Curated Business Ideas : April 2024

Hello, greetings to one and all. This is Jack Lookman. Welcome to our series, Jack's Curated Business Ideas. Today's topic is:

I wish to give Sadaqah (Charity), but I am broke.

1. Inspiration

Some people like to give charity; to empower others, to feed the needy, to help victims of conflict, to help family and friends, make a positive difference to society, etc.

The problem, is however, that they probably languish in poverty.

Some of them work but earn very little. They are not exposed to opportunities, or probably have the wrong mindset about earning great incomes, etc.

As a content creator
A religious person
An entrepreneur
An ex-asalatu (prayer group) member
And ex-asalatu official, etc.

I see a gap, hence this content.

2. What is Charity?

Muslims call it Sadaqah or Zakat, Christians call it charity. This is usually a voluntary, non-refundable gift to a third party. It could be:

Monetary
Food or drink
Knowledge
A Smile
Sharing your physical strength
Empathy
Gadget or physical gift
Positive emotions
Sharing beneficial knowledge,
Etc.

For the purpose of this content, we shall be talking about financial charity and we shall be talking about sadaqah.

3. How can you give sadaqah?

If you have a phone, as well as an internet connection, you could monetize a social media platform and make money. The money could make you financially stable; but more importantly you could give out sadaqah in the form of money and beneficial knowledge. You could also give as sadaqah jariyah, and possibly improve your knowledge of the deen.

Sadaqah jariyah is a gift which yields long-term returns even after you are dead and gone.

4. How will you do this?

You could record dhikr
You could record prayers
You could record Quranic recitations
You could record good deeds
You could record beneficial knowledge
You could record valuable content
You could have a podcast
These could be done by you alone, or you could collaborate with third parties

5. The Process

Let's take the YouTube channel or YouTube platform as an example.

You could register on YouTube for free, thereby getting a YouTube channel.
Give consideration to the name of your channel.
You could however rebrand as necessary at later dates
Create the content
Market it
Monetize the channel and then share the profits between your team—yourself and charitable courses
Replicate the process
Become good at your doing
Reinvest and scale your business as necessary
You could scale to other social media platforms and explore other niches of choice
You could also explore translations and other content formats, such as books, blogs, etc.

6. Benefits

You could create wealth
You could create jobs
You could give to charity
You could share beneficial knowledge
You could increase your beneficial knowledge
You could become an expert
You could empower and inspire others
You could learn new skills
You could earn sadaqah jariyah (that benefits you after your demise)
Etc

7. Funding

To fund this project, you could:

Crowdfund
Seek sponsors
Get investors
Get a loan
Leverage family and friends
Collaborate with others
Etc

8. Naming Your Product

You should consider:

A short and sharp name
A memorable name
A name that relates to what you are offering
You could research best practices
See how your competitors have named their products or services
Carry out research on YouTube, Google or Social media, etc.
Also ensure that the competition with the chosen name is minimal.
If you choose a very competitive name your product may end up being drowned in the internet. For example, if you use a name such as Islam, your product may not be found because there'll probably be too many searches with that name directly or indirectly.
Also consider the use of a short phrase rather than a word
You could also consider branding and using the same identity on different platforms

9. Team

You may consider doing this project alone or getting a team to complement and multiply your efforts and skill base
You may require a Video Editor
Search Engine Optimisation lead
Content Creator
A Marketer
An Entrepreneur
A Researcher
A Quality Controller
A Profit Sharing Formula App lead
A Legal lead
A Writer
A Social Media Manager

10. Why do you want to give charity?

If you're a good and practicing Muslim the reasons to give may be many.

You may wish to:

Show empathy
Make impact
Get rewards from Allah
Make a positive difference
Help the sufferers
Add value to society
You may wish to give sadaqah jariyah — whose benefits could be long-lasting.
Etc

11. Do you need to show your face?

You may choose to show or not to show your face; either or both is optional. If creating videos, you could choose to have text or other background pictures as alternatives to showing your face.

12. Format Of Your Content

This could be text, audio or video
It could be with subtitles in Arabic, English or other languages of choice
You might have different variations of each content

Some may be in Arabic with English translations; this could also be extended to other languages of choice

Audio or video content could be looped or automatically repeated, e.g. 11 times, 33 times, 100 times, etc.
This could also be as Facebook reels or YouTube shorts, etc.
Your content could be short or long or both

13. On what platforms will my content be?

You could choose one or multiple platforms
Suggestions are: different social media platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc.
You may also decide to do paperbacks by leveraging Amazon
You may decide to have a blog/s, podcast/s, etc
You may decide to do eBooks

14. How will you monetize?

On Social media

There are different monetization models
You could do Affiliate Marketing
You could be sponsored to market different brands
You could monetize the platforms once you reach certain metrics
You could promote your other products and services
If your content is on paperback, you could market and sell this via your social media platforms.
If you are good at what you do, you could attract business collaborators
To monetize your YouTube channel for example, you could tell YouTube to show ads before, during and after your YouTube videos. I suggest before and after, so that your audience could enjoy a great listening experience.

15. Legalities

You may consider putting legalities in place to minimize or avoid conflict; this could include agreements or contracts between concerned parties and stakeholders.
Any necessary disclaimers and protection of intellectual rights as necessary
Exit strategies
Conflict Management
Fraud prevention and mitigation
Etc.

16. Do you need a good voice to execute the projects?

If you'll be doing the recitals yourself, a good audible voice will be a great asset.
Alternatively, you could get others with these qualities to do the job
You could either pay them off or engage them as collaborators
You could then use the Profit Sharing Formula App as a tool to guide the profit-sharing process.

17. Target Audience

Muslims
Religious Minds
Spiritual Minds
Muslims from different ethnicities
Youths
Teenagers
Adults
Global audience
A combination of the above

18. Budgetary Considerations

Digital device/s
Your team (or just yourself)
YouTube channel
Social media channel
Marketing
Research and development
Free tools for Search Engine Optimization or for keyword research.
Etc.

19. Could you have variants of the products?

Yes, you could. For instance, you could have repetitions, for example 11 times, 33 times, 100 times etc — different variants of these.
For each version you could have the dhikr as standalone
Or you could complement them with other content niches
You could also have verbal translations included
You could have subtitles in Arabic alone or you could include translations in different languages of choice
Ditto for Qur’anic recitations
You could have a collection of beautiful Athaans
You could have a collection of Islamic lectures
You could have a collection of authentic Hadith's
You could have moral content that could transcend different spiritual barriers
Etc.

20. How Could you Scale the Business?

You could repeat the process for different dhikr
For different Qur’anic recitations
You could create content in different Islamic niches
You could create content on moral topics
You could create content on empowerment and inspiration
You could create content on other areas of interest
You could create content on other platforms e.g. on other social media platforms, blogs, paperbacks, podcasts, membership sites, etc.
You could also do public speaking
You could do mentoring
You could create courses on membership sites to educate your audience on Islam and other areas of interest
You could also have your content translated to other languages of choice
Etc.

21. Could this be a side hustle or full-time job?

It depends on you and your circumstance
Good practice is that you start small
Learn from the experience
Put systems and structures in place
And then grow big.
In other words, you may start as a side hustle and then progress onto a full hustle

22. How much do you need to spend on marketing?

It depends on different factors; for example:

Your budget
Your marketing platforms
The traction to your content
Your marketing strategy
Funding
Your target audience
Your popularity
Etc.
You may spend little or nothing initially and later reinvest to spend much more

23. Marketing Plan

You need to have a marketing plan
A marketing budget
To know on which platforms you intend to market
Your target audience also needs to be known
You need to monitor the success of each marketing campaign
You need to increase the marketing budget for areas where the campaigns are most successful or effective; and reduce the budget on non-performing campaigns.
You also need to have a marketing timetable
And also to decide on whether to do the marketing yourself or whether to outsource it to others
Etc.

24. Exit Strategy

Firstly, you need to know what the exit strategy is.

In simple terms, it's your strategy for when yourself or stakeholders wish to terminate their association with the product or service.

This could include reasons like:

Conflict
Death
Sickness
Or voluntary resignation

By having a strategy in place, it reduces or avoids chaos
It becomes a measured and more manageable process
And could likely cause less pain

25. What resources are required for this business?

This could include a digital device/s
Internet connection
Relevant skills
Relevant content
A team (as necessary)
Marketing
Suitable Social media channels
Or relevant other platforms

26. Costing And Pricing Considerations

Digital device/s
Internet connection
Freelancer/s as necessary
Search engine optimization tools (as necessary)
Marketing (as necessary)
You also need to factor in your profit

27. Should you create individual or multiple videos

If you are using a platform such as YouTube, you could create multiple videos.
Your audience could listen to them individually or collectively
In order to offer the videos for collective listening, you could create playlists, etc.

28. Checks and Balances

As you embark on your entrepreneurial journey, you need to put checks and balances in place
You need to protect intellectual rights
You need to avoid plagiarism
You need to minimize or avoid conflict
You need to effectively manage sickness, absence or death of stakeholders, collaborators, freelancers etc.
You need to carry out due diligence as necessary
If you've promised particular deliverables to your audience, you need to follow through on these, or manage such situations effectively.

29. How could you share your profit?

You could consider less fortunate family and friends
You could consider charity organizations
You could consider Muslim organizations
You could consider collaborations in empowering and inspiring the less fortunate
You could consider contributing to Mosques
You could consider those affected by conflict and wars, through charity organizations
You could consider the needy and poor
You could consider scholarships for the less fortunate, either through scholarships to regular educational institutions, or online educational institutions, or online courses
You could consider becoming a philanthropist
You could consider carrying out community projects
You could consider adding value to society
You could improve the quality of life of disabled citizens
Etc.

30. Conclusion

In conclusion, you could carry out this business model with:

Little capital
A smartphone or digital device
And an internet connection
Along with content and a social media platform, you are actually good to go
You could do the business as a solo effort or leverage collaborations
In case you require funding; this could be got via different options. It could be via:

crowdfunding,
collaborators
family and friends
investors
loans
etc.

In order to share profits or equity fairly with collaborators you might consider leveraging the Profit Sharing Formula App
If you require training on carrying out the business you could:
Book A Chat With Jack Lookman
Or do the relevant research on the internet, such as YouTube.
You could also purchase relevant courses on platforms such as Udemy.com
Please see tips on saving money on our website just go to Jacksempowerment.com and search for Udemy.

You could possibly save over 50% of the cost of each online course or courses

To answer the original topic's intention
This content should empower in so many ways.
In addition to your original intention, you could:

Earn a decent income for yourself
You could become an entrepreneur
You could become an influencer
You could gain several skills
You could give out to charity in very sustainable manners
You could empower and inspire similar minds
you could create wealth and create jobs
You could do a lot of dawah through your platforms
The difference you make to society and individuals could elevate your status (in the duniyah and akhirah, Inshaa Allahu) (in this life and the hereafter, by God’s grace.)
There could be room for collaborative pursuits with third parties
The experience could catapult you to do even greater things
Apart from empowering and inspiring others, you could also become empowered and inspired
And of course the list could go on.

31. Disclaimer

At Jack Lookman Limited we do Affiliate Marketing, and make a commission for purchased items through our Affiliate Marketing links, at no additional cost to you.

This content is an academic one, based on experience, knowledge and other considerations.

It’s merely an idea, and doesn’t guarantee financial success, even though it has great potential to do so.

It’s a Curated Business Ideas which could stimulate your thoughts and creativity.

You’re expected to modify it to suit your business needs to achieve success.

You’re also expected to carry out due diligence.

We wish you immense success as you journey your entrepreneurial pursuits.

32. Value?

Thank you very much for your time. I hope that you got some value. If so, please consider liking, sharing, subscribing, reposting, commenting and following.

This is Jack Lookman signing off.

Ire o (I wish you blessings)

Ire Kabiti (I wish you great blessings)

33. Useful hashtags

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