If You Had To Start From Scratch With Zero Money What Would You Do?

I would reverse-engineer the successful PPC marketers and join-in.

Will

Get a job. It takes money to make money. period.

There are many free resources online to get you started. It takes time and a great deal of hard work developing a product or a service to get started. First join CJ.com or Clickbank and find a product or a service that best interests you. There are many free hosting accounts that you can apply for. It is easy to create a website and many have valuable options. Once you join and find a product or service, Learn all there is to learn about that product and or service and create a site dedicated to it. You can make money , Marketing and advertising your product and or service takes a great deal of dedication as well. There again there are many options available for free. Promote, promote, promote. There is a great deal of money to be made selling and or promoting other peoples products or services.

You will find that creating an article or articles dedicated to your products or services can prove to be very valuable. There are hundreds of free sources online to post your articles.

Always include revenue streams with your site as well. Adsense, clickbank, CJ.com are just a few of the most popular. Your content and advertising revenue should always match subject, Category, Keywords. etc

(SEO) search engine optimization is an important part of your website. Google webmaster tools would be a great place to get an understanding of how it all works.

Hi,

I would fire up one of the many methods I've learned on making money from nothing.

Then I'd invest that money I got out of thin air in advertising.

Then I'd set here on the WF and talk about it.

It takes money to make money simply isn't true. It's a myth perpatrated by those who know better, to keep "us" in line.

George Wright

I started off with ziltch money. I just did article writing, still do it and it makes me good money.

I would unsubscribe from all the IM list I had joined and stick to one blueprint. Take action and persevere until success came with one system!

Regards

Nigel

I think I'd start off with some free sites at places like Weebly, Yola and Blinkweb (not Blogspot and Squidoo and HubPages!!), using either their subdomains or a free domain-name from co.cc or whatever, until I could afford a $1 .info domain-name from GoDaddy. I'd become a Clickbank affiliate, get some review sites up with an opt-in using a free autoresponder (that would be the really painful part, because that's really not a good thing to do!), and start promoting by article marketing, writing such high quality articles that they get widely syndicated as quickly as possible. Much the same as I do now, in fact, but without spending a penny to get started.

I'd invest in Aweber with the very first money I earn, though: that's the one thing for which having literally no start-up money is a great drawback.

If I felt like mastering Wordpress (which I don't), I might even put up a load of Wordpress blogs on the free hosting at byethost.com (reliable hosting, no advertising, etc.)

I'd do surprisingly little differently from what I do now. But a lot differently from when I actually started, knowing nothing.

I wouldn't waste any time promoting any high gravity products.

I wouldn't waste any time promoting any products with a vendor's opt-in on the sales page.

I wouldn't waste any time trying to promote anything without building lists, or without having a proper website of my own (which costs nothing).

I wouldn't waste any time writing articles for other people at $50 per hour if/when I could be applying that time to my own business more profitably at an earlier stage.

You actually need very, very little money to start. A few $ for a few .info domain-names helps, and enough to pay Aweber $20 per month (and the first month's only $1). You really don't need to spend money, apart from that. Spending on hosting, and on .com domain-names is completely unnecessary to start off.

Article Marketing, SEO studying and writing on content sites like Demand to generate money.

Find some hot CPA offers and promote them with offline flyers.

Seriously.

This can be done. Ive actually done it. 6 years ago I only had 100 bucks in my account...found a good selling affiliate program..promoted it with adwords and ysm...I was making about 400/ week.

Then I instantly quit my job and used that money to invest in other online ventures.

Today (since things have changed a little bit since the google cash days and since I have developed a lot more skills)..Id do it a little different.

I would start off writing articles for other people (using a rentacoder or elance account)...save the money I earned and invest it in more costly online ventures, like creating ebooks, writing sales copy and selling stuff through clickbank or a number of other things that "cost" a little money to do.

If you truly have nothing to start out with I would start by reading all the FREE information and suggestions on this forum. I would educate the heck out of myself.

The more you know about what you are doing the easier it is to do.

I think the biggest mistake newbies make is not making educated decisions on their investments.

For example: If I promote a program through adwords I know for a fact if its going to sell based on the sales copy and the competition and cpc. Im able to make an educated decision BEFORE I invest one dime.

Or If I create my own product the same applies.

This is the biggest problem I see with newbies. They read a book, do what it tells them and cross their fingers hoping it works and 90% of the time they are flushing money down the drain because they didnt make a calculated investment.

Learn to calculate your risk, and profit margin based on either your knowledge experience or both and you cant fail.

Diversify HEAVILY.

I have 10 LOW risk high gain projects going at any given time. If only one works...Im making big money..if they all fail I have lost little.

But before you do any of the above invest in educated. 90% of this asset (education) can be found free and if you chose the RIGHT mentors (trustworthy) youll have made a good investment of your time.

Just dont make the newbie mistake of bouncing around blindly from sales pitch to sales p[itch throwing good money after bad. Thats how you end up spinning your wheels.

So...put yourself in a position (educate yourself) so that you can understand your market, your competition. Calculate your risk and gain.

THEN Pick out 10 money making methods that are low risk high gain and each day spend about 30 minutes on each. Ive been doing this for years and my business is build on this method.

I have had a few crash and burn. Some have died out some have grown. There have been many ups and downs. But I have also made a lot of money.

And you can rest assure if one died out today because of some google slap or something else All my eggs are not in one basket.

But if I lost everything today, I know I could at least make a few hundred a day writing articles for other people or writing sales copy. My family ant gonna starve.

And thats another thing. Learn a SKILL. Thats something money cant buy and it will keep food in your belly

If I had zero money I'd get a job. While you can make money without spending any, it takes longer and you will eventually have to waste a lot of time retooling your business or you'll limit your income potential.

So I get a job and earn enough to pay for a domain name, hosting, and an autoresponder. I'd also keep working that job until I was making as much online as from the job so I had some money to invest in things as needed.

Then I'd decide what market I wanted to start off in. I'd create my first commercial product, then write a few free reports. I'd distribute some free reports to ebook directories and sites like Scribd to get some links and traffic. I'd set up a couple reports on squeeze pages to build my mailing list. All the free reports would sell my commercial product.

I'd build some content for the site and SEO the heck out of it to get organic traffic. I'd buy some traffic via PPC and I'd encourage people to link to my site by offering them a reward for doing so. I quickly built hundreds of links to my first site this way. I'd give review copies of my commercial product to as many legit newsletter publishers as I could find, and offer them 50-75% commissions for reviewing my product.

In the meantime I'd be working on a second product to tie in with the first. I repeat the process for this product, plus offer it to my mailing list and those who bought the first product.

There's more, but I have to run. Wife wants me to do a little repair work. By that point though, I should be making enough to have several options open to me.

I personally would start article writing and forum posting then get a couple of niche sites online. I would go from there and expand, eventually outsource my niche campaigns

I would probably freelance until I gained enough money to buy a domain and cheap hosting. You need a little bit of capital to get going with online ventures, but thankfully not hundreds of thousands of dollars like you do for an offline business

I started with zero dollars doing my own article marketing, but I was targeting really bad keywords for my niche.

I'd go back and do the proper keyword research first. That would have saved me the first 3 months I wasted.

I honestly would not change much as it is all a process and that process is as important as anything, especially when it comes to long term success.

I'd start by developing a marketing plan and go from there. You can't start with no money, but you can start with very little money. Find someone to follow that is successful and that makes sense to you. There are some wonderful internet mentors, but some absolute crooks as well. Do your homework.

If I had to start with zero money online, I would definetly start out with writing articles and selling them.

Or to get some fast sales work a bit on yahoo answers, even tho' it wouldnt produce much revenue, it would be a start.

But definetly I would write articles daily and sell or submit them myself.

TALK ...less

LISTEN....loudly

I would get a job in an SEO firm, as an intern if nessecary, then go to as many conventions I could to learn from the best.

Then I would offer services (writing, submission, backlinking) to others and use that money to invest in some subscriptions.

Then go to work at creating affiliate sites promoted trough a mix of article marketing and SEO longterm. I'd flip those affiliate sites which failed and build on those that succeeded.

Also, I would work A LOT more and outsource where I could.

get a part time job......invest in domains or cpc advertising

You will not succeed, until you want it as bad as the need to breath.

I'll write product reviews using Xomba and be an affiliate marketer for Amazon. This works for me and I have not spent a single $ for it.

Me ... I'd learn a skill that was an important part of the IM equation (or could be).

Get good at that skill (eg. article writing, copywriting, Wordpress blogs, Camtasia, Webinars, Membership sites etc) and offer my services as a freelancer.

Then I'd start to leverage that knowledge by creating products and teaching others.

The I'd start to leverage that product and teaching experiences somemore ...

And then I'd leverage that .... (you get the idea).

In my opinion it's very easy to get into IM without ever developing a real skill which allows you to provide value to others. When I mean a real skill ... to become an expert and know that subject. To pass that 'Oprah' test where you'd happily go on her show and tell the world that you are a "....[insert skill] expert"

Al

I start with something free and available out there. Be resourceful and work my way back. Get Google Adsense up & runnng, learn with every step I take and make sure I don't make the same mistake again.

If no money, just use the free stuff to build your website.

Free domain, free hosting, free auto responder(500 subscriber only).

I think most the problem is on the traffic.

if i had zero money, i would really start working for money first.
because everything you do online won't pay you until some time later.
so yup, get instant money by doing jobs, to feed myself.
with more money, do everything else like what everyone's saying here.

this is a good post, because it explores the different ideas of starting with little or no money. Thanks !

Build a website that helps people conquer a problem.

Find the people with the problem on Twitter and start networking with them.

Being polite and all that too.. no big massive ugly salesletter to give them a bad opinion. Just something that looks normal and inviting.

Thanks guys.

I'll be reading some list building material I found recently and I'll start working on listbuilding right away -- as well as product creation.

I'd offer some form of service like design or writing and when I've got a decent sum say about a few hundred I'd go into adsense.

Hi all, some great posts here for relative new comers.

Thanks and keep it up.

I think having some money is always best, but it's still possible to profit without any.

I would set up some landing pages using a free wordpress blog or blogger blog (or even squidoo) and then start writing articles like mad. Promote in formus, social media, etc. I guess it would be general bum marketing. Effective is some ways, but obviously in the long term it would be better to invest in a real website and other tools such as list building software.

Interesting responses here, if I was to start again with no money, assuming I had some knowledge and skills which I could capitalise on I would offer these skills whilst undercutting the competitors to ensure I would create a large enough custom as quickly as possible.

With this money, let's say $50-$100 I would purchase a domain name & hosting, a high quality PLR Product with a sales page and all the graphics/content you would need to get going and set up my first website.

I would then create a blog on the same website as the main site and another directory with the sales page in. I would add my own banners to the blog and add the articles.

I would then submit the articles to ezine articles for a sudden burst of traffic, rewriting the titles I would then submit these to the top 10 (in my opinion) other article directories.

Assuming I have already added all the essential plugins such as Google Analytics, Google sitemaps, All in one SEO, Homepage excerpts plugin and the rest. I would continue writing articles, perhaps double what I received when purchasing the PLR and repeat the previous step.

Having gained a good amount of traffic by now, I should of been able to test whether this converted on my blog to a sale. If not I would tweak, and repeat.

Adding a couple of other marketing strategies in to the mix and tweaking my campaign I would be guaranteed to see a result one day...as they say persistance is the key to success.

1) Spend VERY little time looking and a lot more time doing
2) Learn keyword research
3) Buy a targeted domain name to promote an affiliate product
4) Promote the crap out of that product and NOTHING else until the site ranked #1 and was making regular, steady sales
5) Do services to make cash
6) Learn to outsource to not have to sit and do those services

Learn, apply, Learn, apply.

I'm another of those who believes if you're not willing to invest in your business from the outset then it's probably not worth trying in the first place.

I also don't buy the 'I have no money' line, anyone who can afford a computer and an Internet connection has enough cash to get started properly by cutting back on things they currently spend money on. Some may say, well the guy could be a down and out working from the free Internet at the library and eating at the soup kitchen - but to that I'd say starting an online business should be the least of his priorities right now.

Of course, it can be done but waiting for adsense payment and affiliate commissions from submitting youtube vids or writing hubpages is not time efficient. Far better to get yourself out there and wash a couple of neighbours cars, or cut someones grass for $5 a time. Cut 10 lawns or wash 10 cars and you've got $50 to play with - that could last you 6 months in this business.

First month start up costs:
$5 for a hosting account
$8 for a domain
$1 (or free) list building provider

Total $14 or less than £10.

Affiliate marketing must have the lowest entry bar of any business I can think of. I guess that's why so many people fail.

Several great points made so far.

Steven makes one in particular that I think should be repeated. He mentioned that to say that you 'don't have any money to spend' is probably less than truthful. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, most of us could get a hold of say, an extra $30/mth to start an email marketing campaign.

It's actually that type of thinking that presents a bigger stumbling block to our success than the lack of money does.

Most of us could make a few minor changes to our spending habits and find a way to scrape $30 together each month. It may require self discipline, certainly, but if our desire to succeed was strong enough, the discipline becomes easy.

For instance, if the government started taxing you for oxygen and the charge was $30/mth, would your response be the same? Would you say, "Oh well, I don't have it. I guess I'll have to go without this month?" Or, would it be the first thing you set aside money for each month?

The financial circumstances were the same in both scenarios, the only thing that changed was the desperate need to keep alive.

Now if we decided to approach our business with that same desperate need to keep it alive and flourishing - our results would be astronomical!

So, to say that we have 'no money' to spend, in most cases, is probably untrue.

That being said, if I was to start over from scratch with very limited funds, I would do the one thing that just about every highly successful marketer/company does and that is - SET UP AN EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGN.

I would find a niche with a starving crowd - purchase a hosting account, a domain name and set up an autoresponder account ($30/mth total) - create a valuable free offer to give away in exchange for their email address - nurture my list by over-delivering value for free and THEN recommend affiliate products that they would find useful. After my income started to materialize, I would learn effective product creation and spend a certain amount of time each day developing my own product to sell within my chosen niche.

I understand and appreciate that there are many different marketing strategies that work well. I think this thread itself is a testament to that fact.

However, I feel strongly that email marketing provides the most return for your efforts (you have the ability to market repeatedly to people you know have interest in your niche) and when you combine that with how relatively easy and inexpensive it is to get started and maintain, you wind up with a business strategy that every business can flourish with -Low investment - High Yield.

So there's my take on starting from scratch. Although the strategy is important, the real catalyst for success is in your mental approach.

Our desire to succeed is a direct indicator of how successful we will actually be.

Just about everyone wants to be successful. We're human beings and we all have a desire to have nice things, live comfortably and enjoy life. Simply wanting to be successful doesn't separate us from the pack.

Developing the discipline skills that it actually takes to become successful is where most of us fall off. It's so easy to hide behind things like, 'It takes money to make money,' 'I just don't have the time,' 'I can't find the proper guidance,' ect, and we wind up convincing ourselves that our lack of success is a product of extenuating circumstances beyond our control.

The reality of it is - we simply do not want it bad enough. It isn't that important to us.

If you're starting from scratch, my strongest suggestion would be this -

Take a weekend and consider what you would do with your life if money was not a problem. If you could wave a magic wand and live any life you wanted, doing anything you wanted - what would it be?

Then ask yourself what's stopping that from happening. You only get one life and you owe it to yourself to live that life on your terms.

More then likely, a lack of money will be what's standing your way. Understanding that is amazing. In order for you to live the life you've always dreamed of - you just need to solve your money problem. In order to solve your money problem - you just need an avenue that will allow you to earn enough money to carry out your dreams.

The great news is - you've already found that outlet. Internet Marketing can provide you with the ability to never have to worry about money again. It may take you five, six, seven years (less if you're extremely driven), but that's a small price to pay to live the life you've always dreamed about living.

Identify your goals - Identify the obstacles standing in your way - Come up with a plan to overcome those obstacles and then - Put your plan into action.

So many of us fail to do this and our results are indicative of that fact.

Whether we're starting from scratch or our business is already off the ground, it's imperative to our long-term success that we identify what we truly want out of life and then tailor make our plans to achieve that.

Once we do this, the power of our goals and the desire to meet them provides the momentum we need to propel us towards them.

That's the real 'secret' of success.

The level of our desire determines whether or not we allow obstacles to stand in our way and we can control the level of our desire by getting ultra-clear on what it is we want out of life and then creating an achievable plan for accomplishing that.

No matter what stage we're at in our careers - whether we're starting from scratch or we're mid-stage - let's make sure we've taken the time to establish what it is that we want out of life and that our plan is structured to make that a reality.

I wish you all the best. Great thread!

Brokering is another one. Sourcing products you know people want and contacting buyers with your cheap prices. You need zero money to be a middleman.

I would:

A: Find a friend with a phone and internet access.
B: Explain my dire situation to them.
C: Ask them if I could work off it for 3-4 days...
D: I would sell somebody a website.
E: I would make $1500.
F: I would get my own phone and internet, and thank my friend for helping me get through a hard time.

Thats EXACTLY what I would do, and as George Wright says, "Have Done".

Can we assume we have Internet access? If so, then step-by-step.

I'd get a FREE web site, I'd use Tripod because they just upgraded.
I'd get a FREE Skype account and some FREE software to record Skype calls.

I'd visit the WF and ask for the opportunity to do an INTERVIEW with a successful warrior.

I'd write out some well thought out questions, send them to "Warrior" who agrees, give him a chance to digest and sketch out answers.

I'd then execute the Skype call. Record it.

Offer it UNedited for FREE to Warriors, well, I'd ask for their permission, that is, I'd want an email addy for the "audio" report.

Find ANOTHER successful "Warrior" and repeat the process, only this time, I'd let the list have it for a small price, maybe 5 bux, offer it as a WSO, once I've sold 4-5 copies.

Rinse and Repeat until I run out of Successful Warriors. Write a WSO about the process, and then find other Models of Success to interview.

Start with nothing. End up with VALUE, and value can be sold pretty easily on the net.

gjabiz

Chris...if you could afford $25 to join the private forums here on the Warrior Forum, that would diffently be your best bet. A lot of great information there as well as free products and strategies for you to try