at retail prices.

I was selling various products in my eBay store. Between all the eBay fees and drop-shipping fees, I was only making a profit of between $25 and $40/month. The good thing about being a legitimate business was that all my expenses were tax-deductible. That included all the eBay fees as well as my shipping and product drop-shipping fees, Internet, utilities, etc.

When I filed my tax returns in February the following year, my tax deductions amounted to around $2700! That reduction in my taxes gave us a huge tax return that year. Same was true for the next three years. I was also able to buy a new computer, printer, and office supplies for my home-based business.

What is so great about having a home-based business is that you are entitled to ALL the tax deductions that a normal, brick and mortar business is allowed to claim. The only stipulation is that the IRS requires that a business show a profit in two of the last five years. Not necessarily in consecutive order, just be able to prove that you are running your online sales as a real business to make a profit and not as a hobby.

By already having a Tax adviser in the book I highly recommend anyone with a home-based business, Ron Mueller – Home Business Tax Savings, I claimed several of the many tax deductions that I was allowed to claim – which gave me the savings to operate my business.

Learning Online Skills For Success

One thing that I have learned in all the years as a practicing online entrepreneur is that the Internet is always changing, progressing, and we must continually adapt to this constant change. Since my struggles with eBay and learning the skills to build my first website, I have a lot of experience.

Another thing I learned only a few years ago is that there are two approaches to becoming an online entrepreneur. The first approach, which is what I did, was to teach yourself and learn what works and what doesn’t, which takes a lot of time. The other approach is to learn the skills from an online university and start making money sooner with less time and expense than learning by trial and error.

This is why I recommend my number 1 allegiance to the Wealthy Affiliate University. I didn’t have all the right online tools or the skills on how to use them. I spent way too much money and only experienced limited success. Then I learned about the Wealthy Affiliate. I joined because I knew I needed some training about website SEO and wanted to see if I already had the keys to success or whether I needed to relearn what I was already doing.

I was only a member for about a month when I discovered that what I had been doing all my previous years was the reason I didn’t have any success as an online marketer. I had to retool and relearn the right way to market online.  I purchased their keyword tool, which at the time was their only other recommended purchase. Now this keyword tool is FREE to premium members of Wealth Affiliate.

That was back in August 2014. I have never looked back and continue to be a member of the best online training platform on the Internet. I learn something new every week, which is like continuing education in a career that is continually adapting and changing. Now that I’m a successful affiliate marketer I want you to also enjoy the benefits of having your own home-based business.

If you want to learn the best way to be successful at online marketing the fastest way possible then joining Wealthy Affiliate is the best move that you can make. You don’t have to remain a member forever, just learn enough to know website SEO and keyword research. Then hit the ground running! To learn more about the Wealthy Affiliate Univerity, please click the button below!

Wealthy Affiliate University

Top Ten Marketing Strategies of a Home-Based Business

Informing the public that you have a home-based business is the key to the success of operating a business from home. The difference between a home-based business and a brick and mortar store is the location. A storefront is located in the commercial section of a city. People driving by seeing the store, pull in, park, and go into the store.

A home-based business is your residence where you live, so there is no storefront for people to see that your house is also a business. To inform people you are a business you have to contact them with your business information. The only way to inform the public is through advertising.

Advertising can be done locally for a business that caters to local services as well as nationally or globally through the Internet. By using Social Media advertising a business can have immediate success. My top ten marketing strategies are as follows.

  1. Facebook – It is estimated that over 2.7 million people use Facebook, Instagram and Messenger every day. By informing your followers or friends that you have a home-based business is the first place to start advertising. This is FREE advertising.
  2. Facebook Paid Advertising – One of the least expensive forms of paid advertising, an advertising campaign can be started for as little as $1 a day.
  3. YouTube Channel – YouTube has the second largest search engine next to Google which gives it unprecedented reach to millions of people every day. Opening a YouTube channel gives you the opportunity to tell people you have a business. You have the option of creating video’s yourself, using other video’s or just leaving a link on your page to your website. You can also leave a phone number for people to contact you.
  4. Search Engine Advertising – Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the three biggest search engines that control 95% of all Internet users. By advertising through these platforms lets people all around the world that you are open for business.
  5. Radio advertising – The next best way of reaching thousands of people be via radio. It can be local only or national and is a very good way of informing people of your business.
  6. Store Billboards – Inside many stores, a billboard is usually present to allow locally-owned businesses and freelancers to place their business card on the billboard to advertise their business. Before the Internet, this was an extremely good way of letting people know about your business.
  7. Newspapers – The tried and true form of advertising used to be newspapers. Today it is not as effective as it used to be but still reaches thousands of people who don’t have a computer or Internet service.
  8. Television – A much more expensive form of advertising but reaches millions of people daily is advertised on TV which can be locally or nationally.
  9. Fliers – I used this form of advertising once when I was doing yard work services. I printed 100 flyers and went door to door and left a flier at each house around my neighborhood. I didn’t have more business than I could handle.
  10. Word of mouth advertising – Still one of the best forms of advertising, but also the slowest. It takes time to let people know about your business, but through other clients and customers, your business can become very popular with local customers.

Conclusion

It is much easier today than a few years ago to start a home-based business and be successful. Over 80% of all businesses started today are small businesses, in which 47% of these small businesses are home-based businesses. People are finding that owning and operating their own business is more rewarding than having a job working for someone else.

Besides the convenience of working from home without commuting to a job, the freedom, as well as the benefits, allow greater income and flexibility to the home-based business owner.

I invite you to share this article with someone you know that is considering starting a home-based business to allow them the information about the advantages and disadvantages of working from home. I also look forward to any comments, suggestions, or recommendations that you may have on the merits of this article.

Exceed Your Vision

16 thoughts on “How To Start An Online Business Free In Your Spare Time

  1. Aly

    Interesting information about starting a free business at home. For someone who is looking to bootstrap, it’s nice that you also list free ways to market and inform people that you have started a business. Word of mouth may be slow, but nothing beats a glowing recommendation from a someone you trust and know personally. 

    Thanks for the book recommendation as well. It’s always wise to consider tax implications when embarking on a new money making adventure! It’s smart to consult sources like Ron Mueller’s “Home Business Tax Savings” and find beneficial tax savings!!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Thank you, Ali, for reading my article and agreeing that doing proper tax evaluations is a smart idea when starting an online business. I hope you have learned enough to navigate the rough waters ahead.

      Reply
  2. RoDarrick

    Hello ken, excellent article you have written up here on how to start an online business free. I do freelance writing in my spare times and that has served as a means of stacking more cash for my monthly income. However, I want to take a dig into the world of affiliate marketing because of the lucrative offer that the business brings and I have learnt quite a lot through this post. I will bookmark it and reread it later

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Thank you, Ro, for reading my article about how to start an online business free. It is still possible to start an online business, working from home, for free. It doesn’t include all the bells and whistles, but, it is still free. I hope you learned enough information to be able to start an online business at home, whether it is affiliate marketing or another eCommerce type of business. I wish you much success.

      Reply
  3. Judy

    Thanks for a great post with some incredibly important details. You’re so correct about registering the business name legally first. I had a business partner who neglected to do so and he began to build his online presence first. It was not a good surprise to discover his chosen name was denied and all the work he did was for nothing. So important to dot all the i’s and to cross the t’s.

    You’ve provided some awesome resources here and I’m going to bookmark this to share with others.  Thanks again, very much appreciated!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Judy, there are certain procedures that one must follow to ensure all their hard work is not in vain. I tend to think outside the box so that I don’t get ahead of myself in my rush to get things done. I found that setting a goal then work backward to create a step by step plan to reach the goal is what works best for me. Find a business name that you can register with your state, get registered and follow the guidelines set by your state. Every state is a little different so research is the first step for adequate results.

      Reply
  4. Carol5162

    It is now common knowledge to know that you can get into entrepreneurship online. And the best part is that you can access some of this programs free of charge.

    Amazon affiliate program is my favorite as it is available in almost all countries. I agree that the best way to start this online journey is to learn from people that have been doing it and are successful. Even though some programs may cost money, it is still worth it compared to taking several months or even years trying to learn everything by yourself.

    Thank you for giving us a detailed article. all the best in your business and that of your wife.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      I thank you, Carol, for reading my article on how to start a home-based business. The benefits of being a home-based business today far outnumber the disadvantages of being a sole proprietor of your own business. Free is not always good, but starting your own home-based business for free is a step in the right direction. I encourage others to research the possibilities to see if a home-based business is right for them.

      Reply
  5. Letha Kitchens

    Great post and easy to understand how to start an online business free in your spare time. Yes, with proper training anyone can be successful in starting a home-based business. The training provided by the Wealthy Affiliate University is a great place to begin because everything you need is in one place which has lots of value. When I started my online business working from home I had many problems getting any visitors to my website. Now, my business is beginning to grow because I went through their training and learned how to get my website ranked.

    I thank you for giving me more channels to advertise my website. The more places to advertise my business the more visitors I can get to my website. I like your YouTube suggestion.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      You know Letha, by knowing how to SEO your website is a skill that will continue to get more visitors to your website. More traffic equates to more potential customers. I wish you good fortune in continued growth for your home-based business.

      Reply
  6. Adyns68

    Hi Kenneth

    I really like your post. I personally opted to learn online skills to create my online business. It is great for me to work from my home and still keep an eye on my kids. It has changed my life and the life of my family.

    And the wealthy affiliate university is definitely the place you want to be if learning, mastering, and scaling, your online business is your goal. I have learned through their easy step by step guide to create a blog, to monetize it and to improve my SEO. And those are the pillar of any online business. The price of the training is very affordable and you even get very important online tools that you need to be successful. Thank you for this very informative article! It is really awesome!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      The best part about any school, Adyns, are the skills you learn to succeed in any business. That is what the Wealthy Affiliate University does, it gives you the knowledge, then shows you in a step by step procedure how to master that plan. It provides more useful information than any other school, barre none.

      Reply
  7. AmDetermined

    Your post is very interesting and educating. I learned from your post how to buy things from the wholesaler. I didn’t know about the middleman that you described. The review about wealthy affiliate university was very good and true because I am enrolled in their school and already I am starting my business at home. Lastly, your research on how to promote business through different channels was eye-opening. I really loved the advice you gave to your wife and her friend. I am using it now so I can make my business at home legit so I can deduct my expenses from my taxes.

    I’ll be sharing this post with my friends that are also looking to create a business at home. Thank you for this great post

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      I am glad, AmDetermined, that you found my information about starting a business at home useful. It is not hard but many people fail to do proper research on starting their business. This failure leads to trouble with the IRS. I find it much better to be safe rather than sorry later.

      Reply
  8. Paul

    Dear Kenneth,

    There are 1000’s of Google searches on a daily basis on how to start an online business. Unfortunately, because of the increased number of scams people struggle to find legit opportunities. Thanks a lot for the great inspiring article! This has to be motivating, not only for me but also for many others.

    Indeed, freelancing is one of the best ways to make money from home. I am amazed at the help and guidance you provided to your wife, hats off. Learning from others mistakes will save us a lot of time and trouble. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience which adds more value to this article.

    Based on my experience Affiliate Marketing is one of the best ways to start an online business with low investment. 

    I believe it’s almost impossible to succeed online without proper training, support, tools, and guidance. I am happy to see you are recommending Wealthy Affiliate and that’s the platform which helped me to become a full-time Affiliate Marketer.

    You gave us an encyclopedia of knowledge here.

    Much Success!

    Paul

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Thank you, Paul, for agreeing that learning from others mistakes can leapfrog you in the direction you intend to go. I am a teacher and if I can provide sources to enrich someone with the knowledge I am going to do it.

      Reply

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