5 Start-up Ideas for Your Home-Based Business

So you've decided to start a home-based business? That's great, but where do you start? If you're online quite a bit, then there's no reason you can't start a business right from your own home on the Web. There are so many resources available online today that you can benefit tremendously from the research of others while building your own business. And, there are many companies that will do lots of the work for you when you join with them.

Here are five easy start-up ideas for your home-based business to save you time and money.

1. Choose Your Hours

Decide how much time you will be able to invest in your home-based business. To be honest, there are many new business owners who never make it because they're not willing to invest their time. If you work a full-time job and plan to keep it while your home-based business builds, then you should determine how many free hours you can spend working. Can you invest a few hours per day, or week perhaps?

Once you choose your hours, stick with them on a consistent basis. Treat the home business just as you would a store with operating hours. If you open a store from 9 to 5, then someone must be there during those hours. So, if you plan to work on your new business from 8:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. five nights per week, then let this be your "operating hours!"

2. Choose a Business

Even if you plan to start a business selling products of your own, you might find it useful to join with a company to sell their products to build extra income at first. You can even do both if you can invest enough time and effort into both businesses. Choose a product or service that you enjoy selling. No business is fun if you dislike it. The more you enjoy it, the more likely you are to be successful.

With the Internet, MLM businesses are building down lines like crazy. This is the perfect opportunity for you to earn some extra cash or even a substantial income. The reason MLM businesses are so profitable online is because it is so easy to contact people by email and through your own website. Some MLM companies even do most of the work and contacts for you to save you time and money. Communication is very easy online even if you're not really a "salesperson."

If you plan to join an MLM group, be sure to choose a reputable company that has been in business for at least several years. Ask to speak with others who have worked with the company a while. Check with the Better Business Bureau Online to be sure there have been no (or very few) complaints. There are many scams online today, so sign on with a well-established MLM company to be safe!

3. Prepare Your Home-Based Business Work Area

Before you start a home-based business, be sure your home office is up to par. Upgrade your computer to a fast one with a super-fast Internet connection so your work will not be hindered by outside factors. Also, get a very comfortable desk chair with plenty of back and arm support. Choose a keyboard and mouse that you're comfortable with, and organize your desk. Working in a well-organized environment clears your thinking so you can work and promote without distraction.

4. Investing Your Money

Before you invest a dime, be certain it's the right business for you. When selling products for others, you might be asked to invest money before getting started for inventory, membership, a website, and so forth. If so, study every aspect of the business before doing so. Any business start-up will require some monetary investment, but you need to think before you invest.

Once you've chosen a business to invest in, set up a budget solely for your business. Having a business account at your local bank will help. Also, set up an account with an online payment processor if possible. PayPal and StormPay are two of the most popular ones online right now. If signing on with an MLM company, find out how they issue their payments first.

5. Use Your Talents and Skills

Whether you sign on with an MLM company or start a business selling your own products and services, remember to use all your talents and skills. Maybe you're a great typist or a very savvy Internet user. Perhaps you know how to design websites, printed flyers, or promote online. Use your talents to maximize your home-based business profits.

Don't just sit at home and dream of owning your own business. Use these five start-up tips to get your home-based business moving today!

What Is A Business Startup?

If you want to start your own business, one main problem is searching enough startup funds to begin moving towards their end. The trade startup cost can look to be unachievable and even daunting until you are familiar with where to look. Unluckily, business startup financial capital is one of the chief things that keep people from acquiring to begin business in the first place, or even being successful once they do manage to get to commence. But on the good side, there are several organizations and programs that specialize in helping serve businessmen overcome this problem.

Some people who may find this small industry start up money to be out of range or unreachable, banking establishment just add more to their worries. Many banks will not like the idea of helping a new enterpriser get small industry startup money until there is a current record of some success achieved. Also, banks do want a foolproof industry program, which can be challenging for someone who is starting his small business for the first time. Fortunately, you have other ways to search for business startup capital.

Business startup funding for small business is not only a hindrance in the way of an enterpriser from starting a trade, but also can obstruct growing of a new enterprise. On top of being a problem at the start, having limited startup funds can also make it difficult to employ employees or get sufficient stocks. Enterpriser can solve these issues by searching for various sources in finding enough startup funds to be able to implement their business plan.

New trade seekers can also decide to apply for several companies that are offering small trade loans to aid people get the necessary startup capital they demand. There is one good company which is called "American One", offering unbarred loans for assistance to small entrepreneurs for starting their business. They specialize with business startup cost and understand the hardships of trying to set it up and they work hard to make the procedure simple and easy.

Some entrepreneurs seek out business partners to assist them with their small business startup price. An investing partner can supply you with the essential assistance needed for a small trade startups. They can run as "silent partner" where they just contribute their investment money and then have their commission paid based on the partnership agreement. Other investing partners are more than involved and might aid in the operation of the trade in order to ensure that their business investment is profitable and well managed.

Since small trade business is really the backbone of world economic system, several government authorities offer a mixture of programs to aid startup business organizations become successful in their endeavor. This is important since small industry startup investment value is a primary ground that most clever people with superb ideas do not get their trade started. Banks can be unapproachable to small industry businessmen, but they also have other options such as functioning with companies who build the procedure easier and less stressful for businessmen. As an event, many individuals have gotten their dreams true and achieved successfully by operating and starting their very own small business.

Your Home Business Startup Budget

Planning to borrow a startup investment from your friends or family or go to the bank for a credit margin for your home business is something you should avoid as possible because there are much better ways to start your home business without burying yourself in a pile of debts. Just because most people do not have a lot of money for capital investment does not mean you can’t afford to have your home business. There are many ways to start your home business even with a tight budget.

However, if you plan to start your home business with the expectation that it will never cost you anything, you should reconsider your decision before to jump in this venture. Soon or later, to see benefits of your business and the efforts you put in it, promoting your business will require a little initial investment for advertising but it can be done gradually, step-by-step along with the sales you start to make. Every business needs to be advertised because you need exposure for your service and product to make sales and generate an income from it.

Have you though of working online?

There are lots of online businesses that only require a very small startup capital. For example, if you are good at writing, you can offer your services online. One of the great benefits of working online is that you can work anywhere you want as long as you have a computer and an internet connection. It doesn’t matter if you are in an airport, at the beach or in an internet coffee shop, you have all the freedom to work at your convenience.

On the other side, if you are not confortable to write by yourself, there are lots of affiliate marketing programs that will show you how to earn commissions that you can generate from your affiliate website. Most affiliate marketing programs do not require initial capital (or very affordable) to get started because they are mostly free to join and you can upgrade to a higher membership level in the organization later on when you are ready to do so or when you reach a certain amount of sales.

The main benefit as an affiliate marketer is that some programs pay big commissions on the sales you are making. When you affiliate website is generating a big pile of traffic, you have the potential of generating a residual income that can change your life and improve your financial situation.

Startup Costs For Homebased Business

Just about everyone jumps on the web with a web site without realizing all that is involved. It's the horse and the cart. Recently, we tested a new way of solving the primary reason people, especially homebased business or work from home moms and dads, look to the Internet as a fast and easy way to generate income.

Traditionally, the first thing you think you need is a web site. But if you look at sites such as Ebay, Amazon and Yahoo!, you realize that a person doesn't need a website to make money on the Web! Savvy sellers take advantage of auction and direct sales sites to sell their wares with little to no cost. These smart marketers have the right idea! Marketing is first.

For others, how to make money on the Internet and what to do first is a mystery. So they follow the pack and search for a web designer. Unfortunately, some are left with little funds to attract buyers to their shiny new website. And so goes the tale of a million sites on the Internet that don't work, don't pay for themselves, and certainly don't generate the income a work at home mom hopes for.

One of the biggest obstacles is the copy on a web site page. Both search engine optimization and persuasive sales copy require additional funding in addition to web design and development. Nearly all novice web owners who we come in contact with don't realize that they have to provide the content for their web pages. It's usually an unpleasant surprise to find out that web designers don't write copy although someone on the company staff may provide this service. It calls for an extra fee.

Our solution to this conundrum is to start with your marketing objective and then develop the pieces that deliver the objective. For example, when you want to sell teddy bears, look for a domain name that includes teddy bears in the URL. Next, discover who wants your teddy bears and how you're going to let these buyers know about your bears. Then, make a list of why your buyer would want to own your teddy bear more than your competitor's teddy that looks a lot like yours. Once you have this basic information, consider all the parts you need to invest in to bring your offers to market on the Internet.

Here are some rough numbers: Your domain name from Network Solutions is $35 per year. If you're well funded, you might want to start with a web plan, about $1500. Copywriting is next and for a 12-page web site, you are looking at $2-300 per page, that's an average of $3060. A quality 12-page business HTML web site, including web design and development runs about $1500. All this expense and you have not sold your first teddy bear yet. Opt for a good web host, not those cheapy hosting services. In fact, it is a good idea to go with the hosting service your web designer prefers. Not all servers work the same, and you reduce the development and maintenance time and avoid paying your developer for more time when she is intimately familiar with the server tools. A reliable web hosting service costs $20-30 a month depending on the server space your site needs and the bandwidth used from all your web traffic.

If you are like most new web owners, you had no clue that all this was needed. There are still a few more steps to consider. One is the number of pages associated with your website. Twelve pages is a healthy number for most small business people to start with, but that can hardly support all the keywords you have to generate free web traffic. Plan on adding more keyword web pages as time goes on. Consider a competitor site with 100 search engine optimized web pages all devoted to selling teddy bears. Your site will struggle getting a top ranking against this big guy.

Two, is the big enchilada. Internet marketing. And this is where most of your funds go, and it's where most new web owners fall down. Even cutting all the corners, there is usually little left for marketing. And a lot of the time, new web owners are shocked and dismayed with the outpouring of money up to this point and dig their heals in at spending any more, especially when Internet marketing is a mystery for many.

Internet marketing involves several options. The most widely recognized is search engine marketing. You have probably heard the term. Another common marketing practice is CPC or PPC. Cost Per Click or Pay Per Click can be tricky and can drain your credit card quickly. It looks easy, but trust me on this, there is nothing easy about direct response copywriting and that's what placing ad copy on a search engine such as Google or Yahoo! requires. There is a method to determining how much to invest in a CPC bid. So don't rush in, write a few ads, and wait for visitors without knowing what you are doing.

It's a wonder so many people jump on the Web without finding out about all these costs, but they do. I guess it looks easy, but if you have invested hundreds, even thousands, and have yet to recover your investment, you know it is not easy. You don't know why. You only know, you keep trying different things, and you continue to wait for the big return. All you have to do is the smart thing upfront to save a lot of money and get good results in a decent amount of time. Hire a good Internet marketing company who can help you get the outcome you want. You will save a lot of time, frustration and money overall.

Business Start-up Costs

If you are considering starting your own business, then you have no doubt considered the investment required for various business start-up costs. The first thing you need to do is find a market that your business can be successful in. Next you must look at approximately how much it will cost you in just basic business start-up costs; business licenses, lawyer consult fees and form preparation fees, accountant fees/accounting programs, inventory costs, business insurance, leases, and utilities are just a few of the standard traditional business start-up costs. You must also consider how you are going to support yourself and your family while you venture takes off; this could be at least two to three months, and you want to make sure you can pay your mortgage, all your bills, feed your kids, and have a little extra left over for incidentals, in addition to business start-up costs.

If you choose to not have a physical location for your business, you may want to consider offering your goods and services via a website or mail order catalog. This is a great way to reach a large audience all at once, but business start-up costs associated with this mode of doing business can be expensive as well. By the time you pay someone to create your website, host it, register your domain name, and start a merchant account, you have made quite an expenditure, unless of course you are capable of building your own website, which many people are. Yahoo! offers web hosting, domain name registration, business email, and store front options for a very reasonable price worth checking out. This is a great way to save on some of those business start-up costs that could otherwise break the bank.

The traditional way that business has been conducted in this country has changed dramatically since the advent of the World Wide Web, opening the door for a number of new ways to conduct business. You no longer have to have a physical storefront address to sell your goods or services, a rather archaic point of view. More and more people are buying goods and services on the internet, which is a great place to feature your business while keeping your business start up costs at a minimum. You don’t need to lease that 900 square foot shop for $2800 a month to sell what you can sell just as easily with a website and a little marketing campaign. Business start-up costs do not have to be astronomical, in fact, they can be quite the opposite. You can visit a number of online sources that offer an abundance of information on business start-ups costs and links to essential sites that can help you get your business up and running!

Computer Consultant Startup: Identify Your Business Skills

Since you're taking the time to read this article right now, it's a good sign that you have what it takes to become a computer consultant. You're in the small minority of people who have recognized that this is a business and needs to be run like one.

A Good Computer Consultant Has More Than Just Technical Skills

It's not about playing with the latest routers or wi-fi device or VPNs or firewalls. Sure, you have to have a certain amount of skills to make a successful computer consultant because people are buying your expertise. At the end of the day, though, it's a business.

In order for the business to be successful, you have to know a few things about getting revenue in and keeping your expenses down. You also need to forecast and be able to bill, negotiate, and network properly.

There are a lot of stubborn techies out there who think that studying the Windows Server Resource Kit is going to tell them what they need to know about running a business. Not true. It's going to teach you about registry keys and directories and things like that.

Even a Computer Consultant Needs a Good Resume

If you're currently self-employed, you may not have an up- to-date resume, but for most people looking to transition into the business to become a computer consultant you probably do have a resume. Take out a copy of your resume and a yellow highlighter marker and go through and highlight every sentence or phrase in your resume that describes a project or a job or a skill that you think would be relevant or marketable to the owner of a small company.

Categorize the Items on Your Resume

Go through it and look for all the phrases and the jobs and the projects that you've worked on for the past couple of years and think about what's going to catch the eye of a typical small business owner or manager. Once you've done that, go back through each highlighted item and mark whether it was IT related, whether it had to do with understanding how to run a business or whether it had to do with being able to communicate effectively.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Biz Tech Talk. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Ebay Business Startup

Starting business is a huge step, even if the business is an internet business. These tips will help you decide if an ebay business is right for you.

Just like in the real world, business is business. The main goal of any business is to make a profit. Running an ebay business is no different, the main goal is profits. And just like any other business, it will take work and resources to make it successful. Simply listing a few items and waiting for the cash to roll in just won’t work.

First you will need to know what sells and how much the going price is. Listing a product that is in a category that gets no buyers or even bidders may not be a good idea. You’ll just end up losing money due to listing fees and such. Not to mention the work in preparing the description, taking pictures and such. If you want your ebay business to succeed you must find out if what you want to sell is actually selling.

What’s the best way to find out what sells? Simply go to ebay and look at similar items. Just by checking on what other items are selling for will help you determine what you need to sell in your ebay business. And that includes checking regularly as some items may be more seasonal.

Now comes the part of stocking your ebay business. Where you get the products to sell in your ebay business is almost as important as what you sell. Of course, you may be forced to sell something in your ebay business that you would rather be something else or another name brand. This is where the supplier will help you find the right product to sell. You may want to sell a particular name brand, however, that supplier may have requirements that your ebay business can not meet. Because of this, most ebay business must settle for the normal products.

Another avenue you may want to consider when starting an ebay business is dropshipping. Dropshipping allows you to sell to customers without the need to carry inventory. You simply sell the products from your ebay business and the dropshipper will send those products to the customer. It’s an easy and affordable way to start an ebay business with very little startup capital. Be careful as some dropshippers may charge a fee for each product they ship to your customer. You will need to be sure you charge the customer for this fee and not your ebay business.

Take pictures of the products you are selling if possible. If you have a digital camera, take a unique picture of each product. This goes a long way and shows that your ebay business is serious about selling the product. Take for instance, if 20 items with pictures were listed and one was different that all the other pictures, a user would be more likely to click on that item. This is why taking unique pictures will help ebay business.

These are just a few tips that can lead your ebay business to success. Be sure to check out our website http://www.public-wholesale.net for more ebay business related articles, wholesale dropship sources, and online business articles

Business Startup Funding - Are You Ready?

Business startup funding is always a worry. Do I have enough money to start? Can I quit my job to concentrate full time? Will I be able to cover my monthly expenses?

When the time comes to actually launch your business you must have done your homework regarding your business startup funding needs. You need to be prepared so that if the opportunity to accelerate your launch presents itself, you're ready.

Assess Your Personal Finances

Take out your checkbook and credit card statements and review all of your personal expenses. Find all the frills and eliminate them. It's tough to do, but if you're really committed to getting this business of the ground you need to reduce your personal expenses.

Taking control of your business startup funding doesn't mean you have to quit enjoying life. You just have to prioritize for now. Skip the night show and catch a matinee instead. If you're going out for dinner, clip a 2 for 1 coupon or go to the early bird. Hold off on that tropical vacation for one year.

Evaluate Your Business Expenses

Another element of business startup funding is your minimum business expenses. Luckily, computer consulting is not a capital intense venture. You will have business expenses to cover though, so you must analyze what those are and figure them into your business startup funding needs.

Do the Math

Total up your personal and business monthly expenses. To launch a successful business you need to have at least six months of cash in the bank OR an alternative source of affordable capital. Many people won't have 6 months cash to cover their business startup funding needs. If this is you, you will need to find, or keep, a job.

Limit the job to 15 - 20 hours per week so you leave enough time to concentrate on building your business. Whether it’s teaching some computer courses at the college or working at an electronics store, you have to be bringing is some reliable income. This reliable income will give you the cushion you need to spend time building your client base.

Securing adequate business startup funding is one of the most challenging aspects of launching a small business. You don't want to minimize its importance though. Inadequate business startup funding is at the root of many business failures.

The Bottom Line on Business Startup Funding

Do what you need to do now, in order to do what you want to do in the future. Having enough business startup funding means conserving your cash mercilessly. You have to know where your money is going and have enough to cover 6 months of expenses. If your business startup funding is a little short, a part time job is often the most practical means of securing the funding you need.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting Blog. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

9 Key Business Startup Success Principles

If you are in the early stages of starting up a business then you may be experiencing the internal 'fear and doubt' dialogue that can often take place in one's mind. The following 9 Principles will help to release some of this tension...

1. Do What You Love

Ensure that you are in a business that interests you. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be in love with the product or service that you sell; however, you must enjoy aspects of the business otherwise you won't be motivated to give it 100% of your focus. And it will need a lot of your focus and energy, especially in the early stages!

To help determine this point, you could ask yourself the following types of questions:

* What do you really like to do (in a business sense)?

* Are you an ideas or action type of person? Or a bit of both?

* In which 20% of your talents do 80% of your results come from?

* In other words, where do your key skills lie?

It really all boils down to one question though - what are you really passionate about?

2. Niche

Another critical point which goes a long way to determining business success is your Niche. Without exception, the majority of successful business owners I know can tell you in a couple of sentences exactly what it is they love to do and why it has made them wealthy.

Without a precise understanding of your Niche your chances for success are greatly diminished. After all, it’s very difficult to hit a target which doesn’t exist or to win a game when you don’t know what it (winning) is.

Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve in this business venture:

* Do you want to make quick cash?

* Do you want to develop and grow a sustainable business?

* Are you interested in high cash-flow or developing assets? Or both?

* Do you have BIG aspirations or are you just looking to develop a hobby for some part-time cash?

Keep in mind that your Niche can always be adapted down the track if your situation or the market changes.

3. Leverage

You need to become a master of Leverage. It is one of the most powerful principles in business. Everyone who is successful in business and life uses Leverage in some way.

To use the concept of Leverage you need to continually examine how you can access other people’s skill, resources and money more effectively. Furthermore, consider less obvious assets in business such as systems, marketing and time.

Leverage is about duplicating a high-value item or skill at a lower cost.

I will explore this topic in depth in future articles; however, at this point it is important to remember the following points:

* Focus on Money-Making activities

* Delegate to others as much as possible

By doing this you will see an immediate increase in your ability to work ‘on’ your business, rather than getting stuck ‘in’ the day to day running of it.

Lateral Thinking shares an implicit relationship with Leverage...

4. Lateral Thinking

This is the concept of looking at things from a different point of view. You can increase profits significantly by doing simple things to “Add Value” in ways that others are not.

In other words, continually look at your business and ask yourself questions such as:

* How can we do, what we do, better?

* What do our clients want that they are not getting currently?

* Could we use affiliate marketing to grow our business?

* Do we currently use the internet to effectively market our business?

* Could we join forces with another business to cross-promote our products?

* Could we use our knowledge to create another product?

What I am suggesting here is to take some time out to brainstorm ideas around your business. This is a difficult for most small business owners to achieve because they see this as wasted and unproductive time - nothing could be further from the truth...

Some of the most successful companies in the world allow themselves and their employees lateral thinking time - Google and 3M immediately come to mind. Many of Google's most successful products have originated from this process.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you have to take 1 day a week (as Google does) to undertake this process - they have high operating margins and therefore significant leverage. However, I would encourage you to consider ‘opening you mind’ for at least couple of hours each week to explore further opportunities.

I am sure that you will find it a valuable and profitable experience if you stick to it!

5. Testing

If you can start your business with a clear idea of how you are going to monitor your systems, resources and assets then you will be well ahead of the pack. When most business owners are confronted with questions about their average transaction value, sales conversion ratios, enquiry and lead generation rates - they come up with varying excuses or reasons as to why they don’t know or have this vital information.

DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE!!

You need to be able to calculate your ROI (Return on Investment) for everything that you do on a regular basis.

To do this develop a set of KPI (Key Performance Indicators) that are appropriate for your business - don’t go overboard - just focus on the information that you need. Remember that 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities! The key is to discover the 20% and keep improving them...

The other benefit of testing is that it encourages us to recognise mistakes and move on - this is a vital part of the growth process. Without action, mistakes and growth we stagnate and/or wither at the vine!

6. Efficiency

Hard work doesn’t guarantee success or profits - look at how wealth is apportioned in the world and this soon becomes apparent - 80% of the wealth is controlled by less than 10% of the population.

Personally, it took a long time for this penny to drop! The first business I owned was really just a job in disguise. I was caught in a trap that confronts many small business owners - working IN the business, rather than ON the business.

This is a critical distinction...

If significant profits and growth are what you desire, then it is critical that you become efficient and develop systems that will allow your business to work for you and not the other way around.

There is one key concept to remember when implementing anything...

7. Lag

Lag is the concept that you ‘reap what you sew’. In other words, if you follow the principles suggested here and persist - you will succeed!

However, your business life is going to provide you with numerous challenges and obstacles to overcome. The biggest difference between successful people and the rest is that successful people look at upsets as a chance to grow and learn rather than as failure.

When confronted by a setback, rather than giving into fear and quitting you must continue to persist. Why? Because if your principles are sound, all you have to do is keep adjusting your methodology until you have a formula for success.

You will have a much greater chance of success in business if you keep the principle of Lag in the back of your mind, stay focused and never give up!

8. Timing

Timing is an essential aspect of business ownership. It also shares a close bond with decision-making and action-taking. If you continually use Lateral Thinking and Testing then you will certainly discover further opportunities. The key to successfully implementing and taking advantage of these opportunities is Timing.

As the old sayings go:

If you wait too long, you may miss the boat... (e.g. someone else capitalizes)

If you jump right in you may get your fingers burnt... (e.g. misjudged market enthusiasm)

You need to find a middle ground when it comes to Timing, because it is very difficult to time things perfectly. Combine focused analysis, gut feeling, enthusiasm and decision making together and you will be well on the way to mastering Timing and the next Principle...

9. Action

Successful business owners are Masters of Action. They know that Action always beats inaction. They understand that it is better to try, make a mistake, refine and re-implement than to do nothing at all. That’s because in business:

INACTION = A SLOW DEATH

Unsuccessful business owners are Masters of Excuses. Fear provides them with an endless stream of seemingly logical reasons why they shouldn’t act.

You need to make a decision right now - will you accept as doctrine your negative internal dialogue and the nay-sayers - or will you take chances and trust your experience?

I would suggest the latter...

To take Action, it is critical that you take responsibility for your situation. If you are not where you want to be, then justifying or laying blame on others will not solve the situation - it will just add fuel to your negative mindset.

A better way to respond is to focus on ‘the gap’ - the 20% of activities in your business (or life) that will take you from where you are to where you want to be. Goal setting is one of the best ways to define the ‘gap’ and taking Action is the best way to reduce it.

CONCLUSION: The most important Principle is that you should love what you do - passion and attitude will play a large part in defining your success in business. Therefore, ensure that you find a Niche that you are comfortable with. Apply the Principles outlined here, define your own rules and goals, and you will be well on the way to creating a successful and profitable business.

Business Angels For Your Startup Business

Setting up a new business can be a daunting prospect. There’s the possibility of failure, and with it, the risk of losing the money you’ve invested in your company, as well as seeing all your months or even years of hard work go to waste. But, there’s truth in the old saying, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” The biggest rewards accrue to those who not only have a vision for their business, but also are prepared to see it through and have the courage of their convictions.

Nonetheless, it can be hard finding sources of funding for a new business. In many cases, finding a business angel may be your best bet for sourcing capital to start up a new company. But, let’s have a look at some of the other options available to you.

First and most obvious, you may have the available funds yourself. Depending on the level of risk, you may not feel comfortable dipping into your savings to fund a new business; this is a decision you will have to consider long and hard. However, if you feel able to use some of your savings to finance a startup, then so much the better.

Another option is to borrow money from family or friends. If you’re doing this, the best and fairest way to get them on board is as investors, making sure that they have the chance to share in your success – but also warning them of the potential pitfalls. Make sure they are clear on the nature of the risk they are undertaking – many friendships have been broken down the years due to money. It’s often a good idea to put your agreement in writing, just so there is absolutely no misunderstanding further down the line about the terms on which you borrowed the money. It’s up to you to be honest about your chances of success and to give them all the information they need.

The second major type of financing is acquired by taking out a standard loan. This may be from your bank or another lender, and can include bank loans, overdraft facilities, or credit cards. Taking out one or several loans is not a bad idea, but you must make sure you’re not taking on more debt than you can afford to repay.

Take a careful look at repayment terms and interest rates, and make sure you’re getting the best possible deal before signing anything. Even if your fledgling business is doing well, excessive loan repayments can be a heavy drag on your profits, so do the sums beforehand, and make sure you can afford to repay the debt even in a worst-case scenario. You might also want to think about remortgaging your house, or other investment properties you may own. The same rules apply; make sure you don’t take on more debt than you can afford to repay. Taking out a large loan or remortgage can force you to make an honest appraisal of your business plan; sometimes it can be just the reality check you need.

If you don’t have any equity with which to take out a loan, then there is another option, called the Small Business Loan Guarantee scheme; it’s a business loan 75% guaranteed by the Government. You are required to contribute just 25% of the security, so this is an excellent option for anyone who doesn’t have a huge amount of capital with which to set up their small business. However, it’s worth noting that these loans do have an administration fee attached, and the rate of interest is normally relatively high – some 1.5 to 2.0% higher than base rate.