Many businesses have used free or cheap resources to get started, myself included. There is no shame is trying to save as much money as possible when stepping out into the world on your own without the security of a paycheck.
There are many sites online and plenty of places in real life that provides free or cheap services and resources for the new business. Even local councils and governments have schemes to encourage small businesses and entrepreneurs to strike out on their own and make a success of things.
Care has to be taken however to make sure that what free or cheap resources you use don’t look it. Like with anything, if you shop at a discount store choose things that don’t look like they came from a discount store. Saves a lot of embarrassment, especially if they were clothes you bought!
Fortunately most of the resources you need for starting up a business, with the exception of a website and brand, look neither cheap nor expensive. Any businessman knows how difficult it is to get things started and make a success of things. A lot can be forgiven in the early days as long as the business ethic is there, and the work you do for clients is of good quality. There is a level of understanding between freelancers and small businessmen, you’ll know it when you see it. The small smile and knowing nod when you talk about the difficulties of getting started on your own.
Branding is something that anyone with a moderately creative mind can achieve with a little effort. There are plenty of free graphic or paint programs out there that can give you a blank canvas and the tools to make something great. Spend ten minutes with Google to find hundreds of websites with templates, fonts, shapes and a myriad of other resources to help you create an original design. You can make your own free business cards, stationery or other items with a computer and an afternoons work!
Making your own stuff is quite cathartic. There is something uniquely satisfying, looking at your own company, that you made, including the brand, logos, designs and those business cards. It can say a lot about your approach to business and the desire to make a success of things. There is no shame in making your own things in any part of life. Not everything has to have the polish of a multimillion dollar brand, especially not to begin with. There is nothing to say you can have things polished up by a professional further on down the line anyway, if you would want to.
I’m strangely attached to my brand. I spend a couple of afternoons on the computer just playing around, and came up with it. It doesn’t look professional and doesn’t have the panache of many bigger brands, but its mine, I made it, and for now at least I won’t part with it.
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