Do you need money to start a business? Part 1 (of 3)

In the current industrial model, the script goes something like this. Have an idea, raise capital.

And then it goes like this. Unless I can raise ‘X’ dollars, the business won’t fly.

And then…great ideas are killed because they have been beholden to the belief that you need money.

Or…give away most of your idea to the man with the money.

A few things to set context.

*Money is agnostic. It is neither good nor bad. See my series on money here.

*There is a time and place to raise money.

*The energy behind debt needs to be clearly understood before you introduce debt into your business. See my series on debt here.

Step 1.

You have to start at the very beginning. Well duh! But few people do. They are jumping to the 3rd, 4th or 10th step before taking the very first step.

Let me give you a specific example. Say you want to open a restaurant. Let’s say you have no experience in restaurants. The first step might be as simple as to invite 10 of your friends to dinner every week for a few weeks. Do they like your food? How are you at service? Will they want all their friends to eat at your place?

If you cannot feed 10 friends to the point of them becoming raving fans on a regular basis, then you are going to have trouble with a restaurant.

If you want to build a global community and tribe, start with your own community. If they don’t love what you are doing, hmm…global might be hard. Or, as Kevin Kelly said… 1000 true fans.

If you want to build a digital media platform with videos and such, perhaps a podcast is the place to start. Much more affordable, builds the brand, grows the community.

If you want to become the king of search and take over Google, figure out another way to help people find stuff locally. Become an expert at search with people in your own community.

None of these actions is small. They are the first step. They will teach you what works and what doesn’t. They will get you in action. That action will begin to clarify your path.

In our hubris and haste, we want to build an empire. We have the sounds of the 18-month business that was sold for x billions…ringing in our ears. This warped sense of success has become our measure.

When we always return to the primary impulse behind what we want to create…the deepest desire we want to manifest, then the next step will become evident. In Syntropic World we call this the Source Idea.

When we place the need to raise money as the first step, we are already squandering the purity of what is wanting to be born into the hands of third parties…What I would call impulse prostitution.

My context…

If something is really wanting to be born… some new enterprise, then all of the tools, resources, funds, people….everything you need for the NEXT step, will be there. Worry about the second step when you have handled the first.

In Syntropic World, we use a tool called Synergistic Accounting, which enables you to account for the entire ecosystem, asking you to consider what you have in six domains and what you need in six domains. Money is only one domain. When you do this by considering only the next step, you might just find what you need right there.

In Step 2 we will discuss when to ask for money and how to do this.

Photo credit: Alexander Osterwalder via Compfight