Back in November 2011, I hosted a series called Celebrate Barbados. It was intended to highlight everything Barbadian and I found myself leaning towards young entrepreneurs. I featured three young Barbadian entrepreneurs – Sheldon Browne, Maria Jordan and Nigel Wallace. I asked them about how they got started with their businesses and what advice they would give to other young people who want to start their own businesses.
Today it’s my turn to tell you how I became an entrepreneur.
Name of Business:
Odd Cents
Type of Business and Brief Bio:
At the moment, it’s a personal finance and lifestyle blog. I basically write articles/ posts on a daily basis with the aim of helping people. It’s a great way for me to improve on my writing skills and build a portfolio of articles for everyone to see.
Email Address:
oddcents [at] gmail.com
What made you decide to start your own business?
I wanted to start a blog for a while, but I was not sure what to blog about. The two ideas were a personal finance blog and a Caribbean tourism blog. I weighed the pros and cons and the personal finance blog was more practical.
What was the hardest part of starting your business?
I had issues from the time I made up my mind to blog about personal finance. Coming up with a name was a long process. I had so many options and the domain names for many of them were taken. I spent hours on end looking for the right name. Then one day the name Odd Cents just came to me. I liked it and I bought the domain name from Go Daddy the same day. The next issue was deciding who to host the site with. That was another few days of research because there are so many hosting sites. I finally settled with Fat Cow and it’s been great so far. [Dec 2018 Update: This site is no longer hosted with Fat Cow]
What were your start-up costs?
The domain name was $20; website hosting for one year came up to $90; I registered the business name and that was $100; I also ordered some business cards and those came to $35. So in all I spent $245 BDS ( $122.50 USD). To cut down on additional costs, I found a free WordPress theme that I liked and tweaked it and I also designed my own logo.
How have you found your journey so far?
It’s been great so far. I’ve met lots of great people and they have given me meaningful words of advice and encouragement.
What advice would you give to prospective entrepreneurs?
Manage your time properly. With work, school and blogging, I had to devise a way to make sure that everything was done properly. I’m still struggling a bit, but I’m hoping to get better. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.
*** This post is featured in the Festival of Frugality : The New Year 2012 Edition hosted by Funny About Money ***