How I Started a Business With $50 and Why It Was One of My Best Financial Decisions

Fifty American dollars in close up with more underneath

Starting a business can be daunting, especially if you’re young and short on money. Yet Aaliyah Kissick has proven that it doesn’t take much to get started and launching a business propels your finances forward, even if you end up going down a different road later in life. As a teenager with just $50, Kissick started a fashion resale business, AK Boutique.

In less than three years, she grew it from a small home-based operation to a spot in the White Oaks Mall in Springfield, Illinois, ultimately scaling to over $300,000 in inventory. Yet rather than doubt whether $50 was enough, she jumped right in.

“I was 17 when I woke up and decided to be a boutique owner. I had always loved fashion and dreamed of setting up a shop, but I made up my mind to do it in an instant,” Kissick explained. “On that summer day between my junior and senior years, I set up shop in my mom’s garage with a few pieces of clothing, an old cash box, and a cardboard sign on the side of the road to get people to come in. My instinct was to be economical, mostly because I only had $50 to my name, but also because I grew up in the country where the people are incredibly resourceful and highly self-reliant.”

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Although she didn’t have much of a roadmap for the business, she figured things out.

“Truthfully, I had no idea what I was doing, so I had no idea if $50 would work or not,” she said.

Her path reminds her of a famous quote by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who wrote on what was then Twitter, “I believe starting a company is like jumping off a cliff and assembling a plane on the way down — your willingness to jump is your most valuable asset as an entrepreneur.”

Let’s dig a little deeper into her entrepreneurial journey.

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Changing Course

While Kissick was able to grow her business quickly, she had some bad luck with the COVID-19 pandemic starting shortly after her mall boutique opened. On top of that, she had a full plate as a college student and several other interests she wanted to pursue. Still, she has been able to keep her business going while shifting online.

“Despite running at 25% of the scale I had before, I still maintain a robust inventory of over 2,000 items. What I love about running a business is that I can scale up and down as I please or travel anywhere worldwide while I work,” Kissick said.

Even though her business has changed, she’s been able to leverage her experience to help with her current pursuits. Kissick is now an aspiring CFP candidate, advocates for financial literacy, and plans to get her MBA.

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“My movement into personal finance is a natural progression of what I started to learn as a young entrepreneur. Within a few months of bootstrapping my garage operation, I was already beginning to negotiate a brick-and-mortar store. Because no one in my family previously ran a business, I had yet to learn how to run the finances of one,” she explained.

Although she didn’t have much experience when starting her business with just $50, that helped her speed up her learning. And by applying what she learned, rather than just reading, she feels like she has an edge.

“I began teaching myself about small business and personal finance using free online resources. I fell in love with the subject and started reading all of the books I could get my hands on,” Kissick said. “Entrepreneurship is a boon for any resume. As I prepare to apply for MBA programs, I have the upper hand compared to people my age who lack real-world business experience,” she said.

Taking the Leap

Kissick’s story shows you don’t need a huge pool of capital or ample life experience to start a business. In some ways, starting small can be an advantage.

“The luxury of bootstrapping with limited funds is that you have less to lose,” she said.

And with so many free and low-cost resources available today to help you learn how to launch and grow your business, it’s arguably easier than ever to get started. However, you have to be willing to take the leap, rather than just consuming information.

“We live in the Age of Information, and information is always thrown at us. I think what sets me apart from other people who want to start a boutique their whole life is that I just did it rather than overthinking how I would do it,” Kissick said. “You could spend your free time scrolling on social media, secretly wishing you could do something extraordinary, or you could spend your free time engaged with doing something extraordinary.”

Plus, by starting small, there’s less downside if the business doesn’t work out.

“The act of starting a business is also a learning experience in itself. It’s engaging and authentic. Even if your small venture doesn’t succeed in the long run, you have a fantastic hobby that will introduce you to new people, put you in the forefront of new opportunities, and drive your life in a direction you can’t even dream of right now. You also have new skills to apply to your next business idea,” Kissick said.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How I Started a Business With $50 and Why It Was One of My Best Financial Decisions