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Can You Really Make Money Online?

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If the answer to that question is no, I don’t have anymore reason and motivation to put up this website.

The NegosyoBuilder.com website is about building and running all aspects of an online business, with a little diversion on traditional businesses occasionally.

But for someone to be asking, “How do you make money online?” I think he is looking for an answer that is easier to digest.

Mind you, it’s not a stupid question. It’s a curious beginner’s question which deserves a straight-forward, but intelligent answer.

Here is my attempt to answer the question in a way that any sixth grader would understand. Here’s how you can make money online.

1. Sell Your Products and Services

In a traditional business, you make money by selling products, services or a combination of the two. The same thing happens when you go online.

In a traditional business, you have a physical store sitting on a specific location – that’s why they also call it bricks-and-mortar – where people can go and buy your products. If it’s a physical product, they can touch it, smell it, or even kiss it.

Online, your prospects (also called suspects if they are not buyers yet) can browse from the Products Catalog that you put from your website. With a few clicks, they are all set to place their orders and buy from you.

(See also : How To Setup A PayPal Account In The Philippines.)

I’m talking about selling products. Your job now is to imagine how it would be in the case of services.

And by the way, here are some business ideas (offering products or services) you can implement if you wanted to run a pure, virtual business online:

  • Become an author and write your own ebooks. See lulu.com for details.
  • Run a membership website where only paid, subscribed members can have access to specific contents.
  • Offer Webinars on topics where you have expert knowledge.

These are just a few examples.

( Shameless Promotion: Discover how NegosyoBuilder.com Services can turn your website from nothing into something. )

2. Sell Advertising Space On Your Website

‎”It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot harder to make a difference.” –Tom Brokaw

I’m not sure if it is still the case today, but my favorite local newspaper company, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, at one point once admitted that the cost of producing a particular issue was actually greater than the price they were selling it to. Meaning, they were actually selling at a loss. But how do you think they survive until now?

Here’s the secret: They don’t make money by selling newspapers. That’s the newspaper boy’s business. They make money – and lots of it – by selling advertising spaces at various places in the paper.

Still wonder why bad news is everywhere whether in print, radio, TV and the Internet? Hint: Bad news is the real news.

If you have a website, you too can act like a small media company and deliver ads your web pages. It’s one of the quickest and easiest monetization strategies that anyone can do. You can contact an advertising agency’s website and simply sign-up for their program.

Here are some of my recommendations if you want to explore this option:

Tip: One of the mistakes new publishers make is they get too excited with this concept and immediately rush to fill their websites with various ads. This is not advisable if your website is relatively new with only a few pages to show. It’s best to work on your content first. Make lots of articles so that you can have a sizable base of audience who keeps coming back. Once you start developing your fans, that is when you should start populating your content with ads and put those ads only in strategic locations of your website.

3. Become A Middleman

“The shortest distance between two points is not a straight line – it’s a middleman.” –Ayn Rand

Here’s a sampling of the familiar middle men: real estate brokers, stock brokers, and insurance agents.

There are people who hate the middle man. But I’m here to tell you that the middle man – if you know how to pick the right one – could make your business transaction faster and your success easier.

People may criticize him for his lack of boxing skills, but Bob Arum is one of the finest businessmen in the world of boxing. As a promoter, he simply gets things done and makes millions of dollars happen – for everybody.

So don’t be afraid of the middleman. Instead, learn how to make use of his talents, skills and services to your advantage.

how to make money online

One of the ways you can make money online is by helping businesses sell their products and services. The image above is courtesy of Wealthy Affiliate Open Education Program. It shows how you can make money by referring products from Amazon.

In the online world, there are various names given to the middleman, including the following: affiliate, referral agent, leads generator and sales partner. But basically, here is how they make money:

  1. The referror sends traffic (site visitors) to the merchant’s website. This can be initiated in different ways like links from a website, emails, Facebook, Twitter or online ads campaign.
  2. When the visitor takes action like he buys the recommended stuff or signs up for a subscription, the referral agent gets compensated by the merchant. Think of it as the merchant’s way of saying, “Thank you for sending us the traffic.” In the online world where every business is hungry for attention, the modern middleman could save the day for the merchant.

The nice thing about building an online business around this concept is that it doesn’t require much financial capital to start with, therefore you minimize the risk of going bankrupt with the venture.

So there you have it, the three ways you can make money online. Which one do you think is a best fit for you? Do you see yourself implementing all three in one website? Well, that’s possible, too.

How To Build A Profitable Website With No Programming Skills

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A website is your main doorway to the world of online business.

Is your business already online?

If not yet, that’s understandable. A lot of small business owners — I’m talking about traditional, offline businesses — are still taken aback when the thought of going online comes up.

The following are some of the most common hesitations for putting up an Internet presence:

  1. They don’t know how or where to start.
  2. They have no technical background such as programming, HTML, CSS and all that stuff.
  3. It’s expensive.

The last reason is the easiest to solve or justify. I believe that no matter how frugal the entrepreneur is in handling the financial resources of the business, once it’s demonstrated that a website can contribute positively to the bottom-line numbers, he would be convinced to jump right in and invest in having a website.

The Easy Way To Build a Website

SBI has all the right tools you need in building a successful online business.
Click here to see for yourself.

So I think the very first task of the entrepreneur before he embarks on having a website is to really asses the significance of having it in the first place. One of the ways you can do this is to look at your competitors, especially those who are run by the younger breed of entrepreneurs. Are they online already? If so, how was the effect of having that website on their business versus not having it? If you are eating their leftovers as a result of that website, maybe you should be online now before it’s too late already.

As to the first two reasons, consider this: What if I can show you a tool that allows you to build, not just a website, but a real online business, without any programming skills required on your end, would you give it a try?

And if you are concerned about the price, worry no more! Your monthly investment is only less than 1 USD per day!

This tool simply works! Believe me, I’ve never seen anything that compares to this product.

The only requirements on your end, so you can get started, are the following:

  • You can use email. You need an email address and you have to know how you use an email software.
  • You can pay online. That means having a credit card or a debit card. But I highly recommend that you get a PayPal account for better protection.

Enter Site Build It

Site Build It (or simply SBI from now on) is a complete set of online tools that you can use to create a successful online business. SBI is not just your usual online Site Builder. With SBI all the right ingredients are already there at your disposal.

Here are some of the good stuff that comes with the package:

  • Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting
  • Keyword Research Tool
  • Market Research and Competitor Analysis Tool
  • Newsletter management
  • Form Generators
  • Point-and-Click Page Builder
  • Search Engine Optimization

I bet you can’t find those tools bundled in WordPress or Joomla or Drupal!

Click here to compare WordPress with SBI.

SBI is simply amazing!

It works. Period.

And by the way, those are just a few of my favorite tools in the package. There are a lot more. I think you should take a video tour of the product to see what’s in store for you at SBI.


( Click here to watch the Video Tour.)

Perfect for the Newbies and Pros Alike

One of the reasons why SBI is successful as a product is that it is so easy to use. You don’t need any prior knowledge of HTML, CSS, FTP, Scripting, SQL and all those technical stuff just to be able to use the product.

With SBI, you focus on the content: your articles and your message. These are the stuff that cement your online relationship with your clients and customers. SBI takes care of the rest.

It’s really like driving a car. If you step on the brake pedal, you know that the car slows down until it stops moving. You don’t care about the exact mechanism of brake system like the auto-mechanics do. You just know it works.

Priceless: Online Business Education

SBI! CTPM Process

I think this is the most important part of the package.
SBI is loaded with educational materials and videos called Action Guide that help you in building a successful online business.

It’s like having an online mentor who will guide you every step of the way.

SBI also follows a proven and tested formula to ensure your success online. If you follow this system, you not only minimize errors, your chances of success also increases.

No Risk To Try: 90-Day Money Back Guarantee

Think about this: your monthly investment with SBI is less than 1 USD per day!

90-Day Money Back Guarantee On top of that, the company also gives you a 90-day money-back guarantee. That gives you three months to try it and study it yourself. If within that time-frame you realize that it’s not the tool for you, you can claim your money back!

When you sign up for SBI, you will be getting a free domain name, too. If you decide to stop using the tool within the 90-day period, the domain name is your… you can do whatever you want to do with it. That’s the company’s way of saying thank you for trying the product!

In conclusion

I am a firm believer in idea that the entrepreneur should not be wasting his time doing the dirty works (e.g.: clerical works, sending fax, etc) of the business, but instead shift his focus on the bigger picture and the overall direction of the business.

When it comes to making a website for your business, you may want to outsource that task to a more capable service provider. That is, if you are willing to invest some money also.

But if you are on a tight-budget, there is a tool that can help you do it and it’s very effective. I would even venture to say that in a lot of times, using SBI is even more effective than hiring a web professional.

I love SBI and once you begin using it, you will love it too!

The Money Business in the Philippines

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Upon reading the title of this article, what automatically came to your mind?

A 5-6 business? For those who don’t know it yet, 5-6 refers to the art and science of lending money to someone for 30 days — plus or minus 5 days — at 20% interest. If you do the Math, that means in a span of 5 months you double your money.

Wanna try? Oh, no… not so fast. Perhaps I should warn you first that it is a very risky proposition that you better leave it up to your friendly neighborhood Bombays, who are the true masters at that business.

And oh, by the way, contrary to popular belief, 5-6 won’t get you cancer. But not getting your money back, probably would. Hmm… Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

How about Lotto? We’ve already shown you that it is one of the ways you can get rich here in this country. On top of that, through the PCSO, you are also helping your fellow countrymen who are in dire need of money.

Time deposit, perhaps? It offers a lousy return, but at least your money is a little safer at the bank.

If you are thinking along those lines, I guess you already know that money can be used to make money.

3 Ways You Can Make Money From Money

There are many ways to go about this, but for this article, we’ll focus on three money businesses that you can set up on your own or with your business partners. They are the following:

  1. Pawnshop
  2. Money Remittance
  3. Micro-finance institution (MFI)

“The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your back pocket.” –Will Rogers

Pawnshop Business

The Pawnshop Business is as old as mankind itself. And in the Philippines they are all over the place – from the remote parts of the provinces to the most crowded corners in the cities. For many Filipinos, a pawnshop is one place they can rely on as a source of quick money normally used for emergencies or immediate needs. That is, given the right collateral (something of value) the pawnbroker (the company or the individual running the pawnshop business) lends them money for a set period of time and for a given interest. The beauty of this process is that it is very fast, with no complicated document requirements like you would encounter when applying for a loan from a bank.

On the business side, there are three ways a pawnshop makes money:

  1. From service charges.
  2. From interest charges.
  3. From the sale of unredeemed items that served as collateral for the loaned money.

But remember that the real business of pawnshops is from the two items aforementioned. As Jean Henri Lhuillier (from the Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop Companies) said in one of this his interviews with the Inquirer, “Our business is out there as a bridge financing service. We are not into the business of buying. We are in the business of lending.”

Money Remittance Business

Money Transfer to the Philippines

Money Transfer to the Philippines

In the Global Money Transfer scene, the Philippines is the third largest country that sends money back home from abroad. The first two spots are taken by India and Mexico. Data from the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) shows that the average amount sent by an overseas Filipino to his family in the Philippines is 300 USD per month. Last year alone, the total money sent to the Philippines from abroad reached 20 Billion USD.

That’s a lot of money. And some say, they help keep the Philippine economy afloat and made the Peso Currency strong against the US Dollar. No wonder, the Overseas Filipino Workers are considered as heroes of the nation.

The Money Remittance Market in the Philippines used to be dominated by commercial banks. But thanks to the improving telecommunications technology, smaller players are now competing with the banks offering lower service charges and reaching wider areas of coverage.

(See also: Send and receive money using Paypal in the Philippines.)

If you wish to run a money transfer business, keep in mind the following:

  • You are required to register with the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP), for local money transfers.
  • If you have an operation in another country, requirements differ from one country to another. Usually you will be required to place a cash bond and present your operating manual.
  • It is important that you are aware of our local Anti-Money Laundering Law or similar laws if you have branches abroad.
  • Equipping your premises with security systems, CCTV and alarms would be of help.
  • Important to setup a continuity plan in case the computerized system goes offline.

A money remittance business has two ways of earning money:

  • Service charge when someone sends money.
  • Foreign exchange when a foreign currency is converted to the local currency when money is claimed.

Microfinance Institution

The concept of microfinance is nothing new. But it became really popular with the success of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

For an overview of Microfinance, take a look at this inspiring short video presenting Dr Muhammad Yunus, known as the banker to the poor.

You may also want to buy Dr Yunus’ book, “Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty”, from Amazon by clicking on the image below.

In the Philippines, no less than Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas has “declared microfinance as its flagship program for poverty alleviation.” The BSP defined microfinance this way:

Microfinance is the provision of a broad range of financial services such as deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers and insurance products to the poor and low-income households and their microenterprises. By definition, it is important to note that Microfinance is NOT subsidized credit, NOT a dole-out, NOT salary or consumption loans, and a cure-all for poverty.

The entrepreneurial poor

We all know them. They are the hardworking mom-and-pop (and perhaps kids, too) vendors in the local market. They are the sari-sari store owners serving the community in your subdivision. They are the small-time farmers raising poultry and other animals in their backyard in some remote countryside. Their original sin: They are deemed too risky by the banks to able to deserve a business loan.

Well, I hope you already get the picture of who I am referring to.

Essentially, microfinance is meant to help fund the entrepreneurial and business ventures of these poor entrepreneurs. According to the BSP, “If provided on a sustainable basis, microfinance can help increase income, build viable businesses, reduce vulnerability to external shocks, empower the client, and improve the quality of their lives.”

(Related article: How to fund a startup.)

How to setup a Microfinance Venture in the Philippines

Quite ironically, microfinance services are already available in some rural and thrift banks. These are smaller banks usually serving the countryside. Savings and Credit Cooperatives are also among the most active providers micro-financial services.

So, if you are planning to setup this kind of venture, you can either form a bank or a cooperative.

7 Ways To Get Rich in the Philippines

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“If you stay here in the Philippines, you’ll never be rich.”

Those words came from my cousin who is a seaman.

When I was a kid, I was determined to become a seaman. Well-meaning as they truly are, my elder folks back home somehow led me to believe that it’s the only way you can become rich at the cheapest amount of investment in school. And from my observations of my own family and close relatives, it’s not difficult to tell who from among them has fattest wallets. I was convinced. I have to be a seaman.

I have two close friends — a couple — who are overseas workers. Every time we meet when they are back home in the Philippines, the husband would always say there is “no hope” for anyone to become rich here in the Philippines.

“Look at the salaries of your employees,” I remember him say. After a long pause and some kind of mental calculation, he continued, “I could earn at least 10 times as much if I do the same thing abroad.” That is, his one month salary abroad is equivalent to a year’s hard work here the Philippines. What a magic geography can do!

Do you agree? Isn’t it ironic why every Filipino’s dream is to flee from the Philippines?

I beg to disagree. That’s why I decided not to become a seaman. I could go on arguing why such kind of thinking is fundamentally flawed, but I’d rather not elaborate it here.

Suffice it to say that it is highly possible to become rich in this country. It can be done. A lot of people are doing it already. You, too can make it here!

Let me show you some of the ways.

1. Be Born Rich

Some guys are lucky to be born to a rich family. There is nothing wrong about this. If this is you, you owe it to yourself and your parents to keep the family wealth, preserve it, and let it grow for the future generations.

2. Marry Rich

Everybody loves shortcut. When it comes to wealth transfer, the marriage certificate is the ultimate shortcut ever devised by mankind.

“If thy marry for money, thy surely will earn it.” –A wise, anonymous lady.

3. Enter Showbiz

A lot of Filipinos could sense it already. That’s why when an audition for a talent search is conducted at some place in the country, people would flock to go there, endure the hardships just to get their ration of riches and fame… even just temporarily.

“The celebrity syndrome. When people forget who they are and start to believe what other people say about them.” –Paulo Coelho, The Winner Stands Alone

4. Become A Boxer

make money

A Wanna Be A Billionaire So Freaking Bad

If you can pull punches like Pacman and you’ve got foot works that could beat any breed of chicken, by all means don’t be shy… come out in the open… box.

Just make sure you know how to get the attention of Bob Arum and insist on fighting in the land of the free, home of the brave. That’s where big bucks are coming from.

But here’s the trick: you have do the boxing there (therefore, earn there) and live here in the Philippines. That’s like becoming an OFW, but you only have to really work hard for 1 month out of 12. And your earning potential? That’s directly proportional to how many elite boxers you can knock on the floor in the early rounds.

Let’s get ready to rumble?

5. Play Lotto

The game of chance is as old as mankind. In the Philippines, there are two kinds of gambling: legal and illegal — talk about double standards. If you should try to make it, you have to know the difference. Lotto tops the list of my recommendations.

6. Fool The People

If it already runs in the family or you’ve got the right connections, this route is either easy or bloody. And those who have taken the journey could tell you how good it is to be in power.

Tell the people that your main vocation in life is to become their servant. Plus, you love the poor, too. But never, ever tell them the ultimate truth: you don’t want to become one of them, or live where they live, or eat what they eat.

You only have two potential enemies here: your own conscience and the other guy who is always planning to kick you from your sit.

7. Own A Business

Seriously, this is the best chance left for most of us Filipinos to make it financially. You can’t be re-born to a rich family; at least not in this lifetime. Marrying a rich guy/gal is really like playing the lottery. Most of us don’t have a remarkable talent we could proudly take outside videoke bar. And we would rather just watch boxing over cable TV than actually be in the ring.

Business… Let’s give it some thought.