Your online business should pay your internet bills

Posted by Felix Okoli on Sunday August 31, 2014 at 11:10:30:

Imagine being able to use the internet for free? Actually, internet services are into really free but there has to be someone or something paying for it.

If you are making money online in Kenya, one of the things that would show if your online business model is actually profitable is when your online business is at least able to pay for your internet bills.

Internet service providers in Kenya normally charge a fee to subscribers and since they are providing the service as a business and have to pay some costs, the consumers are the final people who are meant to bear that cost and this is why we pay an internet service subscription fee.

If you normally use the internet and not making money from it, you may still need to pay for using it one way or another and this is one reasons why you should invest in online businesses that can at least give you a kickback.

When I started using the internet many years ago while still in school, I was mostly spending money out of my pocket money just to use the internet. I was not making any money as a student but was still spending money at internet cafes. We mostly used the internet as a form of leisure as well as to get information. I used it mainly to access services such as Yahoo mail and instant messaging. I also used it for entertainment and education too. Then the internet was exciting and new and I only wondered about what possibilities I could achieve by using it.

The more you use the internet, the more money you are likely going to spend and that's why I was motivated to at least seek for opportunities on the internet that could help me make money online.

Actually, I didn't just go out and started accessing the web just to make money but as time went by, I started noticing some opportunities and started receiving spam mails that told me I could make money while I sleep. You have to admit that some spam mails can actually be motivating. I knew about spam mails and so I don't really bother reading them but just by reading the caption/title, I got to believe that I too could make money online and if that were so, I could as well make enough money that could at least settle my internet bills.

If one could make money online and it's enough such that it's able to at least pay for his internet usage bills, then he would already be using the internet for free. If he is able to make money than that, then he has run into profit.

Once you start making money online, one of the basic costs you'd need to cover is your internet bills. For some people, paying for internet usage is chicken change and so they could offset it from their other income but that shouldn't be the mark of an online business professional. Online business professionals need to ensure that the money they spend online is actually covered by the money they make online and that's when you know you have at least reached a Break Even Point(B.E.P.).

A B.E.P. is a point or level of operation at which your income from a business becomes equal to the expenses you spend for that business.

Let's assume the online business model you've invested in is freelancing. You've joined a freelance community and probably make money by writing high quality articles. Since some freelancing communities are free and same also for email accounts, the only costs a freelancer would actually have to consider is his internet subscription.

With your internet subscription, you'd be able to post your resume online and check for contracts, submit bids, upload your work and check your email. You can't do all those things if you didn't at least have an internet connection and you'd have to at least pay some fee for it.

If you are then able to get jobs as a freelancer and finally got paid, then we can say you are making money online. If your income from that business for at least a year is sufficient to at least pay for your internet service for that same year, then it's a profitable business. If the income is equal to the bills you'd pay, then you have attained a B.E.P. Any other income above that B.E.P. would be considered as a profit.

There are many people in Kenya who are still struggling to make money online and for some of them, they've not even reached B.E.P. and some are barely crossing over it. There are also a few which are making a comfortable living online in Kenya and for them business is truly profitable.

It's possible to run a successful online business in Kenya. You just first of all need to start making money online first and then work on the variables already making money for you and then you'd be able to make more money.