If going into business for yourself was as easy as getting a business loan after politely requesting it, everyone would be in business for themselves. The idea of getting a business funded by a bank when you have no business credit is just a tiny bit humorous in today’s world. And in order to get business credit, well, you need to officially establish your business first, then qualify for a credit card or loan, and finally let enough time pass. This ultimate catch-22 situation has prevented a lot of people who have dreams and aspirations of becoming business owners of seeing things through. That is until millennials came on the scene. This generation has been able to think outside of the box and put together businesses that are nothing short of ingenious. Here are some business ideas that don’t require you to get a loan or hire a team straight out of the gate.
Running an Online Business
With websites, almost no one needs a storefront anymore. Well, things haven’t quite progressed to that point yet but the fact that you can operate a business without having a physical storefront has helped millions to become business owners. If you want to start an Amazon business, you can keep items that you want to sell stored in your basement. Alternatively, Amazon has a program that actually lets business owners keep their stock on Amazon property, where it is fulfilled by Amazon workers. Sell old clothes on Amazon or buy items on sale and put them online to make a profit. In a nutshell, you can run any kind of business online, and in general, running a remote business is exceedingly cheap.
Selling Services and Specialized Skills
So, one reason that traditional businesses are expensive to start is that it costs a lot to purchase and move merchandise. If you wanted to have a clothing store years ago, you would have had to rent a store, then buy enough clothing to fill it up. Now, you can just get a domain, create a website that includes a shopping cart feature and work with a dropshipper to deliver the goods. You can also avoid having to worry about mailing orders altogether by selling a service or a specialized skill. Business owners can be consultants or even internet marketers these days. You may partner with YouTube and get paid for views. All of your time and energy would then be spent on creating content rather than a physical product. When you have pretty much no overhead costs, you don’t have to think about applying for a business loan for many, many years.
Information Is a Business Commodity
Information is available online for free, but it still isn’t terribly well organized. One website might have an entire catalog of information on dog training listed for free. A nearly identical website run by a different person could neatly package the same information and sell it to visitors. Both business ideas are perfectly okay, but they show you that information is a huge commodity. Sometimes people pay for information that they know can be found for free because of time or convenience. If you are wanting to have a business that requires little to no capital, consider looking at information as a commodity. You can put out an e-book and keep all sales digital-based. Work on a platform like Amazon and Kindle Direct Publishing and you will have even fewer costs.
New Businesses and Shoestring Budgets
Just considering how much it costs to register a new business, set up a bank account, and perhaps have a company logo designed, it generally costs hundreds just to get the framework formed. This is why businesses such as restaurants are considered highly risky. Those kinds of businesses need a seemingly never-ending stream of capital just to get to the point where they can open their doors. This is why millennials have really capitalized on doing everything in the cheapest manner possible. They are the force behind the popularity of food trucks. Instead of opening a traditional dog grooming services, millennials came up with mobile dog grooming trucks. When you have a very small budget and failure is not an option, you need to keep coming up with business ideas that make the most of a small amount of capital.
Leveraging Labor
After a new company starts to see profits coming in, the business owner should begin looking at ways to leverage labor. Look at all of the service providers who are available remotely. Instead of getting a full-time secretary, you can hire a remote personal assistant to take care of a few specific tasks. In fact, that personal assistant may prefer to be paid by the task instead of an hourly wage. It can be cheaper for you to look at independent contractors instead of gainful employees. The long story short is that labor is important to businesses of all sizes. As your business grows, the more labor you are going to need. You can leverage things at first by supplying all of the labor yourself. After that, look to see how you can keep things running in your business. This will maximize the labor options you have available.
Honestly and truly, you can start a business within needing any money. There are people who have sold handmade goods on Etsy and made thousands of dollars. There are authors who have become bestsellers simply by putting their self-published books on Amazon. There are also lots of millennials who are running businesses on the side in addition to having full-time jobs. Your business doesn’t have to be the only thing that you do, but if you want to make money, you have to get started as soon as possible. Don’t take what you have saved up over the last five years and risk it all on your first business. Find a business model that requires you to work smart and hard rather than giving up your life savings. You will find yourself in good company after you start to realize new ways of investing less cash in your business.
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