If you had zero money

but a big idea, how would

you start a business?

What kind of businesses

can you create with

little to no funds?

And what free tools

can actually help you grow?

In this episode, we'll break

down practical creative

strategies to showcase your

expertise, market your service

for free, and build momentum

without spending a cent.

Do you know why I

know we can do this?

I did it.

I was the person who had

no money, no clients, and

no sense, as it turns out,

to build her business.

Now I have a coaching

business, a service based

business, and I'm going

to talk about some of

the things around that.

But I want you to

know it can be done.

So if you're sitting there

thinking to yourself, I

need to start a business,

here are some tips.

If you're thinking to

yourself, I don't have a

lot of money in my business

right now, that's okay.

We can make sure that

you can use all the free

things to get started.

We're going to cover what

kinds of businesses work best,

how to market yourself for

free, and why service based

businesses are the best bet.

In my humble, humble opinion.

I started Emma McQueen Pty Ltd

on the smell of an oily rag.

One of my, messages to

myself, one of the rules

I had with myself is I was

not allowed to spend money

until I had made money.

And boy, when you've got

a rule like that, you

work out really quick

how to make some money.

And then you work out

what's going to help

you make some more money

so that you can keep

investing in your business.

Right.

And I think it's really

important to know that upfront

that this one sentence has

shaped my whole business.

And I've been in business

for almost eight years.

So, What kind of business

can you start with no money?

It's a great question.

The key here is to choose

a business that doesn't

require upfront investment

like inventory or products

or office space or equipment.

So then the natural

inclination is to

go to service based

businesses, right?

The best option when you're

starting with nothing.

So for me, it was

business coaching because

I had a background

in business coaching.

It could be social

media management.

It could be

virtual assistants.

It could be copywriting.

It could be consulting.

In whatever the area of

expertise you have, it could

be graphic design or branding.

Now I have a background

in human resources.

I've got a degree in commerce,

and so it would have been

really easy for me to flick

into HR consulting, but I

just did not want to do that.

I did not want to do that.

And which is why I

chose business coaching.

I've been trained with

the Institute of Executive

Coaches and Leadership in

Sydney, IECL, and I had

been a business coach.

I had been a coach within

a business coaching

executives for 12 years.

So I knew that I had

good, steady credibility

in the coaching space.

The other thing you could do

is to have digital products.

If you have the

knowledge to, to share.

Create digital products or

ebooks or templates or online

courses or any of those.

It's a great way to start

with no overhead costs.

That is not me, but

you could do that.

And then freelancing.

So platforms like Fiverr

or Upwork or LinkedIn,

they all allow you to

get started immediately.

Here's what I'd avoid.

I would avoid product

based businesses.

they all require upfront

costs for inventory or

shipping or manufacturing.

And then I would also avoid

when I'm first starting out

bricks and mortar businesses,

because rent and utilities can

be a killer, absolute killer.

If you're not making the

revenue and more importantly,

the profit, right.

But there are a stack

free tools that you can

use to influence and grow

your business, right?

I want to give you some

of those free marketing

growth tools so that you

can see how you can just

leverage them smartly.

So social media, let's talk

social media for a minute.

LinkedIn free.

Yes, you can buy premium.

Do you need premium

in the first instance?

No, you don't.

You can position yourself

as an expert in the space.

You can share insights

and you can connect

with potential clients.

LinkedIn is a

professional platform.

So if you're in the consulting

or coaching or freelance

space, you'd probably look

on LinkedIn, Instagram,

and Facebook, both free.

Both great for personal

branding, reels, engagement,

all of the things.

And then we have TikTok, not

my favorite, and YouTube.

We use YouTube a lot.

We use YouTube shorts because

it's short form video content,

which is booming, which helps

you to build trust fast.

Content creation is also free.

You can just use your

phone as a natural lighting

and throw it on YouTube.

You can use your

phone for podcasting.

There are free apps for

podcasting, apps like

anchor, which now is Spotify

for podcasters to record

and distribute episodes.

There's blogging.

Blogging is so free.

You can use Medium or

Substack or a free WordPress

site to establish whatever

you've got going on, your

content, your credibility,

your thought leadership.

And then there's these

free business tools,

Canvas Free, Google Docs

and Notion and Canonly.

And so there's a lot

of free business tools

that you actually

have at your disposal.

I always say you need

to start where you are.

I know that we want to

start with the end in mind.

I want to make this much

money, but we actually

need to start where we are.

And we actually have to try

and keep ourselves debt free

for as long as possible.

When I first started, I had.

A GoDaddy website.

I built it on the train

just so I had a landing

page for people to go.

In hindsight, I

didn't even need that.

I had so much

credibility on LinkedIn.

Right?

So how do you market yourself

without spending a cent?

So the biggest challenge is

getting seen, but here's how

you make it happen for free.

You have to showcase your,

expertise creatively.

So offer free value through

your content, LinkedIn posts.

wherever it is, host

free workshops or live

sessions on social media

to attract your clients.

You can share client wins

and testimonials and case

studies to build credibility.

You can leverage networking

and word of mouth.

So engaging in Facebook

and LinkedIn groups where

your audience hang out.

you can collaborate with

other small businesses

for cross promotions and

offer discovery calls.

Here's the thing though,

here's the big thing,

and this is what I did.

I literally pounded

the pavement.

I finished with my corporate

role on the 30th of

November, and I started

pounding the pavement

on the 1st of December.

Everyone told me I was nuts.

Everyone said everyone was

closing down for Christmas.

I thought it doesn't matter.

I've got nothing else to do.

Let's do this.

So for the weeks preceding

Christmas, I had three to

five coffees or teas or waters

or whatever it is a day face

to face, belly to belly.

I looked up my

LinkedIn network.

as I said, I had come out

of the credibility space and

I had looked up my LinkedIn

network and they were very

happy to hear what I had done.

and what I was going to do.

And I sold one offer

and that was it.

It was one offer.

It was three to

five coffees a day.

I ran that experiment

for about 10 weeks.

So I had a bit of a break

over Christmas, but I

ran that for 10 weeks and

that got us so much work.

I was full for a year.

I didn't do any

of the other bits.

I've focused on LinkedIn.

I focused on my GoDaddy

website and I focused on

providing value to my clients.

And that was it.

So I know that

you can do this.

There's so much more now

that I know that I could

have, should have, would

have done, but Hey, it

hasn't stopped me at all.

There are a few creative

ways to stand out.

So you could run a

five day challenge, a

three day challenge,

a two day challenge.

You can run it on

Instagram or Facebook.

Last year.

We ran something called

the BD sprint we've

running again this year,

but last year we ran it.

And I did one live with one

of my very good friends, Nikki

Ellis from cinch training.

Our live lasted for seven

minutes on Instagram.

And from that seven minutes,

we got 55 women signing up.

It's not hard to do.

You just have to be in the

mindset that you actually

can get this thing done using

not very many tools at all.

That was just Nikki and I

having an Instagram live.

So you can also get

interviewed on other podcasts

and tap into new audiences.

I do get asked a

question a lot.

Am I, should I

start a podcast?

I say to my clients, I

wouldn't start a podcast

until I was bringing

revenue of about 300, 000.

Otherwise I just feel

like it's a distraction.

But in the meantime,

go on as many podcasts

as you possibly can.

Now, I want to tell you

why I think service based

businesses are the best bet.

there's no inventory, no

product development costs.

You get immediate

cash flow because you

sell your expertise or

results or outcomes.

Higher profit margins

because normally it's just

you doing the delivery.

And you have flexibility to

pivot and refine your offers.

Now, do I still

have that offer?

No, I don't.

But have I refined it?

Yeah, absolutely.

So, once your service

business is up and running,

then you can reinvest

in digital products or

memberships or online courses

for all the other things.

I think starting a

business with no money

is totally possible.

And it makes you focus

on high value service.

It makes you think

outside the box.

It makes you use free tools

and you work out how to

market yourself smartly.

The key is to

start now,

take action

and build momentum.

I would love to hear.

What you're planning to do

now the things that I've said,

what will you take away and

what will your action hit

me up in the DMS or on text

message or career pigeon,

however you want to do it.

I would love to hear

I'll see you next week.