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If you want to start an online business, you need to have capital. Whatever online business you do, there will certainly be some start-up costs and overheads incurred which you need to pay. After you start your online business, it will usually take a while before you can see any profits. Without any profits available yet, you need to use your money to pay for any costs incurred during the initial period. Hence, it is advisable to keep your initial expenses as low as possible so that your resources will not run dry. There are some ways you can use to reduce your expenses. Since the business is online and you need access to the internet, the two basic necessities that you need to have are a computer and an internet service provider (ISP). The cost for the computer is a fixed cost and can be paid by a one-off payment or installments. The fees to your ISP need to be paid on a regular monthly basis. Before you start your business, you will have to purchase some information products to teach you how to get started. These resources and tools also cost money. You will need to pay for all these costs when you start the business. The Word and Spreadsheet processing software are two major tools that you will need to carry out your online business. You will need the software to do a number of things such as draft sales letters, write e-books, draft emails, write articles, etc. You may even need the spreadsheet software to manage your finance. As you are aware, it can cost quite a huge sum of money to purchase and install licensed office application software. Even if you purchase it, you are only allowed to install the software in one computer. This is not ideal as sometimes you may need to use the software in more than one computer. Unless you pay more, the license does not allow you to install the software in more than one computer. If you want to, you can utilize free application software obtainable from the internet. There is an Office Suite that is freely issued to the public to use. The Office Suite is called the OpenOffice. It consists of a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet (Calc), presentation software (Impress) and a database (Base). You can get this free Office Suite at opensource.org. This is a fully functioning software and you can install it in as many computers as you like. Apart from OpenOffice, there are some web-based versions from Zoho, Writely, Google, G-office, Zimbre and Ajax 13. As these applications are web-based, you do not need to install them in your computer. If you want to use them, you just need to log on to the web. There are some benefits of using these web-based applications. Firstly, you do not need to have a powerful computer to run these programs since they run directly from the server. Secondly, when you use the program, you can store your files in their server. You do not need to use any diskettes or USB drive. Thirdly, with these programs available, there is no need for you to buy any other application software anymore. This could save you some money. However, there are some disadvantages using these web-based applications. Firstly, working over the internet may post some security problems. If your account is hacked by hackers, you may lose all your stuff. Secondly, if the internet is down, you will have to stop your work. Thirdly, if the company which runs the software goes bust, you will need to find another type of software to use. You need to weigh the pros and cons as you consider using web-based application programs for your work. If you do not feel comfortable working over the web, you can choose to use the OpenOffice program that runs on your computer. Whichever method you choose, you will surely enjoy great savings using these free application programs. Starting an online business will incur start-up costs and overheads. You need to have capital before starting an online business in order to cover these costs. You can try some ways to reduce these costs. The tips suggested above can help you to obtain some savings and thus, keep your expenses low.
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