How To Become an Entrepreneur With No Money

Trying to figure out how to become an entrepreneur with no money? I got you. Starting your business is completely possible, even if you don’t have a dime if you put these strategies to practice.

If you’re looking for ways to become an entrepreneur with no money, you’re in the right place. When people first think of entrepreneurship the thought is usually linked to a big, fat account with enough money to get the business started and pay for your bills in the meantime.

It’s very likely the reason why many potential entrepreneurs give up before even starting out, but I’m here to tell you that you don’t need a fat account in order to become an entrepreneur.

You don’t even need to have any money to be able to start a successful business as long as you have everything else (which we’ll cover in the post). 

Here’s how you can become an entrepreneur with no money in your pockets. 

Come Up with an Innovative Idea

The first step to building a startup and becoming an entrepreneur is having an innovative, profitable idea to work on. You will develop your service or product based on that idea, so you need to start looking for inspiration in the market to find gaps that you can fill.

A perfect way to do so is talking to your friends and family about things that frustrate or annoy them for which you can create a problem-solving product.

Remember that you want your idea to be profitable (the whole purpose is creating a business, right?) so you need to be able to offer something people are willing to pay for in order to avoid that frustration. 

To give you a practical example: did you know that Uber was born after their creators were unable to get a cab on a winter night in Paris? They were frustrated by something and thought of a solution. We all know how big Uber is now, don’t we? 

But the idea is not everything. Plenty of people out there brag about having million-dollar ideas that could make them rich…but – if they actually do have them – they don’t act upon them.

What makes a good idea a successful business is the action you take, so one of the most important steps to becoming an entrepreneur is to be persistent and willing to work hard and for a long period of time in order to achieve it. It’s especially important if you’re looking to start a business with no money or credit. You can’t pay anyone to execute it for you, so you have to put in the effort yourself.  

What if you’re willing to do all the work and carry the idea ‘til the end…but you can’t come up with any? 

Check out the Market

How do I become an entrepreneur with no money and no ideas? For starters, you don’t necessarily need to make up an idea out of thin air.

There are plenty of ways to get inspired and you can start working on your project by creating better or more affordable variants of services and/or products that are already in the market.

Continue to ask your friends and acquaintances for their feedback, so you know in which areas you may find an audience willing to buy your improved product and start working on that.

Once you know what you’ll be developing, check out the competition to find spots in which you could be better but also for inspiration. You could get a lot of ideas from startups that are successful and have been in the market longer than you.  

Look out for Trends to be Ahead of the Game

Once you know what your entrepreneurship will be about, make it a priority to look out for trends and new opportunities that can help you direct your business in the right direction. You should try and be ahead of the game in identifying new gaps and filling them before the competition.

This is how to become a successful entrepreneur, even if you have little to no funds.

Sites like Springwise and TrendHunter are great to be up-to-date on what’s going on and get inspiration for your next project. 

Get Started with MVP

MVP, which stands for minimum viable product, is a basic version of your service or product that can be used by early customers. This way you can start to get feedback and work on different ways to improve it, without having spent money on creating the full version of it.

These versions will not only help you make adjustments to make the product better, but it’s a great way to test if you have any customers at all, and if the product is liked and useful.

If you develop an app and you hardly get any subscribers or those you get unsubscribe in little time, maybe you should rethink the concept or start brainstorming again. 

Since you don’t have much money in the first place, you won’t want to go about losing it by creating a service without trying it out first, and finding out if it’s really profitable. Starting with MVP helps you achieve it. 

Once your product is ready to launch, think of ways you can attract customers and get them to make a purchase. For example, you can offer a great free entry-level service that will get them hooked on what you have to offer. Finally getting customers is such a massive step in becoming an entrepreneur with no money!   

Find a Co-Founder

How to be an entrepreneur with no money and little experience? When starting a new business, it’s a good idea to do it with a partner who shares your vision.

For starters, funding the enterprise will be easier since there are two of you – and your partner may not be in the same financial situation as you, so that would be an advantage.

Even if you’re not the ones putting money in the business, you’ll have more chances of being backed up by investors and you’ll have more acquaintances combined to sell your product to when you launch. 

Having a partner will also alleviate the work and the stress. While there may be certain drawbacks of having a co-founder, like differences of opinion, if you choose the right one you’ll have more benefits than inconveniences. And more importantly, it will make the project real and help you get it started. 

Create a Business Plan

Now that you have an idea and a partner, it’s time to create your business plan, one of the crucial steps to be an entrepreneur without money.

This is needed essentially to make that idea a real business. Think of the business plan like a road map that you need to follow to get to your destination. It will also serve you to find investors and convince them to put money into your project. 

You’ll need to write down all the details, from what is your business project to your business growth strategy and how you’ll generate revenue.

The plan will help you put all your thought and mental strategies on paper (or computer) so you can see them more clearly and make the necessary adjustments, until you have a plan you’re ready to execute. 

Find an Investor

Most entrepreneurs look for investors when starting a new project, so the fact that you have no money doesn’t need to be an issue if you can come up with a good business plan and present to your potential investors the value that your product would have for them.

When you’re just beginning you can ask family members or friends to invest in it. This way you have some money to create models or hire some people to help you make presentations or develop the product with which you’ll try to convince investors.

You can also apply for a small business government grant or start a crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo, GoFundMe or Kickstarter to get started. Ultimately, though, you’ll want some real investors taking interest in your business and helping it grow. 

There are different types of investors: 

• Angel Investors are very wealthy individuals willing to invest in small startups. There are Angel Investors in all sectors, and you can meet and approach them at events or through recommendations or introductions from other entrepreneurs. They usually invest in exchange for convertible debt, although it could also be for ownership equity. 
  
• Venture Capitalists are private equity investors that look for private, startup companies with potential high-return investments. They typically look to fund new businesses or help small businesses expand, so you could also look for these investors along the road. 
  
• Private Equity is another funding option. It’s composed of investors and funds that invest directly in companies and buyouts. 

While starting a new enterprise may be daunting in itself, and having no funds can make it seem nearly impossible, it is possible to become your own boss with no money and start a thriving business.

Remember that some of the great companies that exist today started out from garages, their founders having little to no money as well. Take Amazon, Apple, or Disney as examples, and aim high. There’s no telling where you’ll be able to go!