[faruvius]

there is a video on youtube where a professor talks about bootstrapping your business.
i always thought money was more of a chicken/egg problem.

Do you guys have any good stories about bootstrapping?

here is a link to the video, he talks about bootstrapping around 4:40 into the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6V3qB9w1S4

[The Stealthy One]

I recently bootstrapped a free Web host in March (started for $10), and flipped it on May 1st for a 5000% return.

[Young Spark]

I have to go to Wikipedia on this one, sounds like "based upon Stealth's relevant AND high returns" --- I need to bootstrap

[Young Spark]

I read the bootstrapping definition... WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING (It was something obvious, basically using your money with little or no third party investment.) Thanks Wikipedia :P

[The Stealthy One]

Heh.

...

[postman da rich kid]

I always suggest bootstrapping when startin ga business. Start from the ground up. That way there is no debt.

[Mikey1205]

I always bootstrap.

[Young Spark]

There are many strategies to bootstrapping, what is everybody's most successful strategy (besides some common ones, such as saving work paycheck to paychecks and/or using personal credit cards?) The level of strategy usually determines how well your "bootstrapping" will result?

[Francis Simisim]

Its definitely a good strategy to startup with

[The Stealthy One]

Definitely. And it took me (literally) years to understand the concept of bootstrapping. In fact, the Web hosting company I just sold was sold mainly because I had never made the profits I had expected off of it. This is not because it wasn't making money - it was, and is. But --- I spent way too much money on advertising (that didn't even work!).

I've just started a new free image hosting site ( http://www.webhostingwebhost.net ), again for just $10. I'm not paying a cent to market it, but I am using buzz marketing to get the word out.

When I used buzz marketing for my old hosting company, I had better results than my paid advertising (which averaged $500 per month, no pittance for a college student).

What other crap did I waste money on? Hmmm, let's see --- thousands of business cards (I only used about 200 the whole time I ran the company - from August 2004 until May 1st of this year.), apparel, pens, magnets, calendars - useless junk!

I am so much smarter now! Was that a painful lesson? YES! But I think it is much better to have learned it so early in the game.

[Paint and Air Sportz]

I just picked up 3 display racks, 1 gondola, and 1 hot dog rolling grill from my local 7-11 for free. A good $500-1000 worth of store fixtures.

[postman da rich kid]

Some businesses won't allow you to bootstrap though. You need start-up capital. That's why the E-business is so flooded now.

[The Stealthy One]

You can always find ways to boot-strap - just use OPM, if the business requires a large initial investment.

[Young Spark]

I was speaking with someone earlier about the possibility of bootstrapping via government grants... and I couldn't really make a firm response on this so I figured I'd ask everybodies opinions on the topic of writing a business plan to obtain government grants?

I was questioned then about "well, how can I pay to get a business plan written?" I simply answered "go to your local library and check out some books on writing business plan's and search online for examples of business plan's to get an idea." This response has been agitating me as well, was I on the right path with my answer for them?

In response to Stealth, I agree with you, there are countless ways of bootstrapping and not needing to put out a single penny of somebody else's money to finance your future well-being. Just make decisions wisely and think smart about what you want to make of your company and put the MAIN priorities first, then SECONDAY priorities second, and so forth. For example... if your running a online business, you'll want to research the industry (as I always state) and see what your competition is doing, organize ways to make yourself more unique and at the same time, write down notes on how the competition is marketing their products and how you can do the same but in a more "unique" manner that can gain you more customer's/clients.

[youngmoneyblog]

My partners and I bootstrapped out business using 0% interest cards. It gave us some cash to invest in industrial cards. We're in the middle of paying those cards now before our 0% terms end. Fortunately it has worked well and the business is successful.