There are many ways
to receive business financing – We did some research on American express and
many other reputable companies and here is what we found – Below are several ways
to finance your business venture, hope this helps and good luck!
Government grants
These programs require research at local, state and federal
levels. Remember: Typically they are very specific and technical in nature and
come with reporting strings attached. A
great place to start is the Small Business Association or SBA
Peer to Peer lending
(P2P)
It is now possible to
go online and get funding from people you do not know at sites such as Prosper.com. The amount paid for the
loan depends on your credit score, the economy, the length of the loan and
“your prosper.com
story.” Remember: P2P loans are not easy to get and the interest rates
can be very high. Click here to check out
Crowd funding
A sister method to P2P, you can now get people to invest in
“your cause” in exchange for something (other than money). This is a different
source of funding since the money is not repaid. The rewards for donors range
from receiving your first products to having a product named after them.
Popular sites that facilitate crowdfunding include IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. Remember: Crowdfunding is very
emotional and its success is based on the appeal of your idea.
Business plan
competitions or other contests
When all else fails, try to win the money! There are a lot
of regional and national competitions giving away substantial amounts of money.
These include the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Challenge, The GE Ecomagination
Challenge and the Amazon Web Services Start Up Challenge. Remember: This is
really show business that loves a great idea and very competent team. You also
need to be a good presenter.
Barter
Swap products or services, not money. Before there was
currency, there was only barter (trading). The U.S. Department of Commerce
estimates that 25 percent of the world’s trade is still done this way. Barter
can save money, move unused inventory and find new customers.