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8-Step Checklist For Saving Money

August 30, 2024

Before making a purchase, work up the shopping hierarchy. You could make a list of the top 10 things needed or wanted, placed in order of the most important. Then go through the 8-step checklist process for each one before actually buying anything.

This simple process can maximize savings over time. In the modern world, being frugal can go a long way toward survival and perhaps thriving at some time. So then, here is the list …

Checklist For Saving Money

Reference this for an easy remembrance.

1) DELAY purchase for month or year? If yes, need vanishes.
2) NEED is there. Is something around that can do the job?
3) BORROW from friend or neighbor. Especially for single usage.
4) FREE from locations online or offline.
5) CHEAP alternatives? Do web search for these.
6) USED purchase. Buy the discounted price instead.
7) MAKE it instead. Do research online.
8) NEW as the final option.

Just remember: DELAY, NEED, BORROW, FREE, CHEAP, USED, MAKE, and NEW.

The first words are the most important ones and can help one to remember the process.

Detailed Real Ways To Save Money

Let’s now go over the 8-part list with an examination of action details that could be considered.

1) DELAY. Can the purchased be delayed for a month or year?
The first question to ask is “Can this purchase be delayed if there is no real need?”. If yes, skip buying altogether and wait the month or more. If no, there may be a need for the thing in question. So then proceed to the next 7 ordered steps.

2) NEED. Could the need be subdued? Again question if the thing is absolutely needed.
Thinking twice can help one be sure. Here are some alternatives to erase having the need for buying particular things.

Balance need vs. want before buying anything

If physical books and knowledge are your thing, how about online sources instead? The internet is free to search.
Get in the habit of using real washable towels instead of paper towels, saving both money and physical disposal.
Try alternative furniture with wooden pallets that can be repurposed to make tables, shelves, or even bed frames.
Mason Jars for both storage and decoration. Instead of buying fancy containers, use these jars for organization and lighting decoration.
Try oatmeal for skin treatments, saving on skin or face mask products.

3) BORROW. Is there a friend or neighbor that could help with one-time usage?

Mow the lawn once a month? Borrow the lawnmower and other tools if possible.
Any exercise equipment that is expensive. Could pay a neighbor for each usage.
Borrow small things like DVDs or books or a fancy set of hosting silverware.

4) FREE. Get free from many locations either online or offline.
Search your favorite local online opportunities for free stuff.

A great option for free or inexpensive furniture.
Also great for a free pet for example, minus the vaccinations or other initial upkeep.
Try Freecycle, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, or Craigslist. These each have free sections. Bookmark them in your favorite browser for daily or weekly easy searching.
Try local churches and nonprofits. These often have programs to distribute free furniture, clothes, and even food to families in need. Reach out to organizations like St. Vincent de Paul, Red Cross, soup kitchens or food banks.

Free things available from St. Vincent de Paul or Red Cross

5) CHEAP. Research any alternatives. Do a basic web search.
Replace expensive things with cheap options instead.

Try Tello for a smartphone plan. The link is an affiliate one, but offers a discount. There is much saving to be done over time.
Reusable water bottle. Invest in a good quality reusable water bottle and filter tap water at home using a Brita filter or a similar system. You’ll save money and reduce plastic waste.
Go to local thrift stores for clothing. Spend a day going to one or a few of these. Clothing spending could come down 80% or so with this fantastic method.
NO gym membership. Jog, bike, or hike for cheap. Or even view online video regarding how to exercise cheaply.

6) USED. Stick to buying used when possible. Buy at this discounted rate to save.

Like discount movies or clothes. Visit eBay online, local yard sales, local OfferUp or Craigslist search, or local thrift store if possible.
Absolutely buy used. When the need vanishes, back this plan up with reselling the product online on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or OfferUp for example. You may end up being out only a few bucks when all is completed.

7) MAKE. Learn to make whatever is needed if possible. Online tutorials can assist.

Make a DIY garden. Grow your own herbs and vegetables. Even growing in containers can reduce grocery bills, and it’s much cheaper than buying fresh herbs.
To follow the last one, make a DIY rain barrel to collect rainwater for watering your garden. This reduces water bills and is an eco-friendly option.
DIY repairs. Make sure to research for online videos if needing to repair something. Save on plumbing or landscape costs through the DIY approach.
DIY clothing or footwear. Mend things up with sewing, with hemming, with repair work. Using online videos or information sources for tutorials.

8) NEW. At last, the final and last option if absolutely required.

And with this final last option, there are still ways to be smart.

Look for retail or online coupons before buying the thing.
Compare prices of different stores selling the same thing at a couple retailers.
Alternatively, perform a Google Shopping search, one that reveals prices from many places.
If the price is higher than desired, wait for an online sale if possible.

How To Save Money Effectively

So there it is. A plan has been laid out in order, to accomplish the feat of saving cash for whatever purchase one may have in mind. This system can benefit both large and sometimes even small things that are often bought. If it becomes a habit to think of the 8-step process, one has the advantage of creative thinking to navigate both saving and expending.

Entrepreneur Mindset

February 28, 2024

This page may help one facing great challenge. It can be read before setting out to do some task or form a business. It can be referred to if dealing with skepticism or a negative mindset.

Let’s presume you are new to the idea of the freedom lifestyle. This simply results from developing one’s own way on the planet. But it takes some work, a bit of strength even, to get the freedom from having to work within some regular occupation.

For this writer, entrepreneurship is the way. This is the freedom to move about however, to be answerable to no one, to do whatever one chooses with time. To arrive there though, one must develop the mindset of an entrepreneur. Think of this like the building block from which to develop a way forward.

One does not have to become the flying monk, but it does help if you can get close. Getting some discipline can greatly assist the effort to build something in this life. As a comparable analogy, be like the monk. The monk does not exactly let the life be led around by feelings. Neither should maybe the beginning entrepreneur.

Without the right determination, hope remains as just some wish. Hope cannot blossom into results without some work. Building business up is not for the faint of heart. Or, maybe being faint is okay, just not ultimately defeated. That’s because certain events will arise, unique to the individual. These events will try one’s resolve. They may involve the pull of other life responsibilities, the setback of illness, children to raise, or the importance of family life. Just name the excuse, and life has the fulfillment. This is not stating “excuse” in the sense that other things aren’t important. Though if being an entrepreneur has importance to you, you’ll understand there is time available to find.

Before even beginning ask yourself if you’re ready to commit to the task. Without determination to follow through, things can get real murky and unsure. The effort and the cost involved could go down the drain. Not a good feeling to have. This is really the way to avoid failure. Commit to seeing things through. Now to be sure, the right field of interest will need to be planned beforehand. No visitors to your subject of interest equals no monetary return.

After the subject of the site is settled upon, the way to avoid failure involves staying focused until knowing success. Without focus, things don’t move along in a timely way or perhaps even fall apart altogether. So the lesson here is that online business can be kind of tough to get traction in. Just like within real world business.

Give things effort … give them time.

The Art Of Business

Failure within business is like an art. If done correctly, one can find amenable work somewhere. Or maybe you enjoy some current work, and are looking for something else just part of the time. The point is that if working within some industry one does not own, you must be content with what you’re given. There is nothing wrong with this life outlook. It is just that there are other options.

Finding work is not so hard. Finding a business to form is difficult.

The former statement is a generalization, but frequently an important distinction. One can be content with finding work and being given forty hours of wages per week. This involves some relinquishment of physical freedom within that kind of thing however. Usually, an employee is not the boss. Unless maybe, if several workers are all known as the owners of the entity. Doesn’t happen too often.

Finding a business to make can be downright difficult and demanding. Want to know the cool thing though? Stating from personal experience, all the demands laid upon one’s self are chosen freely. What exactly are the things about which I’m writing here? What is chosen freely?

Demands of business
Quality of the outcome
Work for failure or success
Direction of entire business

These are some of the finer things in life. For myself, these kinds of things are incomparable vis-a-vis (in relation to) working for some company somewhere. For this writer, it is just not what is enjoyed.

About Not Giving Up

Take courage because there’s some good news. Giving up will definitely ensure failure. That’s the good news. It’s that anything is better than definite failure when entering into online business. Right? So continue with the passion or business that is begun! It may just succeed.

Not everyone makes it though. Success is not for everyone, as also the long hours, or the endurance needed when not seeing visitor numbers improve. This simply takes endurance to continue. Without passion, endurance and determination are very difficult.

Three qualities …

Focus
Passion
Commitment

These make nice components for holding the online business attempt together. Without any of the three, things could get quite difficult. Before embarking on this concept of building some website or even during the process, check yourself regarding these important qualities.

Positive Attitude Is The Key To Success

Feeling beat? Things too difficult? All this is normal.

The option is to either let the difficulties win the day, or have the craziness needed to go right through them. Just by thinking of the task ahead, many individuals give up. No doubt. Trying to put together a business of some sort can take some work ethic. It’s important to understand that if one gives up fully though, nothing happens. The concept of failure will definitely remain and be in place.

What seems to be the real difficulty for many who attempt an online business is perseverance. It is dang difficult to continue when there are no results apparent. Again, why does an individual apparently quit or stop short of following through with things?

No apparent positive results.

Positivity is part of the solution. Without being positive, without some enjoyment, failure odds go way up. This results from just giving up in the face of very unenjoyable tasks that show up. By having patience and not caring for results right away, things are easier to push forward with. Without any belief of success, one may as well just give up and save all the would-be lost time. Ideally, do not begin business without having in mind from the beginning, to see things through.

Kind of like an athlete prepares the mind for some long training, the entrepreneur should do the same thing. And hey, at least there’s no blood and sweat that has to be produced (at least most of the time). But it’s important to know beforehand what awaits along the course.

Actually, this writing and motivation can be really important to grasp. When an individual is not prepared mentally and doesn’t have full motivation to succeed, things can fall apart easily. So before beginning the course, take the time to …

Take some breaths.
Question your endurance.
Go forward or give up entirely.

After this, giving up solves the problem. Or you can decide to move forward, accepting of both failure and success. Success takes time, maybe even work. It usually doesn’t fall out of the sky freely to land on some fortunate one. So then the solution is to maybe work a little, and even maybe more.

Having an easy-going positive attitude is the key to success. With patience, work and time, you don’t have to give up. Just continue at some pace comfortable for your situation.

Positive Attitude Has Gone Away

This is indeed the hopeless portion. If you ever come up against full-fledged 100% negative emotions (or emoticons, or whatever), it is best just to give up entire.

Do not play the fool and continue if this happens to be the case you meet with. This is especially true if negative events happen more often than not. There is absolutely no point in deceiving yourself further after too many of these setbacks. You do need to realize only some few people are meant to aspire toward success. Just understand it’s not “in the cards” for you and move on. No harm. No failure. No loser label. No point (in continuing).

Now then, these few former lines can totally be accepted and everything is fine. Alternatively, set out to prove the mentality of giving up is not for you or your situation. It’s all up to how much you want this.

Some Closing Thoughts

Here is perhaps some psychological thought that may help you out. When completing some task, the same becomes easier when done the second time. This is an essential key to understand. Overcoming an obstacle is like taking one step toward success. Crossing paths with the obstacle and running away from it or refusing to deal with it are ten steps toward failure, all at once. It becomes far easier to accept defeat than to swim upstream through an obstacle, then another one or more. Be strong therefore and deal with this reality. Prepare yourself with the mindset of an entrepreneur.

Many times doubt or discouragement can reveal themselves full force. It can happen that all positive determination, all winning emotions seem swept away. These negative feelings may appear before even beginning initial business tasks. Because of events like these, the hard thing is just getting started.

Draft Plan For Business

February 28, 2024

For an online entrepreneur, there needs to be a beginning.

If this is all new to you, it helps to plan things out before getting going. Without a map or plan, you can wander around more aimlessly. Of course, this is not what you want when going for an online or offline business.

Post may contain affiliate links; click here for statement.

As the good book of history has stated,

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Or again to help mitigate laziness some,

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
– The Good Book

So some initial questions you should ask yourself include the following …

How much time is available per week?
How much money can be set aside for this?
Will I enjoy this activity in any degree?
Will dedication over the weeks or months last?

These are serious questions to ask of one’s self before setting out on the way.

Here are some things that an entrepreneur needs to discover beforehand.

How Much Time Available

The initial thought is how much time do you have during the normal week? If you know for sure that you’d come up with an hour weekly, that may be enough to build a website like this over time.

With an hour or two, the physical product selling business may work out fine. Spend an hour buying things online or at the local stores. Take another hour to list things online, time for pictures needed or packaging.

Even with minimal time allowed per month, things can work out. That’s because commitment over time can carry one through. Ah, patience and persistence. These two virtues or qualities are great to have as an entrepreneur. They’re even quite essential, since making one’s own way in life takes time. To be content in the business journey, understand these things early. They’ll serve one well for the future.

How Much Money Available

Before beginning, question monetary dedication. How much are you willing to set aside? Even better, how much are you willing to lose should things not work out? It’s like, don’t commit any more than you’re willing to lose. This may help with confidence before setting out.

If you don’t have anything to begin in online business, maybe join with the eBay selling site. One way is to get free products from family, friends or associates. Then just hold onto all the profit yourself. Or try getting things to sell for others, taking 1/2 the profit or something. No money is needed for either of these similar ways. When times are tough, let pride go and simply ask around.

So then, with little money you could begin a site that costs maybe $50-$100 to operate one full year. The web hosting service of SiteGround (discount here) could work great! This is the first recommendation, and what this site is built upon. Also, view the “10 Reasons For SiteGround” post for a list of benefits offered.

Making a website is an excellent investment, that needs time and effort to bring unto fruition. Pick a passion, research market demand, find out what kinds of things sell okay, then get going writing and marketing. These are the main points to success.

And if you can begin with more money up front, consider selling physical things online. Begin with maybe $100-$500. Sell online since this is the larger marketplace between the local town and the online community. Buy used or new goods at lower prices than they’re going for elsewhere. This process known as arbitrage is great! And it works. It takes advantage of market inefficiencies. Arbitrage is common within business.

Will This Be Enjoyable

You may want to write out both your time and money considerations. After kind of drafting out your way, next ponder what activity will be more enjoyable. After all, you don’t want to begin something only to waste time. Time becomes wasted when giving up. Figure out which one you’ll enjoy over time and persist with.

This one is also quite important. If you’re going to hate doing something, then just go work somewhere you don’t hate as much. Just find some nice job you don’t quite dislike as much as the business of choice. More contentment may follow.

Online business is not for everybody of course. But if you can’t find anything enjoyable, the option to stay in some job or career may be the right one. And of course, they don’t need to stay that way. Only until you discover more of a passion for entrepreneurship. Really, it is up to you the reader.

Will The Dedication Last

Seriously, even if the previous factors work out fine, without dedication the whole thing can fall apart. This one is a huge problem to confront and overcome. It’s absolutely necessary though. Time, money and passion can all be in place. Without effort over time, massive time waste results. Avoid this through getting the right mindset from the beginning of entrepreneurship.

So there is advice here to understand. It’s not to begin something taking much effort, only to quit some time in the future. Better yet, quit something fast or as soon as possible. If you find something doesn’t seem right or won’t work for you, change things up fast. Prevent as much time waste as possible. Remember that life is short.

There’s no need to give up being an entrepreneur. But it’s okay to give up things that don’t fit with your passion or talent. And the sooner this is discovered, the better. Then simply continue to look around or ponder the way for yourself.

Visit the article about online business ideas for other concepts.

12 Reasons For SiteGround Hosting

December 30, 2023

Building a website is one of the best ways to begin an online business. It’s nearly free, with minimal start-up costs involved. With some time and effort, limits pass away like the days do. Without some involvement, the site may pass away as easily as the sands shift in the dune over time.

What is the best website builder for small business?

Post may contain affiliate links; click here for statement.

Welcome to this SiteGround review and walkthrough. If I had to choose a strong affiliation with some web hosting company, SiteGround would be chosen. This is the place to be when it comes to hosting one’s domain. This is probably the best website builder for small business, if you’re looking to save money and have some reliable domain with web hosting.

This web host company was founded in 2004, and they’re based in Bulgaria. Offered is some basic Linux hosting, while for larger sites the options of Cloud and Dedicated solutions are available.

If you’re just beginning, an important question to ask is, “How much traffic does a website need to make money?”. Visitors are the mechanism that sustains business growth, whether in the online realm or the offline brick-and-mortar world.

SiteGround is an excellent place from which to position your site online. From the domain base, you can seek to bring visitors over and perhaps make some money. Even 10 visitors per day offers the hope of some self-sustaining model, with the potential for growth. And from there, with more fluency in writing and marketing, things can begin to grow more.

Now for the involved review concerning …

12 Benefits Of SiteGround Hosting

1. Support Team

This aspect is importantly mentioned first. When you have questions, they are ready to help. Welcome to the new way. It seems some companies delight in taking 2 to 3 days in responding to hosting inquiries. And that not once, but a few times. Um, this isn’t really applicable in SiteGround’s world. They seem to respond (at least in chat) within 2 to 3 minutes or even less! Frustration be gone.

So for response time and helpful chat with smart workers, what beats this best website builder for small business? Let’s suppose you’re a newbie with getting a website and hosting. Don’t you want pretty much immediate help should problems show up front? Absolutely, or one becomes lost.

Maybe some researching online or asking experts in some forum somewhere will solve things. Maybe not. Why spend much time looking elsewhere, when the provider should be the one to respond to hosting questions?

Unlike other web hosting services, the support help and response time has always been there. For example, SiteGround vs. Bluehost hosting support is a non-contest. Some individuals don’t mind waiting days on end for Bluehost to respond, and that’s fine. But the SiteGround response times are great, so consider this if you want to save time. Woila! SiteGround … the choice is made.

Outsourced service provided from individuals that have minimal stake in the hosting company is not optimal. Alternatively, this company has an in-house staff with various skills and experience levels. Being set up like this can mean a big difference. In-house communication is more prone to occur for example, rather than having individuals separated by countries or other boundaries through the method called outsourcing.

2. Domain Hosting

You can of course set up a new domain with SiteGround. Other options include transferring a domain to their care, or pointing a domain to their hosting server of choice.

When it comes to the website software choices, there are some great picks on hand.

3. Speed and Stability

There are actually three separate areas that help immensely with page load time.

Having solid-state drives for all hosting plans is tremendous. This is already more high-end service than some other hosting companies out there.

SiteGround has a handful of data centers for faster data travel to your end visitors. Pretty nice, since many hosting companies only grant access to one data center option for site visitors.

Even better, you could potentially choose the data server location for hosting. For example, perhaps you know what country most visits are going to come from. Therefore, page load speed can be optimized in this manner.

These centers come with the feature of redundant electrical systems. Multiple power feeds and power generators help prevent electricity outages.

Finally, they offer a “supercacher” tool that has different levels of control. This is having to do with the efficiency of site speed. As history has shown, visitors drop quickly from sites that tack on the seconds when it comes to page load time.

This nifty tool is fairly easy to get going with when ordering a hosting package.

When it comes to website stability, uptime frequency is important. You want others to be able to see the site and not miss out. They may give up altogether on returning. Being stable is very much a trait of this host. At 99.99%, it’s known to be one of the absolute best.

4. Website Security

Personally, this is one of the favorite reasons. It may not mean much to some people, but this comes with a very free HTTPS installation! Installation of the “Let’s Encrypt” SSL certificate occurs by way of the CPanel. This was a great plus in deciding to go with this company. No intermediary can read what is being seen on the website visited. Also the interception of webforms or payment details cannot occur with any ease, for example. This free security is great and should be easily set up when possible. These folks do this part nicely.

SiteGround Let's Encrypt Free Certificate

An option exists to get two other SSL kinds, if another alternative is needed for the situation. So, the Let’s Encrypt is the free option and the other two alternatives can be paid for if chosen.

SiteGround Paid SSL Security Certificate

It’s commonly understood that having one of these SSL options offers greater search rankings in recent times. So having one is great for both security and overall website ranking.

5. SG Site Scanner

This one costs a bit, but not much.

Reports are run and can be studied, or even emailed. This malware monitor and reporting tool is fairly nice if it can be afforded. When one is just beginning and is trying to be lean on costs however, it may not be an option initially.

They have stated, “Most web applications require constant attention and updates to remain safe from the latest security vulnerabilities.” Indeed, going with a “simple” WordPress install can be a task. Don’t underestimate this. Just one website is capable of taking up much of your time.

From my perspective, this is good validation that having an HTML hand-coded site is supreme. There are no themes or plugins to worry over, either with updating or plugin know-how. These matters take time, and I just don’t have a need for them.

Recommendation. If you can write your own site with HTML, you may want to have a go with this. Security issues become easier and manageable. There is just no comparison vs. the common CMS (content management system) like WP (WordPress) where theme updates are needed, recent plugin changes need attention, and even site breakage may occur after the theme maker tries out something under the hood.

6. Account Security

As the third security option mentioned in order, you could choose the two-factor login option for the SiteGround admin area. It’s truly nice to have this option. They have really been paying attention to good customer service with this choice. Many website hosting providers don’t offer near as much service, quality and security altogether.

SiteGround Two-Factor Login Authentication

Nowadays, this kind of thing is almost necessary. In the very least, be sure to have a distinct and long password for the SiteGround account. Be a great stumbling block for any would-be hack attack. Take security at least somewhat important.

7. Free Email Accounts

There are unlimited email accounts offered for the domain hosting. The reason for wanting more than one email account for the domain is up to you. People have different reasons.

Having different business departments.
Somehow assigning these to different subscribers.
For different programs your site is associated with.
Leaving email contacts for various locations.

8. Library of Assistance

For the initiated who already know much about how to set things up, the small library of tutorials can still be great. Let’s say you forgot something from long ago, about some specific CPanel task or configuration. These folks are awesome with the on-site tutorials and self-help files. And that goes a long way with the ease of use when it comes to this provider.

Tutorials include basic WordPress, Joomla, SSH and FTP access, “Let’s Encrypt” SSL installation, domain forwarding, email forwarding, WHOIS registration help, and plenty more. For anything not found or other problems, contact SiteGround after placing your order. I needed to ask a question once or twice after joining, and the chat was a terrific option, and one communication method that is highly recommended here.

Even by working one’s way through the knowledge base they provide, the new initiate in the world of website hosting would learn quite a few things. Albeit, this would take some time, but could help with gaining a knowledge base for one’s self.

9. eCommerce Features

Do you feel like having a shop? Do you require one? How about a shopping cart to go with that store? All major carts are supported. SiteGround is an excellent hosting choice when wanting an online storefront.

Free online store options include OpenCart, Magento, PrestaShop or others. Having these available on standby can be invaluable. If you would rather not pay for an online store, one of these can be installed.

You can learn the program at your own pace. Though free, coding skill may be needed for style or configuration. This can be much cheaper than a monthly store subscription. The trade-off here is the time investment of learning.

Paid store options to choose from may be better suited for most people. Life can be quite busy. Setting up a store, coding things, changing style and figuring out problems takes time. Maybe more time than the regular person is able to invest.

Some cohesive features. Having things go together right makes the process easier. Alongside store options, the free SSL certificate is one thing already in place you don’t need to worry about for store security. There is also free PCI Compliance offered with the GoGeek advanced hosting plan. This is the Payment Card Industry Security Standard.

One could bypass the WordPress installation and go for an online store instead, or even have both together on one single domain! Having these different options truly is magnificent.

Have some passion for your subject. Or else it’s probably not worth the time to begin. These various ways to fashion a site are just some of the considerations one should give toward having an online presence. Take your time before deciding what may work best or what enthralls you enough to continue working on it over time.

10. Daily Backups

Finally, we’ve come to the daily backups feature. Superb! This helps if your own backup sources fail at some time. This is a very handy (if needed) source of site safety.

So then, with little money you could begin a website that costs maybe $50-$100 to operate for one full year. This web hosting provider could work out just great for your website needs! This is the first recommendation when it comes to domain hosting, and is what this site is built upon. They are currently my #1 choice for web hosting. Without a doubt, a valuable platform on which to build.

11. SiteGround Refund Policy

The SiteGround refund policy of a 30 day money back guarantee is great! You’ll likely not want to accept this refund though. If you are serious (even somewhat serious) about getting a web presence, having both a domain and hosting service is needed. And this hosting is so reliable, so stable, you’ll probably be happy enough with them as a provider.

The regular shared hosting plans are covered for the 30 day guarantee. Now, the expensive cloud or dedicated hosting is not exactly covered under this policy. Do some research before paying $100 monthly or more, if either of these advanced plans are applicable. Some hosting plans are quite expensive.

And if you decide to cancel for something that SiteGround could actually assist you with, maybe contact their support. They are known to usually be very quick to respond to inquiries. You may end up being pleasantly surprised and decide to stay on, if they can assist you with the need or problem you have.

12. SiteGround Renewal Price

The rate may increase after the initial period, as they bill yearly. For a budding business, you could just begin with one or two domains and hosting.

Here is a signup tip. Go for an initial extended period with SiteGround. Whether one, two or more years, lock in that low initial price. The SiteGround renewal price may be higher after that initial period. If you know you’ll be around with the domain for many years, take advantage of the lower signup pricing. However, don’t buy too much service you don’t need.

Again, the SiteGround renewal price can be higher than that of other providers. Often in life though, we get what we pay for. And likely, a portion of the higher cost goes toward the support team and the wonderful technology in place. So in some sense one is paying for these kind of “upper tier” services that are not easily found elsewhere. Having things run smoothly is valuable though. SiteGround can also save time, rather than deciding to pay for some cheaper service that drains your time away.

The support service alone is worth the cost, in my opinion. Likely, some problem will occur sooner or later with any domain and hosting provider. One could spend hours trying to handle some CPanel problem, or even days on hold waiting for some other provider to perform simple tasks. Quite frankly, these problems and others like them are not worth the monetary savings, period. You can let the support team help with any big questions, and rather efficiently.

Final advice. Forget all the back and forth emails over days. Forget an unhelpful support team. Forget just trying to do everything yourself in CPanel or within the UI (user interface) settings. Just go with SiteGround and free up your time. For your situation, time may be worth more than a few dollars saved with another provider.

Online Business Ideas for Beginners

December 30, 2023

You are perhaps curious about how to begin online tasks for success. Things may go better if you take things one step at a time. When it comes to online business ideas for beginners, there are quite a few. We’ll look over some in the following reading.

Post may contain affiliate links; click here for statement.

Some online concepts for the beginning entrepreneur.

This list proceeds from free, to low cost, to higher cost. This is so any beginner can grasp startup costs, if that happens to be an important factor.

The theory is … spend time, lose time. It’s best not to spend too much time wondering which is the best way. And time is something that doesn’t really return. A plan for action is nice to have, but not at the expense of total inaction.

So then, some of the online businesses available today include …

1. Sell Others’ Products

Money needed: None.

Offer to sell the products of other people you know. This is a great selling idea when having no funds. It can “get your feet wet” before heading off into the vast waters (into the world) of online selling. And it’s great because this doesn’t need money to begin.

Market through free methods. Stuff can be sold by having a yard sale, or by joining a neighborhood market sale event. If something is popular enough, make a do-it-yourself flyer. Ask if the local city council, school or church hall will let this be posted on the bulletin board. While online, there are many free local marketplaces, such as Craigslist or OfferUp.

So just ask others around you if they no longer need stuff. Then offer to sell these things and split the revenue returned. Think potential here. Possibly turn a $100 profit through a bit of work. Then take that to invest in products. Just buy low and sell high. Find things on-the-cheap and buy ’em up. Grow the revenue.

It’s nice to know you’re not in some race. Either grow fast or take your time. It’s all up to you as the individual. One way not to lose the revenue returned is to jot down what has been earned by selling. Then come back to that amount later and begin from there. For example, you could just put these earnings in some savings account. This can help if you live a very busy life.

2. Develop Websites

Money needed: $0-$100.

Now, even someone who doesn’t have much money can succeed with this. There are several cool options to learn HTML for free online. Learn the language of the web and develop a website for a needy individual or small company. This is one service that Draft Nook offers. In fact, if you need a website built or sections to be developed, just contact to inquire about this.

Some money on business cards could be used initially for marketing your skill. Or begin for free by the word-of-mouth effort, reaching out to others. When beginning, either go with a free hosting company or buy a domain with hosting. Place some examples of your work there.

Some effort is required beforehand. Learning HTML (hypertext markup language) and CSS (cascading style sheets) forms a nice framework from which to develop. And these are fairly easy to begin learning. Free resources can even be found online.

When developing further skills, JavaScript could be learned. Or even some programming language. By developing abilities, work opportunities become more abundant.

Try both tactics of developing skill and seeking work. By doing both, the portfolio could grow for an easier time of getting work later and more revenue could result from one’s skill level.

3. Sell Clothing Products

Money needed: $0-$200.

A Shopify Store is an excellent option for a clothing seller who wants to begin their own thing instead of relying on an already existing online store.

This initial one is for the do-it-yourself clothing store. Though it costs some, if you’re serious in developing or designing apparel, it’s recommended. The reason is you’re in control. A company can’t decide just to let you go, and there are no restrictions on the kinds of apparel that can be made. Further, third-party fees can be reduced or eliminated.

Shopify is easy to figure out and is a great option for the beginner. They offer a large article support system also. So there are plenty of advantages to going this route.

To get visits, one may need to either buy cheap ads or have some social influence to bring others over. These are at least two known easy ways to develop success here.

Third-party options also exist. These can still cost since fees exist, for each sale sometimes. If you haven’t artistic ability, buying and selling used vintage clothing is also an option.

What an interesting time to be alive! In times past, big clothing retailers or outlets were the places to go. On top of that, there existed only the brick-and-mortar store options. The modern days are vastly different. Many more options exist to begin selling clothing, even without having to purchase clothing before actually making sales. Add to that the possibility of having an online presence, and the chances for success increase for the budding entrepreneur.

One existing marketplace to sell clothing is called Etsy. This is doable since many individuals commonly go there for artistic apparel. Options include handmade clothing (probably quite difficult), licensing design work for clothing prints, selling vintage clothing from years past, and probably other ways too. Research would be needed beforehand, to determine how you want to sell clothing. It could be quite a process just to set things up, especially if the method considered is outside normal bounds.

It really is incredible the amount of opportunity available today. This is vastly different than say, the 1980s for example. Things really have shifted from the old brick-and-mortar way.

4. Make An Online Website

Money needed: $0-$200.

Own the business. That’s the big advantage here.

Think of things like this. It’s comparable to owning a house. Just pay the property taxes and everything’s okay. For the website, just pay the domain fee and hold onto the property. This might range from $0-$50 per year.

Another positive. Just like a house, a web domain’s value may appreciate over time. If you build it, they will come. A domain may be grown to new heights and attract buyers. This is relative to the effort involved in making something of the website property.

Costs involve both the domain and web hosting. If the domain is the house, the hosting is like the land. The domain needs somewhere to be hosted or placed online. Hosting might range from $0-$100 to get going. That’s why $200 tops should easily cover all these yearly expenses.

Huge variance. The topics of what to do with the site, how to initiate marketing, or what other tasks may be involved are too complex and varied to be covered here entirely. Many of these things depend on the individual, what business one wants, what topics one wants to cover, whether a site is for personal or business reasons, and many other things of course.

You could visit the domain and hosting recommendation page before beginning. If this is the chosen way, here are several areas of knowledge to think about beforehand.

Start A Business With 500 Dollars

5. Sell Physical Products

Money needed: $0-$500.

There are two big businesses today that allow the individual seller to sell through their marketplaces. Maybe you’ve heard of both, as they are Amazon and eBay. Both allow third-party selling to occur, as this helps to grow their big markets and influence. So the advantages work both ways. Try and play by the rules for either one, if you end up selling through either. If things seem strict, try and look at it like “smart business”. After all, they have much to watch over for the result of having stable growth and not heavy losses.

This kind of thing can be begun with zero dollars, just by finding things not needed anymore. Think of this like having an “online yard sale”. Alternatively, buy things with some initial capital and resell products for a high margin (the amount received from the sale of the product). Subtract the buy cost from the margin received, to determine the overall profit. For example …

Buy product for $10 cost
Sell for $30 total price
Subtract $5 selling fees
The margin left is $25 total
Subtract buy cost from margin
The profit is the $15 that is left

The reason both of these markets are preferred when selling physical products online has to do with their traffic. The amount of visitors each of these big sites receives makes selling far easier. Presume you try and begin your own online store from scratch. You’ll likely discover the big problem is the great lack of human visits. Without visitors, sales don’t occur.

If you read through the rules to begin on either of these two selling behemoths, you can discover which one is better for your circumstances. So because of the great amount of buyers, you can choose either of these as one of the best online business ideas for beginners.

You could visit the business mindset post regarding the topic of staying positive. Having some inspiration for having the appropriate mindset can go a long way.