Are you the type of guy who bends down to pick up a penny in the parking lot, or the type of guy who lets it stay there because it is not worth your time to put it in your pocket? If you are the latter type, you need to do some serious thinking about what it takes to raise the capital needed to finance that great new idea you have.
Very few people whose last name is not Rockefeller or Gates are able to simply write a check and get the process underway. Most capital is accumulated a little bit at a time rather than in one gorgeous and easy lump sum. Even if it doesn’t seem like enough to be worth bothering with, you need to pick up every nickel and dime you can scrape together. Every cent gets you that much closer to your goal.
Beyond the general question of having the right attitude for capital formation, anybody can get started raising capital right now. Here are a few suggestions to get the ball rolling.
• Start by cutting expenses to the bone. Once you are a billionaire, you can afford the maximum cable package, the best insurance coverage, and the fanciest restaurants. Until then, you need to sacrifice something in order to gain victory.
• Pay all your credit cards down to below the 25% of credit limit threshold, then apply for every additional card that you can think of. Many businesses have gotten their start on a foundation of maximum plastic. Leave all those new cards at home in a drawer, however. Impulse purchases will kill your dreams faster than anything else. If you don’t have the card in your pocket, you can’t give in to temptation.
• You can get a second job so that you are too busy to spend all that extra money you are making. Capital adds up quick when you are always on the job rather than relaxing at the sports bar or browsing the boutiques.
• One way of accelerating the process is to give part of your idea away. Enlist someone who shares the enthusiasm and has some financial or other resources to contribute.
• Crowdsourcing is a trendy new concept in capital raising, but it is not really a super bright idea if you are sitting on a revolutionary new concept. Bide your time rather than explain your concept to a bunch of unknown people who might suddenly acquire an interest in borrowing it for themselves.
The most important part of capital raising is to get started on it. Crazy as it may seem, not many people are interested in investing in a new concept that is still on the drawing board. Scrape together what you can and create something tangible so that others who do not share your internal vision have something to look at. They do not have your dream or else they would already be doing it themselves. Let them see and then let them write a check.
This has been a contribution on behalf of Naked Business Solutions, experts at capital raising in Australia.