Financing Your Business

[eeyorebob]

How did you do it? I'm struggling to get funding at the moment - I don't qualify for young person grant (I'm not one lol) and don't really want to approach the banks, I do have a business plan in place.

Where else can I try please?

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

Well that very much depends on what your business is going to be. Who is it going to benefit? Which part of the community? There are HUNDREDS of companies who offer grants, but as I say it depends on what your business is. It is, of course, worth trying to talk to people with money - they might be interested in becoming a sleeping partner. Okay so you would have to share profits, but without them there may well be no profits at all so it could be worth it.

Check over your business plan, make sure it looks like an attractive and useful business (that fills a gap in the market - because existing businesses are struggling enough without having to compete with new ones that offer similar things, too) and that it is something that not only would people be willing to invest in, but also something that they would like to go to themselves.

 

[Pete Brindle]

I run a music school, and it was quite easy because I simply joined together with a few other teacher friends and rented a property - we then went on to buy it from the owner for a good price. We all had pupils already, so moving together wasn't a problem at all, and we are now able to attract more business and spread the word (particularly thanks to the shows that we put on with all of the pupils playing together, they are particularly popular).

I'm not sure what I'd have done if the others hadn't been willing to chip in a little at the beginning, but it's something that we'd been talking about for a long time, and we already had the clients so why not!

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

I run a music school, and it was quite easy because I simply joined together with a few other teacher friends and rented a property - we then went on to buy it from the owner for a good price. We all had pupils already, so moving together wasn't a problem at all, and we are now able to attract more business and spread the word (particularly thanks to the shows that we put on with all of the pupils playing together, they are particularly popular).

I'm not sure what I'd have done if the others hadn't been willing to chip in a little at the beginning, but it's something that we'd been talking about for a long time, and we already had the clients so why not!

That sounds like a dream. How lucky were you to be able to find enough people to do this with you?? I have discussions like these with my friends all the time but I very much doubt that we'd be able to make any of those ideas a reality (although I am happy with the business I already have for now).

 

[Pete Brindle]

That sounds like a dream. How lucky were you to be able to find enough people to do this with you?? I have discussions like these with my friends all the time but I very much doubt that we'd be able to make any of those ideas a reality (although I am happy with the business I already have for now).

Very lucky, I know that. A few of us did our teacher training together, then two more were friends of friends, and the idea just kind of grew. It was one of those things I never thought would happen but then when I mentioned it people seemed keen so I thought "hang on, I could do this".

 

[Lauren Turner]

I was very lucky when it came to the finance for my business, because I just started off small (very small) and worked my way up. I sell arts and crafts, and made my first batch of greetings cards for a grand total of £20 which obviously I could afford to do without any kind of investment. I made £8 profit from those and then bought more materials and carried on until I was able to take some profits away from it. I am lucky that my husband has a steady wage and was able to support me while I was doing this, and now we're both contributing and bringing in some money, which of course I'm more than happy about.

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

I was very lucky when it came to the finance for my business, because I just started off small (very small) and worked my way up. I sell arts and crafts, and made my first batch of greetings cards for a grand total of £20 which obviously I could afford to do without any kind of investment. I made £8 profit from those and then bought more materials and carried on until I was able to take some profits away from it. I am lucky that my husband has a steady wage and was able to support me while I was doing this, and now we're both contributing and bringing in some money, which of course I'm more than happy about.

Yours is the kind of business where you literally can build up the profits very gradually though. In our case it doesn't really work like that, in that we couldn't directly invest profits into the business and build it up in the same way, so you are lucky that you have that option open to you. And yeah, as you say, it's great when you manage to start keeping a little money for yourself that you don't need to invest back into it.

 

[Pete Brindle]

I was very lucky when it came to the finance for my business, because I just started off small (very small) and worked my way up. I sell arts and crafts, and made my first batch of greetings cards for a grand total of £20 which obviously I could afford to do without any kind of investment. I made £8 profit from those and then bought more materials and carried on until I was able to take some profits away from it. I am lucky that my husband has a steady wage and was able to support me while I was doing this, and now we're both contributing and bringing in some money, which of course I'm more than happy about.

If you have the time and ability to build up your profits so slowly, particularly if you work from home, this is by far the best way to go. No shadow of a doubt. Because there's much less risk, and you'll learn more lessons about how to run a business and things like that. And now obviously you've learned a heck of a lot about profits and material purchases etc.

 

[Mike Turner]

You have to find people who are willing to invest not just to make money, but because your business would be of benefit to them in some way. Now of course I don't know what your own specific business plan is, but I'm certain that if you found somebody who would be benefitting, who had the money to invest, they would be willing to listen to a pitch. You could either have them as a partner, or a silent partner if you and they prefer. It can take a bit of work and effort, but it often pays off in the end.