When you think about starting a home-based business, what is one of the first things that comes to mind - MONEY.

You wonder how you can create a business when you're money is already stretched as far as it can go. Sure, you can beg and borrow. You can use credit cards. You can have a garage sale or bake sale. You can even roll up all the change in your jar. But, why not make it easy on yourself and create a home-based business that can be started with no money?

I know you're thinking that there is no way to start a business without money. But, there is. All you have to do is develope a plan where you collect your money up front for your products or services.

One idea might be a home-based business that provides holiday characters for rent such as Santa or the Easter Bunny. You can call on businesses either in person or by phone, and book appointments for the character months in advance.

When the order is placed, you will collect one half of the fee up front. After you have scheduled several bookings, you will have enough to rent or buy a costume. Your character can meet and greet customers, give away balloons or candy, and have a picture made with children. Collect the other half of your fee and your done.

You can build your business by adding more bookings, costumes, and props each year. Other characters could be added that could be scheduled all year like at birthdays, meetings, festivals, sales events, or grand openings.

Before long you could find yourself as an entertainment mogul. And to think that it all started with absolutely no money. This is just one example. There are more ideas that can be turned into a profitable home-based business with little or no money.

Ian Leopold was a college student when he started his company Campus Concepts. He created student resource guides and sold advertising. The company was started with only $48 and is now worth millions.

You could design a local ad circular. If you have a computer and are familiar with desktop publishing, you wouldn't need any startup funds. All you would need to do is make a mock circular so business owners would have some idea how the circular will look. Pay a visit to local small businesses to obtain advertising. Then collect payment for their ads up front.

Create a business doing something you enjoy. If you are doing something you truly enjoy doing, you will put more effort into it and, it won't even seem like work at all. You can create a home-based business from something you like doing AND you can do it with little or no startup money.