No Money No Business by BOSS Member Aundrea Y. Wilcox

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If you are thinking of starting a business with no money, THINK again. Why would you do something so stupid?! It’s like going to a bar without your wallet or purse. You can’t buy. When you go into business without money, you can’t serve—not well anyway. If you want your customer’s first experience with you to be pleasant, you’re going to have to spend some money, whether for packaging, a well-done and presentable menu, bagging and labeling, or a professional-looking invoice or receipt as a minimum.

And why is it that you don’t have any money anyway? If and when you decide to go into business, it’s going to take real discipline to stay within your budget and spend according to a plan. You will also need to continue (not start) to save money for a rainy day. If you’re not saving any money now, how can you expect to start a business and do any better? Don’t start a business thinking that you’re going to solve your money woes in a hurry. Trust me, if you have no money now, cash flow will only get worse. There are so many “unexpected” expenses associated with starting a business. Marketing can be especially problematic, if you don’t have a budget and a plan. You’ll start spending money on this or that to promote your business, but you will quickly find out that sales revenue will not follow so soon. The upfront investment required for integrated marketing, if it’s done correctly, can be thousands of dollars to get the smallest home-based startup on its feet.

If you have no money of your own to properly start a business, you have no business being in business, or attempting to borrow money to start a business. Get your finances in order BEFORE you start a business. Start today, by obtaining your free credit report and credit score from annualcreditreport.com. If you can’t afford to pay the small fee for your credit score, you have a long road ahead of you, so put on your comfortable shoes and let’s take this walk together one step at a time.


Aundrea Y. Wilcox is a Small Business Consultant and Author of Startup Savvy: Strategies for Optimizing Small Business Survival and Success.  Follow her on Twitter @StartUpSavvy or visit her web site at www.startupsavvy.biz.

Comments

  1. TarahJanuary 16, 2012 at 2:45 AM

    I don’t think we’re making enough out of incompetence as a primary reason we’re mired in a zero-growth decade. However, there is always a way to start that idea you have in mind. Relationship banking can help you have that loan you need for your business.

    ReplyDelete

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