Bootstrapping Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

When you first plan on starting a business, you’d feel giddy with excitement. In my own experience, what I did first was to write a kick-ass (excuse my French) business proposal which I then pitched to my local bank. It took me two months to draft it, another month to perfect it and it took just a few minutes before it got rejected. Sounds tough? Well! I tell you, it nearly ripped my heart out. But then I didn’t lose hope. I went to another bank and another and another until I finally gave up and went back to being an employee.

Is Your Business Ramen Profitable?

When I first encountered the term ramen profit, I was curious, naturally. My first thought was: “Okay, I’m not looking to eat noodles” (and I kid you not). It turns out, Ramen Profitable means that it’s a business that makes just enough money to cover basic living expenses such as food and water.

4 Must-Use Tools for Bootstrapped Businesses

Some startups are fortunate that they are able to run their operations by bootstrapping. In my opinion, it’s not really luck that keeps them going but it is how careful they are with the use of their resources that there are minimal additional costs to the business. Startups who find it difficult to be approved for loans may have various financing options to choose from but the best way to start a business is still to operate it by bootstrapping. It isn’t about frugality. It’s about being resourceful while being relevant, prudent while efficiently running a promising business.

Employed and in Business: Can You Pull it Off?

There are many ways to make a certain dream a reality. For aspiring entrepreneurs whose problem is mainly where to get the capital to finance their business, there are options which one can choose from. There are 401K loans you can take advantage of, angel or VC funding, bank financing, loan assistance from the SBA and of course, bootstrapping among others. Juggling work and running a business is not an easy task. It’s a challenge that most of us think we can handle but in reality, only a few of us ever could. In my own experience, it’s all about balance and this is not as easy to achieve as everyone likes to think. 

10 Ways to Simplify Your Business Operations

Bootstrapping does not only involve looking for alternative ways to fund your business. A company being run by its bootstraps means practicing prudence in business expenses and resources. Small business owners should pursue ideas that would simplify business operations because time is also an important asset for the budget-conscious entrepreneur.

Ways to Improve Your Bootstrap Business

Let us suppose that you have already started your business by bootstrapping. You know the old adage: Having nothing builds character? When you think about it, it does make sense. Before you started your business, odds are you were just an employee who wanted to break away from that 9-to-5 job you have. Either that or you have been in and out of business and you’re hoping that this would be your ticket to success.

Email Marketing Tips for the Budget-Conscious Entrepreneur

Email can be a very powerful marketing tool plus it is inexpensive so startups need to find a way to incorporate this tool into their business marketing plans. According to Seth Godin, it is “the most personal advertising medium in history.” Unfortunately, there are still some people who use email as a pitching platform. Don’t believe me? Check out your spam folder.

From Garage to Executive Suite: Starting a Home-Based Business

There are a lot that could be said about teenagers starting a band out in a garage. Your neighbors might be irritated because of the noise, you might be frustrated because you have to pay extra for electricity but when you think about it, you could actually get something out of it. The idea that your teenagers could use your garage aside from parking your car and storing unimportant-but-you-just-can’t-let-go stuff is one you could use for your own benefit.

VC Funding vs Bootstrapping

There are a lot of options that startup entrepreneurs have when it comes to funding. Of course, this does not mean that your options would be approved. Two of the popular choices right now are Venture Capital funding or bootstrapping. In an effort to assist startup entrepreneurs, I have gathered some pros and cons between these two choices.

Microtesting as a Bootstrapping Method

Small businesses which are trying to launch a new product or service need to test whether it is viable to their target market. One cannot just launch a product without testing its marketability and often, this is one area which proves to be financially crippling to a company especially since we haven’t risen from the economic downfall just yet.

The cost for product testing and product development may be a hindrance to business expansion. However, there’s an approach that some business owners have not yet considered: Microtesting.