All businesses require some investment. But don’t worry if you have insufficient money or minimal financial funds at your disposal, don’t worry. You may still pursue your venture, as long as you come up with a solid plan and plan for hurdles you might encounter. If you’re exploring the idea of entrepreneurship with no money, these tips can set you up for success.
A.- Keep Your Day Job
Dont leave your job. If you maintain your job and focus on your business in the evenings, on weekends or whenever you’re not at work, you won’t have to live off your savings or credit cards. You’ll have a steady income that allows for greater flexibility. Once your business is in full swing and you’re confident you earn enough to cover your business expenses and live comfortably, you can reduce your hours or quit.
B.- Choose a Business Idea That Doesn’t Require Upfront Capital
The most difficult yet most important part of entrepreneurship is figuring out a business idea. If your goal is to start a business with no money, consider a service industry business. Here are several small business ideas to inspire you.
Cleaning services: cleaning of houses, offices and apartments do not need much investment to start a business and are highly demanded services.
Bookkeeping: Bookkeeping is a tedious and time-consuming task that many business owners don’t have the time or desire to perform. As a bookkeeper, you’ll reconcile bank accounts, generate income statements and balance sheets, and clean up general ledgers.
Virtual Assisting: As a virtual assistant, you offer administrative services to various clients. Your clients may ask you to make phone calls to their customers or vendors, plan events, schedule appointments, manage databases or book travel.
Social Media Management: Social media management is when you help businesses promote their offerings via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
Graphic Design: The goal of graphic design is to create eye-catching designs that can be used for various marketing collateral, such as brochures, posters, packaging and logos. You can get hired by advertising or marketing agencies or businesses directly to create graphic designs.
Tutoring: If you’re patient and specialize in a certain subject or topic, you may want to tutor. You can tutor virtually, in your home, at libraries or coffee shops, or in clients’ homes.
Virtual Assisting: As a virtual assistant, you offer administrative services to various clients. Your clients may ask you to make phone calls to their customers or vendors, plan events, schedule appointments, manage databases or book travel.
C.- Perform Market Research
Before you move forward with your business idea, you should determine whether it’s actually viable through market research. Identify your competitors and figure out your unique selling point, which is essentially what you can do better than them. You can also host focus groups and speak to potential customers directly to get a better feel for their needs, wants and buying behaviors.
D.- Write a Business Plan
A business plan is a road map for how you’ll grow your business. With a well-written business plan, you can anticipate potential challenges and plan for them accordingly. You may also attract investors and employees as well as secure financing. As you write your business plan, emphasize why your offerings stand out. Also, avoid industry jargon and use plenty of visuals to break up the text and make your plan more visually appealing.
E.- Wear Many Hats
In the future, you may be able to hire help for your venture. But when you first launch, you’ll want to be a “Jack of All Trades,” and handle various tasks on your own. For example, if your business idea is virtual assisting, it’ll be up to you to market your services, create client contracts, perform the work, send invoices and collect payments. Keep in mind that while you may not be able to do everything perfectly, you’ll learn a lot and save a great deal of cash right off the bat.
F.- Look for Alternative Funding
Fortunately, there are many places you can turn to for small business funding. Here are some options.
Crowdfunding, Is when you ask prospective customers to provide you with money upfront in exchange for a unique perk or promise down the road. Fortunately, there are many online crowdfunding platforms to help you set up a campaign, such as Kickstarter, Fundly and SeedInvest.
Small Business Loans, like Banks, credit unions and online lenders all offer small business loans for startups and small businesses, of course, the Government too (Small Business Administration, Small Business Services Empire State Development)
Incubators and Chambers of Commerce, these programs are designed to mentor high-potential businesses. If you become a part of one, you may be able to receive capital too.
Grants, While grants for small businesses are difficult to find and land, they do exist. To find them, turn to federal and state government entities as well as community development corporations.
Credits FORBES Advisor: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/how-start-business-no-money/