How to Generate Business (When You Have No Money)

No Leads, No Business

You can have the best product in the world, but if you don't have ideas for generating business, you will fail.

Outbound vs Inbound

• Outbound: You go to them. Cold calls, cold emails, DMs. It's fast but labor-intensive.
• Inbound: They come to you. SEO, content, social media. Slow to start, but scales infinitely.

Proven Lead Gen Tactics

1. Engineering as Marketing: Build a free tool (like a calculator or grader) that solves a small problem.
2. Programmatic SEO: Create thousands of landing pages for specific location/keyword combinatons.
3. Community Siphoning: Provide immense value in Reddit threads or Facebook groups where your customers hang out.

How to Get a Business Idea

Often, the struggle to generate leads comes from a weak initial concept. To get a business idea that generates its own leads, look for "hair on fire" problems. If someone's hair is on fire, you don't need to sell them water. They will buy it.