10 BUSINESSES TO START WITH A DIME

One of the problem facing Africans in the area of starting their own businesses has been the issue of capital. Majority of youths in Africa do have one business idea or the other but lack sponsors or investors for that multibillion dollar idea. There are businesses you can start without having to seek for sponsorship, investors or carry a business proposal around.

Before I start, let me discuss a little about a dime. A dime in a typical Africa certain is an amount of money that you have that cannot afford much.  In Nigeria, some people are used to saying words like “i don’t have a dime with me" which simply means that
he doesn't have a huge amount of money with him. People believe here in Africa that you must have a huge amount of money before you can become an entrepreneur. This impression has scared a lot of people from going into entrepreneurship thereby reducing their rate of success and making them to end up as employees for a longer period of time or for life.

In order to clear this impression, these are ten (10) businesses that you can start with just a dime.

1.      WRITE AN E-BOOK

Anybody can write a book, no matter your level of education. All you need is to have a story to share that will attract people. I know right now as you are reading this part that some questions would be flying down your mind. Questions like “what story do I have to tell?, who will want to hear my story?, my experience are almost like the normal day to day stories etc. but I want you to know that people learn more from life experiences than from theories, people want to increase in knowledge from your own experiences, parents are looking for stories that they didn’t have the opportunity to experience in order to teach their children. For instance, as a student, you had to engage in prostitution as a lady in order to meet some of your needs, an experience that you know was not good. And you really want to advise young ladies engaging in campus prostitution to quit from it, writing a book is an avenue to touch lives and as well make a living out of it.

For instance, I know of a man in Nigeria who was once a cultist back then as a university undergraduate, but later repented and gave his life to Christ, but now, he is a motivational speaker, travelling round tertiary institutions in Nigeria, telling his own experience as an ex-cultist. He has also written a book to back it up, he is not only touching lives by encouraging students not to engage in cultism and to quit cultism for those already indulging in it, but he is also making a living out of it. I am not advising you to write books on experiences you never had, but write a book from a genuine encounter you had with life. People like to hear stories especially real life experiences. You can write an e-book of how you had to sell bread in order to pay your school fees, how you managed to survive after the death of your parents at a tender age, how your girlfriend left you after milking you dry etc.

Writing an e-book is easier, less costly and less stressful etc. Instead of looking for a publisher to publish your book, an e-book will be better because you won't need to pay a dime, all you will need is a Microsoft word software to edit the words, a catchy story that can draw people's attention and make them to cry when they read your story, a free website to publish your e-book e.g. www.lulu.com, or you can visit www.google.com and type how to publish an e-book etc.

2.      CREATE A BLOG

A blog is an internet avenue that an individual can use to share ideas, teach, gossip, spread information etc. The most interesting thing about a blog is that it is free to create.  Have you ever been to a market in your community, and has experienced e.g. a fight, an argument etc. can you remember the number of people that were attracted to those scenes? So also it is with a blog. A blog gives you an opportunity to have your own free website, share your information, and earn money depending on the number of people that you are able to attract to your site. Example of a blog is this one that you are viewing right now.

In opening a blog all you need is an idea of what you believe that people would love to hear and discuss about. In order to explain more of a blog, let me give you a real life story. There is a lady here in Nigeria who has a blog and earns as much as # 1 million naira from advert fees on her blog. She has been able to attract people to her blog and thereby creating traffic and then attracting companies that end up placing adverts on her blog. Apart from that, there is also the story of 19 years old boy that has made himself a multi millionaire from running a blog.

Running a blog is one of the fastest ways of sharing information and also making a living. You can actually start a family from running a blog, take care of your aged parents and even support your siblings in life. You can create a blog on Google and register on Google adsense where Google will earn the right to post companies ads on your blog and pay you a certain amount of money, or you can create a blog and get a software designer to design an advert space that you can upload to your blog thereby earning the right to your blog ads.

3.      DESIGN AND RUN YOUR OWN WEBSITE

Designing and running of a website is different from running a blog. The designing of a website will involve a website designer or a software designer depending on the kind of website you intend to manage. It will be very easy for you if you have knowledge in software designing or if you have someone that is good in application designs. The website that you will create will depend on your kind of ideas. For instance, there are sites that engage in the sales of downloadable products e.g. audio and music videos, movies, pictures, applications etc.