Best Small Online Business Financial Models
Best Small Online Business Financial Models
Looking at the global financial crisis and fluctuating economy, everyone needs a side-hustle. And thanks to the internet and technology, anyone can embrace their inner entrepreneur and start making money online with their skills, talents, education or experience. The global economy is doing average right now, but it’s still competitive and unpredictable overall. That’s why having a second income or side-hustle is becoming more popular than ever before. In this article, we’ll discuss each small online business financial model from a start-up perspective. And how you can start your own. We’ll also talk about how you can benefit from having your own financial model for your new small business idea.
So, here is the list of all the small online businesses we will be discussing in this article along with their financial models examples.
- Accounting Software Services | Financial Model Excel Projection
- Online Service Marketplace | Financial Model Excel Projection
- Bookkeeping Agency | Financial Model in Excel
- Consultant Agency | Financial Model Projection
- Online Cooking Classes | Financial Model Excel Template
- Online Platform for Finance Professionals | Projection in Excel
Before hopping on to the list, first, let’s discuss a rather generic financial model. Because even if your desired online business is not listed above, you can make use of this generic online small business financial model for a startup below.
Small Online Business Financial Model Excel
Small online businesses can be a great source of a second income. You can earn extra money by putting your knowledge and skills to good use. Many people enjoy the flexibility that comes with freelancing. So, Internet-based jobs are very popular. Although it’s not an easy job, online businesses offer independence and freedom over your time and schedule. This is why they’re often called “side hustles.”
If you’ve got some valuable expertise or specialized skills, there are lots of ways you could monetize them online.
There are many ways to make a small online business a secondary source of income. The first step in creating a small online business is deciding what you would like to sell. It can be almost anything.
If you’re comfortable with computers or smartphones and enjoy helping people solve problems or learn new skills, consider working as a virtual assistant. Many companies and individuals need help keeping organized and managing schedules and appointments. So, this is a business opportunity for those in the right industry.
There are many online businesses that you can start with almost no capital or investment. One such business is blogging. It’s very easy to create a blog and start writing about your interests no matter if they’re beauty, cooking, sports, politics or technology.
When trying to decide on a small online business that you would like to set up as a second income source, the first question that needs answering is:
Which of your skills or expertise can you monetize?
There are many talented people who don’t consider this step and lose out on potential opportunities. For instance, not everyone has the gift for writing but almost everyone has some knowledge about something interesting or valuable enough to share with others. So those people could work as bloggers and earn money from the information they have.
There aren’t any two identical businesses so whatever kind of business you choose, make sure you can answer the following questions about your potential small online business
– How much will it cost to start this small business?
– Is there a demand for my product or service?
– Who is my target audience and how will I reach them?
– What resources do I need to get started and maintain as the business grows?
There are certain factors that need to be taken into account while setting up an online business. For instance, if you’re planning on working as a virtual assistant, it’s essential that you have a high-speed internet connection at all times. That’s because most tasks take place across the Internet and if your connection is poor other people won’t be able to work with you efficiently.
Aside from thinking about what skills or expertise to monetize, it’s also important to consider the time that you’re going to spend on your small online business. Some businesses require a lot of day-to-day maintenance and attention while others are more hands-off.
Whether you like blogging or working as a virtual assistant, now that you’ve decided on the right small online business for yourself, it’s time to take action!
First things first; start with Your Online Small Business Financial Model
Financial modelling for startups is a way to determine how much money you’ll need to start. It’s also helpful for planning future expenses and budgeting.
The best small online business financial models are those that are tailored to your own unique business needs. For instance, if you’re starting an online business as a side hustle, your main focus will be on high-margin products.
On the other hand, if you want to start an online business as a primary source of income, it’s essential that you account for whatever expenses might come up between now and when your business starts bringing in enough money (and full-time income) to support itself.
So, no matter what kind of small online business you’re planning to start, make sure you get a financial model for a startup. Because it’s important for setting your expectations and staying on track financially. And in accordance with the financial goals for a business. You can make the best utilisation of funds with this model.
But We Have Your Financial Model Ready With Us:
Who are WE? We are your business consultants – Oak Business Consultants. Our financial experts have prepared the consummate financial model for your online business. It has everything you will need for this business. From before the starting point to break even and then onwards, it has got your back.
1. Accounting Software Services | Small Online Business Financial Model Excel
If you are a software or app developer with some accounts experience, you can consider developing accounting software. This may sound like a very bland business idea but we are just getting to the interesting point. Any kind of business needs accounting software today. By becoming an accountant software services provider, you can target your local small businesses easily. But why should you stick with only local small businesses when you can go global. That’s the best part of online accounting software services.
There are two ways to do this:
- Develop a copyrights-protected accounting software once and make it available for online sales.
- Provide custom accounting software services as per business needs.
The first way, where you will develop a copyrights-protected accounting software, can become your lif-long earning source. And that’s why it will take very long before you can start making money with it. It is basically a passive income source. If you develop a website where your software will be sold and get traffic to the site, you can earn money for the lifetime of the product.
The second way is proper online service. It will require more work from your side initially as you will be developing software products for different clients. Once you have a good client base and income is streamlined, you can then either outsource the software development or hire your own in-house team of developers. This business model works well equally with local small businesses that don’t have needs beyond basic accounting services. For example, you can charge your local bakery and café for a monthly subscription fee. The software will be updated by you automatically and money will come to you on a monthly basis or whatever frequency you have chosen. You can also build complex business solutions to attract global e-commerce businesses that deal in high volumes of transactions. This way, there is always money coming in from online sales while the work continues through local transactions.
Whatever the way or business model you choose for providing online accounting software services, there is a huge scope for it. Just make sure your service is better than your competitor’s. And learn all there is to know about the business before starting it.
Basic requirements for starting an accounting software services business:
Domain and hosting:
You will need a good domain name for your website as it is the first thing clients see when they visit. And you will need server space to host your website. The hosting service company should provide an SSL certificate as it proves the authenticity of your business and secures transaction details.
Payment processing:
Your payment processing company may or may not take a fee from every transaction, so check that beforehand and choose the one which offers the least fees.
Customer support:
If your customer-handling expertise is not up to mark, you can outsource this part. But make sure you give adequate training before allowing anyone else to handle client queries.
Client management:
If your client base is small, you can manage it yourself. But as it grows and more clients move in, hire a professional to do this for you.
Growth strategy:
You can either continue with local businesses or target small global e-commerce businesses depending on the present and future demand of your software products.
Design and development:
There are several online tools available today where you can build your own accounting software without having to code them from scratch. Such tools allow you to maintain copyrights over the product though. Your developers will also need timely access to such tools if they want to provide prompt services to clients.
Marketing:
The success of every business depends upon its marketing strategy. You need to know your target audience, the kind of language it understands and the marketing platform which will engage them. Once you have this strategy in place, go ahead with social media marketing, email marketing and other effective forms of online promotion.
Quality control:
This is extremely important in the online services business as no one wants to get faulty products delivered. Even a single mistake can put your reputation at stake. So hire professionals with expertise in software testing who will go through all aspects of your product before it gets delivered to clients.
Legal matters:
Consult relevant authorities about applicable taxes and other legal aspects in relation to providing accounting software services online in your country and abroad too if needed.
Your Online Small Business Financial Model:
Since this is a new business, you will have to spend some money on it. You should know your fixed, variable and operational costs beforehand. So, that you can make the right and informed decisions. A financial model will help you work out your expected income and expenditure.
Once you know exactly how much it will take to get started and sustain the business, you can calculate your net profit margins accurately. This way, you can plan for marketing expenses, salaries and other operational costs in advance.
For any accounting software services business, you need a clear vision for your brand and its services. And that is only possible when you have an online business financial model from a credible financial services provider.
This is where your accounting software services financial model comes in. Our financial experts have already designed the perfect financial model for you. It has everything you need to start your accounting software services business.
Our research suggests that there is enough business potential in accounting software services. So, do not wait too long before starting this business as the software products you develop here will have a long earning potential.
Accounting services are an excellent way for people to bring in some extra income or even start a new career without putting too much pressure on themselves. Even experienced accountants looking for a change can put their personal skills to use by working as independent contractors. There are many ways that someone can be successful at providing these services over the internet, but if you plan on starting your own business then there are certain things you should keep in mind first.
2. Online Service Marketplace | Small Online Business Financial Model Excel Template
We all have seen an exponentially rising demand for online service marketplaces in recent years. There are so many startups financial models that have come up in the past few years because of this demand. If you want to start an online service marketplace then it is important that you do your research before jumping into it.
You can start with defining what aspect of services you will concentrate on, like accounting or content writing or software development etc. There are also several other points to be considered while starting an online service Marketplace.
Network with other entrepreneurs:
Starting a new business is never easy and even more so when you are doing something for the very first time. That is why it is advisable that you connect with other individuals who have started their own online service marketplaces. You can learn from their experiences and mistakes.
Follow a Systematic Approach:
If you are not a technical expert in developing software, it is advisable that you make sure to follow a systematic approach when building your service marketplace. You need experts to build up an amazing website with all the features you want and experts who will help you get on page one of Google.
Do more and more research:
Research is the most important part of starting an online service marketplace. There are various ways you can research your audience and there are many internet marketing mediums available to help you do so. But, before doing a lot of research, it is a good idea to have a clear vision in your mind regarding how you want to proceed with this project.
Identify your Market:
The audience is one of the most important parts of any successful business plan. You need to know who your potential customers are and what their requirements are. You can do this by conducting surveys or consulting with an expert in the same marketplace.
Determine your Plan:
Once you have gotten a clear idea about your prospective customers, you need to determine your detailed plan. You need to hire the best developers and designers for your project so that you can create an amazing user-friendly website on time. Keeping on schedule is very important as it is not good to let customers wait too long on things like product development or shipping of orders, etc. It’s also easier on your budget if you stick with a deadline.
Narrow Down the niche:
When you first start your online service marketplace, it is important to choose the right niche. If you choose a narrow niche, you should be feeling confident that there will be enough demand for your services in this niche. You also need to decide what kind of pricing strategy you are going to use. There are several different options when it comes to pricing, like charging customers per project or subscription plans. You can also create packages that include several different services, etc.
Focus on your online presence:
Since you are the owner of an online business, it is important for you to focus on increasing your online presence as much as possible before launching your website to the public. You need to create a stunning presence on Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc. You also need to build up good reviews around the internet about your business in order to gain popularity among potential customers.
Get a Small Online Business Financial Model:
You will need to get a financial model of your online service marketplace before you start. It is very important that you have some solid numbers in front of you before investing any money into the actual development of your site. You can make your first investment by yourself, but it is advisable that you find some investors to help you finance your project. Also, get some investors on board before you launch your online service marketplace, but this is not advisable as it will make things more difficult for you while launching the website. Have a complete plan about how much money will be required in order to develop the site and what amount of money will be needed while marketing the website online.
But you don’t have to worry about your online business financial model. Oak Business Consultant’s financial experts already have the perfect financial model for you. This is the financial model for the online service market place and it has everything listed above and more. This an effective way to ensure the best utilization of fund.
3. Online Bookkeeping Agency | Small Online Business Financial Model in Excel
Every business in the world needs some sort of bookkeeping. Some businesses need them for basic tasks like paying bills, while others need a more detailed financial analysis. Many small businesses choose to hire a professional accounting firm to fulfill their bookkeeping needs. While others simply hire freelancers for this job. That’s the reason, many people are starting online Bookkeeping agencies as an additional income source.
The best part about starting your online bookkeeping agency is that you can hire freelancers from different countries for this purpose. Freelancers often charge a much lower fee than professionals and they do the job as perfectly as possible. In addition to that, they also operate on a per-project basis. This way you can build up a large network of freelancers for your online bookkeeping agency.
But before you start your own Bookkeeping agency, you need to take a couple of factors into consideration. And here they are:
Size of your potential bookkeeping agency:
You need to start small and work your way up. It is better to get a couple of jobs rather than no jobs at all. You can advertise yourself as a freelancer. And you can gradually grow your bookkeeping agency once you feel confident about its progress and stability. But having a rough idea of the extent of your services is important right from the start.
Niche:
Another factor is the choice of your niche as a Bookkeeping agency. You need to choose a specific kind of client base you can serve as a Bookkeeping agency. Before starting, do some research about the market and look for different niches that have little competition.
Online Presence:
Before starting this venture, you need to focus on your online presence. You can’t sit in a room and wait for customers to come knocking on your door. You need to get out there and get the word about your business across the web. This is not only going to build trust, but it will help you get more bookkeeping jobs too.
Ensure that your service is unique:
Before starting a Bookkeeping agency, you need to ensure that the service you are going to provide for clients online is different from other similar agencies. You can do this by providing services at a lower price point. Or by offering something extra, which makes your services unique. This will help you get more customers and build a solid base for your business.
Focus on quality:
Quality is the key to success and you need to make sure that your service is of premium quality. You can do this by hiring only experienced and skilled professionals and training them well. So, they provide quality service to all your clients. This will help you stand out in this highly competitive business and will help you get long-term clients.
Marketing:
Marketing is the backbone of every successful business and you need to focus on this aspect as well. You can market your Online Bookkeeping agency by building a website, but it will also help if you have an online presence on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
What is your online bookkeeping agency going to offer?
Finally, you need to think about what services you are going to offer your clients. You can start with basic bookkeeping tasks and then move on to payroll jobs. You can also consider tax filing and consulting. Once you start getting regular clients, you can take their feedback into consideration and add more services to your list of offerings.
Your Online Small Business Financial Model:
You need to plan the financial aspects of your business before you start. This is going to help you get a clear picture of how much money you need and what kind of profits are possible. You can also see if there are any chances for expansion in the future, based on clients’ feedback and demands for more services. Additionally, you can keep other costs like operational costs and taxes under control, which will help you increase the profitability of your business. With a financial model in your hand, you will be able to see your income source in a better light.
So, what are you waiting for? Head straight to Oak Business Consultant today for your online business financial model. We have already designed a financial model for a bookkeeping agency. It has everything you need to start your online bookkeeping agency from the scratch.
4. Consultant Agency | Small Online Business Financial Model Projections
What is a Consultant Agency?
A consultant agency is a business service provider. It provides advice on specific topics to clients who cannot afford the skill level of an expert in that field. Consultant agencies are contracted by individual or corporate clients to provide them with expertise and guidance for their needs. It provides services, information, experiences, or other benefits for others. Consultant agencies don’t focus much on the products they’re selling to clients. Instead, they focus more on giving advice as a consultant, which is why they are known as “consultant agencies.”
There are different types of consultant agencies today.
Different Types of Consultant Agencies
Consultant agencies typically fall into four different categories:
- Strategy Consulting Agency
- Implementation Consulting Agency
- Functional Specialist Consulting Agency
- Industry Specialist Consulting Agency
Strategy Consulting Agency
A strategy consulting agency provides advice on how to strategically achieve an organization’s goals. It usually has consultants with experience in corporate management, financial analysis, marketing research, business policy, etc., who are tasked to provide expert advice on their specific field of knowledge. Strategy consulting agencies help their clients make better decisions by using the right strategic tools and frameworks.
Implementation Consulting Agency
An implementation consulting agency focuses on the implementation of specific solutions in a business. It usually provides advice and consultation in various problem-solving and decision-making processes.
Industry Specialist Consulting Agency
An industry specialist consulting agency is an independent company that specializes in a specific business or industry. It usually employs former employees of companies related to the industry it specializes in. Industry specialist consulting agencies provide expert advice on their field of specialization to businesses and corporations for a fee.
Functional Specialist Consulting Agency
A functional specialist consulting agency provides expert advice to companies on the operations of their businesses. Consultants from a functional specialist consulting agency work directly with company employees and other internal resources to improve efficiency. They help identify inefficiencies, save money, and improve the overall performance of a company’s operation.
Understanding an Online Consultant Agency
A consultant agency is one of the many businesses operating in today’s ever-changing technological landscape. The online platform has given traditional brick-and-mortar types of service providers a run for their money.
To start an online consultant agency, you need to have expertise in your field of specialization. If you don’t have any expertise yet, you need to take the necessary steps to learn and hone your skills in order to provide value when giving advice. With that said, you can start off by offering free consultations for individual clients before moving into a full-fledged business model. You also need to have experience in providing online consultation through your website or blog. Remember to create a website using a reputable platform so you can build your online reputation. The last thing you need as a business owner is to be trusted-less.
Getting Clients for Your Online Consultant Agency
The majority of clients who visit consultant agencies are usually big corporations and businesses that require industry-specific or enterprise-level solutions. This means that it’s harder for small-time consultant agencies to compete with major market players. This is especially true online since there are millions of blog posts, websites, and online forums discussing the latest problems plaguing businesses today. To get clients for your online consultant agency, you need to utilize your available resources. If you have a website or blog, make sure you drive traffic to it using all the available tools such as search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM). If you don’t have a website or blog yet, start doing research on how to build it.
Consulting Agency Business Models:
There are various ways in which consultant agencies provide services to clients. This may include providing advice, expertise, and suggestions on how a company should operate its business.
The Process-Orientated Business Model
A process-oriented business model is one where a company provides business processes to clients. They help clients improve the quality of their operations by identifying inefficiencies and other problems in their current process-oriented setup.
The Research Business Model
A research business model is where a company provides information services to clients. This type of business model may include analysis, survey gathering, and other forms of research for their clients.
The Product Business Model
A product business model is where a consultant agency makes use of its expertise in certain technology or platforms to build products for companies who need it. The product business model also includes marketing it for the company so they can generate revenue.
What you will need to start your online consultant agency:
- Expertise in your field of specialization
- Optional: experience with online marketing
- Optional: a website or blog
Steps to starting your own online consultant agency:
- Build a website/blog
- Research on how to get clients for your online consultant agency
- Market your solutions and solve problems for clients
- Explore new business opportunities in the market
- How you will need to advertise your online consultant agency
- SEO (search engine optimization) of website/blog posts
- Social media marketing (SMM) of website/blog posts
- Check for fund utilization example, such as a financial model
Once you’ve provided value to enough clients, you can consider expanding your business into a full-fledged offline consultancy. You can also start branching out by building more products that solve specific business problems of companies. You can also provide consulting services for small businesses, individuals, or even other online consultants who need help on their websites/blogs.
So, now you have enough information about consulting agencies and how to start one. If you are really passionate about becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own online consultant agency, you must have a financial model in hand.
Your Personal Online Small Business Financial Model:
This is an overhead project cost-based spreadsheet that you can use to estimate the costs of your online consultant agency. You will need this to figure out if you have the capital required to start it or not. This is where you list down all the monthly, quarterly, and annual projects for your consulting business. A financial model helps you in planning and forecasting your business in the long term. It also lets you calculate break-even points so you can review whether your business is profitable. That’s the reason we have the best online business financial model for you. Worry not, it’s not a generic financial model wrapped up in the name of a consulting agency financial model. It is specific and to the point. It has all the necessary columns and sections such as revenue model, fixed costs, and variable costs.
5. Online Cooking Classes | Small Online Business Financial Model
When it comes to earning from online cooking classes, a lot of people often underestimate this venture. Or should we say that not many people take it as a business at all? People think that cooking classes are a good pastime but cannot become a full-time source of earning. Well, all of these thoughts are misconceptions. Online cooking classes have a potential that you cannot estimate just like that.
First of all, the most important thing is the need for it. How many people do you know in your circle who would love to subscribe to an online cooking classes course? If your answer is A LOT, you already got it! There are a lot of people who don’t have much time to invent recipes or even follow recipe books. Because recipes don’t teach someone how to cook. Cooking is a survival skill and every human being needs to learn it at some point in their life. Then why not start teaching something that almost everyone needs?
So, this tells us about the demand for online cooking classes. But what about starting it as a business? It’s a great idea! Now, we will talk about all the details and how you can start your own online cooking classes setup and earn from it
These are some of the basic requirements you need to take care of while starting your cooking classes.
Requirements for starting online cooking classes as a business:
Not only YouTube:
Not only YouTube means that you should not only rely on YouTube for these classes. If you really want to make it a business, you cannot rely on one source only. You must make sure that your material is available in other sources too. The core of your business should be the online cooking classes and you should promote them to everyone around.
Start small:
We know it’s hard to earn when you are starting off. There are so many people running their own cooking classes business that you probably cannot compete with them. So, you should start small. Startup with a single course and see if it catches the attention of people or not. There’s no point in sinking tons of money into something that doesn’t work for your target market. Even if you lose some money, you will still save yourself from losing even more later on! So, make sure to test everything that you do before investing any money into it.
Keep Experimenting:
When it’s a business, you cannot limit your options. You will have to teach recipes that do not belong to a certain group of people only. For example, you cannot only rely on Italian food recipes only and expect your business to grow. You will have to experiment with different recipes that are popular in other parts of the world. And you have to keep doing this, no matter how much your subscriber base varies. Always keep updating your content because there will be people who will always ask for something new. You can even create a cooking library or something like this so that everyone knows they are getting fresh content every time.
Marketing:
Since it is an online business, you will be marketing it online. And there are numerous ways to do that. You can simply begin with a YouTube channel while running Facebook and Instagram channels for the same courses. Since YouTube alone is not enough to bring much traffic, you will be bringing in new people to your courses from social media. Then search engine has a great potential for marketing such business as well. For example, if your business is centered on Italian food recipes you will need to find a way to get in front of people who are searching for such recipes online. If you are not willing to spend on marketing, you can consider organic marketing and community marketing. These marketing strategies are free but take considerable time before kicking in. But when they do kick in, you will be overwhelmed with the response for sure.
Target Audience Research:
In order to run a successful business online, you will have to target the right audience for your courses. You cannot hope to simply go on about a course and expect everyone around you to buy it from you. So, it’s important to know who are the people that will subscribe to your course. You can do this by conducting a small survey online. Not being too technical, you can consider creating various polls on social media and letting the public vote. For example, you can create a poll on social media with titles: “Do you find it easier to follow online cooking classes better or learn cooking from recipe books?” Let people from all walks of life respond to the polls. Once you have enough responses, it’s time to analyze your survey results. This way, you can easily narrow down your serious target audience. Who will be willing to not only visit your courses for fun but they will pay you and be your repeat clients.
Be updated:
You should be updated about the latest recipes and cooking methods out there. You will have to learn new things and update your content accordingly. People can easily choose between an old video of yours and a new one that is more relatable to them. So, always keep learning something new instead of trying to teach what you already know about. This way, you can keep your subscribers engaged and make more money online from your course videos.
In order to start a cooking classes business from home, there are three main things that you will have to consider
– The type of courses that you want to run.
You can offer face-to-face classes or online cooking courses.
– The type of starter kit that you want to offer in your business
You can either start a private chef course in which you will be cooking in front of a select audience in a home kitchen. Or you can go for online food tutorials from the comfort of your own home so that anyone from around the world can log in and watch the videos
– The type of audience that you want to target
You will have to figure out what kind of recipes they like and how much they are ready to spend on such courses. Once you find this out, it will be easier for you to make a strategy accordingly and start your online cooking classes.
Benefits of Online Cooking Classes:
Learners get to learn from the comfort of their homes. So, it saves them a lot of time and effort. They can watch these classes while having dinner or after the kids have fallen asleep. Not just that, these classes are a great way to share knowledge and help out society. By learning cooking from a professional, you can save yourself from a lot of health-related issues. There’s no reason not to take it as seriously as possible.
So, this sums up all the requirements and benefits of starting your own cooking classes business. But what about financials? Since this is a proper business, you will need a financial model for it as well.
Your Online Business Financial Model:
Having a financial model is not just another option – it’s the most basic necessity for your business. You can’t go and spend all your savings on a new business without any clear idea about where the money is going. You have to have an idea about how your business will perform financially. Because, after all, it’s all about cashing out your hard work and efforts. So, a financial model for online cooking classes must have the following things:
- Assumptions
- Cost of starting the business (business license, furniture for office space)
- Operating expenses
- Financial projections (income, expenses, profits etc.) and more
- Effective use of funds
- Cash management KPIs
The most important thing to consider while building a financial model is that it has to be accurate. It must give you an idea about how much money your business is going to make after it has been running for some time. Now, here comes the most important part of all. Such a financial model already exists! Oak Business Consultant has created a financial model that is specifically designed to keep your online cooking classes in mind. The financial experts with experience of over a decade in financial modeling have worked on this model. It has everything you need and even more than you can expect. So, starting your online business is now up to the question, when do you want to start! Because now have the most important tool in your hand – Your specific online cooking classes financial model.
6. Online Platform for Finance Professionals | Small Online Business Financial Model in Excel
Although the use of digital technology has been a constant in our lives, many industries have yet to be transformed by it. The finance industry will soon change due to the rise of technology-based solutions that can streamline operations and add value to its transactions. In fact, there are already several organizations that have successfully adopted technology in their operations.
For instance, online payments and digital transactions have become a standard for most businesses today – but not all of them can accept payments from clients who use different financial services such as banks, credit cards and electronic money. This means they will need to seek the help of an intermediary or an aggregator who can deal with these details. And that isn’t the only issue. It will be a challenge to get specific information from these individuals and businesses since they don’t have a particular platform where they can interact with each other. That’s why financial professionals need an online community where they can share their knowledge and experiences, discuss issues about the industry and possibly cooperate with one another.
The online community can also serve as a platform for sales. For example, there are finance professionals who offer their services to help with financial planning and portfolio management. And with the growing demand for these services, they have chosen to sell them on an online platform where people can easily find their services. Asset managers, investment advisers, banks and insurance companies can use the platform to sell their products and services.
It’s Another Quora but for Finance Professionals Only:
Who doesn’t know about Quora! Quora is an excellent example of an online platform. But it has the widest scope possible. And that’s why we are not suggesting starting such a platform. The first problem is the intense competition with the giant itself. Another problem is that it cannot be run as a small online business. So, narrowing down the niche to finance professionals is a great idea. You can start with simple questions and answers. Where newbie finance professionals or people with little experience will be asking questions and the experts of the field will be responding. All the while, you, as the owner of this platform will be making money without even participating in any discussions at all. Once you set the right foundation, all you will have to do is make sure things don’t go out of control and enjoy your revenue.
But How can you earn from such a platform:
Coming straight to the point now! You are probably wondering how you are going to make money from this platform. There are several ways to do that, but the easiest way is to sell your own services on the platform. For example, say you are an asset manager who wants to share your portfolio ideas online, you can create a post on the finance professionals’ community with some information about yourself and your work. You can then put a link to your website and you can also ask readers if they would like to hire you for some advice. This way, the community will benefit from this platform as well and you will be able to generate more business and revenue through the platform. But let’s assume you are not here to sell anything You can still make money while not selling any of your services. Because after all, you are going to own the platform and whatever happens on it. And there are numerous earning opportunities when you own such a platform. You can monetize each and every interaction on that platform.
Ever heard of Google Ads? It can be a great way to generate money from the website. Or you can also consider starting a supporting blog and driving the traffic from this platform to your blog – more money! You can also gain revenue from the affiliate programs you sign up for. There is a lot more available, which will help this platform generate even more revenue.
But before getting too excited, let’s throw some basic requirements in and see if you are up to them:
Basic requirements for starting an online platform for Finance Professionals:
Hiring Experts:
Assuming that you are not a financial expert yourself, you will need a couple of finance experts. They will make sure that everything on the platform is relevant. You might not need a lot of people for the beginning, but it will be very helpful if you have more experts on board.
Designing and Operating:
You might need a designer to make your platform look appealing and functional at the same time. And you would also need a developer to make certain parts of the platform work and be smooth. You can work with freelancers, they are helpful and affordable too.
Search Engine Optimization:
As we already discussed that you will be relying heavily on traffic from Google to your website. And that’s why it is important that your website ranks well in search engines. For example, if you have a finance professionals’ community with a blog, then it is important that your blog receives great SEO, so it is visible in organic searches.
Payments Processing:
As this platform will be making money through ads and other methods including affiliate marketing, it is important that you receive payments for the revenue generated by the platform. You will need to set up payment gateways for that, to facilitate the payments.
Publishing Rules:
You will also need to come up with guidelines for publishing content on your platform. First of all, there should be some quality check mechanism so that only quality, useful and trustworthy contents are visible to the general public. There should be set rules for publishing posts as well, to avoid spamming.
Authority Links:
If you own an online platform for finance professionals, then you must know what authority links are and how they can help you generate revenue for free! Authority links are the high-quality, well-linked external backlinks to your website which indicate trust among users towards your product or service. For example, if someone is searching for “Finance professionals’ community” then they are more likely to click on a link that shows up in the search results if it is from Forbes, Huffington Post or Business Insider. Get links from high authority platforms and your platform will rank higher in organic searches.
Having a backup plan:
This is very important because even with the best of platforms, things can go wrong. You need to have a contingency plan for situations like traffic drop, platform crash, less revenue etc. Because they are likely to happen at some point, and you don’t want your business to be in jeopardy because of that.
Your Online Small Business Financial Model:
The above points mentioned are just some of the basics. There is a lot more to it. You will need a financial model for your platform. This includes how you intend to make money from this project and what the expected costs will be.
Your online business financial model should also cover the costs of hiring experts, design(s) development and the expected revenue.
These all seem daunting? Then we have a solution for you! Oak Business Consultant has the perfect online business financial model for you. No, it’s not a generic online business financial model. The finance experts have specifically designed a financial model for your online platform for finance professionals. It has everything you need to start this platform and start earning from it.
