En Inspira Workspaces We are very used to designing flexible and competitive formulas in terms of prices, this is the reason that has pushed us to write this post. Today we must be very careful so that fixed costs do not devour us, while at the same time we focus our efforts on focusing on what is important. The essential thing is to work on your business idea, analyze the market well, and concentrate on directing it to your potential clients. Our formulas Virtual Office are excellent alternatives to achieve this. Pay per use, not per availability. Why do you want a physical office if you can rent one? a room for hours to serve a customer? This way your expenses will be linked to your income. Bet on a and flexible that shares your values, this is basic for your philosophy in customer service to be executed. By hiring a Virtual Office, your clients will be served by third parties, and this is something very delicate, much more than cost savings. Inspira Workspaces We help you make these two variables possible. In our goal to help you charge as little expenses as possible for the start-up of your business, we offer you the possibility of holding a free, no-obligation meeting with a digital marketing expert, as well as another with a professional with extensive experience in the field. Tax, labor, accounting and business advice.
Is it possible to start a business with very limited or no initial capital? Well, yes, it is certainly possible, but I warn you, you will need your most creative and passionate side to be at its best, as it will be essential for your new business to stay afloat and not end up sinking into failure. In fact, the advantage of starting a business with zero initial capital is that the risk of losses will also be zero and, in the event that your project succeeds, you will not have to return any money since you did not receive any initial external financing either. But since we are starting a business, let's do it with the permanent idea of succeeding in our work and fulfilling our dreams of success.
In this post we will begin by defining the term Bootstrapping, which is very interesting for those of you who are not familiar with it yet. Afterwards, we will focus on defining the steps to follow to start your work activity and its correct development, clarifying those elements that you cannot do without in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly and to be able to receive the first fruits of the business. Finally, I will give you a series of tips that you should assume as values to never forget on your path as an enthusiastic entrepreneur.
What is Bootstrapping?
Clate Mask, co-founder and CEO of InfusionSoft (a private company that offers an email marketing and sales platform for small businesses), gives its own definition of Bootstrapping in a article who wrote for the digital magazine Entrepreneur. Basically defines this term as “Starting a job with the few resources you have on hand at the time, never waiting to have money to start doing something.”
And as Clate Mask rightly says, we should not focus and rack our brains looking for formulas for external financing. What's more, don't consider this option as a possibility, directly, since the only thing you will do is waste time, time that you could be investing in shaping your idea with the resources that you do have at that moment. What we should focus on is starting to shape our business idea as soon as possible, bringing it to market and finding our first clients. The rest will come naturally, as long as you keep an open mind to change and transformation at all times, since your initial idea may be modified by observing the behavior of the market and your clients towards your initial product/service. We will focus on this a little later.
Following the thread of the publication, we will now try to define a little the process that the entrepreneur will go through throughout his low-cost adventure and what are the factors that he should never forget.
First steps of entrepreneurship without financial resources:
To start, we have to take into account what are usually called “Inputs”. These are all the necessary elements that the entrepreneur must define before starting his business. Don’t worry, they are all free:
- Passion for your idea.
Feel that excitement that we experience when we dare to do something, when we feel that we are making our dreams come true, and don't lose that strength and motivation even if you see gaps in your path. Stay excited, it's essential. At Inspira Workspaces we can help you. We also started our project in 2011 (the most difficult time of the 2007 crisis), and we know how important it is to be optimistic when we are starting out.
- Establish the means at your disposal.
Be clear about what resources you have at your disposal right now and try to be creative with them. There are great entrepreneurs who started out with only a garage and an Internet connection, like our friend, founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.
- Business Knowledge (basic).
By this I mean that it is essential that we educate ourselves on topics related to taxation, commercial, legal and accounting matters, etc. Knowledge that we must learn for our insertion into the market with a new economic activity. In any case, all these tasks are easily outsourced.
From Inspira Workspaces We offer our advice on Advice for the correct development of our clients' activities, providing them with online marketing, informing them of changes in the market in which they operate their businesses, etc.
In another of our postsWe discuss the topic of priorities that an entrepreneur should have when starting a new business, focusing their efforts on tasks that require maximum concentration and leaving tasks that take up a lot of time in the hands of third parties. Inspira Workspaces was very aware of this fact. And, for this reason, for many years, we have been offering our services domiciliation services, carrying out the administrative tasks for our clients, answering their phone calls and interacting directly with their clients and suppliers. In this way, the entrepreneur only has to focus on shaping the core of his business.
These are the factors to take into account for the start of our new zero-investment project (“Inputs”). If we manage to define them correctly, all we need is the starting shot and to get going as soon as possible. As we develop our project, we will see how the first results, or “Outputs”, begin to arrive: the final sale to your first client, word of mouth that attracts new clients, the expansion of your team, etc. We must not forget the obligations that come with carrying out an economic activity. Little by little, the payment of taxes, payroll, suppliers, social security, etc. will arrive, which you cannot ignore.
Don't worry about these issues, think that it is a question of balance; when the tax payment comes, it will be because things are going well, and therefore your business will be profitable.
Open mind to constant change.
At this point, I would like to highlight something that I think is absolutely fundamental to surviving the jungle that is the business world: the capacity for constant adaptation, modification and transformation. Let me explain. It is very possible that we start by launching a business idea and then it turns out that the behavior of your consumers towards your product/service is not what you were expecting. At this point you must adapt to their needs. It is not about not being faithful to your idea, but rather about maintaining its essence but trying to adapt it to what users demand from it. I will give you a simple example: Imagine that I open a restaurant in a very busy area of Madrid. My idea is to focus on food service. However, I realize that the time when my restaurant is most crowded is at snack time, since I am located right next to a school and when the children leave school, their parents take advantage while their children play in the park to have a coffee or a snack at my bar. In this case, I see the opportunity to adapt my idea, and I continue to offer catering services but adapted to this demand of which I am becoming aware. Creating snack offers, special prices for the little ones, etc. If I continue to focus on selling food menus when there is hardly any demand, I will be going down the wrong path and against the market. Vision and adaptation.
Key elements for starting a business without financial resources.
Finally, here is an infographic that explains the key elements that you should always keep clear and defined in your mind, since there will be times when the strength to move forward will be blurred and we need to establish a series of values within ourselves that will serve as a foundation for continuing with our great entrepreneurial adventure.
If by chance you had that hidden, excited thought of creating your own business in your head, but the economic factor fails you, I hope this post encourages you to take the plunge and fight for your dreams. You see that an initial stratospheric investment is not necessary to achieve great things. Remember all those successful people who managed to reach the top starting from the bottom and without a single resource.
