Funding

Figuring out how to finance your business is one of the most challenging and critical decision you have to make. A wrong step here can doom your business to inefficiency or worse - you to financial ruin.

We have provided some very good resources for you to review as you start determining how you might want to finance your business. We strongly urge you to contact your local Small Business Center Director to analyze your entire business plan prior to approaching a bank, investor, or even spending your own money. We are here to help you and will be glad to see if there are better sources of funding for your business.

Before checking out the resources provided, make sure you have done everything you can to reduce the demand for funding. Can you find ways to reduce the amount of money needed for your business? Think creatively because every dollar you avoid spending is a dollar you won't have to pay back and a dollar's worth of interest avoided.

There are many ways of reducing the "demand for funding" and some of the most common include:

• Starting or expanding the business in phases that don't require funding or require less funding
• Renting/Leasing building and equipment rather than purchasing
• Purchasing used equipment rather than new equipment
• Increasing the time you have before you have to pay for inventory and supplies through vendor selection
• Decreasing the time before your customers pay you through credit terms

Remember as you think of ways to reduce the demand for capital do so without increasing the risk of your business!

Fueling your Business in North Carolina is a good starting point. It has a great overview of financing and will definitely open your mind for different options. Then follow that up with the Capital Opportunities for Small Businesses guide to get the specifics as they relate to your business needs.