Considering A Small Business To Generate Additional Income (college student)

[wookieeassassin]

I am a college student in my early twenties and I feel that it takes far too much time to work a standard "college student" job for the pay that is normally received. However, I also have thought that I really should/want to have a decent amount of money saved up by the time I finish my degree (about two years). I'd define "decent" as about $10000-$15000.

I already have a couple jobs that pay for my necessary expenses, and they really only take a few hours a week for me to do. That being said, most of what I'd make with this business would saved.

So basically, I'm trying to think of ways I could generate passive income, or income that doesn't require an unreasonable time commitment. Also, the type of service would ideally have few governmental restrictions and wouldn't require a large amount of start up capital. Haha, sounds like the perfect business right?

Anyway, if there has been anyone else that has been successful doing something similar to what I want, how did you determine the best service to offer?

At the moment I'm thinking of using open source software (low start up capital) to provide certain some [not extremely advanced] computer services to residential customers. I don't know how much of a market I would have for this and I'm not really sure as to how I would market it it find out.

Also, if there did happen to be a market sufficient for what I want to do, I'm wondering about possible legal issues that could occur and how to handle them. For example, say I was performing X service and a couple days later a customer claims that I corrupted some of their important files or that I did something to cause their computer hardware to be break of malfunction.

Thanks.

[Orangify]

Maybe an e-commerce website dropshipping niche products?

Just a thought .

[krupt]

What exactly is an e-commerce dropshipping niche products? Can it be any type of product? Can you do it with branded goods like Nike or something? Then you get credit/small % for each sale?

[wookieeassassin]

From the little I know, I think you could do it with most things. Dropshipping means that you don't keep things personally in stock, the company just ships it directly to the customer.

Figuring out how to setup such a website and choosing the product seems like it would be fairly difficult though. I really wouldn't have an idea where to get that type of information.

[Orangify]

Yeah, you don't hold any inventory but it gets sent directly to your customers.

If you get a free e-commerce template (use google), pay for a good catchy URL and some hosting, all you need to do is add your products to the site - if you get a wordpress e-commerce template, it'll be very very easy . The hardest part is sourcing dropshippers - Google TheWholesaleForum, you'll find some info!

Good luck

[Gary Barzel]

Drop shipping requires very little investment to start and can grow to a large business if done correctly. You need to find the right product and the right supplier in order to succeed. You also need to make sure that your own inventory monitoring system is in sync with the drop shipper's actual inventory. You don't want to run into any problems if you have customers that ordered items but the drop shipper has nothing left in stock.

[MadDAVO]

Hi there,

I believe that everything first starts from the mind. In order to succeed you really need a successful mindset. That being said, I have done very well on adsense, online business, and affiliate marketing. I wrote an ebook worth $1490, basically because that's what you would learn from successful people, and how they think. I offer the ebook for free at my site. Rich Student

I believe online business you can earn a lot, as you'll also have to market offline, do both online and offline. In order to know what to sell, look at latest magazines on topics you're interested in, and keep up with the latest news, and updates. Eventually you will find something worthwhile. Dropshipping is good choice, as you can earn a lot. The key ingredient is to target a niche.

If you have any questions you can contact me from my website.

Wish you all the success!

[R.D Chavez]

I agree E- commerce is a low cost easy start up way to do what you are wanting. But I believe that you need to be unique or better than the next to succeed. I like to be creative so my advice to you is to step back and think about how you are going to achieve success. Success is simple but not easy.
How are you going to be better then the next E-commerce?
How are you going to appear differently then the next?
why would people choose you over the next?
Let your wheels turn

[experimentjon]

How would one differentiate themselves in the dropshipping business? The most obvious would be on price, but then I'm sure the suppliers have floors on MAP.

[Keith.S]

Dropshipping is good in term of low investment. So it's easy to get in and result in extremely high competition. You may finding something from your specialty or skill you have.