BusinessExplain Like I'm 5Beginner
Finance for Online Businesses, a free business course on Tomo

Finance for Online Businesses

Learn how money actually moves through an internet business before launching your first product. Master pricing, profit margins, and cash flow so you can build a venture that puts real money into your bank account.

Like Duolingo, but for Finance for Online Businesses. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Making Every Sale Profitable and Keeping the Business Alive and Growing. It starts from scratch.

11 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Penny the Piggy, the guide who teaches the Finance for Online Businesses course
Finance for Online Businesses
with Penny the Piggy
11
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Finance for Online Businesses

  • Revenue is just the total money collected at checkout before any bills, suppliers, or fees are paid
  • Confusing gross revenue with profit leads new online store owners to overspend money they do not actually own
  • Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) covers only the direct materials and manufacturing needed to make that specific physical item
  • Monthly overhead like store platform subscriptions or internet bills exist regardless of how many hoodies you sell, so they are not COGS
  • Payment gateways like Stripe or Shopify Payments automatically subtract a transaction fee (typically a percentage plus a fixed cent fee) from every checkout
  • Fulfillment expenses like shipping labels reduce the incoming cash on that specific order before profits are counted
  • Neglecting per-transaction fees can lead to pricing a product at what looks like a profit on paper while losing cash in practice
  • Subtracting product costs and transaction fees from the selling price yields unit gross profit
  • Unit gross profit must pool together across all sales to cover fixed monthly overhead like store hosting, apps, and marketing before any personal salary is paid
  • Fixed costs like web hosting, custom domains, and tool subscriptions charge on a recurring schedule regardless of your sales
  • Variable costs like payment processing fees only occur when a customer actually buys something
  • An online business still owes money every month just to keep the digital doors open
  • Pricing only to cover the direct physical cost of an item ignores software and tool overhead
  • When business revenue does not cover recurring operational software, the founder must pay the difference from personal savings
  • Every product price must include a share dedicated to keeping store tools and software running
  • Returns, refunds, and bank dispute fees are a normal cost of doing business online and happen regularly
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Finance for Online Businesses the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Revenue, Profit, and Real Costs

What happens if a new store owner treats all their checkout revenue like profit?

Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.

Course map

How to learn Finance for Online Businesses, step by step

Go in order. 11 short levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes in all, five minutes a day.

  1. 1

    Making Every Sale Profitable

    • Calculating Your Real Profit on a Single Sale
    • Pricing to Absorb Hidden and Ongoing Costs
  2. 2

    Keeping the Business Alive and Growing

    • Managing Cash Flow Timing
    • Customer Acquisition Math

2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

Questions

Questions about Finance for Online Businesses

  1. How do I learn Finance for Online Businesses?

    Go in order: start with Making Every Sale Profitable, then Keeping the Business Alive and Growing. On Tomo that's 11 short levels, about 22 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.

  2. Is there a Duolingo-style app for Finance for Online Businesses?

    Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Finance for Online Businesses is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.

  3. Is the Finance for Online Businesses course free?

    Yes. Finance for Online Businesses is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.

  4. How long does it take to learn Finance for Online Businesses?

    11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.

  5. Do I need any background to start Finance for Online Businesses?

    No. It's pitched at a beginner level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.

New

Tomo is in ChatGPT

Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.

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How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
Explain Like I'm 5

Finance for Online Businesses is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

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Start Finance for Online Businesses today.

Download Tomo, search Finance for Online Businesses, and play your first lesson in under a minute.