You are either excited about this idea or just fascinated with the idea of launching and growing your very own enterprise. No, I’m not talking about the Star Trek variety. You want to own your own company.
In order to accomplish this seemingly daunting task, you know that some risks will have to be taken, you will most likely be leaving your current job, and you might need to do without some luxuries in your life for awhile. Given all of that, there is still one thing that seems to be stopping you.
You don’t have much money.
Just saying it outloud makes your heart sink into your gut, thinking that it this one thing is a major hurdle that you are unsure how to get past. In fact, it is entirely possible to start and grow a business with almost no personal investment.
The Money Stressor
It would be nice to just look on a chart or graph somewhere to find out exactly how much money your particular business will need to get going, unfortunately that is not the case. Different business have different needs. Just as different business owners make different decisions concerning what they believe is key for their business growth. This of course, changing the outcome of the amount of funds required to get going or sustain their business.
If you haven’t already done so, now would be a good time to sit down and work out an estimate for your start up costs
Consider the following:
- Licenses and permits.
- Incorporation fees.
- Office Space.
- Supplies.
- Legal Fees.
- Employees and/or Contractors.
- Equipment.
The above is just the main guts of most any business that will help you get a rough view into the amount of capital that you will need.
With that said, you have three main avenues that can be traveled in order to start a business with little money out of pocket.
Path 1: Minimum To Enter
In every single business venture that I personally have delved into has started with a grandiose idea of how we could scale the business to not only be profitable but also to grow to it’s utmost capacity. Of course, the reality of the situation is that in most cases you need to start at the bare minimum.
Look at your big picture, all shiny and pretty, churning out thousands of bank rolls at a time. Great! Keep that and mind and don’t lose sight of it. But to start out you will need to change your business model in order to demand fewer needs than the ones that I listed above.
For instance, you can often cut such expenses as employees (and all the tax fees that go with them) and higher either freelancers or do most of the work yourself. You can also cut office space and work out of your home office until the need arises to move into something bigger. And lastly equipment, don’t run right out and buy that huge printer just yet. Utilize Kinkos like the money saving boss you are!
Path 2: Hunker Down
This second path incorporates some of the same ideas from path one. I like to think of this path not as a MTE (minimum to enter) scenario, but more of as a “warmup.” Instead of going head first into business mode, why not start with the basics?
Consider launching a blog that encompasses a one niche service or product. This will reduce your scope, audience, and yes even profit; however, you will get a head-start into tucking away some working capital needed for your long term goals.
Path 3: Outside Investors
Your third path is all about to reaching out to your core networking circle to obtain funding. Not only with friends and family, but also a vast number of other options such as:
- Angel Investors
- Venture Capitalists
- Crowdfunding
- Government Grants and Loans
- Bank Loans
With one of the above three paths, you should be able to reduce your out of pocket expenses to almost nothing. Like I said previously, you already know that you will need to make some sacrifices along the way, both personal and with your business decisions. Nothing should be stopping you now. Leap over that capital hurdle and get to it!
