Annoyed over your lack of finance to start the perfect business? It might interest you to know that finance cannot hinder a great idea. The problem of many would-be entrepreneurs is that they are either waiting to have enough money, or to have a perfect idea.
You can learn so much by speaking with successful entrepreneurs. Many of them started their business with next to nothing. The pattern is often the same for successful entrepreneurs; a school dropout who gambled with their life savings, and made it against all the odds.
If you have $100 in your pocket, what would you use it for? Many, like Garrick Saito, a serial Quora user, would agree it is not much of a start-up capital. Accomplished entrepreneurs, billionaires, and members of The Oracle have shared great tips on what businesses you can start with $100. These are the best techniques. If it worked for them, it definitely will for you.
1. Crowdsource for abandoned items and sell them
What one person calls trash is another’s treasure. So many would-be entrepreneurs have tons of used but relatively new clothes and shoes in their closet, but still say they don’t have the capital to start a business. Com Mirza once advised a 15-years old girl to start a small Facebook page, open a PayPal account then use $100 to promote her page, and buy phone credits and run small ads online.
All her product images were crowdsourced. She asked her friends to send snapshots of their unused stuff. She listed them at attractive prices. By the end of three months, she had sold products worth over $19,000 with 50% of the profit to keep.
It is easy for anyone to locally source goods for next to nothing, from people who lack the time or technical knowhow to do so. You can do so using other e-commerce websites like Shopify, GearBubble, Amazon, and Etsy. This nullifies not having money as a valid excuse. What stops people from success is a lack of resourcefulness, not lack of money.
2. "Buy low and sell high" may be old-fashioned, but it’s not out of fashion
Everyone knows you can make money by buying goods at a low rate and reselling them at a higher rate. Archie D’Cruz recommends a different path. Rather than sourcing your products offline, you can do the sourcing and selling online. One of the best platforms for this is Kijiji, a Canadian site.
The secret is that you have to pick a common item that has high demand. Kijiji will give you the opportunity to set your minimum and maximum price. Set the minimum as $0 and the maximum as $1, then click on ‘offering’. You will find second-hand stuff which is sometimes given out for free. Then look for buyers who are willing to pay for them, and resell at a higher rate.
3. Buy on one e-commerce website and sell on another
The poorest of us have over $500 worth of scrap lying in the closet. Take some time to carry out thorough research on the price and value of items. This makes you an expert in that category. The moment you are aware of the product and market, you can buy on platforms with cheaper listings like Craigslist, and sell at higher prices on eBay. Get an old shoe on eBay, and make a fortune on Etsy.
According to Gary Vaynerchuk, you can make $20,170 a year using this technique, but you have to invest about 300 to 500 hours into it. That would mean less time for playing your favorite games, or reading on the bus.
4. Get into sales or service business
Sales or service is the best business you can start when you have $100 or less, because all you need is your phone and an internet connection. These fields also hone your skills of negotiation, persuasion, handling rejection, and overcoming fear.
As Tai Lopez pointed out, you will always find someone to hire you to do the cold calls. The good thing about this business is that there are no risks involved. You get a commission whenever there is a sale. With the skills you acquire from this process and the funds you raise, it will be easy to start your own business when the time comes.
5. Invest it
Starting an investment or coming up with an investment idea is very difficult - but that is the most difficult part of it. Once you have scaled this hurdle, going forward is easy. You don’t need $10,000 to invest, $100 will be just fine. Below are a few investment prospects for your $100 that will be worth the time and effort:
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Betterment: getting a financial advisor can cut your cut your investment capital in half. Betterment is a robot-advisor that asks you series of questions and, based on the investment risk you can stomach, will invest your money automatically. You can learn more about this option by looking at Betterment Review.
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Ally Invest: this was formerly known as TradeKing. This online broker allows you to trade for as low as $4.95. The great news is that there are no maintenance or inactivity fees.
The reason why many would-be entrepreneurs are afraid to start a business is the fear of failure. Kevin Harrington suggests you can expend $100 by investing it into 20 Facebook ads for $5 each. The response will either be positive or negative. If the response is positive, you can roll back the investment.
6. Use it to grow your expertise
The simplest way you can use $100 to start a business is to buy some great books on self-development, or any topic of interest. There is always a gap between wants and solution. Identify the knowledge that is in constant demand. Chris Plough, an author, advisor, and speaker, advises that your choice should satisfy four criteria: skill, passion, timing, and market need.
When you have acquired the requisite knowledge, find out where people who desire your knowledge hang out. It could be a website, forum, or social media platform. Share your knowledge in a way that matches people’s consumption patterns. While building your reputation, the time will help you to refine your ideal customer.
7. The money is not the main criteria
According to Roy McDonald, the CEO of OneLife, there are 6,000 businesses you can start with $100, because it has never been about the money you have but the genuineness of the idea. McDonald said there are other factors that drive successful entrepreneurs besides money, including your team, understanding and knowledge of the marketplace, money partners that will secure the transaction for you, and your joint venture partners.
It is the sole duty of the entrepreneurs to shape the future and bring together a team made up of like minds. "This is a more pressing problem than money," he reiterates.
There are lots more resources out there on the Internet from which you can learn valuable lessons on what you can do with $100. Steve Griggs recalled how his dad bought a hedge trimmer with $100 and put up a sign, “I trim shrubs” after he was laid off from his union construction job.
Even when you have no skills, you can sign up with a marketplace like Freelancer, bid for jobs, and hire professionals to do them at a reduced rate. The $100 will be more than enough to buy an annual subscription.
What difference would you make if you were handed a $100 bill? Share your opinion with us in the comment box.
