How to Fund a Small Business Startup in 2017

Starting your own small business is the perfect way to experience the career flexibility and the financial freedom we all want. The idea of being a small business owner has crossed everybody’s mind at some point, but the reality is that only a few actually capitalize on their ideas and turn it into a real business.

One of the main reasons why many ideas don’t turn into real businesses is due to funding. More often the lack of funding.

So how do you fund your small business startup in 2017?

While there are many ways to find funding for your small business startup, here are a few ways that you may be familiar with and that could work for your small business:

Find a Business Partner

One of the most common ways to fund your startup business is to have a business partner who can bring to the business as much as you, or more of that funding you need. Business partners can be silent, or involved. Depending on your preference and the business investment, you may decide this with your partner. But many times, especially in business, two heads are better than one.

Borrow Money

Many startups turn to banks to borrow money from. This is typical. When you think “I need money” you  instantly think, bank. Borrowing money is a bit risky when starting a small business simply because of the lack of knowledge and experience in the industry/business field. But you do have to start somewhere. So when borrowing money, think about all of the options; family, friends, personal credit cards, lines of credit, bank loans…etc And remember to always look at the minimum payments, interest rate percentages and know your loans before you use them.

Try CrowdFunding

Crowdfunding is somewhat a new technique business owners are starting to use to obtain funding. Most likely you’ve head of KickStarter? You basically create a page on the web, explain your business, your product and services, provide some samples or a trial and have many people around the world (or in your area) give you small amounts of money in exchange for the trial, samples..etc Similar to going to a bank and asking for a $5,000 loan, crowdfunding does the same however instead of asking for a full amount you are asking many people to give you a smaller amount.

Use Your Credit

Just like mentioned in “borrowing money” step from above, using your own credit cards, lines of credit and personal loans to fund your small business could help you get a head start. However be sure to know the risks. Anytime you mix personal credit with business, and it doesn’t work out – you are stuck paying it back. Be sure that if you do use your own personal credit, to do it in affordable portions.

Government Funding

Government funding for a long time was the “unknown”, simply because people didn’t believe it. However, the government of Canada hands out billions of dollars to small business owners across the country. Funding is available in the form of government grants, loans, tax breaks and much more. You can take a look at our Funding Database to see over 1,500 sources of funding programs available from the government of Canada as well as many private investors.

Many funding options are available to fund your small business. The first step is to ensure that you have a business plan. To get started with a business plan, you can start working with our Business Plan Builder Tool.