To become self-employed with no money in Ghana you need to take your time to plan properly, find a small business idea with very low startup capital requirements, see if you can get a partner to complement your efforts and leverage any personal assets you may already have.
But the above are not the only things you need to do to become self-employed with no money in Ghana or elsewhere in the world.
There are additional low-cost but significant steps any individual can take to become self-employed even with limited financial resources.
Are you a young man or woman looking for ways to become self-employed in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, India or any other place in the world?
Maybe you are an older person who has just lost your job or is dissatisfied with your current job and is desperately looking for ways to become self-employed in Ghana without any savings in your bank account.
Well, I’ve got good news for you. With the right strategy and mindset, it is possible for you to become self-employed without money or with very little capital.
In this post, I will show you that it is possible for anyone to become self-employed with no money.
More importantly, I will give you ideas from my personal experience so you can start being self-employed with little or no startup capital.
Why you need to take these tips seriously
Well, I’ve had miraculous successes and catastrophic failures in my self-employment journey. I believe that the lessons I’ve gathered from both my failures and successes are what any wise person will be interested in knowing and applying for them to record much greater success and fewer failures than mine
Where is the proof?
It is very common for people to tell others without money you cannot start your own business. Though there is a lot of sense in this line of thinking, it is not entirely true.
In fact, most successful self-employed Ghanaians will tell you that they never had a lot of money to start with.
The truth is if it only takes loads of money to start a business, most successful men and women you envy right now wouldn’t have started let alone come this far.
So what this means is that it is most helpful to have good startup capital. But money is not the most important ingredient one needs to become self-employed.
Sometimes, all you need is to take a first step that involves zero expenses. And before you know it, you will have established yourself as the proud entrepreneur you have always dreamt of.
Are you willing to try my tips on how to become self-employed without having much money? Then come with me.
What You Must Know About Intentional Living
Your mindset matters.
Look, there is nothing you can do in these circumstances without a strong and positive mindset. In fact, the greatest asset anyone can have is their mind. That is if it is focused on possibilities rather than obstacles.
So I will urge you to constantly work on your mind. Do not allow negative thoughts and people with an impossibility complex to pour water on your fire, so to speak.
Read as many inspiring motivational books as you can. Surround yourself with people who are keen to help and see you succeed.
These are just two ways to build the kind of mindset you need to become self-employed in Ghana with no money in your pocket.
Have a big vision, but start small.
Yes, it is great for you to be ambitious. But you also need to focus on only what you can afford to do now.
It is even better to start on a very small scale and grow big over time. The reason is that there are important lessons that you will learn the hard way to become a successful self-employed contractor in the long term.
Also, you will fail at a number of things here and there. Some will involve substantial financial losses.
Thus, it is better to make your mistakes and learn from them while starting small than when you throw in a lot of money at the beginning.
I think that makes enough sense.
Decide what you want to do.
Another key step to take to become self-employed with no money is to choose the right business idea for you as a person.
Remember that your choice of business niche must align with your interests, experience, knowledge and expertise.
Above all, choose a self-employment business that doesn’t need much startup capital but with fairly good profit prospects
For example, you can choose to start an online business. Blogging, freelancing, e-commerce and becoming a YouTuber are just a few of the numerous business opportunities online.
And most of these online business ideas require little to no money to start with. In fact, with just about $30 or its local currency equivalence, you are good to go.
Draw a simple plan and implement it.
I don’t mean the kind of business plan that everyone else loves to talk about. What I would advise you to start with is a simple strategic step-by-step plan.
It should be about simple but important steps like the following
- how you intend to take care of your needs if you are quitting your day job to go into self-employment
- your products
- description of potential customers
- a list of your personal assets
- where your business will be located
- Is it offline or online. And if offline, where exactly?
- who you think can help you in any way possible
- your goals for the future and specific dates for accomplishing your short-term objectives.
Do what you can do personally.
One other key attribute of people who become self-employed with little or no money is their willingness to perform different kinds of tasks by themselves.
You need a do-it-yourself spirit to be able to get many things done without paying for them. Do not be afraid to personally carry water, dig, fix damaged tools, multi-task and more.
Remember, do not allow your ego to stand in the way of your desire to become a successful self-employed person despite your limited means.
Find people to help you.
Here is a list of ways that other people can help you when you are about to start your small business without much money.
- Suppliers who can give you trade credit
- Friends and family to offer certain services to you for free
- Artisans who are willing to work for you and collect payment in the future
- People with the money to assist you without asking for interest or even repayment.
Yes, there are such people still around. All you need to work on is your character and integrity. Not even philanthropists would like to deal with a crook.
Leverage your personal assets
You may have a lot more assets that can help you implement your business idea than you care to know. Just take a critical look at the following to identify valuable assets in your possession right now.
- Things you are capable of doing
- Your personal attributes.
Remember that honesty, for example, is big capital. Just by showing themselves to be trustworthy, people from very humble beginnings have attracted mentors, suppliers and philanthropists who have dramatically turned their lives around for the better.
- Unused physical possessions
- Your knowledge and expertise
- Past experiences
- People you know.
Do not make the mistake of discounting the value of your relationships. Even those you consider poor have something to offer. All you need is to keep an open mind and ask questions about how the people in your life can be of help. At least, some would love to.
Buy used and improvise.
One way to spend any little money you have is to look for high quality affordable used inputs to purchase for your new business.
Instead of waiting to build your own office or rent classy premises, you will do well to settle for a cheaper facility that you can rent for the first few months or years in self-employment.
I think you are aware that some great entrepreneurs started their trade in their bedrooms, student cubicles, kitchens and garages. That’s something vital to consider.
This is not the time to worry about new out-of-factory equipment, furniture and the like. Thankfully, it is possible to find used items that may even be of a higher quality than their newer substitutes.
Just start something
There is a Chinese proverb which goes like this: He who hesitates before each step, spends the rest of his life on one leg.
Do not let the notorious ‘lack of capital’ excuse prevent you from becoming a self-employed person if you believe this is what you are destined to become.
He who hesitates before each step spends the rest of his life on one leg.
Chinese Proverb
Just remember that your whole being is a ‘walking capital’. And it is the most expensive of all types of capital.
If you look at it closely, you will quickly realize that there are certain crucial steps you can take today into self-employment without spending money.
Start taking those steps and, trust me, the Universe will begin to open the door to amazing opportunities for you.
Take consistent action
I have discovered that consistency is one of the most underestimated secrets to success in any endeavour.
It doesn’t matter where you are or what you do. When you keep repeating and adding little steps of growth on a daily basis, the results will begin to shock you.
Persist and persevere.
You and I know that it is not an easy thing to become self-employed with no money in Ghana and in most parts of the world.
This is why a lot of bootstrapping entrepreneurs give up within a short period after opening a shop.
But you don’t want to be part of the disturbing statistics of early small business failures. I know this is why you came looking for tips on how to become self-employed with very little money or none at all.
Here is the secret. Persist. Do not give up easily.
Most of the challenges we face in self-employment are self-created and can be overcome. All you need is to take personal responsibility, calmly think through the problem, and devise creative ways of dealing with it.
Remember that the solution to every problem lies within that problem. And that there is a hidden opportunity in every challenge we face in life. Look for it and use it to your advantage.
Get mentally tough
To be able to persist and persevere also demands that you work on yourself to become mentally tough. Here are some tips for you.
Strengthen your spiritual life by meditating often.
If you are a spiritual person, take your time to build upon the spiritual aspect of your life. And remember, merely associating yourself with a ‘tribal’ religious group has little to do with spiritual growth.
It is also not about communing with dark forces that will end up destroying everything you toiled to build.
Close your mind to the overwhelming negativity in the world as much as you can.
Identify your three most important life goals and never lose sight of them.
Focus on the things you can control and let those you can’t be.
Embrace Recycling
My love for keeping and re-using items several times has been of great help to me. Trust me, even when your finances are going through tough times, you can keep going because you don’t need to spend money buying new tools or inputs.
Most people find themselves wanting in such moments because they fail to preserve and reuse their critical resources.
Plough back profits.
In the early days of bootstrapping your small business, you must commit to putting almost all profits back into the business.
Do not fall into the trap of instant gratification. You need to build a solid financial foundation in self-employment first before you begin to add to your standard of living.
Be your own counsel
Above all, learn to be your ultimate advisor. Experience has taught me that listening to people who only know how to give unsolicited advice but can do virtually nothing else is worse than opening your shop to robbers.
Do not get me wrong. It is always good to give a listening ear to what others have to say about whatever you are doing. But you also need to be very careful about what you take seriously.
At the end of the day, you are personally responsible for the decisions you make and their outcomes.
You will be surprised that if your business fails as a result of your reliance on bad advice, those advisors will care little, if at all.
Final Thoughts
If you ask, many are people who will tell you that it is impossible to become self-employed without a significant amount of money in places like Ghana, Nigeria and the like. The good news, however, is that this is not entirely true.
Examples abound of wealthy self-employed individuals who started with almost nothing.
The above are just a few of the principles that have helped others become self-employed with little or no money. Take them and apply them in your own effort to become a successful small business owner even with limited funds.
Blogging is one of the smartest routes to becoming self-employed with just a little capital. You can learn how to blog, own a website and start your online business at BloggingtotheMax.
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Ralph Nyadzi is a self-published author and educational blogger at Cegast Academy. He took his first baby steps as an online publishing entrepreneur in 2016 and hasn't looked back since. He lives in the Central Region of Ghana with River, his adorable pet cat.
