When you are in the situation of living within a tight expense budget and you do not know anything about any "business model", it certainly does seem like it takes money to make money. It also seems like there is a lot of risk involved (and given the circumstances, I would agree).

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This whole idea leads most people to believe that investing is risky. In reality, the more knowledge and experience you have, the less risk that is involved and the less money that is usually required. This is true no matter what business model you choose to pursue. It is all the learning and preparation that take place before an investment that determine the profitability of the investment. Your level of financial education not only determines how successful your business investments will be but, It is directly related to the quality of people you employee and the businesses you partner with. Most people have not invested their time into learning about there finances so that is why most people feel it takes money to take money. This belief can lead many people to confuse investing with gambling. Much like gambling when you are relying on "luck" to determine the outcome there is a large amount of risk involved. Investing is only risky when the person making the investment has no knowledge or experience handling that type of investment. Than the investment may require lots of money and risk.

The less knowledge and experience a person has, the less control they have over the possible outcomes. The less control they have over the outcome, the less certain they are of the outcome. Whenever you invest your money into a situation where you are not certain of the outcome, you are not really investing, you are gambling.

It is important you do not confuse gambling with investing.