Starting A Business with Zero Money
I get a lot of emails from people wanting free advice. It’s annoying sometimes. But other times its down right humorous. Here’s an email exchange I had recently.
DAvid,
When I have in the past ask for information on where to find information on starting a home basic business using my computer you have people that have e-books that they are selling or CD’s that they offer you but you still have to pay a small fee for them. Or someone want to know how to contact you for free but in order to get the information they want to charge you to receive their information that I someone else has taught them how to use the information to make the money. Also, it is not as easy as it sounds because you have to keep putting money into the project in order to make this extra income. When I mean no money to start a home base business I mean once I pay the fee to get the information don’t come back to tell me if you want to receive more monies or extra money you would have to pay this or that to get where I am today. I just want to start a business for extra income between $300 to $500 extra a week or even in a months time. And most of the ideas are repeated info.Ok, Call me insanse but the fact that I took time to reply to this was hilarity. I guess I had to much free time on a Friday night.
My response:
Dear ___,
Basically, starting your own company with ZERO money invested in it is extremely unlikely borderline impossible…if you didn’t have to invest in a company, then where would the risk be at? The whole idea behind a company is big risk=big reward. Even if you wanted to start on ebay you’re going to have to buy the product and pay ebay to list your auctions and then ship them out. Yea, you’ll make the money up in the long run, but there is really no easy or quick way to become an overnight success if you want to start your own business…unless you want to sell fallen leaves from your yard. I guess even then that’s an investment as you have to water the trees.
You have to invest time and money into your business if you want to be a success story.
Ok, once I was done laffing. I realized their are a lot of people who don’t want to invest the time needed to make their business be a success. Remember time is money and if you don’t spend it wisely it disappears.
Kind of a hard reality for most to bite, especially when there really are so many “start your business for nothing” ads out there. But, you’re right; there is a huge sacrifice in starting a business no matter how big or small, or no matter what your financial goals are (eg, ” I only want some extra pocket change every month”). That sacrifice ultimately boils down to time and money. How you perceive your efforts in your venture may determine the severity of the sacrifice.