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A7xcambria
12-13-2014, 09:38 AM
Hello everyone. I'm new here and this will be my first post. I currently work a 7 days a week, 13 hours a day job in a shipyard so I have limited time for everything. Even now I'm typing this on my break. I want to start my own business. What kind of business I have no idea yet. But my main concern is getting the required capital. Bank loans are out of the question since I don't have the credit for that. Plus if the business were to fail and I did have loans, I'd still have to pay them back. I was curious if anyone had any ideas out there about alternative ways of gathering start up funds. Something else that has been on my mind is a book I read recently called "The $100 start up" by C.G. He focuses more on micro businesses in the book and I believe that a good start, but eventually I would want to build it into something bigger. Any ideas you guys could throw my way would be much appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Fulcrum
12-13-2014, 09:49 AM
You're putting the cart before the horse here. First decide what business you want to go into - then look at what your capabilities and capacities are. Try to avoid loans early on as they will hinder your growth unless you have lots of cash in the bank to finance the interest payments.

Freelancier
12-13-2014, 10:43 AM
Brad is right: figure out what you want to do, figure out whether you can make enough money at it, then figure out how to quit your day job so that you can do it. Trying to do this in the wrong order leads to poverty.

Harold Mansfield
12-13-2014, 11:26 AM
Yep, starting a business is not a mold that you can apply to every situation no matter what it is. Figure out what you want to do first, that will determine step 2.
You said you work 13 hours a day in a shipyard. Have you ever had an idea for something that could make the job more efficient, or safer?

shrinkme
12-13-2014, 02:30 PM
I agree that you need to decide what you want to do. What will make you excited to get up every morning? Once you determine this, you can try to figure out how much you need to get started. Businesses can range from no start up cost to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why get business financing when you don't need it?

kimoonyx
12-15-2014, 01:33 AM
I'm gonna reitterate what is being said here by everyone else because it is a really good point. You have to know what you want to do first. Saying... how do I get the money to start a business... without knowing what you want to do is totally backwards. How can you even begin to know your cost without an inkling of what you want to do? Getting money together after you know what your gonna do and what it is gonna cost is not as hard as you may think... It is do-able... but you have to have a goal on what its for if you have any hopes of gaining the drive to get it done. spend some time accessing what business you want to be in...plan out how you are going to open...then you will start to see through planning what some of the costs will be.. then start taking steps towards the money. then it becomes a matter of when... not if. Good Luck

Leahp
12-23-2014, 10:54 AM
There are many ways of raising capital for a small business aside from a traditional bank loan. There are crowdfunding, family and friends funding and other creative ways to fund a business. There are two things that lenders look for 1. Collateral and 2. Experience, decent credit is a plus.

If you don't have any great ideas of what you want to do, try franchising. Franchisees often offer funding and there are some low cost franchises. Try to do research online for the franchises offered in your area. If there is a business that really appeals to you but you're a little short on qualification, consider switching fields or jobs to prepare yourself for owning that business.


Selflender.com is a great way to build personal credit.

Hope that's helpful
Leah

smallbizfinancier
01-08-2015, 05:12 PM
Find the business or type of SMB that appeals to you and has lower barriers to entry. Getting financing for a start-up isn't all that difficult. There are a few niche lenders in the US that cater to start-up businesses that are looking for equipment financing/leasing: Pawnee | (http://www.pawneeleasing.com), finpac.com, Bank of Cardiff | Bank of Cardiff (http://www.bankofcardiff.com). All three offer financing for equipment for those businesses with <1 TIB, however the rates on the borrowed capital can be in the mid-teens and upwards; so make sure that you can cash flow the notes based on your projected revenue.
If you have experience in a shipyard, I might suggest starting a transpo/logistics enterprise since you may already have the contacts. From there, you may want to move in the brokerage business if you lack the rigs necessary to move the trailers inter/intra-state.