(Newswire.net — September 22, 2020) –Building a business with no money sounds impossible, but the truth is now with the Internet you’re able to build extremely profitable businesses with little to no investment. The financial barrier to making your own store or platform has never been smaller. Many people are choosing to start their own side hustles, working online in the evenings alongside their day job. You might be surprised to learn just how many people have managed to transform their side hustles into their main income source. I originally started blogging back in 2011 and it took me a year to make it profitable and for the past eight years it’s been my full time job. I use that term lightly, though, it really doesn’t feel like work when it’s something you love doing. Here are my top 5 tips on how to start a business with no money.
1. Get a Great Name
First you’re going to need to decide what kind of business you’re going to want to start with. Do you want to sell your services on Fiverr or Upwork, maybe you want to create products and sell them on Etsy, or perhaps you love writing like I do and you want to start your own blog. Whatever industry you’re going into, you’re going to need to come up with a new business name. For this step I always suggest using a business name generator. Not only is it an easy way to get some great business name ideas, but it also allows you to see whether the domain name is available at the same time, making it even easier to find a new business name that ticks all the boxes. There’s nothing worse than finding the perfect name, only to learn that the domain name is already being used by someone else.
2. Think of How You’ll Make Money
You’re going to need to think seriously about how you want to make money. There are so many ways to make money online, from offering products and services, to making money through advertising options such as affiliate marketing. The type of income source you want to focus on will determine what steps you need to take to get there. For example, if you’re interested in affiliate marketing, you’re going to have to learn how to get a high volume of readers to your blog. If you want to offer your services on a website such as Fiverr, then you’re going to have to figure out what services you’ll offer.
3. Understand it’s Time Vs Money
If you’re truly wanting to start a business with no money, then it means you’re going to have to do a lot more of the leg work yourself. With a small amount of money to invest, you can spend it on advertising your blog, product or service to get more traction. Without spare money to invest, you’re going to have to spend a lot more time to build up a following online. Before blogging I was actually freelance writing. I hired a virtual assistant to help me find relevant jobs, as that was my least favorite part of the process. It made more sense to pay her $10 per hour to hunt for jobs, so that I could spend my time focused on making $40 per hour from the writing work. This is just an example of how you’ll have to choose between spending money, or spending your time, to make your online business grow.
4. Don’t Quit Your Day Job Yet
This year has been a very strange year with a lot more uncertainty than usual. This has impacted numerous industries across the board and resulted in a lot of job losses. If you’re lucky enough to have employment right now, it’s worth holding onto. I always suggest that people figure out how much money they need each month to cover their expenses, and to set that as their minimum income amount. Once your side hustle reaches this point, you can consider quitting your day job. While you’re in the process of building up your side income, be sure to save as much as you can so that you can have an emergency fund set aside. Being self-employed or a business owner has many great benefits, but your income can also be a lot more volatile than in a traditional job setting. Having an emergency fund will help you weather any potential storms that may come.
5. Be Prepared to Invest When You Can
Starting a business with $0 may be almost impossible unless you work offering your services on an online platform. However, if you want to create a business for yourself – not just a job – you’re probably going to at least invest in a website. Once you’re making some money, be sure to set aside 10% to invest in yourself and/or your business. Always setting aside some money for growth ensures that you’re constantly thinking of ways to improve things, whether through better branding or through marketing to reach new clients.
Starting a business with little to no money isn’t impossible, you’ll just have to be more creative. I hope these 5 tips on how to start a business with no money inspire you to get started today!