If you have a full head of creative business ideas don’t let low budget stop you.
At first glance it may feel terrifying or simply overwhelming to suddenly step into the fierce business world and compete against all of these multinational big brands. But don’t forget that they also had to make this first step one day. You’ve most likely heard all of these stories about a few creative people in an old garage, who didn’t have to be money-rich to become successful. Instead, they were rich in ideas. Look at all of the startups or successful businesses run by just one person even without any office. We are living in the digital age, with internet connection becoming widely available. Your laptop or smartphone can become a powerful tool if you use it the right way. 
Costs, costs, costs everywhere
So you need to pay for so many things at the beginning; register a company, get a website, register a domain, get a logo, hire employees, start a production, buy resources, package costs, worldwide shipping… Don’t panic. Write a list of everything you need just in order to set off. See how much money you could devote from your current job or other savings as that will be your initial budget (which actually you don’t even need). In many cases, the sole ‘starting doing something’ is completely free of charge, really.
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Utilize your skills
First of all, you are already gifted with your own skills. Are you good with graphics? Design your logo. If you are skilled with computers, you can probably set up a professional website yourself. There are also free website hostings and creators or templates, which can be helpful. Are you a good writer? Create your own content, write yourself some advertising materials, prepare posts for promoting on social media, etc.
Get your friends or even like-minded strangers
During our lives, we unconsciously build one of the largest networks of connections. Don’t forget that your friends have sets of their own skills. Maybe you know someone who can join your business and help you with part of the work that you don’t feel confident in. Your friends also have their own friends, who have their own friends and so on… You don’t imagine how many times a simple Facebook post like “Does anybody know anyone who can…” was more effective than a proper job offer.
There are also various online communities, platforms for freelancers where you can find people who are willing to cooperate with you for free or at relatively low costs. For example, on a platform such as Fiverr, you can find someone who can write, design, translate, set up, teach you something for literally $5.
Handling money internationally
Remember that thanks to the Internet you are not limited to any place. Your brand new platform can be accessed anywhere in the world. Don’t be afraid to accept international clients.
You are also not limited when it comes to who you work with. Your best-qualified employee can be thousands of kilometers away from you in his own flat, yet it doesn’t stop both of you to cooperate.
But, dealing with international orders and payments can actually affect your budget quite significantly. It’s all because of the high fees for moving money between borders. Moreover, you need to add exchange rates and currency conversions to the calculations.
Mainstream banks seem to have lost the battle for competitive rates when it comes to international wires, as they can charge as much as $30 for a single transfer. Moreover, some banks charge you even for just receiving a transfer from another country. Therefore, the most sensible way is to research the offer from online money transfer platforms.
Best online business accounts
If you need to make just a few international transfers here and there, you’d be good with simple remittance services that allow you to send money to countries like India, Mexico, and others. There are companies such as Remitfinder, TransferGo, Monese, XendPay, and Skrill, to name a few. A quick google search of a phrase like “send money internationally online” shows literally thousands of results.
However, if you are planning on doing it seriously and in an organized way, you should probably set up a business account to have all of your transactions neatly in one place. It will be easier to keep track of and manage your finances.
Undoubtedly a leader in this field is PayPal. But in this article we want to cover ways to save money, therefore there are few other popular alternatives to PayPal, which are simply cheaper, yet offer the same or even additional features.
For example, Transferwise, which has more than 4 million users globally, lets you hold multiple foreign currencies in one account. Receiving money in most of the major currencies like EUR, USD, GBP, AUD, or NZD is free of charge. If you want to learn more about Transferwise for Business read this full article review of their features with cost breakdown.
The second most popular cost-efficient choice is the Revolut business offer. You can adjust the pricing plan depending on the size and target of your business. There is a special free account for startups. But if your business starts growing quickly, you can easily change into an offer for bigger enterprises.
Tide Business Banking is also worth considering, as it offers features such as automated bookkeeping and integrated invoicing, which can be helpful when accounting for your first sales and operational costs.
Don’t give up
Hopefully, with these few tips in mind, you will feel more confident to get out there, as the world is waiting to see you and your ideas in action. Benefit from the fact that today’s startups don’t require getting a loan, renting a whole building, setting up a professional office, hiring staff and doing lots of paperwork. You, your laptop and your talent can be just enough to create amazing things and become financially independent thanks to it.
