How I plan to run my business with the change in my pocket

crunching the numbers

crunching the numbers

I have been thinking about how I would want my business to grow, and while I don’t want to spend a bunch of money out of pocket and never see a return, I have come to the realization that my online business does have some costs associated with it. Right around the same time I was cleaning up my home office and noticed that I have a bunch of change laying around, in the drawers, on my dresser. At first I didn’t think much of it, but after I was done cleaning I realized that I had quite a bit of change. So I had to ask myself, “what if i could run my online business with my loose change?”

That is exactly what I aim to do in 2013! I am going to start including any expenses my business has in my monthly income reports. I will also be including how much change I accumulated over the month. This will hopefully be more than the expenses, which will include, domain hosting, domain purchases and renewals, and any software or services I purchase.

When I say change I don’t mean spare $1 dollar bills, what I mean is coins. That includes Pennies, Dimes, Nickles, and Quarters. I usually end up with some in my pocket after work. This is is usually from either stopping to grab a drink from a vending machine, or what I get back from ordering lunch (when I forget to pack my own). I am hoping that there is enough every month to fully fund my online business. I haven’t decided exactly how money generated from the site will be factored in yet, I am considering two things right now.

Option #1

Option #1 involves listing the business expenses as a “loan” from myself, and using the income to pay that loan back. Which is good for a couple of reasons, first off, it will allow me to potentially have the business develop the way I wanted it to, and that is at no cost to myself. Because I would either recoup my money 100% or maybe tack on a 5% interest fee. The second reason this is a good method is because it will serve to motivate me into working on the Sites and blog in order to make them more profitable. If I chose to implement it in this manor, I would aim to be in the green or positive cash flow by the end of 2013.

Option #2

Option #2 is Considering the business expenses as nothing more than business expenses. these would still include hosting, domain purchases, and software purchases, But instead of considering the change in my pocket used to pay for these as a loan, that money will be considered funds that the business has available to it. I would still list expenses on the monthly income reports, and I would also list the amount of change accumulated for the month. This would give you, the readers and insight as to how much money the business has available to purchase services and software. The next difference with this option is that all Income made by the sites Would be put towards future projects.

Any software or services that would be purchased I would test and share the results with you here on the void-life blog. I would write my opinions on them, and then recommend them or not based on how they performed. Some of the software is software that I have known about for a while and would like to test, but have not had the money to, other software could be recommended or request by the readers.

The first piece of software that I have plans on buying to further promote the blog and help with developing niche sites is Long Tail Pro. I have been following Spencer Haws at Niche Pursuits for a while now, but after reading Matt Allen’s post about the importance of Keyword research I have been considering it even more.

This is not my only goal or plan for 2013, I plan on writing another post that includes my goals, and hopes for the new year. But I wanted to get this out and maybe get some feedback as to how you guys think I should implement this system before the new year starts so I can prepare. So please let me know what you think in the comments below!

  • http://dumbpassiveincome.com/ Matthew Allen

    Thanks for the link Bryan, and good luck in my contest. You better start eating more vending machine snacks and saving up all that change if you wish to go with Long Tail Platinum and its monthly costs!

    • http://www.void-life.com/ Bryan Wassel

      yeah, I agree! but as it stands now, i will have hosting, and domain registration/renewal costs. Im not sure what the monthly total is in change already. but I might be able to afford the platinum already, Assuming I win the contest that is.

      When are we going to see some monthly income reports from your site? id like to know how well your niche blog is doing. and how your choice effect it.

      • http://dumbpassiveincome.com/ Matthew Allen

        As soon as my income is substantial, I will start the income reports back up. With growing readership, I felt like my measly income reports weren’t doing much for my credibility.

        The niche blog is more of a long-term plan. It’s not making much as I build content, links and rankings.

        • http://www.void-life.com/ Bryan Wassel

          This is true, and even though my tiny amount of income does nothing to help my credibility, I still will go through and make them so I will be able to go back and look at my progress, and I also like the idea of growing from nothing to something (income wise).

          either way I look forward to when you restart your income reports, thanks for stopping by.

          • http://dumbpassiveincome.com/ Matthew Allen

            I’ve got all my income and expense data saved in a spreadsheet. When I do start the reports back up, I’ll probably include, separately, the months that I skipped and give an explanation.

  • PopularBlogSite

    This is smart! Me and the wife have a huge water jug we fill with change each year and cash it in! it’s like hitting the lotto!

    • http://www.void-life.com/ Bryan Wassel

      I agree, I used to use the money to fund a small vacation each year. But now i don’t really do anything with it. So I might as well invest it in my business!