The Hustler's Digest StaffOn the surface, this prospect might seem ludicrous. After all, how can you start a business without money anywhere in the world, including in Canada? In fact, it’s not impossible. It’s obviously much easier to start a business with money, but not having any or not having enough is not a dream deferred.
There are some startup costs any business will face:
- Making a website.
- Paying someone to write a business plan.
- Paying staff.
- Spending time in search of funding.
When you have no money, you can’t do any of this, which means you’ll have to take care of these tasks.
Affordable web hosting
The good news is that there are many affordable web hosting companies in Canada. One of them is GreenGeeks, whose WordPress hosting in Canada can cost as little as $2.95 a month. They are very reliable because their data center is located in Canada. They are also an eco-friendly hosting service with a number of effective environmental protection measures in place, including using green energy to put their energy consumption back into the grid threefold.
The hosting provider offers excellent customer support around the clock, and many of their plans feature unlimited disk space. They offer a wide variety of hosting plans specifically for WordPress, the most popular CMS. The list of free extras is impressive and includes a domain name, SSL certificates, and site migration.
WHC
Another provider worth mentioning in this context is WHC. Its data centers are located on the east and west coasts of Canada. The company was founded in 2003, and it’s one of the best local WordPress hosting providers in the country. They offer innumerable hosting plans, domain names, free trials, SEO campaigns, and email marketing plans.
Government funding
Government funding is available to help Canadians on a shoestring budget accomplish their business goals. Hundreds of government loans and grant programs are accessible to people starting small businesses. If you have no money at all, choose a program that doesn’t require you to put any money down.
You would still need to fulfill the funding program or agency’s requirements and have a business plan to be approved, but it is a good option if you want to launch a business in Canada with no funds of your own.
Types of aspiring entrepreneurs
There are two types of aspiring entrepreneurs. So far, this article has looked at those who genuinely have no money to spare to invest in a business. There is another specific type of prospective business owner: one who has money but doesn’t want to invest it. There are different reasons for this. It’s usually because they’re scared they’ll lose their money if things head south. Canadian funding agencies receive many requests from such people. Handling them can be a bit complicated.
Government funding is an option in this case as well. Programs often offer financing in the form of loans, grants, or partial contributions. However, such decisions are made with a grain of salt. An aspiring business owner who doesn’t want to invest in their own business comes off as sketchy at best. They do not inspire prospective customers’ confidence.
Final thoughts
Money is an obvious solution to many issues when starting a small business. You can pay to register your business, to have a license issued, to have a website made, a business plan written, for marketing and advertising, to buy any equipment and tools you may need, etc.
Moving forward can be very difficult if you have no money or don’t want to spend it on your business.
Thankfully, there are measures you can take to reduce costs. You can also take advantage of funding from the Canadian government.
