You can't open a channel without putting any coins inside of it. It would not make any sense otherwise. The more BTC you lock up in a channel, the more different payments you can route. Some people are complaining that they payments don't go through because many channels are too small (they don't have enough BTC) to route their payments. Your balance is not the only factor. Nobody is going to route a payment through you if you are not well-conneted and if your fee policy is not configured properly.