Pod Insights The $100 MBA Show Three Businesses You Can Start With No Money Up Front About this episode Starting a business with no money sounds impossible. How can you launch anything without capital, without investors, without even a budget? Yet the truth is, you can. Some of the most effective business models require nothing more than your skills, resourcefulness, and the willingness to start. In this episode, Omar shares three proven ways to get started with absolutely no money upfront. You will learn how to take the first steps, build momentum, and establish credibility without waiting for funding. Along the way, Omar offers real life examples and actionable tips that show you what is possible when you focus on the right approach. So if you have no money, take action today. Press play at the top of this page and learn how to start building a business from nothing, create momentum, and set yourself on the path to real growth. MBA2742 Three Businesses You Can Start With No Money Up FrontResource:MBA2560 Extended Interview: Claire Baines – How to Start & Run an Events BusinessRecommended episode to explore:MBA2731 Why People Turn Against You When You Start To SucceedWatch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHiSUBSCRIBEYouTube | Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Feed Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 You love what you do. You also love the idea of not doing it one day, but it's getting harder to know the best way to move into the future, towards retirement. We hear about inflation, rate hikes, the changing market, gotta get the kids through college, build an emergency fund, and then there's retirement. Here's where Fidelity comes in. Fidelity can help you find clarity in saving for the future, even as your path and priorities evolve. How? Well, they'll help you create a free personalized plan that adapts as your priorities change. They'll also show you what's called timely insights, small tips on ways to save and invest to help meet your goals. And you can monitor your plan, so you stay on target. The future's coming, and so's retirement. Fidelity can help you take it on your way.
0:44 Speaker 00 Learn more at fidelity.com/future. Expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account apply. Fidelity Brokerage Services, member NYSE, SIPC.
0:55 Speaker 01 Today's episode is supported by Cash App. When it comes to Bitcoin, you may be surprised to learn that it was invented way back in 2008. But you still haven't made the jump to Bitcoin yet? Cash App makes it easy. When you buy Bitcoin on Cash App, they hold real Bitcoin for you, one to one, and you can withdraw it anytime. It works more like real money and less like something locked in an account. No extra steps, no restrictions, just access and control when you need it. With Cash App, you can actually do that. For a limited time, new customers can get $10 added to their balance. Just use code BITCOIN10 when you sign up. And, don't forget this part: send at least $5 to a friend in the first two weeks. Terms apply.
1:38 Speaker 01 Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partners. Bitcoin services provided by Block Incorporated brand. For additional information, see the Bitcoin disclosures at cash.app/legal/podcast. If not having enough money is the thing that's stopping you from starting a business, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is, you don't need money to start a business. The bad news is, the excuse is officially off the table. Today, I'm gonna walk you through three real businesses you could start with no money upfront. Not low money, not a few hundred dollars, zero dollars, okay? And these are not theory. These are businesses that I've either built myself or have seen built successfully over and over again.
2:29 Speaker 01 Welcome back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host, Omar Zenhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business.
2:43 Speaker 01 I got a quick favorite ask. If this show has helped you in any way, leave me a quick review. You could do so wherever you listen to podcasts. This helps me and my team reach even more people who need the same no-fluff, practical business advice that you're getting from the show. It only takes a few seconds, but it makes a huge difference. Thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey.
3:07 Speaker 01 Business number one, the event business. This is one of the most underrated business models on the planet. I'm starting to talk about it more and more because I believe it's one of the best businesses to start if you've never started a business. And it works because of one beautiful thing. You get paid before you spend any money. That's the dream. And here is how it actually works. You sell tickets to an event before you book the venue, the food, the experiences, or any of the logistics. So people buy first, and then you use their money to make the event happen. And you can get a lot of things booked, or reserved, or at least earmarked in the calendar of the venue, so you have a date for the event, before you even put any money down.
3:50 Speaker 01 I know this because I've run several events, one-day events, three-day events, trips, excursions, like five-day events in other countries. I've done this over and over again, and I never spend before I receive. I've talked about this in a previous episode, and I want to reinforce it because it's so powerful. An event doesn't have to be massive. It doesn't have to be this huge conference. It could be a dinner. It could be a networking lunch. It could be a mixer. It could be a game night. It could be a day out. It could be a walk. It could be a go-karting night. It doesn't have to be this fully-fledged, five-day event. What you have to understand in this type of business is that you're not selling a venue, you're not selling food, you're not even selling the activities.
4:33 Speaker 01 You're selling a complete experience and access to people. Really. And the reason why this business works so well is that cash flow is positive from day one. You collect money upfront, that removes 90% of all the risk. You don't need permission, you don't need certifications, you don't need a license or a big brand. You just need to organize people and basically invite them to a party. What's also great about this type of business is that you build a powerful network fast. You become the connector and that positions you as an authority and it opens doors. I can tell you right now that as somebody who's run a lot of different events, a lot of people come to me for advice because they just see me as somebody that they can trust because of the events I've run.
5:15 Speaker 01 I'm flattered and everything, but I know the truth is that because they see me as a connector, they see me as somebody that has opened doors for them. Also, what I love about this business model is that it validates a demand. If people buy tickets, you know you're on to something and if they don't, you can adjust. This is one of the fastest ways to make money, build an audience and gain credibility and it costs nothing to start. I'll give you a real life example. I ran an event recently called The Crazy Ones Christmas Party. And basically it's a Christmas party for independent entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, they don't get to go to a Christmas party. Either they have to throw a Christmas party for their staff, but they don't get to have fun. So I decided to do that for fellow entrepreneurs. Number one, easy to sell tickets because it's fun and people want to have fun.
5:58 Speaker 01 And they want to have fun with like-minded people, other entrepreneurs. Number two, it was so simple to be profitable because I sold tickets before I even needed to put a deposit. I just contacted the venue, which was like this like go-karting fun place that had video games and bowling and go-karting and all that kind of stuff. And I said, hey, I want to book a Christmas party here. This is the date I want to book it for. Can you just hold my reservation for about 60 days? Because I kind of booked it in advance and they were more than happy to do that. And from there, I just go ahead and sell the tickets to the people that I'm inviting. Now, selling tickets to this sub-event is quite easy and you can actually have a pretty good markup and make a good profit because there is more to the event than the actual event itself.
6:43 Speaker 01 The thing is that the typical person that's going to come to your event, they can't pull This off on their own. They can't curate these people. They can't invite all these people and get them in one place. And that's what makes you different is that you're willing to do that and do all the legwork and contact all these amazing people and create a great vibe and a great connection and a great experience for everybody. And that's really what they're paying for. That event had a profit margin of 120% and it was easy to sell. Now, we gave all that money to charity because that's what our attentions were with that event, but it doesn't change the fact that it's very profitable. Today's episode is supported by Rosetta Stone. I absolutely love Rosetta Stone because it's helping me learn Italian faster than I can ever imagine. Why do I want to learn
7:25 Speaker 01 Italian? Well, who doesn't love Italy? But of course, Nicole's family is Italian and I'd love to have some quick Italian conversations with her mom. And Rosetta Stone just came out with Rosetta Stone Sapphire, their biggest launch in over a decade. One of the coolest features is chat missions, which turns conversation practice into a game. With chat missions, you're put in interactive scenarios and given three objectives. A mission to accomplish, like asking how much something costs, ordering a cold brew coffee, or getting a wifi password. Along the way, you get real time corrections and feedback to help you sound more natural and confident. It's a supportive way to build confidence before putting your language skills to use in real life. I've been using Rosetta Stone for over two years and I actually
8:09 Speaker 01 can have some small Italian conversations with Nicole's mom now. Just the other day, she asked me, when are you traveling? And I said, dopo domani mattina, which means after tomorrow morning. She was incredibly impressed I was able to answer in Italian. How could you put a price tag on a happy mother-in-law? If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. The $100 rate show listeners can get 20% off the Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. This gets you access to Rosetta Stone Sapphire in 25 languages. Support for today's episode comes from Square. You probably know Square as the thing you tap your card on at your favorite coffee shop, restaurant, salon, or local store. But for the person running that business, Square is a whole lot more than a way to get paid.
8:52 Speaker 01 Square brings the tools you need to run and grow your business together in one system. From payments on appointments to staff, inventory, sales, and customer relationships. Whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair, detailing cars, running a restaurant, or starting something new, Square keeps your business tools working together so you can focus less on managing the moving parts and more on what's next. And right now, listeners can get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/mba. That's S-Q-U-A-R-E.com/go/mba. Visit Square to get started because running a business is complicated enough. Your tools don't have to be.
9:31 Speaker 01 Business number two, a coaching business where your knowledge is the product. And let me be clear about something right away. You don't need to be the world's leading expert. In fact, it's better for you to be just a few steps ahead of your students because you still remember what it's like to be like them. You can coach people on anything you have experience in. Like, I have a lot of entrepreneurs right now that are really fascinated by the fact that I'm into poker and they want to learn poker. So I can actually coach people how to get into poker, how to learn poker, poker strategy. I'm not an expert. I haven't won a world title, but I know more than them. You could teach people how to save money while traveling. You can help people build a winning wardrobe for their brand and business. You can help people get fitter. You can help people become more confident on camera.
10:14 Speaker 01 Whatever your area of expertise or experience is, okay? This works because people don't pay for information anymore. Information is everywhere. It's on YouTube, it's on Google, ChatGPT, there's so many ways to get information. They are paying for implementation. They are paying for clarity, they're paying for structure and accountability. And that's where coaching, I believe, is going to skyrocket in the coming years because ChatGPT doesn't give you that. So what do you actually need to start a coaching business? You basically just need your phone, you need Google Meet, which is free, just a meeting software, a Google Drive, which is also free with Gmail, and that's it. You can host live group sessions on Google Meet, you can record them, you can upload
10:57 Speaker 01 the recordings to Google Drive, and then share them with your clients. No Zoom subscription needed, no fancy software, no upfront costs, okay? Now, if you want to start upgrading your tools and your setup later, once you start making some money, cool. But in the beginning, you don't need anything fancy. So how do you start a coaching business? Let me give you some step-by-step instructions really quickly. Number one, pick one problem you can help people solve. One problem. Number two, create a simple offer, a weekly group coaching call for 48 weeks, 12 weeks, a year, whatever you think is gonna get the mission accomplished to get them to solve that problem. Number three, invite people personally or post about it on social media. Number four, run the calls live. Record them and save them in your Google Drive or wherever you want to save them to
11:42 Speaker 01 share them with the students. And number five, improve as you go. That's how every coaching business, every great coaching business starts. And yes, group coaching is the move because you can scale your business a lot easier and make more profit. It scales your time, it increases your income without increasing your workload. If this episode is helping you rethink about what's actually possible for you right now, make sure you subscribe to the podcast because I'm working on an episode right now that you don't want to miss. It's called "The Most Reliable Way to Earn More Money," no matter what your circumstances are. And I've really worked hard on this episode because I really believe it's gonna tie everything together in terms of action, leverage, and control so that you can make sure that you
12:27 Speaker 01 know for sure that if I do these things, I will make more money. All right, so make sure you subscribe because when I release that episode, I don't want you to miss it. Business number three, a service-based business. My first business when I became a full-time entrepreneur was a service-based business. It's one of the fastest way to start earning money with no money upfront. And it's simple. You just provide a skill. Someone pays you for it. That's simple. And that skill for me was creating websites. I built websites for entrepreneurs. And your skill might be graphic design, it might be video editing, it might be copywriting, it might be party planning, it could be babysitting services, right? It could be anything that you feel you can add value to.
13:08 Speaker 01 And if you don't have a skill yet, you can learn one in a couple of weekends. It's that simple. I'm not exaggerating. Let me give you my own example. I build websites for new business owners and I didn't go to school for it. I don't have a degree. in computer science. I didn't have a mentor. I learned WordPress by watching videos online. I read books in the library and I turned that skill into income. That's simple. I just learned something and I, you know, use that skill to deliver a service. So what do you need to get started with this business? Well, you need a simple website and you can make one for free with Canva. Super simple, right? You need to send invoices to people so that you can charge them for your services. You can use Stripe. Stripe is absolutely free. There's no upfront costs. They will charge you for the transaction,
13:53 Speaker 01 but you only pay when you charge a customer and it's very competitive and it's minimal. You need a clear offer. That's the third thing you need. You need a clear offer saying, hey, I will accomplish this. I will get you this outcome in exchange for this amount of money. That's simple. That's it. No office, no employees, no startup capital needed. You sell your time, your skill first, and then later you can systemize it and start delegating it and turn it into something bigger like an agency. This is how real entrepreneurs get started. I'm telling you right now, the bigger lesson I'm trying to share with you here is that you need to stop waiting. You gotta stop waiting for things to happen. You need to make them happen. Nothing's gonna change unless you change what you do every day.
14:35 Speaker 01 Stop waiting for funding. Stop waiting for confidence. Stop waiting for perfection, for the timing to be right. Stop waiting for permission. No one's gonna give you permission. You need to give yourself permission. You're the one who gets to do everything. You're the one who makes the decisions. You're the one who is gonna move this thing forward. No one's coming to save you. No one's gonna come and tell you, hey, now it's the perfect time. No, the perfect time was yesterday. Okay, but that's not possible anymore because you don't have a time machine. So the next perfect time is now. You start with what you have and momentum beats money every time. If you get momentum, you're gonna feel motivated and you're gonna feel proud of yourself. And the point I'm trying to make here today is that the honest truth is that you haven't started because you are a little bit scared.
15:18 Speaker 01 And it's okay. I was that way too. I was scared too. It's scary. Change is scary, guys. Okay? There's no doubt about it. So let's just face the fact that, hey, this is gonna be a little bit scary, a little bit adventurous, something I haven't done before, but the risk is low because you're Not spending any money. The only thing you're spending is a little bit of time. And that's okay, because you got time. Because when you don't have money, usually you have a bit of time. Now, even if you have a limited time, even putting in a bit of time every single week into building this business and start offering your services or your product, or whatever it might be, then it's still worth it because you're making progress. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I want you to start. If you haven't started something, start now.
16:01 Speaker 01 I'm telling you right now, my biggest regret in life is I didn't start entrepreneurship earlier. Because the earlier you start, the earlier you get to live the life you want. Think about it. Let's say, for example, you fulfill all your goals and your dreams in the next five years. Okay, it takes you five years, or even 10 years, to get to where you want to go, your ultimate dream life. Every day you delay, you're pushing that one day less. Yet one day less of that dream life, one week less of that dream life. A month goes by, another month of not living that life. So stop stealing your dream life from yourself and start today. If you found this episode helpful and you're ready to get started, and maybe you've already started and you're making progress and you're starting to succeed,
16:46 Speaker 01 then I recommend an episode that I published recently called, "Why People Turn Against You When You Start to Succeed." Because growth changes how people respond to you, and you need to be ready for that.
17:00 Speaker 01 If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow, and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast. Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now, whether it's Apple or Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically, and it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free, and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.
17:37 Speaker 02 Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features. So you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. Mazda, more of what matters most to you. Go to MazdaUSA.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product.
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