You can absolutely learn how to start a business with no money. I’ve done it, and I’m going to show you how.

I feel so strongly about this position that I had to make a video on it.

Because of shows like Shark Tank and the media being the media, young and old people out there think the only thing stopping them from starting a business is money.

Once they pay off their loans, they’ll start that business. Or once they receive an inheritance, they’ll follow their dreams.

I don’t get it!

Why put off something you know you want to do? And the truth is you don’t need any money to generate profits. There goes two excuses.

Just do what the video suggests and you’re going to be just alright—better than alright, you’ll be balling.

Here’s how.

Invest Time To Grow Your Business

What you think is a money issue is truly a time issue. Check out what I mean below.

Goal: To start a profitable business.

Problem: You have no money.

Real problem: You’re not spending enough time to grow your business.

Solution: Spend time (or make time) to build a company that generates profits.

Once you recognize the only thing separating you from owning a profitable business is time in the morning before work, during lunch, after dinner, and on the weekends—all that’s left is to know where to invest that time.

Here are 5 steps you should take to put in time to grow an online business.

Step 1) Find a specific online business to pursue.

Don’t overthink this step. Combine a passion you have with a service or product people are willing to pay for, and then you have your business idea.

A caveat here is you want to make sure other people are making money in the niche you pursue so you don’t end up wasting your time.

For example, if you love the yoga lifestyle, then teach people yoga online or coach others on how to get the most out of their yoga routine. Since other people are making money doing this, you can move forward in confidence.

Here’s a helpful video that should take away some pressure of finding a business idea.

Step 2) Get a domain, buy hosting, and set up email offer.

Ok, this is the only step where you need to spend money and it comes out to like $4 a month. You’ll need to get a free domain name and buy website hosting to set your business up.

Click here to buy a domain and hosting from the company I use.

Once you set up WordPress (free) and your email service (free if you use MailChimp), you’ll want to create a super simple, one-page website. It needs to clearly explain the benefits of your offering for visitors, and include with a place to enter their email to get updates on when this site is officially launching for business.

It’d be smart to offer an early bird discount rate or attractive incentive to encourage more visitors to submit their email. Ultimately your email list becomes your sales tool so don’t ignore it once you collect email addresses in MailChimp.

See the images below to see a Step 2 done right. (Admittedly it’s a little fancier with the video than you need, but it’s a nice one page website to shoot for.)

If you do Step 3 correct, you’ll have tens to hundreds of interested email leads ready to buy from you the moment you email them to pitch your paid service.

Step 3) Send as much traffic as possible to this website.

With your simple website and email capture set up, do everything in your power to flood that website with interested people.

After following this guide of how to write a blog post to perfection, here are proven ideas to quickly send traffic to your new website:

• • Share the link on all of your social media profiles, multiple times

• • Email the link to your family, friends, and peers so they can learn about your business

• • Write guest posts on other blogs and link back to your site

• • Consider spending $50 to $100 in Facebook ads

• • Go old school and call people to see what they think about your business
  • Post your idea in forums and Facebook groups

The ideas are endless and you can find more in one Google search if you run out of them. The goal in this step is to get enough traffic over the next few months so you can complete Step 4.

Step 4) Analyze the results.

Like the scientific method, you need to analyze your business after a few months to see if it’s a good thing going or something you need to pull the plug on before it goes any further.

The way you can tell is by the human interactions around your business. Have people signed up for your email offer? Have they liked your Facebook ads and commented that they have been looking for this? What’s the feedback of your social media posts? How have your friends responded?

If you’re not sure about the results, you need to do more promotion or do a better job of putting your business idea out there to see what the market things.

Unfortunately if the results are terrible and you now know you can’t build a business off of this, you want to go back to Step 1 and restart this process. It’s better to restart now than 12 months down the road where you’ve lost all that time and still haven’t generated interest.

Step 5) Go all in to build the business.

Found a winning business idea? It’s time to expand your marketing channels.

I recommend you start blogging, recording videos, or doing a podcast to become a thought leader in your space and drive organic traffic to your website.

And don’t forget about adding more services or products based on the desires of your customers.

The beauty of business is the work is never done so you won’t get bored. And you’re going to enjoy the challenge of your life.

Go all in with the time you have to ensure you grow your business and you don’t regret procrastinating later on in life.

Your business will return as much profits as you invest time into it. That’s a positive because it means you’re in control.

Start A Business With Zero Cash

You now have the formula to start an online business without funding. It’s time to execute.

Follow those 5 steps, be patient until you’re successful, and keep hustling every day to make your dream a reality.

There are going to be bumps and bruises along the way. Sometimes you may feel lonely or doubt yourself, but promise yourself you’re going to stick with this until you accomplish what you set out to.

Running a profitable business comes down to your mindset and commitment more than anything else.

If earning passive income and quitting your 9 to 5 job is a strong desire, prove it to yourself by investing the time to grow your company.

You can do this!