Susan Schreter at seattlepi.com offers several useful tips on how to speed up the time to positive cash flow for new start-ups, which means income for the entrepreneur.
Her suggestions and my comments:
Specialize. Articulating at least one special area of expertise helps target and secure first customers. It works because customers prefer to select vendors that they think offer exceptional service value.
I also like to encourage specialization because it helps you get your message out to the market more clearly and more quickly. It also helps with word-of-mouth, as people are more likely to remember you if you are known for something specific and share that with others. "If you need X, call ABC Company -- that is what they do."
Call rather than advertise. Advertising costs money that cash-strapped entrepreneurs just don't have.
Bootstrap, bootstrap, bootstrap!! Not only does calling only cost your time, it makes a personal relationship with your customers, which in today's market conveys "value."
[Do] what customers love or need to have done. I know a disheartened, long-unemployed executive who started up a window-cleaning business targeted at homes with big cathedral ceilings. The idea came to him when he looked at the dirty windows in his own home. He bought a few ladders and cleaning supplies, then cold-called within upscale neighborhoods....These days, his business employs a full team of window washers.
Very true. Find pain in the market and create a solution to ease that pain.
Compare opportunities. Can you take home more money in a startup business than working part time at The Home Depot, Starbucks or Costco -- companies that offer health insurance benefits to part-time employees? Because few entrepreneurs can accurately predict the speed of first-income generation, consider working at a part-time job while revving up a new business.
One of my favorite bootstrapping techniques is "don't give up your day job." Find part-time work that complements the schedule what you are trying to start up. For example, if your new business is a day-time operation, find an evening job.
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