Jo / Published on September 4, 2014
You’ll have likely asked yourself this question many times before; how do I fund my start-up? Will I have enough money to make my business succeed?
Both of these questions are vital to know before you can begin setting up your business.
If you don’t have any money of your own, don’t despair. You can still start-up in business – you’ll just have to look at outside resources instead.
Find a Relevant Investor
Your business will exist to solve a problem and someone, somewhere (who has plenty of money) will appreciate that effort and if you convince them why your business is better than what’s already out there, you’ll be able to nab yourself an investor.
Consider your niche so you can find someone who is relevant for your business and someone who will care enough to invest.
There are a few ways you can find an investor. You can look within your social circle – do you have any relatives or friends that could help you? Although be wary, this does come with risks.
You could search for potential investors on LinkedIn or a funding website where you post your business idea and pitch to potential investors.
Attend business events and network as much as you can.
Get a Grant
There are plenty of grants available for entrepreneurs and what better way than to start-up your business for free?
However, getting a grant for your business is a rather difficult task. Most grant schemes involvecomprehensive, length proposals where you detail every aspect of your business.
Check out this website for advice for how to get a grant for your small business.
Compete in a Contest
There are quite a few competitions which support start-ups by offering a large financial sum for the best idea. So if you’re convinced that your business idea is truly innovative, exciting and original then consider entering one of these contests.
Crowd Fund Your Business
If you’ve never heard of crowdfunding before than now’s the time to learn. Crowdfunding is a new concept which has become popular in the last couple of years and it’s where you present your business idea so that people can invest to make it a reality.
Sites like Kick-starter are the perfect platform to get your business funded. You need to outline your business then set a financial funding goal and deadline. If people like your business idea, they can pledge money to make it happen. The one catch is that to get the funding money, you must reach your goal.
But with an impressive 44% of projects reaching their funding goals, you’ve got nothing to lose by giving the site a go.
Take Out a Loan
You can always approach your bank to take out a loan but you’ll need to have a good credit rating for this. If you don’t, you can always ask a friend to take out a loan for you or acquire a business partner who can put it in their name.
So as you can see, getting funding for your business isn’t as hard as you think it may be.
There are different options available but as long as you have a solid business plan and confidence in your idea, then you will find the money you need to make your business a success.
