My name is Clayton McIlrath and I am an entrepreneur currently living in CO. I personally enjoy the process of learning, exploring, and doing all things creative as well as sharing my experiences with others. Being an entrepreneur and business owner, I hope that my experiences may help someone else start their own venture and find success and freedom as I have! Feel free to contact me anytime for questions or opportunities.

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08 Jul 09

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Starting a Business with little Capital

Everyone has their opinions and advice for starting a business, the problem is most of the advice out there tells you how to start a business with a capital investment or loan.. but when we started Chosen we didn’t want either.. we wanted to follow the same path that 37 Signals traveled by “getting real” with development and work-flow and then finding ways to have your money work for you rather than surviving on income alone. So we did just that.. with little capital and a lot of heart we dove into this business head first. So far we’re still breathing.

Starting a business without Capital Investment

It’s easy to say that it can be done, but it’s a whole different story to actually execute. Like I mentioned before, take notes from the Getting Real plan. Start your business by moonlight.. don’t quit your day job and jump right in (of course we’re hypocrites saying this because we jumped in, but I wish we had moonlighted first). Either negotiate with your employer to work part-time for a while or start your business at nights.. that way you have the income still to support your bills, but you can start planning and developing your business. Begin networking with other businesses in your field and going to seminars on weekends, because one of the greatest tools in starting a business is connections.

Along with the moonlighting, establish a budget. You may not know all of the costs to operate your business, and you may not be able to prepare for every road block or pitfall. What you can do, however, is give yourself a cushion. Depending on your liabilities (bills), you may want anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 saved up before you quit you job and go full-time as a business.

[podcast format="video"]http://thinkclay.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/business-sense-with-a-few-cents-desktop.m4v[/podcast]

About our Web Company

This post is based on our opinions and testimonials with starting our Web Company. Thinkclay is a blog by Clayton McIlrath based out of Lansing, MI. You can find more us by searching: Lansing Web, Powered by WordPress and Graphic Design Portfolio

  • http://notyetpublished john

    Nice video post you guys. I have just started up with my best friend and girl friend. I hope it works out for us the way it’s working out for you guys.

  • http://thinkclay.com Clay McIlrath

    Awesome John. Send us a link when you get your site launched, and we’ll network with ya. Good luck!

  • http://veridian-systems.com Brian Hazelton

    I too have enjoyed your post. I have recently started a company by myself doing web development and am finding it hard to find a lot of clients. Do you have any tips and suggestions? Where should I advertise and how much should I spend, what has worked for you?

  • http://thinkclay.com Clay McIlrath

    @Brian: i would network in person. There are a lot of companies advertising and spending lots of money targeting keywords related to web development, seo, and so forth. The best for of advertisement is word of mouth. Put together an event.. like a “win a free website” contest or something similar. Or donate to a charity and let local news know about it. We did lots of stuff to get recognition and now clients come to us without us having to advertise or search any more: For example: http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2008/09/canine_parade_breeds_awareness

  • http://veridian-systems.com/ Brian Hazelton

    I have been thinking of putting together a rock concert and donating the profit to charity…I have a couple of friends who know a lot of the local bands. For letting the local news know about it without sounding like I just want to get the publicity for myself, how would you talk to the news?

  • http://thinkclay.com Clay McIlrath

    Your rock concert idea sounds like a good idea, just keep in mind a few things:

    * How does the event you are “sponsering” promote your services?
    * Who is your target audience?
    * How will your event motivate your target audience to use your services?

    If your target audience is artists, bands and music, then this is a great way to advertise yourself to that audience.. as well as going to concerts and such and handing out business cards.

    However, if this isn’t your target audience, you may want to consider your strategy.

    For example, our dog walk was set to walk the blocks in the business district of lansing. That area is very busy during the noon hour with business men and women walking around in their suits and living their very strict routine lives.. so when a bunch of young people with dogs, shirts, and flyers came strolling through.. we completely changed the norm.. and everyone wanted to see what was going on. We literally had people running out of buildings and crowding the streets to see what we were doing. We hit our target audience PERFECT but we did it subtly. Everyone that was interested to see the dogs and what we were doing got a shirt or flyer relevant to the dogs, but also branded with our name and link to our website.

    It’s all about strategy.. how can you sell yourself without it being obvious?

  • http://none.com Mark Vice

    I love it!

  • Michael

    I have decided to start my own web business, and I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate what you’ve done here with this web site and your devotion to helping others.

  • http://www.magento-themes.jextn.com Magento Themes

    Its always necessary to have a budget for the business and also working during moonlight is great, as you would also have a backup revenue from your regular employer.

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