While there are government grants and business loans available to help entrepreneurs get going, there is no such thing as free money to help launch a startup from scratch.
“What’s amazing is just about everybody thinks there’s free money out there,” said Yoyin Familusi, a business facilitator with BusinessLink, who was among several people presenting during the recent ATB Speaker Series hosted at the Sundre Elks Hall.
However, the business facilitator with 15 years of experience in business development and planning pointed to data from 2014 that shows more than 80 per cent of businesses are financed largely from personal funds.
“You will need some of your own money,” she told the several dozen people who had attended.
“So start planning to get some if you don’t have that plan in place already.”
Although she encouraged aspiring business owners to investigate available options from government grants to business loans, Familusi also reminded them not to depend entirely on those sources.
“Have a backup in mind,” she said, adding people need to understand a business “cannot be run full time on government grants and bank loans.”
To succeed and expand, an enterprise will require capital, she stressed.
“Businesses need money to grow.”
Other options, she suggested, could include seeking financial backing from friends and family, as well as launching a crowdfunding campaign that will require an entrepreneur to be prepared to successfully pitch and sell his or her idea.
“Another reason why getting your own money is important is because people want to see how much you believe in your idea,” she said, adding convincing others to invest their hard-earned money can be more difficult if one does not come to the table ready to risk his or her own savings.
Aside from lining up the financing needed to launch a startup, she said organizations like BusinessLink can also assist entrepreneurs by providing services including business development and planning.
“Just because you’re in business for yourself, doesn’t mean you have to be in business by yourself,” she said.
“We understand it gets a little crazy. But what I tell people is only the crazy ones go at it alone.”
Market research should always be an ongoing effort, as this is the only way to keep one’s finger on the pulse of what people want, she said.
Through BusinessLink, new or established entrepreneurs can get free access to market research as well as training, networking and enhanced collaboration and partnerships with other small businesses, she said, adding referrals to other services are recommended when required.
Small businesses are the backbone of the provincial economy, with about 96 per cent of all businesses in Alberta being small operations that employ up to but not more than 19 people, she said, citing data for 2018.
“If you are thinking of starting your own business, you are in really good company,” she said, calling Alberta “very entrepreneurial.”
Additionally, people who are considering starting a business should also make sure to get informed about all of the specific regulations and liabilities involved in their industry, she said.
But before taking the necessary steps to secure financing, she also implored potential entrepreneurs to ask themselves one critical question above all others.
“If you get nothing else out of this presentation, what I want you to realize is this: whose problem am I solving? Because if you’re not solving a problem, then you really do not have a business,” she said.
“Whose needs are you meeting; who needs what you have to offer?”
Customers drive a business, and business owners must always be asking patrons what they are trying to do and how the business can support them, she said.
Also crucial to a business’s success — as well as perhaps the most tedious task — is a detailed framework and obtainable, measurable milestones, she said.
“I’ve yet to meet an entrepreneur who enjoys doing a business plan,” she said with a laugh.
But, she added, quoting Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
