How to Make your First $1,000+ From Ebooks

 

Selling ebooks is big business for many people. According to the Association of American Publishers, 2019 saw 335.7 million ebook sales in the United States alone. And according to Amazon, thousands of indie authors made $50,000 or more in 2019 — on Amazon alone. Ebook sales for 2020 have gone through the roof, mainly due to the pandemic. 

As you can see, you can make money selling ebooks. 

The ebook publishing process has been simplified as much as possible by aggregators and the retail giant Amazon, but it still takes some know-how. Without guidance and resources, you can easily spend hours groping around in the dark trying to write and publish a book people will buy. And, in fact, it’s best to start your research before writing your book. 

Luckily, guidance is just what I’m here for. I’ll take you through the whole journey, step by step. And for the purposes of this article, I’ll stick to publishing on Amazon, since it currently holds much of the ebook market. So, read on to find out how to make your first $1,000 selling ebooks.

How to Create Your Ebook

Many people start their ebook selling journey with a story they want to write. They pour hundreds of hours into the book, throw together a cover, write a blurb, and hit publish. Then, they wait for the sales to roll in. 

Unfortunately, this rarely works. Mainly because most people write for a nonexistent or oversaturated audience.  

Don’t get me wrong, you need to like what you’re writing. But other people need to like it, too. And you need an existing market that’s hungry for books like the one you’re writing.

Whether you’re writing non-fiction or fiction, you need to do a few things before you can start making money selling ebooks. 

Research a Bestselling Idea

To make money selling ebooks, you need an ebook to sell. And people must want to buy it. There must be a market for the book, which is why this pre-step is so important. It’ll help you determine whether the idea you have is worthwhile. And if it’s not, you can move on to the next idea. And the great part is, many people come up with great ideas in the research phase. 

If you’re absolutely sure your book has a hungry market, you can skip this and move on to step one. But if you’re not sure, answer these questions to validate your book idea: 

Is there an existing market for your ebook? 

Is the market actually willing to pay for the book, or is it information they can get online for free?

Is the competition so stiff that your book will be lost in the fray?

Not sure how to answer these questions?  Here is some software that can help. 

Ensure You Create the Different Parts of an Ebook

Even before writing the book, it’s good to know the different parts of a book. You’ll want to have a copyright page, a table of contents, acknowledgments, etc. Some formatting tools set these up for you, but you might need to do this yourself. 

The front and back matter of an ebook are excellent places for email opt-ins and a list of any other books you’ve written. But more on those later. 

Write and Format the Book

Since this article isn’t a “how-to” on actually writing a book, I’ll keep this section brief. There are plenty of resources for writing your book. Once you’ve written your book, format it so that it looks professional on e-readers, phones, and computers. 

Here’s a handy article about book formatting for you that takes you through each step of the process.

Also, you might want to look at getting book formatting software like Atticus. This helps you make both ebooks and books, and ensure they look professional.  

Get a Book Cover 

You must have a book cover to sell ebooks. And the cover needs to be professionally done. Or, it needs to at least look professional. Luckily, there are plenty of ebook cover creators out there, and many of them won’t break the bank. From Fiverr to EbookLaunch.com, you’ve got plenty of options.

Upload Your Ebook to Amazon

Once you have a written, formatted book and a cover, it’s time to upload them both to Amazon. To do this, you must have a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account. If you already have an Amazon account, this will be a breeze. It’s absolutely free and they walk you through the steps.

But, before you hit publish, read the steps below for tried-and-true tips on making your first $1,000 selling ebooks!

Your Guide to Selling Ebooks

Okay, here’s where the fun begins. You have a flawless ebook (or nearly flawless, anyway), a professional book cover, and you know there’s a market. But knowing there’s a market and tapping into it are two different things. That’s what these steps are all about: tapping into your market to make your first $1,000 — and beyond. 

The best way to sell ebooks is: 

Selecting the right keywords

Selecting best-selling ebook categories

Creating a special launch

Enrolling in KDP Select and KU

Setting up a book promotion push

Contacting book review sites

Setting up Amazon Ads

That’s it.  So, with that, let’s begin…

Step 1: Select the Right Keywords

Keywords are key to making money selling ebooks (see what I did there?). They can mean the difference between obscurity and daily sales. The right keywords tell Amazon when to show your book to shoppers. There are three important areas where you’ll use keywords when publishing ebooks on Amazon.

7 Kindle Keywords: Amazon allows you to fill out seven keywords of 50 characters each when publishing your book. 

Title and/or Subtitle: Having choice keywords in your book’s title or subtitle can help you gain visibility and sales. Subtitles are more important for non-fiction but can also be helpful for fiction, on occasion.  

Book Description: Keywords in the book description can help customers find the book. Better yet, they can help convince customers that your book is the one for them!

So how do you find these keywords?

Easy. Use Publisher Rocket to do quick searches and see which keywords are highly competitive and which ones aren’t. 

Here’s an example of Publisher Rocket’s keyword search feature.

This is important for finding a niche audience. Going for competitive keywords means you’ll have to spend more time and effort marketing to get sales. But if you target a less competitive keyword, you can see results faster and with minimal effort. 

You can find some of  this information manually, but the amount of time it takes far outweighs the one-time price of Publisher Rocket. 

Step 2: Select the Right Categories

If you select the right Amazon ebook categories, you will become a bestselling author.  That’s amazing because not only will that help you sell more books, it will also allow you to tell your friends, and family that you are a bestselling author. Furthermore, it’s a great credential to put on your resume, blog, about page, inquiry, etc. 

How does one become a bestselling author?  

Select an ebook category where you can sell more books in a day than the current #1 bestselling book. 

Now, that might sound daunting, but it really isn’t. That’s because there are over 14,000+ book and ebook categories to choose from. 

The key is finding the right category (you can choose 10 for your book if you follow these steps) that fits your book, and has the highest chance of being a bestseller.  

Now there is a manual way of doing this, however, there is no list of the 14,000+ categories and you’ll need to do a tedious amount of research and guessing. You can also use Rocket which has a list of all the ebook and book categories. It will even tell you how many books you’d need to sell that day to become a #1 bestseller. 

Basically, Rocket takes the guessing and legwork out of it for you.

And with over 14,000+ ebook and book categories to choose from, there is no way you can’t hit that bestseller status.  

Step 3: Create a Special Launch

Launching an ebook well can help you get noticed by Amazon’s algorithm. But it takes some serious plate-spinning to do this well. There are a lot of moving parts and several different philosophies when it comes to a successful launch.

You usually want to give yourself a week or two between uploading your ebook to Amazon and officially launching your ebook. But this doesn’t mean you can’t do a soft launch where you publish your ebook and ask your network for reviews. It just means you’ll need a little time to go through the book and make sure everything looks good and that there are no formatting errors. 

Let’s take a look at your different launch options.  

Enrolling in KDP Select (Kindle Unlimited) to Help Your Launch

For new authors, enrolling in KDP Select is probably the easiest way to give your ebook a little boost. KDP Select means that you can’t sell your book anywhere else besides Amazon for the enrollment period, which is 90 days. But it comes with some serious perks that can help you launch, successfully. 

For example, for every enrollment period, you can do either a free book promotion or a Kindle countdown deal, where your book is sold for a discounted rate for up to five days. 

Both options are good for gaining visibility and encouraging people to buy. Of course, a free book promotion won’t gain you any profits, but it can really boost your book’s ranking and can also help you get reviews (if you ask for them).

Non-KDP Select Launches

If you don’t want to limit yourself for a minimum of 90 days with exclusivity to Amazon, you can opt-out of KDP Select. You might want to sell your book to a larger audience by getting it into online outlets like Google Play, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and others. 

However, a word of warning: If you’re new to self-publishing, I suggest against focusing on “going wide” as we call it. It can be difficult to keep up with publishing one book on Amazon, let alone on a handful of other platforms. Once you know your way around Amazon, you’ll have the foundation for self-publishing on other platforms, as well. 

Some tactics for a successful launch for non-KDP Select ebooks include:

Offering your book to your extended network for $0.99 for the first week or so and asking them for honest reviews. The low price makes for less resistance. 

Once you’ve got a few reviews, raise your price ($2.99 or $3.99 is best for most ebooks). 

You can also coincide your $0.99 launch price point with a book promotion push, which I’ll cover below.

Amazon generally frowns on reviews from immediate family and close friends, so resist the urge to have them write you a good review — Amazon will probably take it down. 

Launching With an Email List

Most new authors don’t have an email list to which they can promote their new ebook. But if you have one, send out a couple of emails in the weeks before launch day, telling your list about the book. 

Of course, the book needs to be relevant to the email list. So if you wrote an epic fantasy book and your list comes from your blog about personal finance, you shouldn’t promote your book to that list. It’s a good way to get a bunch of unsubscribes, even if you do get a couple of sales out of it. 

Use Social Media

If you don’t have an email list, don’t worry. You can use your social media following to boost your launch. Whether you’re doing a KDP Select promotion or you’re simply dropping your price, you can use free Facebook promotion groups (make sure promotion is expressly allowed), your Twitter following, and even your Instagram or TikTok accounts. 

How active you are on those platforms goes a long way to how much success you’ll have. Still, every little bit helps when it comes to launch time.   

Step 4: Set Up a Book Promotion Push

Hopefully, you’ve made a bunch of sales during your official launch. It would be nice to simply sit back and watch sales come in ever after. Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually work that way. Remember that there are an estimated 2,000 books published every day! Even big names have to work to keep their sales going strong. 

This is where book promotion sites come in handy. Written Word Media, home of FreeBooksy and Bargain Booksy, is a favorite paid promo site. But there are plenty of free book promotion sites out there that can help you sell more books. 

All of these sites have slightly different requirements, but you’re sure to find a bunch of them that will be glad to promote your book to their audiences. (I’ve already done a lot of the research for you in that article I linked to above.)

When you decide to do this generally depends on how well your book is doing. You can wait for sales to dip a little bit before putting the word out, or you can do it soon after your launch. Most people wait because they like that little bump in sales it gets them — which can also help Amazon recommend your book to customers — for free! 

Typically, you’ll want to contact these sites at least two weeks before starting the promotion. Planning ahead (and being flexible) is a real help here. 

Step 5: Contact Book Review Sites

Book review sites can help you get some good publicity around your ebook. Review sites can help you with the social-proof aspect of book marketing. In fact, Amazon has an Editorial Reviews section that every author should take advantage of.

Book review sites provide a service. They have readers who sign up to read books and write reviews about them. Sometimes, these readers are just normal folks who want to read books for free (most sites require that you provide a free ebook copy for the reader). Other times, they are professional or semi-professional reviewers who are paid for their time. 

Kirkus Reviews is a well-known review site that charges a pretty penny ($425 last I checked). But if you get a good review from Kirkus, you’ve got bragging rights and are likely to get some solid sales simply because their name carries weight.

But you must realize that a good review is far from guaranteed. And, although most review sites don’t charge near as much as Kirkus, they do usually charge a reading fee of some sort. So if you’ve got some glaring issues with your ebook, you might want to wait until you fix them to contact a review site. 

If you’re confident in your ebook, some of these review sites are a good way to get additional reviews on Amazon as well as some great quotes for your Editorial Reviews section. Some sites even include your ebook in their newsletter or on their website, which helps you generate more sales. You could even get on a list of the best books — the key is finding a review site in your genre or subject matter and asking them to review your book. It can do wonders for your conversions. 

Pro Tip: Avoid any sites that guarantee a good review. This is against Amazon’s rules about reviews. You can’t demand a good review in exchange for anything, not even for a free copy of your ebook. The reviewer must be free to share their own opinion about the book. 

Step 6: Set Up Simple Amazon Ads to Keep Traffic Going

Now that your book is out and you have some reviews coming in, it’s time to start generating traffic through Amazon ads. With these, you can keep selling ebooks, even after you stop doing book promotions and pushing for sales. Amazon helps keep your ebook in front of book shoppers. 

You can create Amazon ads that show your ebook in the search results, on another book’s sales page, or on the lockscreen of a Kindle.  

Although the learning curve can feel a bit steep, there is a free full video course that authors can tap into that will give them all the necessary information for creating profitable Amazon ads for their ebooks.

Dos and Don’ts of Selling Ebooks

When it comes to making money selling ebooks, there are certain things you should and shouldn’t do. I’ve mentioned some of them briefly in the steps above, but let’s take a look at a few I haven’t covered. 

Get Good Reviews

Reviews provide the all-important social-proof aspect that is essential for marketing. The best way to get reviews is to ask for them. You should definitely put an ask at the end of your book. You can even put a link to the review page; many people have no idea where to go to write a review on Amazon, so a link helps. 

To get the link, scroll down on your book’s product page and look on the left side. You can snag the link from here:

The link won’t work for you because you can’t review your own ebook. But it will work for others, they simply have to log into their Amazon account, first. Unfortunately, if they don’t have an Amazon account (or haven’t spent $50 through Amazon) you’re out of luck. 

It’s also essential to ask your network to review the book. Many authors feel that this is “salesy,” but you’d be surprised at how many people are willing to write a review if you just ask. 

Use Amazon Associates to Make a Little Extra Money

It doesn’t take long to sign up for an Amazon Associates account, which is Amazon’s affiliate program. You can then get an affiliate link for your book and post it on your website. 

When anyone uses that link to buy your ebook (or anything else within a 24-hour period), you get a small percentage. That means if someone clicks on your affiliate link and then decides to buy a $2,000 pool table from Amazon, you’ll get a percentage! Not bad for just a few minutes of your time.

Allow for Email Opt-In

If you’re serious about selling ebooks and you think you’ll be writing more of them, creating an email list is essential. You can put an email opt-in in the front and back of your book to increase the chances of gaining subscribers.

The standard practice these days is using reader magnets. Reader magnets offer a freebie in exchange for a reader’s email address. This is usually a novella or a short story for fiction, or a spreadsheet or bonus PDF for non-fiction. It just needs to be relevant to the book to work well.

Don’t Skimp on the Book Cover

As I mentioned briefly at the beginning of this guide, a professional book cover is key. Readers can spot a DIY book cover quickly, and most of the time they’re going to skip it for something that looks a little better. 

If you have experience with book cover design, by all means, make your own cover. But for most of us, paying a cover designer is one of the best investments we’ll ever make in our book (aside from the hours writing it, of course). 

The price range for this is extremely wide. You can even get a premade book cover for under $100 — if you can find one that looks good and works for your book. Otherwise, check with Fiverr, Upwork, Reedsy, Ebook Launch, or simply Google “Ebook cover design.” There are plenty of great options out there.  

Don’t (Ever) Pay for Reviews 

Paying for reviews can actually get you banned from Amazon. This may seem like splitting hairs, but paying a legitimate book review site is totally fine because you’re not paying for a certain outcome. 

But a quick search on Facebook will yield groups where readers gather, promising good reviews in exchange for cash, Amazon gift cards, free books, and all kinds of other things. To stay within Amazon’s guidelines, there can’t even be the suggestion of an “incentivized review.” 

In fact, most legitimate review sites don’t allow you to have direct contact with the reviewer. You may not even know who it is until the review is out there in the world. 

This is why legitimate review sites are OK but “incentivized reviews” are not. The same goes for review swapping with other authors. Meaning, “I’ll give your book a review if you give mine one.” Amazon considers this an incentivized review. Best to stay away from practices like this.  

Other Resources and Tools Needed

Although it’s not imperative that you have any of these tools, they can certainly help you on your book publishing journey. But it’s ultimately up to you if you want to make the investment. 

Publisher Rocket

If you’ve read the “Select the right keywords” and “Select the right categories” sections (and I hope you have), you’ve seen a little of what Publisher Rocket can do. It can save you hours and hours of mind-numbing, hair-pulling research. And it can also help you determine how stiff the competition is for a certain genre or subgenre.

If you’re planning on doing Amazon ads for your books, I’d go so far as to say that this is a must-have. Luckily, Publisher Rocket is only one time cost of $97. That gets you all updates and upgrades as well.

Scrivener

Scrivener is a big name in the book-writing world, and is available on Mac or Windows. It has been around for a long while and is a one-stop shop for writing, editing, and formatting. Students, academics, poets, and all kinds of other writers swear by it. 

However, it has one major drawback: it’s notoriously difficult to learn. It’s complex because it has so many features. But that complexity is a bit too much for some people. If you’re willing to put in the time to learn how to use Scrivener, it’s a great tool. 

Atticus

Atticus is a book writing and book formatting software. It lets you write your books, and then easily format them as an ebook and book. With this software, you can create beautiful book designs and look professional without having to hire a specialist.  

It’s simple and elegant and totally awesome. Currently, there’s a waitlist for the tool.

Next Actions to Take

Well, we’re wrapping it up. You’ve read all about how to make your first $1,000 selling ebooks. But you may be wondering what to do next. Your book is up, you’ve followed the steps, your Amazon ads are running. What now? What about the next $1,000?

Well, it’s simple, really: Do it again. Write and publish your next book. But make sure that you have a way to collect reader emails. And point each new book you have to the other ones you’ve written. You can do this in the back matter of your book, and even in the front matter, if you want. 

The more books you have, the more money you can make by selling them. When someone finishes one ebook, they may see that you’ve written other ones and purchase them. And with a mailing list, you can gather your fans and contact them directly! How cool is that? 

So keep it up. As your catalog grows, so should your income. And that’s a beautiful thing. 

Consider Audiobooks

You may also want to consider turning your ebooks into audiobooks. This can create another income stream for you. The audiobook market is growing and it probably won’t stop any time soon. So consider narrating your own book or paying someone else to narrate it for you. This is a logical next step for ebook authors and it’s becoming easier to do. 

Summary

Making your first $1,000 selling ebooks may seem like quite the journey. And you’re not wrong. There are quite a few things to do. But, many of the most successful self-published authors publish a few books a year. And they treat it like a business, which is definitely what you should do, too. 

As with anything else, the more you do it, the easier it gets. 

With the right tools and a drive to succeed, the first $1,000 you make will seem small-time in no time. Then you’ll be looking at your first $10,000 and, eventually, your first $100,000.

So keep writing, keep publishing, and keep learning!

6 Steps to Becoming Incredibly Intelligent Like the World Richest Man: Elon Musk

Elon Musk, a man constantly making waves at the forefront of innovation. Driven by his boundless curiosity, the key trait he utilised to establish industry-leading companies like SpaceX, Tesla, PayPal and many more within a scant few years.

So what is the secret behind Elon’s genius? You may have wondered how this man can seem so smart, well here are 6 steps you can take to follow his way of thought.

1. Open up to new perspectives

Many think that specialising and becoming an expert in a particular field is the way to success and the forefront of development, Elon Musk begs to differ. Rather than becoming an expert in a single field, Elon Musk is an ‘expert generalist’ with deep knowledge in multiple fields of different disciplines.

Here are some of the things you should do to be as knowledgeable as him:

Look for a subject that interests you and don’t be afraid of the difficulty in learning it

Challenge the established status quo. Look for new opportunities rather than ones people are already fighting for.

Elon Musk is living proof that going above and beyond to chase what others consider a pipe dream and succeeding is possible. Becoming the sole pioneer and leading expert in an undiscovered industry is possible if you follow the same principles.

 

2. Start from the basics

If you want to speak English well, you need to learn the alphabet before you start with sentences. This simple rule applies to everything, building up your basics before doing anything complex prevents you from making dumb and basic mistakes. To innovate, you need to know what isn’t known or what isn’t being used.

Elon Musk once said, “It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree — make sure you understand the fundamental principles, for instance, the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.”

In practice, you can apply the ‘semantic tree’ concept in these ways:

Obtaining a complete understanding of the fundamentals before moving onto more advanced topics

Pay attention to the details, even if they seem insignificant to others

Compress and organise all your notes neatly, make them easy to understand for yourself

 

3. Focus on what you learned and know

It took Elon Musk just 2 years to pick up rocket science and learn enough to launch SpaceX as a leading pioneer in space transportation, the most successful private enterprise for space exploration and transportation ever made.

So how do you follow in Elon’s footsteps? Start by learning from many other people as much as you can, so you can have an idea of what you are getting into before you dive in.

It can be said that knowing how to get reliable and true knowledge is one of the most important steps on this path. Being able to filter out false information is something many people overlook despite their education.

 

4. Link each field of study together

Once Elon Musk has his basics covered on multiple subjects, he utilises the knowledge of different subjects to support and launch creative ideas. Making use of multiple fields of knowledge to achieve a goal while making it less academic and more realistic.

Here are some of the benefits of doing this:

You will be able to put knowledge to practical use much easier and more frequently

You can come up with new and creative ideas, thinking out of the box will be much easier when you are not limited to a box that is a single field or subject

 

5. Branch out your knowledge

This man believed that knowing just one thing is not enough. The more we learn, the more we see the world from a broader perspective. By gaining more knowledge in different fields, you can spot more possible connections and interactions that have not been explored or documented in depth before.

 

6. Putting knowledge to practical use

Action is the key to success. If you don’t come up with a way to take the knowledge you gained and apply it to practical use, then you’ve wasted your time studying. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, failure is the best teacher you will ever have. The lessons you learn from the pain of failing can be used to improve your next attempt, it helps develop your ability better than any other way.

 

Anyone can be a smart thinker like Elon Musk

If you’ve read up to this point, then you’ll understand why Elon Musk’s way of thinking has allowed him to achieve worldwide success and become a renowned person. We can all apply his philosophy to ourselves and be able to not only improve our creativity but also be unafraid of challenging the established norm.

Top 10 Business Ideas in Nigeria You Can Start with 100,000 Naira

In a country where economic deficit and unemployment have become the order of the day, conceptualizing a business idea in Nigeria and subsequently starting it can be likened to a goldmine which offers an opportunity for people to tap into a better livelihood.

According to Statista.com, a total of 32.5% of Nigerians were unemployed in 2021, with a forecast unemployment rate of 33% in 2022. 

Apart from being a gateway to self-employment and helping to put an end to job hunting, starting a private business from various business ideas also comes along with several advantages which include but are not limited to: 

Unlimited freedom 

Unlike working under someone or organization, where your mode of operation and work is being dictated by your boss/superior, personal l business gives you the privilege to work at your own pace and with ease. This is most suitable for people who may not have what it takes to work for a company due to certain conditions such as old age, underlying medical issues, limited time, etc.

Fulfillment of dreams and ambition

Getting a job is one thing, getting a dream job is another. While the former may be a little bit difficult, the latter is almost next to impossible to come by. We live in a country where a majority of people do a job they don’t really want or because they have no option. But with a proper business idea and conceptualization, one can fulfill his/her lifetime dream by starting a business that is in line with such a dream.

Financial freedom

Financial reward is yet another importance of starting a personal business. It is no longer news that most employers in Nigeria pay their staff peanuts for salary. The prices of commodities are on the high side, and the money being paid to the average worker is far from being enough to cater to their daily needs. A good business idea when materialized is capable of turning things around and subsequently giving financial freedom to the originator.

From the foregoing, it can be deduced that having a business idea and materializing it is of immense importance for whosoever deems it fit to give it a shot.

While there are many constraints to starting a personal business, capital to start with remains a major constraint.

In this article, we will be looking at 10 businesses you can start in Nigeria with as little as N100,000 which guarantees 100% return on investment in 30 days or less.

1. POS/E-PAYMENT

POS (point of sales) tops the list of business ideas in Nigeria you can start with 100,000 naira for obvious reasons. The business is one of those businesses that has come to stay for a very long time. Financial transactions are an integral part of human life and the banking sector habitually fails to live up to the people’s expectations in that regard.

POS serves as a subtle alternative to banking transactions and saves people from wasting their precious time that could be spent on something productive in bank hall queuing because of basic financial transactions. Financial transactions such as transfer of funds and withdrawals, payment of bills (DSTV, GOTV, PHCN), recharging of airtime, and selling of data among others can be taken care of by POS.

Mr Tayo Adewale, a 26-year-old HND holder from one of the federal polytechnics in Nigeria, after graduating and wrapping up his mandatory NYSC was unable to secure a white-collar job. He finally decided to go into the POS business, courtesy of N100,000 donated by his family which he used to kick-start the business. As of today, Mr Tayo claims he has been making nothing less than N100,000 return on investment since he started the business while some of his colleagues are still on the streets still searching for a non-existing white-collar job.

In starting a POS, one of the most important things to consider is the location you want to situate the business. The nature of the location your business is sited can either make or mar your POS business idea. While determining the kind of location, some of the things you should consider are: 

GSM network/Internet

This is an important factor that must be considered before opting for any location. You must ensure your POS business is situated in an area with a very good GSM network, to ensure hitch-free business transactions.

Proximity to banks

Another important thing you should consider before choosing a place to locate your POS business is how close the area is to the banking area. Locating your POS in an area very close to the banking area can be likened to efforts in futility and may not bring about the return on investment as expected. This is because the majority of the people may rather prefer to visit the banking for their transactions since it is close by.

Security

While searching for a place for your POS business, you should ensure the place is secured and has little or next to any history of crime. This is because you will be dealing with cash daily which makes you vulnerable and a soft target for criminals if the location is not secured.

What you need to start

Some of the things you will need to get the business started are business capital, space/shop or container, a banner, and most importantly a POS machine for the operation of the business. You can get your POS machines from banks like GTB, UBA, Zenith, First Bank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, and hosts of others. 

2. Phones and other gadgets charging 

Phones and gadgets charging is yet another business idea in Nigeria that can be materialized with as low as 100,000 naira. It is no longer news that the electricity supply in most states of the country is unstable and unreliable, which makes the business of changing phones a very juicy one to venture into with relatively low capital.

Also, the cost of petrol for generators that could have served as an alternative power supply has become expensive and unaffordable. Hence, most lower and middle-class citizens who cannot afford to purchase a generator often resort to phone charging vendors, paying a minimum of 100naira to get their phones and other gadgets charged.  

Mr Wale Olakunle, a middle-aged man who owns a phone charging shop in Oke-Odo, a neighborhood close to the main campus of University of Ilorin, relished his humble beginning in the business and how far he has come since he started the business about three years ago.

“I started this phone recharging business three years ago with a 100,000 naira loan I took from a microfinance bank. When I first started, the first two weeks were dull and I was already thinking of giving up on the business. But towards the last weeks of my first month, the business started booming and the rest like they used to say is history. At the moment, my take-home from this business is nothing less than 7,000 naira daily after deducting all expenses. That is around 200,000 naira monthly,” he explained.

What you need to start

While starting a phone and gadget recharging business, one must consider the location. It is preferable to locate your business in an area with a poor electricity supply. This will make it inevitable for people to patronize your business. As a phone recharging vendor, you should also develop a good charisma which will allow your potential customers to freely relate with you as you will be dealing with different types of people dailySome of the things you will be needing to kick-start the business are a container/space, a covered or shaded stall, a small generator for power supply, fuel to power the generator, original chargers and desktop, and an electric socket board with multiple electronic sockets for charging. 

3. Mobile food vendor and delivery business 

Food is an important aspect of human existence that is simply inevitable. Regardless of the situation, we must always find something to eat. This, and other reasons are why online food vending and delivery business occupy the number 3 position on the list of business ideas that you can start with 100,000 naira.

At the moment, a good number of people find it difficult to cook food at home due to the nature of their work and busy schedules; hence, they result in employing the services of these food vendors. Working-class, students and artisans are some of the examples of people that fall into this category.

While starting a mobile food vendor business, one needs to have learned or possess cooking skills, which will give you a sharp edge over your competitors, as you have many alternatives like eatery, restaurants, and other mobile food vendors racing to have your customers. Your ability to prepare delicious, nice, and affordable meals will set you above your competitors.

 

While interacting with a popular mobile food vendor in OjoduBerger side of Lagos, Mr Kelechi Emmanuel expressed that his life has turned around for the better since he started the business a few years back. He expressed gratitude to a friend who first spoke about the business idea with him. However, he lamented the current price of cooking ingredients and foodstuff, urging the government to please find a lasting solution to the price hike.

What you need to start

Fast and reliable means of transportation are important aspects that must be in place for the smooth running of the mobile food business. 

The good news about the business is that you don’t necessarily need a shop or office to cook your meals, you can start by cooking from the comfort of your home and expanding the business as time goes by.

4. Copywriting

Copywriting is one of the most profitable online businesses in Nigeria you can kick off with a low cost of 100,000 naira and below. If you have good writing skills and firm control of language, then this business will be your ticket to financial freedom. 

The copywriting business comes in different forms: it could be writing of advert copy, blog posts, video scripts, presentation, direct mails, jingles, creative content, and so on. The main task of a copywriter is to weave content in such a way that will be convincingly enough to persuade or promote a certain product, idea, service, or cause. A copy, when well written, can perform magic on any product or services.

It can be done as full-time or a side hustle that guarantees a return on investment if one knows his or her onions very well.

Particularly, students, who have good writing skills, can explore this business opportunity to support their parents in catering for their academic financial needs.

The salaries of a copywriter in Nigeria ranges from 100,000 –300,000 naira depending on the nature of copy and organization. Some copywriters also charge clients per word. On an average, a copywriter charges 11-20,000 per 1,000 words.

To get clients as a beginner in copywriting, you can apply for a position of freelance job board, cold pitching, speaking at conferences/workshop and promoting of your business on professional platforms like LinkedIn 

A final year student of the University of Ilorin, Seyi Olawaleexplained that he has been surviving from the proceeds of copywriting since he lost his father in year two at the university.

He stated further that he no longer asks his mother or family for monetary help, as the money he makes from the business is more than enough to cater for his financial needs.

What you need to start

Apart from having an inherent writing skill, copywriting just like every other skill can also be learnt.  You can build from scratch or improve your copywriting skills by reading books on copywriting, watching copywriting videos on YouTube, following copywriting blogs and taking copywriting courses on online learning platforms such as Udemy and Coursera. Getting a copywriter as a mentor can also be of immense benefit while you are trying to improve or learn copywriting.

Another good news about this business is that, it is a remote one, and you practically don’t need to situate the business in a particular geography. All that is needed to start up the business is your smartphone or preferably a laptop system, a good internet connection, and, an adequate power supply.

5. Graphic design

 

As the saying goes, “A picture is worth much more than a thousand words”, going by this saying, it is free to say that graphic design is therefore worth much more than a million words. Graphic design is a process of projecting visual communication to communicate a particular message. It combines different elements to communicate a message to an audience.

Corporate organizations, government establishments, politicians, partisans, and virtually every sphere of human endeavor employ the services of graphic designers. While contemplating on venturing into graphic design, it is important to get yourself acquainted with the basics and fundamentals of graphic design such as: hierarchy, color, typography, lines, shapes, balance, texture, alignment, proximity, and contrast.

An Ilorin-based young graphic designer by the name, Ayomide Adeniyi stated that he makes nothing less than 120,000 monthly from graphic design simply by helping different organizations and individuals to design flyers, e-book covers, and banners. He continued that another means he makes money from the business is through the teaching of the skills to interested students.

On how he promotes and gets clients to patronize his business, the young designer explained that he gets most of his customers from a referral by people he has designed for in the past and also by showcasing and posting his designs on social media space like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter.

What you need to startStarting a graphic design just like other digital skills does not require having a particular shop/space, what is most important is learning the skill. There are various ways you can learn graphicsdesign which  includes watching graphic design videos on YouTube and also by paying a professional for master classes where you will be trained on the fundamentals of graphics and how to monetise the skill.

The tools you will be needing to materialise the business idea are your laptop and smartphones. For laptop design, you will be needing software like Corel draw, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe illustrator, and a host of other similar software while you will be needing applications like Canva, Pixellab, Logo maker. 

6. Selling of clothes

The importance of clothes can never be overemphasized. Clothes form part of the three basic needs of man, the others being food and shelter. Hence, it is one of the lucrative business ideas in Nigeria that can be started with a relatively low capital of 100,000 naira and below.

According to a young male clothes vendor, who is based in Ilorin, he explained that having a good relationship with your customers is the best way to grow your business. He continued that, you must also be willing to advertise your business through one on one interaction and most especially on your social media platforms to convince your existing and potential customers for patronage.

Some of the types of clothes to sell are children’s wear, native wear, English wear, jeans, underwear among others. Purchasing of these wears for resales can be made at popular clothes markets, such as Balogun market, Aswani market, Katanguamarket, Tejuosho market, Onitsha market, and Aba Market.

What you need to startWhile starting the business, having a shop may not necessarily be important from the onset, as you can simply purchase clothes and deliver them to the doorsteps of your customers.

One of the most germane qualities you must possess to make it big in the business is the ability to convince your customers on the need to purchase your product. Without proper pacification, your customers may not see the need to patronize a particular dress, as many other needs are competing for the capital of your customers.

Equally, it is also important to have good networking to people and maintain a good rapport with your customers who can in turn help to refer you to other potential customers for patronage. 

7. Laundry business

Laundry is yet another lucrative business in Nigeria that is often overlooked. Due to the busy nature of most people’s jobs, it is difficult to create time for washing clothes, and that is where the laundry service provider comes in.

Richard Ojigbede, a student of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, while talking about his journey so far in the laundry business stated that he used to watch customers’ clothes with bare hands in the past but the proceeding from the business has bought him 2 washing machines and a generator. He explained further that most students have no time for washing clothes due to academic stress which is of immense benefit to his business. He concluded by saying he makes nothing less than 10,000 every day from the business.

What you need to startOne good thing about the business is that you can comfortably work from the comfort of your home without necessarily owning a personal shop or space.

All that is needed to materialize the business idea are the basic tools like washing machine, iron, and generator in case of a power failure.

Laundry just like most other businesses requires you to be honest. As a laundry service provider, you must at all times be a promise keeper by ensuring the readiness of your customers’ clothes as at when due.

It is also important you establish good connections with your customers in order to improve the chances of referral to other potential customers.

8. Shawarma selling business

Shawarma is a snack that is made of beef or chicken filling. It has over the years become one of the favorite snacks of people, most especially the younger generation. This lucrative business idea can be actualized with as little as 100,000 naira and below. 

Mr Sunday Agbor, who owns a popular Shawarma spot close to a supermarket in Ojodu Berger part of Lagos State explained that starting a Shawarma business requires a lot of dedication and patience. While recounting his own experience, the young man said that, the initial stage of the business was not too rosy, as he only made a few sales during the period. He continued that he presently makes more than 250,000 every month from the business.

What you need to startBefore venturing into the business of shawarma, you must first get trained on the process of shawarma making. You won’t want to start the business without a proper understanding of how it is made and start selling low-quality shawarma to your customers. This will kill your business even before it starts.

After getting trained, the next thing is to look for a good location where you can situate your business. Preferably, it is good to locate your shawarma spot in an urban area where you can easily meet with your target audience. Places like students’ area, supermarket surroundings, the entrance to an estate, bar, hotel, and T-junctions are a few of the best spots you can locate your shawarma business in order to make high profit and return on investment on the business.

Some of the equipment required for the business are shawarma toaster, show glass, pot/utensils, spron, and insect killer for flies. 

9. Data reselling business

Presently, we live in a digital era where the world has become a global village and everyone needs to be connected to stay informed about what is happening in their immediate environment and the world at large. To this end, purchasing and having a data plan becomes inevitable.

According to a 2021 report from Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Nigerians consume an excess of 80,000 terabytes of data every month. 

A data reseller is an individual who purchases data in bulk from VTU platforms and telecommunication companies at a relatively cheap price and then resells it to customers at his or her convenient rate.

A student data reseller, Miss Sharon Odewunmi expressed her satisfaction with her choice of business. She further stated that the business just like every other business requires one to have patience and good networking, as the business cannot grow without referrals to potential customers from the previous ones.

What you need to startSome of the requirements to start a data reselling business are a laptop or smartphone, capital for the initial purchase, good internet connections, and a bank account as a medium of payment.

To make money from this business, one needs to be a good marketer, this means that you must be actively able to advertise your business through face-to-face communication and your various social media platforms. You should also reduce the price of your data plans to give you a sharp edge over your competitors and equally convince your customers to purchase data from you as against buying it directly from their network service provider.

10. Declutter agents business

The advent of social media has been a blessing to humanity not just only by providing an avenue to make friends and stay connected with one’s family, but also it has continued to provide means of livelihood to some of its users. Declutter agent business is one of the fastest routes to financial freedom on Instagram. 

As a declutter agent, you simply rake in your money by helping sellers to display their product for potential buyers to see and if satisfied with the product, the buyer makes the payment and you get your own percentage from the proceeding of the sales. Your job is that of a middle man who connects buyer and seller. 

There is virtually nothing that can’t be sold via decluttering agents. Products such as: furniture, mattresses, generator, television, fans are few examples of varieties of things that can be sold and bought through the declutter platform.

According to a popular declutter agent on Instagram with the Instagram handle “deluxe_declutter” which has 13.5k instagram followers, she explained that she started the business with just 5,000 naira but currently makes nothing less than 300,000 monthly from the business. On how she promotes her business, the young lady stated that she reaches her audience through Instagram sponsored ads. She, however, described trust and sellers’ disappointment as the greatest challenge she faces in the business.

What you need to start

Starting this business does not also require situating it in a particular geographical location. It is a remote business that can be done at the comfort of your bedroom. What you will be needing for the business are your smartphone, Instagram accounts, data bundle and adequate power supply.

Having high followers on Instagram is also an added advantage. The more the number of your followers, the more chances of buying and selling through your platform and the more you make money from the business.

It is also important to have a good online reputation, as this will improve the people trust in you and their chances of making sales and purchases through your platform.

Conclusion  

In conclusion, there are many business ideas in Nigeria that you can start with as low as 100,000 naira. What is most important is your ability to look in depth and analyze the category you best fit into. Also, it is important to have patience, as the initial stage of personal business may be frustrating and not yielding enough as expected, but with dedication and hard work, it will just be a matter of little time before you unlock your financial freedom in the business.