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Thread: How much?

  1. #1
    Mr. Tax Man
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    Default How much?

    How much capital did it take for you to start your first business? Did you have these resources, or did you get outside help? Through loans, or do you have other investors?
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    I wouldn't advise it for others, but I started with no capital. I didn't really need much money to get started. All I really needed was a computer which I already had. If I were smarter I would have had more money saved since I wasn't exactly taking in any revenue in those early months.

    I guess I did have a little help here and there in paying the bills from family, but there was never a specific set amount of capital. It was more like "Can someone help me pay this months rent, please?" For whatever reason my family must like me and believe in me since they did help.

    On occasion in the beginning I also would so some part time work that wasn't related to my business. I helped a couple of people work on fixing up their homes and other kind of labor to help make ends meet.

    Mostly though I self financed everything and started with very little.
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    My first business I started from the household budget...it was a home childcare, so there wasn't a whole lot that I needed to get going other than registration fees, updating my first aid and buying a few safety products that I didn't bother with for my own baby...

    Everything has been started on a shoestring from the household budget and then growing through the profit brought in through the business.

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    I started with UK£7,000 at the time, conversion and inflation, probably about US$20,000 today. That was my own cash, no bank loans, partner and family investors added about $10,000, making $30,000 to start.

    Although I started with one worker, we set up to be a bigger company - incorporation, offices, buying equipment, etc. Very soon we had 4 staff and 4 workers. Top heavy - true, but we decided if we were going to grow quickly we had to have the staff first and hire employees as needed. It worked and at our peak we had 40 men in the field.

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    I followed the same strain as Vangogh, with basically no capital. This is to say that i did not need to purchase anything extra to start my business. I used the computer and printer that i already had. Spent under $200 on registering the business name, and i was in business.

    I did have to use savings to purchase stock, however this was on the basis get an order buy the stock, get paid for it. So i was not really out of pocket for anything unless i had an order that was going to pay the money back in.

    While i have to agree that this is not the ideal way that i would suggest to do things, it still comes back very much to what sort of business you are planning to operate and what the needs of that type of business are. If it is a business that requires a office setup and staff straight away then the capital needs are going to differ greatly to the needs of a business that has little need for additional staff, and any fixed office location.
    Last edited by orion_joel; 08-06-2008 at 11:57 PM.
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    $150 to register with the state. A computer I already had. A cell phone and plan I already had. Everything else was purchased after having my first client. so thus... not a start up cost.
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    My wife and I had been cleaning for someone else, subbing out work and using their supplies and equipment. They lost some of the car dealership contracts and we were out of work. We took our last checks and bought some business cards, equipment, supplies, and then hit the phones to contact potential customers. I don't know now exactly what we spent, but I'd say $400 or less to get going. Although having never cleaned an apartment (we cleaned offices, not things like ovens, refrigerators, bathrooms on any regular basis) we decided that was the industry to shoot for. Day work, somewhat regular volume of work as people are always moving, and lots of potential clients out there. I made 5 phone calls, got 3 appointments to meet the management, and landed 2 large communities, one being a property management company with many communities spread around.

    Eight years later, and we're still cleaning in our own business, though we eventually switched our focus to cleaning private homes. Not bad for $400 or so.

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    I think we're mostly showing how you don't necessarily need a lot of money to get a business going. Looking back over the thread only Frederick spent more than a few hundred to get going, though of course it depends some on the type of business you want to start.
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    I think the main key in how much it costs to get started in your business can be something that can be confusing and it very much depends on the business and the person starting it, and also to some extent what exactly you want from your business.

    Now, to expand on what i have previously mentioned above, while it only cost say roughtly $200-$300 for me to actually get started, this is based on what i physically paid out at the time i decided to start my business. What this does not really account for is the things that i already owned or improvised until i had the money and the want to spend it for that purpose.

    Before i started my business i had spent $3500 on a laptop, over $1000 on a desktop computer, i owned a printer which cost me $100 or so. I had paper, and ink and pens and envelopes, and all that sort of thing because i had a need for it other then business. This is not to say that i needed it to start a business but they are all things that when you have a business you start using. Later on down the track i spent $2000 on a colour laser printer, which if i had the money at the start i would have purchased up front when i started the business.

    So you could say that it really cost me $5,000-$10,000 to start my business, however the costs were not really directly related to doing so. While it is good to look at things and i love to be able to say that i started on just a few hundred, yet in the 6 years i have been in business turned over $600K or more, it is primarily based on the perception of the experience. I am not trying to discount the fact that people see they can start business for little more just create an extra bit of discussion, on your thoughts on this point.
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    That's true. Even though I didn't spend much to technically get started I had previously purchased a laptop and software and a printer and office supplies. All stuff I had here before going into business.

    Ans I agree it depends on what your business is. It would obviously cost more if I needed employees and an office to start. It would naturally cost more money if I needed a physical store or a plant to manufacture something.
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