Small Business Financing

[shrinkme]

I have borrowed in better and worse ways, mainly to get through a tough stretch. Luckily I am able to make up the difference fairly quickly. I have never borrowed from friends or family, other than very short term. Never took on equity financing either. Just loans. Hate to borrow money, but it's better than running out of cash.

[Paul]

Thinking that i would get a loan just because I had a good idea. That's a big lie that has been perpetrated for a long time and it gives people a false sense of how things really work.

I couldn’t possibly agree more with all of Harold’s comments! So many inexperienced wanna be entrepreneurs have no idea of what they are doing. Many think there is a simple “formula” to raising capital and starting a business. Have an idea, write a boilerplate business plan and get money. There are already 100’s of relatively useless guides for raising capital.

Banks have absolutely NO INTEREST in startups! That is reality # 1. They are in the secured loan business, not the risk business. Real investors know how to assess risk and reward. They are typically not interested in meager returns with risk in common run of the mill businesses.

New entrepreneurs are at a great disadvantage primarily because they don’t know any real investors. There are many of them BUT if you can’t find them what good are they. They usually don’t even consider proposals from unknown people. It usually takes an introduction to even get a meeting. They often see hundreds of proposals a year and discard 99% of them. They often make an investment not only on the idea, but on the person running it. Without a track record of success chances are slim.

There are of course friends and relatives, but, as Harold mentioned, it is a very touchy situation. You can get lucky sometimes, but that is the exception to the rule.

[KOMPAR]

Hey,

here are my answers to your questions

(1) What are some small business financing mistakes that you personally experienced?
Not focusing enough on the working capital side of things (i.e. not negotiating enough on the payment terms, which eventually got a lot of capital tied up in invoices).


(2) What online resources/websites provided information that really helped finance your business? What are some websites that did not help as much?
What are your thoughts on the SBA?

In Sweden I would say there is almiinvest.se, which is helpful for getting governmental funding.

(3) What are some of the best ways to finance a business when loans are not an opinion? ( Ex. bad credit scores, recent startups, or poor revenue)
How did you overcome?

Then I'd focus on getting paid by your customers upfront (credit card, Klarna, cash, etc.) and negotiating for payments through invoices with your suppliers, whilst keeping your inventory at an absolute minimum. That way you can get a negative working capital

(3) What are some experiences with borrowing from friends? Did you use a promissory note? why or why not?

I have avoided it, as it is way to risky for the relationships.

(4) What was your experiences with merchant cash advance?

Works well in my opinion.


(5) what are some specific advice for certain types of business ( Ex. restaurant, hair salon, bars, consulting, etc. )

Consumer facing businesses should focus on getting cash payments / credit card payments, whilst B2B businesses should negotiate for short payment terms with their clients.

[Adolphus]

You sell them to a 3rd party at a value less than what is truly owed.

How do you find a 3rd party that will do that? does it matter if they receivable is small like 200 bucks?

[Fulcrum]

Google search for "invoice factoring companies" should pull a few up. The size, and volume, of your invoices will affect what companies will deal with you. The big factors will have set minimum monthly volumes and minimum invoice amounts while smaller, more local, factors may deal with smaller companies generating lower volume lower dollar invoices.

[capitalmerchant]

you can try my link in the signature we offer business loans even with a low credit score .

[Willie Posey]

Hey Jin, If you have further details regarding section-3, then please let me know them. Actually, I manage some groups on social media and many a time newbies ask something related to this topic.

[Chelsea]

(2) What online resources/websites provided information that really helped finance your business?

Attorney fees can be super expensive when creating startup documents, and I think this can lead to dropping a lot of money that could be used to continue developing your startup. Obviously there are times when an attorney is necessary, but with some startup documents there are online resources that are super fast, simple, and inexpensive. I really like SmackDocs.com. It produces high quality documents online instead of having to have an attorney write them up for you.

[EmilioSen]

I know this an old post but never borrow from friends. if they give u money it should be as a gift and they should kiss that money goodbye. same with family. many lessons learned!