and generally de-risk the opportunity.
Let’s say you’re planning to create an
ACT counseling business. You could start
as a part-time tutor for kids in their early
teens. This ideally would not only generate
incremental income, but would help you
build your brand in your community, give
you experience and insights, and, most
importantly, develop a prospective client
list, all of which you could parlay into
momentum for your startup.
Consider crowdfunding
If you have an idea for a product and a
knack for getting people excited about it,
crowdfunding through a site like Indiegogo
or Kickstarter could be another viable way to
solve your capital needs. Crowdfunding can
come in the form of actual investment and
ownership in your company or—amazingly—
in the form of prepayment by customers who
want ;rst dibs on your cool product. Yes,
people will park their money with you even
though you’re not even in production yet.
Jump-
start your
startup
Strapped for cash?
Consider these approaches
by RICH SLOAN
or all the talk of tech-savvy,
independent-minded millennials
embracing entrepreneurship,
statistics show that many of
them aren’t. The U.S. Small Business
Administration ( sba.gov) reported that in
;;;; fewer than ; percent of millennials
were self-employed, compared with ;.;
percent for Generation X and ;.; percent
for the baby boomer generation.
High student loan debt and other
economic issues may be contributing factors, making it challenging for many ;;-
and ;;-somethings to start companies.
If you are among the cash-strapped
millennials who could use some street
smarts and a jolt of inspiration, here are
just a few options to get you going.
Bootstrap your idea
If you’re low on cash, consider pursuing a business idea that doesn’t require a
large amount of upfront capital.
Plenty of successful startups get o;
the ground without big infusions of
cash. For example, Hannah Lavon, the
;;-year-old co-founder of Hooray
Hoopla, which sells and manufactures
quirky mismatched socks, called Pals
Socks ( palssocks.com), started up at the
end of ;;;; with just ;;;; for prototypes. Now, Hooray Hoopla’s Pals Socks
product line is sold in over ;;; stores
nationally. That’s a full-;edged business
started with less than ;;,;;;.
Start a side hustle
Working on your startup while still
employed is a great way to advance your
business idea, giving you ;rm footing
while you con;rm some key assumptions
Crowdfunding
F
Costco members who own
a business or want to start
one can find a suite of
small-business services on
Costco.com (click “Services”).
To be a successful crowdfunding campaigner, you’ll have to
demonstrate your marketing
savvy and know-how.
Online marketing plays
to millennials’ strengths as,
relatively speaking, they tend
to be well connected on social
media, which is ground zero
for crowdfunding campaigns.
The challenge in the crowd-
funding landscape is to break
through the noise by telling a
compelling story and demon-
strating the irresistible nature
of your product-to-be.
You need great images
and video, as well as editorial
content that showcases the
product and your know-how,
so people will naturally want
to pass them along to their
own networks.—RS
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Rich Sloan
is the co-founder of
StartupNation.com,
a business advice
and networking
website for
entrepreneurs.