I've got an idea, I've got the knowledge, I've got the motivation...but I don't have the money!

[MarketerandModel]

So, hello everyone, first post on here. A little background on me...(Really, it is little..)

I am about to start my last 2 years of high school in the UK. Yes, I am probably one of the younger people here, but in my eyes I feel a bit like time is running out and I need to get started already. I have spent the past 4 months learning everything I can about marketing. In that time, I failed at many attempts to start a good business/website but looking back I can see exactly why things didn't work out. I was so clueless and the things I tried were complete BS but I am now an expert at learning from past mistakes. However, I don't want to go too deep into that right now, because I know it can make a great progress post one day. Anyway, I finished school early this year after taking my exams, so from Mid June to early August and had a long summer break. During this time, I tried to give marketing a break and I wrote my own fictional book, which I am in the process of finding an agent for.

Now, however, the book is done and I have finally thought up a great plan for IM.

I have 2 areas of expertise - writing and marketing.
Those go hand-in-hand, as they are both services. Welcome, my first idea: Setting up my own agency/firm/etc that is basically selling my marketing and writing services. I am still deciding if I want to have a brand name or just brand myself and make it seem like a more "personal" thing, though.
And then my second idea is affiliate marketing with a niche website and then again with my own blog. That's just to start. I have so many ideas of what I could expand into if my initial endeavours are successful.

The problem is, I need websites for my marketing services and the affiliate site(s)
I just have no money to start the websites. I'm in high school and the money-snatcher that is college is looming in my future soon - I have dwindling savings that I simply can't afford to spend so much of at one time. I don't like those websites like Upwork or Freelancer because I prefer to cut out the middle man. Cold emailing clients didn't work out for me. So, what can I do? Someone must have a lightbulb idea I haven't yet crossed. All I need is £100 (or even $!) to start out.
I once read a brilliant quote from a young IMer similar to myself. He said, "Never say 'I can't start because I don't have the money.' Knowledge on the internet is free. Don't spend money until you start earning it." Yes, a brilliant quote, and he's right - knowledge is free. But web hosting, domain names and PPC ads are not.
The bottom line is, I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone has for me regarding how to fund my websites or just regarding the ideas in general.

Thank you!

Selina.

P.S. I made my account many months ago but never posted, which is why I have the fallacious username I do. I have realised that 90% of successful models were found by chance and the profession is not really all it's cracked up to be. Therefore, my aspirations are much larger now. Why did I ever want to be one?!! Anyway, ignore this, I am more concerned with getting advice for my issue.

 

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[exclusives88]

So, hello everyone, first post on here. A little background on me...(Really, it is little..)

I am about to start my last 2 years of high school in the UK. Yes, I am probably one of the younger people here, but in my eyes I feel a bit like time is running out and I need to get started already. I have spent the past 4 months learning everything I can about marketing. In that time, I failed at many attempts to start a good business/website but looking back I can see exactly why things didn't work out. I was so clueless and the things I tried were complete BS but I am now an expert at learning from past mistakes. However, I don't want to go too deep into that right now, because I know it can make a great progress post one day. Anyway, I finished school early this year after taking my exams, so from Mid June to early August and had a long summer break. During this time, I tried to give marketing a break and I wrote my own fictional book, which I am in the process of finding an agent for.

Now, however, the book is done and I have finally thought up a great plan for IM.

I have 2 areas of expertise - writing and marketing.
Those go hand-in-hand, as they are both services. Welcome, my first idea: Setting up my own agency/firm/etc that is basically selling my marketing and writing services. I am still deciding if I want to have a brand name or just brand myself and make it seem like a more "personal" thing, though.
And then my second idea is affiliate marketing with a niche website and then again with my own blog. That's just to start. I have so many ideas of what I could expand into if my initial endeavours are successful.

The problem is, I need websites for my marketing services and the affiliate site(s)
I just have no money to start the websites. I'm in high school and the money-snatcher that is college is looming in my future soon - I have dwindling savings that I simply can't afford to spend so much of at one time. I don't like those websites like Upwork or Freelancer because I prefer to cut out the middle man. Cold emailing clients didn't work out for me. So, what can I do? Someone must have a lightbulb idea I haven't yet crossed. All I need is £100 (or even $!) to start out.
I once read a brilliant quote from a young IMer similar to myself. He said, "Never say 'I can't start because I don't have the money.' Knowledge on the internet is free. Don't spend money until you start earning it." Yes, a brilliant quote, and he's right - knowledge is free. But web hosting, domain names and PPC ads are not.
The bottom line is, I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone has for me regarding how to fund my websites or just regarding the ideas in general.

Thank you!

Selina.

P.S. I made my account many months ago but never posted, which is why I have the fallacious username I do. I have realised that 90% of successful models were found by chance and the profession is not really all it's cracked up to be. Therefore, my aspirations are much larger now. Why did I ever want to be one?!! Anyway, ignore this, I am more concerned with getting advice for my issue.

If you're good at writing and you already have written a fictional book, why not give amazon kindle a try instead of waiting for an agent.

Starting a website does not cost a lot. Use wordpress and download a template. You can do this all yourself instead of hiring something. There are countless of resources for you to learn how to get a wordpress website up. There are also several hosting platforms that makes it easy to create a website - squarespace, shopify, bigcommerce...etc

What were your failed attempts at starting a business?

 

[MarketerandModel]

If you're good at writing and you already have written a fictional book, why not give amazon kindle a try instead of waiting for an agent.

Starting a website does not cost a lot. Use wordpress and download a template. You can do this all yourself instead of hiring something. There are countless of resources for you to learn how to get a wordpress website up. There are also several hosting platforms that makes it easy to create a website - squarespace, shopify, bigcommerce...etc

What were your failed attempts at starting a business?

I really want to be able to hold a physical book and think "Wow this is mine"...maybe it sounds silly that I'm opting for the long route, but I want to try all I can to get it traditionally published. However, I know that if I get to a point where I have tried and tried to no avail then I will be more than happy to publish it on kindle. I just have not reached that point yet.

Oh, I had exactly that in mind - having it as a Wordpress run website. But you need to pay for the theme, domain, hosting and that adds up. Then multiply it by 2, and you can see where I am coming from.

There were many. In short, the 3 main ones were as follows:

1. About a year ago, I tried to make a lifestyle affiliate website/blog. I say lifestyle, which is so unspecific, because that's what it was: a mess. I was so much younger then (A lot changes in 12 months, especially with me) and I wasted more money than I should have. My writing was..stilted, it wasn't real and the whole thing was a disaster. I had no knowledge of SEO and had about ten different affiliate websites linked to the site but no sales and a paltry number of views. What it did teach me though was that it could be a profitable idea and I would need to come back to it (which I will now) and also made me learn a LOT about SEO

2. This one was shortlived, but I still made the mistake. I opened up an eBay/etsy storefront that I planned to resell clothes bought internationally on. It was so silly! I had a logo, professional set-up and everything but there was hardly any interest. Finally, I realised people could see right through me - they could get the original clothes, at the same cheaper price and were willing to wait for long overseas delivery to do so.

3. At the same time I started writing the book, I thought it was time to launch a marketing brand selling my services. I had everything but the website and cold emailed so many prospective clients. SO many - I even have an over-detailed spreadsheet tracking it. But they weren't interested. Maybe because I had no referrals, no website, no evidence to prove to them that I am an honest and credible marketer rather than a scammer.
I know now that I want to focus on the aspects of marketing I am good at, as well as writing, and that I need to make the website first and foremost so the clients come to me rather than the other way round. I also am thinking about restarting this idea from a different angle - instead of a brand name, perhaps I could just brand myself...still deciding about this though.

 

[Get Right]

1. Grab a night/weekend job to make enough cash to build the website(s).
2. You can have your kindle book printed also. @ChickenHawk might be able to help advise.

 

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[MarketerandModel]

1. Grab a night/weekend job to make enough cash to build the website(s).
2. You can have your kindle book printed also. @ChickenHawk might be able to help advise.

I didn't know you could get a kindle book printed, thank you for the suggestion.

By the way, I like your yacht.

 

[Digamma]

I'll keep it simple.
Sign up for Fiverr and Upwork and find some jobs to do. You'll cut out the middleman eventually. Walk before you run.
You might like it better without the middleman, but between the middleman and nothing, you choose the middle man.

 

[ChickenHawk]

You can have your kindle book printed also. @ChickenHawk might be able to help advise.

This is true. You can get your ebook printed with no up-front costs, assuming you can do the formatting/cover design yourself. Just go to CreateSpace.com and follow their guidelines. BTW, CreateSpace is an Amazon company, which means you can also sell the paperback on Amazon, which is a nice bonus.

Hope this helps!

 

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[MarketerandModel]

This is true. You can get your ebook printed with no up-front costs, assuming you can do the formatting/cover design yourself. Just go to CreateSpace.com and follow their guidelines. BTW, CreateSpace is an Amazon company, which means you can also sell the paperback on Amazon, which is a nice bonus.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much!!