Starting your business on a low budget
Whether seeking a supplemental income or a full-time income, many folks have undertaken the task to discover a viable home based business solution to meet their personal needs. Most people who consider starting their own home business, need to be able to start with a very small budget. Sometimes it is their only option. A low cost solution is not only preferable, but also a necessity. For some, they have no alternative but to start a business that also allows them to maintain their regular day job in order to maintain a level of income that will cover their living expenses. Fortunately, there are many home based businesses that can be started on a reasonably small budget or very hardly any money at all. The goal of any business owner however, should be to build the business up so that eventually the business will be strong enough to support itself and its owner. When that happens, the business owner will then be in a position to leave their regular job and dedicate more time to growing and maintaining their business. Unfortunately, a lot of people put off starting their own business because they have the misconception that they would have to risk too much of their hard earned money to get the business up and running, so their confidence fails them. They also fear they may get into a situation where they may be forced to take out a second mortgage on their home, just to keep their business from going under. Perhaps you might be one of those people. But I say, don’t let your fear of failure keep you from reaching for your dreams. Like I said, there are many types of small businesses that can be started on a very low budget without risking too much money. Check out some of the articles on this site and take a look at our business ideas section to find inspiration for starting your own business. You could even just test out a business idea over a short period of time to see if it has potential. Here’s a few ideas you might consider for starting a business on a low budget... Writing and publishing information products Not so long ago, writing and publishing information books and guides was a very lucrative home based business opportunity for self publishers. Anyone with a good knowledge of specialised subjects could write an informativ guide, get it printed or duplicated at a local printer, then advertise and sell them by mail order. Some would even use their own photocopiers for short runs, providing the information was valuable enough, and not so reliant on quality printing. many of these books or guides were based around business ideas and money making opportunities and how to execute them. Some were just rubbish and practically unworkable for the average person to to put them into practise, but some were quite good, and certainly worth paying for. Because the booklets were cheap to produce and could easily be sold for many times their production cost, a lot of these self publishers made themselves a small fortune. In fact, there are still a few around today following the same mail order and direct mail methods that worked so well in the past. However, the internet has largely changed the process of self publishing and made it a lot easier and more cost effective for writers and self publishers to sell their work.
It costs nothing to write a half decent, informative manual, ebook, guide, blueprint, ecourse or whatever you want to call it and get it published via digital means. Thousands of people are already doing it, and some are making a good living from it. Digital info products are easy to produce in pdf form with a program such as Open Office or even Serif’s excellent PagePlus X5 software. Once produced your digital info product can be made available as a digital download, either via a secure digital product distributor such as Payspree or directly from your own website with a Pay Pal payment form and a link to the download on the ‘thank you’ page which your customer can be sent to after payment has been made. Another alternative is to sell and promote your product through Clickbank. They can not only sell and promote your digital products, thay have the means to provide you with an affiliate program. However, this all costs money, allbeit an inconsiderable amount if the rewards can justify it. If writing and producing your own digital information products appeals to you then I recommend reading ‘Make Your Knowledge Sell‘ Home based mail order Publishing books is not the only things that you can sell by mail order. There are literally thousands of other items that can be sold this way. You only need to take a look on ebay to see how the face of the mail order business has changed in the last decade or so. No longer do you need to place expensive advertising in magazines in order to generate sales. No longer do you need to send out direct mail to people on a mailing list. For the home based entrepreneur this rather expensive method is no longer a burden. Free or inexpensive advertising online is the new way to do things. Auction listings and classified ads can quickly be initiated to start generating interest in your products. A well organised home-based mail order business is a good example of how someone can quickly build a home business income. These days a small mail order business can be set up and launched for under £50. All you need to do is choose the right products and find a good reliable supplier. See the article Selling stuff on ebay for more information and advice. Make and sell craft products Craftworkers are usually passionate about their creations, and rightly so. Anyone with a gifted talent that can create something unique and special, preferably something a little bit quirky and unusual, can usually find a market for their products. Craft items can be sold in many ways, by mail order, via gift shops, from a catalogue, and various other means. Usually though, a craftworker starting in business will test the market first by selling their items at craft fairs or market stalls, even car boot sales. Anywhere wher lots of people gather with cash in their pockets. Indoor shopping mals are a particularly good place to raise awareness of your products. The drawback with shopping malls however, is that setting up a stall can be prohibitively expensive for a new business start-up. My advice is to stick with the arts and craft fairs and market stalls to begin with. That way you can test the response with minimum risk. Independant sales agent If you don’t mind selling face to face, and you like meeting people and talking about products that can be beneficial to them, being an independant sales representative might be right up your street. Avon for example has been around for as long as I can remember. The Avon lady who comes to my house has been doing it for years. She simply leaves her catalogue and calls back to collect the order if my wife decides to buy anything. And guess what? She drives around in a new BMW so business must be good. As an independant agent you are in complete control of your own business, and as long as you conform to company policy, you can sell any or all the company’s products and earn yourself a nice commission. There are lots of companies who have stood the test of time and still provide a good service. Think Betterware and Kleeneze. And if the thought of calling on doors doesn’t appeal to you, there’s plenty of opportunity now to offer a similar service online. many major companies pay independant affiliates very good commissions for recommending and sending people to their sales pages where the buyer can buy their products. The affiliate will still get a commission. The great thing about being an internet based affiliate is that you can be an affilaite for as many companies as you want. There will rarely be any conflict of interest between companies you represent unless they’re in direct competition with each other. But even then it’s rarely a problem. To sum up... While searching for the ideal home based business, in particular internet based business opportunities, be careful not to get caught up in any online scams that will convince you to join their big ‘moneymaking’ schemes that, on the face of it seem genuine, but often turn out to be a con. There are thousands of scam artists out there just waiting for the next sucker to come along and part you with your money. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Just use your good judgement and invest wisely, only in methods that have been proven to provide an extra income. Ideally, a business that will deliver a product or service that customers will keep coming back for is the perfect type of business to get involved in. |
