…continued from last week and you can click to read part 1 and part 2
The Funding Options
There are about seven funding options open to you if you want to fund your business with speed. These seven options are as follows.
1. Your Own Cash Reserves – The most Realistic option
One of the ways to fund your business is to build your own solid cash reserves. This requires that you earn a high income and save a big portion of that income. It is the tried and true old fashion way of funding a business. And in fact, the most realistic of them all. Building your own cash reserves do not just help you fund a business. It demonstrates to investors your commitment and resilience. It also gives you the privilege to make mistakes on your own money. And not on some borrowed funds. It is the path that creates the beautiful rag to riches story and a path you should consider in funding a business. The key to success with building solid cash reserves is to choose a method that makes your savings failure-proof and to invest using investment vehicles that shield your money from financial distractions. The most wasteful thing to do is to use savings meant for funding your business for things that have nothing to do with wealth creation. It is the most hateful thing to do to yourself.
2. Family and Friends – The Streamlined option
Family and Friends are a great source of funding and can be really useful if you have such family and friends. While a family can fund your business without the expectation of a payback. A Friend may require you to payback. The problem most times with funding from family and friends is that most people do not them. So the option is streamlined to only a few people. But if you are lucky to have such family and friends by all means use it.
3. High Ticket Side Hustles – The Fastest Option
Side hustles are a great source of funding for your business and how I funded my first business. The best side hustles are the high ticket sales side hustles. There are the fastest to make you money. The most readily available. Does not require many people to get the funding you need. And is a great practice for developing sales skills. An important skill you need to thrive in business and life. The key to succeeding with high ticket side hustles is to choose products or services that are easy to sell. That is products that are relevant to a lot of people and for which these people want to buy. So when you are looking to fund your business with speed choose high ticket sale side hustles that solve problems for many people. If you want to learn more about how to solve high ticket sales problems and earn high income from successful business owners send an email to info@createsolidwealth.com.
4. Get Your own customers to fund your business – The Slowest Option
Customers can pay you upfront for your products and services if you position the right solution to them. However, getting to this point takes time. It takes time to create irresistible offers customers want to pay for upfront. It takes time to build a recognizable brand that customers are proud of. And it takes time to understand your customers to the point that you can preempt what they want to buy. This is why this is the slower option. There is a lot of testing, learning, and growing involved. The key to navigating this phase very quickly is to test fast, collect customer data and take massive action. You can also leverage a profitable side hustle while testing to supplement your income.
5. Asset Partnerships – For Capital Intensive Businesses
When you want to start a business that requires huge capital to purchase equipment or machines. One of the faster ways to start is to find someone who already has these assets and partner with them. Business success is about partnerships and collaboration and you must learn to do this when starting a capital-intensive business. This will ensure that you are starting out with little capital risk and you are learning cheaply the process of the business and building valuable relationships. Although they may be income slashes that come with partnerships you must also recognize the advantages you get. You can make up for the slash in income by leveraging a profitable side hustle and practicing disciplined savings.
6. Crowdfunding – For Innovative Products
Crowdfunding is another source of income and it involves a group of peers coming together to invest in your business. You can get crowd-funded through the different crowdfunding platforms. However, crowdfunding favors more new and innovative products over regular and commoditized products. Crowdfunding also increases the complexity of your shareholding and in some cases can be a turnoff for investors.
7. Government Grants and Accelerator Program
The government occasionally provides funding to certain businesses and sectors it wants to encourage and promote. Although many people like to think of government funding as free money, it is not free money and it comes with its own terms and conditions. Practically anything that makes you lend money from a person makes you a servant to that person. So you must be deliberate about your funding moves. Accelerator programs like government programs also give grants to small businesses. And they look out for pretty much the same attributes a typical investor will look out for in a business. So you must be prepared to win these kinds of grants
The truth is there is no free money anywhere except for the money you build through your own sweat equity. According to Mark Cuban Funding is not an accomplishment but an obligation
If you need help to build your own business funds and want to build funds that sets you free and not enslave you to another person. We can help you. Send an email to info@createsolidwealth.com
About author
Grace Agada is The Senior Financial Happiness Director @ Create Solid Wealth. She is an Author, and Column Contributor in Six National Newspaper. She is a contributor at BellaNaija, Nairametrics and Proshare and she is on a mission to help working-class professionals and CEOs become more financially successful. To learn more about Grace and how she can help you send an email to info@createsolidwealth.com
