I keep getting people write me saying they do not have capital to start a business. Some even send me these kind of one liner questions – business to do with 100k, best business to invest in, small businesses to start in Nigeria. First of all, let me say that these phrases are not proper questions. If you cannot send me a full question or request, I would not understand what you require and cannot respond to your enquiry.
If starting a business is important to you, then you could as well invest time to articulate your request either in writing or as an audio message. The way you communicate to strangers, reflect the kind of mind-sett you have. That said, let me introduce you to a strategy to start off your idea with what you have.
Before you start, map it out.
Before you start a venture, a business, an idea or a project, it is very important to map out the resources you have or have access to in other to start your idea. Why? Very often we overlook what we have and solely let the absence of finance cloud our judgement about our capabilities. Wealth is not simply cash! A financially poor person is not automatically a poor person. I believe more in the possession of resources. Visit my FREE tutorial on Understanding wealth.
Resources is key and that is why you have investors investing their money into startups that do not have a dine. These investors know that money would not multiply itself, except you have a team of individuals with great resources involved.
Resource is a means to achieving your own goal. So why wait for external help, money or material? Why not look inwards to find out what you have that could be useful to start off your business. This is what I call resource mapping. If you are interested, click to join my program and learn about this process. Here are 7 actions to carry out now to help you map out the resources you have and identify the ones you need;
- Identify your personal skill needed for your venture.
- Get passionate.
- Identify material resource you can access.
- Identify how much financial resources you can raise.
- highlighting your resource limitations.
- Match needed resource with shared resources opportunities.
- Design your plan.
Let’s expand on these actions.
Identify your personal skill: What personal skill do you master that is relevant to the entrepreneurship idea you want to start? These skills are more like gifts, talents, things that you can do with easy by your nature or they could be learned skills. Write them down. If you do not have one, then you need to rethink the idea or business you want to start. If you find it challenging to identify this, you can get support by starting a conversation in our forum.
Get passionate about the personal skill you have identified: You can develop this skill or acquire new skill by improving your knowledge. There are benefits to becoming a KPI in your intended sector. Learn how to be a KPI from this free blog – Find your power and the secret to success.
Identify material resources available to you: What do you own? Material resource is basically anything that you will have to spend money buying in other to start your business or project idea, but you already have them. For example computer. Find out what material item you have that is needed to start your business. Do you need an office space and have a corner in your living room that would suit the requirement? Do you need a laptop and have one? List them all out.
How much financial resources can you raise? Do you have any form of money at your disposal like Savings, extra cash from monthly salary, money you intend to spend on some leisure or luxury item that you can do without for now. I have a full tutorial milestone in my program on how to raise finance. Join if you are interested.
Resource limitations: Ressource limitations are the missing things you need. Create your have and don’t have plan highlighting your resource limitations. What resources do you lack right now or do you still need to start off your idea? This list will help you visualise where you are and what the next steps would be.
Match needed ressource with shared resources opportunities: What resource do people i know have that can be useful to me? Look at your network of friends, families, colleagues. Is there anyone that you can work with to get some of the resources you need? Now match up resources from your network with the resources you still need.
Design your plan: Design your business plan around these resources you have identified above. I know some might want to skip this step – developing business plan. But remember, if you fail to plan, you have planed to fail. Learn why you need to have a plan for your business in this FREE tutorial. Can you start your business from that point?
Anytime I have an idea that I believe is worth venturing into, I simple follow this actions to begin realising the idea. I have put together a resource mapping strategy in my 6 key foundation milestone program for those interested. Feel feel to connect with me here if you have questions and I hope this blog have given you more reasons now to start with your idea.
Cheers, Joana
