Owning your own business is the American dream. You can be your own boss and do the work you always wanted to do. So why do some many people believe that their dream should become a nightmare? They may not profess it, but when they start their business with a loan, they have given someone else the ability to dictate their life – the bank.
Debt is a common American practice, so we rarely question the fact that we should take out a loan to achieve our dreams. We want to start big and we want to start now. Like the newly married couples who want to own homes just like mom and dad, we don’t realize that the best thing to do is move up slowly. In both cases, we take out a larger loan than we can afford, and wind up working to pay the bank.
You don’t want a loan for a failing business, and the statistics are already stacked against the small business person. Do you want to open a business that fails and wind up paying for it long after you’ve closed your doors? Of course not!
So how do you start your own business without a loan? Just like you start out in life – small. If you already have a full time job, develop a way to start your business out part time. Find out what people want, what works the best for you. This also gives you an income to eat off of (which may be more important to your family than to you, but I promise, it’s important). Once you are making enough money to live off your business from the part-time work, shift to full-time. Yes, this is slow and involves an insane number of hours, but isn’t it worth it to keep from hating and dreading the business you love?
Once you have the business running smoothly, keep it running smoothly by paying cash and continuing to avoid debt. Rent equipment by the job until you’ve saved up enough to purchase it. Keep your costs at a minimum by not buying things you don’t need. Go slowly and have patience, and you will be more likely to be around several years later.
Patience is difficult for Americans to acquire, especially the small business owner who gets excited and wants to move now. But patience will make your business more likely to grow and prosper, and will decrease your odds of paying on a debt for ten years and kicking yourself each month when you write the bank a check.