Bootstrap your bottom line (Part 1)
Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Loic Bernard
The Bootstrap Babes have these great suggestions for increasing your profit margin without spending more money.
Here are the first five with some of my added comments:
• Trim your product offerings. You could be overwhelming customers with stuff. Be careful on this until you find out exactly what those customers want, but once you do, cutting out the stuff that's not selling in the short run gives you a great niche from which to expand slowly and entails no added cost.
• Engage inexpensive help. Or even free help. Is there another entrepreneur you could team up with allowing both of you to concentrate on your areas of expertise and to divide the spoils at the end of the day. Finding a bootstrapper with a complementary business could allow both of you to help eachother with absolutely no upfront cost.
• Join social networks. Some will probably be more helpful than others. For example, you may find that huge sites like MySpace don't work depending on your business while others ranging from Facebook to MyBlogLogdo. Find the right social networks to promote your business and you will have an excellent way to tell others about you-at absolutely no cost.
• Set goals. The most important goal in the beginning would be bringing in enough cash flow to keep your business afloat. Figure out how much you need to keep the lights on and live comfortably while you grow your business and you'll have the best goal there is for a bootstrapper starting out.
• Make a to-do list every night. When operating a business as with any other complex activity, it's easy to become overwhelmed with the millions of tasks that must be completed to keep you moving forward. Making lists can keep you focused, prioritize projects that must be completed and create a better picture of the work facing you to keep you from getting flustered.
(Editor's Note: For five more important tips to help bootstrap your bottom line, see the NEXT POST…)