How to Launch Your Startup for $100 Or Less
If you’ve been around a while, you know that I have gone through a lot of side hustles. DoorDash, Secret Shopping, Freelancing on Upwork - you name it, I’ve tried it. I have had some good moments with each of these, but none of them are designed to help a person build long-lasting wealth. In each, you rely on demand generated by another entity, your pay is determined by someone else, and most of the time you aren't in control.
If you have a great idea for a business but very little cash to get started, it can be hard to know what’s absolutely necessary, and where you need to spend a little. The bottom line is it’s up to you - but if you want to stay lean, you’re in the right place!
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to launch your business without spending much money at all. Keep reading and you’ll discover exactly what you need to spend money on - and what you need to skip.
Whether you're thinking about starting a product-based shop or a service-based freelancing career, these tips will help get your business off the ground quickly without spending an arm and a leg.
Do your research and choose a solution to a proven, common problem.
We’ll come back to this in marketing, but it’s important to launch your business to solve a problem - more specifically, to solve a problem that lots of people have and are willing to pay money to solve. Your product should, at the very minimum, save your customer time, improve their quality of life, or bring them joy.
You may be surprised to learn that you don't actually need a product idea before starting your business. In fact, most successful startups were built on solving a problem that the founders experienced themselves and found frustrating (hello Airbnb!). If you can think back to how you were feeling when you had this problem, chances are those feelings will resonate with other people who have similar issues or goals in their lives.
So, your first step is to brainstorm some problems you have some experience with and note how you might solve them. For example:
Small business owners are overwhelmed with social media, and you’re a marking specialist who’s been using Instagram and Facebook for a decade.
Bridesmaids planning bachelorette parties are looking for fun, printable games and you just made a scavenger hunt for your best friend’s party last year
While working as a barista, you notice that a lot of customers have questions about making their favorite drinks at home - and you know exactly what tools they need
Often, your ideal customer is some version of you from the past - you had a problem, and somehow solved it for yourself or for your boss, or for a friend. Whatever you learned, there’s probably someone out there who’s going through the same thing!
Build your product.
It’s important to build a minimum viable product (MVP) as early as possible. This is the first version of your product; it probably doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it does solve the core problem you defined earlier.
Build it fast, get customers using your product and get their feedback. Ask yourself: Did they have what they needed? Did they like what I built? What did I miss? What went wrong?
Refine based on their feedback, until you have a solid product that solves a core problem for your customer base.
Don't worry about developing a huge, all-inclusive product from the start - build smaller portions of your solution and test before committing months of your life to something that doesn't actually sell.
Note that your product doesn’t have to be a physical thing. This could be an ebook, a blog post, a printable, a service package… the list is endless. Another option is to start a blog where your “product” is actually an affiliate link to someone else’s product. In that case, what you build is your blog posts.
Minimize your overhead - don’t get an office, hire employees, or keep an inventory.
Overhead is the cost of running your business. It includes rent and utilities, insurance, payroll and benefits for yourself and any employees you may have, licensing fees, taxes on your business operations (sales tax in most states), etc. The less overhead you have, the better.
In other words: don’t spend money on anything that is not directly related to making sales.
If you’re wondering what it is you actually should spend money on, it’s this:
Registration for an EIN and state
A website domain and hosting
That’s it. That’s the list, as far as I’m concerned - obviously physical product-based businesses will require a few more items that will vary greatly, but I’d encourage you to consider choosing something that doesn’t require that first. You can always grow to include products later.
With what’s left of your initial budget, consider adding on the following to make up for any gaps in your existing skillset:
A shopfront (though there are free versions of this)
Some branding elements (Canva Pro has great logo and social media templates, or you can browse Creative Market for bundles that include everything)
Hire a photographer to capture some amazing photos of people using your product
Get a domain name and website, logo, and brand colors.
Domain name and website are absolute firsts - make sure whatever name you pick for your product and business, it’s available on all of the platforms you’re going to use. Check if it’s registered in your state, too. And - make sure to find a way for people to pay you, whether that’s Shopify, PayPal, or something else.
Your domain name is the web address where people can find you online. It’s usually something like yourbusinessname.com, but it can be anything that works for you and isn't taken by someone else already (make sure to check!). You should also have a website that tells people about what you do and has a place where they can buy from you. If this sounds like too much work, use Shopify as an affordable option; they will set up your store with payment processing so customers can pay through their site in one step after checking out.
In addition to making sure your domain name isn't taken by anyone else, make sure there are no typos! There's nothing more embarrassing than sending someone somewhere other than where they want to go because of an error like misspelling "your" as "you're."
Once everything is ready on the web side of things (website URL/domain), purchase some logo designs on Canvas or Creative Market if possible - both sites offer hundreds of options starting at around $5 each! The best part? Once purchased from these websites all files are delivered instantly so no waiting time is required before getting started!
Build a marketing plan that doesn’t rely on paid ads.
You can save a lot of money by building your marketing plan around organic (i.e., free) channels. While paid ads will certainly boost your reach, the return on investment isn’t always worth it when you’re just starting out. If you invest your time into learning SEO, social media, and content marketing strategies, you can bring in high-quality traffic that's likely to convert into paying customers.
Start small and test different strategies to see what works for your business—this will allow you to spend less money while still giving yourself enough time to track results before deciding how much more money needs to be spent in each area (and where).
I generally find that Pinterest is absolutely necessary, but you can pick between Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube, and others based on what kind of content highlights your product best. If you want to make a course or how-to, Youtube might be right for you. If you’re a photographer, Instagram is likely the place to be!
Regardless of which platforms you want to focus on, you should reserve your brand name on all of them as soon as you choose it - just in case. (:
Bottom line - you can start a business for very little money if you’re willing to put in the work
My best advice is that everything is figure-out-able.
Most people think that starting a business costs big money and requires serious planning— then, if all goes well, maybe one day they will have thousands of dollars in their bank account. But the truth is that starting a business doesn’t have to be so expensive or complicated; all it takes is creativity and perseverance (plus some elbow grease). You can get started with very little money by being resourceful and working smartly—and there are many free or cheap resources available to help you along the way.
If you want a more detailed step-by-step guide, check out our Ultimate Guide to Launching a Business for Under $100. This will walk you through all of the steps to launch, and some of my favorite resources for DIY-ing your brand along the way!
x Rin
