I’ve heard for many years that we all have at least one book in us. If that is true then we most likely have at least one good idea for a business in us.
Nearly everyone at some point will have had an idea for a business, for a product or service, for an app or something unique. We all have ideas that we think could make money, maybe even have a positive impact on the world. The problem is that we don’t have the know-how to make it happen or the time. Most of us feel we don’t have the money.
So, the question is how you take that chance and how you build a business even if you don’t have a ton of experience, financial backing, help from friends, or family to get you started or the right contacts.
Let’s take a look at what you need to do…
Start Now!
The first thing to do is to start your business right now.
Too many of us mistakenly make the assumption that we need to quit our current jobs and then put all of our resources, time, and effort into our businesses.
This couldn’t be further than the truth. Some people feel it’s an “all or nothing’ deal and there’s no way they can start a business half-heartedly.
I personally feel that is not true. In fact, there’s no reason that you can’t start your business in the evenings and weekends.
There are plenty of businesses that you could start for just a few dollars. Even if you just start a ‘shell’ of your business, it’s better to test that the idea has legs before you invest a lot of time and money into it.
Start a website in the evenings, start buying and selling t-shirts in small quantities with a small budget. Just start now and only once you know you can earn a full-time salary do you need to consider quitting your current job. I am doing this myself.
I have a full-time job during the day and I come home and put my business cap on. I start working on my websites and other business ventures I have going on. I work for 2-3 hours in the evenings. So, there are no excuses.
Bootstrap
Another reason a lot of people hold themselves back from starting a dream business is that they don’t have the funds that they believe they need. If you’re planning on selling a product you invented for example, then you will probably make the assumption that you need to invest in a large order (called the MOQ – Minimum Order Quantity) to start.
In fact, you can once again get by without doing that. One way around the problem is to start your business with two revenue streams, or maybe three.
Find a way to start raising capital through your other services or products and once you’re making more money you can invest in the smaller or large bulk orders.
For instance, you might sell a hand-made product and use that money to invest in manufacturing!
Otherwise, you can also get funding in a range of other ways. How about a Kickstarter? This way you can generate funds from the web and not even need to give away any of your equity!
Or how about a PayPal loan that won’t impact your credit score? There are also crowdfunds and other ways to raise the funds you need. Just put on your thinking cap and go for it.
Fail Fast
Another tip is to create an MVP – or Minimal Viable Product – and to start trying to make money from it as soon as possible. This is simply a way to test your business model before you invest too much in it.
Don’t make the mistake of investing in an idea that you have no proof will work and don’t put off getting your business up and running. You can refine once you are live!
The easiest way to get started is to start an e-commerce website and list your products.
You will need to start driving traffic to your site and building relationships with your potential customers. This will help give you a good feel for whether you should invest more funds into your product. You can do it!
For more information on how to get started with an internet business see my next post – “How to Start an Internet Business.”
Follow your dreams!
Pamela
