How to Start a Business With No Money

Businesses are a great way to make money. In fact, a big group of people say that it is the best way to stop becoming an employee, start becoming a boss, and start earning a significant amount of money. 

However, if it is a great path towards financial success and freedom, why doesn’t everybody do it?

The truth of the matter is that not everybody is cut for the cloth of business. And that is totally fine. Some people have their own paths to walk.

The other truth is that most people just don’t have enough money to start a business. The belief is that setting up a business requires a lot of money. When we say a lot, we do mean a lot. 

Despite that normal belief though, what if we were to tell you that it is 100% possible to start a business with no money at all? 

Many people have done it throughout the years. With a little bit of effort and elbow grease, you can too. We are here to show you the way to starting a business with little to no money. 

We’ll start with some tips and tasks that you can follow, then end by presenting several businesses you can start without money.

The first thing you need to do is to acclimate yourself to a different mindset. It is the mindset that you can set up a business without any capital. The mindset is the key. It will motivate you to follow through and see through it to the end.

Let’s start with a mental exercise. 

You are tasked with coming up with a painting of a mandala. It needs to be colorful and will require you to have more than five colors. Regrettably, you only have so much extra money for things. 

All you have is half-filled bottles of primary color paints, a canvas, your brushes, and your painting skills. 

You head to the store and see a set of watercolor paints. It is perfect. It has all the colors you might need. However, it is a lot over your budget. 

Most people would be deterred here, but you are not most people. You know you can do this, and you put your mind to it.

You head home and start at your task. You remember that you can just mix your primary colors and come out with various different colors. You are able to finish your painting and have a beautiful mandala to show for it.

While the story is farfetched, it should convey the point. The point was that people have more than they think they have. 

If you are in the position of having no money but want to start a business, this should be your mindset. Follow these steps and you’ll be starting your business in no time. 

The first step on your journey is take inventory of everything that you have. This goes far beyond physical items and money.

First, you should look at the skills that you have. What are the things that you can do? What are the things that you can do well?

Next, look back on the experiences you have lived through. Each experience we have can contribute to the business that you are trying to create. We’ll show you why in a bit. 

You also need to ask yourself, “what do you know?” What are the things you have a deep knowledge of?

Finally, take stock of the physical resources that you have or can access easily.

When seeking the answers to these questions, take your time. Dig deep and explore every nook and cranny of your mind. Write down your answers, as it will be important in the next steps. 

All of these things will create a great foundation for your new business. Your skills, experiences, and knowledge can help you provide a service. It could be writing, editing videos, editing images, making blueprints, making online courses, and so much more.

This in itself is a business, but with services instead of a product. This first step will allow you to get in the game and actually make money along the way.

The money that you make can be put to use as capital for the business that you want to build. 

We aren’t talking about your romantic relationship. Instead, for this step, you should note the people that you know and very close with. 

In this step, you should map out the network that you currently have. This includes friends, families, and acquaintances. Once the network has been built, take a good long look at it. You’ll be able to see how the connections could work for you.

Bear in mind though that you shouldn’t use your connections. People aren’t mere things that should be taken for granted. Instead, make them connections that will help both of you profit from the new business coming.

For the third step, you’ll need to look back at what you have and be prepared to invest it in your new business. 

Before you do so though, here is an important note. When investing, it is important to have a very specific mindset. It is a “nothing to lose” and “risk it to get the biscuit” mindset.

Most people will look to invest what they have and expect a certain percentage in return. Instead, the mindset should be that you can afford to lose whatever it is you are willing to invest. You should just allocate it to the business and make it work.

Another key difference in the two mindsets is that the latter will allow you to take a leap of faith. If people are hung up on returns, they may never dive into their business and risk it for success.

The idea isn’t to think about more money. That mindset will ultimately move you down the wrong path. The right mindset is to commit, believe, and grind until it works. 

Another valuable weapon that you have is your creativity. Take a look at the market and the world around. Think about what problems there are and how you can solve it. Then, apply your creativity to fill that gap and stand out as a unique product or service.

It is also important not to stay too fixated at a singular goal. Champions and successful people will see what is happening for what it is. If something is not right, be prepared to pivot and adapt as best you can.

Finally, like a boxer who perseveres, you need to take whatever happens on the chin. Keep your hands up and your eyes open (figuratively). You need to see and understand all the good or bad things that you may experience when opening a business.

Don’t forget to learn from all of your successes, and more importantly, your failures. 

The tips we have presented above are great starting points to starting your business with no money. However, there may be cases that despite these tips, there is no clear direction.

Here are a couple of business ideas that require no capital at all.

YouTube Videos

You will have no doubt already watched several videos on YouTube. You may also be familiar with certain content creators or YouTube personalities. 

It would be a big surprise if you haven’t. Over 2 billion people are watching at any given time.

You too can use YouTube for your own benefits. It is a simple business idea that anyone can do.

There are many niches and types of videos out there. All you need to do is dig into what you know and make some videos of that. They can be how-to videos, videos that explain certain movies or shows, or just any topic that people find interesting.

If it becomes a viral hit, all the better. If it doesn’t, then you need not worry.

The next step you’d need to take is to enable ads on your videos. This will allow you to earn even more money from your videos. All you need to do is enable the monetization setting on your YouTube account. 

You can also seek out paid sponsorships. If you have a good number of subscribers of viewers, companies will want to invest in you.

While there are many content creators who have great audio and effects, that is not the way to have a successful video. We aren’t saying that these are bad things to have. Having these is a big plus.

The key to being successful on YouTube is to post relevant content that people will find informative or interesting. 

If you are going this route though, audio must be crisp and clean. You can improve on the other aspects later on. 

Reselling

Another idea that you can carry out is reselling.

The idea is to look at what you have and resell them. It also includes any other items that may come your way. Just get items and sell them.

One route worth looking at with reselling is drop shipping. The best thing about drop shipping is that you won’t need to maintain or acquire any inventory. You also won’t need to deliver the products to your customers. This keeps the costs to a minimum.

The only thing you’ll need to spend on is marketing and finding new customers to sell products to. When you find a customer and sell a product to them, the rest of the process is handled by other people.

So here is how it works. 

1. List certain products on your website. You can also use third-party selling sites like Amazon, Shopify, or any other platforms out there.
2. When a sale is made, you purchase the item from a source at a much lower cost. In certain platforms, this action can be automated. You technically don’t spend any money because a customer has already given you the money for purchasing.
3. Finally, the drop shipper sends the product to the customer who bought it. 

Simple as pie, right?

Apart from the minimal costs, another benefit is that your inventory is not limited to one or a few products. You can stock your platform with numerous products.

Here is a tip to stand out with your competition. If you have the extra money, you can put your own label or brand on the product. This instantly differentiates your product from all the others in the market.