Surviving without funding : startups

Surviving without funding

Bootstrapping is hard but possible. We started our e-commerce with just $500 by leveraging drop shipping. If anyone's interested, here's a rough breakdown of our monthly budget: - Website hosting: $30 - Marketing (mostly FB ads): $200 - Misc software/tools: $100 - Inventory and shipping: rest of the budget Key is to reinvest profits right back into the business.

Submitted 5 months, 4 weeks ago by bootstrappin

Good for you! But could you break down your inventory and shipping costs a bit more? Understanding those expenses would help a lot of us here.

5 months, 4 weeks ago by CautiousCarl

Can you share what software/tools you find most essential? I'm curious about where the $100 goes monthly.

5 months, 4 weeks ago by TechSavvy99

Love this! Bootstrapping is the way to go if you ask me. The satisfaction from making it without external funding is immense. How did you find your first customers?

5 months, 4 weeks ago by UnderdogWins

Really? $500 seems super low even for bootstrapping. How do you handle unexpected expenses? Do you have any emergency fund?

5 months, 4 weeks ago by SkepticalSally

Your budget strategy sounds solid. I've bootstrapped a few e-commerce ventures myself, and reinvesting profits is definitely key. One piece of advice: Keep an eye out for free tools that can replace some of your paid ones. For example, there are free versions of email marketing tools like Mailchimp!

5 months, 4 weeks ago by SerialStartupGuy

Only $200 on Facebook ads? That's impressive. Do you target specific niches or demographics to stretch your budget?

5 months, 4 weeks ago by MarketingGeek87

Wow, you did all that with just $500?! Super inspiring! Any tips on how you managed to set up drop shipping initially? I'm stuck at the setup phase.

5 months, 4 weeks ago by Newbie_Entrepreneur

Nice breakdown! Been there, done that. One tip: Try using influencer marketing. Sometimes barter deals with micro-influencers can be cheaper than FB ads.