Top 10 Ways to Start a Business For Less Than $500
Below are 10 ways to start business for less than $500. You may have to make some sacrifices but that’s what small business is all about, at least at first.
- If you don’t already own a computer, purchase a used or refurbished computer. With computer prices dropping everyday(new computers are starting at around $500), you can easily obtain an affordable, and fairly up-to-date computer for less than $200. If that’s still more than you’d like to spend, remember you can always check out what local agencies offer free computer use. Start with your local library!
- For a professional web site, use a template before hiring a professional. Templates can start at as little as $25 a piece. You can always hire customized design services once you grow.
- Use business document templates to provide professional invoices, letters, and contracts that you can easily customize.
- Submit articles like this one to various e-zines for free traffic.
- Operating solely on the Internet is the best way to dramatically reduce startup costs. You can find affordable and feature packed hosting for less than $10 a month. And custom domain names can be registered for under $10 per year.
- Offer your expertise on various web site forums for free self-promotion. Make sure you adhere to the submission rules of each site.
- Submit free press releases regarding your new business on http://prweb.com
- Starting a service business means you don’t have to invest in any initial inventory!
- Start a small pay-per-click campaign for under $200 to test your offer and bring in initial traffic.
- If you have a retail business, make the initial orders on-demand, meaning you don’t buy any inventory until someone makes the purchase. Make sure you include the added time frame when you estimate the expected delivery date for your customers.
via Small Business Brief.
Derek on February 16th, 2005 6:15 am
Good tips except for the web site template one. Especially if you are going to have an online only business, a good, professional and unique web site is going to be one of the only things to set you apart from your competition. Your competition is probably going to have a poorly designed and unattractive web site too, so set yourself apart by hiring a pro that will do a custom job and knows how to make your business look good.
If you have an e-commerce site this is doubly important in my opinion, as many of the canned shopping carts out there are a pain to use both for the store owner and the customer.
But of course if you really don’t have any money to spend on that, an ugly, non-customized site is better than no site at all. :)
sofia on November 13th, 2007 5:46 am
Every little bit helps – thanks (and keep them coming)!
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