It’s good to be ambitious when it comes to a business venture, but it’s also important to stay realistic in regard to the process. Alongside a good hosting provider and a clear goal, you need money to get yourself off the ground – here are just five ways to fund yourself in the beginning stages.
1. Try some crowdfunding
The idea of crowdfunding was unheard of just a few years ago, but now it’s become the norm. With several huge sites allowing people to pledge reasons for people to donate money, and plenty of business ventures being successful off the back of it, it’s definitely a viable way to get your vision off the ground.
If you’re promising a product that people desire, you’re more likely to be successful within crowdfunding. With so many already existing success stories from crowdfunding, it’s absolutely a viable way to get your venture up off the ground and effectively start your business.
2. Get a loan
It’s the classic method – a bank loan is perhaps the most straightforward and common way to fund a business venture. Simply liaise with your bank and enquire how to go about it, as they’ll almost certainly be willing to help you get on your feet and start the process.
Whether it’s a fixed-term loan, borrowing against assets or even business overdraft, there’s almost always a way to ensure you’re well-funded and ready to begin. For a safe and secure way of getting money quickly, a bank loan is perhaps the best way to go about it.
3. Ask your friends and family
Why not ask the ones you love if they can help you out? It’s not uncommon for friends or family to join a business venture for monetary reasons – it’s definitely worth posing the question to those who you think would be willing and able to help you out.
Often family members will be more forgiving with paying back loans, but don’t push your luck – it could lead to a relationship turning sour. Promise a payback in whichever way they agree to, and fulfil said promise to keep them happy and willing to help you out again in the future.
4. Dip into your savings
Have you got enough savings to fund you? If you’ve got a large sum stashed away somewhere, now may be the perfect time to use it. A business venture is likely to be financially friendly in the future, so you shouldn’t hesitate in investing your savings into it – it’ll be worth it in the long run.
Bonus: Get “more funds” by saving money – use the cloud
Money not spent is money that is in one’s pocket. This holds true in making sure that your online business is having sufficient funds for the operational. Indeed, while getting funded is important, optimizing your expenses while reducing your burn rate is also important.
One of the ways for saving your investors’ funds is by using the available technology that enables your online business to operate at lower costs. For an online business, hosting and data storage come on top of the list.
Why not opt to use the cloud? It’s one of the cheapest and most affordable options in starting an online business – when using on-premise hardware and software you could be forking out thousands that could go towards other factors, such as marketing to get your name out there and promote your brand.
More helpful tips and resources for you:
- A good web-hosting platform is a must. The last thing you want are website downtimes (that will turn away customers). Providers such as Siteground, Magento, and Bluehost just some of the many good platforms to choose from to host your online business on so make sure you shop around!
- Find people to delegate. This might not be as important initially, but you can’t keep everything yourself Sites like Upwork and Freelancer.com are excellent sources of freelancers and virtual assistants that might just end up saving your sanity and work-life balance as you build your online business.
- Once start getting paying customers, you will soon find yourself getting lots of enquiries, support requests, even complaints so having an effective support process in place is a must for keeping your customers happy. Platforms such as Zendesk and Freshdesk are great one-stop solutions for this.
Conclusion
There are plenty of effective ways to fund your business venture – it’s all about looking in the right places and investing your money in the right things to get yourself off the ground. Not only that, but you should also focus on getting your online business up and running efficiently, thus reducing your overheads.
