Since the first entrepreneurial venture of selling a pair of sandals to his brother for 10,000 shekels (Genesis 23:16–18), business has always been about building relationships and satisfying customers. And while the newest technology in online payment systems may seem like the biggest change in how we transact business, actually doing something new is not the same as doing something different.

The digital world is now the new frontier for entrepreneurs. The internet has made it easier than ever to start a business. Gone are the days of having to invest in expensive storefronts or inventory, all you need is an idea and a computer with internet access. But how do we know if our ideas will resonate with customers? Customer feedback can be invaluable when it comes to gauging interest in new products or services that could potentially become profitable ventures. This blog post offers tips on how to solicit feedback from potential customers without spending any money, so start your businesses on a shoestring budget!

The internet has totally revolutionized start-up costs. You can start an e-business with almost no investment, right from your computer. But start-ups are still start-ups - they need start-up capital to operate and needs to be found. So how do you go about finding start-up capital? Whether you start your business with start-up capital, or start it knowing that the start-up costs are going to be covered by incoming sales revenue, there are some classic start-up strategies. Here's our top three start up tips for starting a new business:

1. Cut Costs - All start ups will require investment in order to start, but start ups can survive on shoe string start up costs. In the start-up phase, all raw materials for your products or services will be provided by yourself, and any staff are likely to undertake a job that is primarily commission based until such a time as enough revenue has been raised to afford them a set income. Your start up capital can start as small as $20. Here are some tips for getting started on a low start up budget:

* Use your own labor or property to set up the business.

* Start off part-time while you work another job or study; plan when you start so that you can begin full-time once there is enough revenue coming in from sales.

* The start-up costs of a new business can often be covered by savings and grants that the business will receive once they are already established.

2 - Identify your start-up costs.  If you know what start-up capital you have available it is much easier to identify how much start-up money you need. It may cost $50,000 to start a start up business that can sell for $1 million within the start-up phase. Or it may cost just $500 to start a start-up company that you hope will become an international brand.

3 - Understand your start up costs, Before launching into a start up concept, do your research on what is required to get off the ground. You may be able to start your business with no upfront cost and no start-up capital at all, but you will still need to research the costs that will be incurred during the start up phase of the company. 

Applying these basic tips can help you kick-start your start-up business with small amount of capital, or start your company without at no cost. 

 Problems Will Arise

 If your business has run into hard times and you need to save it from going under, there are many ways that you can do this. Here are some tips on what to do when your business is in danger of folding:

1 - Stop all ongoing expenses - If you decide that you need to cut costs, then the easiest way to do this is just stop everything! Turn off the heating (turn down the thermostat), turn off the lights and just get by with the bare essentials. Save on electricity, food shopping and other expenses by cutting costs to zero. 

2 - Stop all new expenditure - If the start up is in close to going out of business, then there is no need to invest in new equipment or software. Instead, concentrate your funds on increasing revenue and making sure that your current capital lasts as long as possible. 

3 - Tighten up your current business processes and procedures - If you are going to have to cut costs, then it is important that you find ways of cutting as many expenses as possible! Look for any capital leaks in your business and plug them before money starts to run out. 

4 - Hire a start up consultant - Sometimes the best advice on how to save your start up business is not from the experts, but from those who have been there before. Hire a start up consultant to help you out of this difficult situation and stop your business folding. 

5 - Don't give in!  - It can be very easy to give up when things are not going your way and it can be tempting to start looking for other jobs while you still have a job. Don't do it! Your business idea may flourish if you just stick with it, so stay positive and look for new ways to save money. 

If you can’t figure out how to save the business, then you may need to look for additional investment capital.

For the most part many digital businesses can be started on a shoestring budget. In fact, if you do not have much money in the first place then this is the time to get started so that you will be ready with a minimum viable product when outside investment is needed to scale.

1. Say you have an idea that if done correctly will make a good business and it is possible to get started with minimal funds. The first thing you need is a website to promote yourself, your services or products. You can get reliable hosting with good customer service cheaply at Godaddy.com
2. You will need to purchase your domain name separately and this can be done at Godaddy.com for $12 per year. This will ensure that you have a professional sounding URL for your business. 
3. Before actually proceeding with the start up of the website it is very important to do a great deal of research about your business idea. This should include finding out what is the competition doing and learning from them what works and what does not. 
4.   You will want to create a basic about page with information about your business that potential customers can view so it is important that you write several drafts of this and get some feedback on it as well before posting it on your site. 
5.  You will need to create an area on your website where customers can access information about you, such as a description of the business that will be available for them to read and also go over any questions that they may have with you directly from this page. 
6. It is always nice to give your visitors something to do while they are visiting your website and this can be done by adding an area that they can download some helpful information or a special report on topics of interest. 
7.  Be sure to add an area where customers can purchase products from you through PayPal, if you have established credit with them then there is no reason that you cannot do this. This may seem difficult at first but it is really quite easy. 
8.  Since there are low ongoing costs for maintaining your website, once the initial investment above is completed you should be able to draw a regular income from your venture. To make sure that this happens, maintain your site and promote yourself by adding articles, blogs, press releases and more. 
9.  Promote your website on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn so that people will know where to reach you when they are ready to do business with you. When promoting yourself through this medium be sure to remain professional and keep things related to your business in any messages that you send. 
10.  If you have not done so already, begin writing a blog on your business website and use social media to share links to this blog through Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. New customers can see that you are an expert in your field of business by reading what you have written about it. 
11.  Remember to have a section on your website where customers can leave their comments about your products or services. This is very valuable information for you to have and will help with future decisions when it comes time for changes in the way that you do business. 
12.  The last thing that you need to do to complete your new site is add a secure shopping cart that you can use for accepting credit cards for purchases of your goods and services. This is also quite easy to do and there are many shopping cart programs available that you can purchase and integrate into your website at Godaddy.com . 

If you have a very small startup budget then it may seem impossible to start in the digital world but if you take one step at a time it is very easy to do.

13.  Create a business logo for yourself and use this in all of your digital media presence that you establish for your new venture. You can create something original or find something from Freepik.com which gives you access to plenty of options with no fees involved.  
14.  Give your website a professional sounding URL for your business. It is not necessary to place your full name in the URL but you may wish to do it. For example, if the name of your company is "Adams Pharmacy" then something like "adamspharmacyonline dot com" would be appropriate.  
15.  You can also use your website to establish yourself as an expert in your field by publishing articles, blogs and press releases related to your business. CopyBlogger.com offers some great tips on how to do this effectively.  
16.  To make sure that you are receiving accurate feedback from visitors leave a section on your website where they can fill out a contact form where they can write you directly. Include in this section information about yourself, such as a description of the business that will be available for them to read and also go over any questions that they may have with you directly from this page. 
17.  Create email auto responder messages that your customers can subscribe to that will contain helpful information about your products and services or whatever else you choose in order to begin building a relationship with your customers.  
18.  If new business is something that you are interested in establishing then it would be smart for you to consider an affiliate program, this way when people click through from your website to the site of the business that you are promoting you will be paid a commission. It is important to have an affiliate program in place as this can help you to generate more income down the road if your venture takes off. When choosing affiliates and products it is best to research related topics on Google so that you avoid any problems with your potential partners later on.  
19.  The last few things that you will need to do in order to be ready for business are set up your Gmail account and your PayPal account. The first thing that you should do is go to gmail.google.com/a/yourdomainnamehere.com, click on create an account and you will already have a fully functional email account to use for your business. The next thing that you will need is a merchant account for accepting credit cards and making sure that they are processed securely and correctly so that you can avoid getting into trouble. Now, if this does sound like something complicated then there is no need to worry as there are many options such as Stripe or Paypal.
20.  To ensure that your website is as secure as possible it is best if you use HTTPS rather than HTTP for all of the pages on your website. If you are using WordPress then all of this will be taken care of for you and it will automatically insert these into your URL's with no work from you. If you are using a different platform then your hosting company will be able to help you with this.
21.  The next thing that you want to do after all of this is to ensure that your website has backlinks from other highly ranked sites pointing towards it as this will increase the authority and trust associated with your site. Using a tool such as Open Site Explorer will allow you to see who links to your competition and if there are any relevant websites that you can connect with.
22.  The last thing that you need to take care of before your website is live is to choose a professional email address for yourself, this would be the same as your name and domain name for example "emailforbusiness@adamspharmacyonline.com" . You will be able to choose this when you set up your Gmail account which is mentioned in step 19.  
23.  Once you have completed all of the steps above then it is time to start marketing your business. There are thousands of videos on Youtube that will guide you through online marketing.
24.  The next thing that you should do is start sharing your website address with friends, family and anybody else that you feel would be interested in what it is that you have to offer. You can also consider using Directory submission sites to submit your business listing for free (just make sure not to get caught up doing this as it may hurt your search engine rankings).
25.  You will also want to start building up a list so that it is ready for when you feel like launching your business online, this can be done by making use of free resources such as e-mail and paper mail. E-mailing the contacts in your address book and looking through old school papers that you have lying around will help to ensure that you do not miss anybody.  
26.  You may also want to consider a free social media strategy, the easiest way to do this is by using Twitter as it already has millions of users and can be tailored towards marketing your business online in no time at all. The key thing with Twitter is that you need to be providing something useful or entertaining to people on a regular basis if you want them to follow you. You can also use this tool for building up your email list, like mentioned above it is best to start with an automated campaign so that the relevant contacts are not lost and they receive valuable information on a regular basis.

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