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You might want to start your own business but free time and fresh ideas are not on your side. If you are like me, you probably don’t have the cash to float yourself while you start up a business that may or may not work. And then there is the idea, what would you do? Sure you’d like to be in business for yourself but what kind of company would you own?

Those are some of the normal questions people ask themselves when they think about quitting their job and starting something new. So while quitting your day job to start a new business isn’t feasible for everyone, there are other options. Consider being a part time entrepreneur.

You’ll need to step outside the box to find a business where you can work nights and weekends. Leveraging the power of the Internet is a great way to build a business in your spare time and it’s the route I’m taking to build a business to make supplemental income.

The Benefits

There are many benefits to being a part time entrepreneur. First, you can be as flexible as you need to be. If you only have 10 hours a week to dedicate to your venture, great. If you want to put in 20-30 hours, even better. You get to move at your own pace and do what you want, when you want. If things get busy at your day job or with your family you are free to slow things down for a while with your part time work. If you set up your business the right way, your customers won’t even know when you step away.

Your supplemental income is just that, supplemental. It’s not money you depend on or worry about. Because it’s supplemental you can use it to do things you are can’t do now like pay off debt, save money or do more fun activities. You work will be difficult, but the harder the work the more potential you have to increase your earnings.

Warnings

Before you give being a part time entrepreneur any more thought you need to be warned – It’s not all fun and games. I personally give up most mornings, weeknights and weekend days to work on building extra income. I don’t mind doing it because to me building a business is fun. You have to be careful though, what starts off as fun can turn into obsession. Be ready to struggle keeping the balance in your life. Part time work can easily turn into a second full time job.

Then there is the learning curve. You don’t know what you don’t know, and I promise you there is a lot to learn. It’s takes lot’s of hard work and motivation to push through problems and figure things out. Being a part time entrepreneur is not for the faint at heart.

You will also need patience. It usually takes 2 or more years for a business to become profitable, and working online is no different. You will have to go through 6-12 months of hard work with no reward. After those 12 months is up you will likely be turning a profit, but it may be a very small profit. Most people burn out before their 12 months is up and never find out what is waiting for them on the other side of two years.

Making A Plan

Now that I’ve scared away the people looking for a quick and easy way to make money let’s look at how to get started. You need a plan to build your business. These three steps serve as a basic outline that I use when I start a new blog or website.

Step 1: Create an Asset
You need an asset to make money. It can be a service, application, website content, information or any other product you create that people want or need.

Step 2: Drive traffic to your asset
This may be your biggest challenge. Advertising, SEO and social networking can all be used to drive traffic to your website.

Step 3: Monetize your Asset
Once you have enough people or traffic coming to your website you can start making money. In general, more traffic means more money. You will need to monetize your assets by selling advertising or charging a fee for your service or products.

Getting Started

While these three steps are very basic, they should give you an idea of what is involved and how to get started. I’ve written some articles that may be useful to anyone looking to start a part time business. I like to own and operate Niche Blogs and I wrote a good post that will help you start a blog and make money blogging.

If blogging is not your thing there are still plenty of other ways to earn. Read how to make supplemental income and 30 ways to earn online in 2010. If you have questions I’m happy to help. Reach out to me on my contact page.