Is this a sound investment?

[djs13]

Ever since January I've been floating this idea around about starting an e-biz that sells affiliate products. Recently I've been taking action by buying a domain, picking out my potential products and planning my marketing plan.

I guess you could say my elevator pitch is this: while alot of people who make money from selling affiliate products run blogs or review those products, my idea is to set-up an e-commerce type store. All of the products will be hand picked for my niche market, males 20 to 30 years old. I plan on grouping the products by subject and personality type.

I signed up to RentaCoder.com and elance and I found a wide range of bids. The best guy I found offered to build the site for $450.

Alot of people have told me this has been done before a 1,000 times - but I feel like my marketing approach is going to be unique as well as my business model. The only other site I've found that has my kind of thinking is Gifts.com, which is partnered with Expedia and HotWire.

My problem is that I would be taking this money out of my savings for real estate which is bothering me, but I wouldn't be hurt if I made it back plus a monthly passive income. I'm not trying to make a million with this idea, but I would like to have some passive income as I go to college in January.

Is it worth risking $450 on this potential site?

Thank you!

 

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[ramy98]

djs13, In my opinion, you are feeling a little shaky right now because your business plan isnt strong.

I also feel that you are setting yourself up for failure by thinking small; the worst thing that can happen is that you lose the $450 and learn from experience but you might as well throw that $450 into something that you hope turns into something big.
This is the fast lane after all :fastlane:

Just my opinion. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Jonleehacker]

Since this isn't "throw away" money or time for you, then I would consider it extremely high risk to be trying a new idea.

It may work, it may not, but you won't know until you try. Nobody else's opinion really matters here.

It comes back to your goal (everything does!), which as I understand it is:

I would like to have some passive income as I go to college in January.

(without spending money from your savings).

So with that goal, stick to a proven system.

alot of people who make money from selling affiliate products run blogs or review those products,

there is a reason for this...it works!

I started a review site similar to the on Mtnman linked to recently, on July 8, it took me about 70 hours of work. It is already making about $8/day. I expect it to hit $15 - $25.

Total cost was $7 for a domain name, and $15 for an eBook cover I had created.

That's one affiliate site that will generate about $500 dollars a month in passive income.

This site was done as an experiment, just to test someone else's "proven method" of affiliate marketing. It passed the test. Following a proven method is one of the best pieces of advice I ever received.

Save your "cool new idea" sites for when you have extra cash.

 

[kurtyordy]

I say go for it, and go hard.

$450 is cheap education. As long as you learn along the way. $450 is at most two weeks work at a min wage job.

Your overall goal should be educating yourself more so than making the cash.

If through this investment you can learn to generate traffic that responds to your pitch, then $450 is very cheap

 

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[Peter2]

You should definitely do it. It's worth taking a risk with a couple of hundred dollars.
You need to start somewhere, and not everything needs to be a million dollar idea.
It could be a home run, or it could fail, but either way, I'm sure that you will learn a lot from this. You can then use that experience in another venture.

Learning from DOING is the best way. Unfortunately, most people never DO. They just dream about doing. They plan and plan and plan, until they get too scared of failing, so they never start in the first place.

So what if this business doesn't work out for you. You just keep trying UNTIL you find something that works.

It's very easy to make money in business. The ONLY way you will fail, is when you stop trying. This is not like baseball, three strikes and you are out. You can keep trying until you become successful.

Go ahead and start right now!!!!!

 

[Smurf]

You should definitely do it. It's worth taking a risk with a couple of hundred dollars.
You need to start somewhere, and not everything needs to be a million dollar idea.
It could be a home run, or it could fail, but either way, I'm sure that you will learn a lot from this. You can then use that experience in another venture.

Learning from DOING is the best way. Unfortunately, most people never DO. They just dream about doing. They plan and plan and plan, until they get too scared of failing, so they never start in the first place.

So what if this business doesn't work out for you. You just keep trying UNTIL you find something that works.

It's very easy to make money in business. The ONLY way you will fail, is when you stop trying. This is not like baseball, three strikes and you are out. You can keep trying until you become successful.

Go ahead and start right now!!!!!

Great advice from the Catman:eusa_clap:

 

[biophase]

I say go ahead and do it. You'll learn alot from just running the store. Can you explain what you are getting for $450?

 

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[djs13]

OK so basically I'm getting a site and logo design for $450. The designer is going to do it using osCommerce which is compatible with Joomla. He's going to set up so I use my Joomla account to add different products and their pictures/descriptions/links to retailers.

I still haven't pulled the trigger on this because I'm just making sure this is the venture I want to do right now. There are a couple others floating around but I'm going to make a decision soon. My biggest hurdle is that Commission Junction requires users to be 18 years old to sign up. But I may just use my Dad's tax information so I can get the account. For those who don't know, CJ is basically just a big circle of companies looking for affiliates to get leads for their products.

I still feel a little unclear on what exactly I want to do. But I'm definitely going to take action pretty soon, even if its not on this idea, because I feel like I'm running in circles.

 

[Cowxq]

I say go for it, since finding this site I have spent countless hours + $$ on trying to expand and do different things. (better then just sitting around watching t.v. and spending that money on movie rentals)

Looking back on it now I can honestly say every little thing I have experimented with or tried has given me a lesson or education that has helped me in my next idea. Just know that no matter what you haven't failed, because in the end you'll have gained something whether it be more knowledge or more cash!