Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

Women Entrepreneurs - Have You Considered Kickstarter?

Today . . . I am thinking about this question that came in from one of our readers about creative funding resources for women.

If you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Q: Susan, I'm starting up a small business that would be considered more "creative" than traditional. Do you know of any funding sources for creative entrepreneurs?

A: As a small business coach for entrepreneurial women starting up businesses, one of the biggest questions I get asked is about financial resources for women. Here is one creative funding source that might fit the bill: Kickstarter.

According to Kickstarter:

"Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields."

Since I haven't used Kickerstarter for my business, I can neither recommend nor discount it as a funding source. However, after exploring the Kickstarter website for yourself, here are three articles I'd recommend reading before jumping onto this funding bandwagon:

"How to Use Kickstarter to Launch a Business" by Christine Lagorio. Writing for Inc. Magazine, Carolyn advise to proceed wisely before rushing into the world or crowdfunding or micro-finance, as Kickstarter has been called.

"How to Use Kickstarter to Fund Your Business" by Shira Levine over at American Express Open Forum. Shira offers some very good suggestions about how to make sure your project stands out. 

Finally, Phil Simon, author of Why Systems Fail, offers his personal experience with using Kickstarter to start his publishing usiness in "How I Used Kickstarter to Start my Business".

If you have used Kickstarter, please leave a comment and let us know how it went for you.

Do you have any other suggestions? If so, leave a comment and let us know. And, if you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Susan L. Reid
Inner Samurai Business Expert

Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

 

 

 

How Do I Get My Hands on Some of That $30-Billion?

Today . . . I am thinking about this question that came in from one of our readers about how to get in on the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act action.

If you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Q:  Susan, with the recent Small Business Jobs and Credit Act signed into law by President Obama a couple of weeks ago, how do I go about getting my hands on some of that $30-billion flying around?

A:  This is a question many women entrepreneurs are asking and Matt Quinn over at Inc.com answered quite nicely:

The Small Business Jobs and Credit Act, which was signed into law by President Obama late last month, offers a fresh source of financing for small firms by expanding the Small Business Administration's programs and creating a $30-billion loan fund administered by the Treasury Department for banks with less than $10 billion in assets.

But if you’re hoping to get your hands on some of that cash, you’ll still need to go through a loan officer, a process that has become extremely difficult for small businesses since the credit crisis.

For a little guidance on what lenders want these days, I recently spoke with Chris Reilly, president of small business lending at commercial lender CIT Group. Click here to read the rest of the article and what Chris had to say in, "What Loan Officers Want."

Get your business plan in order, ladies!

And, if you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Susan L. Reid
Inner Samurai Business Expert

Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Funding Women Entrepreneurs - Seven Opportunities

Grants for women starting up businesses in America are hard to come by, especially if you don't know where to look.

If you've been searching for small business grant money and had difficult finding any, or thrown up your hands in frustration because of all the scam sites promising money that lead to nowhere, don't give up yet!

Funding opportunities for women small business owners do exist.

Here are seven of them:

1.    National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC) - This is an investment company that funds small businesses. It is venture capital, but considered well known, recommended, and safe.

2.    National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) - This is an association that funds ethnically diverse businesses. It is also venture capital, but thought to be a bit more secure.

3.    Woman Owned - A very good article on women-owned small business funding.

4.    Count Me In (for Women’s Economic Independence) - Here is an online community with events and funding for women-owned businesses. A minimum of two years in business and $250,000 in revenue are required to apply for financial assistance.

5.    Women’s Funding Network - A network that is a collection of organizations that fund women's solutions.

6.    American Association of University Women (AAUW) formerly, now: Breaking through Barriers -
An association for the advocacy of women's equality that provides funding for outstanding women.

7.    Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - A branch of the SBA that funds small, high-tech and innovative businesses.

    

 

 

Susan L. Reid
Inner Samurai Business Expert

Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success