You have a fantastic idea for a business and a burning passion to get it off the ground. You’ve spent months on a meticulously detailed business plan and you’ve spent just as long making detailed and realistic cash flow projections for your first year. Your engine is revving and you’re ready to go… But you keep stalling at one very important junction… Funding! Funding a startup is an excruciating cap in hand exercise that few entrepreneurs remember with relish.
Often, entrepreneurs face rejection after rejection in securing the capital from banks, institutions, government loans or individual investors. You believe fervently and passionately in your business but without the startup capital to cover your overheads its very existence hangs in the balance. Are you doomed to see your business idea fizzle out into nothing?
Not if you can self finance!
Self financing a business comes with its own risks but it also has its benefits. You are beholden to no one, your finances will be easier to plan and manage and you won’t have to maintain good relations with a string of investors so you’re able to focus your attentions exclusively on your day-to-day operations. There are numerous ways in which you could self finance your business, although some are inherently easier than others…
Saving
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Saving is the most risk free and rewarding strategy if you can do it. Unfortunately the exorbitant costs of 21st century living are rarely conducive to saving. Moreover, you’ll likely have to keep your idea shelved for a while while you save the necessary capital. If, however, you’re able to make a substantial saving by reducing your living costs significantly (by, say, moving in with a partner or staying with parents for a while), saving may just be the way to go!
Investing
If you have some capital in savings, but it isn’t quite enough to cover your initial overheads, you may be able to make money from your money by investing. With the aid of a reliable advisor, there are a range of fields in which you could make money. You can use a trusted forex broker to make money trading in foreign currencies. You can trade stocks and shares in business. You can even trade in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Etherium (with caveats). However you invest, be sure to use a reliable broker and make informed choices based on a solid knowledge of your chosen market.
Credit Cards
It’s illegal in some countries to use personal finance to startup a business venture, but if you can get your business off the ground in a lower cost form (like launching an ecommerce store before opening a physical store on the high street) you may be able to use business credit cards to facilitate this growth.
Home equity
If you own your own property and have for some time you may be able to finance your business by releasing some of the equity on your home and remortgaging. While this may strike some as extreme it’s a strategy that entrepreneurs occasionally use to finance their ventures or even facilitate cash flow during lean months.