Again, your business plan is essential at this stage of setting up your business. In it you will already have scoped out what your money needs are and how you plan to raise the capital, and you’ll be using it to persuade potential investors and lenders of the benefits of funding your company. Your financial calculations in your business plan therefore need to be thorough and accurate and presented with confidence.

Everyone expects that they’ll be able to stick to their plans and only need to borrow the absolute minimum, but more often than not something unexpected crops up to throw a spanner in the works. It therefore makes good business sense to include a contingency element in the amount you request. It’s better to do that now and have the extra cash as a safeguard than it is to have to return to your lender or investor not far down the line to ask for more money. If it wasn’t in the original plan they are likely to be concerned about your financial ability and your request may be rejected.

How much money should you request? This question worries all start-up business owners. You want to make sure you have enough to keep you going without struggling, but how much will your investors or lenders be prepared to give? Most experts would advise that you should pitch somewhere in the middle – don’t leave yourself short by requesting the minimum, but at the same time don’t be greedy (and lazy) in asking for too much. You want to keep costs to a minimum and invest your money wisely in your company, while still having the security of a little extra for backup if required. What you borrow should give you a realistic challenge for your business but should not be too risky. And back up your calculation with evidence in your business plan – it has to be credible.

People raise money for their company in many different ways, not always from professional business investors or high street banks. How you raise your capital will depend on your business needs and your own circumstances. Here’s some information on various different sources of funding.

Your own money – if you have enough cash to spare, putting up your own money for the business means you don’t have to be in debt to anyone. It will also give you full freedom over the running of your company as you won’t be responsible to any other interested parties. On the other hand, you’re risking a lot personally by investing your own cash and you could lose it all – and not just your business, but perhaps also your home if you obtained the money by taking out a secured loan or increased your mortgage, for example. You should also be aware that personal borrowing rates often have much higher interest repayment rates than business deals.

People you know – if they have anything to spare, family and friends are often more willing to give you cash than external lenders or investors. Again, though, there is a high level of personal risk, both for your family or friends who could lose money, and for you – it can cause relationship tensions. If you do take money from family or friends, treat it as a formal business arrangement as you would with external funding and agree clear terms and conditions. You want to protect both your interests and ensure that there are no misunderstandings.

The bank – high street lenders usually have a variety of different packages and there’s usually something to meet everyone’s requirements. You’ll have to do a sales pitch to get your money though, and depending on financial circumstances you might also be required to find a guarantor or provide some sort of security. Don’t just go to your own bank – look around for a good deal and do your pitch to various lenders. If nothing else, it will give you good practice! If you think you might have more of a chance of obtaining money from your own bank where you already have a strong relationship and good financial history, then don’t put it first on your list of visits – present your case to a few different lenders first to hone your presentation and persuasion skills to a tee!

Even if you can’t find a lender to give you money, there is a government programme that may be able to help. The Department of Trade and Industry offers a Small Firms Loan Guarantee, in which it offers three quarters of the borrowing amount to the lender as a security guarantee. In return, you must pay an annual fee (which will be a small percentage of the remaining loan amount) to the Department of Trade and Industry. Up to quarter of a million pounds can be borrowed over a maximum 10-year period.

Outside investors – often referred to as ‘business angels’, private investors are rich professionals, often successful entrepreneurs themselves, who are able to offer a great deal of capital in return for an expected large profit and dividends when the company starts to make money. The advantage of obtaining finance from an investor rather than a lender is that they will not expect any financial returns until your business is turning a profit. Also, as successful business owners themselves, they can be a valuable source of advice to guide you in the right direction with your company. A combination of investment and lending might be a good option. Your business will seem a much more attractive and secure prospect to lenders if you already have a sum of capital to back it up. Investors will no doubt have a level of influence and decision-making power in your company, though. Most will want to be kept informed of what is going on – they will want to protect and develop their investment, of course, so you will have a responsibility to them. Also, when you start to turn a profit, it will be divided among everyone who has invested so you won’t get the full whack. Finally, you’ll need to put forward a very good business case to attract an investor – these are very wise, shrewd and experienced entrepreneurs.

Government schemes – there’s a whole raft of options available to small business owners from the government and local authorities in the form of low-cost loans and grants – in fact far too many to mention here. Your local business enterprise centre, chamber of commerce or local council will be able to advise on what options are available for your type of business. The loans are usually offered at very reasonable rates and grants are of course non-repayable (although competition can be tough). Such incentives are often given to certain types of businesses in certain industries located in certain areas, particularly in areas that are being regenerated and in fields such as science, research or engineering.

In conclusion, the key message is that however you get the money you need for your business, you’ll need a very strong business plan – and you’ll need to practise your skills of presenting to ensure you make a good impression and a convincing case.

The presentation of the document itself is also important. Keep it clean, crisp and sharp. Use a business-like typeface, use colours sparingly and use spreadsheets to create neat graphics. Have someone else look over it for you when it’s done to check for mistakes. Print it on good paper and hold it together in a presentation folder or comb binding.

Don’t just plan to read out your business plan – people can do that for themselves. Turn it into a slick presentation with a strong argument for your case. Write down what you want to say and rehearse it several times – in front of a mirror at first and then to family or friends. Confidence is key and this will come with practice. Ensure that you know the details of your plan inside out, including the figures. You don’t want the facts to trip you up. It’s also a good idea to consider what questions investors or lenders might ask and how you can answer them confidently and convincingly.

Author: Benedict Rohan
Website: http://www.mortgagenation.co.uk
Benedict Rohan works as a freelance finance writer. Commercial Mortgage, Homeowner Loans, Remortgages.

I have started four businesses over the last 13 years. In that amount of time, you can learn a lot of lessons about business. One of the biggest is how to get credit for a business without my personal guarantee. From experience I know that having business debt on your personal record does make your debt to income ratio a sight to behold. Now, there is one thing I did learn about lenders.

Lenders want to lend money. It’s the only way they make money for themself. But, they don’t want to give away money. For a lender to have enough confidence in an individual or business to lend money, they need some type of assurance that they are going to receive their payments. Where do lenders get their data to make a decision?

Lenders use credit reporting agencies to check on the reputation of a business or individual to see what is their history of credit. they can’t see into the future so their only measure of success is the past. The problem is that most businesses do not have a separate credit history. That’s why the lenders insist on having a personal guarantee for their loans. Do you know where a lender gets their information about you or your business?

There are different credit reporting agencies for business and personal information. We know there are at least three for personal history, but in the business realm, there is one main organization that most lenders use, Dun and Bradstreet. For you to be successful in obtaining independent business credit, you must have an excellent credit rating with Dun and Bradstreet. And what is detemines a great credit rating and D&B?

They have a rating system with a range of 0 to 100, with 100 being the best possible score. Their system is based on the number of days late that payments are reported from their participating lenders. The score of 80 means that every payment is made on time. A score higher than 80 means you pay everything earlier than the due date with 100 meaning that you pay everything before it is even invoiced. A score below 80 means you have a few late payments and it goes down from there. Can you guess what score you need?

To be able to get separate credit, you will need a score of 75 or higher or lenders won’t even consider you for a non-guaranteed loan. But, how do you build credit for your business?

There are steps that you can follow to get a acceptable score with Dun and Bradstreet. It begins with getting listed with D&B and getting creditors to report their experience about you to them. With enough history for your company, you should be able to get the credit you need to succeed. All you need to know is which companies will help you as you build your company’s credit.

Greg Walding has written a report containing names, contacts, websites and phone numbers with concise steps to building business credit without a personal guarantee. It can be found at http://www.buildingmycredit.com/gettingcredit.htm

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Wikipedia describes peer-to-peer, or P2P lending, as a lending system that “…occurs directly between individuals (“peers”) without the intermediation/participation of a traditional financial institution.” According to a recent article, many peer-to-peer lending sites, say users are frequently listing “credit crunch” or “banks tightening their credit policy” as reasons for turning to social lending networks.

This type of lending often works out for the benefit of the borrower because lenders auction of loans online, competing for the borrower by offering lower interest rates. Usually the lender offering the lowest interest rate wins.

Angel Investor

An angel investor is an affluent individual who invests in start-up small businesses, providing funds for new entrepreneurs. Many angel investors participate in such investments because they feel they can get “…a higher return than they would see in traditional investments” (smallbusinessnotes.com). Some angel investors even join together forming angel groups and/or angel networks. Usually angel investors are also seasoned business owners and have already experienced the difficulties of business start-up. Therefore, they can offer advice, expertise and experience in addition to funds.

Merchant Cash Advance

A merchant cash advance is a form of credit card factoring. Borrowers sell their businesses’ future credit card receivables at a discount. Meaning they pay a flat rate for upfront money. Then the amount of the merchant cash advance and the flat rate are paid via the deduction of a small percentage of the businesses’ daily credit card sales. This small percentage is taken until the entire payback amount is repaid. Merchant cash advance borrowers can usually have their money in a matter of days after approval.

Gaston C. writes articles about Business Loans and Small Business Loans for Merchant Resources International.