The lack of a firm financial package keeps many entrepreneurs from starting up their own business. These kind of dreamers think that it’s not possible to start up a solid business on a shoestring. There has to be lots of money in the bank, a willing and rich investor in the wings, or some kind of pipeline to guaranteed loan — otherwise there’s no use even trying. But there are many successful business people today who can testify that all it took was a little gumption and a big dream to start up their enterprise without a financial good fairy anywhere to be seen. Here’s how it can be done:
Small is not only beautiful, but leads to bigger and better things
It’s okay to dream big, but in practical terms you may have to start small. Meaning that if you want to build outstanding cars but can’t finance a factory, machinery, and skilled workers, you can scale down your expectations and start by building outstanding car engines instead. Once your more modest business is up and running successfully, it’ll be much easier to convince a bank or an investment group to provide you with the seed money for your larger dream.
Start with a service business
For entrepreneurs who are not quite sure what line of business they want to be in but know they just want to strike out on their own with something that they can call their own and build into anything they want, a service business is a good idea, because it usually doesn’t take a huge initial outlay of capital.
For instance, professional translation services is a very lucrative business that normally does not call for big bucks up front. All you need is knowledge of a second language (one that is currently important to business, education, and government, such as Spanish, Chinese, or Russian.) Advertising on social media is practically free, and once you obtain a customer base that is satisfied with your work, you can begin to hire other language experts to flesh out your enterprise.