Q&A: How do you make money when you have no money? – On The Couch With Heather

​Hi Heather,
This is a simple question, how do you make money when you have no money?
Belinda Jo W.
 
I LOVE this question Belinda. It’s an awesome question because so many people are probably wondering the same darn thing.
 
Okay, your question isn’t specifically asking about starting a business so I’ll tackle it from both a business and a career perspective too. I’ll be as broad as possible.

BUSINESS

The Bank
 
A lot of people need money to start a business or some other passion project. Back in the 80s my dad had very little cash, basically all he had was a credible enough business plan to make an appointment with a bank manager.
 
The main basis for which he got that loan was the bank manager saying, “I can see a future in your eyes so I’ll approve this loan”.
 
Sh!t like that doesn’t happen today.
 
Banks can’t lend on the basis of just believing you have great potential so they don’t lend to start-ups. Typically, they’ll only lend to a business that has three years of trading history and appears to have a reasonably stable income.
 
The Manufacturer
 
Have you heard of Sara Blakely? If not, then you’ll definitely have heard of the brand Spanx. She started that brand with $1,000 which for all intents and purposes is almost nothing.
 
She used that money to get a prototype made by a local US manufacturer.
 
She then wanted a manufacturer to partner with her: she wanted them to produce her product in the hopes of sharing in the profits.
 
Obviously, most suppliers gave her an outright no. Manufacturers don’t like taking entrepreneurial risks of that nature. Their business is just making stuff and they get paid upfront or based on a 30-day line of credit. The manufacturer that ultimately said yes had a daughter that convinced him it would work.
 
That is still possible today especially if the product to be made seems quite innovative and if a small sample run can be made without a huge financial outlay.
 
Her next problem was finding a big buyer. She trawled from supermarket to supermarket trying to get someone to see her.
 
In the end, she got her first yes by asking the buyer to come to the bathroom with her to see how Spanx worked. She put them on and the buyer was like, “I get it”.
 
The rest as they say is history, she now stands as one of very few self-made female BILLIONAIRES.
 
Her story has so many elements that just seem “lucky”, for instance, if the buyer had been male she couldn’t have just been like, “Come to the bathroom with me and I’ll show you” – can you imagine what he’d be thinking? Lol
 
That said, you only get lucky when you put yourself out there. Most people just let their ideas die in their head so they don’t get lucky.
 
Luck comes from repeated effort.

---

MAKING MONEY IN A JOB

Now, if you just want some money and have none, there are some key avenues you can take.
 
EARN MORE – GET A GOOD JOB

• WORK: Some jobs earn more than others; look for a job that will make you more money.
• BIDNESS: You can also sell things online like educational courses or goods on eBay. Some people scout supermarkets and department stores for sales then immediately flip the stuff on eBay. It is labour-intensive but can be profitable. If you don't have money you often need to spare more time...

 
EARN MORE – SELF IMPROVEMENT
 
Here are a few ways you can improve your prospects.
 
Education
 
The better educated you are, the more money you tend to make. Even in poorly paid jobs you can navigate yourself into higher paid posts like a management position, over time.
 
Every industry will have positions that make bank and roles that keep your bank account overdrawn.
 
If you get educated, you’ll be able to take advantage to move up.
 
In my case I have a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge. I could have stopped there – most do, but I decided to become a Chartered Financial Analyst, CFA.
 
I’m currently self-employed but, for no particular reason, I’m doing the Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice (CeMAP) AND I’ve signed up for ACCA exams…what can I say, I like writing exams.
 
Like I said, I don’t have any specific plans for these qualifications, you could say I like collecting qualifications in the same way people like collecting, say stamps, but with all this on my CV it means I can pounce on opportunities faster than a cheetah in the Serengeti pounces on an unsuspecting wildebeest.
 
Accents
 
Don’t ask me why I think of this today; perhaps because the topic cropped up over the last few days.
 
Some people associate certain accents with being dumb and having such an accent can therefore reduce one’s employability.
 
Here in the UK, the Birmingham or Brummie accent is seen as dumb – I personally love it (see references below). In the US the Southern Accent is seen by some as dumb too and indeed some people find certain African accents dumb – sigh.
 
I personally like lots of accents that people hate but I’m not trying to employ you. My personal pet peeve is poor grammar.
 
Mix poor grammar with an accent that employers tend to be biased against and forget passing interview round one!
 
I have a Chinese friend who went to the extent of getting elocution lessons to neutralize her accent. I haven’t seen her in a long while so I can’t tell you if it worked.
 
Overall, if you think your accent could possibly be holding you back you should work on it. This could be as simple as polishing up your grammar and pronouncing words more clearly, you don’t necessarily need expensive elocution lessons.
 
I won’t lie to you though, I’ve considered elocution lessons myself in the past.
 
If we look at the c-suite of any firm we’d probably all be surprised who’s had some voice/accent coaching. Some people just want to change their tone to sound more authoritative others want to wipe out a whole accent.
 
Your Overall Look
 
Honey, I so wish it weren’t true but people do judge a book by its cover. Having polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) means I gain weight if I so much as look at cake the wrong way and it is incredibly hard to shake off.
 
I am not hugely overweight at all but people have no idea how hard it is for me to just stay this slightly overweight size even when my calorie intake is quite low.
 
This is why I wish fattism did not exist, but it does. Employers have been empirically shown to discriminate against overweight people because they view them as lazy! Reference below.
 
If you feel your weight could be holding you back, get your jog on.
 
I’ve been jogging almost daily for three months right now and I haven’t lost ANY weight. However, I feel excellent and I’m buzzing with energy.
 
If you, like me, struggle with weight focus on just doing regular exercise. It will make you feel more confident about your body and that confidence will shine through to other people.
 
Coach or Mentor
 
Ultimately, this is what I did to get my first well-paid job at Goldman Sachs. I was coached.
 
My CV was reviewed, I had practice interviews, I got feedback on what I planned to wear to my interviews and I got the job.
 
That job allowed me to save more and ultimately go on to buy my first property.
 
SAVE MORE
 
This is one thing people simply fail to do. I’ve coached people who think they couldn’t possibly save anything and when I delve into their finances there are literally savings that can be made everywhere.
 
I have so many tips on saving that I wrote a book about it a few years ago, Build Super Savings.
 
If you get the PDF book, I suggest you print it off and work through it diligently, from start to finish. Promise?
 
INVEST IN PROPERTY (aka REAL ESTATE) FIRST
 
I see property as a safe bet.
 
If you buy a property you can afford the worst case scenario is that you’ll end up with negative equity for a while; however, provided you keep up with payments you will eventually own the home outright and always have somewhere to live.
 
After you have one property why not get more properties to fund your retirement? Rent from tenants pays the mortgage off for you.
 
If you buy in a good area you will at a minimum store the value of your home because over long periods of time property keeps up with inflation.
 
In the best case scenario you’ll see you property price rise faster than inflation. Your equity capital will grow.
 
I am a huge fan of property.
 
It’s not a get rich quick strategy. You’ll only enjoy the maximum benefits of it in 20 to 30 years time when your mortgages are fully paid off but even before that property can bring in some extra spending cash.
 
If property prices rise fast you can enjoy incredible benefits much sooner but I’d invest based on at least a 10-year plan.
 
I started my working life off with no money. I saved enough to invest in one property and it is that property that I bought almost 10 years ago that I re-mortgaged to fund my Queen of Kinks product line.
 
I can talk for days when it comes to property so I created an information-packed course on how to build a property portfolio from scratch. Anyhow...

Can you think of other ways to make money? Make a comment below.

---

Click To Build Your Property Portfolio

Have a business or life question you want me to answer? Please email it to me with the subject “Question”. Note that all such questions will be answered as a blog post and will be sent to my full email list. 

Want to start a business? Check out The Money Spot Program.

References

• These are the accents people think make you sound stupid
• Is Your Weight Affecting Your Career?
• The Workplace Problem That No One Is Talking About