Grassroots Ways To Fund Your Business

FUND YOUR BUSINESS WITH MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME

By LM Preston, Author of Building Your Empowered Steps and Homeschooling While Shaping Amazing Learners www.EmpoweredSteps.com

I have started many businesses in my lifetime. I know the process to get the work side up and running, but finding ways to fund larger scoped business ideas caused for creativity and the art of selling the idea before it was fully developed.

Pitching your business is a skill that works best when thought out. Giving your business and idea a ‘catch phrase’ will allow you to use that catch phrase for every facet of your business platform. It also helps when finding and recruiting funding sources for your business.

There were several ways I have funded new businesses and observed friends fund their business with much success, here are some below.

Family and friends investing in each other’s businesses. This is the way many families help each other achieve their business goals. Investing in each other first. It is a first stop option for many small businesses. My family used to have a family relief and business fund where all of my grandmother’s sisters and brothers would pay $500 every quarter into and the family member in need would get the loan or payout, then pay back into it the next quarter so that another family member would get the loan or payout.

Grants, State Funded Programs or utilize credit lines if you are sure your business could benefit from these options.

I personally, seek businesses with the least amount of capital needed upfront. I consistently reinvest in my business and when needed have investors that are willing to step in after I pitch a viable expansion idea. However, when publishing books, games, or selling specialized products, crowd funding can pay off in a major way by allowing you to find investors.

All businesses require initial capital of some sort, think of ways to create a business with multiple streams of income and sells potential.

My business Empowered Steps has a focus on coaching. I started with mentorship coaching, then expanded to include coaching parents, college students, career candidates, publishing, course creation and now recently added a financial investment and trading aspect to my coaching. All facets of the business fits nicely under the business focus and allows growth with the least amount of capital needed for startup or expansion.

Be creative in funding your business, and you will be shocked at the amount of resources you have acquired to get you off to the best start possible.

By LM Preston, www.EmpoweredSteps.com

Working For Someone Or For Yourself

My husband and I have always been entrepreneurs at heart. It was in our blood since we were both in grade school. When we started having kids while attending college, we both decided that we needed the stability of a full time pay check instead of the erratic and extensive but flexible hours of running a business.

Most all businesses need capital, and time to kick start. This could mean up to three years of investment without any real return. That makes selecting a business that you are passionate about even harder when that business may not return the dividends you hoped to get just to pay your bills and survive.

In our case we went for businesses that had a good infrastructure and at least moderate success, knowing we would have to work to fund the business. We chose Real Estate and worked that business for almost ten years.

HAVING A BUSINESS IS ABOUT THE HUSTLE OF THE SALE

Most people want to start a business to be their own boss. It sounds great until we as the sole source of income for our household realize that we aren’t making any money at it – initially. Pouring 50 to 60 hours of effort into something that doesn’t pay off can be a drain.

Here’s what we did to focus on sales, but not worry so much about returns when we first started.

Work part-time to fund marketing and sales for business

Use part-time job to network and gain customers through relationship building

Use part-time job to fund household while building business

Realize that business income is based on sales and that at the base of the business, you have to sell the business offerings

Partnering with someone that can help run the business and take some of the pressure off

Partnering with someone to get vacation time    

Many people are in love with the type of business they own, but hate the aspect of selling it. If that is you, maybe other options are better.

WORKING FOR A COMPANY – THE BENEFITS OVER OWNING ONE

With having a bill from college debt, we realized that owning the business didn’t gain us what we needed most at the time-a regular paycheck, health benefits, vacation paid time off, sick leave in some cases and standard work hours.

In most cases, working a job, you can depend on the pay being the same every week and getting the deposit with no more effort than what you were expecting going in.

DECIDING ON THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO

The best case for us was working for a company that allowed us to have our business as a part-time endeavor. Having a constant stream of income, we could count on most of the time, gave us comfort and joy in building our business part-time. We partnered with others and the part time business grew to the point my husband could work it full-time. It helped for one of us to stay employed to gain health benefits and others from a well-established company.

FINDING WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

Doing your research and evaluating what your reason is for starting your business is your first stop. Then map out a business plan. Decide when you need to make money on your business and if you are willing to put in the time and effort selling your product, marketing it, and being on social media to promote it. If you aren’t interesting in the selling of your product, are you willing to pay someone to do that for you? Then you will realize what the cost and benefit is of starting your own company or working for someone else.

By LM Preston, www.empoweredsteps.com, author of Building Your Empowered Steps, Homeschooling and Working While Raising Amazing Learners, blog: http://empoweredsteps.blogspot.com/

HOW TO DECIDE ON YOUR FIRST BUSINESS

HOW TO CHOOSE A MOMPRENUER BUSINESS

By LM Preston

Wanting to start your own business is a big step for working moms. Therefore, selecting a business that will meet your needs, be flexible, calls to your passions, and makes you money is sometimes hard to find. There are so many personal factors that impact the decision and as a Momprenuer, I’ve tried many.

INVESTING IN YOUR BUSINESS OR GET PAID OUT THE DOOR

When considering starting a business that you are supporting from home or as a working parent, money and the amount to invest is usually a concern. You want a business that has as little startup cost and operating cost as possible. That’s the one way that you can ensure that it is a financial benefit for you and your family.

POPULAR TYPES OF BUSINESSES OF A MOMPRENUER

Creating a micro-business specific to your experiences and areas of interest. This is the best option for many. Take what you’ve done in your career and make it your own business. Working in freelance to provide administrative and marketing support for other small and large businesses is a great business that works around your personal schedule. Another possibility is transferring your knowledge and interest to an online course or coaching business. Online store owner can be a business where you basically sell your old stuff or buy then sale in various marketplaces such as Etsy, Mercari, Amazon, Craigslist and more. 

Starting a franchise business is a pricey, but, could be profitable business. There are small businesses such as tutoring services like Kumon and Sylvan where you can invest in the franchise for a small fee. Other choices are Cruise Planners, Fit4Mom, Chem-Dry, Jazzercise, Jan-Pro which offers services from travel, fitness, and cleaning services.

Multi-Level-Marketing is a form of business that many mothers find cheap to start up and easy to work around their family obligations. Some popular and successful ones include Usborne Books, Avon, doTERRA Essential Oils, Pampered Chef and Scentsy.

THE FINAL DECISION

Your final decision should be based on what you intend to gain by starting your business. It’s goal to include income and self-gratification. If you aren’t making money from the work you are putting in, it is a detriment to your family and goals. It is a discouraging aspect of starting a business. Do your research on the business you hope to pursue. Make sure it checks all the points that are important to your goals. Realistically, it takes at least three to five years for any business to make a profit. 

Knowing that consider what you would want to do for that amount of time just for the experience. Having your business in line with your personal areas of interest that you are passionate about makes it a success even when you aren’t making the money from it you’d like.

By LM Preston