Susan's Surprises: My Experience in Online Marketing: Survival Strategies for Cash-Strapped Online Entrepreneurs

Survival Strategies for Cash-Strapped Online Entrepreneurs

When you’re first getting started with an online business, there’s a lot to manage. Even if you simplify things by putting your efforts behind a proven business model, there’s still a learning curve, and budgeting for advertising can be tricky. In fact, people often ask me how they’re supposed to find the money to advertise when they don’t have a job, or they quit their job in order to focus on their business full-time.

Jumping Right In

The approach you take to funding your advertising campaigns will really depend on how much risk you’re willing to accept and what you’re willing to do in order to focus on your business full-time. In other words, what kind of sacrifices are you prepared to make?
In my case, for example, I assumed more risk than most people would probably be comfortable with. Back in 2009, when I was less than a year into the business, I quit all of the odd side jobs I had because I wanted to focus exclusively on growing my business.
I even went beyond quitting my jobs. At the time, I was a university student, so I received a monthly payment from the government that was earmarked for students, who generally don’t have a lot of money.
Even though I qualified to receive that money, I opted-out of it because I wanted to remove any and all safety nets from my life. The whole idea was to put myself in such a stark situation that only the success of my business could lift me out of it.
That’s what worked for me; burning all bridges so I had no choice but to succeed.
Now, I realize, of course, that for most people’s situations, this approach may not be advisable. But if you want to focus on your business exclusively, you’re going to have to hustle a bit.
In my case, hustling meant looking around and selling anything I didn’t need anymore; an old laptop, an old bicycle—pretty much anything of value that I no longer had a use for. I’d sell it and immediately invest the cash in my business. Sometimes I’d even borrow the money (mostly via credit cards); but, for the most part, I hustled for it.
Now, occasionally, I did have to put my advertising on hold because I couldn’t afford it. But even during those times, I continued promoting my business with time-consuming free traffic strategies. I’d just do them until some money came in, and then I’d go right back to paying for traffic. (I always recognized paid traffic as the best way to grow my business; it’s much faster and much more scalable.)
So, that’s the one answer to the question of how to find money to advertise: hustle. Creating money out of thin air is just one of those skills that every entrepreneur needs to develop. There’s no substitute for resourcefulness.

Wading into Your Comfort Zone

If you want to be a little more conservative in your approach, another option is to have a part-time job on the side while building your business. For some people, this is the only way to pay the bills while getting up and running. And that’s fine. Just be careful not to get too comfortable relying on your part-time income. Your mindset needs to be: This is not a hobby; I’m 100 percent devoted to growing my business and leaving my job behind.
If you are going to have a part-time job, you should limit it to a few hours a day. Do good work, but treat it like what it is: a short-term side venture. The rest of your time should be focused on growing your business as much as you can.
Also, if you do go the part-time job route, try to find a job that aligns with your own business goals. For example, in my early twenties, I took a telemarketing job that was 100 percent commission-based.
The reason I took that job was because I knew it would make me stronger in terms of dealing with rejection—and it would force me to learn how to sell very quickly because if I didn’t sell, I didn’t get paid.
Looking back, I can see how that job really helped me. I only did it for about three months, but it taught me to sell. And the skills were directly transferable to my own business. Keep this in mind if you decide you need a part-time job to fund your operation.
It’s never easy getting a business off the ground. Money will always be tight when you’re starting out. But if you hustle, train yourself to be resourceful and keep distractions—including any part-time jobs—to a minimum, you’ll persevere and eventually become successful. Matt Lloyd