Freesourcing

How To Start a Business with No Money

Jonathan Yates

• Publisher: Capstone
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781906465803
• eBook ISBN: 9781907293078
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

So you've got the drive to start a business. You might even have the Big Idea all mapped out. But then you realise that you've got no money to take it to the next stage. Back to the day job? No way. That'swhere Freesourcing comes in. Believe it or not, you don't need money to start a business. There's an entire industry out there waiting to help you take your idea and make it happen... for free. All you need to know is where to find the help and how to get your hands on it.

Freesourcing is the definitive guide to free business start up resources, showing you exactly where to go and who to talk to when you're starting a business on a shoestring. Freesourcers don't just think outside the box - they find out where they can get the box for free too. You'll find information on free:

• Premises
• Money
• Computers
• Travel
• Online resources
• Stationery
• Advice and support
• Legal help
• Banking
• Networking opportunities
• Marketing and PR
• Stock

No cash? No problem. So what are you waiting for?

1

Use What You Have

So you have an idea for a business, which is brilliant. I am truly very excited for you, as this is the moment when your creativity knows no bounds. This is when your senses are most heightened and the constraints on what you can do have not yet reared their difficult and ugly heads.

This is the moment the pathway starts to unfold in front of you and you can map out your future. Grasp this moment and ride the wave of creativity for as long as possible, learning and understanding what it means to be an entrepreneur on the way. This is your moment to use what you have to make it happen. Don’t leave that great idea lying on the table for another second, or it may slip away for ever.

In this chapter you will find out how to open your eyes and see what you have available to you immediately. It’s Day 1 and you have decided to take your idea forward. There are specific fundamentals that you must get your hands on to move one square at a time over the snakes and ladders board of your entrepreneurial journey.

The most appropriate way to begin is to collect together everything you have available to you right now. Look around the house, in your attic and in the garage and see what you already have. Take the opportunity to reappraise those things you’ve been meaning to throw away and see them in a new light, reflecting the creativity of your new idea. They may be bits of junk now, but how could they benefit your business? The same goes for everything in your life: friends, family, experiences, money and, most importantly, you.

The trick is to think creatively about your life so far, the experiences you have gained and the people you know. This is your starting point, so use what you have.

Time

Time is the greatest, most widely available and least expensive freesource you have at your immediate disposal.

You need to understand straight away that 100% of freesourcing has an actual cost. That cost is your time and a whole load of effort. You have to make adjustments to your life in order to create the time you need to start and grow your business. This is a simple but essential step.

You often hear the saying that time is not money, but actually it’s not. Time is a measurement of our progress through the universe, whereas money is a system of exchange. You need to view the link between time and money as a system of exchange with which to barter new assets to grow your business.

But do you have any spare time? Think back to the last time someone said they were too busy or there aren’t enough hours in the day. It wasn’t that long ago, was it? I bet you’ve said something similar in the last week or so.

There are 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour, which is 1440 minutes every day. What are you doing right this minute, right now, to benefit yourself? (I know, reading this book!) You should be asking yourself this question every minute of every day: What could I be doing in my freetime?

Here’s a test for you. What do you do with your 24 hours each day?

Note in the list below how much time you usually allocate to each activity:

Getting up
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Travel
Work
Chores
Watching TV
Socializing
Sleeping

What could you be doing with your day instead? There’s a difference between existing and living. Search out the spare minutes in your day and group them together to create a space for you to get something meaningful done.

What do you do with the time between your usual activities? What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? Make a conscious effort to be prepared for the day ahead, but do it the night before and prepare yourself for those things that will make this a “doing” day. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier—it’s only 15 minutes’ less sleep, after all, but it could make all the difference.

What about when you’re travelling to and from work? Do you listen to a podcast on recent industry trends or do you read the free newspaper, then catch up on some sleep because you got up late again?

Do two things at once: go for a run to clear your head, get a bit fitter and listen to something useful on your MP3 player. Read trade magazines and always have the news on in the background. Learn to be creative with your time and let it work for you instead of continually chasing after it. Manage your time so you can do what’s important to you with an ongoing and ever-changing plan.

How do you make your time work for you? Organize your life simply by using lists, create efficient systems for doing things, set aside time for the difficult jobs and don’t just do the easy ones. Do the things you enjoy doing first to motivate yourself to do more.

We all get caught up in the difficulties of life and spread our time thinly by committing to coaching the junior rugby section or tidying up the garden. Apply some rationality and set aside the time you need to get your business running. Go to bed early and get up early—change your lifestyle to enable you to commit more time to getting your business running effectively. And remember always to spend quality time with your family, as they are your second greatest asset when starting a business.

Time is one thing you can trade freely because it’s yours, you are in control. You get to decide where you are going to be and what you are going to do while you’re there. You may not have any cash to buy goods and services, but you do have time.

People have been bartering time and effort for goods and services for eons, so revitalize those skills. Think about the cliché for what happens when you’re in a restaurant and you discover you’ve left your wallet at home: when the bill arrives, you start negotiating how much washing up you have to do before you can go home. This works for your business too.

To get the business moving, offer to work in a local shop for a morning and instead of the proprietor paying you any money, ask for something tangible that you need in return. Buy an axe so that you can go out to the local woods, take the free wood on offer from the council and chop it into kindling to sell on at £2 a bag. You could take the money you make and add it to your logo design fund or buy some more materials. Be creative in what you ask for, work hard and ensure good value for your time.

Get busy working on the things that matter and make a difference to the growth of your business right now!

Professional time management course, 1 day at £375.

Family, friends and your social network

Apart from you, your time and your amazing idea, the next greatest asset you have is your network.

Your family will always help where they can: they are unselfish and would always like to help you become a success in whatever you decide to undertake. Unfortunately, this act of self...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Praise
• Introduction
• About This Book
• Chapter 1 - Use What You Have
• Chapter 2 - Setting Up the Foundations of Your Business
• Chapter 3 - IT and Communication
• Chapter 4 - Help, Skills and Training
• Chapter 5 - Research, Innovation and Prototypes
• Chapter 6 - Customers, Brands, Marketing and Sales
• Chapter 7 - Growth and Next Steps
• Freestarts: More Businesses You Can Start for Free
• The 10 Rules of Freesourcing
• Glossary
• Acknowledgements