Innovating without money
What business to open with little money?
The best one combines three things: something you know how to do, a problem people near you pay to solve, and a low cost to test.
bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published
"What business to open with 10,000 reais," "with 5,000," "with 50,000": Google completes the sentence with almost every amount. The honest answer is that there is no list of businesses that work for everyone. Ready-made lists ignore what matters most: what you know how to do, who is near you and how much you can afford to lose. The best business for little money is the one that brings those three together.
The practical path
- Make your map in three columns. In the first, what you do well (including things that seem ordinary, like cooking, organizing, fixing, teaching, caregiving). In the second, problems people around you pay to solve. In the third, how much it costs to start each idea. The business is where the three columns cross.
- Prefer low fixed investment. Service businesses, made-to-order work or resale without a big inventory let you test with little. A storefront, renovations and expensive machinery increase the risk.
- Look at local demand. What's missing in your neighborhood or town? Which services have waiting lists? What do people complain about in neighborhood groups? Demand close to you is cheaper to serve.
- Calculate everything beforehand. Initial investment, working capital for the first months, fixed costs, price and how many sales per month you need to pay the bills. Sebrae has business ideas with investment estimates and a free business plan template.
- Be wary of the "trendy business." If everyone is opening the same thing at the same time, prices tend to fall. Fads are good for those who sell equipment, not always for those who buy it.
- Run from promises. Franchises and "opportunities" that promise certain revenue, quick returns or passive income call for double caution. Ask for the Franchise Disclosure Document (Law 13,966/2019) and talk to current franchisees before signing anything.
- Test before spending it all. Use a small part of the money to prove there are customers. The rest stays as breathing room.
How Bairo went through it
Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez's first business in Brazil, he says, didn't come from a list: it came from life. With his partner, when their daughter was born, he opened a salon. From inside it came a hair-treatment course, in a field that would later come to be called trichology, and then a natural-based cosmetics brand.
Each step started at the size life allowed and used what he already knew to reach what he didn't know yet. He says there are no coincidences and no accidents, only purpose, dreams and execution. In choosing a first business, that translates into starting close to home.
The Method step
Before choosing, apply step 1 of the Seventh Attempt Method: say the dream out loud. Write: "I will build ___ for , because ." If the sentence won't come out, you haven't chosen a business yet, you've chosen an investment amount. Then step 3: 20 conversations in 14 days.
Discover the Seventh Attempt Method