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Do It Yourself How to plan, how to break it down, tips on making business work, starting on a shoestring, free and low cost marketing, and other information that does not work into other areas Full
coverage of Business Startup on a Skinny Shoestring is found here: Planning and Assessing If you are doing a lot of things yourself in your startup, you'll need to learn how to plan. Because some things that we think we can do ourselves simply take more time to learn and do than we had anticipated. You'll need to get good at pinpointing which things will actually help your business grow, and which are just frills that don't make any difference to the bottom line. The ones that are necessary are the only ones you will have the time and money to pursue. Steps in a Process Another critical item is being able to break down a plan into steps to act upon. For example, if you decide you are going to make your own business cards, you might be tempted to go buy your card stock first. In fact, you need to decide what purpose your card is going to serve, and how much information you need to put on it. That will determine to a large degree what kind of card stock or design you will need. Then you'll want to decide whether to use pre-perf, or cut your own. That is followed by design, and purchasing of card stock - stock first if you are using pre-printed designs, design first if you are creating your own design. Then you print a test sheet, then a trial card sheet, then the full print run. Then you cut them or break them. You have to figure out the best order to do it before you start, or you may end up purchasing something that does not work, or wasting time on a task that you should have planned better. Making it Work If your business is going to work, you have to. But you also need to be able to judge when something CAN be done by yourself, and when it makes more sense to hire it out. If you cannot do a quality job on something, then it won't help your business grow if you do it yourself. Business cards that don't bring in customers, and websites that fail to bring orders are a waste of time and money. So determine realistically what you CAN do, and what you cannot, and then get a second opinion once you have created something if you do it yourself. Either way, the business won't succeed unless you are determined to work hard and stick it out. Shoestring Startups It is harder to start with nothing. But it also provides unique advantages. For one, you have less debt to clear. You show a genuine profit sooner. It is SMALLER, but it is truly profit. With a shoestring startup, at first you have to pretty much do everything yourself. Later it becomes more efficient to hire some things. You'll have to adjust your attitude and methods as your business grows. Because what works to get a shoestring startup off the ground won't work with a larger business. Marketing Cheap You can start a business and market one with no money. It is hard, and you are fighting an uphill battle, but you CAN do it. You have to be willing to learn though, and to seek out information other than what is commonly available. Most articles on low cost marketing are talking about investing hundreds instead of thousands. So read up on the REAL information (start here http://www.skinnyshoestring.com/ebooks.htm), and be prepared to do it differently. You'll put in hours and hours at first just to get a few customers. But it builds momentum, and it gains power, and eventually you can all but stop marketing and still keep rolling forward. You have to be willing to put work in when you don't have dollars to put in, but the cool thing is, that most of what you do on the cheap is long term marketing, not short term, so it will go on working for you for years. The Bottom Line The bottom line is, if it helps your business to do it yourself, then do. If it does not, then don't. Either do without it, or hire it out. You really learn to prioritize when you have no money! But don't buy anything, or spend lots of time doing anything, unless it will help to increase your income. It is important to not get sidetracked by things that don't really matter, and that don't really help. Make sure anything you spend time or money on will give you either a quick burst, or a slow trickle over a long period.
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