NUMA Magazine ISSUE THREE | Page 72

HOW TO

S T A R T A S T A R T - U P

WITH HELLO HELLO STUDIO

So you have a big idea but don’t quite know where to start?

If we’re not talking about the next big app or swish online boutique then it can be as easy as making something in your loungeroom and having it online in minutes. Gone are the days of pitching to banks for a business loan, renting and fitting out a brick an mortar shop, and stocking it with thousands of dollars worth of inventory. Now you can put your idea into action in an afternoon with little to no start-up costs.

So what do you actually need to do? For me I’ve found that once I have my idea and my name I really only need three things to get out there and get hustling; a gmail email, an instagram profile and a paypal account. These are your three best friends when it comes to setting up and they are all that you need while you test the waters. When things get serious you can look into amping it up with a website, etc but for now you can post your product or service onto instagram, receive enquiries/sales through an email account and process payments send invoices through paypal.

Yes, it can feel a bit premature to launch with just an instagram, a gmail and a paypal account; particularly as a perfectionist I really struggled with this in the beginning, but I’ve found the benefit in getting out there and building up your business early outweighs the slight messiness of not having all of your ducks in a row. Plus even without a website you can take awesome photos of your product, build up a community of like-minded accounts and even start contacting (or being contacted by) retailers that want to stock your products; none of which might have happened if you had procrastinated another 6 months and hadn’t just started!