Thursday, January 6, 2011

FUNDING YOUR BUSINESS

Five Ways to Fund Your Business

by Nars Dargenson on December 20, 2010
Create a Venture Fund
A venture fund is an account you use in order to fund your business ideas. A venture fund should be separated from your emergency fund. A venture fund should be allocated to monthly. Each time you get paid you may want to add to your venture fund. One can open a high interest rate saving account and have your funds directly deposited into the account.

  
Fire A Bill
One of the main reasons we cannot save money is the fact that we have too many bills. One of the best ways to fund your ventures is to have extra money. Having too many bills keeps you from getting an important source of funding. Therefore one of the best ways to build your entrepreneurship fund is to pick a bill or any bill and fire it. One has to make the necessary sacrifices in order to fulfill one’s dream. Look at your bills and choose one you can go without.


Borrow Money
One of the most conventional ways to fund a venture is to use other people’s money. One can get a bank loan to fund a venture. Banks are known to have high lending standards for businesses. In many cases banks would like you to personally be liable for the business. Meaning if the business fails you can be financially liable. Banks also require you to have an ironclad business plan. A secondary source of business financing is the Small Business Administration. The Small Business Administration is a federal agency desired to support small businesses. The Small Business Administration provides a great resource for aspiring business owners. One can apply for loans and grants from the SBA.  A loan requires that you pay back the principal and the interest to the lender. The lender has rights to the assets of one’s business if the loans are not successful.
Equity
Another source of business funding is equity. Business owners can sell equity in their business to venture capitalist and angel investors. The tradeoff is that the funding source will have ownership in your business. They will also have rights to the profit of your business. In many cases they will also want to be able to govern the decisions of your business. This can be good or bad depending on the venture capital you are working with. Finding angel investors and venture capitalist was difficult once upon a time but now with the internet it has become easier. There are three websites aspiring business owners can go to in order to receive money. You will have to be able to pitch your business idea and will even need a business plan. The websites are Go Big Network, Go4Funding and RaiseCapital. These websites bring business owners and business investors together.
Sell Your Stuff
Many of us have hundreds of dollars of stuff in our possession. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. One can sell unused items via Craigslist, Ebay and/or Amazon. One can use the funds in order to help fund their business. The process for selling items is fairly simple. All one needs is a camera, computer, paypal, a product and a mailing address.
Funding a business venture can be difficult. However there are many options available in order to take your business to the next level. One will need to be focused and make sacrifices, but your dreams can become a reality