You have already developed your business plan, and you are all excited to give a start! You are willing to take up the risk, which includes giving up your present job and even going without any kind of personal revenue for a certain period of time. Everything is already set up in your mind, and you are just planning to launch it next month. But the hindrance which is stopping you from executing your dream is you don’t have enough money, which is required for the startup.
Wait! How you would feel if I tell you that this although seems to be a major problem but in reality, lack of capital just cannot stop you from achieving your dreams. In fact, I would love to say that you can exactly start a new business and execute it even if you don’t have adequate personal financial investment.
Why do businesses need money?
We all know that without proper funding it is not possible to run a business. So, now let’s first have a look at what are the reasons that demand adequate business funding. Well, there is no such uniform funding strategy for developing new business, and the needs vary from one business to another. It’s essential that you estimate the amount, which you actually need for starting your business and then start for looking the alternative finding methods.
Supplies
You need money to buy various raw materials that are required for your business. For instance, if you are in a hardware business, you will need hardware parts of computers, TVs, etc.
Licenses and permits
A special type of registry and paperwork is required for business operations, and it completely depends on your region.
Officespace
This is no doubt a considerable expense and small things cannot be neglected like utilities, cost, internet, janitorial services, etc.
Operating expenses
You need to consider all the nooks and crannies under the list and marketing cannot be forgotten.
Membership subscription and associations
The amount exactly depends on affiliations and publications that you will subscribe on to every month.
Legal fees
If you prefer to consult with a professional lawyer for your business development, legal fees are also considered as a part of business expenses.
Contractors, freelancers, and employees
Of course, it is not possible to run a business alone and so you would need to hire people on the payroll as well as on freelance basis.
Now if you have less money for starting your business, then there are two significant parts you can follow. Firstly, you can either lower your existing costs to save some more money or secondly you need to enhance your available capital amount from outside sources. Now you have three options available here:
1. Reduce your business requirements
If you have already designed a business plan, it is necessary that you remodel it in order to meet the essential business needs. For example, if you have already plan to hire 5 employees in the initial months, you need to reduce it to 2 or 3. You can also plan to outsource some work to freelancers, which will help you to save some money as compared to hiring direct employees under the payroll. At the same time, you can also prefer to find cheaper sources for purchasing your raw materials or even cut down the whole product line, which ishighly expensive to produce at the site.
Still, there are some essential expenses which you cannot avoid at any cost. It includeslegal and licensing fees.
2. Get funding from outside sources
The second option is to get funding from multiple outside sources. If you don’t have enough capital for yourself, then you can check out my other blogs where you can get ideas about potential ways that can help you to raise capital. Here, I am going to provide you with just a few potential sources, but there are various other sources as well. To learn about then you can read my other published blogs.
Friends and family
Although this is not a very convenient source of gathering funds due to several personal reasons, still, you cannot rule out the possibility of managing a good deal of amount from your family and friends. It is always better that you enter into a legal deal while taking any amount from your close people.
Venture capitalists
Venture capitalists are almost like angel investors, but they are typically organizations or partnership and only prefer to fund those businesses that are already flourishing well in the market.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is quite a popular way of gathering business fund, and you can easily attract a great deal of funding with your hard work and creative business concept.
Bank loans
A line of credit can be easily opened with the bank if you have an excellent credit outstanding.
Government loans and grants
Various types of loans and brands are given by the government to assist small business growth for economic development.
3. Bootstrap
This idea certain invokes ‘warm-up’ session of your business. History of directly starting with pool placed business motor should always go with the basics. It’s always better if you can start as a self-employed individual because it will help you to avoid the biggest initial financial demands. For instance, you can enjoy a simple tax payment procedure that becomes otherwise quite complex in case of business unit taxation. You can even go for a payment processing company that can help you when you are actually struggling badly with your invoice and professional follow-ups.
Once you start getting the revenue, you can reinvest the same in your business and start developing the business that you have always dreamt of.
What will happen in case of non-repayment of borrowed funds?
If you are worried about how to repay the borrowed fund in case your venture does not run smoothly, then you would be glad to know that there is the debt consolidation loan option available. But we will talk about this in another blog.
Conclusion
With the options I have discussed above, you can start your business even if you don’t have any personal financial investment. Of course, in that case, you will have to make some other kinds of sacrifices like accommodating partners, starting from a small enterprise and taking outside debts. But again, if you believe in your own business concept, then none of these can stand in your path of accomplishing your dream. Capital is always a major hurdle for startup companies, but if you plan everything properly without any mistake, it can be certainly overcome.