Financing Your New Business: You’ve decided to start something of your own.
You’ve searched, planned, and, voila. You’ve found the very business that you believe you can build the rest of your professional life on.
There’s only one glitch:
how are you going to gather the money to get it started?
There are several different ways to approach funding. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), once you determine how much you’ll really need you can begin to look into all of the options.
- Self-funding: Otherwise known as bootstrapping, self-funding leverages your current financial resources to support starting your business. The upside is that you have significantly more control; the downside is that you carry all the risk yourself.
Self-funding can come from investment or loans from friends and family, accessing current savings, or even tapping your retirement accounts. If you decide to tap a 401k, however, do be sure you analyze fees and/or penalties that might negatively impact your ability to retire on time. Check with your advisor or plan administrator. - Venture capital: Accessing venture capital (VC) is a tricky endeavor. You must align with the VC’s mission, and generally be starting a high-growth company. The great part about it is that you are getting an investment – not a loan – and you’re getting a partner with deep roots. Those roots can help you grow more quickly and access resources that will move your business faster than you can alone. The downside is that other side of the coin: they’ll want a seat on your board and they will want a say in how you run your business.
- Crowdfunding: The option became very popular in the first couple of decades of the 21st century. Essentially, crowdfunding taps a community of people to invest – actually, give with few strings attached — smaller amounts of money. They are in essence supporting your idea, generally in exchange for some form of gift in return. This is an ideal situation, of course, because people give you money with no strings attached (check the details on the crowdfunding platform you choose). The downside is that it’s not as easy as it sounds. To succeed, you’ll need to invest heavily in marketing your idea, with video, social media and email campaigns to draw attention to your offering over others.
- Get a Small Business Loan: If you want to have control over your business, and have the ability to demonstrate (via a business plan and expense sheet) just how you plan to succeed, then a small business loan may be your best bet. This requires outreach to banks and credit unions, with a keen eye toward overhead and interest rates – and your credit score, of course.
- The SBA also guarantees loans. Sometimes banks will believe that your business is too high-risk for their investment. At these times, it is worth looking into an SBA-guaranteed loan. In this situation, you would select a bank that agrees to work with the SBA. It is generally worth looking into this as an option.
At The Wall Printer (TWP), we have teamed up with a lending option that helps you secure the funding needed to start your wall printing business. The benefits of working with Partners Capital Group for funding a vertical printing company are numerous:
- They’re already familiar with TWP and understand how well the business model can work.
- Zero down payment is required, and they work with you to allow for low monthly payments.
- Startups are accepted – which can often be a tripping point for other loan makers.
- A three-month deferral allows you time to set up the business and get a customer or two before making your first payment.
- The custom pack financing stands alongside their willingness to work with people who have credit scores ranging from A – D.
- There is a tax deduction available for these kinds of loans.
If you’re considering TWP and a wall printing business, talk to us. We might be able to help you get started more quickly than you could imagine.