Everything You Need to Know About Starting a Business Without Cash

It seems everyone is starting their own business in this day and age. If you're reading this, it's more than likely you'd like to be among the entrepreneurs of the world, sooner rather than later.

Money is the most common reason people with a great idea never pursue their dream of owning their own business. Not just the necessity for money to get going; but also the worry of losing everything if the business fails.

However, as the saying goes “there's more than one way to skin a cat.” You don't need to have a fat bank account to get that business going. It just takes a little smart life and money management and perhaps stepping outside your current comfort zone, and perceived conventions about what's possible for you in your current situation.

No Money Startup Checklist:

Keep Your Day Job

This is advice that many of you aren't likely going to take. Once you've decided to go for it, sometimes practical goes out the window and you just throw caution to the wind and do it. However, if you can stay the course, building a business when you have no startup capital will be much easier to manage if you have a reliable source of cash (or two) coming in every month.

Costs like business registration, permits, taxes, overhead, product acquisition, trial runs, attorney's fees, etc., are all a necessary reality for nearly all business owners. Depending on what you're delving into, you may have even more costs than that. It won't be easy to do both, but you have to keep your eyes on the prize or as Eric Thomas likes to say: “think about the opportunity and not the obligation.”

Start Working on Your Business Idea/Plan

Ideas are easy to find – just visit sites like Noobpreneur, Entrepreneur, and other reputable sites and jot down the ideas that you want to turn to reality. Narrow down your ideas into one or two that you think would have a chance for success.

Once you have decided on a business idea, skip right to researching and putting together your business plan. If you have no idea, start to think about something you can offer the market that will reap the rewards you're looking for (ie., financial return, sense of fulfillment, ability to set your own schedule, etc.)

Then figure out how unique your idea is. Even if there's a ton of businesses just like it, figure out how it is that you're going to add more value to the customer than your competitors. Then you have to figure out if it's something the market truly wants or whether your passion is clouding your judgment.

Analyze Your Market and Challenges

So, you've decided your business will definitely take off. Decide how easy it will be for a competitor to swoop in and re-brand your idea and release their own copy to the market. Investors will definitely want to know the answer to this question.

You need to understand everything about your market and the competition operating within it. Look at all the trends that have taken place in your market over the years and identify all the potential pitfalls that will get in your way, before proceeding to create a plan to drive straight through those challenges.

Determine Your Capital Requirements

There are many ways to start a business for less than a $1000. Sometimes even less than that if you plan to be a freelancer of some sort – whether your business can float on such little cash is a matter of researching all the costs involved.

If you don't have enough capital resources to draw on, it's time to head out and find some money. VCs aren't likely to look at you at this stage. In fact, they won't. Angel investors are a great idea if you have access to any. Bank loans are also a possibility, if you have the credit to qualify for what you need (see the SBA's requirements to determine if you qualify here).

Crowdfunding is another great idea, if you can find a platform that caters to your industry. And, if you have an idea and pitch that the crowd of investors want to sink their money into.

Start Networking ASAP

Smart business owners don't sit on the sidelines and wait for opportunity to come knocking. They go out and start making phone calls, attending social and professional events – even knocking down doors if need be!

Attend live events, sign up to forums in your industry, start engaging with investors and other business owners in your niche on social media. A good set of networking chops are the surest way to fast-track your idea into reality in the absence of cold hard cash.

Run a Trial

Learn from this man's mistakes and run a trial of your idea in the market. Get your product or service out there by giving away freebies. Product sellers can distribute testers to see what things people like and which they don't – or get feedback on improvements that can be made. Service businesses can offer free services to select people or businesses. Either way, you need to give it away in order to get word-of-mouth going anyhow.

When it comes to brick and mortar retail and hospitality, real trials are all but impossible; you have to go out and talk to your target market and figure out whether they'll bite on the idea or not – or open your doors and hope customers start coming in. In this case, you wouldn't do such a thing because you don't have the cash to get started anyway.

Get a Mentor in the Same Space

Or a similar space to that which you're entering. Don't skip this step, as they can help you avoid the same troubles they once had, while also potentially putting you in touch with resources that can help your startup such as loan officers, investors, suppliers, outsourcers, etc.

They can also tell you whether your business idea is a complete bunch of bunk, what you can do to improve it, or whether it should be scrapped for something else – and why.

Launch?

If you've made it through the checklist, you're either ready to launch or need to head back to the drawing board to reevaluate.

If you're going to launch your business, good going and good luck! If you're not quite ready, don't give up. The best ideas come to those who stick with a goal and see it through, regardless of the disappointments that occur along the path.