When I was growing up, and even in my adult years, I heard time and again that it takes money to mak
e money.
WOW!! Does that limit the imagination! I mean, honestly, no one really thinks they HAVE money. I know people earning over $100,000 as a couple who feel like they’re perpetually broke. I know others who think they’ll be rich if they are earning $25,000 a year. Writers would be thrilled to earn ½ that on a book in many cases.
So, no matter your definition of a “limited” budget, I wanted to give a few ideas that I’ve used over the years of growing and contracting budgets. For those of you who DON’T know my story, my husband was diagnosed with cancer in December 2005, just 8 months after bringing home a special needs child from Russia. For the next couple of years he either couldn’t work or couldn’t work much. My writing wasn’t earning us much more than a couple hundred dollars.
That doesn’t seem like the right time to launch, does it? How about if I tell you that I opened my company in May 2007 when we had $165 to our NAME!
Well, while it may not make the ideal conditions to start a company, it does show that you REALLY don’t need huge sums of money in order to build a strong company. So, here are a few things I learned.
- Do SOMETHING! My first employee posted blogs for me for $20/month. I took $5/week from my grocery money to pay her. In under 6 months she was earning over $100/month because the consistent posting of my blog was generating more and more attention and, thus, business. So, don’t be limited by what you cannot do. Make a move!
- Build from there. I love teaching what I call “incremental marketing”. This works really well if you sell products or are a book author. Designate a specific amount of money that goes to buying your start up products. Let’s say, $100. Then buy what you can with that. As soon as you’ve earned back that $100, then stick that money in an envelope for the next time you need to replenish that product. Go ahead and spend the profit. Let’s imagine you buy your books at $5 each and sell them for $15. If you start with $100 then you can buy 20 copies. You only need to sell 7 copies before you have profit. SO, after that 7th book, put all the money aside and the money from the other 13 books. If you sell 10 and realize you need more, you have that $100 you set aside [remember it].In this way, you can continue to have money when you need it and you don’t overspend by getting emotional.
- Focus on what you CAN do, not on what you CAN’T. See, the reality is your own limiting thoughts stop you more often than genuine problems. Try to find ways around, over and through obstacles. They’ll help you, and down the line may help your consulting career.
So, what really is a limited budget? It is whatever you define it as. I’ve had as little as zero, then $20, then $100. Now my monthly base expenses for my company are about ½ what I earned in the first few years of my writing.
The key is to take away the limiting thoughts and the blinders and take a small, single step. I hope these have been helpful. For more ideas, click the Webinar tab to watch some free training on this topic.
Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter, The Writing Career Coach
Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.
I get this question quite a bit when I’m speaking to businesses about using content marketing to grow their business, but writers also ask how much they need to blog in order to build their platform and promote their book.
