Starting Frugally

Starting Frugally

Post written by Leo Babauta.

When I started Zen Habits, not only did I have zero money to invest in a small business, I was deep in debt. I couldn’t afford to hire a designer, pay for an expensive host, buy software, hire staff, pay for anything really. But I started. I didn’t let my lack of funds slow me down, and in fact I think it’s best to start with free or cheap.

Start small, and grow your budget only as your audience and income grows.

This kind of frugality is actually a good thing: you won’t invest money that won’t be paid back, as start-up businesses often do. They put a lot of money into a business before there’s even an income, and often the income doesn’t grow fast enough to repay the investment or debt.

Staying small also means you’re more nimble, adaptable to change. Low overhead means you’re lean, and it takes less revenue to succeed. You’re less susceptible to economic recession as well. So stay lean, even as you grow — the fewer the expenses, the better. Make every expense be completely justified, make every dime count.

How to Start With Zero

You don’t need any money to be a blogger. Here’s how to get started with no budget:

There are other examples of free stuff you can use, but that’s pretty much all you need to get started.

Stay Lean as You Grow

As your blog starts to grow an income, you can start paying for things, but only slowly, and as cheaply as possible.

I’ve since grown my income so that I can pay for more: a better host, a professional designer for my blog, people to help run courses I teach, etc. But at heart, I’m still a cheapskate, and Zen Habits is kept lean and profitable to this day.

image