Women are making incredible strides in today’s business world. While general tips still apply when finding funding and looking into buying or starting a franchise, there is also information and helpful hints to help the female entrepreneur prosper.
Do Your Research
There are many options for funding, both general and specifically for female entrepreneurs. With thousands of articles and resources available for your use, take advantage of these resources and spend an ample amount of time utilizing them before making a funding decision. QuickBooks provides access to an extensive amount of these resources for free.
Speak with a Specialist
Speaking with a specialist about funding options is a smart move for any entrepreneur. This third party has dedicated their career to this field and can provide an outlook on your plans that you may have never considered. These specialists have connections to lenders and can help to explain the best strategies for your business plan.
Networking
Women talk, so use it to your advantage! Start making connections through your franchisor and their acquaintances. Get connected on platforms such as LinkedIn to meet other female entrepreneurs like yourself and learn about their funding success stories. Use what these women have learned from their experiences and apply them to funding your business. Lovetoknow, a technology site about today’s strongest social media platforms, has some great information about creating a networking profile for professional use.
Try Government Programs
While these programs cover the more general options for funding, they are still a great source for the strong female entrepreneur. The SBA (Small Business Association) loans are a very common source of funding for thousands of entrepreneurs. There are a couple of different types of loan programs to choose from such as the 7(a) Program, the CDC 504 Program, and the Microloan Program.
Grants
Grants are a strong option for funding, especially for women. Entrepreneur.com provides strong insight to grants catering to female entrepreneurs. While there aren’t government grants that are specific to female-owned businesses, there are grants that are meant to empower women. However, there are privately funded grants that do gear toward women who want to dive into entrepreneurship. These are the grants to search for.
Build Credit
A woman with credit is a woman with power! Your credit will make or break your loan approval, so start building or rebuilding your credit right away. If you already have strong credit, be sure this decision will continue to build your established credit. While with risk comes reward, taking too much of a risk could be potentially devastating.
