Though, for many years, we have been led to believe that success doesn’t come without hard work, when you take a close look at our society, you would instantly realize that the ones who are at the top and earning the big bucks aren’t necessarily doing any hard work at all. At least not the hard work that we do every day; sitting in front of our laptops, typing in the same code over and over. So what’s the big difference between us and them? Well, all they ever did was to break free from the corporate bond and start off their own business at the cost of virtually nothing.
Sounds too risky? Well it did for me as well, but I knew that if I was ever going to have a life outside of my cubicle, I had to take the plunge. And as it turned out, it wasn’t so scary after all. Once I started off, and regularly focused on cutting costs and improving profits, I made remarkable strides in just a few months. And now I am enjoying every day, and relaxing and partying every weekend as an event planner. So why not try out your luck as well, after all it’s not going to cost you anything drastic. So here is some tried and tested inexpensive startup ideas that should get you started.
Find out your strengths and weaknesses
For starting up a business, you don’t necessarily have to work day and night or spend your life savings. But one thing is assured, if you have chosen a business in which you have no talent in then you’re going to fail no matter how hard you work. So be careful at this step. Try to assess yourself and get opinion from friends and professionals. For instance, if you’re good at communicating and socializing, then a consultant or sales related business is apt for you. Or if you’re a coding guru or really well versed in something, you can become a trainer and even start your own institute. So essentially, if you’re good at something, there is no wrong in starting up a business with it.
Consulting services
A lot of us turn to the idea of a startup business only after we have realized that we have had enough. But you don’t have to completely turn your back to the industry, you can use all that experience and put it into creating your own business. So if you’ve been a programmer or software developer for the most of your life, just head out and start your own consulting service with all the experience you have gained over the years. You don’t need to buy anything or hire anyone; you can even run it as a one man show. But be sure of one thing, for this particular type of business you’re going to need plenty of contacts. So if you don’t have them, then, first try gaining them and then dive in.
Event management
Event management business is a pretty fun startup idea. But that doesn’t mean you can earn profits with all fun and no work. You need to be on your toes and always on the lookout for new leads and cheap vendors, if you want to stay in business. Since there is going to be plenty of competition, I would suggest going to large extents to keep a loyal customer base and a reliable list of suppliers. Also be updated on the places where you can set up events and even get creative on using off beat places that are usually not utilized for hosting events. These will actually a get you an identity in the industry.
Software training
Though you might believe that a lot of people are tech savvy, you would be surprised to know the number of people working in large corporations who don’t even have the basic knowledge of sending and receiving emails. So essentially, people are always on the constant lookout for learning new software and updating their knowledge in them. So, if you’re really proficient in any software you can just start off your own business as a software training instructor.
Increasing productivity and making profits
If you’ve chosen the right business and have put in enough work to it, seeing success initially will not be a problem. But to sustain it, now you have to think in terms of increasing productivity and cutting down on unnecessary costs. For instance, during the initial stage of my startup, I had to spend a lot on advertising and on printing flyers. So instead of getting them printed from other vendors, I started printing the flyers on my own with recycled ink cartridges (that I bought from http://www.cartridgeink.co.uk/ink-cartridges/) and used effective techniques to utilize them properly. Like, usually people use laser jet printer to obtain color prints, but with highly efficient ink jet printers I was able to get more quality color prints for half the cost. And with the use of high quality ink cartridges I was not only able to get amazing prints, but also impressed my customers as well.
