Tips to Boot-Strap to Success #6

from Blog of Dr Shannon Reece 3/13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz 8/13

19. Twisplays Boot-strapping
Try to pre-sell your product or service. That will give you valuable feedback on it’s acceptance, + you’ll get marketing & sales experience – and maybe even some income. Started pre-selling as are developing your product. Try to get the eager first customer to pay for development. Making those first few sales will give you a lot of encouragement – and the first few hundred dollars to deposit in your bank account.

20. Get your Website goin !!!
The most important thing for me when starting my business was to have a professional looking website. Being able to create a professional looking website for free using WordPress as my publishing platform was my greatest achievement. I still use it today. It costs me $15 for a domain name and $15/mo with a cheap Shared Hosting account to get started. It continues to be the best investment I made for my small business.
The best marketing platform I could afford when starting up was Craigslist. It allowed me to advertise my services for free and helped me land my first 6 clients who provided the foundation for my business. (Clay Photography)

21. Don’t ignore your SLEEP to not De-Rail/ De-Frag
I began this journey as a ‘Bootstrapper’, and unexpected Entrepreneur” said Sarah of Good Nighties. I was chronically exhausted & found a line of women’s high-tech sleepwear that worked. After recovering my sleep, I discovered my creative mojo. (amazing what a little sleep will do) I then cold-called the company hopped on board the Little Engine that Could (2/10). Fast forward to today. We’re chugging along managing all Marketing/Sales and strategy efforts for GoodNighties, selling in all 50 states/11 countries on-line, speciality catalogs, Miraval (Oprah’s favorite spa). Our non-existent budget has proved challenging, but through creative ways (like doing everything ourselves) we manage to stay out of trouble! My advice to anyone going down this ‘track’ is to research & learn by doing everything yourself!

22. You’re the best Investor.
My name is Shahed Khan, I am a young entrepreneur, and founded ViaTask in early January of this year. Lets face it, not a lot of investors will pitch in their money into an idea that has no history of traction, nor any signs of improvement. I successfully Boot-strapped my own company from its beginning. My best advice for entrepreneurs would be to think of yourself as the Investor, do whatever it takes to develop your product/service and the [future] investments will automatically follow. If you would like more advice, please feel free to add us on Twitter

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