You don’t need capital to start a consultancy; It is only a limiting belief. And limiting beliefs stop you from fulfilling your destiny.
In fact, it was this very same limiting belief that my family and environment had injected into me: that I needed capital to start a business.
Sure you need capital to start a factory, a brokerage, or a paan shop. Even to be a farmer you need land and capital. But you do not need any capital to start a services business. Nobody told me this when I was younger!
They said: We are poor, we don’t have capital. So we have to study hard and get a job. That’s our only option. We are destined for this. My co-founder, Harsh Jain, had a similar experience. Here’s what he has to say about this:
Until I was about 20, I had never even considered starting a business. I barely got enough education loans to cover my college tuition. But then, my university (a top National Law university) doubled the fees when I had just joined my second year.
We had no property to mortgage, so we could not get more loans for a lack of collateral. For some time, it looked like I would have to drop out of college if I couldn’t come up with the money. So I realised my only option was to start earning.
I turned to freelance work. Within a year, I was earning more than my parents put together. Yet, I could not believe I could start a business. The thought did not even enter my mind, because I had no CAPITAL after all.
But then something happened. A guy in my senior batch started an LPO – a legal process outsourcing company. He posted photos on Facebook of his new office – he had a client in America. He had a few employees. I was in awe. So I made a trip to his room in the boys’ hostel to ask how much capital he needed to do this.
He said: zero. He actually made a 0 with his index finger and thumb and showed me a 0! He did not explain how that was possible. But I got it.
He was doing freelance work, building relationships, and over time, collecting the people and resources that would help him kickstart his venture.
It took him about one year to go from idea to launch.
I was incredibly inspired. But most IMPORTANTLY, I realised you did not need CAPITAL to start a business! You only need skills and hard work! Then why not me? Maybe I could also start a business?
This was followed by a visit to an event called Startup Saturday. I met several entrepreneurs there – most of them struggling – actually building businesses. Some of them were even raising venture capital.
It blew my mind. That is when I made up my mind that I want to start my own business. But how?
I was not a software developer that I could make some software like the IIT guys I met at Startup Saturday. I had no clue what to build. Building a product seemed out of reach. So I opted to create a service.
I saw that these startups needed legal help but lawyers were too pricey and bureaucratic for their liking. However, I was not yet a lawyer, so I couldn’t just go and offer legal services. So I created something new – a legal risk management service.
I would look at a business model, deeply study its practices and give the owner all the research on various legal risks. So that they could take precautions, insurances and countermeasures.
I did manage to get my first three clients by pitching to my contacts at this event, where I had started to volunteer so that I could talk to all the speakers and network. Not just small startups, we even got large organisations to give us work, such as the Vibgyor Group and even L&T!
There was a problem though – a lot of people rejected us saying you guys are just kids. How could we get them to take us more seriously?
Then I started a blog, so that people would read my insights and realise I was smart, and not discount me as a kid. That’s how I ended up starting the iPleaders blog while I was still in college, which has become one of the largest legal blogs in the world today. So as a 21-year-old ‘kid’, I had my own business.
I convinced others to join me as partners too. We did not have an office until 2011 – around the time when I was about to graduate – yet we made money. It was difficult, but we made it work.
It all started with removing one limiting belief….
So what limiting belief stops you from starting something of your own and giving business a shot? Guess what – you can do it risk free! You don’t even have to quit your job to do it.
It starts small, with the few hours you can spare. And you can build it based on the experience you have.
You don’t jump into it; you patiently put in place relationships, ideas, resources and cornerstones before you quit your day job and take the plunge. In fact, you should not quit your job until you are sure what is going to happen. Lay the groundwork first. Then you need to understand how to find the pain points etc.
Can you imagine this kind of a future for yourself? If you can, Then make sure you attend all three days of our FREE, LIVE, online bootcamp on How can Indian lawyers get remote jobs, projects and clients using AI, on December 10-11, 2023, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm IST & December 13, 2023, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm IST.