How to Start a Business With Very Little Money and a Support Network: What Ana Alvarado Shared

Ana has a business administration degree, a master's in marketing and is a certified family business coach. She worked at a business incubator, taught classes, built a business networking group and ran her father's company. Today she has her own company, Muéver, which supplies equipment to other businesses.

Ana was also the person who pushed our team to launch this podcast. She was the first guest of the season, and her story is about something almost nobody talks about: what it is like to start from zero when you feel like you were pushed out of your place, and what to do when trust is broken.

The problems she faced

1.The people who love you push you toward the "safe" path

Her father, who is also an entrepreneur, told her to work at a big company. Ana understands: parents want to give their children an easier path, even if they know entrepreneurship can bring success. But when she discovered the world of business incubators, she knew that was her thing.

2.Trying many businesses before finding yours

Ana had a taco shop, an inflatable rentals company and many other attempts. She says that process helps you find yourself: you cannot just launch anything "because it occurred to you" or "because it is what you know". It was all experience, and it led her to professionalize.

3.Leaving the family business and feeling "fired"

In the middle of the pandemic, her father told her she had learned a lot and that it was time to "take flight". Ana had put years of effort into the family business and it was a loss to grieve: she cried and felt she had been fired, even though he offered her his support. After processing it for two days, she told him yes, but that she would leave in 15 days.

She had already felt inside that she should do it, and today she believes her father knew it. She is grateful it happened that way: she had his blessing, her family's support and more time to get organized.

4.Starting from zero with almost nothing

She started with very little money and one clear need: she had to sell, no matter what. A friend gave her a website, another helped with the domain and others guided her. She bought inventory with a small loan from her husband, loaded it in her car and went out to deliver, disinfecting everything because of the pandemic.

Sometimes she felt like she was starting from zero, but people told her no: there were already people who knew her and knew what she did. That network was key.

5.A male-dominated industry that asks who is in charge

Ana works in an industry with a lot of men, and she deals with sexism: they see her as younger, a woman, and not an engineer or architect, so she runs into barriers. She once had a kitchen equipment project for a large company, with old-school people and comments that someone else, a man, should come, even though she was the owner.

She earned respect one way: through work, by being consistent, delivering what she promised and keeping her cool. At the end of the project she says she gained self-confidence: "of course I can".

6.When someone you trust breaks your trust

Her most painful failure was when someone she trusted completely did something unthinkable and put her at risk. She shut herself in for a week and told her husband she did not want to do anything anymore and would close the business. After 15 days "the muddy water" settled, she saw everything more clearly and found more strength.

She learned she needed a bit more of a filter, but that she could not stop being who she is. It was also a lesson in humility.

7.Wanting to balance everything and feeling guilty

Ana thinks perfect balance does not exist and is the wrong concept: trying to keep everything at the same level is exhausting. Even so, she sometimes feels guilty for working instead of being with her son, and she tries to be more productive on those days.

What she learned (and it can save you years)

1.Get a mentor

This is her first piece of advice: get close to someone who already has the result you want, so they can guide you along the way. Someone who has already started a business can save you years.

2.Build a support network

A support network, emotional, business or made of friends, may not give you money, but it gives you advice that unties you. Ana says nobody grows alone, you have to ask for help and you should not be embarrassed. Even when you work at a company and want a promotion, you have to make yourself noticed.

3.Patience and resilience: Rome was not built in a day

There are days when you get tired, but you have to keep going. She also says you are not so special that all the bad things only happen to you: it has happened to everyone in some way, and that is why the network matters.

4.Define what you are working for

If you are an employee, have a clear goal: what do you want to achieve there? Is it a stepping stone to starting your own business? Ana has seen a lot of unhappy people in jobs they do not like. If you like something else, try it.

5.Take the risk, but picture the worst case

Her exercise: imagine the worst that could happen. If it is losing your savings, you will earn them again, and it will make you stronger. Nobody has died from that, and nothing is as catastrophic as you think.

6.Modulate instead of balancing

Her way of managing her life: being sensitive to what needs the most attention at that moment. One day it is family, another it is work, like a stereo being tuned. And for Ana the purpose of her life is to serve and help, something she discovered during the pandemic in a 21-day meditation challenge.

“Imagine the worst case and you will realize that nothing is as catastrophic as you think.”

Is something like this happening to you?

Before you take the leap into your own business, go through these questions:

Listen to the full episode

This is only a summary. The full conversation has many more details, stories and tips. Watch it in full on YouTube (it is recorded in Spanish; turn on the captions and choose Auto-translate to read it in English) or find every episode on the Pandas Creativos podcast page (in Spanish).