personal revenue for a while. But there’s one logistical hurdle stopping you: You don’t have much money.

On the surface, this seems like a major problem, but a lack of personal capital shouldn’t stop you from pursuing your dreams. In fact, it’s entirely possible to start and grow a business with almost no personal financial investment whatsoever -- if you know what you’re doing.

Why a business needs money

First, let’s take a look at why a business needs money in the first place. There’s no uniform “startup” fee for building a business, so different businesses will have different needs. It’s important to first estimate how much you need before you start finding alternative methods to fund your company.
Consider the following uses:

• Licenses and permits. Depending on your region, you may need special paperwork and registry to operate.
• Supplies. Are you buying raw materials? Do you need computers and/or other devices?
• Equipment. Do you need specialized machinery or software?
• Office space. This is a huge expense, and you can't neglect things like Internet, utilities costs, janitorial services and whether to outsource back office tasks, like payroll and invoicing.
  Associations, subscriptions, memberships. What publications and affiliations will you subsribe to every month
• Operating expenses. Dig into the nooks and crannies here, and don’t forget about marketing.
• Legal fees. Are you consulting a lawyer throughout your business-development process?
• Employees, freelancers and contractors. If you can’t do it alone, you’ll need people on your payroll.

With that said, you have two main paths of starting a business with less money: lowering your costs or increasing your available capital from outside sources. You have three options here:

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