Capital. For most, the impassable steel mountain that stands between them and their dreams. For enterprising entrepreneurs, SME's and even gigantic financial corporations, the ultimate drug one can never get enough of. And why not? Without doubt, capital and funds are essential for growth, to meet financial needs, expansion, equipment financing, and even in an essential day to day basis. But they have it better, after all there are a plethora of options these huge business conglomerates, and basically any business with a solid 5 years and above experience can explore. But what about you, a new entrepreneur trying out your hand in the business world? How do you get capital? How do you cope without getting into huge loans with a mind boggling high interest rate?
If you are thinking of starting up your new business venture but like others but the concept of getting capital to fund your initial growth seems daunting or confusing to you despite having read articles like (https://www.seekcapital.com/startup-business-loans/StartupBusinessCapital.html), here are a variety of simplified easy options you can consider, one of which is of course, family.
Despite the amount of impressive eye rolling you're probably doing while reading this, it must be said that charity begins at home and who better to win their trust first than family? Not only is family an important financial source, they will also help you get through some tough times and situations you're likely to face ahead and might even aid you better. Because, you know, their capital is also involved.
Another great option you can consider is the crowdfunding option. Just as little drops of water and little grains of sand make oceans and deserts, so can small amounts donated by the teeming masses generate enough funds to tide you over. Certainly there is power in numbers and even if the reward day might not come extremely fast, come it will. There are a lot of wonderful crowd funding sites such as Kivazip (kiva.org) and KickStarter (Kickstarter.com) you can decide to use.
Of course you can also decide to completely forgoe the options mentioned above, go all out, shoot for the stars for an angel investor. Yes, angel, no, no wings or wands but one that can provide the needed wads of capital for your startup business. An angel investor can be an extremely important source of revenue as the capital sourced from there could completely swamp you over during the initial painful period of your business growth. You can learn more about angels from the business bible : (www.seekcapital.com). If you're patient and you're looking for a bit more serious long term plan for your startup business, then you should consider applying for an SBA loan. SBA loans such as the community advantage loan, are mostly government chartered non-profit lenders designed with the purpose of small businesses in mind. The usual minimum years before applying rules do not apply here, and even though SBA loans have stringent terms and conditions, they are without doubt an extremely big break for new start ups.
Of course it goes without saying that the importance of experience cannot be discounted when starting up a business. As the saying goes "Experience is a good teacher but a cruel one" and the world of business can be quite unforgiving to new entrepreneurs. The terrifying failure rate of new start-ups before they clock their fifth year anniversary is a testament to this. It is therefore quite important to employ the services of experienced business consultants who are well armed with an arsenal of seasoned wisdom, to ensure you don't make the same deadly mistakes as others did. The importance of experience may truly not be discounted but it is not pocket tearing and with a small amount, can protect you from making big mistakes. A great example of such business consultants are : Seek Capital
