3 Ways to Make Money and Build Your Business Without Quitting Your Day JobStarting a business requires capital and time. These strategies can help you use your limited time and resources to build your bread and start your business while hanging on to the security of your 9 to 5.

One of the most difficult parts to starting a business is, well, starting a business. You might have a great idea, or an amazing set of skills, or insight into an emerging market, but unless you have connections in high places or funds, it can be incredibly difficult to quit your fulltime job and jump into an entirely new venture.

One solution for this problem is to try franchising. Themanbetx2.0客户端下载 were just announced, and these established businesses can help you get off the ground, support you as you learn how to lead and bring in customers through built-in brand awareness and marketing efforts. If you have a different vision in mind, though, your best bet may be to slowly grow your business with the time and money you already have.

These three strategies can help you maximize your resources and steer your product or service toward profitability. That way, when you are finally ready to make your side hustle a full-time business, you'll feel more confident diving off the deep end.

Related:32 Proven Ways to Make Money Fast

1. Refuse to offer your talents for free

Hopefully, The Joker is not one of your role models, in either life or business. In《黑暗骑士》, the villainous clown (portrayed infamously by Heath Ledger) commits countless felonies including murder, bank robbery and — worst of all from a financial sense — burning several million dollars in a fit of pique. But, The Joker does have one single line in the movie that all entrepreneurs would do well to remember: "If you're good at something, never do it for free."

Perhaps in the past, you've taken unpaid internships to put a fancy name on your resume or gain experience in a new industry. But,according to the Department of Labor, unpaid internships or labor are only legal if the worker is considered the primary beneficiary of the work. Some of the necessary boxes one might need to check to prove the unpaid laborer is the true beneficiary include demonstrating that "the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment" and "the internship is tied to the intern's formal education program."

If you've already mastered the essential skills for your next business — say, copywriting, business consulting, or public speaking, then don't do it for free. You're only cheating yourself out of a paycheck that could help you establish your business. You might even be pushing potential investors or customers away.

It's like the old anecdote about the garage sale washing machine: If you just set it outside with a sign that reads "FREE," people will assume it's broken and worthless — even if you tell them otherwise — and ignore it. But if you give it a price, say, $40, then people might end up fighting over such a great bargain.

The same is true of your potential business.

Related:50 Ideas for a Lucrative Side Hustle

Turning your skill into a business requires learning how to profit from your skill set by attracting paying customers, which can take some time. What's an optimal price point for your offerings? What's the target market? Which marketing strategy most speaks to new clients? What does your optimal sales funnel look like? Answering these questions can help you turn your skill into an actual business far quicker than doing a friend a favor.

If you're uncertain about where to begin, Executive Vice President and GM of Essentials and SMB at Salesforce Meredith Schmidt wrote a great piece for狗万官方about asimple, five-step processyou can use to find the right price for your offerings:

1. Understand the value of your product or service.Schmidt says you should start by asking your customers an aided question. "Something like: "What would you think if we charged X amount?' The second is an unaided question like: "What would you be willing to pay for this?' You can reconcile the two sets of answers to get closer to a target price."
2. Research the competition.You don't have to copy what other businesses in your industry do, but they can help you find a price that might give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
3. Determine your costs.This one might be obvious, but if you don't know how much you spend on your product or service, you won't know your break-even cost: the minimum price to charge for your offering to earn back what you've invested.
4. Build a basic pricing model.You might hate math, but there's a fairly straightforward formula you can use. First, take the price of your offering and subtract the cost it requires to make. Then, multiply that number by the quantity of your sales, and you have your profit.
5. Move to behavior numbers.Schmidt reminds you that English readers go from left to right, and thus, pay more attention to the far-left numbers than those on the right. An item priced at $19 can seem considerably less in someone's mind than if it's priced at $20, but it's only a dollar difference. Thesebehavior numberscan help you sell more without considerably lowering prices.

Schmidt also notes that pricing your business can be an inexact science: Charge too much, and you might lose some customers. Charge too little, and you won't earn as much as you could. Trial and error can help you find the right number for you, if you're willing to try.

Related:The Complete, 12-Step Guide to Starting a Business

2. Utilize freemium models and third-party shops to round out your offerings

What if your business idea is digital? It might not be practical to expect consumers to pay for your product, site unseen (pun intended), when there are so many free options available to them. Even the most popular subscription platforms in the U.S., likeThe Athletic($1 per week for the first six months) orThe New York Times($1 per week for the first year), offer heavily discounted trials for access.

Unless you have decades of history ortens of millions in venture capital,它可能对你没有意义啊ay. In such cases, a freemium model can help you monetize your digital platform without scaring away potential customers.

Unfamiliar with freemium?Harvard Business Reviewdefines itthis way: "Users get basic features at no cost and can access richer functionality for a subscription fee. If you've networked on LinkedIn, shared files through Dropbox, watched TV shows through Hulu or searched for a mate on Match, you've experienced the model firsthand. It works for B2B companies as well — examples include Box, Splunk and Yammer."

Related:7 Realistic Ways to Make Money Online

One of my favorite examples is Riot Games'sLeague of Legends, a free online game thatmakes billions through optional purchases. Another example of a freemium model is狗万官方itself. Much of our online offerings are available at no cost, like this article. Other pieces of content, likethisorthis, require Insider access. The magazine requires a subscription or can be purchased at a newsstand.

Or, you can create additional, semi-related paid opportunities on your site. For example,狗万官方isn't a fashion company, or a technology company, but you canbuy swag and gadgetson our site.

The best way to do this, if you want to avoid theheadache of dealing with the security required for ecommerce, might be to capitalize on established, third-party sites. Amazon'saffiliate program"helps content creators, publishers and bloggers monetize their traffic" by earning "up to 10% in associate commissions from qualifying purchases and programs." You could connect your website to anonline store like Shopifyso "customers can enter your custom URL into their web browser to visit your online store. You still use your third-party domain provider to manage your domain settings, pay for your domain, and renew it."

Related:Harness the Power of 'Freemium'

3. Freelancing

If your business is centered around a service, you might consider freelancing as a way to build your customer base and get paid at the same time. It's almost like the discounted trials we spoke about above fromThe New York Times, where potential clients can test out what you have to offer without making a long-term commitment.

狗万官方contributor Julia McCoy is the founder of Express Writers, and she's written a pair of articles on our site abouthow you can start freelancing as a copywriter. While you might have a different skill set, many of her insights can apply to a wide range of services.

McCoy says there are five basic steps you can follow:

1. Find your niche.You might think that casting a wide net is your best option, but McCoy notes that within her field, "authority writers get paid up to$1 per wordwhile building a lasting name in their industry." And while $1 per word may not sound like very much, consider the fact that prolific writers can easily churn out several thousand words in a single day.

2. Decide which hard and soft skills are essential.In aseparate piece, McCoy outlines three hard skills, which are more technical, that one might need to become an excellent freelance copywriter, which include SEO and content strategy. But your clients will be people, and so it's just as important to develop more interpersonal, soft skills like empathy or curiosity.

3. Build your portfolio.What do you already have to offer as proof of your worth? Can you direct people to a well-designed website with customer testimonials?

4. Pitch for projects.McCoy recommends Upwork and Fiverr for those who are just getting started with freelancing. But, if you already have some potential clients, you might try reaching out to them directly.

5. Rinse and repeat.只是作为一个企业总是迭代,也应如此your freelance process. More projects means a better portfolio, a better-defined niche and more lessons. Keep using each step of the process to grow your network and reputation.

Entrepreneur Press author Laura Briggswrote a booktitled,Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business: The Complete Guide to Starting and Scaling from Scratch.In an excerpt published on our site, Briggs broke downhow you can set your ratesas a freelancer. For example, if you are a freelance writer, should you charge hourly, per page, per project or in some other fashion? In the end, it's up to each freelancer, but Briggs says you should consider several aspects before deciding what's best for you.

Related:8 Great Time-Tracking Apps for Freelancers

For example, if you work faster than your competitors, you may devalue your work by offering an hourly price. But, if you work on an artistic project, you should factor in any revisions to the project price.

And if you're struggling to appeal to clients, Briggshas an article on that, too. She details some great tips you can use to attract more people and, just as importantly, some mistakes to avoid — like making your pitch too long and talking about yourself too much.

Just keep it simple. Explain who you are, summarize why you're the right person to help a client with their project, and offer details about your work.

Related:What Is a Freelance Agency, and How Can I Build One?

How to make money and build your business without quitting your day job

Trying to build your business without quitting your 9 to 5? Don't worry. Even if the ideas above don't work, you still have options. You could try posting about yourself and your pursuits on sites like Gofundme, Kofi or Patreon. You could try selling your handmade wares on Etsy. You could build an audience by devoting your time to an email list or a social media platform, or network with people who can help make your dream a reality.

But if you don't have the time or money to quit your job, try to at least do something to build your business every day — even if it's only for a few minutes. As the old saying goes, we often overestimate what we can do in a day, but underestimate what we can accomplish in a year.