Every great business starts with a great idea. You may have one right now but while you are excited about the genius concept you just developed, usually setting a business takes more than that.
However the idea and the timing when you got it remain the most important as a foundation to your startup. Everything else requires good financial decision making, foresight, and smart planning.
One of the major issues many startups face is that they run out of money too early.
In order to save you from that, here are 5 easy tips to start a business without going broke:
1.Classify and focus on what matters
When you are starting a business you can easily find tons and tons of paid services, apps, and tools that will help you to take you startup of the ground faster. But can you afford all of them? Do you even really need all of them?
Just think about it for a while. The answer will certainly be “No“.
Why would you be hesitating between renting or buying headquarters for your new startup? Real estate is expensive, start with a home office. Why would you subscribe for the most expensive offer from a hosting company? And why for 5 years? Make a hosting contract only for the needed period you think that starting from it, your startup will be able to generate enough money to sustain itself. And there are so many other questions you should ask yourself…
To be concise and to the point, I want you to write down all what your newborn company really needs –things that your startup can’t even exist without-.
Rank them from the most important to the less important ones.
Then pay for what you can according to the order of importance you just made.
It’s your best way to avoid overspending since the beginning of your entrepreneurship adventures.
You are just starting, it’s good to aim big and want to achieve big. But success is a path and you need to take it step by step.
If you try to go faster by spending more money, you might be out of money when you will need it the most.
2. Use as many freebies as you can
Thanks to the internet. Starting and running a business using free services and tools has never been this easier.
The internet is full of tools that are certainly going to be helpful to you in running your business without even spending a dime.
There are tools to help you get organized (e.g. Evernote)
Tools to help well manage your finances (e.g. Mint)
Tools to help you well manage your social medias. (e.g. Hootsuite and Buffer)
Tools to help you get data from your website and even your competitors (e.g Google analytics, ahrefs, semrush)
Tools to help you make great engaging pictures (e.g. canva or Pablo)
Tools to improve your writing skills and deliver good content (e.g. Grammarly, Hemingway app
And so many many more other tools.
check: 5 Free Apps and Tools to be a Better Writer
Of course, many of these tools can give you also more options and features for paid versions. But again, do you really need the paid features? Start with the free versions and use all their potential.
If you plan your business well and find a way to leverage free tools. It will help your business to succeed and start making revenue.
Only then you can start thinking about premium apps and tools without worrying of running out of capital.
3.Start with free marketing instead of paid one
A good way to reach a big audience and make the brand of your business known by everyone is to “market your business”. Bad news: marketing is usually expensive.
Big brands are investing a lot of money in order to keep improving their actual brand image in the market.
You are not a big brand -at least not yet- but you can’t neglect marketing. So, how can you proceed?
Start by making social profiles.
Set a facebook page and a twitter account for your company. Then according to your activity select which one is perfect for you.
The use of social medias is free and powerful to reach potential customers. Don’t hesitate to use social media tools alongside with it, and you might be able to find your first customer with $0 invested on Marketing.
4. Know exactly your audience
You may get your content and products referenced in big medias outlets. but it’s better that the medias that are featuring you, have the same audience as you. Or that a part of their audience is concerned by what you do.
Otherwise, even if you get featured in the biggest media out there, it would be useless.
So study your audience and market carefully and reach out to the medias that you might interest and that which readers may become clients of yours.
5.Hustle
If you don’t want to face bankruptcy and broken dreams, you have one solution: hustle.
You are already well managing your expenses and marketing your business well. Now just keep doing great work and don’t stop until it starts to pay off.
Just never forget: “Hard work will always pay off.”
Starting a business should not be something that only rich people can do. Even if you don’t have a lot of money, even if you don’t have any investors that are supporting you. Believe in your idea, try to realize it and make it real.
So, use these tips to start a business without going broke, you will certainly not regret it. By cutting the unnecessary expenses and making the right financial decisions, your startup is set to evolve and go far without falling in the risks of the early stages.