Running our own business is both risky and exciting at the same time. However, due to the relatively high failure rate, many people are too worried about starting their new business. While the statistics could sound rather worrying, we should be aware that not all small businesses started the same way. The failing ones could be started by people who recklessly quitted their full-time employment and jumped into the business world without making proper preparations. It only takes a few slow months to shatter the business to pieces and force these people to look for new employment. Due to their poor preparation and planning, these people are forced to abandon the dream of running a successful business. There are many ways we can do to prepare ourselves and this include setting aside enough money so we can survive three or four slow months. It is important to know that money won’t roll in immediately and we need to make proper adjustments. There are also changes that we need to make so that our income flow much steadier.
There are people who recklessly apply for a large debt to start their new business and leave almost nothing as financial reserves. These people don’t bother create any kind of safety net and when their business fails, they will plunge deep into debt problems. Before even thinking about starting a new business, we should check how much money we need for core expenses of setting up our business and running its daily operations. We should also know how much money that we need to allocate to prepare for three or four slower months. Local laws could also put unexpected restrictions on people who plan to start a small business. The zoning laws could prevent people from running business from their homes. Some towns specify that residents are not allowed to run business from their homes. Some states can have more lenient rules, but others could have more troublesome regulations. In general, it is a much better idea to start a very low cost business to avoid having too much debt. If we have lower operational costs, we won’t be too worried about slower cash flow during slow months. It’s always possible to expand our business in the future when demands have increased.
Some businesses could start from simple beginning. Cleaning supply stores could begin as cleaning services. Pet supplies stores could begin as grooming, dog walking ad pet sitting service. Party planning and bookkeeping services also require very low budget to start. However, very low budget businesses don’t have to offer only services. We can also sell products initially through online platforms. We may start our own website or sell our products on eBay. We don’t have to use expensive e-commerce software. WordPress with multiple e-commerce plugins allow us start a very low cost online store platform. These are only a few ways to start our business at very low cost and reduce our overall risks.