5 Ways I Set Up My Business For Free or With Little Money

In Late 2016 I was in an interesting place. I was feeling desperate and at the end of my rope about my business. I was looking up places to Vend when I stumbled across an article that suggested creating a website of my own on a free host. I wanted a website and a .com but it was hard trying to figure out how I could do all of the set up for it without a working computer, and without a lot of money so I often turned away from that being an option for me until this particular night. I said something only someone as desperate as me would say. "I'll do it if I can build it on my cell phone!" And that's when the journey began to go completely mobile!

1. Find where you want to build your website.
The first thing I did was research where I could build and update my own website by phone, and computer for FREE. I had no access to a computer a good majority of the time and I was trying to figure out how I was going to build my website even in my downtime at home. When I put in my needs in google I found www.freewebstore.com . I signed up for free, and got my free website after I designed it to my liking.
I also liked a lot of the features on freewebstore and one of those features was that they allowed me to link my website store with my Kana Wear facebook page to create a storefront. Now when I make a product update on my website it automatically links to my facebook page. If you'd like to see my storefront go to www.facebook.com/KanaWear. Most of the other features that I like are that all of my social media pages are directly connected to my website. I know that sounds kind of lame because mostly all create-a-website sites offer an option to hook up your social media, but after I hooked up my social media I had an option to make an Instagram gallery, and my instagram is filled with tons of pictures of my work and efforts. That took the hassle out of having to upload pictures for a gallery, and since I'm always posting my work on Instagram it changes and makes updates as I do so my followers can always see new content. There may be some features that are unavailable without having to pay, but it's always optional and you can continue using the free version until you upgrade to a premium account. You can click here to visit My Online Store. To build your own website using the free web host of Freewebstore Click here!

This is a screenshot of what my website looked like when I first started out. 

These are screenshots from what I did after I changed my template, and added a few things to the slide show. I took pictures of me and my oldest daughter (who acts as my assistant designer), and I found an interesting background to place our images on top of using Photoshop. Finally I uploaded these photo's to the slide show on my website therefore giving it a more professional look. 

My second website is more so for information and signing up for services since it costs a little money to add these features on freewebstore. Click Here to see my second website for services that I offer!

2. Buying your URL.
When signing up to make a free website you also have to have a free url, but that url is a backslash url. In order to have your own domain you have to pay out of pocket which is why those free urls are convenient if you happened to not have any money at the time. I used to have a domain for 14.99 with GoDaddy years ago, and because I couldn't keep paying to hold onto it I lost it. I was determined I wasn't going to pay that much, so I looked up cheap domains and came across google domains. Google Domains only charges $12/yr. That's $1/month if you want to be literal. I knew that $12 wasn't a lot of money compared to a monthly rate or anything so the next time I had money-(cash) I ended up paying my husband that $12 in exchange for him swiping his card. Having a .com was on my list for my Business Plan that year and I actually achieved that rather cheaply. So technically I only paid $12 for my whole website because I built the whole thing for free, and just paid for my url. I now have 2 google domains and I renew them annually and I even have the option of placing a renewal on there for much longer if I wanted to. 

3. Free Business Card Apps
When I first started out as a teenage entrepreneur I had vistaprint cards my mom helped me purchase. I still love vistaprint, however I don't always have the money to replenish my stash of cards, or to make my own anymore. I'm really good at Microsoft programs like Word and Power Point so creating them is not the issue, but having the money to buy the card stock is, as well as where I'd print them.
I wanted something I could share in emails, or with a simple text so I went and looked for an app that was FREE, and came across the Inigo Cards app. Set up was rather easy to do, and all I had to do is sign up with my gmail and they sent a confirmation email to confirm. At first I thought it was cool because the business card itself was through a link with my downloadable card which was then added to the persons contacts once downloaded! It had links to my websites and social media as well, and sometimes it helped me gain followers if I was speaking to someone and telling them about my business. What I didn't realize is that being redirected to a site to download something is oftentimes frowned upon because they may regard it as spam, or something that can cause viruses. 

This is a screenshot of my old inigo card.

Today I have a different business card app because Inigo no longer provides this free service after merging with another company. I downloaded Business Card Maker by Bhima Apps on the Google Play App. 

This is a more recent business card that I created using that app! I must admit the templates were very beautifully designed and practical😍. It made picking the perfect design that much harder because of it. 

It's just a regular 2D card that you can customize to your liking and share as a picture. Might not be as cool as downloading all the information about my business all at once, but it sure does come off less threatening. Not to mention that it gives the person my direct contact information and I can highlight only the social media pages where I post most often! You can never go wrong with a straight forward approach! Some things are just tried and true and you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You would probably snap a picture of a physical card to share anyway, so it's probably in your best interest to create a digital image to simplify things.

4. Google Voice
Google voice may seem like a very old program, but it's worth a shot especially since it's FREE. If you're that kind of person who wants to separate clientele from personal friends and family then this might be a great option for you. I can easily call and text my clients as long as they are within the US, and I don't have to pay unless I'm calling long distance. I usually send my cards to my clients using this app, and even though it seems like that's just a whole lot I'd rather keep my personal life and business life separate. What I like about Google Voice is that I can use the same phone and service but have a different number without having to pay extra for new service. All I had to do was connect it to my email, and my device number and that was it. I did need to do this on a computer since the option to sign up with a mobile phone is unavailable at the time.

5. Pay Pal Here
I've always had a FREE Pay Pal Account, however I did not have a FREE Pay Pal Here, and that's different. First I had to register for an account and then be called by a consultant. This person probably called maybe a day later and asked me a series of questions about my business like "what product are you selling?" , and why do you want a Pay Pal here?" So after I was done with all of this they then told me I'd receive my FREE credit card reader in the mail in a matter of days. When it came in the mail I was so elated because they not only sent me 1 but 2. So some of the features of the Pay Pal Here app consists of listing your products, and sending a receipt to your customers after a sale. Your card reader can hook up to your cell phone, and now you will be able to process payments right on your mobile phone. They do make their deductions for swiping a card but it's a rather small deduction, and I'm sure your customers wouldn't mind having a little "tax". Now if you happen to have to process a card that should be swiped manually then it's a little more that comes with that. Not only will they be taxed but your money won't come onto your card until 3 days later. You can also sign up for a business debit card with Pay Pal here, and your money can go directly to that, but you cannot accept direct deposits or anything from an employer on this card or anything like that. You'd have to sign up for their Prepaid card in order to set that up, and any of your cards can connect to your Pay Pal account so you can send your money to whichever card you please, and it doesn't have to be a Pay Pal Card.

Conclusion...
There is no better way than starting off the new year with a doable plan, and by doable I mean S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) I was on a live broadcast with Mrs. Keischa Bradley one Monday for Millenial Masterminds. What I liked about this live broadcast was that she applied spiritual principles from the Word of God to entrepreneurship and business, then she he began putting people on the spot asking them questions about how they started and what practical advice we could give to others. I didn't know if what I had to say was relevant or not, all I knew is this is what worked for me. Since I didn't have much time to give people much of a breakdown of how I started I decided to make this a post with detailed steps on how I set up. You can view the facebook replay below if you'd like to hear some of my comments as well as the other entrepreneurs ideas click the video below.



You can also follow Keischa Bradley on facebook or Instagram (@keischabradley) who is also an entrepreneur herself and has founded several ministries including the girls group PUSH (Position Ur Self Higher), and she also has a ministry where she feeds the homeless. She sells real estate and has a plethora of different skills you could learn and benefit from.

I hope that this post has helped someone get an idea of simple steps they can use to start their own business. My goal is for you to see that your dreams are possible and you can do it from right where you are.

Please tell me in the comments which of these 5 Steps helped you take flight New Creatures! And remember to subscribe to my blog for more content like this! 

Successful Jewelry Party

Last Friday the Jewelry Party was a success! By success I mean I nearly sold out. I need to restock inventory on jewelry pieces and I need to restock on bead supplies because I'm running kind of low! This is exciting because I haven't felt this type of rush since I was a teenager. I'll be doing this a lot more often because I cleaned up! Even my daughter who co-hosted the event made $10 and an additional $5 on the next day from the pieces she created herself! She's been talking about it with all her friends and she keeps on trying to make more jewelry to sell. 

Unfortunately we're only doing this 2xs a month or just once a month depending on product development. The next day all I did was fill those orders and I didn't realize how much I already understood how to do already!

We only had 2 customers but those 2 customers meant everything. My 3rd and 4th customers didn't participate in the live events but they might next time because I did some really cool Giveaways. I gave away 1 pair of earrings and a picture I created in Adobe Illustrator. Both of my winners were very happy to be winners!

My objective going in was to show my daughter exactly how to do this although I was learning myself. The bible says "Train up a child in the way they should go even when they are old they will not depart from it". (Proverbs 22:6) I wrote this in a previous article about helping children understand how to have a vision for their lives. If you'd like to read that Click Here and learn more about how to use allowance and teach your child how to become an entrepreneur with a plan!

I also learned something myself, and that was to never let fear stand in the way of my progress. Imposter Syndrome got the best of me ever since I recognized that I needed to do a jewelry party to succeed at this, and I feared doing an incentive, I feared investing to create more. I feared for no reason it seems now, and I am sad that I waited so long before taking the leap of faith I did and sold the items that I already had. I should've done this a long time ago because it sure would've helped! 

Other customers who couldn't exactly get their hands on a particular design ended up ordering custom colors in the same design! Here are a few of my other creations that I made custom for other orders!

If you would like to place your custom orders with me you can view the video from Friday take down any numbers of the designs you'd like in any other colors, and shoot me a text by downloading my digital business card here👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

Shakana's Digital Business Card

I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. Just tell me the numbers of the designs iou like

Jewelry PARTY!!!!

Today we are selling Jewelry and doing a Drawing so get in here !!!

Posted by Kana Wear LLC. on Friday, August 21, 2020

How to Write a One Page Business Plan

Lately I've been thinking about other simplified methods I used to run my business effectively. In my last post I discussed ways that I started my business for free or with little money, and I expressed how my simplified thinking saved me a lot. One thing I did not talk about is how my desperation lead me to the One Page Business Plan.

I was trying to reconstruct my business plan on Power Point about 4 years ago, and I pulled up a template that they had created already with all the necessary things in it. Honestly I didn't understand half of those terms and I had to research them anyway. When it became too difficult to understand I looked up simple ways to construct a business plan, and stumbled across a blog post on Entrepreneur Magazine about how to make a 1 page business plan and you can read about that here:

https://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/advice/business-plans/how-to-guides-business-plans/keep-it-simple-how-to-write-a-one-page-business-plan/. 

There were 2 methods listed and I used the one that was easier for me to comprehend. If you can't understand your own plan then how is it easy to tell others or even carry out the plan? Remember my objective was to simplify it so I can understand. I knew that I was just starting out so I didn't need to make it complicated or "too cooperate" as I'd said, because I wasn't at that level yet. 

Anyway I went onto take their advice and I created my own template on Microsoft Word. As I said in my previous post, I am very good with Microsoft Word, and Power Point so constructing a template wasn't hard for me to do at all. This way I designed it to my liking instead of pulling up different templates that I just didn't like. I also downloaded a copy of my plan into google docs so that I could edit it on the go. If you don't have google docs go download it now in the google play store because it is a life saver. I don't know how many homework assignments I edited on the go while I was in college and had no access to a computer. 

I will leave an attached document of my template at the bottom of this post for anyone trying to do their own. It is an outline for someone trying to figure out what to write, so feel free to delete all of the stuff I put in there and insert your own plan.Your business plan should consist of your company name, it's vision, the mission, objectives, strategies, and an action plan. 

Your Company Name should go at the top of the template of course and you can include the year if you'd like. I don't include a year on my business plan because I've come to realize that accomplishing certain goals are sometimes meant for later, or that you may take longer than expected to do something in your plan. There are even some plans I've scratched all together because I just changed my mind. If you feel like you're getting something out of putting a time frame on it then that's up to you.

The First part of your Plan would be your Vision. I honestly don't have any qualms about keeping the vision statement short or long, but what I don't advocate are vague or broad statements. Your vision is what you see for the business in the future after you've completed the year, or whatever time you chose to create a new plan. If your vision is to be the best online retailer on the face of the earth then that should be written as your vision. As I said, it can be short or long but the basic concept is that it can be understood when it's read.

The Mission is the part of your business plan that tells what your business is for. Everything is here for a purpose, and you most certainly had an intention in starting the business. Somewhere you saw a need for change and you felt like you could provide that change, so in this part of your plan your statement should include what problem you are solving by introducing your product to the client. How will they benefit from doing business with you? That's what your mission is. 

The third part of your plan are your Objectives. What are some things you must do for your business to grow and see success? Do you have to grow clientele? Do you have to get an LLC? What are your goals. You can list as many of your goals as you would like. Don't worry about being too simplified here because this is where you would start your alphabetized list. I recommend at least 3 so that you won't get swamped in a ton of objectives and make yourself confused. Here is how your business plan should be looking so far.

Company Name/Year:

A) Write your objective here.

B) Write your objective here.

C) Write your objective here.

The fourth part of your plan is the Strategy. Your strategy explains the how of your objectives. How will you accomplish each objective? What will you do to make sure that it gets done? If your first objective is to grow clientele your strategy should show your method of how you will do that. Are you going to advertise? Will you have a contest to draw attention to your product? How are you going to accomplish each goal? Usually for my strategy I use a Numbered list under each objective.

Company Name/Year:

A. This is your objective

1. This is your first strategy

2. This is your second strategy

The Action Plan is the part where we really get to the nitty gritty of things. This is not only your how but several different ideas you have for how you will go about your strategy. Using the example objective listed above to build clientele, and your first strategy being advertising, then your bullet underneath this should include every method you know on advertising such as online marketing, in person marketing, etc. Some people recommend putting a date on it but things are always subject to change. As long as you know for sure that you will do it, and it can be done in real time that's all that really matters. By the time that you are done with each bullet then your business plan should look like this:

Company Name/Year:

A. This is your objective

1. This is your first strategy

• this is the first step of your action plan.
• this is the second step of your action plan

I don't consider myself to be any type of expert, but I do hope that the information that I've provided can somehow help someone who is just starting out like I did. Editing your business plan on the go with Google Docs will actually benefit you because you just never know when that wave of inspiration will hit you. I generally like to update my business plan every year, but I say to pay your business plan a monthly visit. It will keep you aware of your progress, and help you to stay focused.

This year I reviewed my old business plan from 2017 and I noticed that I had actually done everything I'd planned except some of those things I just changed my mind about. I hadn't done my routine visit in several months and I had actually become really discouraged about my business. I was being so hard on myself until I noticed that my objectives didn't even state anything that I was upset about. All the things I was feeling discouraged about were things that I needed to add to my updated business plan for 2018 and that's exactly what I did. 

Here is the link for my version of the One Page Business plan. It includes a breakdown of everything so you can create one of your own, and design it to your liking. I hope it helps!!! Thanks for reading.

One Page Business Plan Outline:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kbK_FtR9OXt4K-IjLBJGfKimId99l2DlZnEc_mFTww0/edit?usp=sharing