So you have a product or service idea, but you do not know how you can get it to your customer…that is where a business model comes in!

What is a business model?

The method or process by which a business makes money, or the way a business extracts economic value for its products or services. A company’s business model includes the following factors:

1. The type of of products or services you provide and how they relate to one another
2. What functions within the value chain the business chooses to perform itself vs. relying on others to perform
3. How the product or service will be distributed to the end-user or customer
4. How the business charges for its product or service

Examples:

• eBay’s primary business model entails charging sellers a percentage “success fee” for any item sold on its auction website.
• NewYorkTimes.com charges a subscription fee for access to premium content, while others provide content at no charge and make their money by selling advertising and sponsorships; some employ a business model that entails a blend of these two ways of making money.
• Norton Anti-Virus Software charges a single, one-time license fee; some charge full-price for an upgrade, while others offer a credit to purchasers of the previous version. Some  charge a monthly or annual license fee (essentially leasing or renting the software).
• iTunes charges a per-tune download fee, while others charge a flat monthly subscription fee for unlimited listening or downloads.
• Executive recruiters charge a finder’s fee calculated as a percentage of the candidate’s first-year salary, while others charge a flat dollar amount for all recruiting tasks.

Remember…ideas can only grow as big as the business model supporting it.

Value Chain: the series of steps by which value is created for a given product or service

We originally blog this post when we first started the blog on how to supplement your income. I decided to repost it. You can use your ideas from Cash Cow and make money!

One of the first things we learned to do when we decided that we wanted to quit our jobs and become more financially free was to supplement our income. Individually we took our pay and calculated how much each of us made on a daily basis. Then we brainstormed and tried to figure out different ways for us to make that same amount on our own without working. This exercise if very simple and once you make a list, the crucial element is to actually follow through and execute the very ideas you put on paper. Because once you successfully supplement your income once, your confidence in making additional money will grow and you will want to do it all the time. Below we outlined the exercise and gave it the name “Cash Cow”.

Objective: To think of as many different ways to come up with X amount of dollars within a 24 hour period. How to Play: You can do this by yourself but it’s even more fun with a group. One person at a time tells everyone else how he or she would make X amount of dollars within 24 hours without working for wages at their current job or any other job that pays him or her a paycheck. Record his or her idea. Then the next person explains how they would make X amount of dollars within 24 hours WITHOUT saying the same thing that the person(s) before them have stated. Repeat the process until you run out of ideas. Now that everyone has exhausted his or her ideas, review everyone’s answers aloud and discuss how viable it would be to execute each idea.

Many thanks to the Nu Beta Chapter: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc at Georgia Tech for inviting Maven IG to speak at one of their finance forums on Feb. 26th 2009. The topic of discussion was, “Stock Market 101: How to Invest in Equity Markets.” We would like to thank everyone who attended the event, and please feel free to contact us if you have any more questions.

If you are interested in booking Maven IG for your speaking engagement please contact us at mavenig@gmail.com

I love this post, so I had to share it with the rest of you! If you are paying for any of the things listed below…STOP and do some research to find out if you can get the same thing free.

“The Man” is trying to take your money. Don’t let him. I’ve put together 15 things that you should never pay “the man” for. For a lot of things in life, you get what you pay for. But, in the case of these 15 items, most of us wouldn’t be sacrificing any quality to go with the freebie.

1. Your Credit Report - You’re credit report is available for free right now from http://annualcreditreport.com. Don’t be fooled by the other websites. Just go to annualcreditreport.com and get your free credit report every 12 months. You can get 1 free report from each of the 3 reporting agencies every 12 months.

2. Banking Services- Never, ever, pay bank fees for a regular account. Just say no. Sign up for their free account. Switch banks if you have to. Just don’t pay any fees to a bank. It’s not necessary anymore, plus they’re already making interest by holding your money. And do your best to never pay for another checkbook again. Pay as many bills as you can using free bill-pay services. When you do run out of checks, make nice with your local bank branch manager and ask him about getting a free refill. You guys know I love the free banking with FNBO Direct and ING DIRECT. I’ve used them. Never paid them a dime. In fact, they’ve paid me. Best interest rates in the industry, by a mile.

3. Software for Your Computer - Stick it to Microsoft! Don’t buy Excel or Word. Invest in a little “free” and get OpenOffice Calc (like Excel), Writer (like Word), Impress (like PowerPoint), Draw (like Paint), and Base (like Access). Why pay when you can get it for free? These programs all have a “save as…” feature that let’s you save in Microsoft format so you can send files to your ”payin’ the man” friends.

4. A Credit Card- I can’t think of a single service that a credit card could offer me that I couldn’t get for free or a nominal fee elsewhere. Nor would I ever dream of using a card enough to garner enough services to justify an annual fee. Don’t ever pay for a credit card annual fee. Isn’t necessary. AmEx even has no-fee cards, and have for years now. Stop paying annual credit card fees.

5. Books - There’s a magical place in your hometown that’s renting books for free right now: your local library. Check em out. And I’m always giving away free books here on the blog. A new book giveaway coming up soon.

6. Tax Preparation- The vast majority of tax filers don’t need to pay to have their taxes prepared and e-filed. Every major tax prep company (TurboTax, TaxAct, TaxCut, to name a few) offers free e-filing services of some kind. And, there’s always the IRS Free File that could set you up with free tax prep and filing.

7. The Newspaper- C’mon. Do I have to explain this one? If you’re doing it for couponing reasons, ok. But for getting your news??

8. Credit Counseling - Credit counseling is available free through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). Don’t ever hook up with some shady “get out of debt quick fix” company.

9. Water - Well, I realize there’s always going to be that water utility bill. But the bottled water is out. Tap is cool again.

10. Budgeting Software - The past couple of years have seen an explosion of online free budgeting software options. There are some really nice option available to you. All are without a charge. Quicken Online and Mint are two that I’ve used.

11. A Pet - Search your local animal rescue center for a pet that’s free and in need.

12. Online Shipping - With sites like freeshipping.org now available, you should be able to make most of your online purchases without forking over a shipping fee.

13. DVD Rentals- Instead of paying $5 for a DVD rental, just go to a RedBox or a New Release rental box in your local grocery store. Before you go though, get the free daily code from www.insideredbox.com.

14. Auction Listing Fees - While some items require a true auction type service, or a larger audience to be sold for full value, the vast majority of items you’d want to sell online can be sold through Craig’s List. Ebay does have it’s place. But never use it (and pay their fees) if it’s an item that could be sold on Craig’s List. I’ve sold my last two vehicles there.

15.…

Alright, now it’s your turn. I’ve left #15 for you to fill in. Offer up one more thing you should never pay for in the comments below…

Post found at http://www.ptmoney.com

One of our ideas here at Maven IG, was creating a blog. As we became experts in particular fields of study and developed financial freedom, we realized our friends and family wanted us to teach them to do the same. So one easy way to do this was to keep a blog that taught what we have learned. Hence we came up with the blog you are now reading. First, we looked at our favorite blogs to gather insight on page layout and content. Then we researched the process on what we needed to do and put our plan in action. We launched the site on Jan 1st, and have made over $50 USD so far from our advertising. I say that’s not bad at all. Now, we are in the process of building out better content and our reader base so more people can become interested in financial freedom. Also, as a byproduct, we will be able to get better sponsors and hence more money. Man, and to think all this came from a simple game of cash cow!