How to Bootstrap a Business: 5 Tips for Your Startup

Looking for venture capital or investors for your early-stage business is pretty difficult, especially if you don't have a good plan or good persuasion skills. So, whatever investment or income in the business that you have, you'll have to bootstrap so you get the most out of it. Bootstrapping is attempting to keep your costs and overhead as low as possible.

Here are a few tips to help get you started in bootstrapping your business.

1. Confirm your idea as good enough.
   
   Is your business idea as good as you think it is? Good enough? Instead of asking for advice from a bunch of people, like friends or family - it would be best to ask individuals who have a stake (finance-wise) in your success (or even failure).
   
   It's best to seek the market, ask customers, and ask important entrepreneurial helpers for advice, so you know how to not only market your idea for the future, but how to figure out a good product path.
2. Start marketing your product early, and don't be afraid to get started.
   
   Don't spend all of your time planning for your business and wasting resources, when you could be actually developing your product and selling. Plan as you go, as long as you don't get ahead of yourself. People commonly get ahead of themselves in business, when they pay no attention to planning.
   
   A lot of entrepreneurs plan little by little. Plan for the first stage, then develop, and move to the next stage.
   
3. Become customer-centric.
   
   Always focus on your customers. Find out who your customers are, where they might be, and how you'd get them as a converted customer. Having them as a loyal customer is very important, so focusing on how you can make the customer experience best is a key to saving money.
   
4. Think smart, cheap, and focused.
   
   If you're looking to gain more customers, consider cheap advertising and marketing platforms and working your way up little-by-little. Spend the time getting people to convert with your marketing methods is better than taking an expensive approach with no conversions.
   
5. Find a trusted partner.
   
   Find somebody to help you, one that you can rely on to be just as serious, if not more, about your business. It's hard to find these type of people if you don't have many friends. Networking at business meetings, conferences, and universities may be the best choice.

These are only a few tips for bootstrapping your business. But, actually getting involved in an experience is worth it, to really think about bootstrapping. Check out the story on Amy's Pita Chips company, where they had to bootstrap for years, before they found success. Imagine trying to do a food business on a $300,000 loan. Tough stuff, but they did it. It's an amazing article.

Also, feel free to let me know some of your tips or comments concerning this.