Do you have $1,000 to start a business? Planning your business budget is one of the most stressful parts for new business owners. But you are afraid to spend money because you have zero sales yet! Here’s where you should spend it!
You have a fantastic idea, and I can’t wait to ditch your 9-5 job and launch your online business.
Your goal should be NOT to get a small business loan just because you will pay interest.
So, to help you get started, here are the tools and resources you need to kickstart your journey without spending thousands of dollars.
The total cost comes in under $1,000… It isn’t a small chunk of money by any means, and you may decide to go for a monthly plan (which I did when I first launched my online business), but my goal is to help you launch your dream business with a tiny budget.
1. INVEST IN YOUR BUSINESS STRUCTURE
First thing first, you want to invest in your business structure. A business structure describes the legal structure of a company that influences the day-to-day operations of a business.
Depending on where you live around the globe, you may want to ask a lawyer to help you establish which legal structure best suits your need.
In Canada, you want to invest in an Inc. (incorporated), whereas, in the United States, you want to invest in an LLC (limited liability company) business structure.
A corporation or “Inc.” and an LCC offers many potential advantages, making them one of the most popular options for small business owners.
It’s an entirely separate entity from its owners and shareholders, providing personal liability protection; this means that an owner’s financial assets aren’t in danger if the Inc./LLC goes into debt or is sued.
Depending on your location, this fee ranges from $40 to $500. Let’s say for the budgeting issue, $270.
2. INVEST IN PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTS
When we launch our business, we need to get legal advice. Paige Hulse is my go-to for all things legal. You can find her legal templates, Privacy Policy, and Terms and Conditions for your site at shopcreativelaw.com. She also helps entrepreneurs with the legal aspects of their businesses.
You can shop by industry or legal needs; she offers many industry contracts. Many run around $380.
3. SAGE TO MANAGE YOUR FINANCE
Now, let’s talk about your finance because you need to invest in a financial management system to manage your numbers. A financial management system is the software and processes used to manage an organization’s income, expenses, and assets.
In addition to supporting daily financial operations, a financial management system aims to maximize profits and ensure long-term enterprise sustainability.
I often receive questions about using or not using Excel for Financial Statements. 🤔
The question was if using Excel for Financial Statements was a good option, mainly because Excel is free.
My answer is NO!
WHY?
Excel is error-prone!
You need an accounting system! An accounting system processes your financial information and offers essential bookkeeping and accounting features, comprehensive reporting, and inventory tracking.
I love to use Excel to create a budget, but since I launch my business, I’ve been using SAGE to manage all accounting aspects of my business. At the end of my fiscal year, my accountant only needs a copy to prepare my Financial Statements.
SAGE Accounting is software for managing your business’s accounting. It allows you to quickly and easily create and track invoices, and cash flow, accept payments, record transactions, automate admin, capture expenses, and more.
You can start for $15 per month and start with a 3-month free promotion. Budgeting for the other nine months will cost $135 this year ($15/month).
4. MAILCHIMP OR CONVERTKIT FOR YOUR EMAIL MARKETING
Remember that your email list is one of the most critical assets of your business. It’s super important to build your list even if you have nothing to sell.
Because we are on a tiny budget, let’s use FREE tools. There are no “wrong” choices here. Take the time to look at book options and think long-term to establish the best option as your business grows.
5. CANVA FOR YOUR GRAPHICS & BRANDING
Canva is a FREE graphic design platform for making business cards and Instagram posts and creating your lead magnets (FREEBIES) and course slides. A drag-and-drop interface makes customizing thousands of templates straightforward.
They have hundreds of FREE templates for any graphic design needs! If you are starting, you can get away with the accessible version of Canva! The Pro version is $9.99 per month, and you get access to even more templates and my favorite tool… the background remover!
To keep this to a tiny budget, I’m going to go $0 for this one just because you have access to the FREE option.
6. SQUARESPACE TO CREATE YOUR FIRST WEBSITE
Because you need a website to promote your business and your offering, SQUARESPACE is a good option. Start with a flexible template, then customize it with our website builder to fit your style and professional needs. This fee starts at $192 for one year ($16/month) for the personal plan.
7. GODADDY, FOR YOUR WEBSITE DOMAIN
You need a website to promote your business and tell your potential customers WHO you are, WHAT you do, and WHY they should decide to buy your products or services. You need a domain for your website…
Domains from GoDaddy can cost anywhere from $2 to $20, so we’ll call it an average of $11 for the cost of a domain. This is necessary; you must secure a URL to promote your business!
8. SOCIAL CURATOR FOR IMAGES
We all know that branding sessions can be expensive, but you should invest in a mini-session with a photographer to get professional shoots of yourself. It cost me less than $200 to get three photos I used for my website.
However, you need beautiful photos representing the industry! I love to use Social Curator from Jasmine Star. This membership starts at $49/month to access thousands of curated, beautiful images and captions.
I use these stock photos all over my brand, from my social media to my website, to freebie graphics and course slides! However, you need beautiful photos representing the industry.
If you don’t want to spend money, I love to use Unsplash and Pexels for my images – both offer FREE stock photos. To keep this to a budget, I’m going to go $0 for this one just because you have access to FREE stock images.
9. MONDAY.COM TO MANAGE YOUR PROJECTS
Having a project management system for your business will change everything. I went from being unorganized in my office with paper all over the place to have a systemized, organized way of tracking every project (Blog, Podcast, Courses, 1:1 Coaching)! I love to use a program called Monday.
If you are starting your journey, they offer a FREE version if you only have two team members. I use their individual package (up to two seats), and it’s FREE!
We are now at $988 to get a business up and running! So if you have $1,000 to start a business, you can kickstart your journey TODAY!
Launching your first online business can be challenging, but I want you to think long-term. You want to start by building a strong business foundation to build a solid online business. Start small and remember that consistency is the key to success.
Cheers to your next level of success! 🥂
