How to Start a Business With No Money is a part of Women’s Money Week being held from March 05 – 11, 2012. For more posts about Entrepreneurship, see womensmoneyweek dot com.
When I started Odd Cents, I did not have much money to pump into it. I was getting my finances in order and I really could not find any item in my budget to scale back so that could get some funds. It seemed that it was impossible to start a business with no money. And I believed that until I did some research. In fact, if I had not done any research, I probably would not have started Odd Cents.
I’m not an expert, but I can tell you three things that worked for me:
1.Doing everything myself
This includes starting with my idea and taking it right through to the launch stage. I knew that I wanted to start a personal finance and lifestyle blog, so I googled any and everything about those topics. Then I looked for articles on how to get started and found everything that I needed. Seeing that I was tight with cash, I had to watch some tutorials and do a lot of reading and note taking to understand what I was doing, because I could not pay anyone to do it.
2. Choosing a home based business
For years I had been looking for a part-time job in Barbados and the Caribbean but I was unsuccessful. Then I realised that I should look a little closer to home. Literally. Working from home was the best bet for me. I did not have a car and I imagined that it would have been difficult to get from work to work to home. The benefits of a home-based business are endless, but it calls for discipline.
3. Making use of free stuff
I used a free WordPress theme and found free plug-ins that added to the functionality of the blog. I even got some free business cards printed using Vista Print. The internet is a wonderful resource that can be used to source ideas, tutorials, tips and tricks. There are also free, reliable email clients, like Gmail and Hotmail. Free marketing can be done on social media giants like Facebook and Twitter.
To start this blog, I spent about $145 USD on registering the business name, a matching domain name and hosting for one year. I perused Google and asked for and received some good advice from personal finance bloggers, especially those on Yakezie. But for me, the hardest part of it was believing that I could do it and although it’s not easy, it feels good to keep going.