Last updated on January 5th, 2023
Many people while starting a business try to make a business plan. But not many of them take the first step towards realising their dream. One of the typical excuses is that they do not have enough money, which actually is a lame excuse. A close relative or friend providing you the financial help makes starting a company a lot easier, no doubt.
But to start a small business without having ready money at hand is not unthinkable. The fact is that more than the financial help, your firm belief in the products or services you intend to sell is what counts more. If you are booming with confidence, rest of the things including money starts falling in line.
You are not the sole person thinking of starting a business without money. Studies reveal that increasing number of small entrepreneurs get things working for them despite the lack of money from own sources. You can gather courage from their endeavours. A majority of the new entrepreneurs launch their companies without getting small business grants.
According to the U.S Small Business Administration, the number of small businesses in the U.S is growing rapidly. More than half of the businesses in the U.S are small businesses. In 2014, an average of 500,000 adults in the U.S launched small businesses each month, says the report.
In fact, small business owners of today are hopeful of running an enterprise successfully. According to Small Business Trends, when asked, ‘what is the best way to learn about entrepreneurship?’’ 51% of the people responded with ‘Start a company’. Clearly, they are not bothered by the lack of adequate funds at hand to launch a startup. These stats will encourage you to have faith in your ability to launch your small company with a non-existent financial help.
Here Are The Top 7 Tried & Tested Strategies For Starting A Business With No Money
1. Think Of Starting A Service Business
A service-oriented business is much easier to start than a product based business. Manufacturing or selling of products requires greater up-front capital. But a service-based business does not require funds to run in the initial phase.
All you need to do is to sell your skill as your service. Just find out the companies who are interested in using your special skills. This way, you will be generating a considerable amount of cash flow shortly.
You can then start a product-based business, if you want, with the money you have from selling your services. For example, a company may use your software integration skills to integrate with its partner firm. You will earn a decent hourly payment to build the integration product for the company. Later on, you can sell the product to other clients.
Take another example. If you are a graphic designer and want to run a graphic design business of your own, then find out clients who give you regular work and money. Crowdsourcing sites are a quick source of attractive prize money as you have many opportunities to win graphic & logo design contests regularly and earn money to start your own design business.
Starting a service business is usually easy and free of cost. You are able to start your services business from home or a café that has a free wifi connection. That is often enough to get you started.
2. Be A Multi-tasker
Since you are on your own, be prepared to work harder. You must reduce your cost of running the business. You will become a multi-tasker. Depending on the business, you may also be knocking at many doors to sell your products as a salesperson. Multitasking will save you money.
3. Find Some Creative Ways To Source Funds
In case, you want to launch a product-based business and have no money, you should look for some innovative ways to get funds. You can do the following:
Get A Line Of Credit –
Many startups rely on a line of credit, which is very useful in getting the much-needed funds in quick time. The American Express Plum Card allows startups to repay the money in a 60-day term. You can also apply for small business grants to access much-needed financial assistance. But apply with your business plan and purpose to get quick approval.
Find A Business Incubator –
Many business incubators help startups in a lot of ways such as providing a shared office space. They also let you have easy access to some form of financing.
Explore crowdfunding –
There are crowdfunding platforms where you can show your business project and get ask the public to invest a small percentage of money.
4. Use Free Technologies
Fortunately, many free technologies are available to you for starting your business. Your startup needs a website, which you can create on an online website builder, spending nothing. You can use sites such as basket.com, moonfruit.com, and wix.com to put a nice website for your new business.
Social networking for business promotion will also not cost you money. All you need to do is to sign up on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others to create your startup’s page. You will generate public awareness and sales for your product or service free of cost. But exploit social media for your small business in a professional way.
5. Get Free Equipment
There are community websites where people recycle undesirable items. Visit freebie section of these sites and see if there is some suitable equipment available to run your business.
You can also go to listing sites like Craiglist and Gumtree and get the recycled equipment.
Read More Similar Post: Top 10 Must-Have Free Online Business Tools for Startup
6. Have Free Advice
Free advice from experts is valuable to start a business in a better way without money. Institutions such as Startup Britain run websites where you can get free advice on several aspects of your business. The Business and IP centre at the British Library offers free access to its many valuable resources. You get the free guidance also from:
1) Government Programs run by the U.S Small Business Administration
2) Online advice and training from experienced entrepreneurs sites such as Yudkin.com and therisetothetop.com
3) Free college courses- There are about 7000 free courses, many of them for teaching business basics. You can check the courses at coursera.org.
7. Get Payment Upfront
Your startup may face financial crunch every now and then. While selling your product or service, ask your customers to pay the entire amount upfront. That way, you will meet your daily expenses. If it is not possible, then get at least half upfront to cover some of the costs.
To conclude, starting a small business does not become a daunting task just because your financial resources are insufficient. These tips give you an indication and hope for achieving your dream of launching your own startup. But put all the efforts behind the enterprise. By learning from your mistakes and experience, you will refine your business skill further.