You might have come across this term many a times and even know or understand the meaning of it. But it is always goood to examine the trend and origin of the word so that a wider perspective is understood.

Bootstrapping is a term that is used in many fields to imply a meaning that has almost similar effect.

In nutshell bootstrapping refers to a self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help.

It is the use in business sphere that we want to discuss in detail.

Origin

Bootstrap is a loop or handle in the shoes with tall neck which are used to pull the shoe while putting.

AS shown in this figure, tall boots may have a tab, loop or handle at the top known as a bootstrap, allowing one to use fingers or a tool to provide greater force in pulling the boots on.

Thus one is able to put the shoe without any external help. . Bootstrap as a metaphor, meaning to better oneself by one’s own unaided efforts, was in use in early twentieth century. This spawned additional metaphors for a series of self-sustaining processes that proceed without external help.

Business Bootstrapping

A click on business bootstrapping in Wikipedia takes you to entrepreneurship page implying the similar connotation.

In true terms, business bootstrapping should imply that the business is self sustaining without any external help.

Bootstrapping can be defined as a collection of methods used to minimize the amount of outside debt and equity financing needed from banks and investors.

The use of private credit card debt is the most known form of bootstrapping,

Because finance is the basic requirement of a business, bootstrapping your business basically covers the financial aspects, also aptly termed as financial bootstrapping.

Apart from credit card, other methods of  bootstrapping are

• Owner financing
• Sweat equity – contribution made by time and effort [More toiling to save expense]
• Minimization of the accounts receivable  – Minimizing
• Joint utilization – Sharing office and other resources
• Delaying payment
• Minimizing inventory
• Subsidy finance
• Personal Debt

Sweat equity is very common in newbies who start their own web business and had been my favorite for years.  Gradually I have started turning to my credit card when cash is needed.

So! How do you bootstrap?

I just watched a video by David Siteman that I am going to share with you in a moment. The video is not about the tips or tricks of the business but aims at stimulating your imagination.

David talks about small changes and the big impact they could have on your business.

I happened to agree almost instantly on what he said. We all focus on big events and big changes which obviously make difference in our working, productivity and overall business.

But we should also focus on small changes that can have either immediate or subtly growing long term effect on your business.

Here is the video

Click here to view the embedded video.

So what changes are you going to make this year?

In beginning  of 2010, I decided to shed  load that was not letting me focus on the productive part of my web businesses. These included unutilized domains which offered opportunity but lack of time did not allow me to nurture them.

I let about 12 domains to expire on their own. I kept few out of emotional attachment and possible time slot availability in future.

This year I am carrying my knife deeper.

I am closing the sick units. The websites which take my time and investment but do not offer or promise to offer much. Plus I am closing the websites which I have not been able to manage.

Few of them are close to my heart but I need to make difficult decisions.

It is time for holidays and I  have to plan for the next year. It is going to be bigger and better. I am going to be more specific and productivity oriented and try no new project.

I have taken off from few of my websites. I would keep posting here though the frequency might show few blips.

Its time to become lean and mean.

As usual, I would discuss the plans with you once I chart them.

I am sure you are already making plans for next year. If you have not, please start making one.

Good day.

One of the main obstacles associated with starting a new business is lack of time. One is so engrossed in the primary job and daily life that, squeezing few hours daily is a daunting task.

Well!

Many have came over the obstacle before us and they stand as great example.

At the moment you might pose as the busiest person with no time for anything new but believe me, people out there have been  a lot busier than you and succeeded in doing what made them independent.

Tom Kavala portrays his own very inspiring  example here and lists very important tips on managing the time.

Tim Berry has great blog about business planning.

I have read many of his articles on business planning. And they are fantastic.

Tim has posted a new video which is a recording of the webinar he gave as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, earlier this week.

Tim discusses lies and also talks about what you should do, instead of believing the lies, to make business planning part of your business management.

Here is the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A laptop in your hand and a goal in the mind would not succeed without a strategy .

If you want to take your business from point A to point B in a year, how would you do it?

You need to devise a plan, a strategy.

Simply put a strategy is a growth plan for your business.

How Do You Build A Strategy?

Say that you want to achieve 50% growth this year. [Do not concentrate on the number, just assume it]

That would happen if you increase your sales by 50%.

Having this target, you need to choose the methods that you would apply to gain what you aim.

Because people are your customers, it means you want people to make 50% more purchases from you or through your affiliate link.

How you do that is the strategy.

You may want to achieve that by one of the following methods or in combination.

1. Increase your website visitors
2. Increase your conversion rate
3. Offer more products to your exiting customers.
4. Introduce some high end products

There could be many other ways to accomplish that. Just to have examples, these are enough.

Now get hold of each of the method and list the ways it can be done and then choose what you would do .

For example if you work on increasing your website visitors, you may want to work on

• Article Marketing
• Pay per click
• Forums
• Pay per view
• Content marketing
• Search marketing
• Social media
• …….Your own method

For increasing conversion rate

• Better website design
• Better squeeze pages
• Discounts
• Season’s sales
• ……….Write your own

These things now would be broken to your daily tasks

For example for first month your daily To do list may look like

• Submit one article to article directories
• Make 5 forum posts
• Comment on 5 blogs
• Write a post on your blog
• Change the squeeze page

So on

You will have daily tasks, monthly work targets, quarterly business assessment and evaluation of the growth the business makes in each quarter.

If you have it all charted out, there lies your strategy.

Kelly Spors at Small Biz Trends has come with a great article on how to keep your office energy efficient.

I liked especially

• Switch to laptops
• Set sleep modes on all electronic
• Use power strips
• Keep refrigerators small and new.

It is a great read. You can read the article here

7 Ways to Make Your Office More Energy Efficient

In business there are so many aspects to look at that it can really exhaust you. At the end of the day, after a long working day that took all your energies, you still be lagging behind.

If you are lost into sea of chores and panting to achieve your daily goals and missing them day after day, you often start asking yourself – What is Wrong?

You work all the day, try your best to meet your To Do List but something is missing.

You have become a worker, doing the daily tasks and your business is just sustaining instead of growing, you need to have a relook at your working system.

A lot of the work in a business is rinse and repeat. Most of the time is taken by same repetitive work. Either automate it or outsource it.

For creating a system you need to identify the tasks which are consuming your maximum time. Then you need to consider if it can be automated or outsourced. If it does not fall into either category then think how it can be  made faster.

Prioritize your tasks.

There are tasks which would benefit in the long run and there are tasks which would have immediate benefits.

You need to see how to balance your short term growth with your long term.

Your entire system would depend on your goals, your budget and your skills.

Give it a thought.

Referring to my last post, I could not deliver a post on the day I promise.

I was without internet for all these days.

There was some issue with modem and this paltry thing took almost 3 days to solve.

Anyhow!

I hope it works now.

As my connection to intenet was reinstated I visited many of my favorite blogs.

Small Business Trends has come out with a post on a list of 20 project management tools.

Just go through them and if you like try them.

Here is the list.

Ever wondered how you could save more money. How about tips from frugal billionaires!

Here are seven tips from various billionaires on money saving