Episode 73Jul 11, 2025· 16:07
Replay - Can You Start an Online Business for Five Bucks?
About this episode
Can You Start an Online Business for Five Bucks? Tune in and Find Out!
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Full transcript
00:15
What's up, my bloggy friends? Famous Ashley Grant
00:17
here. And today we are talking all about whether
00:20
or not you can start a business for five bucks.
00:23
You know, it's kind of funny that people are
00:25
talking a lot about inflation right now and how
00:27
everybody's trying to figure out how they can
00:28
make money. And so it got me to thinking, can
00:30
you actually do it? for less than $5? And I think
00:34
the answer is yes. So that's what we're going
00:36
to talk about. I know when most people think
00:38
about starting an online business, they assume
00:40
it requires deep pockets and expensive tools
00:42
and courses and all that jazz, but nothing could
00:45
be further from the truth. With just a few low
00:48
-cost resources, you can actually get the ball
00:50
rolling and start bringing in revenue, then reinvest
00:52
those earnings back into your business as you
00:54
grow. So in a very quick episode, we're just
00:58
going to quickly talk about all the different
01:00
things that you can do right now to start bringing
01:03
in revenue. Let's dive in. So first up is education.
01:06
And that might seem a little strange to talk
01:08
about whenever I'm telling you about how to start
01:11
a business for less than five bucks. But the
01:13
truth is when you're starting out, when you're
01:14
first starting out, you want to resist the urge
01:16
to spend big money on courses and coaching because
01:19
there are tons of free resources that you can
01:22
use to learn the fundamentals. And the first
01:24
place that I would recommend starting is YouTube.
01:27
There are so many amazing YouTube channels out
01:29
there that teach all kinds of different things.
01:31
For example, Batty in Business. She has an amazing
01:34
channel that teaches how to make money on TikTok,
01:36
how to make money on Instagram, how to make money.
01:39
with drop shipping, like all kinds of different
01:41
things. I'll leave a bunch of links to all the
01:43
YouTube channels I'm about to mention, but I
01:45
just wanted to at least start with her because
01:47
I've been consuming her content a lot lately.
01:49
And the things that she teaches, like some people
01:51
sell these courses for a lot of money, but she's
01:54
teaching how to do it completely for free. Graham
01:58
Stephan is another really awesome one, and he
02:00
teaches budgeting, investing, side hustles, building
02:04
multiple income streams, and his channel is completely
02:07
free. In fact, Every single channel that I'm
02:09
about to mention is completely free. And if you
02:12
want to get it without ads, of course, you'll
02:14
have to pay the premium fee. But you can get
02:17
it for free if you don't mind going through a
02:20
few ads to watch these different YouTube channels.
02:23
So another one that I highly recommend is Sunny.
02:26
I always forget how to say her last name. I'm
02:28
going to say it wrong. And I'm so sorry, Sunny,
02:30
if you ever hear this. I think it's Leonarduzzi.
02:34
Basically, she focuses on monetizing your passions
02:36
through YouTube, blogging, social media marketing,
02:39
selling digital products, all the things. She
02:41
actually teaches people how to make money on
02:43
YouTube with her YouTube channel, and I freaking
02:45
love it. Another great channel is Sara Dietschy.
02:48
She teaches a lot about YouTube monetization
02:50
specifically, like getting views, getting sponsors,
02:53
growing a channel, all that kind of stuff. And
02:56
Sean Kennell, if you were thinking about starting
02:58
a YouTube channel, definitely check out his page.
03:01
He runs Think Media and he explains online video
03:04
webinars, how to grow a personal brand, all that
03:06
good stuff. He's awesome. Another channel I definitely
03:11
recommend is Jessica Stansbury's channel. She
03:14
also goes by the name Hey Jessica. She teaches
03:17
a lot of people about how to create digital products
03:20
and she built one of her income streams. all
03:23
on digital products. She makes several thousand
03:25
dollars a month making various digital products,
03:27
and she actually teaches people how to do it
03:29
themselves on her YouTube channel with amazing
03:32
resources. Some of the resources she mentions
03:35
are also free. Another channel I have to recommend
03:40
is Mission Side Hustle. Basically, this guy Corey
03:43
from Florida, he... had this mission to turn
03:48
$500 into a million dollars. And in one of his
03:51
very first episodes, he even talks about how
03:53
he got the $500 to get started. And it's kind
03:56
of fascinating that you can take some of the
03:58
stuff that's in your own home and sell it on
04:00
eBay, sell it on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace
04:04
or whatever to get the capital to begin a business.
04:06
And it's been wild watching his building of his
04:12
business in real time. And he's actually showing
04:14
people every single episode what it is he's doing
04:17
to make money. And if you're into that kind of
04:19
thing and you want to watch the glow up, I definitely
04:22
recommend it. It's an awesome, awesome channel.
04:24
But every channel that I mentioned here is fantastic.
04:27
And I'm sure there's a bunch more that I'm blanking
04:29
on right now. So I'm going to leave more in the
04:30
show notes. If you go to famousashleygrant .com
04:33
backslash five bucks, and that is five spelled
04:36
out five bucks, you will see all of the resources
04:40
that I talk about in this episode. that you can
04:43
check out yourself. So in addition to looking
04:47
at YouTube, I highly, highly, highly, highly
04:49
recommend podcasts. Podcasts are a great way
04:52
to learn a lot of information. In fact, every
04:54
single time that I am considering a course from
04:56
a coach or someone who's like big in their industry,
04:59
the first thing I do is I look and see if they
05:01
have a podcast. And the reason for that is several
05:03
of the things that they teach in their online
05:05
courses. For example, Denise Duffield Thomas,
05:08
she sells a $2 ,000 course on how to make, you
05:11
know, how to fix your money mindset. It's a great
05:14
course. It's a fantastic course. But a lot of
05:16
the things that she teaches in that course, you
05:18
can actually learn for free on her podcast, Chill
05:21
and Prosper. And Chill and Prosper is a wonderful,
05:24
wonderful podcast if you're trying to figure
05:25
out how to get your money mindset right. It's
05:28
geared for all chillpreneurs, like all people
05:31
that are, you know, wanting to make money but
05:34
do it easily. She teaches so many amazing things
05:38
in her episodes, and I highly, highly recommend
05:39
it. Hers and Amy Porterfield's Online Marketing
05:43
Made Easy. If you're trying to learn how to build
05:46
an audience and sell to them, highly recommend
05:49
her podcast. Also is Pat Flynn's Smart Passive
05:52
Income. Got to check that one out if you're trying
05:54
to learn about how to not just make passive income,
05:56
but how to make any income. He teaches so many
05:59
amazing different things. And finally is Entrepreneurs
06:03
on Fire by John Lee Dumas. And his partner, well
06:07
now spouse, Kate, Kate Erickson, she also has
06:11
a lot of episodes that she does under that umbrella
06:13
of Entrepreneurs on Fire. She does Kate's Take
06:15
and several other different podcast series that
06:19
I highly recommend. If you're trying to learn
06:21
stuff about entrepreneurship, how to be a scrappy
06:23
entrepreneur, definitely, definitely check out
06:25
that podcast. And if you're still trying to find
06:28
additional resources to learn different, you
06:30
know, things, different industries that you're
06:33
trying to consider starting. go to the library.
06:35
Like that is a great place to get all kinds of
06:37
free information. And so definitely go there.
06:40
And on Kindle, I don't know if you know this,
06:43
but every single day there are thousands of books
06:46
you can get for free on Kindle. And I will leave
06:48
a link in the show notes for that as well, because
06:51
they have a really awesome resource inside the
06:54
Kindle bookstore where you can see the top 100
06:57
free books. In every single niche that they sell
07:01
books for, like everything from cooking to photography
07:03
to crafting and, heck, even sports or travel,
07:08
there's all kinds of free books that you can
07:10
get access to. So definitely check out the resources
07:12
that I put in the show notes. Like I said, it's
07:14
famoushashleygrant .com backslash five bucks,
07:16
and that's five spelled out. So next, you want
07:20
to carefully choose your niche or niche, depending
07:22
on... how you're feeling that day. It could be
07:25
niche or niche. It's the same thing. But basically,
07:27
you want to have something that aligns with your
07:29
interests, but that doesn't require large upfront
07:32
inventory or purchases or investments. You want
07:35
to be able to start earning money as quickly
07:36
as possible. So do some basic market research
07:39
online to assess the demand and potential profitability.
07:42
One of the one things that you can do that I
07:44
talk about all the time is you can start blogging
07:46
about whatever niche it is that you are excited
07:48
about. And once you have your niche set up or
07:52
selected, Then it's time to set up your online
07:54
hub. And there are only three real things that
07:56
you need to start a blogging -based business.
07:58
And that's a domain name, which you can get for
08:00
as little as 99 cents on something like GoDaddy
08:03
.com. You need web hosting. And a lot of people
08:06
are going to get very mad at me for saying this,
08:07
but the truth is you can take that 99 cent domain
08:10
and actually hook it up to GoogleBlogger .com
08:12
and you can create your website for free using
08:16
something like that. And then you need an email
08:19
list service, something like... MailChimp or
08:21
ConvertKit or, you know, one of those other ones
08:23
that starts for free. And I highly recommend
08:26
you choose a free one first because if you're
08:29
not making money yet, you don't want to put out
08:31
a lot of money, right? Right. Once you have these
08:33
things in place, then you can build a simple
08:35
website, start creating content, and then launch
08:37
your email list so you can start having a place
08:39
to connect with your audience. So if you are
08:42
going to start a website, let's talk traffic
08:44
and monetization. Here's some budget -friendly
08:46
strategies to start earning fast. And I mentioned
08:49
a lot of these in my last episode about how to
08:52
turn your blog into a business. But just for
08:54
shits and giggles, let's go through them again.
08:57
Display ads through Google AdSense. That's a
08:59
quick and easy way to start getting money into
09:01
your website immediately. Offer freelance services
09:04
like writing, design, virtual assisting. Or promote
09:07
affiliate offers that are related to your niche.
09:10
Sell your own low -cost info products like e
09:13
-books or video courses. And finally, network
09:16
and collaborate with other marketers. The sky
09:18
really is the limit. And I'll definitely leave
09:21
a link to last episode so you guys can check
09:23
that out if you want a little bit more in -depth
09:24
information about what I'm talking about. The
09:26
key is to get multiple income streams up and
09:29
running so you have cash coming in right away
09:31
to reinvest into your business. So you might
09:34
be wondering, though, what do I do if funds are
09:35
extremely limited? I don't even have 99 cents
09:38
for a domain. Now, when this happens, you can
09:42
still kickstart your online marketing efforts
09:44
using just free social media platforms and an
09:48
email list service. For example, create accounts
09:50
on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, etc.
09:54
Then build up your following by consistently
09:56
posting valuable content every single day. But
10:00
no matter what you're doing on any of those platforms,
10:02
always be driving people back to sign up for
10:05
your email list. Most of the email list services
10:07
that you can sign up for, they will give you
10:09
a free link that you can use to drive people
10:12
to your list. Use that so you can start contacting
10:15
people immediately. Engage with your audience
10:18
often. Reply to comments. Reply to messages.
10:21
Reply to anything that people are saying to you
10:23
so that you can start actually building a community
10:25
of people to talk to. Then you can monetize all
10:29
of your social media accounts in a few ways without
10:31
spending money. For example, You can link to
10:33
affiliate offers and products that are related
10:35
to your niche. Direct people to buy all kinds
10:39
of different things, like anything that you're
10:40
talking about. Let's say you have a Facebook
10:43
page that's all about football. You could do
10:46
some aspect of that niche and talk about football
10:49
and link to different affiliate offers. Let's
10:51
say you're about to talk about the big game that's
10:53
about to come up and you want to talk about how
10:55
to throw the perfect football party. You could
10:58
link to the napkins, the cups, the food, anything.
11:03
And all of that can be affiliate links that you
11:05
can sign up for and drive people back to, let's
11:08
say, an Amazon or a Walmart or a Target or whatever.
11:11
And then you will get a commission for any purchase
11:13
that is made through your link. So, like I said,
11:21
you want to create a free account with an email
11:24
service like MailChimp or ConvertKit and then
11:26
set up opt -in forms on your social profiles.
11:29
Offer a compelling lead magnet like a template,
11:31
a checklist, a mini course, whatever. And you
11:33
can do these with free resources like Canva.
11:36
You can actually create a free template on Canva
11:39
that you link to in your email list so that when
11:43
people give their email to you, you link to that
11:45
Canva checklist or whatever it is that you want
11:48
to create. You could create an e -book. You could
11:50
create, God, there's so many things you could
11:52
create. In fact, I'm going to leave a list of
11:54
all the different digital products that you could
11:55
create completely for free and how to do it in
11:58
the show notes as well. And if you have skills,
12:01
just with the time invested in social media platforms
12:04
and an email list, you can start building an
12:07
audience and generating income without any upfront
12:10
costs. But if you have skills, you can start
12:13
making money for free that way too. For example,
12:16
you could start freelancing on platforms like
12:18
Upwork or Fiverr. You can create a profile completely
12:22
for free and you could sell things like writing
12:24
and editing, graphic design, video and photo
12:26
editing. voiceovers, bookkeeping, virtual assisting.
12:29
The list goes on and on and on. I highly recommend
12:33
that you follow Alexandra Fasulo. Check out her
12:36
past content about how to freelance write. She
12:39
had a podcast called The Freelance Fairy, some
12:42
awesome episodes on that. And I will link to
12:45
a couple of her different articles that I highly
12:46
recommend you check out if you are interested
12:48
in freelancing on Fiverr or Upwork. On those
12:53
websites, then you can provide details about
12:55
your expertise, your experience and even share
12:57
a portfolio if you have one. If you're trying
12:59
to get started as a writer, for example, create
13:02
an account on Reddit, create an account on Medium
13:05
or Quora or whatever and just start writing content
13:08
that you can immediately start putting out there
13:09
and show people what it is you do. And then you
13:12
can use that as your portfolios so you can start
13:14
bidding on projects that align with your abilities.
13:17
For fixed price gigs, you can name your rate
13:19
for hourly jobs, set up an hourly wage that you
13:22
prefer, and then the platform handles the payments.
13:24
Yes, they take a small commission and that is
13:26
one thing that really sucks, but you'll have
13:28
no upfront fees so you could start your business
13:30
completely for free. And then communicate professionally
13:34
with clients and deliver high quality work. And
13:36
as you complete these projects successfully,
13:38
you'll start gaining good reviews, which will
13:40
help you win more business and on and on it keeps
13:42
going. And then eventually, as soon as you can
13:45
afford it, Get a website, get a portfolio, get
13:48
all the things that basically make it easier
13:50
to keep making money and keep getting your name
13:52
out there. So to close things out, here's some
13:54
other quick tips that I highly, highly recommend.
13:57
First one, prioritize building your email list
13:59
from day one. Trust me, this will pay off big
14:02
time. I still suck at it. I'm still working on
14:04
it. Hopefully by the time you guys are listening
14:06
to this episode, I think this episode comes out
14:08
in March or April. So hopefully by then I will
14:10
actually have an email list. But if you don't
14:12
have one yet, get one. And then create valuable
14:15
content consistently on a blog, social media,
14:18
somewhere that you can actually get in touch
14:20
with your ideal audience, attract them, and engage
14:23
with them regularly. Next, you want to take advantage
14:25
of free marketing tools like Canva for graphics,
14:28
keyword research tools, even AI. Even AI chatbots.
14:36
I mean, I'll leave a couple links to a couple
14:38
of my favorites down in the show notes below.
14:41
but there's no need to spend money on any of
14:43
it yet. And then automate what you can through
14:46
your website, your email provider, and even your
14:48
social media platforms. This will save you time
14:50
as you scale up. The bottom line though is yes,
14:53
you can start a business for $5 or less. You
14:56
can. The bottom line, oh, let me try that again.
14:59
The bottom line is yes, you can start a business
15:01
for $5 or less. You don't need a fancy huge budget.
15:05
You don't need fancy tech. or anything like that
15:07
to build a successful online business. You can
15:10
even start a podcast completely for free. I'll
15:12
leave some links in the show notes for that as
15:14
well. But the key is, if you are going to start
15:17
a business at all, start small, but take consistent
15:20
action. Then provide real value to your audience
15:23
on a regular basis. And don't be afraid to experiment
15:26
and learn as you go. You've got this. I believe
15:28
in you. And if you found this helpful, please
15:31
share it with somebody. I'd really appreciate
15:33
it. It'll help the channel a lot. And that's
15:36
all I've got for now. So if you are a blogger,
15:38
until next time, may your page views be high
15:40
and your bounce rate below.
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