Please help me with my websites?

Question

I am 13. Over the summer, I want to start an online business. I am currently taking a Business Camp at my school. My ultimate goal is to make six or more figures a year, and become Financially Independent. I know it sounds crazy since I'm only 13, but it is my dream.

I have 2 major online business ideas that could work, but I need help choosing the one that would make the most money.

1. My first idea is a website where free users can submit original songs and other users can listen, rate, comment, share, and chat with other users. I would also have an area where users can post info and another area where bands can find new band members. To make money from the site, I would sell ad space, sell an ecourse on songwriting, and maybe creating a pro membership if the site becomes big enough. I have a problem though. Since I have no coding experience, I would have to hire a web design firm to create the site. The problem is that it might cost a lot ($100,000) to create the site. If it does cost that much, should i hire a programmer from elance or something like that? Thats how the website Digg was created. If it still costs a lot, should I have my parents apply for a loan from SBA?

Overview of #1:
Target Market: Musicians, Bands, Independent Artists, Songwriters.
Revenue: Ad space, Pro Membership
Costs: Website, Marketing, Website Matinence
Type of Business: Online Business, Online Company, Service Business



Idea #2. This idea is a basic business idea. I would create a basic website (not a webs.com type of site, but not a huge firm site). I would join a well reputated wholesale company that sells and dropships musical instruments. I would list the products on my site using an eccommerce section, and allow customers to make orders. I would price the products to make profit. When I get an order, I send the order to the wholesale company, and they ship the products within 24 hours. They are most likely always in stock, and will notify me of any problems.

Overview of Idea #2:
Target Market: Musicians, Bands, Independent Artists, Dj's, bass players, guitarists, drummers, keyboard players, lighting people, record producers.
Revenue: Profits from Products, Advertising on Website
Costs: Dropshipping, Cost of Products, Website, Website Matinence, Marketing
Type of Business: Online Business, Online Company, E-Tail Business, Retail Business, Ecommerce, Product Business.


Which idea do you like the best? Which idea do you think is most profitable?

If you think #1 is the best and most profitable....

Why do you think that? How should I build the website? Will the website cost a lot? Should a get a loan from SBA? Would people like this site?

If you think #2 is the best and most profitable....

Why do you think that? Do you think it is a good idea?

Please help me. Even if you don't think any of these are good ideas, if you had to choose one, which one would you choose?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Making money on the internet is becoming more and more difficult now and you have to be REALLY on top of your game to do it.



Your first idea is by far the best but the site itself would cost a huge amount to create. I think your estimate of $10000 is vastly under the amount it would cost. You'll be looking at at LEAST triple that for a quality site of that size, possibly more. Then you have the problem of hosting. If you hope the site takes off, you'll need dedicated hosting, which is extremely expensive ($100s per month). You'll have to be selling a LOT of advertising to recoup your money. You'd also probably need to employ at least one full-time programmer to keep the site active.



The second idea sounds like you are cutting out the middleman (retailers) and, while this can be effective, I think you'll struggle to compete with the prices being offered by other services on the internet, such as Amazon. For this, you would also need a reasonably complex ecommerce site and would need to hire someone to make it. You would also need secure dedicated servers, which are even more expensive than the ones in the first option.



Not trying to put you off but just giving you the heads-up. Making money on the internet seems easy but there are a LOT of hidden costs.

Answer 2

I think that you have the potential to be very successful if you have persistence. I personally know how to create websites, although I have never done it commercially. However, I do know that it is not as hard as you think to learn HTML and the required knowledge for creating a site. You can also use easy tools like DreamWeaver to create a website just like you would create a Word document or something.



I don't really have any advice as far as which choice you should do, but I know that adspace is definitely a good starting point for making money. I have heard that one of the main "givens" when being an entrepreneur is that you will lose money short-term, especially when you start out. You should overshoot all of your expenses, because they are always more than you expect. Personally, I think choice #2 would be the most feasible IF you created the site yourself. This way, you could be very minimal on the scripts and functions of your website, but only use it as an informational source. All transactions would be completed through you, not your website. Choice #1 is more feasible if you hired someone to do all the scripting that allowed people to upload and rate music, videos, etc.



If you found a college student wanting to practice their web design, you could hire them at a lower rate than a professional. If you decided to hire a professional that charged a lot, choice #1 would probably require you to take out larger loans and be in more debt short term. Personally, I think that creativity is a very good skill to have when starting a business. You need to make sure you are creating something new that would capture the interest of people that hasn't been there before.



I'm not trying to sound like a know-it-all, but that is just my personal opinions and thoughts about this. I have never had my own business, so just take into account what I say.

Answer 3

Fiction.

Answer 4

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