This is a common problem for early-stage entrepreneurs. You’ve hit your budget, but you still have more on your shopping and hiring list to start your business.
Well, we’re hoping we’ll wake up to the money tree out the door tomorrow, but in the meantime I’ve come up with a few smart ways to keep the business going without spending more cash.
Table of Contents
1. Don’t Hire a Professional – Become a Professional
For example, I took an online training course at Lynda.com to get better in Photoshop so I didn’t have to outsource small design projects like badges for contributors. Learning how to do these little tasks on your own has saved you resources so you can hire someone for more important projects beyond your ability, including your logo.
Another great source of expertise is Christine Kane’s Complete Guide to The Vision Boards and Seth Godin’s Jewel Who’s There? It is a free e-book from almost all experts. Of course, nothing beats the personalized advice and attention these professionals can provide to your business if they are hired, but the eBooks they provide provide great general guidance and tips with the same approach and philosophy taught in personalized sessions. Absolutely the second-best option.
Whatever you do and try to learn, think a little out of the box to find an affordable way to gain expertise. You have been a great source of amazing tips and advice for my site. I found some useful infographics on content marketing strategies and how to take professional quality photos (which was great because I couldn’t afford the actual class after paying for the camera equipment).
2. Back to the barter system
This is my favorite tip. Learning new skills is great, but it also takes valuable time. Instead, leverage the skills you already have by trading in exchange for expert advice or A-rated services.
Where can I find people to trade with? Reach out to your network by asking people if they are willing to exchange services for yours. Think about what your friends do for a living. Send bulk emails or post on social pages and blogs. Search the web for people you admire and research what this can offer to interest them in interacting with you.
For my business, I actually need to advertise my site and my online store, so I have potential customers coming to my site full of my type of customers to see if I can replace my ad space. It’s a win-win for all of us because our readers align with our target demographics. We are also working on the exchange of promotional images and marketing videos for freelance photographers and videographers.
The most important thing to remember here is to respect the time and talent requested and make sure you are offering something similar.
3. Wait for you to pay by yourself
Patience is a virtue in starting a business in many ways. With this in mind, it is important to ask yourself whether what you are currently willing to pay is a priority or not. If you can wait (and delays aren’t detrimental to your business), consider holding back until you actually bring in enough dough to pay.
Or consider other creative ways to raise funds. Are there low-cost services or products that you can offer now to help fund larger initiatives? For example, you want to actually design a product for sale in your store, but the cost of doing so is prohibitive. So instead of focusing on that right now, we’ll be putting our energy into providing our clients with creative business coaching (which has a much lower startup cost). Ultimately, I get the money I need to create my own products. Other options include splitting the cost of your initiative or partnering with others to get the backing of a large organization.
Hiring people when the business needs them is almost always the best option, but it’s not always feasible. Until these alternatives rake in enough dough (or!) to hire someone full-time to outsource the project, I hope this will help.
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