What to do with $10,000 ?

You're doing this back-asswards. You don't start with the money and then plan to spend it via a business plan. Develop your business idea, build your business plan and that'll tell you whether you need $0 or $100K.

Personally if I was in your shoes (young, likely no obligations) I'd be starting doing something affiliate or adsense related. Basically start building a website or many, figuring out how to bring in traffic, then figuring out how to monetize that traffic. Or find a niche product you're interested in or knowledgeable about, hook up with some wholesalers and start selling that.

There's two big benefits to this model. The first is that you have little financial commitment - you can do this handily on a few dollars of hosting every month and some hard work. The second is that there's just about no risk. You can continue to work at the 9-5 job and do this in the evening. Collect your paycheck and stick it out until you are making enough money to quit. There's no reason to lose your paycheck in the meantime.

In short, if I was in your shoes, I'd be starting up something like this without a dime (unless it was inventory) and working evenings and weekends until it took off. In fact, that's exactly what I did. Back in the late 90's I started a very niche bookstore online. I worked 9-5 in cubeville to support my family, came home and worked until 2 or 3 a.m every day, plus did phone calls and ordering from my car during lunch hours and coffee breaks. A year later I quit my job and haven't looked back since - after I was making money.

You're in an even better position because it sounds like you're young and likely without a lot of obligations. That means you can risk failure without a lot of consequences (i.e. lose your house because you can't pay your mortgage, can't feed the kids, etc).

Two additional general comments. 100% of people who strike out on their like this will tell you it was worth every minute of it - even if they failed! Secondly, you don't want to take risk, you want to manage it. That's why you shouldn't spend the $10K to start or even probably at all. Build you model, look at all the worst case scenarios and develop contingency plan to deal with them - in addition to removing any risk you don't need - like borrowing $10K you don't need. If you can build a business as a above without borrowing, you've just eliminated a huge risk.

 

I totally agree with wheel 100%.

In fact, I am in the same position he once was. I am not giving up my 9-5 because the pay is comfortable. I code my websites at night for a few hours and now drink coffee

A couple things I wanted to add ... but he pretty much covered this ... DONT SPEND MONEY until you have some money coming in. You might just loose that 10K and not have a job to boot.

I recommend partnering up with a pal. Someone motivated as you and ideally has a different skill set. Work together, split the cake. You can always work on a few solo projects, but BIG PROJECTS grab your pal! You'd be surprised what you learn...

Personally I'm not one for big complex business plans, but I dont borrow money. I use common sense, and figure out a few ways to monetize your sites. Its that easy.

Also stay FOCUSED. Dedicate your time and you'll kick ass in no time

 

Definitely have an idea for a site. Spend your free time now developing outside of work. I'm in the same boat as you, I work as a Web Developer 9 hours a day in a cubicle updating sites via a ticketing system. When I get home at 6pm, I spend 6-7 more hours developing my sites. It's A HELL OF A LOT of work and people don't realize that. I'm at the point now to where I need help. I have the site, the idea and the plan to make it happen. Everythings laid out for me now thanks to the hard work and if I had $10,000, I'd spend it on code improvements and advertising, advertising, advertising. Considering now, if I spend $20 in the right places, I see $120 in return which is $100 profit.

I would have never gone at this sitting with $10,000, thinking how I'm going to spend it. You need an idea first and a base. Once you get that which you can setup quite easily, I think you'll be a lot more succesful. Get an idea. I like to look at Digg.com as an example. One guy spent $1200 on a script from an idea and now it's one of the webs most popular sites. I like to look at sites like Digg for motivation.

 

Cool 78 has the right idea but its very conservative. Interest in a bank sucks !! I consitently buy real gold and silver bullion or coins and precious metal and resource mutual funds. Mark my words that you will NOT go wrong when precious metals and energy costs keep rising. You will make $ guaranteed. Then take that money and start a site then once you determine the area you are interested in and has potential to make you decent returns.

As far as internet stuff I am personally gettig into mushups sites with mapping and video servicing to a targeted market I am working in to serve that niche. Web 2.0 based api sites are the future of the internet in my and many others opinions so dont miss out!

You are 23 right? You have lots of time to figure things out. At 23 I slaved on oil rigs in northern Canada and worked my arse off alot harder then most people for many yeras before and after that. I KNOW exactly what you mean about staking your own claim.

Dont limit yourself to the norm. Webmasters from what I have found on many forums are a creative lot with many good ideas but many are stuck in a loop pattern. Build a site, put in all the seo crap and then wait for $ to come. Where is the traffic and $? Man maybe I will build alot of sites then do the same and hope traffic will come then ? Wheres the $? man I will make more sites that are the same old same old as millions of others. many of course build and maintain sites etc etc but just building and owning sites to me is useless and a waste of $$.

The key to turning $10,000 into say $15,000 in a short period then taking the $5,00 profit and making that into another $5,000 is SALES!! You must sell a product or service period. Website seo, gaming sites, blah, blah will not make you that kind of profit today unless you have alot more $ to put into advertising for that site.

Be patient, research and then cosnider where you are putting your $ where it will do the most good. Dont fritter it away in some mickey mouse website making you $500/month. Whats the point? It amazes me how many people on these forums have websites they put some much time and effort into and make no money. Oh sorry, many of you do it for the thrill and feeling of wortha and accomplishment however we ALL have to eat, sleep soemwhere and pay the f'ing bills so $$ from whatever source is a good thing.

 

Actually, all my websites at the moment are making money on auto-pilot. I "slaved away" with the build and tweaking of ads, but now do virtually nothing.

So you don't need a product to do well. Not to knock products ... cause I've made a ton of cash with a product too.

 

invest your $10K somewhere and continue working!

to succeed on web you need knowledge and information, not money

 

Be sure you have a way of paying the loaner back, as otherwise you might end up in trouble.

 

All good points here. I agree you need the idea first and passion about it. Make sure it's something you're willing to put the work in. Not everyone can have a milliondollarhomepage over night...although it’s a dream for many. Make sure you think about the idea all the way through, talk to people you trust, and do the research. You need to think of pros and cons. And you need to have a back up plan if things fail. I think most of us can agree we all have a dream to get out of the cubes. Some of us get lucky to do so. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes—eventually the recipe will be the right one! Good luck on your quest!

 

The problem is $10,000 isn't that much money nowadays in terms of internet monitization. Four years ago after the dotcom bust $10,000 would have gotten you MUCH further, but since online competion has SURGED in the past two years at a breakneck rate $10,000 is a drop in bucket. Launching a full fledge profitable website fomr scratch will cost possibly $50,000+ with promotion, professional design, scrips, ect. On the other hand you can just get lucky and lauch a social networking type site that people will flock to in droves, but the odds of this are quite slim! Communities often take years to form if you are starting from scratch by yourself.

I would not use ANY more to hire an SEO 'expert'.ONly big firms can benefit most from SEO companies. 99% of SEO firms are scams. The legit ones are VERY VERY exepensive due to the increase in internet competion. We're talking $6,000-15,000 a month.

I would recommend working on an offline business and using a website to supplement your business. Offline advertising is far cheaper than online advertising and you will see a far greater ROI. You can get a nice site deisgned for $500 and take the reminaing money to promote offline.

Aquiring a website is quite risky due to the scams and serp fluctuations. $1000/month is often only $100. Sellers tend to inflate earnings to justify a lower multiple (since few people seem to buy sites at the 10x multiple anymore).

It is VERY risky spending 10K on a site unless the site is VERY well established with long temr placement in SERPS. If it drops in serps or gets banned for some reason your investment is up in smoke and there is nothing you can do about it.

 

Are you kidding, so he borrows at 10% and invests it for what 3-8%, now thats a business plan

 

Thank you for all the responses. A lot of good points have been made here.

 

I like this idea! There are a lot of sites which are performing much less than what they can due to lack of funding or marketing or any other reason. I'd say, take your time, research and find a few sites like these 4-5, buy them at price like $200 and then invest in marketing, adding features, giving it a new look etc.

 

honestly if you dont know what the best thing to do would be or are generalizing on what to sell or what site to buy that already has a revenue stream you probably should be investing $10,000 in starting your own business. not trying to be the bad guy. Just do some research first and find EXACTLY what you want to do, exactly what you want to sell or Exactly the site you want to buy and then concern yourself with getting the money after that point

 

Personally I wouldn't buy an existing site. I think it might be difficult to be able to veryify that a specific site would earn you the same amount as the current owner. Lots of factors would bear on this. I think the best thing would be to use that money on outsourcing development in very small chunks. Come up with some good site ideas in high paying niches then develop them. Outsource the parts that you aren't good at. But keep it all in small bites, that way if you make mistakes, they won't ruin you.

 

I'd invest in Stocks, Bonds and Funds.

 

You should invest in some intelligence - he has to borrow at 10%

 

If you are not ready to compete with the best don't invest because you will probably lose the money.
Or hire someone smart and give him 40% of the business, and sit back and relax.
Be smart, work smart and you will make money smart.

 

the only sites I would consider buying are: sites with registered users, or sites with lots of content there already.

A lot can be done with a re-skin and an additional perk for the users

 

Don't put it in the bank, don't buy shares. You're paying 10% on that money, right? Even if you're not it's a complete waste of time.

Create a site, try buying a small one, get your feet wet!

 

Go to Disney World!

ok, really now

use 20% for advertising, and save the rest