Things are tough. The economy is in the can. Getting a loan is near impossible. So can you start your own business? Yes, you can. We’ve compiled some tips to provide a few options so you can live the dream and start your own business.

KEEP YOUR COST LOW

Services
What can you do that has low overhead? Offering a service is one of the lowest cost businesses you could kick up. It’s not as easy to make stick though, and you may have a hard time finding clients with things being tough. Unnecessary services definitely get cut when times are hard. Your biggest cost would probably be your website and advertising. Most costs you can pass off onto your client, until you need to hire help.

Retail E-commerce
If you’re really dreaming of opening a retail store, you have a lot of options but your overhead is going to be higher. You’ll need a website and a budget for advertising, but also you’ll also need to purchase products. The good news though is that you don’t have to buy ALL of your products to open!

For those of you that don’t know about it, there is a common practice out between manufacturers and retailers called Dropshipping. You become the middle man between the manufacturer and customer. The customer buys from you, you purchase from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer ships directly to the customer. You will probably receive a lower percentage off compared to wholesalers that purchase in bulk. Some Dropshippers will still require you to make an initial purchase, but most won’t.

One downside of Dropshipping is that there is little or no quality control. This is especially an important thought to note if you’re selling handmade goods from a small manufacturer. When the sample is sent to you, it’ll be perfect, it’s a sample after all. There’s no way to approve what the Dropshipper sends to your many customers though. They may even sneak some of their marketing material into the packaging to try to drive the customer back to their own website rather than yours. This, I should add, isn’t all Dropshippers. You may have a friend be your secret shopper to help keep the control and make sure the packages our are meeting your specs and requirements.

Wholesale/Manufacturer E-commerce
For those of you that have a great idea and want to start production on it, this section’s for you. You’ve got the idea, now you have to get it going. If you’re hand making goods, this is pretty simple. You may think, holy cow…how am I going to make enough to have in stock? Where will I put it all?! The answer is, just get enough materials for a handful of each style of product and make one of each style. Take a phenomenal photo of it and get it on your site. When someone buys, make it to order. This will keep your time, space, and material cost down.

Now, if you need to go into factory manufacturing, that is pretty heavy stuff. It’s going to be very hard to keep your costs low unless you’re able to purchase large batches at a time. It’s definitely the most expensive of options in opening an online business.

Getting quality traffic to your site
Again, as we all know, times are rough. So you’ve figured out how to start your business, now you have to get people to your site.

Carry brands that are popular. Now, I don’t mean popular like you’d find in a department store. Do some research if you haven’t already on some online stores that have interesting brands, but brands that you see in other stores. Keep in mind though, normal joe’s aren’t out buying items over $100 that they don’t need. Just use that good sense that your mom set you up with and choose interesting, known brands that offer reasonable pricing for average people. Then offer incentives. Free shipping. Coupon codes. Buy one get one. People google for the items they want plus free shipping, or sale, those kinds of tag words. Use that to your advantage.

You can live the dream, even though the economy smells like an old shoe. Just be smart, be aggressive, and make good choices and you’ll come out the end of this smelling like roses.