The Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business, 3rd Edition

Chapter 8

Get Your Business Funded

If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.

—Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac

The previous chapters were intended to help you put the foundation of your business in place: coming up with your best idea, figuring out what it will cost to create a business, drafting a business plan, and choosing the right legal structure are the basic building blocks of any successful small business. Now you can build on that solid foundation, starting with this chapter. Getting the money to realize your dream can happen only if you have a solid foundation in place; any lender or investor will want to see that those pieces are set. Even if you are going to self-fund the business—through savings, credit cards, or some other plan—this foundation is no less important, as it is the basis for creating a small business that will last.

If you have done the work suggested in the previous chapters, you know exactly how much money you will need to get started and stay open, which puts you far ahead of most new small business entrepreneurs, who have only a vague idea of how much money they will need. The $64,000 question—maybe literally—is where will you find the money to start your business?

There are many, many sources of funding—which is good, because it is highly unlikely that you will secure all of your required funding from one place. Maybe you will combine personal savings and credit cards with an SBA loan and a gift from an uncle. Who ...