You might be on a limited budget when you start a business, but that doesn’t mean can’t run that business on a surprisingly small amount of money. In fact, it is possible to run a business with very little money, if you have the right combination of skills and market know-how.
There are lots of free programs and ideas your business could and should be using; from marketing support to increasing your income.
Use Canva.com
Canva is an awesome tool to easily create beautiful designs and documents. Canva makes design simple for everyone. Create designs for the web or print media: blog graphics, presentations, social media images (for Twitter, Facebook Pinterest, Instagram), flyers, posters and invitations. It has millions of FREE stock images and vector illustrations. This kind of tool can make anyone look like an awesome designer.
Social Media
Social is essential to allow businesses to grow their audiences. With your potential audience expanding, with 1.49 billion monthly active users on Facebook and 310 million monthly active users on Twitter and 433 million accounts registered worldwide on LinkedIn. You can’t argue with the obvious benefits and that marketing your business through social media is the way forward.
It’s a great way of engaging and seeking out current and potential customers, best of all it’s free! Also, there are lots of Social Media Management tools out there for you to utilise like Hootsuite, Buffer and Meet Edgar. But Hootsuite and Buffer both have very good free packages available, unlike Meet Edgar.
Unsure how to post and go about using social media check out Social Media Training & Workshops from HypeStar.
Use Google Drive
Google Apps for Business is based on the Gmail (Google Mail) system that you probably already know and love. It also allows you to share calendars, delegate access to your inbox (great if you have a team, or work with a virtual assistant), collaborate with the same document, at the same time as other people (so you’ll see what they type, as they type it) and loads more.
It costs £3.30 per account, per month (it costs money but in the grand scheme of things it’s a very manageable cost for the benefit it brings to your business) – so it can easily scale with your business as it grows. If you’d like to give that a go, you can get a free trial of Google Apps and see how it works, just head to https://goo.gl/rmuQOw.
Trade Favours
Want a service someone is providing but don’t have the dosh to cover it? Simple, ask them what they want from you in return for them doing it for free or at a discounted rate. For example, if I was a handyman and I need someone to market my business online, I’d offer to fix the company’s office or repaint it and in return, they would market my business for me. Obviously, it doesn’t always work exactly like that but the principle is there.
Crowdfunding
For those who don’t know what crowdfunding is, crowdfunding is a way to raise money, awareness and support for a project. It’s funding that allows individuals to make their ideas a reality with the power of the crowd.
Crowdfunding enables people with great ideas to raise the money they need, in return for ‘rewards’. The public can back your idea with pledges of money and project owners can ‘thank’ their backers with rewards that reflect the money contributed. So it’s pretty easy to make money in order to make your idea a reality – and then actually make a profit!
YouTube Is Your Best Freind
Stuck on how to do something? Or just want to learn something new? Generally, it’s best to receive training from a professional (they’ll probably give you a qualification with their training if it’s accredited). But on YouTube, there is pretty much a guide for anything.
