President Obama has proclaimed May 16-20 National Small Business Week to recognize the contributions of small businesses to the economic well-being of America. There are an estimated 27.2 million small businesses in the United States, and more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business.
"As the characters in the film The Social Network said, you only have two choices in life -- get a job or create a job," said Ostrofsky, who has been an online entrepreneur for over 15 years and has made over $100 million -- starting with a $5,000 car loan. His sale of the domain name Business.com for $7.5 million is in the Guinness Book of World Records, and his current companies (including SummerCamps.com, CuffLinks.com, Blinds.com, and eTickets.com) bring in over $75 million annually.
In his new book, "Get Rich Click! The Ultimate Guide to Making Money on the Internet," Ostrofsky features dozens of rags-to-riches success stories about small business owners across America. There's Goodecompany.com, a family-owned Texas barbecue business that has vastly increased sales online by shipping their signature pecan pies and condiments countrywide. Blinds.com generated $63 million in 2010 but began with $1,500 and a one-page website and is now the 10th fastest growing e-commerce company.
"Today you only need Internet access and a smartphone to start working and seeing results," Ostrofsky said. "Small-business owners have a wealth of opportunity and advantages literally at their fingertips. They can find their niche, their customers, their supplies, and their labor more efficiently than large companies can, and they can quickly innovate and update their products as the need arises."
There are five very easy ways that anyone can start making money online, with little to no start-up costs, Ostrofsky writes in "Get Rich Click":
-- SELL IT - THEN BUY IT: Find something you want to sell (new or used,
cheap or expensive - just know that you can get it if or when you sell
it). Take a photo of it, and post that on eBay. Sell it, collect the
money from the buyer--THEN go and purchase the item to send to its new
owner.
-- INTERVIEWS: Do an interview with someone on a topic of interest (5
ways to detect breast cancer; 10 ways to catch a spouse cheating, etc.),
and videotape it, if possible. Download that video to one of hundreds of
firms online that will transcribe it overnight so it's in your "inbox"
the next morning. You now have a video, an audio podcast, and an ebook
print transcript to sell. List all of these for sale on a site called
Clickbank.com, which sells digital products, and they will manage the
sales for you.
-- AFFILIATE SALES: You can become an "affiliate" seller, meaning you sell
products or services to others and get paid a commission for each sale,
without ever buying, touching or shipping the items. You sign up as an
"affiliate" (for example, on Amazon.com), and they give you a code (in
the form of a link). When you suggest to others that they buy a certain
item from that site, you get a percentage of the sales made. You can
even post that link in your email signature, Twitter feed or Facebook
status updates.
-- DOMAIN NAMES: Making money buying and re-selling domain names is easy.
Go to SEDO.com (or one of many other sites) to buy domain names that are
dropped by their current owners--people forget to renew them or they
expire. There are still many great generic and company-specific names
available.
-- LEAD GENERATION: Lead generation is when you are paid to give a "hot"
lead to a company or website. You sign up to be an affiliate of, for
example, a college or a credit card company. Most colleges and credit
card firms pay $25 for a completed application. If you can find a way
to get to people to apply for college or a card, you can get paid $25
per application filed. You are getting paid for leads.
This information is critical and inspiring in these tough economic times--as more people lose their salaried jobs or make a deliberate decision to strike out on their own. "The real e-commerce boom is just beginning," said Ostrofsky, "and there are abundant opportunities for motivated and enthusiastic small businesses owners, all a click away."
Angela Hayes, Goldberg McDuffie Communications, 212-705-4221, ahayes@goldbergmcduffie.com
Megan Beatie, Goldberg McDuffie Communications, 818-678-6288, mbeatie@goldbergmcduffie.com
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