11 Ways to Finance Your Business, Creatively, by Cutting Costs!

The Internet is a perfect place to start a business for FREE. And often the information to start any type of business is also free via a few forums. The Warrior and Digital Point forums come to mind. However, having some savings at the start of any business helps accomplish two valuable and priceless positions: Self confidence and flexibility –which are vital to long-term success.

Let’s first address where you can find money to build your business: First the consumption end of things.

• Cut costs –do you really need another latest, greatest model of something? Be it a pair of shoes or even the latest type of car, just sit back a moment or even take a month or two and ask yourself –Do I really need it? Most likely you don’t. Consider a car –only about 5% of the world has one. And if your kids are begging for one, just ask them to go out and get a job. I am sure that you will see on an annual scale, you can save around a $1,000.00 (just to start) by cutting things that you really don’t need. Or about $80.00 per month.
• Stop using credit cards –I have gotten rid of all credit cards. I am down to a couple of debit cards. There was a time when a credit card was needed for things like car rentals. That’s no longer the case. I am looking for a good corporate credit card, but again, that’s corporate money. I have a justification for spending it. Personally, I have cut back a lot and will keep doing so until I am established in my business plan. How much interest do you pay? How much interest do you pay on things that you didn’t need? Savings per month? $50.oo, at least.
• Cut entertainment costs –The last time I checked, things like concert tickets and just going out all the time has gotten rather expensive. My suggestion is to get creative while entertaining yourself or with friends, as oppose to seeing how quickly you can “max out” your credit doing all kinds of things. This is specially advised if you are in college, thinking that you’re just spending your parents money. The money has to come from somewhere. Someone had to work for it. Monthly Savings: $50.00
• Cut dining out costs –Do you really need to eat out 2 or 3 or even 4 times a week? Even that fast food expense is *very* expensive when most of the calorie intake is FAT. Not only does all this extra food hit your waistline, but it will cost you dearly in extra health costs later on. Get a good pair of shoes and take to the sidewalk or nearest park and workout. I eat at home and work out regularly. This year I cut out a lot of carbs, stopped eating food that comes in a box, and I feel *great*. Make your own food — you’ll save a ton of money and even the gas money to go buy it. Cut about a meal a week: Savings: $100/month, at least.
• Get your kids to understand the value of money and your mission –I cannot believe what parents do, especially Americans, to be nice to their kids. When I was living in Bethesda, Maryland (just outside Washington D.C.) I remember walking by the local high school parking lot and the number of Beemers. It was not unusual for kids their to ask their parents for one when turning sixteen. My kids can expect the job section of the local paper. If you have already given your kids some sort of credit or plastic to help spend money, get it back. Let them spend real money, and better yet, earn it so that they can learn the value. I am sure if you have a few kids, you can cut back a lot every month. I’ll keep the savings at just: $50.00
• Do you really need cable TV? Television has become a vast wasteland. I think services like iTunes and YouTube are just as good to get quality television. I actually cannot remember the last time I tuned into CNN or anything on cable. Matter fact, the TV has been off for weeks. It’s great how much time that saves. It’s great not to see a lot of bad news and just plain propaganda. If you are using cable, then dump it for DSL and then combine all phone and Internet with VoIP and you’ll cut about $75.00 per month.
• Get rid of things you don’t use –Do you have a garage, basement or attic full of things that you just haven’t used for month or even years? Just get rid of it. Guys, I know this is not easy, but having done that in my latest move, it’s not bad at all. Getting rid of things also does something else –it reinforces your discipline to just get more stuff. Average a lot of the things, and you’ll see that you can save $50.00 per month.
• Add all this up and you’ll see that it’s not hard at all to save $250 to $400 dollars per month. I read somewhere that most family bankruptcies can be avoided with an extra few hundred dollars per month. There you go. You’ve found it. There’s nothing like cash in the bank at the end of the day.
• What to do NEXT: Now that you’ve saved the money, the idea is to turn around and use just a percent of it to start an online business.

Next the educational end of things –Do you really need the latest, greatest:

• Ebook or audio series? Forget it. Check out these two resources –The Warrior Forum>> and the Digital Point Forum >> — these two places will have all the know-how that you need to build an online business. As a matter fact, so does this website and my make money online membership. >>
• Create a business plan, execute it: Once you have your spending in check, read, read, and do some research at the above links and you’ll have a very good idea of how to put your saving to work.
• When you start a business, you’ll be tempted to get all kinds of things that you don’t need –really speaking what you need is a hosting account. You already have a connection to the Internet. So, a hosting account will set you back $5.00 per month. Nothing more is needed until you make your first few hundred dollars.
• In fact, just a few days ago, I made this quick start up plan. Keep in mind that you don’t need to buy ads, or ppc traffic, or other ad gimmicks –UNTIL you have cash flow and know what you are doing. After you have a few sales under your belt, you are then free to spend some money on advertising.
• One of the hidden gems in making money online is to find local businesses that need your expertise and help them with things like an Internet marketing plan, website and management of that site.

I am going to follow up in the next few days with what you need to do to make $250, $500 or even $1,000 or more per month using your online Internet marketing skills and some knowledge about building traffic.

Rich Sage.