Creative Business Financing

One stumbling block for people starting a new business is money. Either people perceive starting a business as being more expensive than reality, or they genuinely don’t have enough money to finance their business plan.

With a bit of creativity, though, you can start or fund your business with less cash and thus, less risk.

Creativity

Although you may not consider yourself to be a creative person, you may be surprised at the creative business ideas you come up with. Use some of that creativity to save yourself time and money whenever you can.

Being creative just means thinking of different ways to approach the same issue. The more you use your brain to think in different ways, the more ideas you will get.

What can you do?

Identify what you need to get started so you can find creative ways to solve the problem. You need to be willing to talk to people and ask for a deal, but make sure you are giving something in return.

Such arrangements can be made on a temporary or long term basis, and are particularly useful when you are trialing an idea as there is less financial risk involved.

Here are some simple suggestions to consider:

• Barter your services for a professional’s services
• Offer a percentage of sales or profits for a reduced rent or purchase cost
• Ask for a discount in return for your assistance
• Find an unusual source of materials or products (eg old lines, closing down shops)
• Work with a complimentary business to cut costs
• Consider an answering service or virtual assistant instead of staff
• Look for trainees and students after experience
• Consider starting at home and moving to an office in 6 months when you have some income
• Share office space with related businesses and give the office a joint name
• Some business networks provide you with a basic web page for much less than your own site
• Find unconventional office space – maybe an empty flat above a shop or the unused garage around the corner
• Use your name as the business name so you don’t have to pay to register it
• Ask for a payment plan for stock or materials so you don’t have to find the cash at once
• Start by selling your products through market stalls until you build a cliental
• Borrow some equipment or office goods from a friend or perhaps someone travelling

Business money ideas

Here are some practical examples of how to save money when setting up a new business.

Julie is a gardener and wanted to start her own garden maintenance service form home. To save costs and gain testimonials, Julie arranged to look after the gardens of the local accountant’s offices for 6 months in return for her start up advice and accounting system.

Tom couldn’t afford to rent a shop to sell his model train parts, but he found a train enthusiast with a vacant shop front to his warehouse. Tom used the shop front rent free and gave the train enthusiast discounted train parts and answered his phones at busy times.

Jill is a carpenter and Bob is an electrician. Neither could afford new business cards and business stationary on top of the other set up costs, so they joined forces. Their business cards are two sided (one side for Jill, one for Bob) and their stationary just requires a tick next to the appropriate business. Not only did they half these costs, they are also able to advertise for each other and reduce advertising costs.

Sally runs a small publishing house and hates throwing out old titles. Chris wanted to start a book stall at local markets but couldn’t afford to buy enough books to start. Sally gave the old titles to Chris instead of the recycling truck. Chris paid 20% of sales to Sally, then used his income to buy more books.

Jody wanted to start work as a typist but didn’t want to work from home. She wasn’t sure she’d get enough work to pay rent on an office. Jody spoke to various local business owners until she found John. John was renting an office bigger than he needed, and couldn’t justify a full time receptionist. Jody moved into the front of John’s office to start her business in return for acting as his receptionist as required and paying a nominal rent.