Running your own business can be an attractive career path and dream for many but a reality for few. It is not easy and takes a lot of willpower, sacrifice, and dedication to succeed.
But if you don’t have capital behind you, to begin with, starting a business may feel inaccessible and borderline impossible – but it’s not. While starting with your own money is a huge advantage in any business endeavour, it’s not everything.
Today we will give you top tips to start a business with no money.
Read more: Top 10 Ways Making Money Online
Consider Your Bills From The Get-Go
A great starting point for any business is to assess your expenditures when you get up and running and the best way to cut down these expenditures as much as possible.
Almost all businesses will use water and electricity, so these are great places to start when looking to cut monthly expenses as much as possible.
You can start by fitting water-saving devices to your business property. As you will likely be renting, you’ll need to clear these changes with your landlord. But even simple things like water-saving faucets, toilet tanks, energy-saving light bulbs, and efficient radiators can make a whole world of difference.
Even if you run a freelance business out of your home and don’t require a business water supplier, you can apply these same tactics to reduce your monthly bills.
However, on that note, if you do need a business water retailer, switch to a retailer that’ll save you as much money as possible. A little bit of market research on the business water industry can help guide you to the right business water retailer for you.
The same can be said for energy. Look into the cheapest (but most effective) tariff for your situation and area.
Sell A Service, Not A Product
When getting started in the business world, try to sell a service rather than a product. There’s nothing wrong with selling products, but they’ll often cost money to source, and you’ll most likely need to spend money adding value to the product (or marketing it to sell it).
If you plan on developing a new product, the research and development phase can take thousands, if not tens of thousands. Some high-end products can take much more than this to develop, which is not an option.
Think about a skill you have or a need to be met in your local area. To begin with, it can be something as simple as hand-washing cars or cutting grass, and this can give you the capital you need to launch your real venture later.
Saving is critical to business development at any stage of a business’s life cycle. By selling a service, you are, in essence, generating value from your expertise or labour (in most cases, both). You aren’t generating money from anything but generating a decent quantity of capital without much expenditure.
Consider A Business Loan
As soon as the word loan is thrown about, people often hesitate. But while a business loan can be a scary prospect, to begin with, if you have a solid business plan and the capabilities to execute this plan, then it isn’t a bad idea.
But to take out a loan – or attract private investors – you will need a solid business plan. Usually, this means identifying a void in the marketplace, a demand causing that void, and a clear path to plugging that gap with your service or product.
Personality, presentation, and how you carry yourself are other things to consider. If you do opt to go for a business loan or opt to attract private investors, they need to like you. If you don’t have confidence in your plans, then why should they?
It is not a very popular option but if you are serious about it, then taking a loan or bringing on investors is a good way to get the cash influx you’ll need to start a business.
Crowdfund Your Idea
As an extension of the last point, if you don’t want to seek sole investors or a few investors, then public crowdfunding is a very real and possible alternative. Not only will crowdfunding allow you to acquire the money you’ll need for your product or service, but it can also help you acquire a customer base.
People won’t back something they don’t want. If your product or service thrives from a crowdfunding campaign, it is very probable to thrive afterwards.
To Summarise
Starting a business with little or no money is hard, will take a strong will, and won’t be easy – but if it were, everyone would do it. If you have faith in your product or service and can secure funding, you may not need to spend a penny of your money on starting your business.