So you want to start a business and enjoy the glamour and stardom of being self-employed (ha-ha)? Great, but you have no money. Even better! Starting a business with little or no money is a huge advantage in several ways. It will:
* Cause you to learn every aspect of being self employed - knowledge is power
* Cause you to become very creative and resourceful push you outside of your box
* Cause you to really know if this is what you want to do
* Give you great stories to tell when you do get successful
* Teach you to trust your gut and strengthen your faith in yourself
Today, I work for myself as a self-promotion consultant and speaker, but when I first went into business on my own thirteen years ago, I started with nothing (and I still have most of it left!). But seriously, it was the most amazing learning experience. I put myself in a position of having to figure out how to make an income very quickly. About two months' time was all I had to make it work. Knowing that, the pressure was on and that's just what I needed to succeed.
* Cause you to learn every aspect of being self employed - knowledge is power
* Cause you to become very creative and resourceful push you outside of your box
* Cause you to really know if this is what you want to do
* Give you great stories to tell when you do get successful
* Teach you to trust your gut and strengthen your faith in yourself
Today, I work for myself as a self-promotion consultant and speaker, but when I first went into business on my own thirteen years ago, I started with nothing (and I still have most of it left!). But seriously, it was the most amazing learning experience. I put myself in a position of having to figure out how to make an income very quickly. About two months' time was all I had to make it work. Knowing that, the pressure was on and that's just what I needed to succeed.
In the beginning, if this is really what you are meant to do, you will find yourself working twice as hard for half as much and feeling ten times more alive!
Here are five tips that can help you begin to look outside of the box and get you moving forward CHEAP.
C) Care about what you are doing. You must really care about not only making your business successful, but about the products and services that you are selling. And you must care about the client.
Value each and every client or prospective client. You can do this by sending thank-you cards, remembering their birthdays, anniversaries, accomplishments and acknowledging all these things. Your very first clients are valuable. Treat them like gold - then ask for referrals.
H) Help out when you can. Volunteer your services in your community or donate products or gift certificates to charities or silent auctions. This will give you exposure. Give informational talks to help educate people about your industry. You can make great connections this way and start to build your email list.
You can also help yourself and other entrepreneurs by trading services. If you need a life coach or an accountant, find one that needs your services or products and trade. You can also trade gift certificates,mailing lists, and website links with your contacts. This helps you build referral partners - other business people who will refer clients to you if you will refer yours to them.
Speaking of help, there's a lot of free help out there if you do your research. One of the best resources for free help to entrepreneurs and business owners is SCORE (www.score.org). SCORE is a non-profit association that is dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and small businesses. The amount of information and resources that this organization offers is immense and invaluable. In fact, go directly to the site now (I mean,as soon as you finish reading this of course!).
E) Engage as many people as you can. Write a list of all the people you know. You can start with categories like: church, school, friends, family, then list all the people you know in those categories. Let everyone know what you do and ask them if they know of anyone who could use your services. Get them engaged by offering them a discount and give a discount to the friends that they refer. Engage them by asking their advice on your ads, website, business cards, etc...You can also ask a successful person whom you admire to mentor you. Most successful people love to share and help.
A) Advertise yourself always. Wherever you go, make sure you have your business cards and even a brochure available to hand out to a prospective customer. You can even get car magnets for as little as $12 each and stick them to your car.
If you join a Chamber of Commerce or other types of organizations, often times the membership will come with free advertising.
Make sure you have a small, post-card sized ad to carry with you. You want to take a stack everywhere. You can stick these in magazines at the doctor's office, the information table at the library, the bulletin board at the coffee houses, or anywhere that there is some free space!
If you do buy advertising, make sure that you are getting the best price possible and know that all advertising is negotiable. Radio stations will sell air time cheaper at the end of their cycle because what they don't sell will be lost forever. The same goes for print ads.
Make friends with the sales reps, let them know that you are willing to create an ad at the last minute if they have space that needs filled...if the price is right, of course. Many smaller publications as well as radio stations are willing to trade.
Learn to negotiate. Memorize and use this phrase as often as you can, "Is that the best you can do?" That one phrase has saved me hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.
Take advantage of free ads on sites like Craig's list and other on-line classifieds.
And of course, you want to learn on-line marketing if you are looking for clients on a national scale, but that's a topic for another day!
P) Get Press! Get free press. Get on radio shows, local news programs and in local publications. Get writers to write about you and your business (or write articles yourself). This is not that hard to do, but will take some time and effort. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. If you hear someone on a radio show, call her and ask her how she got on there and could she help you do the same.
Look at your local newspapers and publications. Identify the writers who write about similar topics. If you are accountant, you would be the perfect person to be interviewed around tax time. Could you write an article listing several steps to make tax preparation easier? Could you comment on a national issue? I have been on the local news several times as a "local expert" on stress and was asked to comment on national issues the stations were covering.
Most magazines have a list of topics or themes for each publication. Request a copy and try to see how you can angle your business into that theme. Then pester the writers relentlessly until they give up and write about you. Be creative here.
If you are an esthetician and the magazine's theme is stress, think about "how stress effects our skin and what we can do about it"! If you are a mountain bike repair person, and their theme is the out-doors, that's easy. Now if you are an interior designer and the their theme is the outdoors, could you help the readers "bring the out-doors in side"? Pitch that angle.
Follow these tips and you will be moving forward quickly and CHEAPly in no time.
Starting your very own business can fun, challenging, and exciting especially when you're making more than you spend. Enjoy the process!
By Januarie Wood
Januarie Wood works as a speaker and consultant. She started her first consulting business in 1995 and has been speaking professionally since 1996. Currently, she travels the US speaking, writing and conducting seminars. She also does self-promotion consulting with small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Januarie_Wood
