There are so many resources out there now that finances should not stop you. There are a lot of things for free. There are a lot of things online that can support you so there's just no reason for you to let finances stop you from your purpose. When I started my business, I pretty much had little money. When I went into the next chapter of my business, which was to have an actual physical location, a storefront, which ended up being a business, my business, I just pushed myself and it evolved.
I really knew I wanted to go from online, which I initially was, to be in a place where I can sell my clothes and people can come to me. I knew it was time to get to the next level. I did so many different things to push myself through that media and it was just time for me to step out. So I happened to be on the bus and I was riding in Brooklyn and I ran across a friend who also was a designer and she said she also wanted a place to have her stuff too. We both lived in shoebox apartments so it wasn't like we could make those places, a place for people to come and shop. It just wasn't realistic. I just wanted a place that I can call my own.
The next day I was walking down the street and I came across this storefront that was vacant. I saw the phone number and I said I’m going to try to see if I could give this owner a 32nd elevator speech on how I can get into this vacant storefront and use it until he at least finds somebody to put in there because honestly, he's losing money with it empty.
So long story short, I negotiated with the guy and he loved what I had to say. I really made him understand that he was losing money and he agreed to my proposal.
I went ahead and put together my own contract - make sure if you go into business, you always have a contract and have everything in writing. I Googled that, it was free, I used the knowledge that I had from past companies I work with to get it done, and that impressed him more.
That's when I came to the part that needed the most finances, which was giving him the down payment and it wasn't much. compared to what other storefronts paid at that time but it was still much more than what my friend and I could afford because we literally had apartments ourselves. Paying two rents in New York was a lot. Between the two of us, we had $175 that we put down as a down payment, and then we had to come up with the rest. So we took everything we had and put it as a first month's rent.
It went from literally us having nothing at this point to growing to be a success. We really took off. The fact is, it just takes you being creative and pushing yourself and knowing that you don't go from zero to 60; take your time. If you don't have the huge amount of money to start off a business, take the hundred dollars that you have, and buy yourself a domain and maybe a few little things to get you started.
Just know, if you work hard and you don't let finances stop or hold you back, it will always be worth it.
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