Starting your own business is a tantalising idea until the primary problem kicks in – capital. When you have rent, insurance premiums, loans, and other bills to pay and are only left with about $200-300 to survive the month, the thought of starting your venture may seem like a farfetched dream.
But what if I tell you that starting with no cash is possible in 2021?
Yes, that’s right. You can set up your business without or with a bit of money if you play your cards right. Sure, starting a business with sufficient economic and other resources makes things less challenging. But if you are determined to work hard and learn, you can pursue your business dreams and gain.
Here’s what you must do:
Conduct Market Study
Let’s say you want to design and develop the best factoring calculator and topic generator. But, you cannot succeed until you know your competition. For example, which devices are dominating the market? Which company has developed them? Why are they famous? And so on.
Conduct a detailed market study to find answers to all these questions. Determine if you can make the product better than your competitors at a lower cost. Do a comprehensive survey so that you can identify the target customers’ needs and challenges.
Don’t Quit Your Job
How would you meet your regular expenses if you are the sole earner and don’t have the necessary financial backup? Hence, continue with your regular job and treat your business as a side hassle when you don’t have the fund to actualise your business idea.
Continuing with your current job will help you pay your bills and cover other expenses. However, the transition from your current job to a full-time business should be slow and steady. Therefore, you should save so that you can move from a full-time job to a part-time basis and give more time to set up your topic generator business.
Establish a Business Plan for Funding
Focus on how to get sufficient funding for the business. Prepare a plan around the numbers. If you plan to get funding from family, friends, or even financial organisations, you must create a coherent business plan to sell your idea to potential investors.
Prepare a good sales pitch to explain to them your business plan and how you look to achieve it. Then, approach the individuals who understand you and have faith in your dreams. However, before you borrow money, make sure you get everything in writing, including the timeframe within which they need to pay back.
If you don’t plan to borrow money from close ones, you can apply for small business loans or a business line of credit. There are also many grants, government funding, and angel investors who invest and guide budding entrepreneurs.
Utilise Your Strengths
For someone who aspires to start a small business but has no money, one of their strengths is skills. So if you are good at something or got any marketable skills, why not use it to your benefit?
For example, if you have impeccable writing skills and language proficiency, use your skills to start resume writing, freelance writing, copywriting, content writing, or even an academic writing business. These services require a minimal investment, so a steady internet connection and a few work samples would suffice.
Use Free Resources
As you may know, 80% of successful entrepreneurs and business giants used their garage as their office until they started making money to lease office space. So then why can’t you do that as well?
You can use your car for delivering goods or other official activities and free public Wi-Fi to cut down the internet expenses. As for branding, opt for credible online services that offer low-cost services to startups. For example, they have tie-ups with freelancers and logistics companies that provide comprehensive assistance with no conditions like set-up fees or minimum order requirements.
Promote Your Business for Free
In this age of social networking, the best way to connect with your potential customers and create a buzz is to join the latest trends of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and so on. As a result, thousands of businesses leverage social media sites to market their products without investing a penny.
What do you need to get started? Just your smartphone!
Use your phone to create a Facebook page and Signup on Instagram and Tiktok. You can also create a business account on Twitter for free and tweet about your business using relevant hashtags.
You can also blog about your business on free blogging sites such as WordPress, Blogger, and Wix to show your target customers how your product and service can benefit them. Actively promoting your business on social media will not only get you free publicity but also help you learn.
Final Note
Starting a business with no funds is challenging but not impossible. You have to use the right strategies to make the most available resources and bring your idea to life. Nonetheless, you still must try to gather some funds to meet sudden costs. Indeed, you can borrow from your family and friends, but you should also try to get investors or local government funding to set up. Once your business takes off and money starts rolling in, getting loans from banks or other credit lenders will get easier.
Author Bio:
Henry Smith has an MBA in entrepreneurship and runs a successful food business in Australia. He is also a motivational speaker and subject matter expert at MyAssignmenthelp.com, a popular website in Australia for instant educational aid and free academic tools such as factoring calculators, essay makers, and plagiarism checkers.