Own a Computer? Put it to work!

“Own a computer?  Put it to work!”

The above quote is from a late-night “infomercial” that used to come on TV.  Like most late night infomercials, it tended to prey on people facing financially desperate times with promises of easy money.  I think the idea was to pay a web site owner a subscription fee for the privilege of running your own e-commerce mall.  Supposedly you would send your friends to your own “mall” and they would shop at the site and you would get the profits.  Basically the web is crawling with these types of “money making” opportunities.  Let the buyer beware!  Most of these schemes are making buckets of money, but only by the operators of the scheme.

I often get postcards in snail mail advertising some money-making opportunity using a home computer.  They usually fall into various categories such as:

- Online “mall” ownership
- How to use “EBay”
- Some type of Multi-Level marketing… sometimes even selling more identical web sites.

Most of these so called “money making” opportunities are not really legitimate.  They are usually some type of pyramid scheme where the only money being made is by the folks at the “top” of the pyramid. 

There are a few sites out there that really can help you make money.  The first one that comes to mind is of course “EBay”.  You don’t need to pay someone to help you figure out how to use EBay.  Just go to EBay and read their site!  They tell you how to get started, how to list items for sale, how to get paid, etc.  At VOLstate we have many customers who are EBay entrepreneurs.  They really are making money with their computers.  EBay is probably the easiest way to build a web based business, working from home.  VOLstate has customers that make a few dollars to help with the family budget to folks who have quit their day jobs and are full time “EBay”.

Another new trend to make money online is called “peer-to-peer” lending.  In this business you can borrow money for almost any purpose from other people.  Also, you can lend money for any purpose to other borrowers.  The interest rate paid or earned depends on the judgment of the community of lenders.  It is an auction of debt.  Sites such as “prosper” (http://www.prosper.com) and “lending club” (http://www.lendingclub.com) enable anyone to become a micro-bank, or enable many folks to borrow money at lower rates than they can get from their bank.  Everyone seems to be a winner here… borrowers pay less and lenders make more money than they can earn at the bank.  This concept is relatively new, popping up about 2 years ago, but growing dramatically.

Whatever you choose to make money online, it is very important to have credibility.  Very few people will do business with someone who uses a “@yahoo.com” email address or and “aol.com” email address.  The most successful small businesses on the Internet use their own domains for email (you@yourcompany.com), and they NEVER use a “free” email address.  Think about it… almost every scam or spam email comes from a free email address.  Don’t associate yourself with that kind of slime… use a domain based email address from a credible ISP (such as volstate.net), or use your OWN domain (yourcompany.com).  This will do wonders for you as you build an online business.

Another key to successful business online is reliability.  Make sure that your email and your connection are always available.  If you want a website and “yourcompany.com” email, don’t go and find the cheapest price in the world for that service…. you will get the worst service in the world with that cheap price.  If you have a problem you will probably not get to talk to a real person, and if you do that person will likely be in India, not in your home town.

We love to see successful e-entrepreneurs at VOLstate.  We have many successful small e-businesses that use our services to provide the tools they need to succeed.  From site hosting to domain based email to data backup, VOLstate has the tools you need to succeed.  Feel free to contact us to discuss your needs!

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