Entrepreneur Donnie P has over twenty years of experience taking ideas and turning them into a successful business ventures. He literally wrote the book on helping cash-strapped entrepreneurs start successful businesses with How to Catch Mouse with No Cheese: Real World Lessons and Experiences from an Entrepreneur. Here, Donnie P gives us his five tips how to start a business with zero dollars — in other words, even when you are flat broke.
1. Bring a Product or Service to the Market That Is Needed
Whether your venture is well-funded or you start a business with zero dollars, any business needs to be built on a great idea. When bringing your product or service to the market, do your due diligence in researching the demand for your product or service. Anyone can do business research for free with an internet search. Look at how many businesses are in your area that provide the same products or services. How many similar businesses are in your target market, and which ones might expand beyond your immediate geographic area?
Speaking of a target market, researching the purchasing habits and wants or needs of a market is also potentially free. One can easily research demographic information and market statistics online. Statista, Pew Research, and Quora are some of my favorites. You can learn all you need to bring a needed and desired product or service to the market with dedicated research. If you are not bringing something wanted or needed to consumers, you are almost sure to fail.
2. Watch Your Competition
For the entrepreneur on a budget, the internet is an important research tool. Look at other businesses in your market that may be offering similar products or services. One important component to this is direct and indirect competition. Direct competitors offer the same products in the same markets, while indirect competitors offer slightly different products in the same market, or the same products in different markets. This information is important, because it shows you potential new opportunities while highlighting loss risks from competitors. Include research of their websites and use of social media.
Reviews are another great tool. See which areas your competitors excel at and where they fall short. Make improvements to your product to adjust for your competitors shortcomings, thus making your product more attractive to consumers. The more information you gather, the more you stay one step ahead of your competition.
3. Provide Service, Ingenuity, and Resourcefulness
The most successful business owners — from small mom-and-pops to huge organizations — are rooted in the idea of providing service, business ingenuity, and above all, resourcefulness. When you start a business with zero dollars, resourcefulness is vital. One great way to secure funds for your business is seeking small business grants. The federal government offers several, as well as local governments. There are even corporate grants from big companies. It takes a lot of paperwork and patience to secure these kinds of grants, but they are worth it if you’re strapped for cash!
Advertising is potentially expensive as well, but one promotes his/her business for next to nothing by being resourceful and creative. Social media is a great tool for an entrepreneur on a low budget. It is imperative that new businesses establish social media accounts, take care to post consistently, and build presences. Create a social media plan with a clear message and stick to it. Brand consistency is the key.
Word-of-mouth is still a very viable way of promoting your business, and these days social media plays a huge part in word-of-mouth advertising. Post content that is engaging and shareable, and let those who love your product or service spread the word for you.
4. Leverage What’s Free
Resourcefulness and ingenuity again play roles when looking for free ways to build your business. Many small business owners begin by offering “free samples” or “pro bono” services to a select few people. This is in exchange for reviews or promotion. Whether you want to do this or not, however, is up to you.
There are possible opportunities in your immediate area to be a sponsor for an event or cause, which likely gets your business’s name and brand in front of influential people. If you have a gift for the written word, offer to write guest posts on blogs with subject matters adjacent to your business. Email marketing is also a fabulous way to generate buzz for your venture. If you start building an email list early on, it pays dividends multiple times over later down the road.
5. Roll with the Punches and Have Faith
Going into any business venture well-prepared is always advisable. You do not necessarily need any start-up funds to get a business rolling. However, a healthy personal savings helps you “roll with any punches” that may come along — and they will come. Your personal savings will let you weather any difficult storms that come along to prevent hard times from derailing your business dreams.
Above all else, have faith. Opening a business is difficult to do with a lot of money, so doing it with very little is extremely hard work. Have faith that you will succeed. There very likely will be endless obstacles in your way, with banks, family, and friends questioning your abilities. If you do not believe in yourself, then others will not either.
About the Author
Donnie P. is an author, entrepreneur, business mentor, and philanthropist. His book, How to Catch a Mouse With No Cheese: Real World Lessons and Experiences from an Entrepreneur explains five life-changing principles that help any cash-strapped entrepreneur start his/her own business.
