Business On A Shoestring, Part Three
When I decided to start this coaching practice, I had no experience as an entrepreneur, and no knowledge of marketing beyond a couple of seminars and the marketing component of my coaching training at the Institute for Life Coach Training. And I had neither capital to invest nor benefactors who could give me the money to start a business. I decided I'd do what I could with my meager resources, and do as much of the work as I could on my own. I needed: a website, internet marketing, business cards, a brochure, a business plan, education on marketing on the internet, and education on marketing in general. I also needed the forms and other things that one needs to run a business. I was willing to start small and grow the business without quitting my "day job". Here's how I did these things without a lot of financial resources.
The Website
Although I have a very strong technical background, I hadn't actually built a complete website myself. So I wanted something that was easy to use, would provide me quickly with a professional-looking site, and would also let me grow the site's content and complexity as I learned more about web design. Many designers recommend DreamWeaver, which is a very sophisticated application; however, its sticker price is $399.95, which was definitely out of my budget. So I looked at more affordable options. I found Freeway Pro and RapidWeaver; both are much easier to use than DreamWeaver. I settled on RapidWeaver because of the large number of third-party themes and plugins that are available for it, and the quality of the support forums. RapidWeaver costs $49.00; with the theme I used for this site and a few plugins, the total for web design software for the site came to just over $100. Still, a lot cheaper than DreamWeaver. The application I recommend that's closest in the Windows world is Web Easy Professional; it's also template driven, easy to use, and affordable ($49.95). In addition to the web design software, I wanted some images for the site to customize its appearance; $10.00 bought me four downloads at Big Stock Photo. A reasonably-priced hosting plan plus registration of the .com, .net, and .org versions of my domain name cost me about $37 per year at BlueHost. I chose them because they get consistently positive reviews, and my experience with them has been very positive. So my total initial investment in my website was about $147.
Internet Marketing
I found the thought of marketing rather intimidating. But I believe in what I'm doing with Metier, so I decided to jump in & get my feet wet. I took some free webinars on marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO); what I learned there was, you need to tweak your site content to make the search engines happy, always have new content (that's why blogs are a great thing), and get links to your site from other high-quality sites. Some of the marketing sites I've learned a great from include Get Slightly Famous, Entrepreneur.com, Duct Tape Marketing, Small Business Trends, Bruce Clay, and SEOmoz. All these sites have free resources for the entrepreneur-marketer, and there are many others out there equally good. I also relied on the RapidWeaver community forums for help with SEO as well as other aspects of designing my site (thanks, guys). I've been tweaking my site and adding new things over the past year and a half, so that takes care of the content part.
I couldn't afford experimenting with Google Adwords, or the $300 per year it costs to register my site with Yahoo's directory. So I decided to do what I could for free. I got a free listing at Superpages; in spite of the fact my listing was free, they called me & helped me set up the listing correctly. I submitted my site to the various search engines; I did so through BlueHost, but there are many free sites where you can submit to the search engines. In my opinion, you only need to worry about submitting to the top search engines. So that's what I did. I set up a Squidoo lens for Career Coaching, and set up a Facebook page. I also got a membership at SelfHelp.com and LinkedIn.com, and registered my blog at MyBlogLog. I wrote an e-book, and either uploaded it or registered it at various free e-book sites, including Publishd, Scribd, and ebookpalace.com (all of these sites are easily found with Google). I also started reading other folks' blogs and participating in them, making sure I added a link back to my site. Total cost of my marketing and SEO program to date: zero.
Business Cards, Brochure, and Forms
For most of my marketing materials, I used Apple's iWork suite (Pages, to be specific). It also provides a Powerpoint-compatible presentation program, Keynote, which was something I needed. Cost; $79. There are various places on the internet where you can design business cards online and have them sent to you, but I wanted to do it myself. I found a program for the Mac, Business Card Composer ($34.95), which is excellent. I also use it for doing logos and other images for my website and marketing materials. You can do all this on a Windows machine with an application like Microsoft Works, or Broderbund's Print Shop Pro ($69.99). Total cost to me: $113.95 (plus incidentals like paper & ink cartridges).
That's pretty much it; I've made other purchases since then but strictly speaking, they weren't necessary for the business. There are other things I want to get, like a Skype account and a Fax number, but for now I'm getting by without them. Total investment by me so far is therefore $260.95 (not counting many hours of my time, of course). Not bad, huh?
The Website
Although I have a very strong technical background, I hadn't actually built a complete website myself. So I wanted something that was easy to use, would provide me quickly with a professional-looking site, and would also let me grow the site's content and complexity as I learned more about web design. Many designers recommend DreamWeaver, which is a very sophisticated application; however, its sticker price is $399.95, which was definitely out of my budget. So I looked at more affordable options. I found Freeway Pro and RapidWeaver; both are much easier to use than DreamWeaver. I settled on RapidWeaver because of the large number of third-party themes and plugins that are available for it, and the quality of the support forums. RapidWeaver costs $49.00; with the theme I used for this site and a few plugins, the total for web design software for the site came to just over $100. Still, a lot cheaper than DreamWeaver. The application I recommend that's closest in the Windows world is Web Easy Professional; it's also template driven, easy to use, and affordable ($49.95). In addition to the web design software, I wanted some images for the site to customize its appearance; $10.00 bought me four downloads at Big Stock Photo. A reasonably-priced hosting plan plus registration of the .com, .net, and .org versions of my domain name cost me about $37 per year at BlueHost. I chose them because they get consistently positive reviews, and my experience with them has been very positive. So my total initial investment in my website was about $147.
Internet Marketing
I found the thought of marketing rather intimidating. But I believe in what I'm doing with Metier, so I decided to jump in & get my feet wet. I took some free webinars on marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO); what I learned there was, you need to tweak your site content to make the search engines happy, always have new content (that's why blogs are a great thing), and get links to your site from other high-quality sites. Some of the marketing sites I've learned a great from include Get Slightly Famous, Entrepreneur.com, Duct Tape Marketing, Small Business Trends, Bruce Clay, and SEOmoz. All these sites have free resources for the entrepreneur-marketer, and there are many others out there equally good. I also relied on the RapidWeaver community forums for help with SEO as well as other aspects of designing my site (thanks, guys). I've been tweaking my site and adding new things over the past year and a half, so that takes care of the content part.
I couldn't afford experimenting with Google Adwords, or the $300 per year it costs to register my site with Yahoo's directory. So I decided to do what I could for free. I got a free listing at Superpages; in spite of the fact my listing was free, they called me & helped me set up the listing correctly. I submitted my site to the various search engines; I did so through BlueHost, but there are many free sites where you can submit to the search engines. In my opinion, you only need to worry about submitting to the top search engines. So that's what I did. I set up a Squidoo lens for Career Coaching, and set up a Facebook page. I also got a membership at SelfHelp.com and LinkedIn.com, and registered my blog at MyBlogLog. I wrote an e-book, and either uploaded it or registered it at various free e-book sites, including Publishd, Scribd, and ebookpalace.com (all of these sites are easily found with Google). I also started reading other folks' blogs and participating in them, making sure I added a link back to my site. Total cost of my marketing and SEO program to date: zero.
Business Cards, Brochure, and Forms
For most of my marketing materials, I used Apple's iWork suite (Pages, to be specific). It also provides a Powerpoint-compatible presentation program, Keynote, which was something I needed. Cost; $79. There are various places on the internet where you can design business cards online and have them sent to you, but I wanted to do it myself. I found a program for the Mac, Business Card Composer ($34.95), which is excellent. I also use it for doing logos and other images for my website and marketing materials. You can do all this on a Windows machine with an application like Microsoft Works, or Broderbund's Print Shop Pro ($69.99). Total cost to me: $113.95 (plus incidentals like paper & ink cartridges).
That's pretty much it; I've made other purchases since then but strictly speaking, they weren't necessary for the business. There are other things I want to get, like a Skype account and a Fax number, but for now I'm getting by without them. Total investment by me so far is therefore $260.95 (not counting many hours of my time, of course). Not bad, huh?
Comments
Business On A Shoestring, Part Two
I suppose if I were to summarize what I've learned about bootstrapping to date, it would be: don't spend money unless you absolutely have to; what you make from your business, sink back into the business; and don't quit your day job until the numbers are right. As promised, here are some great resources I've found in the course of my research.
Entrepreneur.com is a must-read site for the bootstrapper. Here's a great article on bootstrapping your startup; be sure to follow the links he's included, which provide some helpful additional reading.
If you don't have many resources, marketing can be a challenge. This Enterpreneur.com article provides some creative ideas for marketing your product with little or no cash outlay. I'll cover some of the things I've been doing to promote Metier in Part Three of this series.
Bob Weinstein's contribution to Entrepreneur.com tells some success stories and gives his take on bootstrapping. He also provides some advice from a professor of entrepreneurship at a Pennsylvania college. A good deal of overlap with the other articles, but also worth reading (hey, another viewpoint is always worth the read).
Jeff Cornwell runs the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University, and frequently blogs about bootstrapping. Put bootstrapping into the search window at his site, The Entrepreneurial Mind, and see what he has written on the topic. This is a great site in general for the entrepreneur.
He's selling a book, but The Bootstrap Entrepreur provides a number of freebies at his site that are worth the read. I can't say anything about the book, because I haven't read it but the site's worth a visit just for his tips & articles. My take on it is, if you're spending a lot of money on books, seminars, CDs, and other bootstrapping learning tools, that ain't bootstrapping. :)
This is a great opinion piece on bootstrapping by a CEO in the software industry. The focus here is on why bootstrap rather than the how. Definitely worth the read.
You can't have too many top 10 lists, right? Here's a list of 10 tips for the bootstrapping entrepreneur that focuses on the home business startup.
The Bootstrap Network provides a fantastic networking opportunity for the bootstrapper, and has as of today 16 local chapters in the USA and India.
Finally, BootStrapMe is a blog that provides a lot of good articles & links for the bootstrapper.
That should get you all going. In the third (and probably final) installation in this series, I'll talk about the things I've been trying to bootstrap my business ventures.
Entrepreneur.com is a must-read site for the bootstrapper. Here's a great article on bootstrapping your startup; be sure to follow the links he's included, which provide some helpful additional reading.
If you don't have many resources, marketing can be a challenge. This Enterpreneur.com article provides some creative ideas for marketing your product with little or no cash outlay. I'll cover some of the things I've been doing to promote Metier in Part Three of this series.
Bob Weinstein's contribution to Entrepreneur.com tells some success stories and gives his take on bootstrapping. He also provides some advice from a professor of entrepreneurship at a Pennsylvania college. A good deal of overlap with the other articles, but also worth reading (hey, another viewpoint is always worth the read).
Jeff Cornwell runs the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University, and frequently blogs about bootstrapping. Put bootstrapping into the search window at his site, The Entrepreneurial Mind, and see what he has written on the topic. This is a great site in general for the entrepreneur.
He's selling a book, but The Bootstrap Entrepreur provides a number of freebies at his site that are worth the read. I can't say anything about the book, because I haven't read it but the site's worth a visit just for his tips & articles. My take on it is, if you're spending a lot of money on books, seminars, CDs, and other bootstrapping learning tools, that ain't bootstrapping. :)
This is a great opinion piece on bootstrapping by a CEO in the software industry. The focus here is on why bootstrap rather than the how. Definitely worth the read.
You can't have too many top 10 lists, right? Here's a list of 10 tips for the bootstrapping entrepreneur that focuses on the home business startup.
The Bootstrap Network provides a fantastic networking opportunity for the bootstrapper, and has as of today 16 local chapters in the USA and India.
Finally, BootStrapMe is a blog that provides a lot of good articles & links for the bootstrapper.
That should get you all going. In the third (and probably final) installation in this series, I'll talk about the things I've been trying to bootstrap my business ventures.
Business On A Shoestring, Part One
When I started Metier Career Coaching, I did so with zero external funding and a few dollars in my pocket that I was willing to risk on this venture. I'm not really a born entrepreneur, if there is such a thing; just a guy who wanted to start a coaching practice and didn't know how to go about doing so. Taking big risks isn't my cup of tea, but I also know that no risk = no payoff, so I've had to become comfortable with a small level of risk. Recently, I've realized there's a term for this approach to entrepreneurship: bootstrapping. Turns out I'm not the only one who's taken this approach, and there's a lot of articles out there on the internet to help bootstrappers. There are books on bootstrapping, networking sites for bootstrappers, blogs on bootstrapping, and resources for bootstrappers out there. Just google "entepreneur bootstrapper" to see what's out there. Gee, wish I'd known about this a year ago! Here are eleven inspirational stories of bootstrappers who made it from Bootstrapme.com to get your creative juices flowing.
In the next entry in this series, I'll do some googling myself and let you know what I found.
In the next entry in this series, I'll do some googling myself and let you know what I found.
Entrepreneurship and Balance
Jeff Cornwall posted an excellent article on his blog "The Entrepreneurial Mind" on the need for a balanced life, and the risk faced by the entrepreneur who gives his/her all to a new business venture. He writes: "...If we are to become all that we were put on this Earth to do, we have to temper the temptation to become consumed by our work..."
Good advice. That's why in coaching client careers I focus on finding balance, and why we'll talk about all areas of your life. A person who knows only one note but plays it well will have a hard time finding harmony in his/her life. You can read Jeff's post by clicking this link.
Vasily
Good advice. That's why in coaching client careers I focus on finding balance, and why we'll talk about all areas of your life. A person who knows only one note but plays it well will have a hard time finding harmony in his/her life. You can read Jeff's post by clicking this link.
Vasily