I often refer to “bootstrapping“, when I talk about small business, you may very well be asking “What the hell is bootstrapping?” To put is simply, bootstrapping is the art of running a small business with no or very little money and/or funding.

So if you are thinking about starting, growing or running your small business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses, but are worried about if you can be successful, worried about failing, worried about giving up your job, etc. than bootstrapping is for you.

Especially if your aim is to build a personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, working from home, creating an income and keeping it small and manageable, then bootstrapping is definitely for you. There are more than 18 million small and home businesses in the US alone, self-employed working is gathering pace in all areas of business. If you look around you you will most probably know many people working from home, or doing contract work, freelancers and so on.

One very unpleasant outcome of a small business venture is the failure thereof. Bootstrapping will mitigate any fallout from a business failure. Remember that business success often comes with experience and experience comes form making mistakes - bootstrapping will allow you to make mistakes and recover from them.

Here are a few bootstrapping facts to consider if you wonder if bootstrapping is for your:

• Bootstrapping is a fast and the best way to build a solid small business, because you are starting with sales as your priority task - that creates cash-flow and keeps your small business alive.
• Bootstrappers don’t waste their money - they make money. They understand that cash is king and should not be wasted on old style advertising and marketing - there are better and almost cost-free ways to promote your small business.
• Bootstrappers don’t waste time with long business plans they start their small business immediately. Cash-flow, SWOT, list of goals and they are in business.
• Bootstrapping is the lowest risk strategy to start a business, you can start your business with a Small Business Infrastructure for about $20 / £10 per month, get ready in peace find customers in your spare time and build your business on the side.
• Bootstarppers don’t follow the herd, they use unconventional thinking to move forward and succeed.
• Bootstrappers focus on their business goals, outsource and build networks to grow their small business.

It is never too late to start with bootstrapping even if you have been running your small business for years. So have a look at it and build a stronger, more secure small business for yourself.

When are you going to start bootstrapping? ST.

Related Items:

• How to bootstrap category.

Starting and running a small business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business today, is all about staying focused on the small business and not on running your office. WinWeb’s Software as a Service applications allow you to do exactly that. Below you will find some of the benefits detailed to help you make up your mind if this kind of technology is for you.

1. No More Software Installation.

Since our software comes to you via your internet browser, there is no need to install anything. Your printer will also work with our software without installation or any modifications. Our software works with any web browser, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox etc.

2. Our software is always up to date.

This really is one of the main benefits of SaaS. We make all the software updates on our servers, so you don’t have to do anything. No update hassle and worry anymore. There are no “Update available - Please download” messages and no CDs / DVDs updates arriving in the mail.

3. Never pay for software “updates” again!

No matter if we update or bug-fix, you will never have to pay for them again, it is all part and parcel of our service. Artificially accelerated software cycles are a thing of your past.

4. Fully Compatible with any Operating System.

Our software runs on any Operating System (OS) with Linux, Mac, Windows and some others - you login and use it.

5. Work and collaborate with anyone, anytime and anywhere.

Our software allows you to work with your accountant, colleagues, virtual assistants and others in real-time at anytime - whatever your business needs.

6. No commuting. No time wasting.

With online technology you can work from anywhere, so no need to travel to an office. Run your small business from home and benefit in terms of time, money and investment.

7. No security problems. No business interruption problem.

Your data is continuously backed up onto multiple RAID-5 data servers in multiple physically and network secure data centers - if that is not enough you can make a copy of your data anytime onto your PC or a CD.
Should your computer crash or get stolen - no problem, just log on to another computer and keep working - can your competition do that?

8. 24/7 Live Support 365 days a year.

We believe that you will be busy during the day with your clients and with working on new projects and so you should - after the phone stops ringing you get down to your admin work. So we thought we better be around in case you need some support for any of our products. It would be no good if we weren’t around now, would it?

9. No contract needed.

No minimum term, cancel anytime, no contract needed and you can test drive any software for a minimum of 30 days free of charge. This puts you in control. Unlike the boxed software you buy, once you paid for it, it’s yours including the problems. Not so with our software.

10. ClimateByte™ Technology

Our environment is in trouble - by using our on-demand Small Business Infrastructure™, you can help to reduce your carbon footprint and help our environment - we are dedicated to develop our future products and services with this in mind.

Our Software as a Service products provide your small business with a on-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ helping you to concentrate on your business, while we run your office and IT. This makes your business more mobile and competitive while saving you time, money and helping the environment.

When you run a small business and personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants you probably benefit even more from using SaaS technology - program your business for success.

I get regular questions about what we really mean by WinWeb’s Small Business Infrastructure?

On-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ centers around the idea that business start-ups and growing small businesses need help with numerous administrative tasks that are not core to the business success - such as bookkeeping, it services, internet services, call handling and other such services.

These services - if performed by the business owner - cause a great deal of time wasting - while the fixed cost of a business is still accumulating. This is in our minds a fatally floored business model and can easily be remedied with our infrastructure approach.

We should not expect business start-ups and small business in general to be accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers, marketing & PR gurus and so on. We should provide small business with an infrastructure in which it can concentrate on core business tasks, while at the same time enabling the business owner to stay informed of all relevant business facts like cash flow, sales, HR issues, tax position and more. This will enable him / her to make informed decisions, maybe with the help of an external advisor.

Based on these facts, we have devised a six point on-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept, which consist of:

1. WinWeb On-Demand Software Solutions - Anywhere At Anytime.

AccountsOffice and OnlineOffice are our two software offerings, which are based on the SaaS - Software as a Services model, to allow for the following key business benefits:

• tight inclusion of business advisors from the start,
• cultivating outsourcing techniques at the outset, i.e. virtual assistants,
• no IT knowledge needed and hassle free operation,
• real-time multi-user access from anywhere, increasing mobility.

2. WinWeb 24/7 Live Support - We Are Here For You Always.

Providing customer care and support only during business hours is not acceptable to our clients. Experience has shown us that most admin work gets done by small business before nine in the morning or after five in the evening. This practice is essential if the business is to survive it’s early years.

This is why we have provided our much acclaimed customer support for 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the outset. Saving our clients wasted time and money - while setting new standards in customer support. No manuals need to be read - all problems can be solved in real-time online.

3. WinWeb Live - Networking Community for Small Business Only.

To foster collaboration and outsourcing we have expanded our WinWeb Live™ offering to allow for small business community networking - thus enabling the business owner to make decisions about his / her current needs, with the following benefits:

• timeshare virtual assistants for professional results,
• offer contracts of work to contractors on a case-by-case basis,
• promote the business to a large audience or even locally,
• find new work and contracts online

4. Business Advice

Our On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ enables business advisors, accountants, bookkeepers and other advisors to have a “Up Close and Personal” relationship with the small business owner, providing key elements for the success of a small business:

• timely and up-to-date advice from anywhere at anytime,
• more efficient advisor function due to SaaS technology, less travel,
• easily expandable advisor network.

5. Solution Partners

Third parties provide external services to complement our services, such as parcel service, office supply services, printing services. These and other services are provided on a bulk buy arrangements by leading businesses in their respective sectors - to provide the most reliable and up-to date service possible - with the effect of enhancing the professional appearance of our clients.

6. ClimateByte™ Technology - For A Cleaner Future.

Our clients are among the biggest demographics concerned with climate change and carbon footprint neutrality. It is a fact that employing remote working and collaboration techniques drastically reduces the damaging business side affects on our environment. We enable our clients to be more eco-friendly and aware, by providing them with our green technology - an ongoing development commitment of WinWeb.

WinWeb welcomes any suggestion that will further enhance our On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept - especially the development of even more eco-friendly business processes - to serve our small business and business start-up client-base.

A few years back we used to have a product called GlobalOffice - it was targeted at foreign small businesses who wanted to export product or just support their customers in local markets. We learned that our customers just used our OnlineOffice and made arrangements for the “Live” services themselves - and this has been the way ever since we withdrew GlobalOffice to focus on our “core” business to provide a Small Business Infrastructure - SBI.

Small Biz Labs have a post today about Laurel Delaneey’s Global Small Business Blog and one of her recent posts, some of the data is quite interesting:

• Only about 4% of US companies are exporters and the US has the lowest level of exports as a % of GNP of the G7 countries - roughly 10%. The highest is Germany at almost 45% and the 2nd lowest is Japan at a bit over 15%
• SME’s (defined as less than 500 employees) accounted for 29% of US export value in 2005.
• While the number of exporting businesses in the US grew rapidly in 90’s, it has stayed relatively flat since 2000. In 2005 there were roughly 239,000 exporting companies, 97% of which are SMEs.
• 58% of exporting companies traded in only one export market.

Localization, local red-tape and the often horrendous cost associated with exporting make it difficult for small business to work in foreign markets. I believe these barriers are slowly disappearing, not only with the help of technology, but with the understanding of technology.

Globelization 3.0 as I call it - I have written about it before - will enable very small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business, to take full advantage of global markets for products and services. Even personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants can now use social networking communities to develop international virtual project teams or at least be part of at least one or more.

In ten years time these numbers will be very different - as it will no longer matter, if your customer is next door or half way around the globe. For some this is a reality already - have you thought about this when planning your start-up business?

As part of a bootstrapping exercise or a business start-up phase, working from home is a great way to work, so I thought of some points to consider when setting up your office, small business or personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants at home:

1. Cost - you will save a lot of money and be very eco-friendly when you decide not to rent an office, this saving can be used in other areas of your business, like marketing, better web-site or better IT.
2. Family - I suspect that many of you work from home because of your family, it allows you to be around when your kids come home from school or look after relatives, while still earning a living.
3. Commuting - again a very eco-friendly approach and saves money and time. This time can be spend on real business activities. It certainly will enhance your work/life balance and make your small business or start-up more cost efficient form day one.
4. Freedom - this may especially appeal to you if you like to work at odd hours, it will suit your lifestyle. Dress as you like it, so you will be more comfortable.
5. Healthy - if you work in an office and one of you gets ill, soon all the others are down too - not if you work from home.
6. Teamwork - chances are you need to work with other people, use online technology to collaborate with your colleagues and other team workers - they too may work from home.
7. Domestic Life - you’ll be around when the plumber finally turns up or other trades people. You can enjoy your local life more - by having a social network in your village rather than at work - this could be the return of the local community.
8. Small Business Infrastructure - use online technology to keep your data and work safe at all times without that you have to do anything, build your own virtual Small Business Team to timeshare professionals like yourself. Outsource to make your business more professional and scalable.
9. Meetings - even bigger businesses use coffee shops to meet - they often have WiFi - so can you. Make sure you plan them well, so you can be efficient with your time.
10. Eco-Friendly - you will only heat your home, no other workplace needs to be heated or air-conditioned, your energy efficiency goes up, no travel to work - so you reduce your carbon footprint enormously just by working from home.

You will need some pretty good reasons to go to an office and work. Especially for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business, you need to ask yourself if you can afford to miss out on all the above opportunities for your work and for your life?

I work from home over 90% of the time and only go to the office for meetings and I love every minute of this. I use social network communities like linkedIn to build my professional network, utilizing our online office, skype and other tools to communicate and work worldwide.

More and more of my friends work from home so we have nice “pub-lunches” locally, no traveling, less stress and a much better work/life balance - how is your work/life balance?

For more of my checklists see the Small Business Checklists category and as always please add to my list with your comments, tell us what works for you.

If you have a group of people working with you - in your office or from home, employed or outsourced - does that mean you have a team? Well that depends how you work together.

Small Businesses need to be build a team, a Small Business Team. A team is defined as a group of people who co-operate in such a manner that it achieves more than the sum total of the individuals achieve each, they are united around a common goal and are accountable to the team for their actions.

Examples of teams are:

• Work Teams
• Sales Teams
• Customer Service Teams
• Virtual Teams

I would suggest that small business owners need to form teams around their small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses, too. This will achieve scalability, higher efficiency, more professionalism, in other words to grow your business with less growing pains, like struggling cash-flow, excessive financial and administrative overheads and much more.

In fact keeping business failure at bay, may very well depend on your ability to form these teams, in your office or virtually.

In a modern business context we also call these teams Small Business Communities or Small Business Networks. Even a small business may have different types of networks - as indicated above - you can have your office team, while your small office team member for sales may also belong to a external sales network (team).

As you can see we live not only technologically in a networked world - we live in a world of teams, communities and people networks. The benefits especially for small business and even more business start-up, can not be over emphasized - teams perform functions so important for small business success:

• achieve better work results than individuals,
• are ultimately more scalable and flexible than larger organisations,
• offer a wider range of services and products than individuals,
• offer the opportunity of “brain-storming”,
• motivate each other,
• develop more skills and confidence
• show more commitment to each other.

Whatever you do, employ new staff, hire a consultant, work with an accountant, think my-team, think my-community and think my-network - because you are building your Small Business Team. Do it even before you open your door for business, during the business start-up phase.

So, back to my question for you: Do you work with a Group of people or do you have your own Small Business Team?

As I mentioned before, traditional business marketing is changing. TV, radio and print media are in decline, because more and more of our time is spent online, the convergence of all these entertainment technologies has been going on for over a decade now and for the time it all seems to be IP - Internet Protocol centric.

What has that to do with my small business(?) - you may ask. It is actually crucial for your small business to understand this trent so you can act on it and actually save some money, by not wasting it on the wrong advertising medium.

Your small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business, may have the greatest product or service, but if you can not make people find you and your products, your small business and business start-up is in trouble, before you even started. There are many parts to the successful small business puzzle and to prevent business failure - blogging could very well be one of them.

Every small business website should have a blog connected to it - needless to say that every small business without fail should have a website. It does not matter if you work globally or locally, a website and blog is a must, not just a nice to have.

A small business blog will help you with the following:

• providing a platform for your small business to interact with your customers
• getting real time feedback from your clients
• provide additional information about your business, services and products
• get your story told your way, offer some control of public opinion
• create buzz about your business and products

It is easy to get a blog with your website hosting company or from WinWeb - you can be up and running in minutes. Hosting your own blog can be more technically demanding, but above all it will waste a lot of your valuable time - writing the articles (posts) for your blog is important - not running your server and blogging software.

Remember nobody is going to tell your story for you and nobody can tell your story better than you yourself.

I have been writing about virtual assistants and virtual workers for quite some time, explaining the benefits of outsourcing to virtual assistants and workers for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses.

But I never really wrote something about what it means to have a virtual small business team, which is part of WinWeb’s Small Business Infrastructure approach - so here it goes, a virtual small business team is:

1. a collection of people working together in different locations, countries and time-zones
2. a “network” of people working together using advanced online technology
3. some teams my be project specific and/or limited in duration(time)

Not always do people only work virtually together, some times the meet - even if it is only socially. Under 1. many combinations are possible:

• different time in different locations
• same time in different locations
• same time in same location
• different time in the same location

This all really means one thing - anywhere at anytime! How virtual is your team or in other words how mobile and flexible is your small business. You should think about these issues in the planning phase of your business start-up.

Have you thought through all the possibilities for your small business outsourcing and bootstrapping or how much more green and eco-friendly your small business or start-up would be?

Pamela Slim has a nice post “Start smart: 5 quick ways to set up business processes on the fly” - I can recommend you reading it:

“..You will find that in the start-up phase of business, many of the vendors, government agencies, potential customers, media contacts and partners want the same kind of information about you and your company. So instead of digging through file folders and your “sent” email, here are five suggestions for setting up quick and dirty business processes and organizing your information for easy access:….”

Being organized from day one will save you a lot of time and help you to stay focused on your business - not your office.

That is the reason I came up with the On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure - so you can stay focused on your business goals and not lose your time, money and energy on some administrative function. If you can not automate it - outsource it, to someone who makes a business out of it - like a Virtual Assistant.

If you ever wondered what a virtual business for small or personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants is, then here is an example: MrExcel.com - they are truly virtual and global:

• Bill Jelen in Akron Ohio
• Lora White manages the office in Uniontown, Ohio.
• Linda Delonais is technical editor of our books.
• Ivana Taylor is our virtual VP of marketing.
• Wei Jiang is a full time programmer and project manager in Shiyan City. He is proficient in Visual Basic, Excel and Access.
• Tracy Syrstad project manages all of the consulting projects at MrExcel. She is editor of all of the Holy Macro! Books and co-author of our newest book on Excel VBA.
• Suat Ozgur is a full time Excel, Access, VB and php developer in Istanbul.
• Anne Troy is author of a book on Microsoft Word that we are publishing this fall.
• Barb Jelen works in Tucson and processes all of the orders placed through the MrExcel store.
• Scott Pierson does all of our flash design from Philadelphia.
• Mala Singh runs the MrExcel Graphics & Engineering Division in India.
• Richard Kranesis in Chicago runs the MrExcel-branded training around the country, offering on-site Advanced Excel to companies.
• We have a number of part time programmers who moonlight while still working at their day job. Lest their bosses find out, let’s thank Al, Angelita, Anhtuan, Audrey, Brian, Colo, Cory, Cort, David, Dawn, Duane, Harry, Ian, Ivan, James, Jake, Jay, Juan Pablo, Marcel, Marie, Mark, Mark, Nate, Nick, Richie, Robert, Russell, Scott, Skip, Suat, Tom, Tom, Tracy, Wendy, and Zack for their expertise in various Office products.
• There are 3 dozen incredible volunteer MVP’s and 100’s of Excel Gurus who answer questions tirelessly at the message board. Thanks to all of them for making what I believe is the best Excel resource available anywhere.

This is an excellent example of what working online can mean, the more tailored your software/IT infrastructure is to working online, the less will it matter where people work and when. I wrote about Globeliszation 3.0 some time back this is an example of that too, small business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer businesses can benefit just as much from globelization as big firms. Think about the implications for your business, lower cost and less hassle recruiting is just the start.

Hat-tip to Anita Campbell, she has an interesting blog post on Google Hiring Local Contractors, too.