5+5 ways to fund your startup home based business

Most businesses don’t have enough profits until six months after they start. This means that if you don’t have any other source of income or financial support from your spouse, it’s likely you will find it hard to keep on running your new start-up business for a long time.

It is important that you either keep working part-time on a day-job for a while or have some savings aside to support you in those first six months. Some random incidents that cause limitation in a Home Based Business cash flow can be:

The simplest kind of flu might keep you away from work for some days, resulting inability to collect money.
You will see that there are times when many clients need and buy your service, and there are also times that nobody does, no matter how hard you advertise.
Machinery sometimes gets damaged, and Supplies need to be often replenished.
Deadlines can get prolonged and thus payments also delay…

So, Never get extremely enthusiastic when you receive a paycheck. Especially in the beginning, you need this money for your business, not for you to “get something you deserve” – if you get what I mean. No matter how difficult it may sound or seem, you MUST save some money and keep it aside in case of an emergency.

But still, you might tell me that you work from home exactly because “you don’t have enough money”! You have to pay your rent, your telephone, expenses for the kids, food, etc. Ok, I get it. I didn’t have start-up money either, but I managed to collect enough for turning my dream into a steady proper business within a year. Mind you, I got 24.000 euros funding to start my own business, and I needed only 3.000 euros. The rest was used for the “rainy days” during the next two years, until I was well established as a professional and business owner, with proper clients and Joint Venture Partners. So, there are many ways you can fund your business. And this is what we will investigate right now:

Sponsorships (European Union programs, grants from associations, unemployment department):

In all countries, there are programs that fund new established small businesses. There are programs for women, programs for unemployed people, programs for parents with many children, programs for refugees, programs for young people, programs for mothers with infants, and the list goes on. Go to your local Citizen service center and ask which Organizations have open contests or funding policy. In addition to this, Google some keywords on what you want and in which area. Last but not least, your accountant might have the information you are looking for. Do your research, collect the documentation needed, and reap your rightful funding.

Banks (loans):

Unless you are sure you will be able to repay it within a year, don’t go for a bank loan. You don’t want to mess your future with interests that you didn’t understand you would have to carry… for the years to come.

Cooperation with investors:

This is a cool one if you want to have investors as your partners. To succeed in impressing investors, you need to have a detailed and proper organized business plan, and you need to have proof that the money invested will be doubled and tripled very fast.

Exchange products or services:

You may give something you produce for something you need. I did this when I started with an accountant, who wanted a website, and I wanted her services for an entire year. I again exchanged services with hotels, when I wanted to have some luxury holidays and didn’t want to pay cash: I photo-shooted their facilities to use the photos for their promotion. Another working from home mom was creating homemade soaps and cosmetics, and she gave me some in exchange for creating her branding. Cool, isn’t it?

Online Crowd Funding:

for this, you need to invest some good amount of time to do it properly, and you should have a basic knowledge in social media advertising, but it is not difficult, and it is extremely effective. There are some cool websites, (www.indiegogo.com, www.kickstarter.com, www.gofundme.com) where you upload your request, meaning how much money you need and for what reason and people from all around the world give you a small amount of money for you to collect all the cash that you said you need. Go and check it out.

These have been the more… professional and formal ways of collecting money for your business, but I would suggest you investigate some more… informal ones who can though, be very effective:

Borrow money from relatives or friends, provided that you will return it to them for sure. Otherwise, you will ruin relationships that worth more than money.
If you haven’t quit your day job and you build your HBB in your free time, ask your employer to give you in advance, as part of your salary.
Buy the things you need through interest-free installments.
Buy a piggy bank and save, save, save. For example, if you intend on going somewhere by car and need 8€ for gas, instead take the bus; put the extra money you don’t spend in the piggy bank. If you are out doing chores and suddenly have a craving for a doughnut, don’t buy; put that money in the piggy bank. By following that system, I managed to save 2,500€ during the summer of 2007, when I needed money to get married.
Sell things on E-Bay, such as label clothes, machinery, books and other stuff that you don’t need anymore. You can get a better price if you sell things in a certain quantity. For example ten pregnancy dresses; a box of clothes for a one-year-old child; a collection of travel souvenir mugs, 30 issues of a magazine, etc.

I want to believe that all these ideas have risen your optimism and urged you to move forward. If you are serious to start a proper Home Based Business, or if you have already started one and you want to turn it from a hobby to a real enterprise, then investing some extra time to do your homework and collect funds is a wise move. Don’t be afraid that “you are too small” to deserve it, or “too new” or even that you need to have a “connection from within” to be approved. Go for it and try it. Invest some of your time to your “funding quest” because… The one who asks is Given. The one who seeks, Finds and the one who dares to knock gets doors open. And this has been practically proven to be totally true.

Tell me about your thoughts and concerns. Has this article been helpful to you? Are you willing to follow any of the above strategies? Do you have a cool funding idea of your own, and you would like to share it with us?