Getting over the challenges and demand of running a business requires hard work, grit and some luck. The financial support comes from investors, a loan or a bootstrapping strategy.

For freelancers or those trying to make their “side hustle” into a full time gig, bootstrapping presents the most upside. It’s not easy, but the opportunity to grow without debt or initial costs pays off big in a big way. Just ask Will Dean of Tough Mudder or Nick Woodman of GoPro or stock exchange giants like Facebook, Apple and Coca Cola.

Data from ProjectionHub suggests about 34 percent of startups are bootstrapping. If you’re part of that intrepid one-third of business owners, consider these strategies for success.

Develop a Bootstrap Mindset

The best offense is a good defense. When it comes to bootstrapping, the best defense is strict financial management and wise decisions. Begin by setting up a business banking account and use free versions of Quickbooks and Mint so each expense is tracked and categorized.

Keep expenses low and cost efficient by following these ideas.

Pick the Right Co-founder or Team. Make sure your co-founder has a symbiotic set of skills and personality traits. For example, one founder might be technical and another sales and customer focused.

Outsource Strategically. You’ll be doing things in-house to save costs. But there’s no sense in trying to do everything when your specialize in a specific area. Determine your biggest weakness – design, marketing, IT, etc – and use outsource partners to get things done without sacrificing quality.

Choose a Smart Business Model. How you structure your business makes a big
difference for accounting purposes. For instance, freelancers may opt for
subscription-based model to generate consistent and recurring revenue. Start from the bottom of the funnel by making sure you can deliver on customer experience before diving into subscription services.

Cut Personal Expenses. Speaking of subscriptions, stop paying for them. Entertainment, food delivery and convenience services should be canceled, unless they’re vital to the business. Basically, you’ll need to adopt a “beans and rice” diet and lifestyle during the bootstrapping phase.

Always Be Negotiating. Bootstrapping isn’t as easy as pushing a button. You’ll need to save small amounts across all transactions and business costs. Negotiate the best rate with suppliers, software providers and financial institutions. As a freelancer, focus on getting the highest possible rate on every project.

Strategic Marketing

Low-cost tactics that yield high returns created the communities behind guerilla marketing and growth hacking. Your marketing budget will be non-existent during the bootstrapping phase, creative but frugal strategies are key.

For example, you can create content yourself and distribute it via a blog, social
media or by getting it published on reputable sites. This stream of content can be used to attract potential customers and build authority through an email newsletter. Alex Turnbull, the founder of Groove, saved his business from the brink of failure by getting serious about content marketing. Through research and speaking with top content marketers, he discovered their content needed solve challenges around cash flow, hiring, product, marketing and growth. Their blog now gets 250,000
readers per month.

Social media marketing is another option with huge potential. The cost is the hours you put in. But there’s quick hacks you can use too. One social media influencer recorded up to 2,500 percent increase in engagement by offering specific call to actions in posts, such as: “Tag someone that would like to see this”, “Type ‘YES’ if you agree”, or “Comment below!”

Here are more bootstrap-friendly social media tips:

Use Tools to Automate – Use Buffer or Hootsuite to consolidate management of social media accounts into one place. Schedule posts consistently and easily engage with people.

Build Personal Network – Expand your personal network on social media platforms, add as many friends as possible without being spammy. Your business pages will gain initial traction without paying for promotion.

Find and Engage Influencers – Identify the prominent figures in your space. If you’re able to secure cross-promotion or affiliate partnerships, it’ll be valuable word-of-mouth marketing.

Focus on Customers

Prioritizing your time effectively is a big factor towards bootstrap success. Customers should be at the top of that priority list. More than 50 percent of millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers said they would stop doing business with a brand due to poor customer service, according to eMarketer. You can focus on being customer-centric by taking the time to speak with customers. The founders of Airbnb flew to New York City to speak with their first 24 hosts, when the service barely had any traction. The resulting changes, UI tweaks and professional photos, contributed to their explosive growth.

Commit to other gestures like sending personal thank you notes or apologies to customers. It can be tedious or frustrating, but the lessons learned will be invaluable. Many freelancers post their personal values and guarantees on their website, it’s a powerful statement when you live up to it through customer interaction.

Offer Equity

At some point, you may have steady growth without the capital required to pay staff. Entrepreneurs often offer a stake in the company instead of a salary. It’s critical to cut costs wherever possible during the bootstrap stage, so the advantage of offering equity is clear.

Creating an equity structure can be confusing and usually requires the assistance of a lawyer or tax expert. Vestd is a software that automates equity ownership. Use the free trial as you mull over the equity option to see how it would work out.

Many freelancers don’t think of equity options, or the possibility of selling their business. But they should. Deborah Ng was a freelance writer and founded freelancewritinggigs.com in 2005 as side project. The site grew and by 2010, she sold it to SplashPress Media. As a freelancer, figure out how to automate all components of your business. And consider launching a blog or website as side project that could turn into future cash opportunity.

Author:
MD Herman

Milton is a SaaS professional with more than eight years of writing and editing experience. He writes blog posts, whitepapers and case studies for SaaS companies looking to expand their reach. He’s currently pursuing his goal of becoming location independent.

BOOTSTRAPPING

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On Mindset, Money Management, and Working ON the Business

Not all entrepreneurs have access to seed funding, and
often, your shot at an investor taking a keen interest in what your startup is doing rests on your ability to demonstrate market traction in your investor pitch.

Without traction, you’re left with no choice but to haul yourself up by the bootstraps.

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6 Steps to Growing Your Email List from 0 to 1000

EMAIL MARKETING

….we’ve created this 6 step guide to growing your company’s email list from zero to 1,000 subscribers using AWeber. As you are busy with your full-time gig and side venture we have broken this guide up into small, actionable sections that will help you fully leverage the power of AWeber in building one of your strongest marketing assets, your email subscriber list.

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