Start a Business With No Money – A How to Guide
-Be a Doer, Not a Talker-
How many times has someone told you that they had “A Million Dollar Idea” if only they had the money to get started?
I personally know of at least 20 “Idea Millionaires” that I’ve met in the last 5 years! As my father used to say about those
“A Million Dollar Ideas”, “with that and 50 cents 
you can get a cup of coffee”. These days the coffee would be $5.00, but the
Idea is the same. Just having a good Idea is not enough, you must be willing to take action, otherwise you are just another
“Idea Millionaire”. Let’s be clear, when I say you can start a business with no money, I DON’T mean “with no effort“,
in fact, the less money you have, the more effort or “sweat equity” you’ll need. In this post I will share some ideas on how
you can start your own business with no money, but I will also share some ways that you can raise money
for your business start-up.
Start a Business With No Money – A How to Guide
-What You Need To Be Successful-
A Good Idea– It doesn’t have to be a new idea that no one has ever thought of before, it doesn’t have to be revolutionary, but it has to be something
that has or adds value to a persons’ life.
Passion– It’s going to take a lot of time and effort to build your own business. You will be (at least initially) working long hours for little (or more probably)
no pay. If you don’t have that passion to keep you going through the lean times, you will eventually quit.
A Self Starter– There are a lot of perks to being your own boss, setting your own schedule is one of them. If you’re not prepared to get up and do something
to grow your business every day then what you have is a hobby. Treat your business like a hobby and it will pay you like a hobby, treat it like a business and
it will pay you like a business. Have I made myself 
clear? You must be willing to set aside regular times in your day, week
or month to work exclusively on your business.
Expertise – Knowledge is power, knowledge is an asset, knowledge is marketable! Again, it doesn’t have to be a secret
ingredient that you invented. I used to have a business doing custom spray tans for people in the south-west (I know, it
was a tough job spay tanning all of those naked women, but someone had to do it :-). After going to school to learn how,
and years of building a business, I ended up doing body builders, celebrities, reality shows would send me their talent.
I even had wealthy clients that would fly in from other parts of the country just so I could spray tan them. Did all these
people come to me because there was no one in their area that could give them a spray tan? NO, but I was an expert at
custom airbrush tanning and they were willing to pay for that expertise. I still have a small clientele that I spray on the side.
Tenacity– You are going to get knocked down, turned away, told no, make bad decisions, have plans fall through, and just generally have to do things that you
don’t want to do. You’ve got to be able to push through 
those obstacles in order to be successful there is just no way
around it. In starting a small energy brokerage business, I needed to cold call. No one likes to cold call, but I spent
a year making cold calls 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I was yelled at, cursed at, and called names that I didn’t even
know what they meant. It was not a pleasant experience, but, at the end of that year, I had developed a relationship
with nearly 100 companies that became customers. Expect the negative and be grateful for the positives.
Have I talked you out of starting your own business yet? I hope not! It is truly one of the most rewarding things you can do.
I’m telling you these things so that there will be no surprises. Going in knowing what to expect and being prepared for it will
give you the best chance for success.
Start a Business With No Money – A How to Guide
-Should You Go On-line, or Brick and Mortar?-
That really depends on what you want to do. Certain service industries require that you have a brick and mortar store. Hair salons, nail salons, tanning salons etc.
However, most products can be sold directly on-line. Let’s face it, websites like Amazon, EBay and PayPal are really squeezing out the mom-and-pop retail
stores. In my blogs, I focus almost exclusively on internet businesses. In addition to the huge growth in shopping on-line, the costs of starting and maintaining
an on-line business is a fraction of what it is to open a store front.
With a traditional brick and mortar store you can have start-up costs that run into the $1,000’s to hundreds of thousands. 
You will need to lease space which requires a deposit as well as money to build it out (walls, rooms, flooring etc.).
Then you’ll need utilities, electricity, gas, water, telephone, security system, all of which require a deposit. Next you’ll have
to buy the inventory that you will be selling, stock the shelves. Finally, you’ll need to hire and train employees. I can
guarantee you that getting and maintaining good employees is going to be the most challenging part of owning a business.
Starting an on-line business reduces your costs significantly. First of all you can do it out of your own home on your own computer. No additional rent, utilities or
employees. You also avoid carrying inventory and shipping out products. Your sole responsibility is to create a website that provides valuable information, reviews
and recommendations for products and services in your niche. When a person comes to your site to get information, you will provide them a link to your
recommended product. Once they click the link they are taken to the sellers’ website and buy the product. Because you
provided the company with a new customer, the 
company pays you a commission on the sale. And not just on that one
item. Say they clicked on your link for a set of golf clubs, is that all they are going to buy? I think that they may need a
new golf bag to go with the new clubs, maybe some head covers, golf gloves, golf balls, and you get a commission on
all of it, not just the clubs! You have just generated income sitting at home providing an honest evaluation of a
product.
Start a Business With No Money – A How to Guide
-So, What Do You Want To Sell?-
Hobbies are a great way to start a blog.
Deciding on a type of business is not always easy. I recommend that you pick something that you have an interest in.
What do you do for a living? If you work at a hobby store, you can start a blog rating, reviewing and selling various
hobby items. Work in a boutique, start a fashion blog selling clothes online, a foodie, blogging about food and wine.
You get the idea. Hobbies are also a great way to start a business. Do you like to garden, your blog can recommend
the best type of plants, flowers and vegetables to grow. When to plant them, the type of soil to use, how to care for
them etc. All the while getting paid a commission for selling the tools, fertilizers and even plants and seeds needed
for the beginning Gardner. How about golf or tennis? Before people buy an expensive set of clubs or a racket, they do
research on the web. Why not have them come to your website to compare brands and get recommendations, oh, and if they click a link on your website to buy,
you get a commission.
What if you’re still not sure what you want to blog about and sell, but you are still interested in starting your own business? Not to worry, there
are websites that will provide you with the products to sell. Two of the most popular sites are CJ (Formally Commission Junction), and
Click Bank although there are certainly more, in my opinion, these are two of the best. If your brand new to internet marketing, or web based
businesses, then I highly recommend a site called Wealthy Affiliate. It is not only free to join, but they will walk you step by step through the
process of building a money making website, product included.
Start a Business With No Money – A How to Guide
-How to Eat A Elephant-
There are all kinds of emotions, thoughts and feeling when starting a new business. Excitement, fear, hope and dread can be all wrapped up in a
new venture. Most of all, the person starting a new business can feel overwhelmed. Where to start, how to do it, in what order do I do things? It’s
like eating an elephant, it seems impossible, but you can eat that elephant one bite at a time if you stick with it. Focus on completing little tasks,
not the whole thing. Take direction and get help from people who have been in your shoes. Learn from other’s mistakes so you don’t have to make
them. Use free resources like Wealthy Affiliate. Start small but think big. Always remember, the surest way to fail is to quit.
“The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.” —Walt Disney
I hope you have found “Start a Business With No Money – A How to Guide” both helpful and enjoyable.
As always I welcome any questions or comments you may have.
-David-
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