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Starting a business whilst raising a family might sound impossible, but lots of stay-at-home mums start a business or side hustle to make some extra money alongside parenting and turn their passion into a paycheck.
If you want to start your own business, you may be worried that you have no investment for it. But that isn’t any reason not to dive in. Here are some ideas and tips for starting a business with zero investment.
Research your market
The first part of starting your own business that you can do for free is research your market. This is essential if you want your business to take off with no initial investment. Whether you’re selling a product or offering a service, make sure there is a market out there for it that you can easily sell to.
Your initial market research might include checking online to see who your competitors are, running surveys or releasing a test product, and using websites like Google Trends to find out how popular certain products or services are. You can also use this time to research how others in your industry got started, like listening to this podcast about a company who started a clothing brand with just £200.
Create a detailed business plan
Even if you’re starting out small and only selling products or offering services to friends and family, you should create a business plan on day one. This will help you track your progress as your business grows, and help to keep you focused.
In the long run, a business plan is also vital because you’ll need it if you ever apply for a bank loan or want to attract investors. If you’re not sure what a business plan should look like or include, this essential guide to writing a business plan has lots of great advice to get you started.
Find free technology
We’re lucky to live in a time when there is so much technology and software out there that can help us start and run our own businesses. If you’re a mum who wants to start your own business, you don’t need to spend lots of money on top-end software and tech. Find out what technology you need, and research free and cheap options.
For example, rather than hiring a web designer, opt for sites that let you build a website for free, like Wix or Moonfruit. You could even check out this list of free web design courses if you want to make your website look unique and professional and improve your own skills.
Focus on organic leads
Paid advertising certainly helps a business get off the ground, but if you don’t have the money to spend on that, you should focus your marketing efforts on organic leads.
Organic leads are those that come naturally through social media and search engines.
To do this, you’ll need to make sure your social media marketing plan is ready to go before you launch your business. At the very least, that means having a page on every platform that you post to regularly and through which you interact with your followers. If you’re focusing on instagram, it’s a good idea to have a hashtag strategy too.
When it comes to search engines, make sure your website is optimised for SEO – this stands for search engine optimisation. Doing this involves uploading plenty of content, and including keywords related to your business that potential customers will search. It’s possible to do this yourself, so do some research into SEO for small businesses to get you started on the road to securing those top spots on search engine results pages.
Follow these tips, and you’ll be well on the way to getting your business idea off the ground with very little cost. Have you got any tips on how mums can start a business without investment?
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