Katie McManus outlines three steps to start a business with no money: get a job for living expenses, do cash-generating side work like power-washing to build startup capital, and apply for grants. She also covers early investments in training and tools like Acuity or Calendly.
Here are three things I would do if I had no money and I wanted to start a business. I get this question all the time and here's my answer. Oh, and hi. I help ADHD business owners make more money in less time with your distractions by showing you how to discover your profitable niche, design an offer that they are starving to buy, and teach you how to market and sell your services for big money without wanting to vomit. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach. And for context, I started my coaching business about six years ago. Over four years, I built it up into a multiple six figure business, only working with clients one on one. A couple years ago, I started introducing group programs into it. I have a podcast called the Weeniecast. Um, and if I were to start over again, if I had no idea what I was doing and I had no money, this is how I would start. Number one, I would just get a job. And I don't mean that in a, well, I'll just get a job and give up on my dream and not start a business kind of way. One of the things that I know firsthand and secondhand from my clients is that starting a business does take money. There are certain tools that you're gonna have to get to be able to do this successfully without driving yourself nuts. And also, you're a human in a meat suit that requires food and shelter and water and some other necessities. Okay, so if you're starting a business, like, one of the things that you have to remember is that, you know, you can't count on it working out on your timeline. All right? So if you have no money, if you're not making money, you need to make sure that you have something that's going to sustain you, cover your bills, your rent, and your food while you're building this business. So, yeah, if I were starting with absolutely nothing and I had no idea what I was doing, then I would get a job that could cover the base expense of my living and fund my, my new business. Number two, if I needed money to be able to start a business, one of the things that I would absolutely do, if I had no idea what I was doing and I needed some capital to be able to like, hire a coach, learn how to do the thing, buy the stuff that I would need for my business, I would literally go door to door offering to power wash people's decks and, and driveways. I can't even make this up. I would hit up a friend who lived in a nice neighborhood and I would ask them if they would be willing to go door to door with me so that there's credibility and also safety because I'm a. And I would go to all the homeowners and just say, hey, listen, I'm coming through on Saturday and I'm going to be power washing driveways and decks and just checking in. Would you like me to come by and add you to my appointments for that day? And if they said yes, I would just ask them to put a $20 deposit down. And then as. As soon as I got like 10 houses, you know, with a thumbs up that they wanted me to come by on Saturday to power wash their stuff, I would then go to Home Depot and I would rent a power washer and I would come through and I would do my 10 appointments and I would collect whatever I was charging for that day. And I would do this as many times as I needed until I had enough money to actually go out and start my business. And I share this because I want you to know there's no shame around doing jobs like that. If you need the money to be able to fund your dreams, there's nothing shameful about what you do for money. Also, I think playing with a power washer for a day could be kind of fun. And number three, if I had no money and I were starting a business, I would absolutely be applying to grants. And a grant is basically money that you do not have to pay back. Okay. So there are a lot of companies and individuals who have a really high tax bill and to be able to cut it down, they will set money aside for grants for individuals and businesses and nonprofits, and you can absolutely go and apply to them. So I would be applying to them left, right and center. And so you have an idea of what it costs to start a business. Here's the basic rundown. So let's assume you do not have this skill yet. You want to be a copywriter or you want to be a coach. Okay? And so one of the expenses you're going to have to cover early on is training to do those things. If you want to do consulting and you're consulting on something that you previously did in a job, then you don't have to pay for that. Okay? Okay. You already have that experience. It's enough for you to go out and get clients. So, okay, so training maybe. Okay. Number two, you need some systems that will make your life easy and it will make it very easy for your clients to become clients. Okay? So number one, you have to get A scheduler. All right. Calendly. I, my, my favorite is acuity. They're the best in my mind. Um, you can have all your sales calls bookable through there, all of your client calls bookable through there. Um, if you have clients who are on a monthly retainer where they you each month for a certain amount of work each month, you can set up subscription payments through there. It is just kind of like a one shop stop and they're amazing, but that's another like $25 a month. Now you don't have to pay for a credit card processor. They will just take 2.9% out of each payment that you receive. I don't think you need a website early on. If you're just starting out, you do not need a website. You just need to invest some time on social media. But if you're starting a business and you've never done this before and you don't know what you don't know what you don't know, then you're also going to need to invest in some help because it can take years to try to figure it out on your own. And depending on your budget and depending on the type of business you want to start, you can find support out there that's anywhere from 200 to 5,000 per month. So if I were to start a business and I had no money and I had no idea what I was doing, I would do one of those three things until I had enough money to be able to invest in the things that I needed to get started. And I would make sure to invest in help, especially if I didn't know what I was doing so that I could accelerate the whole process. Right? Because diying a business, it can take years to make some money back. And if you're thinking about starting a business or you're in the process of starting one and you're struggling, please tell me in the comments, what do you want me to do? A video on next.
