How To Find Funding The Right Way

When starting a small business, funding is often necessary in order to help boost your opportunity of success. The fact is that many small businesses fail due to lack of capital, thus getting funding for your business on time is critical.

But what is the best way to find funding?

Funding can come from many sources such as your family, friends, personal savings, borrowed money from business partners, investors, banks..etc. Many people also turn to the government and apply for government grants or loans.

There is no “right way” to find funding, but there is “the right process” to find it and be more successful with your funding search.

Before starting your funding search you have to answer some questions.

Question 1:
What do you need funding for?

Question 2:
How much funding do you need?

Once you have a better understanding what it is that you need funding for and how much money you actually need, you will be able to make a better decision where to search.

If you need a few hundred dollars to cover your expenses, maybe turning to a family member is the best solution? However if you need thousands, maybe a combination of sources works the best.

Let’s say that you decided to go with the government funding option. The best way to ensure your success in obtaining government funding is to ensure that you follow the next few steps.

Step #1:

Find the funding agency or funding program that will fund your area.

What does that mean? Well funding by the government can mean different levels of the government, such as the local, provincial or federal. Knowing which funding program you are applying to could mean the difference between success and failure of your funding application.

Step #2:

Ask for the right thing.

What does that mean? Funding programs are often created for numerous funding purposes. Some are created to help business owners hire and train staff, while some are to just cover marketing and advertising, or to help you purchase land or equipment. Knowing which funding needs you need help with will help you determine the next step in your funding search.

Step #3:

Knowing what to ask for.

What does that mean? Knowing what to ask for is simple. If the funding program is able to help you, ask for what you need versus what you want. Everyone wants a million dollars, but you only need $25,000 right now to make your business work. So be sure to ask for exactly what you need. This will help make it more real, and increase the chances you have of obtaining the funds. And remember, once you get funded once, it is much easier to get back to that same program for round two of funding.

Step #4:

Break it into chunks.

What does that mean? Let’s say that you need a total of $100,000 to get your small business funded. Your chances greatly increase towards a successful application the less you ask for. If you know that getting the full $100k will get you exactly what you need, but the chances of you getting it all at once is difficult, break it down into multiple requests, or even contact multiple agencies for the money. Think about it this way, when you buy a new house and you need all of your new furniture picked out. Not many people go to one store and get everything. Instead you get your couch and maybe coffee table from one store, your dining room set from another…etc The same strategy can be put towards your funding application and search.

Now you know the simple four steps to follow to ensure funding success the right way. But the most difficult part still waits ahead, the funding search.

Hundreds of funding programs are available, but do you have the time to search for them all? If you’d like, save time and use our Funding Database with over 1,500 sources of easily searchable government rants, loans and private investor programs.