Financial

Yes. Debt refinancing is allowed under the SBA programs.

It isn’t likely. Venture capitalists finance a very small fraction of businesses. They are extremely particular about who they invest in and they are quite demanding. Their minimum requirements are such that most small businesses are excluded from consideration.

Yes, but perhaps not as much as you may think. There are special programs and preferences for these groups, but they are not as significant as believed by the general public.

Yes, if your business fits the criteria of successful public stock offerings. The great majority of small businesses do not. They do not for a large number of reasons. To find out if your business qualifies, an investment banker is the specialist to see.

Start by determining how much you want and what it will be used for. Then assemble the information that the bank will want. Briefly stated, the bank wants to know three things: What is your business about; why do you need the money; and how will you pay it back.

Equity financing means getting a business partner. This partner puts money in the business in exchange for a share of ownership. For small businesses, the most common form of equity financing is with relatives or friends. They agree to put risk money (no guarantee of repayment) into the business and become part owners to share in the profits.

The federal government can help you in two primary ways. These are bank participation loans and loan guarantees.

In two ways. Know what is happening now with your money and know what is likely to happen in the future.

Since numbers constitute the language of business, the more you know about this language, the better you will understand your business and the better will be your decisions. As a minimum, you should understand your bookkeeping system. This means you should understand how your money is spent and how much money you have coming in.

Yes, provided you can handle the debt and provided the borrowing will benefit your business.

You can get accounting advice from different sources. A Certified Public Accountant is probably the most competent to give you advice on a wide variety of business topics. Others, such as public accountants, bookkeepers, and specialists who focus on small business record keeping, can also be useful. CPA’s are usually the most expensive, but may still be the best value because of their breadth of knowledge and their ability to assist you with all aspects of your business finance, accounting and tax.

There are a number of places to get money for your business. They are listed in their order of use:

Learn! There is no good way around the requirement that you learn something about business finance. If you try to run a business without this basic knowledge, you will be greatly reducing your chances of sustained success.

First, don’t panic. Running out of money or nearly running out of money is common in business. The more notice you have that you will run out of money, the easier it is to do something about it. Time is an asset that allows you to work the problem.