3 strategies to start a business without a big investment

MANILA, Philippines – You don’t need a lot of money to start a business.

If money is still stopping you from setting up your dream business, it’s time to turn that dream into a reality. Nowadays, you don’t have to wait for a big capital before you turn your ideas into profits.

It’s possible to establish your business even if you don’t have that much to begin with. Here are some simple strategies:

1. Do it yourself.

Starting a business requires a lot of work. You need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty as your business propels, even if you’re the boss. At this stage, you shouldn’t be thinking about lounging on an executive chair with your feet up on your desk just yet.

If you’re running a café, for example, you’ll need to be on the ground—serving customers, taking orders, preparing the dishes, checking up the inventory and even mopping the floor.

Online businesses also entail work like data mining, internet marketing, client relations and customer service.

The first few years can be difficult but you’ll see over the long haul that your hard work will pay off. There will also be some money saved on human resources.

2. Create brand awareness online for “free”.

You can cost-efficiently generate buzz for your brand online. How?

Use the power of social media. Set up a Facebook or Instagram account, for example, for your business to start getting the word out about your brand and reaching your target customers.  

Do note that running these platforms are free but placing ads to drive additional traffic will need time, effort and money. How you manage your time will help you succeed better.

Not sure how effective it’s going to be?

According to digital insights provider We Are Social, the reported number of social media users in January 2016 is 10 percent higher than last year, translating to an additional of 219 million users globally. That sounds like a lot of people to reach, doesn’t it?

Aside from social media, you can also put up a website where people can learn more about your products or services and even make transactions through it.

3. Thrive with digital business solutions.

With technology upgrading incessantly, the competition across industries has gone fiercer. This is why using digital tools has become essential to entrepreneurs.

There are digital business solutions for accounting, collaboration, logistics, marketing, customer relations, management, selling and more.

Here’s an example: One of the leading ecommerce platforms for online selling is Shopify that is powered by Globe myBusiness. This year, it is launching local partnerships to complete the e-commerce system with logistics services from Xend, design and setup services from Ropo, digital advertising services from AdSpark and soon, payment services to provide a more end-to-end online selling service to entrepreneurs.

Recently, Globe myBusiness featured two ecommerce entrepreneurs who literally started small but were able to grow big online. Aira Medina and Chi Gibbs started an online clothing store called Neon Island in 2013. Ding Arancon put up a store for quality art materials and craft supplies and called it CraftCarrot.

These brands exemplify that being small in size does not mean it’s impossible to earn big. This is what digital tools like Shopify and making the Internet fundamental to your business can help you succeed as a startup, even if you only have limited funds now.

With several digital tools you can take advantage of—with some being free—seeing your business flourish won’t take too long.

So, if you still think that a startup might not make it against the big names in an industry, think again. With the power of the Internet and all the available resources out there, small businesses can expand their horizons quickly and successfully.

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