Starting your business without any money is not easy, but it’s totally doable. There are many ways you can go about doing this, and there are things you can do to make it more accessible for everyone.
The biggest thing that most people don’t realize when they think of starting a business is how little investment capital you actually need to get going. You don’t have to be rich to start a business!
In fact, some of the best businesses in history were started by individuals with no direct access to large amounts of cash. People who had to work hard to achieve their dreams nevertheless managed to bring their dreams to life.
With that in mind, here are all the different types of businesses that begin with “no money” as an initial funding source.
Your own personal service business
A lot of successful entrepreneurs made their fortunes selling their services directly to other consumers. This is what professionals do – we provide services to others.
For example, if you are good at writing young adult fiction, then you could write your book and market it yourself. If you are excellent at photography, you could set up your own photoshoot or take over another photographer’s account and advertise them as your collaborator.
If you are very artistic, you could offer your professional design services to customers. And if you are great at organizing and planning events, you could run your own event organization.
Create a business plan
A business plan is a way to evaluate your idea and determine if it has potential to succeed. It’s also a good tool for getting money out of investors, since you can use the documents as proof that there are people who believe in your concept.
Most entrepreneurs create a one or two page document using an article writing format. The first section should include the title and body of the article, and then the supporting paragraphs and bullets.
The second most common type of business plan starts with the word “Market” and a bullet point saying something like, “There is an underserved market need within our community.” Then, the entrepreneur will put a bullet point under that stating their product or service.
That would be followed by the main goal, the bullet point “Grow my company,�” and then the final bullet point, which is usually either “Make enough money to live comfortably” or “Be successful, so I can keep living this life.”
The third part comes down to what steps they will take to achieve their goals. This could be marketing their product, finding vendors, doing research on competition, etc. All of these things help promote engagement and exposure for their product while establishing credibility for themselves.
Business plans don’t have to be too fancy, but they do need to be thorough and solid.
Fund your business
Starting a business does not require lots of money, but you will need some up-front investment. This can be done via or in the form of loans, investing in materials, fees, licenses, etc.
You do not have to take out a large loan to get started, but it is important to have an understanding of what resources are available to you and how much money you should spend to launch your business.
There are many ways to fund your start up costs, no matter what type of business you want to run. By being aware of all of the opportunities, you will know what is best for you and your budget.
Pick your business location
The next step in starting your business is determining where you will position your business. This decision comes down to two things: Your budget, and what services or products you want to offer.
If you do not have much money for start-up costs, you can still open up a restaurant! Or maybe you’d like to begin selling handmade jewelry. There are many ways to go about doing this.
You can either be completely free with no restrictions, or you can limit yourself to certain areas or locations that match your budget. For example, if you only have enough funds to rent a small space, you may need to look into opening your business online.
There are several ways to do this, and most require very little to no investment.
Write your business plan
Writing a business plan is an integral part of starting your business! A business plan is a detailed document that explores what your business will be, how you will market it, and who you will sell it to. It also includes lots of detail about running the business, such as where you will purchase equipment or supplies, and whether you need permission to run this business in certain areas.
Business plans are not only used by entrepreneurs to get initial funding, but they can help you stay motivated while you’re trying to grow your company.
Many people start their businesses with no money because they spent time writing out a business plan.
Prepare your business for opening
Before you open your business, you have to make sure that everything is ready! This includes finalizing your business name, picking your location, getting equipment or resources needed to run the business, and ensuring that all of your documents are in order and accessible.
Having these things in place will help you feel confident in the launch of your business!
Furthermore, most states require you to be licensed as an individual business owner before you can do business under your company name.
Open a business bank account
Now that you have your domain name, you can start looking for space to rent or purchase a location to open up a business. Many businesses are starting from online platforms with an email address as their storefront so it’s good to be familiar with how to create yours!
Once you have found a place to establish yourself, you will need to pick a banking institution that will accept payments related to your business. This is typically done through what’s called a business checking account, but some banks also offer credit card accounts that work similarly.
Business owners usually opt for this type of account because they don’t want any fees for having a debit card like someone else might. They prefer paying per transaction instead, which is why there is a fee for every withdrawal made with the money in the account.
But alas, such things as business checking accounts aren’t free.
Pay your bills with business funds
One of the hardest things about starting a business is having no money! This can be due to several reasons, such as not being able to afford the fees to run your current job or paying off student loans that have been put on hold while you start up your new venture.
Most entrepreneurs begin investing in their business by making changes to how they manage their paychecks. These changes include transferring most if not all of their monthly income into savings for the business.
This is called budgeting it out. By doing this, they are creating an opportunity to spend what’s left over on their business. It also helps them stay within their financial limits since there aren’t many opportunities to use cash.
Another way to gain access to more money is to offer services and products people need and will buy. When you provide a service or product that people want, you get paid for it, and that gets transferred into your business account.
Read about: Starting a Own Photography Business
Start accepting clients
Starting your business does not require lots of money, nor do you have to be completely in possession of everything needed for business before you can start working. In fact, one of the best ways to begin is by offering your services as an independent professional or freelancer.
As a freelance writer, I know from experience that it is easy to offer my writing services to other businesses and individuals. If you are passionate about what you want to accomplish and you are very clear on who you will cater to, then marketing yourself through social media sites and word-of-mouth advertising is a great way to get started.
By offering your service to others, they can either accept or reject your offerings, depending on if they need your help at this time.
