How much starting capital should i start off with? (18)
I am planning to do cpa marketing. Have not decided on the type of traffic source but definitely exploring paid advertising. I want to know how much would be a good minimum amount?
I saw in a post that a $1000 is enough.
However i am starting from scratch:
So tips on what to get and where to get it would be of great help
. Hope to hear from you guys soon
Yeah I think you need at least $500 to get going.
If you have no capital I would suggest getting a part time job or doing some freelance work.
I've started with SEO in the early days but it takes some time to get going.
If you're a decent writer, sign up for an account at Textbroker.com. I wrote articles there for a few months to pay off my expenses and build up some capital. Eventually, I was able to put together a few thousand, but after bills and expenses with SEO work, I only had about $800 from my article writing.
At that point, I was frustrated with writing more articles and doing more SEO, so I was like FUCK IT, and started some paid traffic with my $800. That was about a month ago.
So definitely try to get some part time/freelance work as Besmir said. Live WELL BELOW your means. Buy only the necessities. With the right drive, determination, and proper money management, you should be able to make things happen with $500-$1000. However, the more the better
Yeah these things seem to vary. You find guys talking about starting with $200 and hitting a lucky campaign. Now in actuality they have a $5k budget after that first campaign dries up. Everyone learns differently. Some people will go through thousands. The important thing I think is the mindset. This forum is filled with people who do this for a living, many make a heck of a lot of money (one day I will too).
I'm nowhere near truly successful in this business from a financial standpoint. Overall I'm still in the red a bit. BUT, I look at the money I've lost as an educational expense. That being said, if I could give someone advice about jumping into this business, I would say focus on the fact that everything you do should be driven by the goal to either optimize or learn.
I guess what I mean by that is you are spending your very hard earned money here. You are spending money in hopes of building a business. You of course are fine spending $1000.00 if you get $1500 in return, but there will be times when you spend $500 and see $100. Just make sure that isn't in vain. If you spend $200 or whatever on a campaign, you are paying for data. Every bit of data you buy with that money can be used to become successful. Ad CTR, LP, CPV, CPM, CTR, CR, EPC, ROI, etc all of these stats have a purpose and should be used. Even if a particular campaign isn't profitable, you'll learn something from it. Apply that to the next one.
Sorry, I tend to ramble. I'm one of those people that believes he's a fast learner, but then commits some of the same mistakes over again, and while I've spent thousands on this business, I've made thousands. And while I'm presently overall in the red, the money I've spent but not recovered has certainly helped me learn a ton and grow as a marketer. It's taken some time but I'm now at a point where I can stop the bleeding much faster and still gather data and learn.
So in the end, $1000 is certainly enough to start. But just make sure you document everything. Collect and analyze your data, you are paying for it. If you approach this like a business and are determined to succeed, and learn from everything you do, you'll be successful. That's my ...82 cents I guess. 
With only $1,000 to spend on advertising I suggest picking 1 traffic source, do a lot of small tests with low daily spends, stick to one CPA network as payment can be a factor with only $1k... you don't want to run out of money and have to wait another month before you receive your payment to advertise again.
That will probably be the only thing that will stunt you from growing fast, push to get to weekly payout and reinvest all profits until you build up a larger bankroll.
Good Luck, You can do it if you put your mind to it!
$1000-3000
Thanks guys for all your tips: I actually have a day job and after expenses, i have about $1000 to spend monthly. After factoring my goals, i am willing to put in $2000 in total to actually make a porfit of about $1000 by the end of August.
Another thing to note is that i am starting out from scratch, so part of the $2000 goes to buying tools or required items if needed. Any Suggestions on tools?
you can look the forum for tips on tools...just get a VPS (virtual private server) for now and then prosper202 or CPVLab (if you want to pay a bit for more functionality) that with Mr. Green's Uploader and something like photoshop should be enough for now. There are of course free online image editors as well...I just prefer photoshop.
I think you can get the basics down in $500 to $1000. Chances are you won't lose all of it and get some conversions out of it.
To really get going you'll probably end up spending x10 that amount. Its just a matter of time when you finally hit something thats making you $100s per day. Your biggest obstacle then will be CASHFLOW.
Make sure to get that in order, weekly wires, high CC limits, friends and family in case you need to borrow. Nothing worse then hitting something and knowing you can scale but not having the money to do so. Just keep in mind when you do hit theres only a short window before that campaign will die so you need to "strike while the iron is hot" so to speak.
Good luck.
Originally Posted by The Angry Russian
Originally Posted by matt
Well find away around that obstacle and alleviate that fear. For example, in your case call up your credit card company and demand a limit increase. Or sign up for more credit cards. Or work closely with a network to ensure you already qualify for weeklies. Or go to the bank and take out a business loan stash it and just pay it off.
Speaking of this busienss loan idea I know of a fella who was able to get 1/2 mill business loan by simply going to the bank every month and asking for money putting it to the side (not using it) and repaying it within a month. Then you come back and keep asking for more and more every month.
Anyway moral to the story is your anxiety or fear can be easily alleviated.
Im not sure if this helps at all, but what I did was get an AMEX charge card that needs to be paid off in full every month, but as far I can tell there is virtually no limit as long as you pay it off every month.
for a long time i was struggling to save up enough budget to do my tests the right way...i'd make a quick $100 or $200 writing articles, etc but i'd jump in and invest it in my campaigns - i was never able to do much with a few hundred dollars.
so i said f**k it and found a guy who owned an awesome script - found another guy who was willing to pay for it - took 50% of the money as my commission. so that got me about $1.5k fund my tests.
halfway through that budget i found something that worked well - then i borrowed money from everyone i knew to keep it going. it all worked out in the end.
If you're going to do the usual network route and get net 30 'cause you have no volume, then $500 gets you nothing but frustration.
Before you spend a penny understand your conversion data, how to optimize traffic, and MVT you LP's. That's where 99% of a CPA marketers fail.
In this biz. 10k is a good starting amount. Don't have it? Start with small amounts, know that you can convert and show ROI. Go find Other Peoples Money!
I'm not one to comment but here's my insight as a noob. Right now, I'm starting off of only $200 advertisement cost. I have shared hosting and 1 domain. I'm only testing small offers right now. Testing high end offers like acai and rebills is like attacking the final boss in the beginning of the game.
Preferably, I would love to have a VPS or dedicated server, a web designer, a lawyer, an account and etc. But right now, its pretty unrealistic. I'm working with what I got. Also that doesn't mean I'll be working with $200 as a whole, I'm working part time and as a college student. What ever I make in my PT, I give in 1/3 of it to my Ad. cost. My budget is low compare to some with 1K+ and up, but I think it all comes down to how well you manage the data you received.
To tell you the truth, I thought my problem was about the money but it was actually taking action. I've been a member of this forum for about 1 month,(my term ends tomorrow, hopefully I get that extra 10 days til I get paid again) 
But this forum definitely got me some confidence and actually started to take action. And guess what? 2 days I ago, I manage to get my first lead. Damn well made me excited! The next day, I had 4 leads. My campaign style was inspired by 1 of the moderators of this forum. My campaign is no where near perfect but its gaining me valuable experience.
Jpat that is great news. Keep at it and you will succeed!
@Jpat not taking action happens to the best of us at times...at least you have the right positive mind set.
Also, for anyone entering into paid advertising I would highly suggest to NOT spend money that you cannot afford..don't put you or your family through financial woes if you are not confident in making that money back.
Remember this is not gambling, it is calculated risks and just cause you have $x,xxx to spend doesn't mean it's guaranteed so be careful when borrowing from close friends, family, or racking up your credit card.
When I started I only used what I had in my bank account on my debit card, from there I saved and reinvested.
After gaining experience, having proven campaigns, and needing to scale up campaigns is when I expanded into using larger lines of credit.
From there the benefits of getting rewards/cash back on your advertising spend can really add up and be a nice extra bonus.
Originally Posted by jpat86
Regards,
Brian
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