You’ve got a new product or service, you’ve tested it and found people want it or need it and now you want to make money out of it – so how do you get started?

This is a short guide to the very basics in setting up your business from scratch and on a tight budget.

First of all you’ll need a logo, a brand, something for people to recognise you buy. This logo will run through everything you do. It will be a on your stationery, your business cards, your products and your various online presences such as your email signature.

But don’t think you have to spend a fortune with a big graphic design agency to get that done. There are plenty of companies offering cheap logo design to businesses on a budget and they will likely offer cheap printing services as well, so you can get your stationery and business cards done at the same time.

Such companies will also very likely offer a discount for doing your logo AND your printing to win your business, so it is always worth asking.

It is a smart move for any business these days to have a website and again, this does not have to cost you an arm and a leg. There are companies offering cheap web design – including a free domain name (such as your chosen company name) and hosting – that will suit your needs, at least to begin with.

Many will offer set prices for packages that will give you what you need and allow you to make a certain number of revisions, so you can budget for your website, not worry about costs escalating and ensure you get the site you want.

Don’t waste money on renting office space to begin with. Run your business from home. This is now an accepted way of working and clients are often fine with having meetings at your home. For those that aren’t – or if you don’t want to do that – there are ‘virtual offices’ you can rent for a reasonable daily fee, offering open plan or private space in which you can conduct your meetings.

Don’t spend a fortune on phone calls and software either. There are plenty of mobile phone companies offering good business rates and you can always utilise the ‘favourite numbers’ options that give you free calls. Go one step further and harness the power of the web by installing VoiP technology which will allow you to make calls over the internet for a fraction of the cost of a normal telephone, if not for free. Have calls over the internet with clients and suppliers using Skype or similar and it really will be free.

You can use the internet to keep your marketing budget as low as possible too. The explosion in social media means you can potentially reach millions of people for very little cost. Utilising Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social platforms effectively can get your message out there without you spending a single penny on advertising or employing a marketing agency.

There are many other ways to save money as you get your business up and running, but these few should get you started and allow you to concentrate on growing your business without worrying too much about cashflow.