Here is what I did, instead of going to the bank, assembling a business plan and jumping through hoops and begging for cash. I applied for a line of credit from my bank where my commercial account was set up. A lot of people preach against using Lines of Credit and credit cards for starting businesses. My take on that is, if you are irresponsible and cannot manage your money, then you should not own a business. But if you are tactical and strategic, then using this money can be smart and very flexible. Suze Orman used to talk all the time about using Credit cards to start a business. When your business is humming along after a couple of years, you then can approach the bank and the SBA for additional or expansion funds. When you have this proven track record and some cash that you invested yourself, you will have a better chance of getting approved. The banks call it “having some skin in the game” which means your personally vested in your future.
Make sure you plan on paying a nice chunk back to your line of credit each month. If you really want to do it right, make the LOC payment a regular payment with online banking. This way, you will never forget and it will show responsibility as well as keep you from doing “one more thing”
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