Dan Toombs

Starting a Business With Under 10K

In this article we look at how to start a business for less than 10K with a focus on the different ways of promoting the business.

Did you know that it has recently become much less expensive to start a new business? With advances in digital cameras, social media and online shop software it is now much less expensive than in was even fifteen years ago when I started my business. The great news is I did it then for less than $10,000 (USD) and you most definitely can now.

It is important to keep as much cash in the bank as possible. You will most likely need it to pay for products and supplies. Chances are you will not be offered an account by your suppliers when you first start up so hold this money back so that it is there when you need it. It is also important to resist the temptation to get an office unless in is absolutely vital to your business. Many young start ups work very comfortably from home for the first few years and their customers are none the wiser for it. As long as your service is fantastic, where you work should not make a big difference to your clients but it will certainly make a huge difference to your monthly spend.

Deciding to start a business is a big decision and one that should not be entered into lightly. You need to consider how you are going to advertise your company to ensure your target customers know you are there. Thankfully, this is now a lot less expensive than it used to be. In fact, much of it is free. Following are some very good ways of promoting yourself for nothing;

• Article Writing: If you know your industry and are able to write about it, then do so and do it often. Many business people are now writing about their products or industry and posting them on sites such as EzineArticles.com. Writing keyword rich articles can get attract a lot of interest to you and your company. I recommend visiting EzineArticles.com and looking at some of the articles your competitors have written for ideas.
• Marketing Videos: There was a time when marketing videos were only done by the biggest of companies to be shown at conferences and tradeshows etc. Now you can purchase a hand held digital video camera and make your own. Your videos can be uploaded to sites such as YouTube and Facebook to promote your products or services. It is important to understand that your videos do not need to be of Oscar quality. People like the moving image and many searchers have started using sites such as YouTube to find the products they are looking for.
• Social Media: Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are becoming increasingly popular in business promotion. If you do not already have an account on these sites, do so now. It is free. You will also need to start a Facebook fan page for your business which is easily done by following the instructions on Facebook. Again, all of this is free.

You will no doubt need to do other types of paid marketing but this should not cost you an arm and a leg. For example, if you are not a web designer, you will need to find someone to do this for you. You should be able to find a company that specialises in websites for new companies which look very professional. Once you have your site, you will need to do the proper SEO (search engine optimisation) for the site so that it can be found on the search engines. Whether you do this yourself or hire someone to do it for you, I strongly recommend you purchase a few books and read up on the subject to avoid paying over the odds using a company capitalising on your naivety of the subject!

You may also want to look into inexpensive promotional gifts. You can purchase good quality plastic promotional pens for pennies. These can be printed with your logo and details and given to your key customers. Other inexpensive promotional gifts that are currently very popular are promotional stress balls, keyrings, and of course clothing.

It is important to remember when purchasing business gifts that the gift that are used are much better than the more gimmicky gifts. Everyone needs to write so handing out good quality promotional pens to your customers will be offering them a product they will use often. Each time they do, the product will be selling your company name, contact details, products and services!

So you see, starting a new business does not need to be expensive. The most important thing is that you keep the majority of your startup costs in your bank so that the money is there for you when the orders begin to roll in.

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