Leza Parker: Don't make bootstrapping a choice. It should be mandatory.

When I set out myself to be an entrepreneur, especially coming from a stay home mother with absolutely no business sense - I knew straight away that my priority is not to earn money quick. But to learn as many lessons I can, so in time, I be capable to earn money as fast as I can possibly lose it.

I believed so much so in this statement: "If you know how to earn money, you don't need money." Basically saying, you can afford to lose money because you know the skills to get more or win it back. That skill is more important, that the actually paper dollars themselves.

People underestimate how hard it is to run and sustain a company, let along trying to grow it. Even if you had a brilliant idea and successfully convinced someone for your first $100,000 capital funding - not knowing where to channel those funds right is what made 90% of the start ups fail. Not because they don't have the funding, or the support but not understanding enough where to channel them and they often emotionally break after a monetary struggle.

I mentor start ups and entrepreneurs for many years, and I've always told them - depend on no one for your funding. Don't hope that each time you fall, someone with some money is going to rescue you. Don't expect the grants from the government, or spend too much time going around asking for your desired capital instead of giving that time to actually building a company! Balance it equally, that while you are seeking possible funders - still continue to make progress in your business so it'll be worth to invest for the investor when he comes along.

And when you don't plan in such hope, you will be active at building safety nets around your business in case it did fall.

I have always lived on low funds. I used to think bootstrapping is a pain - I can't wait to have more money in my account, and without worrying about buying food for the day. Now, I think otherwise.

Bootstrapping isn't a phase. It is a mindset!

To wake up knowing you have no money, is the drive that will push you to be productive to earn something for yourself. Even after I sold my shares, I have always woke up each day thinking my bank account is $0 and plan how do I use my resources to let me earn a positive number that day.

And it's an achievement each day, even if you earn $10 or $100 because you are still earning more than $0 you started with. Don't think about how much money you earn yesterday because that's the reward for yesterday's effort - focus on today as a brand new day, and bootstrapping keeps you on your toes to making sure your resources (that you have invested in) is maximised for the company.

Failures are stepping stones to success because they teach you lessons your success can't. The only thing that success is capable of teaching you is - complacency. Failures teach you to struggle, and make you desperate. It is also in these times of desperation, that you get more creative to generate sales.

When I first had the idea of Spendless Cosmetics (SC Beauty Network), it was a simple model in 2011. I found some suppliers online that sells cheap cosmetics, and I started selling to customers. Then I got a little smarter, with engaging resellers who paid me a small money to be part of my leadership, and re-selling these cosmetics. It was not bad returns but a lot of coordination between the supplier and reseller - manually. That scalability is not possible.

When my company went bankrupt in 2014, after some misuse of funds from my ex-employees, we had to shut down our offices in two countries. It was so sudden, that within three months, my five - digit bank account went down to almost nothing. The 19 employees left moving on with their lives, whereas I am now abandoned back to just an idea, technically unemployed and completely broke.

I could have given up on the Spendless Cosmetics idea, but apparently I didn't.

I was already back home, after letting go of my offices. I no longer had offices, or teams of people, or much resources to tap on. And I don't know how to even manage any resellers since I don't have enough money to hire people to assist. And it was those lonely painful days that spark out an idea.

On how I should and could automate the reseller program.

You see, I have build businesses before this and raised investment loans before. But the bankruptcy incident is something I take seriously that I refused funding until I sorted out what actually happened and how I can prevent it when I grow my company again. I could ask for monies from my trusting investor, who have been funding me when I started my first business from home in 2011, but I choose not to.

If I had allowed them to fund, I would not struggle enough to understand what went wrong. I would have been spoon-fed and overlooked the actual issue and learn to solve the problem. How will I be guaranteed of not going bankrupt again if I don't know how it feels to be desperate again! I chose to bootstrap for as long as I can.

Spendless Cosmetics was renamed as SC Beauty Network, a platform connecting hundreds of beauty suppliers to thousands resellers to customers. Through a smart automation system, anyone can be a reseller to 15,000 beauty products within 30 seconds - being granted a fully fledged website that's personalised to them. So 1000 resellers would mean our company will be duplicating 1000 websites, for each reseller who will then share that website to their friends and family. It allows our reseller to be independent and entrepreneurial running their own e-commerce store, but with our office support in website maintenance, handling of suppliers and logistics affairs.

I automate the reseller sign up, the customer purchase, the supplier listing and even the franchise runners of managing resellers. I spent $85,000 of my own money (the fact I was already broke and struggling so technically I gave most of what I earn to SC) over 18 months just to see that happened.

Find out more about SC and how we disrupt the Beauty Chain here.

After 18 months, I did not have any more money to fund the project but I was already 75% there. I spoke to one person about the idea, and he bought my shares for $5million evaluation. And within a week, I had more money than when I was actually running SC as a simpler model two years prior.

I went on to complete the prototype which took more months, but is now completed to scale massively. We expanded into Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Singapore and soon Pakistan and South Africa. We can digitally take this platform anywhere we want to, because of how it works - 100% cashless and in automation.

Honestly, I do not think I would be able to think of this solution if I was not desperate. Like I said, it was easy when I had money - all I did was delegate people to do the manual purchasing and customer service. When I had no one and was completely broke, I had to think of a way to earn without human resources and expand without worrying about misuse of funds.

So if you ask me, if I regretted those hardships the business takes me through - No, that was actually the best times of my life. If it was not for tough times, I wouldn't get here. I miss the kind of struggles back then, because I miss the lessons and the perseverance burning inside of me to want to make it.

So don't worry too much about not having enough capital when it comes to building a company because honestly, you don't need as much as you think you do:

1. If you need traction for your product, cut a deal or commission of some sort partnering with people who has publicity to promote for you.
2. If you need guidance to grow your brand with minimal expenses, speak to an entrepreneur who have built a company from home - they know the tricks of raising engagement with very minimal funding.
3. If you need designers to do your website or do your work design, how about googling resources and make time to learn it for free.
4. If you need sales people, partner with freelance sales people at a commission cut for confirmed sale.

If you think you deserve salary, let your profits pay you from your efforts not from someone else's capital funding contribution.

Keep progressing so the value of your business gets more attractive to more candidates of investors, that it will eventually be you choosing them instead of them choosing you.

I love bootstrapping, and practise that mindset everyday - "I have zero dollars in my bank account, but I have a Facebook account and a website, what can I do?"

Sometimes, the most amazing lessons and ideas does not come from an experience of something that has happened but what didn't work out. It comes from an experience of something you never had. Lack of something, does not mean you are going backwards in progression. Lack of something, can also mean you are meant to discover your hidden potential and most brilliant ideas to win faster.

There are so many connections and resources available in this time and day, that it does not make sense your business cannot progress on its own (a bit each day) without the pump of funds. You can still carry on running your business, without the massive injection of monies.

So if you are never struggling, please start to struggle to win bigger in future.

Bootstrapping should not even be your choice as an entrepreneur, it should be mandatory.

Because that is the time when successful entrepreneurs are groomed.

Hi I am Leza Parker. Aged 32, I have three children. I started a business from home some six years ago and currently the CEO of SC Beauty Network that operates in six countries with over 350 full time and contractual employees. I am also an angel investor having invested in small start ups in the baking, education, training, beauty and fashion industries. I have over 100,000 accumulative followers on social media and am dedicated to inspire thousands more through my Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook channels. I have published several books, appear in numerous media articles and I lecture in several universities to educate future entrepreneurs local and overseas. Two of my start ups are VC-funded and have expanded globally since.

To read about how I started my first business from home, click here.

To read my struggles and hardships in business, click here.