Today, starting your own small business has become more accessible than ever before. In many cases, you might not even need a lot of money to get started with an online business that you can set up within a couple of days or even less. Many business owners provide online services from the comfort of their own home and thanks to the rise in online work, there’s no need to hire full-time staff when you can pay contractors and freelancers on a per-job basis. However, there might come a point when your small business is going to need some further investment for growth and expansion. In this case, you might be thinking about applying for some additional funding. Here are some small business funding ideas to consider.
Small Business Loans
With banks rejecting applications from small businesses more frequently these days, there has been a gap created in the market for lenders that specifically work with startups and small businesses that the banks are turning away. If you are in the process of starting a small business that is fairly new without any financial history to show, you might have a better chance of being accepted by a small business lender compared to the bank. These lenders often offer both short-term and long-term loans for businesses with products designed for any situation. But do short-term loans have higher interest rates, however? Before applying, figure out what would be the best product for your business both now and in the future. And make sure you have a business plan in place, filled with everything from how you will use money (like social media marketing) to how you will pay the loan back.
Crowdfunding
Asking the public to fund your new business idea is becoming an increasingly popular option with a range of crowdfunding websites and apps that business owners can use to get their idea out to the world and ask people to invest in it. Post your business idea on a crowdfunding website or app and ask members of the public to invest small amounts of money if they are interested in the idea and want to see it do well. Each person who contributes will now own a small share of your business, with an excellent payoff for them when you do well in the future – it definitely has the potential to be a win-win situation.
Investors
If you’re trying to get a unique business idea with a lot of potential off the ground, an angel investor might be interested in helping you out by providing the funding that you need. For many brand-new business start-ups, getting an investment is often much easier than applying to borrow, and rather than having to pay the funds back, you will be selling a share in your business to the investor instead. Since many angel investors are experienced business people themselves, this can be worth considering not just for the additional funding that you’ll get, but also for the support that will come with selling a share of your business to somebody with extensive business knowledge and experience.
While it’s now easier than ever to start a business without borrowing money or asking for investments, additional funding is often needed to help a new company grow. Which funding option might be the best choice for your startup?