It’s important to conserve precious dollars when starting your small business and you’d be surprised at how easily you can do that. In simple terms: beg, borrow or steal as much as you can. OK, so you don’t want to steal and get locked up before you start your business, but there is a legalised kind of stealing that you can do from supportive friends and family who have too much stuff in their home already.
What to beg
Administrative services! Most of us start a business because we have a skill we want to turn a quid off or that we want to do full time because we love it. The ‘business’ side of the business is dang hard work, fiddly, boring, and something we put off until the last possible moment. Like the tax return. But that’s where we get ourselves into difficulty and it’s at that point we begin to question whether we really do want to run a business. Our exciting, shiny hopes for that new lifestyle and flexibility quickly fade away.
The reality is that there are precious few people who have every business skill required to successfully grow. It means most of us need administrative help somewhere along the line. The sooner the better. If you do your admin work properly from day one you’ll set yourself up for long term success.
Is there someone you know who would be happy to donate a couple of hours a week or month to help you build your customer database, do some promotions, set up your business systems and templates, manage your accounts?
It may be a clever high school aged person who wants to get some experience under their belt (and on their CV) for the workforce.
What about a friend who’s a stay-at-home parent in need of some ‘adult’ work to keep their brain active and their job skills fresh for when they’re ready to return to the workforce?
Or a family member who just wants to help you succeed?
Ask around; you might be surprised at the skill set available among your friends and family, or in their networks.
What to borrow
Equipment like:
- computers
- software (licensed to the loan computer, of course)
- printers
- the more expensive or larger tools and equipment required to produce your goods or deliver your services.
One start-up success story is a gift-giving business: Wrapped to You. When starting out she borrowed a shrink wrapping machine from a family member to secure her gift hampers and make them look professional. All she had to buy then was the plastic once the original supplies ran out. Her brother hadn’t used it for a while and he loved gaining some free space in his shed. In the end, a few years on, he gave it to her and she didn’t have to spend a cent on it. It’s still going strong, 12 years on, just like her business.
What to steal
Office furniture and accessories like folders, plastic sleeves, pens and staplers – incidentally, how many staplers are in your work drawer at the moment … and why is it that staplers and staples seem to breed while pens grow legs and walk?
Let’s face it: we all have excess stuff hanging around home or the office that we rarely use, but that we’re saving for ‘something’. Well, you’re that ‘something’. Time to help your friends and family offload and steal what you need to fit out your new office or work area. Ask them to let you mooch about their garage – most of us forget what’s stored in there and you can be sure of finding something useful.
Good luck finding those essential items and have fun putting together your new office!
© Gina Gray, Managing Director Clarity Press corporate communications and editor for How To Turn Your Hobby into a Business.
