Another Option To Raise Funds

November 24, 2009 by 2 Comments

When starting a business, sometimes one does not have enough money from his own personal sources to fund the business startup costs (‘capital’). There are two main sources of additional funding:

  1. Debt – basically you take a loan from a bank, or a friend, and agree how to pay it back.
  2. Equity – basically, you find someone to ‘invest’ in your business. They then get to own a certain agreed part of your business.

Usually, debt financing is much, much cheaper than equity financing. However, they are both sometimes unattainable for very young businesses. What to do?

Well, there’s a third source of funding. It’s not much different from debt financing but it is different enough. Basically, get someone who has some spare money and who is not a seasoned/experienced investor. Perhaps someone who retired recently and is looking for something to invest in (like a retired dentist).

You then offer them a deal: give me some money to launch my business and I’ll give you a certain percentage of my sales. Think about it – no endless meetings, punitive interest rates, complex accounting. You just pay a commission on your sales. It could work, ama?

Adapted from Seth Godin’s article.

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With: , ,

Can Your Mom Also Work From Home?

July 18, 2009 by 1 Comment

More and more moms are now starting their own home-based businesses and we say – good for them!

As the Internet unifies the world, as geographical boundaries disappear,
online money making ideas for work at home moms or WAHMs are on the rise. If you are an educated, talented, experienced professional mother, with at least basic knowledge of using the computer, the Internet is your playground! As more and more women in Kenya open up to the idea of being financially independent, becoming a mother may dampen their plans, albeit temporarily. Staying at home to take care of your child can be a tough decision and one that could have had damaging effects on your career. But now all you mothers can start your own business from the comfort of your home. After all, there are plenty of money making choices for work at home moms online now-a-days.

Online Money making ideas for WAHMs
Freelance Writing – A fantastic way to sell your skills and experience when you want, how you want, and without too much stress. Yes, whether you are good at storytelling, writing informative, research-based content, or simply have a way with word, you can sell your writing skills to people who require them. You can demand your price, choose your delivery period and start earning money. A great place to start is GetAFreelancer, Guru or Elance.

Selling Something? – Do you make crafty things like kiondos, carvings and suchlike? Or do you know where you can get them cheap? Why not sell them online? There’s nothing to lose, you don’t need to be a computer whiz to set up shop. Try etsy .

Graphic Design – Every business require well crafted graphics for promoting and representing their product/service from time to time. Not even businesses, kawa people need posters hata! If you are a skilled hand with graphic designing then this is your best online money making idea. A great
place to start is GetAFreelancer, Guru or Elance.

Virtual Assistant – You used to be a secretary, or receptionist, or personal assistant? Or can you do everyday office administration duties (like filing, reading and responding to emails, etc). How about data entry? You can do it online by becoming a virtual assistant. Have a look
at this site virtualassistants.

Teaching – Are you really good at something? Anything..like singing, dancing, designing, etc, this is the best time to fulfill this dream and then use it to make money online! Yes, if you sing like a nightingale why not start your own singing classes? How about teaching dance to kids and other moms in your neighborhood? Simply send out flyers and advertise in the local media to get started. Better yet, get a website at Nickel Pro and offer online classes – just make a video of yourself teaching and re-use it (read re-sell it) hundreds of times.

It’s important for you to understand that you may make mistakes initially. Don’t get disheartened by these mistakes. However, once you have decided what you want to do, make sure that you organize your life and time accordingly so that you are able to reduce stress and have a more productiveday. After all, planning, organizing, and managing are the 3 cornerstones to any good business and you already know this because you are a smart, intelligent and experience professional woman.

Filed Under: Blogging, Make Money, Small Business Tagged With: , , ,

How To Receive Payments Online

July 10, 2009 by 38 Comments

Update: PayPal now works in Kenya! You can also now withdraw from PayPal through Babawatoto or LibertyReserve.


Ok so you’ve decided to give this “make money online” thing a shot. You’ve figured out what you are gong to sell, to whom and how. Now one last thing remains. How will you get paid? How will you receive the chapaa? There are two ways you can receive payments online:

1. Having your own merchant account
2. Using third party processors

What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is a special kind of bank account where funds received from credit card transactions are first routed to the special account and held there before being remitted to your business account. You as an online merchant will need an account called “Card Not Present Merchant Account”. Merchant accounts are only useful when you are receiving payments on your own website (Get one!!) and have some sort of payment processing system already in place on the website (basically, a shopping cart system.

Having the merchant account is, actually, the first step in processing credit cards online. You will also need a payment gateway. A payment gateway is a service provided by billing processor which allows real time authorization of online transactions.The payment gateway you choose to work with has to be compatible with your shopping cart. Three top payment Gateway providers are AuthorizeNet, Verisign and USAePay. All payment gateway providers have their own merchant solutions. Most banks, today, work with partner payment gateway providers and are fully capable of furnishing with a merchant solution.

If you are just starting an online business and you don’t think that your sales will generate more than a thousand dollars a month, you will be better off with a third party processor. However, once your sales become really high, you will save a bundle by switching to a merchant account.

PayPal
With 72 million accounts worldwide and payment volume which is growing at a rate of 44 percent each year, PayPal by far is the most popular third party processor on the Internet. PayPal is a simple and affordable payment solution for those online merchants who are unable to or don’t want to go through the complex process of setting up a bank merchant account. Merchant losses from fraud on PayPal are now only 0.17% of revenues, vs. 1.8% for online merchants that accept credit cards through merchant accounts. This gives one more reason to use PayPal.

Paypal is also perfect for receiving small payments. For example, if you are a freelance writer and you do some small job, you don’t need a big huge merchant account – just request to be paid through Paypal. Once the money is in your Paypal account, you can use it to pay for things online, or you can request Paypal to send the money to you.

Getting a Paypal account in Kenya used to be impossible but they opened that up and you can get one right away. The bet way to use Paypal from Kenya is to use it in tandem with a Debit card. Basically, get a Debit card (I got mine from KCB) and then link it to your Paypal account – you will need to verify the card by entering into Paypal some code that will be on your bank statement. You will also need to verify your address by scanning and sending to Paypal a document (like a water of power bill) showing your name and address on the face. Doing these verifications may seem like a chore but, trust me, you will be love the simplicity and assurance that Paypal is known for.

ClickBank
Clickbank is a laaaarge marketplace where sellers list digital products for sale. The thing that’s special about clickbank is that hundreds of thousands of people ready to market and sell your product for you for a commission. By listing your product on clickbank, you access a huge market. For selling e-books, software and other similar digital products, ClickBank is probably your best option. ClickBank accepts all major credit cards and PayPal.

MPESA
Did you know that you can accept payments online through Safaricom’s MPESA service? Nice eh? I’m pretty new to it so I cannot really review it but here’s what you need to do if you want to accept payments online via MPESA:

  1. Send an email to mpesa@safaricom.co.ke requesting for the service
  2. Safaricom then responds with the requirements, tariffs and supporting Docs required.
  3. Agreements and contract drafted
  4. Allocation of code number, account creation
  5. Service Goes live

There are many other third party processing companies available on the Internet. Two of them worth mentioning are moneybookers and ikobo.

Filed Under: Make Money, Online Jobs, Small Business Tagged With:

Making Money Online – Where To Start

July 7, 2009 by 11 Comments

If you have even basic knowledge of operating computers with access to a good speed Internet connection, you can make some money online. Lots of people dream of making money online but many don’t have an idea of where to start. Where do you start? What’s the fastest way to make money online?

Making money on the Internet doesn’t always demand investing money or having technical knowledge. With hi-speed Internet coming to Kenya soon, making money online will be easy. To prove this point, we are listing down several online money making ways as part of our introductory article on this subject. Whether you are able to earn Kshs 70 a day or Kshs 5,000/- a day, the fact is that you can money money online now!

Top Ways of Making Money Online

  1. Amazon Affiliate Programs – Sign up for Amazon.com’s affiliate program and sell Amazon’s products on behalf of Amazon. Amazon.com will provide you complete support and back-up, and they will pay up to a 15% commission on each sale.
  2. Amazon Seller – Have something you want to sell online? Earn cash by selling your stuff on Amazon.com. It’s easy, it’s fast, and it doesn’t cost you a penny until your item sells. They provide the infrastructure and support – you just earn whenever your product is sold.
  3. Adbrite – Barter space on your website for text advertisements. Adbrite pays you for selling your website space.
  4. Associated Content – If you are good at expressing your emotions on paper, or if you have experience in a particular field, write about it and submit to Associated Content to get paid $3-$20 for each article that gets accepted. Get paid for submitting text, video, audio or images.
  5. eBay – Way too popular to write much about! Simply collect your old stuff, or any stuff, and sell it to earn money.
  6. GetAfreelancer – An freelance website that has all kinds of projects for writers, editors, programmers, coders, web designers etc. All you need to do is become a member and start bidding on projects in your areas of expertise and get paid for projects you win. An alternative is Elance or Guru.
  7. Infolinks – This is one of the best ways to earn good money. Infolink deals with ‘in-text advertising’ that can be seen on many websites as scattered double underlined links. Simply sign up and start.
  8. Etsy – Do you create crafts? Etsy is a huge online marketplace where people sell their crafts. Since it draws people looking for handmade products or craft supplies, Sellers find it more profitable for many crafts than eBay.
  9. Clickbank – This is an excellent opportunity for people who have a knack for selling. Basically, clickbank is a large extensive databank of products which you can sell for a commission – with the commission rates being generally 50% or higher. Simply find a product you like and start promoting it!
  10. InnerSell – Do you have a customer who needs a product or service that you don’t sell? Earn additional income when you use the InnerSell system to connect those customers who want what you don’t sell with trusted Vendors who have a track record of delivering.
  11. Software Judge – If you have a strong opinion about some software, whether positive or negative, and want to get paid for your review, this is the place to go!
  12. Cafepress – Are you artistic? Cafepress let’s you put your designs on Tshirts, Hats, Mugs etc with no upfront costs AND they give you a shop where you can sell your branded items.

Finally, note that it is possible for you to make money on the internet if you put time and effort into it. One of the major reasons why most newbies fail is because their expectations are not in line with the level of effort required to be successful. Be prepared to work hard for every cent that you make.

I’m always ready to answer any questions – just ask! Remember to read Like Chapaa regularly for more information on making money online and getting ahead in life. Why not subscribe for free, or sign up to receive free email updates?

Filed Under: Make Money Tagged With: ,