DEAR JOYCE: Three months out of work, I'm considering starting my own company. I've always known that most new businesses tank within a couple of years, that you should never make critical decisions too quickly after losing a job, and that financing is virtually impossible to obtain for a start-up these days. But lately I've been seeing claims that it's possible to start a business with no money or collateral. Real deal? - J.S.
Anything's possible. Not likely, but success can strike passion-driven entrepreneurs -- particularly those in service businesses and online endeavors -- who launch with no or little financial backing. That's the case presented by Rick Smith (ricksmith.me) and Erica Douglass (brazencareerist.com). For both articles, Google "How to Start a Business with No Money."
Freesourcing (freesourcing.org) is a notable new resource for bootstrapping entrepreneurs to check out. It's a directory of the best free, Web-based small business resources. Still in beta, the site lists 15 business areas of interest, from finance and graphic design to sales and social media tools.
Reliable and free advice is available from SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" (score.org), a legion of volunteer mentors affiliated with the Small Business Administration. SCORE's been helping people like you for 45 years. To pump up small businesses during the recession, the organization presents a new online toolkit each month featuring special articles, templates, podcasts and workshops at score.org/accelerate.
With 15 million Americans on the bricks, entrepreneurship is looking pretty good to many frustrated job seekers. It's more tempting than ever to buy into siren songs romanticizing the theme of "Do what you love and the money will follow." Not so fast. Most of us know people who've gone over the cliff with that fable.
So should you take a flyer? While there are ways to start working for yourself without money, there is no free lunch. Investigate. Analyze. You decide.
DEAR JOYCE: A 46-year-old male, I have a four-year degree in education and business and am in the search for a new career. I have gone on job interviews for both blue-collar and white-collar positions. Does it matter whether you wear a suit on all of the interviews? Or could I wear, for example, nice khaki pants and a tasteful shirt on an interview for a blue-collar position?
I ask because recently at a staffing company, an interviewer said: "Hoo boy, aren't you overdressed?" - R.E.
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