Quote Originally Posted by tmerrill View Post
ryanb,

There are plenty of places to get the money you need to start your pet supply store. One place not yet mentioned here is online microfinance. While you can not borrow $30k all at once, you can borrow upwards of $15K from places such as Prosper.com and LendingClub.com if you are in the US, or Zopa.com and RateSetter.com if you are in the UK, or P2P Financial if you are in Canada. If don't live in any of those places, consider selling pet stuff online at first as a means of building up your business. You can get a merchant advance , which is like a loan, to buy inventory from Kabbage.com.

Good luck with your venture. Don't let the naysayers get you down.
I would have to agree. There are a variety of sites and options for people to get money for their business as well as some good online sources with great ideas. In the end you may need to save money at your current job, borrow money from family members, finance your business using credit cards, or a combination of things.

As far as the industry goes, there aren't a whole lot of safe bets in our current economy, but that doesn't mean that one shouldn't take a risk, especially if that's the area your are interested in. If there were easy answers for industry stability and ways to raise money for potential businesses, nobody would even need this forum .

The reality is that there are a few different ways to get the money and if your business plan is solid then seeing profits will come with time. Of course there are always risks involved with starting a new business, and the initial seed money is often one of the most difficult steps in the planning process, but you do have options.