9 Steps to Successfully Start a Business With No Money

13 min. read

Updated February 18, 2025

Are you the type of entrepreneur who has big ideas and the drive to bring them to life, but feels held back by a lack of funds?

Many people just like you dream of getting into the world of self-employment by owning their own business.

Unfortunately, some people end up completely putting off their ambitions. The pressure to quickly generate revenue to cover startup costs — or get outside financing like a bank loan — can feel overwhelming.

But, it is possible to start a business without having much — or even any — cash available.

You just need to be strategic and patient in your approach.

Can you start a business with no money?

The short answer is “yes”. Here are 9 steps you can take to go from idea to full-fledged business with little to no funding.

1. Identify your business idea

The foundation of a business is based on strong ideas. So It’s only natural that identifying your business idea is the first milestone in your entrepreneurial journey.

Start by brainstorming and writing down your potential options. Pay attention to how you can be of service to customers by offering a solution that doesn’t currently exist or is better than existing options.

Analyze the ideas you have. How passionate are you about them? What talents do you have? Would your skillset make it successful?

Is there anything your family, friends, or colleagues say you’re good at or come to you when facing a particular problem? Narrow down to the one that stands out and catches your interest.

When you’re thinking about starting a business without any funding, it makes sense to consider offering services that require mainly your time and expertise rather than upfront capital. This could be consulting, freelance writing, virtual assistance, or teaching online courses in your area of expertise.

Here are some additional pointers that can help you find your business idea:

Examine your marketable skills or experience that can be turned into a business.
Analyze existing businesses and explore customer needs that these businesses currently don’t fill.
Look at frustrations or pain points in your own life. Are there products or services that you wish existed that would make your own life better?
Look at existing products and services and think about how to improve or add value to them

Idea generation is also one of the areas where AI tools like ChatGPT and the LivePlan AI Assistant really shine. Provide an AI chatbot with your background, experience and interests and see what it provides as an output.

Just remember, it’s your job as an entrepreneur to sort through those outputs and separate any good ideas from bad ones. AI is a collaborator, not a replacement for your own ideas.

Make smarter business decisions with AI-powered analysis

2. Conduct market research

Understanding the market is crucial to determine your business idea’s potential in the real world. So once you have an idea, start conducting thorough market research.

This will give you an idea of the overall market landscape and how your business might perform.

Identify your potential competitors and what they’re doing. Your main aim is to determine whether you have a more innovative, better, and cost-effective way of doing things. By studying your competition, you’ll discover how you can position your product or service as different from your competition. You can also figure out a unique value proposition for your business.

Research your potential customers as well. Understand their occupations, age, education levels, and locations. Study their current buying habits and what they’re willing to pay more for products and services like yours.

This is an area where AI is less helpful than for idea generation. It frequently gets facts wrong. Say you’ve noticed that many seniors in your small town lack access to services, so you plan to start a grocery and prescription delivery business in your small town. AI doesn’t understand the unique market dynamics of your geographic area, so any information it gives you is unlikely to be helpful — it may even invent information.

You’re better off reading through online reviews of similar types of businesses or surveying people in social media groups.

Talking directly to potential customers can shed light on areas where their needs aren’t fulfilled. The information you gather will help you understand your target customers’ types of purchasing habits, needs, and preferences.

The end goal of doing market research is to help determine if there is a need for your product or service in the market: Are customers going to want to buy what you are selling?

3. Get set up with free tools

While it can be tempting to want to get things set up professionally, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to invest in paid tools to run your business until you’ve proven that you can make sales.

Initially, take advantage of free business tools like Google Workspace for email and documents, Canva for design, and social media platforms for marketing. Many software platforms also offer free starter plans for small businesses.

4. Bootstrap with pre-sales

Whether you’re selling a product or service, testing the idea with no cost or the least cost possible is the best way to reduce your risk and ensure that you can build a real business.

Even if you feel confident about your business idea, until customers are actually paying you for your product or service, you don’t know if your idea will really work.

One option is to validate your idea by getting customers to pre-order or pre-pay. This provides working capital and confirms market demand before investing resources.

You can experiment with pre-orders by conducting a crowdfunding campaign on a platform like Kickstarter. If customers are interested, the pre-orders will give a good indication that the business idea is worth pursuing. Even if you don’t get the funding, you’ll get feedback that will guide you on areas to improve.

Creating a simple website or social media campaign is another way to test your idea and generate pre-orders. Get your website in front of potential customers and see if they are willing to place a pre-order. If you can get pre-orders, this will help you fund the delivery of your actual product or service.

Another option is to develop a minimum viable product (MVP). This is a bare bones version of a new product or service to test if you can sell to your target customer. The purpose of an MVP is to explore if customers will reach into their wallets and actually pay you for what you’re offering.

Your MVP isn’t going to be perfect – its only job is to prove that you can make a sale.

Keep in mind that your intent is to determine whether the idea is viable or not. If things don’t go as you had hoped, use the feedback to reflect on what areas to improve on, or if the idea isn’t worth pursuing.

5. Leverage existing platforms

Leveraging existing platforms can be a smart way to start your business without significant upfront investment. These platforms have already done the hard work of building trust, establishing payment systems, and creating a user base – you just need to plug into their ecosystem.

When choosing a platform, consider your business type carefully. If you’re selling physical or digital products, platforms like Etsy have carved out a strong niche for handmade items, vintage goods, and digital products. Amazon Handmade provides access to Amazon’s massive customer base, while eBay remains a viable option for both new and used items, especially unique or collectible goods.

Service providers have their own set of platforms to consider. Upwork and Fiverr have become go-to marketplaces for freelance services like writing, design, and programming. For local services, platforms like TaskRabbit and Thumbtack excel at connecting professionals with customers in their area.

Those looking to share their knowledge can turn to platforms like Udemy, Teachable, or Outschool. These educational marketplaces let you create and sell courses, reaching students eager to learn from your expertise.

The advantages of using established platforms extend beyond just their user base. You’ll benefit from built-in payment processing, security systems, and mobile infrastructure that would be costly to develop on your own. Most platforms also provide basic marketing tools and analytics to help you understand and grow your business.

To succeed on these platforms, focus on understanding what works in your specific marketplace. Study successful sellers in your niche and pay attention to how they present their offerings. Maintain competitive pricing initially to build reviews, and always prioritize exceptional customer service. Quality presentation matters too – use professional photos and write detailed descriptions that answer common customer questions.

While these platforms make an excellent starting point, remember that they’re not the final destination for most businesses. As you build your customer base and understand your market better, you can gradually transition to your own website and direct customer relationships. This hybrid approach lets you maintain the stability of platform sales while developing your independent presence.

Consider spreading your presence across multiple platforms to diversify your revenue streams and reach different customer segments. Just be sure to maintain consistent quality and service levels across all your channels. The key is to use these platforms as a launching pad while building toward your larger business goals.

6. Start as a side-hustle

Sure, your idea is exciting, but don’t get carried away. Immediately quitting your job and registering a sole proprietorship is about as risky as it gets.

So start slow. Best to run the business as a side hustle in these early days, whether that’s after work or on weekends. You should also be realistic about the commitment required. Going on the path to starting a business will require making compromises in other areas of your life as you balance this new venture with your day job.

Your job will ensure your livelihood isn’t relying on the success of your business.

Keep doing what you’ve been doing for a living with the aim of working hard and smart on your business. You can decide to leave your job when your startup can pay you.

7. Network and build partnerships

Sometimes it really is about who you know. If you’re starting a business with limited resources, consider how you invest your time. Forging networks by interacting with people in your industry is a great way to learn from entrepreneurs on the same journey as you.

Even if your concept is unique, it’s still worth networking with other entrepreneurs. Talking to people who have been down a similar road will help you learn what it takes to run a successful startup.

Seminars and webinars, events, conferences, social media groups and online forums can also play a huge role. If you’re in the US, connecting with a local SCORE affiliate or Small Business Development Center can keep you updated on workshops and events near you. Even Reddit groups for entrepreneurs and small business owners (known as subreddits) can provide a ton of free knowledge from entrepreneurs who have walked in your footsteps.

8. Focus on organic marketing

You should tap into the power of social media to leverage word-of-mouth marketing. Create a post, page, or short video about your product or service, share it on social platforms, and see how many people are interested. Their interactions, comments, views, shares and reactions should give you some indication about how your idea is being received.

From Instagram to TikTok to LinkedIn, social media is everywhere. So you should take advantage of these (mostly) free tools to create social media pages that showcase your business.

Use social media posts to drive traffic to your website or online shop. Respond to the comments written by your customers, and participate in social groups or forums. This is a great way to start building an audience and engagement naturally. Just keep in mind that it will take time and effort to maintain.

Launch a website for your business and utilize free SEO tools to research the most valuable keywords in your industry. Use your results to create search-optimized pages that describe your product or service, provide an overview of your reason for starting the business, answer frequently asked questions, and provide sales and contact information. Putting your physical address on the contact page is a good way to rank in search engine results when someone conducts a regional search.

Make sure your website has a blog section where you publish optimized content regularly. Take advantage of free content marketing courses to hone your skills. Similarly, free digital marketing courses can teach you which method works depending on the business.

9. Develop a plan

You’ve learned a lot about what you’re getting into by this stage. Based on the information you’ve gathered and (hopefully) some initial sales or pre-orders, it’s time to outline your business’s current and future goals. You need to have a business plan to organize the direction of your business.

If you don’t know how to write a business plan, use this free online template.

A good business plan helps you set short-term and long-term goals and explore what it will take from a financial perspective to grow your business. It will be a roadmap for your next steps and is crucial if you get to the point when you might pursue funding to take your business to the next level.

When your business is ready, explore funding options

In the initial stages of executing your business idea, it’s best to stay lean and avoid unnecessary expenses. However, as the business grows, there comes the point when you might need outside funding to grow.

Planning for this moment will help ensure that your idea doesn’t run into a cash flow crisis — something that can happen even to businesses that are popular and generating revenue.

If your business reaches the point where you need funding or extra capital for growth, it’s time to explore your funding options. If you have enough savings, you can inject that into your business. However, if that’s not the case, consider other funding options.

The most traditional and obvious option for small business owners is to apply for a bank loan. However, it’s also worth exploring grants from federal, state, or regional agencies. There may even be private grant options from larger organizations. These are typically grant programs that cater to specific demographics such as minorities, veterans, and other underrepresented small business owners.

Not interested in traditional funding? Leverage crowdfunding sites to raise funds in exchange for the product/service, debt, or the purchase of small shares in the idea. The ideal stage for crowdfunding can be the testing phase.

Friends and family are a common source of financing, too. However, be professional and agree on the investment or loan terms to avoid ruining your relationship.

If you’re in more of a startup environment, angel investors and venture capitalists may be your best option. These are primarily used by businesses looking for quick funding in exchange for ownership equity, royalty payment, or convertible debt.

Getting your business started without outside investment or loans can be the ultimate way to prove that you have a good business idea. When you force yourself to work within significant constraints, you’ll ensure that you are building a business that can actually generate a profit and be sustainable in the long run.