How to Start a Business Without Money (2024 Tips & Ideas)

how to start a business without money okay let  me start out by being completely real with you   all building a business is hard and building a  business without money is even harder but guess   what it's definitely possible in fact when i first  started my business the only money i had was a 250   deposit into a business checking account and  to be completely honest i never really planned   to use that money it was just a deposit i had to  make to ensure the account will get open without   incurring any fees but fast forward to today  and that company went on to make over 10 million   dollars throughout the last decade and it was  listed as inc 5000's fastest growing companies in   2020 so in this video what i want to do is share  exactly what i learned on how to start a business   without money so if you're in the same shoes that  i once wore you know exactly what to do stay tuned   hey everyone welcome to the channel i'm sean with  life accounting the accounting company that saves   people from high taxes and low profits now the  tips i'm going to share with you today build   off of one another so you're going to want to make  sure you watch this entire video so you completely   understand what you need to do step by step all  right now let's go ahead and dive straight into   how to start a business without money starting  with step number one start a service company   okay so if you don't have any money then i'm gonna  recommend your first business that you start is a   service business because you can start a service  business with very little capital when you compare   it against something like a product company or  a tech company now if you do want to raise money   get investors or get a loan and you're okay with  getting into debt to start your company well   that's a whole nother story that's a whole nother  video however if you are a new entrepreneur like   you've never started a business before and you  don't have a huge business social network or   social circle then i'm gonna highly highly highly  recommend that you do start a service business   anyway even if you have a little bit of money  because there is so much lower risk associated   with a service company and you have the luxury  guys of making mistakes which is something you're   definitely going to do within your first business  hey sean look i fell and i got right back up   step number two pick the right service business  for you all right there's a lot of different types   of service businesses that you can start right  you could be a personal trainer you could be a   makeup artist you could be a pet sitter a handyman  you can decide to be a graphic designer a tutor   or youtuber a lawn care specialist you can decide  you want to be an auto mechanic there's just so   many options that you can choose from and what  i see a lot of people doing is they default to   picking the service business that will make them  the most money and that's exactly what you do not   want to do i want you to choose something that  you are passionate about as opposed to picking   something that you think will make a lot of money  and yeah i know it's difficult because money is so   so important especially when you don't have a lot  but believe me when you actually care about what   you are doing the money will be much easier to  make for example if you were to run the numbers   on how much money you can make as a technology  consulting company and then you run the numbers   on how much money you can make as a dog care  company then you would easily choose starting   a technology consulting company because they make  more money per client however for example i've had   a client who was so passionate about dogs that  she went on to run a million dollar dog company   and at the same time i've had clients who have  informational technology companies and they barely   make six figures so you want to choose something  that you're passionate about something that you   would enjoy learning about something you would  enjoy reading about on the weekends something you   love watching youtube videos about etc  because that passion will carry you forward   even when the money doesn't step number three  develop a valuable skill so maybe you decided that   you want to start a service business or maybe you  haven't right it doesn't really matter either way   this step applies to you because whether you  have a service company a product company or a   tech company you have to be able to set yourself  apart from all the competition and one of the best   ways to do this if you don't have a lot of money  is to be the best right be the most knowledgeable   about your industry and then on top of that have  the most technical skills around it and this is   important because when you have undeniable skills  and talent people your potential customers will   develop a lot more trust in you and your company  for example if we go back to that dog care company   right that is something that it seems like almost  anyone could do like walking a dog entertaining a   dog grooming a dog giving them a bath seems  so simple but you can show your expertise   around dog care like you know that this dog and  this fur needs this type of shampoo or this breed   of dog is sensitive to these type of foods so you  need to feed them xyz you would immediately start   separating yourselves from the basic dog care  person and you would be considered someone who is   like a professional dog care specialist so what  you want to do is try to separate yourself and   develop valuable skills and guess what it's okay  if you don't have any valuable skills right now   you can take your time develop skills while  still following the next few steps in this video   so let's move on to step number four choose your  business entity so you probably didn't know but   in some states like georgia for example  you can establish a sole proprietorship   or a general partnership without fouling any legal  documents which means if you literally don't have   any money for your business or you just want to  be very very conservative then you can start a   sole proprietorship or a general partnership  completely for free and you can start working   on that business right away the main thing you're  gonna want to obtain as an employer identification   number or ein number for short and this is kind  of like a social security number but for your   business and you're going to need your ein number  to do things like set up a business bank account   if you hire employees you're going to use that  to pay employees and you're going to use that   ein number to receive legal and official documents  now typically i see people rushing to start an llc   because they want limited liability protection for  their personal assets but when i ask people okay   what personal assets are you trying to protect  people start to realize man i actually have   very few assets that i'm trying to protect i  don't have a lot of money i don't own a house   or anything like that so sometimes starting at  llc is not a good idea but again sometimes it   can be to learn more about why you may not need  an llc make sure you check out my video linked   above and in the description below and we have  so many other videos on business entities whether   you should choose to start a s corporation  c corporation llc etc so just make sure you   subscribe to our channel if you want to learn  about all your options all right step number five   trade your time when you have no money time is  your most valuable asset and you can trade your   time in three ways so let's briefly talk about how  starting off with trading your time for experience   so when i first started my company i did marketing  and i had no clients and literally every time i   pitched to someone about our marketing program  they wanted to see our past work and our past   results but i never really had anything to show  them so i continued to work on my pitch by working   on what i would say and working on the overall  design of my slides but i came up short i kept   getting rejected until finally i decided to offer  our services for free which at the time i was like   man i didn't start this company not to make money  and they're probably just using us when it's over   they're gonna leave us hanging but the exact  opposite happened instead we went on to generate   so many results that our first client started  paying us to continue the marketing program   and we had real results to show potential clients  which also helped us to land more clients as well   now i have to admit that we were incredibly lucky  with some of those opportunities but i do stand   firm that if you do not have past results or  any clients then start out by working for free   in other words trading your time for experience  secondly and probably most commonly you can trade   your time for money i don't have to say a lot here  okay other than it's time to grind it's time to   hustle this is where you're gonna have to put up  with some needy clients you're gonna have to work   some late nights you may even find yourself  clocking in on the weekends you're gonna   eventually feel like a workaholic but as long as  you are gaining momentum you will eventually be   able to use the money that you're earning to get  your time back and then lastly you can trade your   time for growth so once you start rolling there's  going to be some opportunities to just fall in   your lap and sometimes you're going to want to  have to trade your time for that opportunity   for example it could be an opportunity to speak at  an event or it could be an opportunity to network   with like-minded entrepreneurs and sometimes you  might have to sacrifice any money you're trading   your time for in order to trade your time for  this opportunity are you enjoying this video yeah   awesome well please do us a huge favor and  hit that like button for the youtube algorithm   it will help to spread our video on to more  people and also please share a comment just   giving us your overall feedback tell us if you  liked this video or if it was something else   that you were expecting instead of this all right  step number six start organic digital marketing   now step number five and step number six are  closely related because they both involve using   your own time of course if you have a new company  and no one knows you then you've got to start   getting your business name out there the problem  is that most marketing and advertising out there   is either one of two things one is either very  expensive or two and probably more importantly   it is very ineffective so as i mentioned i used  to run a marketing company and one of the things   we did to grow was was using organic marketing  strategies so what is organic marketing well   it's simply a way that people discover who you  are without you having to pay for sponsorships or   advertisements all right so they basically find  your company organically the two biggest forms   of organic marketing are going to be social media  marketing and search engine marketing and it costs   you absolutely nothing to post on social media  write in other people's comments use hashtags   and send direct messages at the same time it  costs you nothing to write a great blog or a   great article around your industry that could show  up in search engine rankings so being aggressive   with social media and search engines can help you  explode your reach and get massive brand awareness   without you actually spending any money although  you do need to spend your time if that sounds good   to you then i have to plug our other youtube  channel which is life marketing make sure you   follow them and subscribe for more digital  marketing tips all right step number seven   track your financials so at this part of your  journey you may have started a service business   you've developed some skills you've got to  incorporate it and you started to land some   clients so this is what happens next okay you  need to track your financials because as you're   operating i'm willing to bet you're going to find  some necessities you're gonna find some really   cool tools that help you to maximize your workflow  now keeping track of all your transactions are   important for two reasons number one you're gonna  need to report your business income when you file   your annual taxes you definitely want to make sure  you're reporting everything accurately to the irs   and number two and probably more importantly  it's important for you to know as the   entrepreneur exactly what is going on with  the money that you make so that you can make   very important business decisions hey sean look  i can track my finances all the way from mars all right kind of like that but that's  especially important because of step number eight   which is reinvesting your profits you start this  business with no money so don't jump too quickly   into spending the money that you make and that's  probably one of the biggest mistakes that i see   new entrepreneurs making right they start to  upgrade their lifestyle so what they do is they go   out they get a new car they get a new house they  get a new girlfriend wait wait editor cut that   part out okay the girlfriend thing was just a joke  but seriously try not to upgrade your lifestyle   unless you absolutely need to because remember  you're likely going to be trading your time for   money and we want to take back some of that time  now that you have some money so what exactly does   that mean it means it's time to start reinvesting  profits now there are going to be a lot of reasons   why you may want to reinvest profits for example  you may want to reinvest into an advertising   campaign that could bring more revenue thus  bringing in more profits but the two biggest   ways that i would suggest you start reinvesting  your profits or to number one start hiring people   hiring people is a no-brainer if you find yourself  working 12 15-hour days and just constantly saying   to yourself i am too busy where does the time go  i wish i had some help and i don't have any time   if you're saying that you need to hire someone  even if you're just hiring an intern a contractor   a part-time employee or you're just outsourcing to  another company you need to start taking back some   of your time and focusing on business growth now  the second big investment i would recommend you   make is to buy technology hiring people of course  is not the only way to save time especially today   you have so many tools and so much artificial  technology out there that you can literally save   hundreds of hours a month even if you don't hire  people now the type of technology to buy or to   rent will be different for everyone but in general  if you find something that can legitimately   save you time then it may be a good investment for  your business step number nine don't stop learning   now if you have money then maybe you can get away  with hiring a consultant to help you navigate all   the uncharted territories that you're going to be  exploring but hey consultants are expensive so the   advice i would have for people who want to start  a business without money is to do exactly what you   are doing right now and that is to consume as much  free content from reputable people that you can   which is why i started off this video by telling  you guys i built a million dollar company without   money now a quick disclaimer on free content you  have to be very careful because people use their   free content as a way to get you into their paid  content which of course is smart for them and it   may be a smart marketing strategy for you one day  as well so what you need to know is that most of   the time with some of the free content you consume  there are going to be holes left unfilled or in   other words you won't get a complete lesson but  you can still fill in these holes by continuing   to learn more and continuing just to consume  more free content and then think for yourself   and try to connect all the dots on your own even  today i continue to learn i'll try to read at   least one business book or self-improvement  book every single month and i am constantly   consuming business content on tv by watching shark  tank and cnbc i also consume business content   on social media and of course i watch youtube  as well hey sean look i can learn in my sleep   all right tip number 10 review and optimize all  right my last step on how to start a business   without money is to continue to review  and optimize your business so after about   one to two years of running your business you  should have accumulated enough time and data to   be able to make thoughtful decisions so now it's  time to assess okay see if you are happy with what   you're doing are you as passionate as you thought  you would be about this service company yes okay   then next you want to start asking yourself are  you making money and are you profitable right   if so all right let's move on to the next thing  so what's stopping you from growing more do you   need more people is it time for you to take your  profits and reinvest all right so the point here   start asking yourself some serious questions  take the time to stop review and optimize   because so many times as the entrepreneurs we  get so caught up in doing the next thing but   i think it was bill gates who takes off a week  every year just to reflect reassess and then plan   for the future if everything is going great then  congratulations you have officially joined the   bootstrap club of starting a business without  money and i want you to go back to this video   multiple times and just ask yourself okay what  step am i on and what do i need to do to continue   to grow my business without money and at some  point you're going to come back to step number 10   and i'm here to congratulate you because  you've officially joined the bootstrap club   of starting a business without money so that's  all i got for today guys thank you so so much   for watching i'm curious was this video helpful  for you were you looking for something different   tell us in the comment section below otherwise  i have two more videos that are coming   up next that you should check out if you  haven't already and we'll see you over there you

Channel: LYFE Accounting

Views: 62,336

Keywords:

Id: uCoFeOLQMus

Length: 20min 12sec (1212 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 08 2021