If you have to advertise, maybe you're going too fast.

I understand the typical business development narrative:

1. Borrow money, make promises.
2. Spend the money on the set-up.
3. Spend more money on the advertising.
4. Spend more money solving all the problems.
5. Get cash from the patrons who saw the advertising.

The first problem with this is the borrowing-to-earn aspect. You're taking a step back in order to take a leap forward.

The second problem is the rushed problem-solving and damage control that accompanies rapid growth of a business.

The third problem is that once you enter the world of advertising, things really start to suck. It's pretty tough to know whether your advertising is helping or hurting your business, it's a lot of work to get your message out in a way that will be well-understood, and there's a real risk of making your business look desperate for business.

It's much easier and more cost-effective to depend on your customers to use your materials to advertise your business themselves, and to make sure that your information is available for those who are looking for it.

So here's the steps I recommend to get your business either off the ground, or to the next level:

1. Do what you can on the money you have, on a small scale, with friends as your first customers.
2. Take care of the basic problems while you get some word-of-mouth traffic.
3. Use the money you've earned to expand a little.
4. Get more traffic from each expansion, and more money from that traffic.
5. Get more expansion out of the money you make.