Getting Ready for Money

Who's not ready? Tuck in the loan docs, pass the financing and dig in. But money has an emotional component as well as a financial one, and both can give a budding entrepreneur heartburn. You wouldn't start a business without researching its market; don't go after financing without analyzing your needs -- and your feelings.

Study your financing options like it's an exam you're determined to get an 'A' on (even if you hated school!) Consult books, publications, trade associations, personal contacts. Click through as many sections of Idea Cafe's Financing Your Business section as you can. Get a really good sense of what's out there and what are the right choices for your business.

Make sure you don't spend a lot of time pursuing financing options that have little chance of success just because your business is in a different stage of development or you require a larger (or smaller) amount of money than is appropriate for the funder you're after. Time is money, and frustration costs emotional energy as well. And you don't want to clutter your credit report with excessive credit requests that can make you look shaky.

And study yourself. Everybody's a little different when it comes to money. Analyzing your attitudes toward money now can help you make better decisions about financing that will speed you along on the road to success.

Table of Contents

• Before You Apply for a Loan

• What Kind of Financing is Right for You
  • Self-Exam: Which Recipe for Getting Money Tastes Right to You?
  
  
• Getting Ready Emotionally
  • Self Exam: When Money Talks, What Does It Say About You?
  
  
• Your Basic Financial Package

• When You're in Trouble
  • Self Exam: How to Know You're Really in Trouble
  
  
• How Much Do You Need?
  • Idea Cafe's First Year Business and Personal Budget Worksheet
  
  
• How Long Will it Take?

• Cleaning Up Your Credit

• Women Getting Money

• Minorities Getting Money

• Understanding Promissory Notes

Words You Need to Know * Financing Resources and Help
Back to Financing Your Business Home * Idea Cafe's Home

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