| Sounds like a catch should be lurking in there | | | | secretary and his reports were backing up - could |
| somewhere doesn't it? Well, I'm not selling | | | | I help him. After my first feeling of panic, I |
| anything and it can work. I have spent less than | | | | arranged everything, hung up the phone and |
| AU$50 in setting up my business and advertising | | | | started jumping up and down and screaming! I |
| in the past month and I only spent that money | | | | was so excited - he had found me through the |
| after I had my first paying client. | | | | local council directory as he was looking for |
| I provide secretarial services from my home | | | | someone in his local area. I had spent no money |
| office - a virtual assistant. I am lucky in the sense | | | | and had a client - who has now decided that my |
| that I already had a computer, printer etc so | | | | work is so good that he is going to continue using |
| didn't need to buy equipment or worry about | | | | me for his reports and just hire a part time |
| office space. What I needed to do was establish | | | | employee to answer his phones and do the filing |
| my business identity and try to attract some | | | | in the office. I've gone from $0 per week to |
| clients. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, | | | | $200 with one client and it cost me nothing and |
| because I'd heard that a huge percent of small | | | | only too a week. |
| businesses go broke in the first year, just | | | | I printed my own business cards using a box of |
| because they have over-capitalised. Failure isn't | | | | blank sheets from the stationers - I admit they |
| something that sits well with me, so I was | | | | don't look as good as the bought ones, but they |
| determined to get things started without spending | | | | do the job and I'm pretty happy with them. I |
| money. | | | | used a picture from Clip Art, so I haven't |
| Find Free Things to Use | | | | breached anything and I played with it in |
| I was spending hours researching domain names, | | | | Photoshop to change colour and make it a bit |
| web hosting, advertising costs and memberships | | | | sexier, so it's also individual. That is now becoming |
| to associations and all it was doing was confusing | | | | my logo and again, for free. (I did already have |
| me more and more. Could I trust these domain | | | | the box of business cards at home from my |
| people; why was one so much cheaper than the | | | | husband's days of setting up, so I cheated a bit |
| other; how can they do this? I'd bought a web | | | | there) |
| design book and was keen to get started, but | | | | In the next few weeks I will pay to get my |
| didn't know how to start. (I'll bet we've all been | | | | business name registered with the relevant |
| there!) I was at the point of just giving up | | | | authorities, now that I am confident there is a |
| altogether and going back to a part time office | | | | business to register. In Australia you can be a |
| job. Then I found a free web page company and | | | | subcontractor as long as you have an ABN |
| that gave me the little feeling of excitement that | | | | (Australian Business Number) and this doesn't cost |
| this could work. After overcoming my doubts as | | | | anything either. You can register online in 10 |
| to how safe this sort of thing was, I thought I | | | | minutes and be ready to issue an invoice. If you |
| would give it a try as an experiment and so I | | | | earn less than a certain amount you don't have to |
| could have somewhere to direct potential clients | | | | charge GST (Goods & Services Tax) and there |
| when they arrived (positive thinking is always a | | | | are other things about tax etc, that make it easy |
| good partner to work with). | | | | to set up a small business without having to |
| OK - there isn't necessarily a lot of choice when it | | | | worry about income tax etc in the early days. |
| comes to styles and design on these free pages, | | | | Most accountants are happy to provide some |
| but I was lucky enough to find one I am kind of | | | | upfront advice on what you need to do and the |
| happy with and is easy to use. It does what I | | | | Government has a lot of resources on starting a |
| want and I can see there are a lot of other more | | | | business - all of which costs nothing. |
| technical things I can do when I get time to play. | | | | What the Future Holds |
| Next step was how to get people out there to | | | | I'll be getting my professional looking business |
| find me and look at the site. I started finding | | | | cards and might even start printing some |
| forums and groups that didn't charge membership | | | | marketing material to local businesses to |
| fees and a lot of them have free listings for your | | | | encourage them to use my services. I can afford |
| business or you can set up a profile with your | | | | to do that now that I have a regular client and |
| business details. I actually found Bizknik as a link | | | | am not using my savings to do all of this. Of |
| on the site of someone who does similar work to | | | | course, I will still be looking for the cheapest deals! |
| me. Well - that's a good start I thought - maybe | | | | I put an ad in the local paper and got a job last |
| people wanting to hire me would look in these | | | | week too. That one was only small and barely |
| places. | | | | covered the cost of the ad for the week, but at |
| Then that set me in another direction - if I was a | | | | least I know that my name is out there and |
| business owner looking for someone to type my | | | | someone saw it. They were happy and I know |
| reports off-site, where would I look for one? | | | | that word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool. |
| Type in "free web directory" to Google and be | | | | Getting started doesn't have to cost a lot of |
| prepared to be amazed! There are so many out | | | | money and using free resources on the internet |
| there and, yes I know, many may end up being | | | | doesn't guarantee you will make money. You may |
| fly-by-night or collapsing or (with my luck) selling | | | | want to pay for business cards upfront to look |
| details to spammers, but I figure that being on | | | | more professional, especially if your business is |
| their directory may help me get my name in the | | | | more face-to-face. But if you are wanting to test |
| search results. I found a lot of local directories and | | | | the waters, don't let the thought of wasting |
| set to work registering and then adding their links | | | | money scare you off. Ok - I'm not rich yet, but I |
| to my page as a thank you. | | | | have made the first tentative steps into the |
| In less than a week, the Gods were smiling and I | | | | world of self-employment and I'm feeling pretty |
| received a phone call from a small business | | | | good - it's a nice feeling and I think you should |
| operator who was having trouble finding a | | | | give it a try. |