Raising Capital for your Small Business

So you've decided to start your own company, but you don't have the working capital to quit your full-time job. The biggest dilemma for all new entrepreneurs is how to balance their family commitments with their desire to start a business. Once you have identified your passion or niche market. The next step is to develop a well documented business plan.

Writing a Business Plan

Your business plan can be your Website, PowerPoint or Word document. The general idea is to; 1. identify your target audience. Figuring out your product and/or services is easy, the hard part to segment your target audience in a way that allows you to present a specific message to your audience. Once you have an audience, the next step is to segment your audience based on the products and services your offer. I like using a website for business planning, because it allows you to build marketing traction while you get real feedback from your audience about the viability of your offerings. The website also allows you to position your products directly to your target audience.

Developing Financial Projections

The most important part of raising capital is assigning some financial projections to the market research and business plan that has been developed. We recommend reaching out to a business development consultant like, Shane Perue to help you to determine the viability of your business and the share capital require to launch and implement your business strategy.

Building a Qualified Team

So you are the subject matter expert, say you want to start a flower shop or fitness studio. You are an expert are growing plants or helping your clients to lose weight and get fit. But you have no idea how to incorporate your business or to file your taxes. By hiring the right accounting and legal team, your business has a better chance of raising capital and getting off the ground. You will also need a solid sales and marketing team to help you with building an audience and attracting a stable customer base.

Presenting to Potential Investors

Your team will help to add more dimension and complexity to your business plan. You will be aware of all the compliance and regulatory issues that are required to run your business. Before your present to your investors, you must be aware and comfortable discussing all the true cost of running your company. You will also have a good understanding of the revenue potential and the expected gross and net margins. Your potential investors want to know if you will be profitable and also what is the expected rate of return or return on investment. Will they make 10% profit on their investment or will they make 50%. Will this return be realized in 3 months or 3 years? These are critical points that all serious investors want to know early in the discussions.

Running Your Business

You should start putting sweat equity into your business as soon as possible. For as little as $1,000 up front and $250 a month. You can start a business online, incorporate and do digital advertising which will help you to start making money. Raising capital becomes much easier after 6 months in business and sales of $10,000 or more each month. Even if you aren't profitable, steady cash-flow is an indicator of a solid small business in the making.

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About Shane Perue

A seasoned business development professional with 15 years of construction sales experience in Canada. Having led one of the largest roofing companies in Canada, Perue decided to start a consulting business to help other aspiring entrepreneurs gain access to needed business services at affordable rates.

Shane Perue

President

shane@perueglobal.com

647-671-7738

perueglobal.com