O.K. so you’ve tried everything and you still can’t find the money to get your business off the ground. This is where grim determination and your strength of character will come to the fore! The Business Plan will need to change.

It is quite legal and acceptable to be both an employee and self-employed (as long as your employment contract doesn’t forbid it!). So could you work part time while you build your business? Draw up a minimum survival budget and see if you can find employment which would cover this while you work on your own business for the rest of the time. As soon as the business starts to generate sufficient profit to cover your survival budget you can give up your job and concentrate solely on your business.

If you thought you needed retail premises, is there another way you could sell your goods to start generating some capital of your own? Through party plan or by taking stalls at fairs and exhibitions perhaps? If you can show that you are successful in your own geographic area perhaps you could get others to sell your goods for you in this way. This is called Direct Selling. The Direct Selling Association can also provide you with low start up cost business opportunities. For more information on this go to:
www.dsa.org.uk

If you have an innovative product or service to sell but can’t secure enough finance to support the manufacturing and distribution, is it something you could license out to someone else to do this for you? Or set up a distribution agreement with an established player in the market? For more information on these go to:
www.createproject.org.uk

Whatever your circumstances there is a plethora of information and advice out there! Take advantage of the many business training courses available, mix with others trying to do the same things as you so you can share their experiences, read, watch business programmes and speak to as many people as you can about what you are trying to achieve. And always remember: In business you will never get what you deserve; you’ll only get what you negotiate!

Louise Schofield
louise@realworldltd.co.uk
www.realworldltd.co.uk

Other articles in this series:

Doing it Yourself
Gifts and Grants
Business Loans
How banks make lending decisions
Selling Shares
Changing your Plans