Good job! You have made the right decision about starting up a business. There is a myth running around about first-time entrepreneurs needing a million or half a million dollars to start business, but that’s just a myth, you can make a business successful with as little as $100.
Starting a new business on a limited budget without an investor is called bootstrapping. In this article we will be showing you 5 different ways to market and promote your startup on a bootstrap budget.
1. Cold call like crazy
Yeah, I know this is super outdated but don’t hate on this method because it won’t fail you. Sometimes the oldest ways of marketing are the best ways! It is a great method because for one, it’s free and won’t break your budget, and two, you will find clients by simply investing your time.
Cold calling can be boring and not as motivating as you may think but you need to make sure you keep an enthusiastic tone, you never want your potential clients to hear the negative side, stay positive!
2. “Blog until your fingers fall off.”
…said the founder of InsureChance an online insurance marketplace started with pure sweat equity. You should start blogging if you haven’t started already because blogging is everything in a business nowadays.
You can attract potential clients with your blogging channel and a good platform to work on is WordPress. Take a couple hours and make a blog and go on Youtube and start a channel. Get your business out there and the quickest way to do so for everyone to see is through Youtube and through your blog.
Always remember to keep it clean and to the point. You should also start link building and begin your outbound links. Outbound links are basically links that are meant to take you elsewhere. These links will direct you from one place to another specific webpage. This way your blog posts will get read and you can even start ranking on Google which will help your business so much for FREE.
Creating your blog and building links may take time but it is definitely a great way to get some clients without needing a large budget, plus it will continue to help you make money in the future.
3. Network, network, and network some more
If there is anything that you can do to get your business out in the world you need to do it! Go to a couple networking event and meet some new people and the best part of networking is that it’s free! Once you meet new people you will meet new clients and you should ask for referrals from each one of them. If you ask your clients for referrals you will always have new clients thanks to the beauty of word of mouth.
4. Friends and Family
Just like networking you can use your close circle to get some small traction. This will help your money start flowing in so that you can do other things.
5. Local SEO
You should create a Google “my business” page this way you will be on their radar and if someone wanted to locally look up your business Google will show your business page with a map, directions, and of course your phone number. You should try and get some reviews because as you start out your business there is nothing that will get people going then a really good review or two.
Try to always think like a consumer, would you buy a product on Amazon without reading reviews? You should also submit your business to all major directories so you can start getting clients at no extra cost.
Takeaway
As you can see, it is not impossible to build your business and make it successful with a bootstrap budget. As a matter of fact, over 80 percent of successful new businesses are self funded for less than $10,000. A lot of people view a limited budget as a big constraint but how everyone should look at a limited budget is as an incentive to do things more creatively.
Think like a winner, act like a winner and before you know you will start winning, don’t give up and don’t let people bring you down because once you’re a millionaire everyone will come back asking for advice and how you did it all with a bootstrap budget.