Ep 186 How to fund your dreams
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Sara Mayer: [00:00:00] Welcome to the bold goal crusher podcast for anyone looking to stop letting life get in the way and start crushing bold goals. I'm your host, Sarah Mayer, and I'm thrilled to navigate this journey with you because it's time to start boldly achieving without working double time. So let's dive in.
Hello, Bold Goal Crushers. I'm super excited about our topic today. Our topic today is how to fund your business or side hustle, but most importantly, how to fund your dreams. Because really many of our dreams, if they truly are our bold goals and things that we want to do. Unfortunately, it takes money and many times money is the barrier.
The reason we don't get started, the reason we have a dream rather than a goal, the [00:01:00] reason we get stuck. And because of that, people live their entire lives never getting started on their dreams. or wishing they had done this years ago. So I do have some advice for you. If you're looking to start a business or fund your dream of possible ways that you could finance.
That endeavor. And so the first one is obviously you could win the lottery. You could win the lottery and then you could fund your dreams. But the reality is nobody's going to come save us. Nobody is the lottery's not coming most likely. Now, if you are fortunate enough to win the lottery, I am so happy for you.
And I hope you truly use that money to fund your dreams. So step one, you can win the lottery. So let's just take that off the table because. In reality, that's not going to happen and you're [00:02:00] never going to wake up one day and look in your bank account and say, Oh, I finally have what I have in here and I can go do my dream now.
Without planning. So the first one is you could pay for your dreams with personal savings and many entrepreneurs do this. They use their personal savings to start their business and it's a real straightforward way to fund their venture. But it does come at a personal financial risk. And because of that, many people don't do that.
The second way is you could bootstrap your business. So bootstrapping really means that you're funding your business with minimal outside capital. It involves starting small, being frugal, reinvesting your profits back into the business to fuel growth. And, Cost cutting, all those fun things, many entrepreneurs out there bootstrap their business.[00:03:00]
Now you can also fund your business with friends and family and some entrepreneurs will turn to friends and family for initial capital. And while this can be a viable option, it is important to have clear agreements whenever you're working with friends and family and expectations to avoid straining the relationships and when the money is going to be paid back.
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Now there are angel investors. Angel investors are individuals who provide capital to startups in exchange for equity or convertible debt. They often have industry experience and can offer valuable advice and connections. [00:05:00] Many businesses are started with angel investors. I would be careful about giving up a lot of equity when you're starting your business, because many times then you lose control over the decisions that are being made and there can be conflict between founders.
Next up is venture capital. If you have a high growth, scalable business model, venture capital might be an option. Venture capitalists invest larger sums of money in exchange, of course, for equity. And typically they focus on more tech and high growth startups, but it doesn't mean they might not be interested in your dream or business.
I love the next option crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter. Indiegogo and GoFundMe do allow businesses to raise funds from a large number of people who invest in your business idea. And this is particularly [00:06:00] useful for consumer product businesses. So if you have a physical product, many Kickstarter campaigns or crowdfunding campaigns include, levels where they get certain things, and it could be if you have digital products, it could be access to those. If you have physical products, it could be certain things like that. So don't count out the crowdfunding next up small business loans. So you can apply for loans from traditional banks or online lenders specifically designed for.
Small businesses and these loans may require some type of collateral and they do have interest rates. So it's important to have a solid business plan, but this is a great option for newly forming businesses to get the startup capital to get going. Next grants and competitions. So various government agencies, nonprofit organizations, corporations, and other entities offer grants, awards, and [00:07:00] competitions for small businesses and startups.
And these can provide some, non dilutive funding. So where you're not diluting your equity, but you do have access to some funds to get going. You could also join a business incubator and accelerator. So those are great ways to provide no, not only funding, but a membership resources, networking opportunities, mentorship.
I've been a mentor for several. Companies that were getting going in a program called seed spot, which I love in Phoenix. I think they're in other cities now, but I was a mentor and I was able to really provide them with some resources. And what was cool is at the end of it, they had a pitch competition where a business could win money to fund their dreams.
Strategic partnerships are another option. So partnering with established companies [00:08:00] and. They might be able to provide you with capital or resources or distribution channels. So look for companies in your industry that may benefit from products or services. I always use the example. I had a client once that wanted to start a bakery and They quickly outgrew their kitchen.
They were baking wedding cakes and she found a commercial kitchen that was for a catering company that basically the kitchen was shut down at about three o'clock because then they went to their events. And so she rented out the kitchen at night and that was a lucrative business venture for both parties.
So don't rule out some of these strategic partnerships. It's not. Always about the cash. It's sometimes about how you can save yourself the cash. Many businesses fail because of cash flow issues. And that's a story for another day, but I work for a [00:09:00] company that went bankrupt and it was because of cashflow and the money was coming eventually, but they didn't have enough money to keep up.
So the other option is an initial public offering. So for mature companies with substantial growth, you could fund your business through that by, and that's by selling capital to the public shares to the public. So this is complex. It's highly regulated. So it's usually pursued by larger companies, but it is a way to fund your business.
Revenue financing. So some businesses with consistent revenue can explore revenue based financing or income share agreements where they agree to share a percentage of future revenue in exchange for capital. And that's another way you could finance your business. Convertible notes. So startups can raise capital through convertible notes, which are loans that convert [00:10:00] into equity at a later date, specifically a very specified date, such as a future financing round.
So it's another way. And then business grants. So you can explore government grants, especially if your business is involved in research, development or innovation, and these grants may or may not require repayment. Next up corporate partnerships and sponsorship. If your business aligns with the corporation's goals or values, you may be able to secure some funding through partnership or sponsorship.
So choosing the right funding source for your business truly depends on your business model, your goals, and financial needs because funding your dreams is important. It is often wise to consult with a financial advisor or a mentor who can provide guidance on which funding Options align with your business, but please know that many businesses, [00:11:00] many dreams are funded from bootstrapping and friends and family, and it doesn't have to be that complicated.
It's okay to start small. Your dream may be very big and have all these things that you'll need money for, but one of the things I'll challenge you to do is start small. And do things that then generate revenue so you can add on as you go. And it's important to do that. So friends, I know that we don't talk a lot about money on this show, but I think it's important because money is one of the ways that people stop from achieving their goals.
They don't move forward because they have a lack of funds and it is a way that you can truly achieve your dreams. So I hope this episode has been helpful giving you some ideas of how you might fund your dream. So it's time to crush your [00:12:00] goals and everything that gets in the way. So you don't have to work double time.
So let's get to it.
Thank you for tuning into the bold goal crusher podcast where we crush goals and everything that gets in the way. I always love to support my community.
I look forward to seeing you crush your goals this year.
