Embracing Entrepreneurship – Getting Started with Limited Options

You finally made the big decision…

You’re been dreaming about it for a while now—maybe even years. Maybe you have an amazing idea, or you’re just fascinated with the thought of launching and growing your own enterprise. You know you are going to work harder and have longer hours, than a 9-5. You  know it’s a huge risk. You know you might not make any money for a while. And, knowing all that, you’ll still want to jump off the cliff.  But there’s one logistical hurdle stopping you: You don’t have much money.

On the surface, this seems like a major problem. Here’s the good news—a lack of personal capital shouldn’t stop you from pursuing your dreams. In fact, it’s entirely possible to start and grow a business with almost no personal financial investment whatsoever—if you use the right approach.

So, let’s first take a look at what capital a start-up business generally may need:

Legal Organization. Depending on how you decide to organize your business legally, i.e. form a corporation or operate as a dba, etc., you will need to file the applicable paperwork to obtain the necessary documentation for your type of organization.

Equipment & Supplies. Are you buying raw materials? Do you need computers and/or other devices?  Do you need specialized machinery or software?

Office Space & Utilities. You may not need a traditional brick and mortar, so you can operate from a home satellite. If, not a office can be a huge expense. Also, don’t overlook expenses like Internet and utilities costs.

Associations, Subscriptions & Memberships. Networking and keeping abreast of what’s trending in your industry is a must, find out what publications and affiliations you will need to subscribe to annually as well as monthly.

Operating Expenses. Dig into the nooks and crannies here, and don’t forget about marketing. Do you need employees, or is your business a one-man/woman show.

Legal fees. Do you need a layer, or accountant to help you keep things straight?

Once you get a clearer ideal of what type of capital you need,  you have two main paths of starting a business with less money: lowering your costs or increasing your available capital from outside sources. There are several options, here are some areas to start with:

• Streamline your business model so your start-up needs are as lean as possible. For example, if you were planning on starting a graphic design company, you could reduce your “employee” expenses by being the sole employee at the start.

• Consider starting your business with a “warm-up” period, vs. going straight into full-fledged mode. Start with just the basics. You might start with only one niche product, later adding others as you grow.

• There are dozens of avenues to raise capital—even if you don’t have much yourself. Start with family and friends, even if you have to piece the capital together from multiple sources. Seek out Angel investors, they are wealthy individuals who back business. They typically invest in exchange for partial ownership of the company, which is a sacrifice worth considering. And, definitely look into crowd funding.  It has become popular for a reason: with a good idea and enough work, you can attract funding for anything.

SUCCESS TALK

Being passionate and really caring about what you are doing is a big key to success.

Practice patience—have a long term view.

Become self-awareness—you have to know who you are, so that you can play to your strengths not your weaknesses. Avoid situations that don’t show your best self.

Become a student of human nature by learning how to be observant. Pay attention to people and what they are doing, you will learn much through being silent. Careful though the sources you choose to garner knowledge however, as they say – everyone’s a critic.

Learn how to be people and customer centric—listen to others, find out how to help them succeed.

Just do the work! If you think you are doing it for the rest of your life you will be patient—marry your business. Dream big, and then act big.  A plan without action, will never be successful.

There really is only one good reason to start a business: You’ve discovered a market need—a customer problem that begs to be solved, and have the passion and commitment to come up with a better solution compared to what’s out there. That’s what real entrepreneurs do.

Here are just a few examples:

• Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp founded Uber as an app designed to get people rides from one place to another.
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created Apple Computer to meet the growing demand for fully assembled personal computers. Today, Apple is the most valuable company in the world.
• With a billion people and little brick and mortar infrastructure, China had thousands of small merchants with no easy way to reach customers. Jack Ma built Alibaba to meet that need.