“How can I save money to start my online boutique?”
“I haven’t started my boutique because I don’t have any money”.
Does that sound like you?
Lack of starter capital is the main reason many aspiring boutique owners are sitting on their dream.
I get it — if you want the highest likelihood of success, I recommend never starting an online boutique business without money.
Finally starting your online boutique business of your dreams doesn’t have to be super expensive. You can start for as little as $5,000 and lots of elbow grease! Click here to learn how much it costs to start an online boutique.
Below, I’ve compiled some best ways you can save money towards starter capital for your future online boutique business.
Get Committed.
You MUST first commit to yourself that you will actually take action on your dream. You don’t want to leave it to someday— if so, it will always be a dream.
To make it a reality, open a savings account with good interest. I recommend Ally Bank, they are an online bank and the interest rate for their savings account is currently 1.9% as opposed to other banks that usually hover around .01%.
Go ahead and name the account “My Future Boutique”.
Also, give yourself a deadline. Do you want to start your boutique in the next 3 months? 6 months? next year? Set the date and add it to your calendar!
Get Aggressive.
When you’re serious about making this dream a reality, you’ll be entering a season of sacrifice. The thing you desire is usually right on the other side of what you won’t do. First up, is evaluating your current lifestyle to see where you can cut back to save money.
1. Cut out cable and put that money into your new savings account every month. You can sign up for a lower priced Hulu or Netflix subscription instead. To be even more aggressive, choose one or the other and NOT BOTH! Or if you have a sibling/close friend that has a subscription ask if you can share (you can set up separate profiles under one account) and just pay half the monthly subscription fee.
2. Do you order food regularly? Then commit to cooking all your meals more often. Have no time to cook on weeknights? Then spend a few hours on Sunday meal planning and prepping for the upcoming week. No excuses! That also means you’ll need to bring lunch and snacks to work. You’ll only fall prey to eating out when you haven’t properly planned out your week.
3. Instead of spending money hanging out with friends and/or coworkers, go to free events only or invite them to hang out at your house.
4. If you go to happy hours often, avoid the inflated bar fee by purchasing a bottle of wine/ alcohol and gather with friends at home instead.
5. Is your cell phone bill super expensive? Switch to a cheaper cell phone provider such as Simple Mobile or MetroPCS.
6. Are you living by yourself but barely home? Get a roommate and cut your living expenses in half. Or become an AirBnB host.
7. Call your car insurance company to see if you are actually getting the best deal for the plan that you are on.
8. Go on a spending fast and put all that money into your savings account!
9. Are you a label snob at the grocery store? Did you know that most store brands are the exact same quality as the brand name item? Seriously, it’s usually just private labeled for the supermarket brand. Save money on your groceries by purchasing the store brand version of your favorite items.
10. This one can add up really quickly, commit to sending 10% of every paycheck to your savings account.
11. Unplug items you are not currently using to lower your electricity bill — this is actually one of my favorites on how to save money. If you are not watching TV, then unplug it. If you are not using the microwave, then unplug it. If you are not charging your phone/laptop/tech gadgets, then unplug the chargers. You get the drift— by doing this in addition to not leaving lights on when a room is empty, my electricity bill has been as low as $32 and even during the summer months when we have the A/C on almost all day the bill never went over $80. I live in NYC guys, those bills are amazing!!
Get Creative.
Once you’ve turned over every nook and cranny of your lifestyle. It’s time to find ways increase your income.
1. Look through your closet, is there anything you no longer want or that you barely wear? Take some photos of it and sell it on eBay or Facebook Marketplace.
2. Have a car, bike or scooter? Sign up to deliver Uber Eats (I don’t recommend driving Uber because you’ll need a different type of car insurance coverage, God forbid you get in an accident)
3. Sign up to transcribe videos while in your pajamas with Rev.com.
4. Sign up to be a shopper with Instacart.
5. Like pets? Sign up to be a pet sitter at Rover.com
6. Like kids? Sign up to be a babysitter at Care.com