Most people think that starting up a business is an expensive and daunting exercise. But in truth it’s now cheaper and easier than ever before.
Sure, once you get the ball rolling there’s going to be some hard work involved, but that’s part of what makes running your own show such a rewarding experience.
So if costs and complications have deterred you from starting up, here’s a step by step guide to getting your business going for under $1000.
Draw Up a Business Plan
This gives guidance more than anything. I dont believe it to be essential, but depending on whether you require funding or not, it is still a good idea. It will flesh out any weaknesses and bring all the costs together so you know your strengths and weaknesses and exactly what resources are required.
This site offers free business plans and some guidance if you need it www.bplans.com
COST: FREE
Choose & Register a Name
Once you’ve drawn up a business plan and feel you’re on to a good thing, the next step is to decide on and secure a name. It should be unique but also clearly spell out what you do.
Choose something catchy, make sure the domain name is available and register both the domain and the business name so they’re all yours. Crazy Domains seem to be the cheapest around at about $9 per year for .au names.Crazydomains.com.au
Check your business name is actually available: ASIC search site
Register Your name. You can either register for 1 year or 3 years.
COST: $70
Get Branding
Given a name, it’s time to get branding. Logo design can cost thousands, but it can also be done very cheaply too. If you’ve got a bit of design flare then draw up an idea and then get it professionally sharpened, otherwise just outsource the whole thing through a site like Logomaker.com for free
Once you have a logo get ready to roll it out across your website and social media presence. Best to start with aFacebook page & a Twitter Account. This is the fastest way to reach customers, and by commenting on other blogs, facebook pages and groups on linkedin.com
This is a good time to print some nice business cards & letterheads. If you want some inspiration, have a look at these great examples: 50 examples
COST: $99
Tech Up
Whether you’re an internet based business or not, you absolutely must have a website. There are some great free options like WordPress which will let you set up and update your content, as well as Google. Using WordPress as a platform, which is simple to learn and use, there is no need to learn html and coding. You can even use a template designed very well by TemplateMonster.com
Hosting can be done for as little as $50 per year with unlimited email accounts. We host ours with HostGator.com. They have great support, especially if you need to ask ‘dumb’ questions as a beginner, as we always do.
It doesn’t need to be swish, it just needs to be there.
COST: $100
Market Your Message
Having set everything up, you need to put it out there, get it in front of people. You may have a solid business plan, great logo and sharp website, but without marketing it’ll all go unnoticed.
Telling your personal network is the first step, like Facebook, but then you need to move outside your network. Write some copy for industry relevant blogs, get active on social networks and set a budget for search engine marketing.
Search engine marketing places ads for your business next to relevant key words in Google and you pay a small fee each time the ad is clicked on. Once your budget is exhausted each month the ads stop appearing. Just beware that you can go crazy on this, so instead of throwing everything at online, just dabble in different things like online, Direct Mail, email blasts, newspaper advertising, and see what works first. once you work out what works, then put more money into that.
COST: $300
All counted that’s $569 for a start-up in full swing. Expensive and daunting? No way.
if you would like some books to read on starting business, please email me at HERE