Posts Tagged ‘business start ups’

How To Start A Business With Little Or No Money

May 26th, 2011

How to Start a Business with No Capital

By no capital, I mean you start with the research, business idea development, and market study phase with no money. But you will have to generate the capital as you get closer to actually starting your business. The following points will guide on how to generate that capital.

Go Online
The web is a very good starting point for new businesses. And with the evolution of social media, its benefits have increased ten-fold. Start with a website or blog for which hundreds of free resources are available. Here, you can test the various ideas that you may have for your business. If you want to launch your own brand of T-shirts, you can start a website or a blog that gives unique T-shirt designs and reports the latest trends in the same. If your designs are really good, you will get good readership from which you can develop a community of people who really like your T-shirt designs. You can even earn money from your website or blog with the help of free tools such as Google AdSense. Then you can launch premium services on your website, and that will be the beginning of your brand!

Angel Investors and Micro Credit Organizations
If you have a path-breaking business idea, you can get your investment from Angel Investors or Micro Credit Organizations. They are individuals or companies who provide grants to small business start-ups in return of ownership equity or convertible debt. But to get someone to believe that your idea is really going to work, and that their money is not going to be wasted, is not an easy task. You have to be ready with your research for the idea, the business plan, the market study, the sales projections, and your commitment to the business.

Social Enterprising
If your business idea is inclined toward social causes, environment conservation, green technology, etc., there are many NGOs who will fund your venture. Although here you will have to convince them of your good intentions along with being ready with the complete plan. There are certain government schemes also which may be able to help you.

Exploit all the Free Resources
There are many free resources available online as well as offline that can help you understand how to start a business with little or no money. Find and use them all. Even if you don’t start your business online, you will need a website for providing its information. Also, make use of the power of social media and social networking websites for free publicity.

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A Crucial Business Start-Ups Checklist

May 4th, 2011

When looking to start a new business venture, a business start-ups checklist can be quite handy because it saves you time compared to having to figure the process out on your own. It gives you the chance of leveraging other people’s experience. Below are some important steps you will encounter as you look to commence this important process.

• Market research and business plan preparation
First and foremost you will want to do some market research to ascertain the viability of your business idea. This process also provides you with the information to strategically market your product or service.

The next step putting together a business plan is used by a lot of people to raise finance and as such they do not tap into its full potential. As a planning tool for starting up and managing your business, it helps you to clarify what your business goals are and implement them with the purpose of reaching those goals. Your business plan should also contain some background information about the company and the members of your team as well as information about your competition and how you plan to survive in the same market place.

• Forming your company
This is the next step and it involves first choosing a name for your company and deciding on which legal structure best suits you. It is highly recommended that you seek professional advice on this issue.

• Raising finance
Unless you have huge savings stashed away, there is a high chance that you will need to raise finance to fund your new venture. There are different avenues to explore for example family and friends, business angels or even the bank. Investing money of your own allows your prospective lenders to know that you are willing to invest in your own idea.

• Opening a business account
This is relatively easy to do – be sure to visit different banks so you can compare the services and benefits they offer before you make a choice. It is good business practice to keep your business account separate from your personal accounts especially for accountability purposes.

• Business premises
You will need a location to operate your business from. Depending on the nature of the business, your location may vary widely ranging from operating from home to having to lease an office. You may also need permits from your local authority depending on the type of business you choose.

• A marketing plan for your products or services
It is essential that you have a well documented marketing plan. This document should ideally span a three to five year period with information about your marketing strategy and how you will implement the plan to generate revenue and ultimately profit for your company. You also need to include your target audience and how you plan to reach them and build a relationship with them. You can promote your business both offline or online, with the latter becoming more and more popular.

• Other services that are essential to running your business
These include business insurance, setting up your accounting system, payroll systems telephone and internet systems and registering with the electricity, water companies and designing and creating your business materials.

The above business start-ups checklist is a handy guide to that will surely save you time as you implement it on your way to launching your business.

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