Unleash Your Inner Entrepreneur on the Digital Frontier!

This article is a guest blogger submission written by Dennis of YoungMoneyBlog. If you like what you see, why not subscribe to his RSS feed?

In just over a decade, the internet has revolutionized our way of life. With nearly all information becoming digitized on the net, the bricks and mortar of yesterday are quickly becoming the dot coms of tomorrow. Your daily newspapers are viewable online, information available at your public library can be accessed through the net, communication can be done via email or through VOIP technology, and window shopping can be done in front of your computer screen.

Similar to prospects of wealth with America’s “Western Frontier” in the 1800s, the internet presents itself as a Digital Frontier for aspiring entrepreneurs. And given the relatively low overhead costs, such as not needing a physical location, many people are seeking ways to profit from the internet.

There are a number of FREE resources available for you if you want to venture into the digital marketplace. And, depending on what ventures you’re interested in, your start-up cost can be as little as $100 for an entire year! For example, if you wanted to create your own blog or forum, your initial costs would be a hosting service at approximately $8 a month and a domain name at approximately $10 for a year. In total, you can establish your own site for about $106 per year, or less if you find a cheaper host! You can then place Adsense ads, Adbrite ads, Chitika Ads, or some other pay-per-click (PPC) program to generate some revenue!

Another avenue you may consider is establishing an internet storefront. Of course this would be more costly than a website with advertisements, given the individual mechanisms needed to establish a shopping site, but relative to a brick and mortar store, your start up costs are low. For a digital storefront, you would need a hosting service, a domain, a shopping cart script (which can be available for free), a merchant account, and items to sell. Additionally, you may need all the appropriate government licenses necessary to establish any business, such as an incorporation and a reseller’s certificate. You can visit this site and read about YoungMoneyBlog’s attempt at establishing his first internet store.

As with any entrepreneurial endeavor, you should first do your research before investing any money. A simple search on your favorite search engine will provide you with plenty of content to get started. A major cost I haven’t mentioned is the time it would take for you to start anything. Along with time needed to research, you may also need time to familiarize yourself with web programs, script language, and strategies to bring traffic to your site. But considering the growth of the internet and our newly discovered dependence on it, this may be an investment worth checking out. Good luck!