Bank of Dave: I started my business with £0 – here’s how you could do it too

I left school at 16 with no qualifications whatsoever. I was earning about £30 a week on a building site through a Youth Training Scheme. It was the day that I didn’t have enough change for a chip butty that I decided something needed to change. I knew I wanted to run my own business but didn’t have any cash to get started. Not that I was going to let that stop me. There are plenty of people in the same position today and I can tell you from experience, not having the money doesn’t mean you can’t do it – you just need to think outside the box. Shorts Do find your passion I always loved cars but didn’t have money for a gallon of petrol, let alone enough to start a car business. So I decided to go round all the local garages and start talking to people. I asked if they had any old part exchange vehicles that I could take on, fix up and resell. In the end, a man called Brian said yes. He gave me an old Cavalier that had flat tyres and wouldn’t start and said I could take it. “Bring me back £70 for it and you can keep anything you make above that.” I fixed it up, sold it for £99, and did it again. Soon I had made enough to buy the old cars upfront, which meant I could negotiate a better deal. It was hard work and slow going and I was still working full-time in the week, but I loved it. Ask yourself: what is your passion? What would you do even if you didn’t get paid for it? Find something you’re passionate about and it will never feel like work. Do your research If I wanted to open a pub, I’d find the busiest pub in the area and get a job there and learn absolutely everything. Where do they buy their drinks from, what entertainment is most popular, what food sells the best, what happens to the barrels, what is the decor like and the toilets? Whatever your business is, look at the success stories in the industry and see what you can learn from them. Because the truth is, most of the time you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to understand why it works. Then you can take what you’ve learned and try it for yourself. And don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work the first time. You’ll go to bed thinking, ok I made a mistake, and you’ll get up and try something new the next day until you get it right. And in the meantime, don’t forget the next point in this list. Do keep the day job A lot of people take the leap too soon when they’re starting a business, but my advice is this: don’t take the stabilisers off until you know you’re ready – stick with the day job. I was working full-time on a building site, evenings as a nightclub DJ, mornings at a market and fixing up cars at the weekend. It was hard work but I knew I couldn’t make my car business a full-time job until I could guarantee it would cover the bills. You might see influencers sitting on a yacht, spraying champagne into the sea, but it’s all complete and utter nonsense. The truth is there is no easy way and there are no shortcuts. Hard work is the key and it will pay off in the end. Do ask for help Whether it’s seeing what grants are available for small businesses in your area, going to night school to learn about accounts, using online tools to write a business plan, or asking friends or family for advice – there is plenty of help out there, so make use of it. This is another area to think outside the box, because when you launch a business you need all the help you can get to let people know about it. If you’re launching a bakery, have a go at making the world’s longest sausage roll, or if you’re starting a florist, make the biggest bunch of flowers in Britain – come up with something that will get you seen in the local press and get people talking about you. Do not assume bigger is better A lot of people make the mistake of trying to grow too much, too soon. The idea of scaling up into a huge national or multinational business might sound great, but it comes with a lot more work and often doesn’t actually make you any more money. It’s sometimes referred to as the “third milk round effect”, where you scale up, but end up worse off because your costs (and your problems) increase at a greater rate. Running a bigger business means more admin, more overheads, more people to manage, and more sacrifices, like missing bank holidays or the kids’ birthdays. Sometimes you’ve got to ask yourself whether it’s really worth it. That’s not to say you shouldn’t dream big, but growing a business should be done in a measured way, don’t just chase bigger for the sake of it.