When you’re starting a new business from scratch, it doesn’t matter if it’s online or offline, you’re still going to have some costs involved – sure your costs will be completely varied depending on the type of business you’re starting, and what you need to buy to get started, and if starting an online business, then generally your costs will be lower, but there’s really very little way around having any costs.
So, instead of just throwing money you don’t have at this venture, or taking out credit cards and loans to cover mounting costs until you make a profit, here are a few ways you can consider bootstrapping to keep your costs as low as you can to avoid ending up in debt.
- Get only what you need: when starting your business, you’ll probably be tempted to buy a lot of things you don’t need because it’s exciting and you want to have everything listed on the latest startup blogs and that all your business friends have, but before you get too ahead of yourself, ask yourself if you can really afford this stuff, if you really need it, and more importantly, is it actually going to make you money? If the answer is yes – especially to the third part, then go ahead. If not, then maybe hold off for now and wait until it makes more sense. I guarantee you’ll have plenty of chances to get your hands on all this stuff, plus much more;
- Make your own website: before you go shelling out thousands on a fancy web designer for your new business, realize that the most important thing is actually having clients who will pay you, and despite popular misconception, you actually don’t need a website for this. Sure, it’s a good idea to have at some point for credibility, but make money before you start spending loads on something you don’t even need. If you’re insisting on having one, then make one yourself – it’s a lot easier than you think;
- Buy secondhand equipment: of course it’s tempting to get the latest and shiniest equipment for your new business, but there’s nothing wrong with getting something that’s secondhand and in great condition to do the job for now until you’re making enough to invest in new stuff. Just make sure when buying secondhand electrical items, that they have undergone the relevant safety checks, such as pat testing. It makes no sense to try and save some money for things to need replaced right away;
- Make use of trials and offers: many companies who offer products and solutions to business owners, such as website set up tools, email marketing, social media management, and project management softwares will offer things like free trials and special new customer discounts to those who sign up for their system, so make sure you’re taking advantage of these. Not only will they allow you to save some money, but with the free trials, you can test them out for usually 30 days to get a chance to see if you actually need it, and then only keep it if you know you’ll use it instead of paying for something and then realizing it’s not really useful for you after all.
