How to Start a Business with Little to no Capital

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Start a Business|How to Start a Business with Little to no CapitalYou have a great idea for starting your own business, but you’ve got little or no savings. While starting a business when you’re strapped for cash is a challenge, know that this doesn’t mean you can’t go into business. Nor does this mean that people will think less of your new business. There are many firms famous for starting with a few hundred pounds in someone’s garage, and you could be one of them if you take advantage of the resources that are available to you. Let’s look at a few ways you could start your business with little to no capital.

Use Sweat Equity

Don’t buy things when you could rent, and don’t buy new if you can make do with used. The main source of capital will be you and your efforts. Do everything you can yourself before you hire others.

This route isn’t an option if you don’t have the time to work for the business for free or the cost of entering the field is more than you have saved. But, if you are able to start the business on effort alone, recognise that you’ll have a lot of competition and will have to hire people to scale it up.

Leverage Your Day Job for Capital

A common criticism of artists and entrepreneurs is ‘don’t quit your day job’. There are several good reasons to keep your day job while building your small business, too.

First, you can live frugally off your income and funnel the rest of your money into the business. This does mean you’re pressed for time, but you can often build your business if you carefully budget your time outside of work. Your job also improves your credit. You’re eligible for no guarantor loans based on your current income. You don’t have to ask anyone else to co-sign the loan or ask family to loan you money for your business.

A side benefit of starting your business as a side business is that you have margin for error. If you need to tweak the design or change your business model, it won’t hurt the business. You can get feedback from friends, family and referrals.

Find Ways to Generate More Revenue from Your Business Idea

You may have to find new ways to generate revenue from your business. Find ways to generate cash flow from services while designing and selling a product.

Product-based businesses are capital intensive. Try to find ways to make money servicing current owners of the product, such as repairing or appraising the item. If you want to build an app, get started building websites and apps for others. Provide tech support for customers while you’re designing hardware. This will not just generate cash flow you can live on, but it will connect you to potential customers.

You can start a business with little to no cash, and it doesn’t have to involve a ton of debt. Understand your options so that you can find the best solution for funding your start-up.

How To Take Your New Business Idea To The Next Level

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Starting a Business|How To Take Your New Business Idea To The Next LevelWhen you come up with a great business idea and begin to lay the foundations for your dream to become a reality, you might find that you are being held back by certain restraints that can stop your concept from truly flourishing. It’s unlikely that you can be a one man band, and you need so many different contributing features to bring the whole venture together and really make it work. Becoming a successful entrepreneur takes skill, effort and time, but if you are ready to commit yourself and reach your goals then the results that you will achieve will make it all seem more than worth it. So, if you want to know how you can take your business idea to the next level and really hit the ground running, then read on for some of the best top tips and tricks that you can make the most of to start generating a respectable profit in no time at all!

Hiring The Right Support

Though you may want to keep all of the credit and control for your business, at some point you are going to have to let go of some responsibilities in order to allow your organisation to grow into something much bigger. Hiring the right support is such an important step to take, as having some experienced and qualified employees by your side to assist you with every task you complete is going to take a huge weight off your shoulders. Finding the right staff doesn’t have to be difficult, as there are several different ways that you can attract potential candidates – by posting a job application online, approaching a recruitment agency, or networking with others in your industry to spread the word about your vacancies. It’s easy to find more info about where you can hire the best professionals, but it’s up to you to identify which person will suit your own specific company needs.

Sourcing The Best Equipment

Whatever kind of business you are going to run, you will need to source the best equipment to ensure that you and your staff can complete every task to the highest standard. Whether you need computers or laptops, heavy production machinery or general labourer tools, its key that you can collect each necessary item and have it set up and ready for use as soon as you open your doors for business. If you purchase secondhand or poor quality machinery, you’re going to end up with a bad end product that will be worth half of the price of its properly made counterpart. It’s likely that you will need to provide training for some specific items as your staff may require the knowledge in order to operate them safely and securely.

Get Marketing Now

The sooner that you are able to start marketing your business, the more attention and excitement will build for your new idea. You can even start advertising before you open the doors to your company, as you can use your grand opening date as some kind of special day that includes offers or vouchers, therefore attracting more buzz and potential customers. The type of marketing that you use should really depend on your target audience, for example if your business is directed towards young adults and teenagers, you may want to make the most of social media advertising. You simply create a business profile, and update your page with regular posts that can receive constant feedback from actual users, whilst even offering options to purchase items or services straight through the social media platform itself. To reach an older generation, get on board with day time TV advertisements or put up a sign in your local newspaper or relevant magazine subscription to get their attention.

Starting your own business can be a whirlwind adventure, but following the steps above will show you just how simple it can be to take your idea to the next level and make some serious profit. There are so many risks that new business’ face whenever they are released onto the market, but you can reduce these risks dramatically by taking these top tips and tricks on board. Start by sourcing the right group of staff to support you through your venture, that have the necessary qualifications and experience to push your company to grow and evolve. Ensure that you have invested in the best quality equipment your employees need to do their job well, and put a big emphasis on marketing your brand to gain a wider influence.

Creating Your Business From Home And The Things To Consider

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Working from Home|Creating Your Business From Home And The Things To ConsiderMany people like the idea of working from home, and with that comes the opportunity to work for yourself and still get the benefit of family life. It’s striking that right balance and some people love the opportunities it raises to have the best of everything. Of course, starting an at home business may sound like an easy thing to do, but there is still much to consider. With that in mind, here are some of the things you could consider when starting a business from home. Maybe it will provide you with that inspiration to take that first step yourself.

What’s the business idea?

First of all, you need an idea. If working from home is something you are seriously thinking about then you need to have a clear vision and a plan of direction for exactly what you want to do, how you are going to do and how much you can realistically earn from it. It’s important to think about money early on, because many of us have commitments of bills that we need to adhere to. Leaving your job means you lose that consistency of pay, so ensuring that you don’t have the pressure of earning nothing can help you to steer your business in the right direction. Of course, it doesn’t always happen straight away, so having a buffer saved can take the overwhelming pressure away. Research your idea, look into to domain names and social media handles and ensure that your idea and what you offer is different from direct competition.

How will it get from you to consumer?

You have your idea, you know what you want to do, but how does it get from you to your consumer? This is when we are talking about delivery methods. When you offer a service, it is a little different, but if you are selling a product of some description now is the time to think about packaging, your labelling solutions and postal costs and this will help you when advertising online and through your website. Is it something that could be packaged up in a tube such as wall art or quotes that a printed? Or maybe you need something more box like. A quick search online might help you to identify some of the best places to buy packaging from, and then check out your local post office or courier for postage costs to ensure you get the best deal.

How do you separate your work life from your home life?

Last thing to think about would be your home life and working life and finding the balance between the two. It can be hard to separate those loves when you are working in the same environment so it might be worth trying to create a working area where at least you can walk away from work when you need a break or the time comes to spend time with the family. Maybe a home office or a desk in a specified area could be the way forward. Some people choose to go to further lengths and create offices in their gardens or in lofts or cellars. The options are endless but do what feels right for you to ensure that you separate the life. This is so it doesn’t always feel like you are working.

Let’s hope these tips help you to kick start you at home business.

4 Things to Think About When Starting Your Own Cannabis Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Cannabis|4 Things to Think About When Starting Your Own Cannabis Business

The market for licensed cannabis products is growing at an encouraging rate if that is the line of business that you are thinking of launching into and as is the case with any new venture, you will need to have all the angles covered in order to set off on the right footing.

A good starting point would be to create a checklist of things that you need to organize so that your cannabis business is good to go. This will likely include things such as insurance, and you can find help at charlesriverinsurance.com to guide you on the most affordable options, plus you need to understand all about regulatory and taxation issues.

An industry that lacks clear federal guidance at present

A key point to consider is the fact that the cannabis industry is defined by what can be described as a fragmented regulatory landscape.

The fundamental problem is that federal policy relating to the distribution of cannabis products varies across different state lines. Some states have fully embraced the cannabis industry while others are not so welcoming and regulations reflect that.

It is important that you take the time to familiarize yourself with the regulations and understand clearly what you can and can’t do within your state and when dealing with customers across state lines.

Get your head around the tax rules

The tax rules surrounding the sale and distribution of cannabis products can be quite punitive and restrictive in terms of what you are able to claim in allowable business expenses.

The bottom line is that you should expect to pay a high proportion of taxes in comparison to what you would pay if you were selling a product that was fully legal according to the current tax rules.

It would be a smart move to get professional guidance on the tax rules.

Business insurance

Every business needs to have adequate protection against potential claims and losses and it is especially relevant when you are running a cannabis business.

Insurance for running a cannabis business can be expensive if you don’t get help from a reputable insurer who has knowledge of the industry and how to provide the cover you need in the most cost-effective way.

Licenses and permits

A major expense that you will have to contend with if you intend to launch a cannabis business is the cost of obtaining the relevant licenses and permits that are required.

It depends on what part of the cannabis industry you are going to be trading in when it comes to what licenses you might need to obtain and the cost of obtaining all the necessary permissions will likely represent a significant percentage of your startup costs.

If you intend to cultivate or dispense cannabis products the cost of obtaining the right licenses may even appear prohibitive at first glance, but you might take the view that the opportunities that await you make that investment more justifiable.

If you cover all of these major bases when evaluating your cannabis business plan it should clear the path to open the doors of your business and allow you to focus on building a successful and profitable venture.

4 tips for starting a business in a poor economy

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At one point in our life, we’ve probably all been there. The economy is like a rollercoaster, and from time to time you do reach new lows.

Quite often, these lows give some people a new lease of life. Companies are forced to offload employees, and this means that an increased number of people are without work and ultimately asking, “what’s next?”.

Well, for many of these, a new business is one solution. The economy doesn’t make it easy, but it shouldn’t be a direct obstacle that tells you to turn around and do something else.

If you are considering starting a business in this sort of climate, it’s time to read on and find out our four most recommended tips for doing so.

The location is crucial

Without trying to be patronizing, we really can’t emphasize the importance of location, location, location. It’s something that can make or break your business in these tough times, and this infographic perhaps describes it in the best detail:

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | 4 tips for starting a business in a poor economy

No, you shouldn’t be targeting those locations which are faring the best during these tough times, but you need to be shrewd about how your potential market is going to react. If you are selling high-end products, you need to assess whether the area you are about to venture into is ready for these, and vice versa.

Use the economy to your advantage

There are a lot of ways that the economy is going to hurt you during these times, so you should be trying to take advantage wherever possible.

Lowering costs is one of these and whilst negotiating with suppliers, understand that you probably hold the upper hand. They will be feeling the pinch as well, so use the economy as an excuse to get even better deals. Whether it’s rents, products or equipment, this is something that you must use to your advantage to drive those margins up.

Start as small as can be

Of course, if you have major backing behind you, this next point might be invalid.

For everyone else, starting small is crucial advice. If you don’t necessarily need office space, don’t hire it. The same rules apply to employees, as both of these elements are fixed costs that are going to heap pressure onto your business.

Start as small as you can, and scale up when the market signals that it is time to do so.

Watch the competition closely

The competition is going to be an excellent signal on just how you are going to perform in this market. It will indicate just how flat the market is, and provide you any ideas on how you can treat it differently.

Sometimes, it might suggest that the market has become extremely price sensitive – and this might not fit within your business plan. Or, it might suggest the otherwise, and a creative marketing plan is all you need. Analyze the competition and then plan your strategy accordingly.