How to start your small business even when you are broke.

So you are contemplating starting a small business or a side hustle to supplement your finances and you want to start a small budget business.

Or you really have an idea, a business idea that you want to pursue. You think this particular idea might be something and you really want to give it a try.

I want to encourage to give it a try, that idea was not into you without a reason.

For the fact that you have the idea is a valid reason to pursue it, because if you don’t, it will remain in you begging you to voice it out.

How do you voice your business idea out? It is by actually giving it a try.

Maybe you have decided to give your idea a try, but you are looking for the way to actually start without investing too much funds upfront.

Many people think that starting a business is all about money, I’m not saying that starting a business doesn’t require money.

Business is more about ideas than it is about money. Be sure to develope a business idea first before thinking about the money to fund it.

This post will guide you on the steps to start your small business even when you haven’t figured it all out and you don’t have much money to spend as well.

You see, you must not figure it all out before you start, all you need do is to make that first step.

The first step here might be just to write down the business idea and business plan.

The very act of writing it down crystallizes and increases it’s chances of becoming a reality.

1. GET THINKING

The first step to start your small business is to conceptualize the idea. What is the idea you are bringing to the table?
The very core of any business or start up is the idea.

How do you generate a business idea? The very best way to generate a business idea is to get thinking.

In your thinking, think about value, what value are you bringing to the people.

As we all know, all businesses are centred on people, how do you want to change people’s life?

Look around your immediate environment,   find a way you can help the people find what they are looking for and you are in business.

Research has shown that the most valuable companies in the world are the ones that add the most value to the people.

Let this guide you as you enter your entrepreneurial journey.

Now let’s assume you have developed your business idea.

2. GET TECHNICAL

The next step is to get technical about your business ideas. Write your business plan i.e how you tend to bring your idea to life.

You have developed your business idea and you have written down your business plan, you are actually on your road to bringing your business to life.

A step at a time is the best way to go in business.

Do you know doing business is easy now?  It is  a whole lot easier to start a business now than 20 years ago.

What changed the game? The internet changed the game. The internet revolutionised the way we do business, infact the internet is a business itself and a very good one at that.

The best and the cheapest way you can reach your customers is through the internet. You will even reach much more people than you would without the internet.

Investing in a website, and getting connected to the social media is the best way to go about it.

Once your business is on the internet, you are open to business and connections.

I recently published a post on how to launch a website for your small business, here is the post.

3. GET REGISTERED AND LICENSED

Have you identified the licenses you will need to operate in your locality? That should be your next step.

Do your research, ask questions, make some connections, you can even look up online from people doing related business.

You can even approach some small business within your locality for guidance and direction, approach those doing similar business as the one you intend to start up.

Always approach them with a partnership mindset rather than from a competitive perspective.

One mistake people going into business newly are making is that they are always focused on competition rather than on partnership.

You will always achieve more by partnerships and connections than by competition.

One of the best way to be successful in business is to keep an eye on your competitors, you must not copy them, but just keep your eye open, you might learn one or two things from them, after all you are just starting out.

Find out the licenses that you will need, register your business officially with your local Corporate Office and get your Certifications.

Getting your Certifications means you are ready to do business legally within your domain without any molestation from the officials.

4. GET BANKING

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It is a good business practice to have a separate bank account for your business.

Don’t combine your business funds with your personal finances.

Determine the amount of funds that your business will need, find a way to source the funds, may be from your savings.
Open a separate account for your business and move the funds there.

Be sure to note down every expenditure from your business funds.

Remember you are just starting out, spend money only on absolutely necessary assets to run the business.

Focus on execution more than spending money, if you keep spending money to run the business, soon you will run out of funds to sustain the momentum.

This is exactly the place where many start up shut down, spending way too much at the initial stage of business.

Do not spend your business funds on anything rather than your core business expenses.

At this stage of your business, you have to be really frugal with your monetary expenses. You can expend innovations, or ideas or work time but not money.

5. GET BRANDED

Get some promotional items like a logo, business cards, business templates, fliers e.t.c you can easily get all these handy and free at Canva

Branding is to a business what clothing is to the human body.

It is even more important now in this time of digital explosion, you can’t afford to miss out on some digital branding strategies.

Branding is a way of getting the word out, communicating your values, business strategies,  missions and visions.

It is also part of being technical, it is in branding that you communicate your ideas and the value you intend to bring to your potential customers.

Again your website and social media must not be excluded from this strategy, infact they should lead the branding strategy of your business nomatter any industry you operate.

6. GET TO WORK

And you have succeeded in providing your business with the right foundation to thrive.

Now is the time for execution. It all boils down to execution and how you execute your business as well as how you treat your customers and your staff.

Handling and dealing with people is never easy, you will meet people in the worst of their days, but your ability to handle whatever situation that presents it’self in the course of doing business will determine your success in business.

Customers are the king, the way you and your staff handle your customers really matter a great deal.

The way you also treat your staff will also determine if they will give their best to make your business successful.

People work where they are valued and appreciated, be sure to value and appreciate your staff, be sure to take care of them.

If you can find a way to take care of your employees, they in turn will take care of your customers and when your customers are well taken care of, you will be in business for a long while.

To succeed in business is just as simple as taking care of your customers. Find out what your customers want and give it to them and they will come for more.

You see business is all about execution, you may develope all the best strategies in the world, but if you don’t execute them properly, then your business will go awry.

The best idea without execution is just an idea.

If your business is food delivery, then deliver meals with happiness, with a smile on your face.

If your business is about writing, then write with passion.

Whatever it is that you do, give in the very best of you, that’s the best way to stay in business.

Goodluck in your entrepreneurial journey.

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