Overcoming Lack of Resources in Starting a Business
Three Resources that can Make or Break your Business
Do you want to start a business but lack the savings, the income, or access to resources?
You don’t have any affluent family members or any wealthy friends who will loan you the money to start your business, or you have poor credit?
Today, I will give you some tips on not letting the lack of resources stop you from starting your business or starting a side hustle. This is the fourth in a several-part series where I discuss the roadblocks that keep people from starting their business and how we can overcome them.
Today’s topic is the lack of resources.
Anytime I mention resources, when it comes to starting a business, I’m talking about money, time, and people. Those are the three resources that will make or break you. Believe it or not, it’s the lack of resources, usually capital, that causes most businesses to fail.
Did some of you all have family members that are not supportive? Adult or kids that don’t want to help you out? Friends who aren’t really business-minded and don’t see the value in helping you reach your goals? So that they can lift themselves up as well?
My first suggestion would be to upgrade your environment.
Change the people that surround you.
Be around people who are talking about the things you’re talking about that have the aspirations and dreams you have to elevate yourself and reach your exponential greatness.
The second statement I have is, you can do it by yourself. You really don’t need those people who are pulling you down. It’s more complicated but you can do it alone.
All the problems I mentioned earlier, such as creating more resources and creating more time in your day, are not gravity problems. Those are not problems. That are your reality. Those are problems that can be changed, that can be adjusted, that can be fixed, and can be worked around to reach your goals.
Money
Let’s talk lack of funding.
Adjust your ambitions.
It’s not as serious as you think, especially if you’re starting a side hustle. Be willing to do the work yourself, and your expenses will go down tremendously. Hire out as needed. If you lack funding, the first recommendation I have is to adjust your ambitions.
Maybe you’re thinking too big if money is really the key to stop you from doing it. Think more minor. If you have several product ideas, maybe come out with just one idea. If you want to start a business and leave your full-time job, like I plan to do in a year, maybe you don’t want to do that tomorrow or next week. Perhaps you want to slowly do it.
Maybe you want to start a side hustle, build your customers up, build up your email list, start bringing in some income, then you can switch over full time. You don’t need an office. Work from your house, work from your garage, work from your basement, work from your kitchen table.
It’s nice to have a different address to put on your mailings or your business card, but you don’t need that. You don’t need that expense, maybe you can’t incorporate right away, perhaps you can’t afford to go on to a Rocket docks, or rocket lawyer, or zoom, legal zoom and start your LLC, that’s OK.
Be a sole proprietorship. Just know that you’re leaving yourself legally and financially liable should anything go wrong.
Keep your day job.
My second recommendation, if you lack funding, is to keep your day job. As I mentioned earlier, don’t be in such a rush to let it go, even if you hate it. Do as I’m doing, plan it out, plot, strategize until you reach your goal.
Find out who can help you.
The third recommendation if you lack funding is, find out who can help you. I know earlier I said you’ve got many family members, friends around you, but there are people who want to help you.
Join Facebook groups. Join meetups network around you. You’ll find a whole bunch of other people who are experiencing the same thing you are. People that don’t have anyone to talk to, people whose family members and friends and associates don’t talk business, and when they’re talking about their ideas and aspirations, their eyes glaze over.
You can find those people, and you guys can meet up and maybe you can help each other. Perhaps you have an idea about starting businesses and they’re doing web design or website design. You two can work together.
Thinking way too big.
And the fourth problem you will run into when you lack funding is thinking way too big.
Everything doesn’t have to be done big. You can start small. It doesn’t have to be a big reveal. It doesn’t have to be a pop-up shop, doesn’t have to be super impressive to all the people around you.
Stop worrying about them and start worrying about yourself. Don’t be too proud to start from the bottom, or you’ll end up there quicker than you thought.
Time
Time is money.
Prioritize your efforts.
I run on a strict schedule. I am doing a lot. Working a full-time job, being a full-time wife, being a full-time mom to two little kids, two toddlers. It is a lot, so I scheduled myself down to the 15th minute. I’m flexible. Things happen, I give myself plenty of grace, but I still plan my day.
I plan out these videos. I plan out these topics. I plan on how I work with my consulting clients. I plan on all the other side hustles that I have. I talk to the manufacturer. I talk to the product design team. I talk to my clients, and I schedule all of that. I’m really good with my email. I’m really good with my communication skills, and I’m really good at keeping track and scheduling myself, to the point where I still get my rest. I still get in my workout and get in my me time and still be getting my self-care.
All of that is based upon my schedule and being intentional about what I want to do, what I want to accomplish, and if you really are buying for creating time, refer to my blog where the main topic is just creating more time in your day. Waking up an hour early and/or going to bed an hour later. That newly built in an hour or two into your day, at 7 to 14 hours in a week, times that by 52, that’s a lot of extra time, you just found right there.
Make sacrifices.
People
And the last resource you may lack is people.
If you have unproductive family and friends around you or people trying to not only not see you succeed, but they are actually hindering your success, upgrade your environment, and get out of that.
Get around people that are going to help elevate you and invigorate your mind.
Reach out to outside sources.
There are plenty of people who have gone through it, and they want to mentor you. There are plenty of people going through it now and want to go through it with you. Do that cross-talk, find them, and socialize with them. Network with them, so you can pick each other’s brains.
You can find people that can fill the holes that you can’t serve yourself, and it will help their business while they’re helping your business.
I’m also working an arm for my current projects. I’ll tell you about it in a couple weeks, but it discusses this subject explicitly. We will see that soon.
In the end, don’t let surface problems keep you from starting a business.
Don’t let lack of resources, lack of funding, lack of time, lack of money keep you from reaching your exponential greatness.
With planning and sweat equity, also called effort, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
Good luck!