Ever dreamed of how to start a business of your own, but you don't have the money to do it? Not a problem if you are creative enough to follow the find a need and fill it philosophy.

A few years ago we moved to a new town of about 12,000 people. There was no answering service available for this community without paying a huge long distance phone bill every month which was out of the question for most businesses. Since my husband had a home office because he was on the road most of the time, not having an answering service meant that I, the dutiful wife, had to stay home to take the calls. Hmm, I thought, if I have to do this I wonder how many other people are in the same boat or how many businesses are losing business because they can�t afford to have someone in their office when they are out to just answer the phone. It appears that there is an opportunity to start a business in this community.

But, alas, I had no money to start a business. Great idea, would probably work, but how do I do it with no money, just the desire to start a business of my own?

The way I did it was to place an ad in the local newspaper as a survey to see how many people would be interested in having an answering service. I put my home phone number in the ad and told the callers what I wanted to do, to provide a service that was unavailable in the area at the time. I received a call from one interested party that was not only interested in the concept, but worked for the phone company and could get us the equipment cheaply, and, he wanted to be a "partner" without having to work the phones. Hmmm, that could work for me. He could get the equipment, put in a little money for start up (and I mean a little just enough for the first months rent of a space) and provide the expertise in the equipment operations.

I found an office that wasn't in the best of condition, but, the owner of the building wanted it rented so was willing to upgrade it for us, putting in a bathroom and providing extra desks and chairs from his other offices.

My partner got the equipment (which now would be so outdated that it would be impossible to use but then it was just ok.) We put ads in the paper, called every business we could find in the phone book and told them we were open and that our rate was really reasonable.

Two months later we were making a small profit. After all, our overhead was low since I worked the long shift and we just hired someone to work the evenings and closed at 11 since we didn't have any physicians or emergency personnel as clients.

After 4 months a contact approached me to buy the business. She had some money, could afford a down payment if we would sell on contact. You bet we did!! In just 5 months time we had turned a small profit into a nice piece of income with the down payment for the business and we were free and clear. As long as she made her payments we would be making money, if she didn�t make her payments we would foreclose and not be out anything since the equipment was paid for and the other office supplies were minimal.

To make a long story short, we took the answering service back for non payment a year later, we sold it on contact again to a guy that wanted to start a business a couple of months later and made money again on the down payment. We took it back again a couple of months later when the new owner got a divorce and headed out of town. The next time we sold it, it was a cash out deal. No more down payments, but what a sweet ride while it lasted.

The total out of pocket expenses to start a business were less than $1000. Now that's how you start a business with no money!