Starting your own small business from an online website?

[Gizmo]

I have been thinking about starting my own business online for a while. This would be a 2nd job besides my day job. I have worked a couple years as a website developer and about 6 years for volunteer organizations. If I can't find an IT job why not create one for myself ! I have a few online ideas. It would not be expensive to set up since I have set up small business websites for friends before that were very cheap to make. They successful sold products online thanks to the websites I made for them. I have a few ideas for types of online memberships users would buy and the services I would offer them. I could do it as cheaply as say $100 a year whole setup fee for the business website. I can write an entire PhP/ Java website myself that looks just as good as this website in about a week. I wrote websites with online forums just like this all the time for a couple years when I worked as a programmer. No need to pay programmers since I can code everything myself from Java, PhP, SQL, AJAX, etc. I could also maintain the website myself.

I am not looking to make it rich with this, just a small business besides my full-time job to make a few extra thousand dollars a year. I created websites all the time for profit that made money for employers before, why not do it myself if I can't get hired and keep 100% of the paycheck for myself

Anyone try this before?

[CleeIB]

Hi Gizmo,

I have a friend who makes a comfortable living as a full-time freelance web developer. Granted, she is very motivated and has been in the game for a long time (about a decade), but her example shows that it can be done.

Of course, if you are seeking to form a business with a size of one, then you cannot offer the same advantages that a multi-person shop can: scale, large resources, etc. You will have to build your reputation on high quality of work, personalized service, and networking.

And since you already build websites, the cost of starting yours is only your own time. Go for it!

[Brent Jones]

My only challenge with this business model is that there is so much competition. I don't say that to discourage you because it's definitely a service that is in demand, but there are cheap and free alternatives. Sure, they may not be as good, but they have a lot of advertising money behind them.

I think it would be a tough start but if you worked hard, it could grow into something else. Start considering what your competitive advantages would be.