Greetings from miami

[WallaceT]

Hey everyone,

I found this website recently and have been blown away by the REAL help and encouragement on here, I decided this is the place where I can get my web venture off the ground, Please guys here me out and ANY help will be appreciated

I will give a little background of myself and from there you guys can geta a better understanding of where I am and where I am trying to go, there is soo much to say and I hope you guys can bear with me to point me in the right direction.

I am 23 years old and live in Miami, Fl, I have with a couple friends/ business partners invested in real estate for the last 5 years. First 2 years we didn’t do anything except learn the hard way, in 05 we started to pickup the hang of it in 06 we actually made money, 07 we kinda slowed down because many of our mentors and people who we confide in told us a slowdown was coming. Now in 08 we have began to pickup again while adjusting to the new market conditions (we never buy houses on speculation, we have always bought houses that had 25-40% equity, so we never really got burned. THANK GOD). In 07 when we were kinda slowing down my frields decided to nvest some money in mobile carwash, after some contacts we ended up getting contracted to be in condo buildings and washing the tenents cars in the garages, but I was more hands off and never eally got in because I have no intrest in that business and decided not to get in, but did help along the way and still do til this day.

Me and my friends have known eachother since we were little, we tend to have fun (maybe too much). Maybe some would say we have a lazy approach to things, I like to do things that intrest me and keep my attention when thinking of ideas to start I wanted to do things that interest me, Football is my passion but I cannot think of a way to put that together with the web, also videogames, girls, music, and working out are all things I have a lot of intrest in. I spend soo much time online that I feel like I should be finding a way to make some money


I know I should but I don’t really know where to start, from reading what you guys have wrote in the past I am sure you will tell me to put my real estate knowledge to use, but I would think that market is kinda saturated with people, I always come up with greta ideas but don’t know where to go with them. Questions that will help me,

Why sometimes I see people say a web startup cost 500k- 1 mil to get off the ground while there are cheap websites that can be done?

How long does it take to see reasonable money off a website? ( I know it depends on a number of factors, but just a semi avg. if I went head first for a year) reasonable being 1-2k

What is hosting and servers and all this other internet language? (I know I have a lot to learn) If I wanted to create an application for others to use (I told you I have many ideas)where would I begin, could I get someone with more knowledge then me to do it, how would I be sure they wouldn’t steal my idea?

I don’ want to get to far ahead but this is some of the questions I have in mind, ANY and ALL help will be appreciated

I am not a web person but I love the web, I would call myself a business minded individual and with all the power the web has it only makes sense to try and combine both and see what happens


At this time I would like to tell Lisa how much of an inspiration she is, I am in awe and would like to offer my upmost respect at the fact to see a young African American women achieve so much, you are truly a blessing and I hope you continue to be blessed

[lisa]

Welcome to the forums WallaceT. Thanks for the compliment. Wow, heck of an introduction you got there. Gee, where to start....

As far as your "how long to make money" question, you are right in terms of it varies and I don't like to answer that question with specifics. But yes if you work hard it's reasonable to think you can be making $1,000/month after a year. Some make that sooner, some never make it. A lot depends on your work ethic, how well you grasp internet marketing and the niche you choose.

Hosting is what you need to publish your site. It's a company that houses your web files and gives you access to save your files to the Internet. A lot of people here recommend http://www.HostGator.com because you can host multiple sites (domain names) and they are pretty reasonably priced with excellent support.

[WallaceT]

yeah, I know the intro was kinda long (maybe an understatement, lol), but just wanted to get everything out so it would give you guys a better view of where I am coming from.

hopefully you guys can take the time out and give me some advice

[ssmorgan]

Hi Wallace,

It's great to have people like you on board... ambitious, motivated, and ready to learn! Having said this, welcome to Website Babble!

As you are aware, your post raises many important questions that span a lot of the topics discussed in this forum.

I don't think I will attempt to answer all of the questions you raised right now, but I want to provide some direction concerning the beginning phase, i.e. where to start.

You mentioned you have many interests and ideas... that's great, since a lot of people want to make money online, but have no ideas. I don't think you need to start with real estate. Although you may be able to find a unique twist or approach that hasn't been covered before online. So don't exclude it just yet.

Here is what I would do if I were you: I would make a list of about 5 topics (aka niches). Ideally, this is what I would look for in a "topic". 1) I have some interest or knowledge in it, 2) a good size group of people are also interested in it, 3) these people are willing to spend money on it, 4) a sub-group of those people are really passionate or really hungry for something within this topic, 5) I can think of ways to add value to this group of people.

I would start with making that list. It sounds like you have a lot of ideas already, but to help narrow/focus your topic, watch commercials or ads... identify the markets and people that are targeted. I think the most important aspect of focusing a topic is narrowing it down to a group of people.

This is where I would start Please let me know if you want me to clarify or elaborate on some of those things.

Now, regarding your question about why it could take $500k to $1M for a web start-up. Some of these websites require a lot of programming and databases on the back-end that would require a full-time programmer or two. Some of those companies want to have a physical presence, which means office space, office supplies, administrative assistants, etc. Some of them require manufacturing products, running ads on TV, hire consulting/marketing firms to launch a branding or marketing campaigns, etc.

It really depends on a lot of factors. But the more overhead there is, obviously, the higher the risk... This is why monetizing a website through affiliate marketing carries the least amount of risk since you don't have to carry your own products, fulfill orders, or hire anyone, at least at first.

If you hit a home-run with an affiliate website, then you can move it to establishing a product, hiring people to help, etc.

Sorry I rambled on... but I hope you found some helpful info in my post.

Sherif

[WallaceT]

Thanks for offering some advice, you have gotten me thinking about exactly where I would like to hone my biz towards... The more I think about what you guys write (focus on what you know) the more I feel like I could start with real estate, I guess I just didn't want to be doing that direction but I know soo much about it that it would only make sense, I guess its just something I have to think about.

the cost structure of the different websites makes sense, and I thank you guys for the insight

[Lajocar]

Welcome to WB Wallace

How's the salsa scene in miami?

[artagnan1978]

Hello,

and welcome to the forum and to the community.

I am sure that you will enjoy your stay here, make the most out of your presence here.

Kind regards,
Izabella

[Ladybow]

Welcome to the board. you will find all kinds of help here

[Carlos183]

Hey, I am also from Miami and trying to make some money on the web. This site has a load of good information. About myself, I am also majoring in Infomation Technology with a minor in Business and know how to do a little programming and web design that I learned in school ,reading books, reading online and doing tutorials online. Hope that I can help others too like I see many in here do for others.

[JaMina]

Welcome Wallace to the WB forums. Your ambition is wonderful and I'm sure you'll achieve your goals just keep working at'em.