Finding money to start your home-based business

From the person who wants to start a lawn mowing service to the Harvard graduate that is going after their own commercial consulting firm, young and mature entrepreneurs alike, often get creative in finding money to start their own home-based business.While the economy continues its historic crisis, and many people look to get rich working from home, two questions usually come up: how can I do it and how much business startup capital do I need? A typical home-based business can get started on anything from no money down knocking on doors for work to less than $1,000.

For example, try handing out printed business cards in your neighborhood. You may also want Internet access with email or cell phone services. Many Fortune 1,000 CEOs launched their businesses with $10,000 or less. And more than a third of those CEO bootstrappers started with less than $1,000.

If presently, business startup money is not an option for you, do not fear as there are several steps you can follow to ensure that whatever business startup money you do have, no matter how small, is able to stretch.

It is also important for you to sacrifice and cut back on expenses in your personal life. Write out your monthly personal budget and cut out non-essentials, such as going to the movies, eating out, or buying those unnecessary new shoes.

Did you know the average person that uses coupons saves 12 percent on their family food budget? So if you are spending $600 a month on groceries and household items by using coupons, it saves you $78 per month.

Cutting back on coffee drinks saves the average person $28 per month while cutting costs for spa salon visits and beauty products saves over $45 per month. That's a combined total savings over $150 per month to invest in your home-based business -- more than enough to get the word out by securing a Web domain name and creating an online business presence with any of the Web site hosting services.

During the first year of business, it may be appropriate to ask close family, friends, local organizations, and wealthy individual "angel" investors in your community such as lawyers, doctors, professors or established business owners to come onboard as partners in order to raise more money to invest in building your business.

Talk to people, network for advice and read books. Many valuable potential money sources exist for example, the Self Employment Resource Network (Chicago), Work Force Solutions, U.S. Chambers of Commerce, and the U.S. Small Business Association all offer excellent small business grants, loans and support information.

Financing your business on credit cards may save time and allow you to keep business expenses separate from personal ones. But without careful management, credit cards can quickly put your start-up on the sidelines. Half of all start-ups are financed with credit cards. But be careful: sky-high interest rates could bury you for years. Plastic can jump-start any business, but use it wisely.

In order to raise significant capital it is valuable to write a business plan. Your business plan must address a real market need clearly demonstrating a realistic path to profitability building real assets on the balance sheet. Keep it straight forward and less than 20 pages with factual graphics.

Learn to take advantage of free community library resources including standard computer software courses such as Microsoft Word and Excel both excellent tools for writing your business plan. Include full historical and projected financials within the body of your business plan.

Remember more than half of the world's self-made millionaires are entrepreneurs or self-employed professionals. Historically, small businesses have always been the engine of growth in the economy with entrepreneurs who saw a need, met it and made a fortune in the process. Stay organized, keep a focused positive attitude.

Farrah Gray is the author of ''The Truth Shall Make You Rich: The New Road Map to Radical Prosperity,'' ''Get Real, Get Rich: Conquer the 7 Lies Blocking You from Success'' and the international best-seller, ''Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out.'' He is chairman of the Farrah Gray Foundation. Dr. Gray can be reached via email at fg@drfarrahgray.com or his Web site at http://www.drfarrahgray.com.