The Truth About How To Work From Home Without An Investment

By | September 25, 2019

There is a lot of marketers claiming how you can make money working from home for free. This is NOT 100% true. I’m about to reveal the truth about how to work from home without an investment. The bad news is that it will take some money to operate an online business. The good news is that very little money is necessary. Read more to discover how working from home can be a profitable proposition for you.

the truth about working from home without an investment

More and more people of all ages are catching the fever. Dreams of having a mansion on the lake, early retirement, or just supplementing their regular income with passive income from the Internet, everyone wants to sell online. Every economic indicator, independent report, even government statistics points to the fact that Ecommerce is getting larger and larger every year.

This is NOT just a pipe dream. It is real. The huge growth in eCommerce is in part the result of small, home-based online businesses carving out their share of this billion-dollar eCommerce pie. Ecommerce is not a fade. It is growing at an incredible pace. There is plenty of money to go around.

If you are broke and need money as soon as possible starting an online business is NOT for you. If, however, you are teachable and desire to run your own business then an online business is the least expensive business you can start.

Just imagine for a moment… You have an online business and you work from home. Actually, you can work from anywhere, the pool, the coffee shop, or your bedroom. How does it feel to login to your bank account to see several deposits that were made the night before, while you were sleeping?

This is not a fantasy. This is real. It happens every day of the week throughout the year. It can happen for you too!

So you may be asking how can you get started with this online selling? Is an online business right for you? Where does someone start?

I’m about to tell you what most online marketers refuse to say about how to work from home on the Internet. I may even burn some bridges. The information I’m providing is something you need to know before you spend any money to start an online business.

WARNING!

Any market that has a lot of money to be made also has its share of deceitful, unscrupulous people that prey on the uninformed to steal their money. This is why I am writing this article. To educate people who want to start a legitimate online business but don’t know exactly what to do or who to believe.

Some Work From Home Ideas

I would venture to say that everyone would like to work from home. But having the desire is not enough. You have to be committed to making your work from home business successful. Choosing the right platform is an important step in the right direction.

There are some platforms that cost very little to no money at all. These platforms are for everyone, beginner to the advanced online marketer. Operating an online business can be done on a shoestring budget as long as you learn the skills that will make your business successful.

There is one platform that allows someone to get two free websites and ten free lessons. Believe it or not, Wealthy Affiliate allows everyone to join there platform for FREE. As an added welcome gift every member gets two free starter websites to try out, just to see if online marketing will be a profitable proposition for them.

They offer everything imaginable, from domain name registration to unlimited websites, to training videos and many online tools. Everything on one platform.

Every member can stay a free member forever if they so wish, or they can join the higher level which does cost money. This organization is what I highly recommend to anyone, whether they are a beginner or an advanced online marketer. To learn more about what they can do for you just click the button below.

 

Wealthy Affiliate link

 

If you want to skip the training and go directly into business I highly recommend NOT to join an online organization that claims they will build you a site complete with products for a low monthly fee. The reason that most of these platforms are all scams is because

* The sites all look the same because they are built from a template.

* Every other store in their organization is also trying to sell the same products.

98% of these businesses just want your recurring monthly fee and don’t really care if you sell anything or not.

I recommend reading my article start a small online business which gives you instructions on starting a legitimate online business. It also points out some examples of niches that are good moneymakers.

Another work from home idea that don’t require a website is buying and selling domain names. Remember Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team? He originally created an Internet radio station and registered the Broadcast.com domain name. In 1999, he sold it to Yahoo for $5.7 Billion dollars.

If you create a domain name that someone really wants for their website, you can sell it to them. Or, If you want a domain name that is already taken, in a lot of cases this domain name can be bought, but the prices are usually very high, in excess of $1000.

Facebook advertisements as well as Google Adwords advertisements don’t require a website even though it is better to have one. Facebook ads are cheap and they can be customized to target specific people, areas, or countries. They can be turned on for certain time of day, weekends, or holidays.

What about building websites complete with affiliate products and articles then selling it to the highest bidder? A good friend and co-member of wealthy affiliate did just that. He sold one website for $40,000 and another one for $30,000. You can read his blog post here. Click on Dylan.

Just about everything else does require money to invest, but again, not as much as you would think.
 

 

How Much Will It Cost?

The sad truth is it isn’t free, or at least in most cases. Depending on what kind of online business you start will depend on how much it will cost. Affiliate marketing is by far one of the cheapest business models to start. All you need is a website, a host for your website, promotional (advertising) cost, and of course, affiliate products to promote.

By learning marketing skills to get organic traffic (customers) to your website you don’t need to buy keyword advertisements from the search engines.

Most affiliate websites are WordPress websites. These websites are the easiest website to learn how to use because there is no coding. They have their own editor which acts just like a word processor on your home computer. There are over 4100 WordPress websites that are free. There are other WordPress websites that cost money, mainly because of a certain plugin that is attached to the site plus you get the support from the publisher if you have any problems.

To learn more about a WordPress Website you will want to read [The Top Reasons] To Build Website With WordPress.

A website must have a “Domain name” which is basically an address, like a post office box. These domain names are sold, actually rented to you on a per-year basis. If you create a domain name yourself and buy it (rent it) the cost per year is anywhere from $8 to $15.

A host is a company that has a server computer hooked up to the Internet. This server computer is where a website lives. The owner of the website rents space on the server computer, which costs anywhere from $2.75 up to $6 per month, or more.

Another online business is buying and selling Domain names. You don’t have to have a website to register a domain name. Go to any number of domain name registrars such as NameCheap, GoDaddy, Wealthy Affiliate, etc, register a domain name for one year. The cost is anywhere from $8 to $15 each. Park the domain name and list it for sale.

To have a real online eCommerce site you will have to spend some money. But not as much as you might think. You won’t need any inventory, storefront, or employees because you will be doing all the work yourself, at home.

The reason you are doing all the work yourself is for two reasons. First, to save money. Why pay someone to do the work that you can do for free? Second, to run a business efficiently you must know how it works – every part of it – from customer service to taking and fulfilling orders, to filing business taxes. You must know every aspect of your business.

The costs for an eCommerce website, if you have it designed and built especially just for you, about $10,000. SEO, or search engine optimization, if you hire someone to edit your website for SEO costs starting at $2500 and up.

You can build a website yourself (WordPress) for free and just use plugins (most of them are free also) to have a shopping cart on your site. By using PayPal you don’t have to have a merchant account at a bank. However, most customers like to pay with credit cards like MasterCard and Visa. To accept credit cards, a merchant account at a bank is necessary.

A merchant account allows the website to accept credit cards which are linked to your business checking account. A customer uses their credit card to make a purchase from your website. The money is deposited into your bank account automatically.

A merchant account isn’t cheap. Starting prices are around $700.00 to open an account and go up from there. Normally a bank allows this fee to be paid in installments. If your website is making money the profits from the website will pay for this service.

Merchant accounts also charge a per-transaction fee of 2.2% + 30 cents. If you sell a $20 item the fee for this is ((20 x 2.2%) + .30) = 74 cents.

To operate an eCommerce site efficiently starting out you will want to find a real wholesaler that will drop-ship your products to the customers that you sell to. The way this works is,

* A visitor to your website buys a product at retail price.

* Your website collects the money via PayPal.

* Your website automatically orders the product from the wholesaler at a set price and buys the product at wholesale price.

* The wholesaler drop-ships the product to your customer.

* Order complete.

A real wholesaler is required by law to only sell their products to a legitimate business at wholesale prices. This is why becoming a legitimate business is such a good idea, because

* A legitimate business can buy at wholesale prices and sell their wares at retail prices

* A legitimate home-based business gets all the business tax deductions that any business gets.

I recommend becoming a member of the WorldWideBrands. This is the only company I know of that list all real wholesalers that are licensed to sell in the USA. By having a membership with WorldWideBrands you find a wholesaler in your niche that will set up an account with a home-based business. This allows you to buy products at wholesale prices and sell at retail prices, as long as you are a registered business owner in your state.

If you are serious about starting an online business, a must-read is start a small online business for added security. This article will tell you everything you need to know on how to start a legitimate online business at home. A legitimate home-based business gets the same tax deductions as any retail business.

 

Choosing a Host For Your Website

This is an important step in the overall success of your online business. HostGator, for example, is a very good host with several plans to fit anyone pocketbook. Starting at $5.95 per month to $9.95 per month, depending on the plan you choose.

I recommend Wealthy Affiliate because of their drive for your success. For example, I get an unlimited number of websites with my premium plan as well as access to the hundreds of video training courses, all for the same price of $49 a month. (Actually, because I pay yearly, my price is substantially cheaper than the $49 per month standard price).

Wealthy Affiliate

I recommend finding a host that offers free backup service for your website, free email accounts, anti-spam and very low downtime. If the host is down your website is not reachable and hence, no money can be made.

Online Tools That Are Needed

Online tools are extra which cost more money. A keyword research tool, for example, is a very important tool to have access to. It helps a website owner/publisher to find the right keyword phrases to get their web pages to rank higher in the SERPs (search engine results page). I have one, which is an extra expense. I use Jaaxy which happens to be a very good keyword tool. You can learn more about Jaaxy by reading my review of Jaaxy.

Google Adwords is another keyword tool that is free but its primarily used for bidding on keywords for advertisements.

Another necessity to a website is the SSL certification which usually is an added expense to most websites from their hosts. Some hosts claim to give the SSL certification free, but it is an added expense all the same. GoDaddy, for example, charges $12.99 per month to start and $19.99 per month after one-year renewal for the free SSL certification. With Wealthy Affiliate, this certification is free to premium members.

 

Conclusion

Now that you have some ideas about exactly what the costs are to operate an online business you have the information necessary to make a good decision on what kind of business you want to start.

Affiliate marketing is the cheapest and easiest business to start on a shoestring budget. This is why I mentioned Wealthy Affiliate as a platform to consider in your research. They have all the training that provides members the skills that will make them successful in marketing to the world.

Wanting to create an online business is a step in the right direction if your goals are to

* Wanting to have extra money

* Wanting to be your own boss and work from home

* Looking for freedom from the constant commuting from a job

* Having multiple sources of income to become debt-free

I hope that I was able to inform you about the real costs of operating an online business. I learned the hard way, getting scammed by having to purchase a credit card machine that never was used. I want to save you the expense of learning what to avoid so that your online journey will be profitable for you.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions I look forward to answering your reply. I ask you to share this informative article to anyone who desires to start an online business.

10 thoughts on “The Truth About How To Work From Home Without An Investment

  1. Jay

    I would be honest, one of the reasons I got into affiliate marketing was that I thought that it would be a very low investment in starting up. Yes, to start requires a very little investment but to compensate for this low investment you would need to put in a lot of time and this would need to be done consistently for a long time before you start seeing good results. Also, there are little things that you would need to invest in that you probably did not know about before starting. As I said, they are low investments but the fact is that you would spend more than you originally planned on spending. I made the right decision about affiliate marketing and its starting to pay dividends.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Jay, no one talks about the little expenses you are faced with starting an online business, which is why I wrote this article. It will help people get started if they know what to expect.

      Reply
  2. Gomer

    I agree with you and I like your honesty for saying that if you’re broke with no money, starting an online business isn’t for you. You have to get a job and have a regular income in order for you to survive, then once you have your income, that’s the time you should consider starting an online business.

    By the way, is it better to join a platform to learn the skills that are taught to learn online marketing before you start a work from home business? I want to work from home but not sure where to start. 

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Gomer, I started online marketing after reading a book about having multiple streams of Internet income. I didn’t know what or how to do anything. I fell victim to some of the scam artists (marketing gurus) that prey on unsuspecting people like myself. To answer your question, research is key and very valuable. I suggest learning the basics of online marketing first so that once you start you will have a much better chance at success in less time.

      Reply
  3. Matt

    To retire earlier with enough passive income has become so popular since 2018, that’s why we see many ideas shared online every day. Creating a blog with our own favorite stuff seems a good start for me, although it requires lots of hard work, consistency, and patience. It’s better we do it without just thinking! Reading about the expenses has changed my mindset on being a legit affiliate marketer. Thank you for your expertise in explaining the true costs of working from home. I have learned a lot and I think I need to be tough enough to go through all this by myself.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Matt, knowledge is power and power gives you the strength to overcome any adversities. Overcome fear and doubt by accomplishing a little bit every day. Take it one step at a time to reap the harvest you sow.

      Reply
  4. mattias

    Being the kind of person that I am, I always look into the long term benefits of getting involved in a platform and I must say that affiliate marketing is really worth getting into considering the long term benefits attached to it.  Though it is not totally free it is cheap enough to try it out at least with the potential of making money should be a drive. Most people have a wrong notion about working online because they see it as a get-rich-quick offer. With that, we will be probed to getting scammed very easily. Thanks for giving all these insights to working from home and especially on affiliate marketing.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      You are right, Mattias and any market that the potential of earning an income outweighs the time and effort to produce the income is worth researching. I have found that operating a home-based business has exceeded my expectations. For me, it has more advantages and benefits compared to being just an employee working for someone else. 

      Reply
  5. Rodarrick

    Needless must I say that  this post has really been valuable and of immense help. Thanks so much for this. In all honesty, I must say that you have exposed all the difficulties attached with starting a business at home. There is no business without cost but surely, affiliate marketing is still worth given a trial because of the potentials and lucrative nature of it. Though all the other offers too are great but I don’t plan to spend too much money in learning other businesses. Thanks for this

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Yes, Rodarrick, affiliate marketing does have the potential of being very lucrative considering the very small expenses. I am glad this article was informative to you.

      Reply

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