Shoestring Budget

[TheSpecialist]

Hi ALL
Has anybody here managed to set up their business on a shoestring budget and made it a success.
I am looking to keep my start up costs as low as possible to begin with, so need to limit my marketing costs etc.
Any good low cost ideas to promote my up and coming company would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

[uksbc]

hi steve,

i have always attempted to start ventures on a shoestring budget. (never like the idea of saddling myself with a debt to a bank or taking on a partner) and i have had more hits than misses

by my own admission the misses were generally down to being a bad idea to begin with - i can be impulsive sometimes when i have an idea and run with it without really thinking it through!!
:cry:

if you need any advice on anything specific please feel free to ask or pm me



:D

[fastfences]

Hi Steve and welcome.
You're not alone in wanting to keep costs down - what industry are you in?
Cheers, Nigel

[fastfences]

Hi Steve and welcome.
You're not alone in wanting to keep costs down - what industry are you in?
Cheers, Nigel

[JoyDivision]

I have a VOIP phone which helps to reduce costs because it avoids me having to shell out £15 a month on line rental.

However I found it only works properly with a static IP which I now have.

It really depends on what your business is, my dad relies on leaflets, if you deliver them yourself its cheap and has a very good response rate.

Also if its done properly it dosn't give off a bad image, its only the ones with an 0800 number, no address and BOGOF offers which tend to took tacky.

[clairemackaness]

I had no budget when I started out and this month I have done just over £600 in sales. Not bad for a business that I run on the side of a full time job!

[JoyDivision]

thats great, I have provesionaly made just £25 so far and I may not even get that. I know people are keeping the leaflets now though so it with time it should grow.

[easyasit]

can also get a free fax and phone line from www.quicktele.com
They are very good

Al

[10 Yetis]

Specialist,

Sounds like you are in the typical small-business startup catch 22 situation, i.e. need sales to fund further marketing that will in turn increase your sales etc etc, but cannot afford that initial marketing campaign.

In my experience when you start and have little funds this is where friends, family, a day job and a printer can be vital. :D

The main thing is to get your business in order and looking slick from the outside and then try and get a profile for your business using cheap but eyecatching stunts...

e.g. print some flyers from your printer, making sure your number or customer interaction method is as clear as your offer/service. Get you and a friend a fancy dress costume (I know I always say this but it is true - peole are more likely to accept a leaflet from a person in a costume) and go flyer somewhere where your target market is.

Other ideas, take a peek at some of the press releases on PR peoples sites (there are a few of us here - mine is http://www.10yetis.co.uk/news.html when peeking, then just copy the style :D ). Send this to your local paper to announce your business is up and running. There are tips on how to get in the paper on the newsletter section of the 10 Yeti's site.

Hope this helps as a starting point.

[Rob Holmes]

yep a few years ago I started out with £50 and the promise of a couple of website design jobs that vanished the day after I handed my notice in.

It was a struggle but did it!

I like challenges like that.

Generally when your back's against the wall you'll be surprised what you can come up with to make ends meet :)

Rob

[Rob Holmes]

Like Andy said - I printed lots (remember to cost in postage) - targeted people rather than blanket bombed adverts, got shed loads of cards done NOT with just my details on but with a list of what I could do on the back.

I made sure EVERYONE got a few and I asked them to help me.

If you want to even hint at what you're thinking of doing then maybe some of us could help a bit more too :)

Rob

[JoyDivision]

I print my own leaflets its not really cheap but it reduces the initial capital by large margin.

A laser printer is a must though, inkjet is ok for some things but it runs making it useless for leaflets it is also expensive as ink is more expensive and they are not as durable.

An average laser can cope with about 50-200k sheets or more, a lot of inkjets are past it with just 5k on the clock.

[mark_hadfield]

This is exactly the stage I'm at at the moment... well, nearly. I need to formalise my thoughts and plans into an official document...

But after that I will probably have 2 choices:

1) Invest as little as is possible and start very small to see if it works
2) Get some investments to start at the size I wish to be...

I think it'll be 1...

[aromaqueen]

Hi Mark

Are you talking about another business other than fairpack? I just had a look at your website - if I could think of a way of incorporating you into my inventory then I'd use you.

If you're talking about fairpack, I'd major less on the 'not for profit'. Here's why. In setting up a 'company' you are in business to make money - if you don't make a profit, you can't expand, you can't take a salary, you can't employ and so on. As a potential customer, I don't mind you making money because I'm in agreement with your ethos and would therefore support you. I can think of two companies that I currently deal with, not becuase they are cheap but because I approve of their ethos and ethics. I cant be the only one....am I?

If you genuinely are not for profit, it might be worth considering a charitable status and looking at fund raising, grants and so on.

Bottom line is as the above posts have mentioned, invest in a decent colour laser printer and look for as many 'free' advertising opportunities as possible. There really is no substitute for Press Releases and local/trade press.

Good luck!

[SillyJokes]

Yes, we started with an investment of £700 in stock and grew sloooooooowly, doing the job part time until it grew too large to be done justice to part time and could replace the day job wage.

Now we have offices and employ people and work full time in a fun job and are as happy as larry.

[Mwebb]

A great marketing strategy i like to use to promote businesses is to promote your product or service to local businesses with large amounts of employees.

This only works if you are selling to the public, but here is a break down.

An average size supermarket will employ between 300-500 people. An average town may have 3-4 supermarkets. At the lowest that is almost 1000 people to prospect.

You go to these supermarkets with a unique offer for their employees. Print up a fly or two, using the supermarkets/business name on the flyer-this makes it seem personal and individual.

"Special Offer For Tesco Employees Only"

Make the offer unique and different from your usual offers.

You then call the store manager-or better go to the shop in person, and ask if they would be willing to put the offer in the staff room on the notice board.... They usually do not have a problem with this at all.

You can take it one step further an do an offer for their customers and ask if you can put it in the window of the shop. It really odesn't matter if you check if they really spent money in the shop, you could just have a "offer code" of "tesco" etc

If you do both i recommend that the employee offer is better than the customer offer. IE customer save 10% Employee save 15% etc

Give it a try and i think you will get some customers!!!

Michael Webb