How to Start a Business

There are so many things to tell you about in the story.  I must admit that the coolest part of the story is that it involves Disney.  I am aware that many of you don’t know much about me.  But one thing you need to know is that I am obsessed with Disney.  I spent the first three years of life living in Orlando.  Dad used to go to lunch at the Polynesian Hotel regularly; it was that close to work.  My parents took me to Disney almost every Wednesday afternoon during the last summer we spent in Florida.  I cried one time when someone at my table cut the ears off the Mickey Mouse butter patties.  (OK, I admit it, that was 2 years ago.)  Enough about my mental issues.

I had a student named Kelley, young, a single mom, a full time student, with a job.  She found time to build a website and has started a business that has already produced revenue. Her business is just 2 weeks old, and cost her under a $100 to start.  The business is called www.DiscountDisneyDeals.com and obviously provides inside info on saving money at Disney.  She sells ads on the site (using GoogleAdSense) and with each click thru, she makes a little bit of money.  So far, she has had about 100 unique visitors and has made about $25.  Not much, but its a start.  Figure the revenue when she has 100,000 visitors.  

If you look at her site, you will see that it is basically a directory.  She builds Disney-related content that will draw users.  The users learn about deals and then can click on the hotel offering the promotion.  When they do, Kelley makes money.  Pretty smart.  You have heard that “content is king.”  Her unique knowledge base of discount Disney stuff creates an environment that advertisers would want to use.  The business model then is: give good content about a niche product or industry and make money selling ads to people that are interested in that niche.  Say, you are a motorcycle enthusiast.  Build a site with race scores and reviews, then sell ads to motorcycle product companies.  The better the content, the more users, the more money earned.

There are several things I like about what Kelley has done.  She has followed the rules of The Entrepreneur School well.  For example, she….

• started a business in a field she knows lots about,
• spent very, very little money to get started,
• is pursuing her life, job, and outside interests at the same time, (i.e., HARD WORKER)
• is starting small and growing the business organically,
• is marketing virally, to facebook groups and Disney clubs,
• and is learning the skills needed to succeed (web design).

I predict this will be a great success story and I know this is a site I will be using.

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