If you are willing to WORK HARD, you can build a business even if you have virtually no money.

If you are NOT willing to work hard, then walk away from here! There are plenty of other websites out there where someone is willing to take your money and offer you pie in the sky promises that will leave you worse than you are now. Harsh? Yes... But THAT is the reality!

OR...

Are you sick of the get rich quick scams out there, perpetuated by people who are preying on individuals who have experienced a layoff, or who need a second income to afford rising prices?

I sure am.

• I'm tired of people who apply for our business grant, who have been referred by "grant" companies that are scamming people in ways that cannot be legally tracked.
• I'm SO tired of counseling people who have tried some MLM company without understanding how to assess a business, and have lost money without earning a thing.
• I'm weary from talking to business owners who don't know how to get their business off the ground.
• And I'm REALLY tired of dealing with people who can only chant "It takes money to make money", or who think that the SBA has the only reality for starting a successful business.

I'm in sort of a bad mood as I write this (betcha could not tell). My greatest challenge in being heard is that all the scammers are saying the same words I am... but they do not mean the same thing. I'm not a scammer - just look at our About page, Google our names, and you'll find that we are legit, our resources are real, and you can use what we have here even if you never pay us a penny. You'll find that I've been beating this drum for a long time.

If you start a business the way the SBA tells you to, you will be in the hole for more than $200,000 before you even DECIDE whether to start a business! In that time, with an investment of about $10 and some HARD WORK, you could already be earning trickles of income from your own smart business. Seriously! The government is not in the business of helping people start a successful shoestring startup. In fact, the more involved the government is in helping you get started, the less likely it is that you will actually succeed!

Use the Quick Start links in the upper right if you just want to get to it. You can subscribe to our newsletter if you want periodic information - it is rather an eclectic bunch, a bit about our company doings, some tips or observations, odds and ends that may be interesting or enlightening.

In the mean time... A few things you need to know...

• Bootstrapping means building a business on existing resources, no matter how small, and then using what you get from that to build more. It is SLOWER to build momentum, but FASTER to show a profit (the profit is just small).
• Shoestring Startups are those that start with very little financial resources. Like $20. Successful ones DO NOT invest that $20 in a "system". They invest it in tools, services, licensing, or other items that are REAL steps to building a business. Get a domain name and the first month of hosting if you only have $20.
• Don't let Greed overpower Common Sense. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. If it promises easy or fast, it lies. If it is filled with hype, they are trying to get you excited enough to forget your sense of reason.

What's here is real. It comes from more than 10 years of experience doing exactly what I'm suggesting you do. It requires grit and determination, and the ability to apply new skills. But building a business on very little other than WORK, and SMARTS, is possible. I've done it. More than once.