Is it possible to start a college business with zero capital?
I don’t know about you, but whenever I see a sign that says, “FREE _______!!!” I immediately raise my eyebrow and take a good look at the fine print - there’s almost always a catch. The same thought crosses my mind when I read ads in big bold letters, promising business opportunities with zero capital. Let me explain.
Capital, for me, is the total cost of starting a business. There are three general components: time, money, and effort. If you have lots of money to begin with, you’ll usually get started quicker. If your pockets are almost empty, you will need to spend lots of time doing things the hard way.
There are things we sometimes overlook when thinking about expenditures. In meeting a prospective client, for example, there’s the time to prepare your presentation, telecoms bill to keep in touch, cost of transportation to get there, food if it’s in a restaurant, grooming products or accessories to make you look more “professional”, and so on. These little things add up. When making your business plan, anticipate every detail of your operational expenses, because these need to be covered by your initial capital.
However, although zero capital is largely a myth, there are many ways to get started with even a very modest startup fund.
1) Work where you live. The idea is to cut travel cost, both on fuel and hours spent on the road. For someone in college, it makes sense that the most cost-effective place to run your business is from your dorm room.
2) Love thy neighbor. Since they might very well be your first potential customers (or partners), be nice to the people in your school. A good reputation is the single most important thing that will either make or break your business.
3) Evaluate your talents and resources. Capitalize on what you know and what you already do best. Look around you – what do you have that other people may be interested in? For example, if you collect comic books, you can start a rental service, and if you’re an organizational expert, you can offer to fix up your dormmates’ cluttered rooms.
4) Offer services or intangible products. Having no stocks to worry about and no storage costs to think of vastly simplifies things. If you know your way around computers, consider a troubleshooting service, or work as a video editor for school projects. Examples of intangible products are ebooks, widgets, mobile apps, or a professional blog like this site.
5) Find a business partner (or two). If you know someone who shares your vision for the business, try to convince him to join you in this venture. Your startup capital and the work to be done won’t seem as daunting when you have someone to share the load.
These are just things to get you started, but I’m sure you can think of more. Why not share them to our readers so we can all learn from each other?
Related Articles:
- All about venture capital camps
- Creative ways to get capital
- Selling products vs selling services (Part 2)
- Getting the capital to start your college venture
- How to budget your capital
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