Successful businesses are well planned and well capitalized. Being well capitalized means having the ability to access capital when your business needs it. Being well planned is the first step towards being well capitalized.

The Cost of Capital

I have watched many entrepreneurs lose valuable opportunities because they thought the cost of capital was too high. They spent too much time negotiating over the cost of the money, while their window of opportunity closed. The cost of capital should only be a consideration of the function of losses sustained by not having it. Simply put, if it costs you one dollar in order to make two, are you ahead or behind?

What this book will do for you

The objectives of this book are to help you:

• Analyze your market, the competition, and your financials
• Identify your strengths, weaknesses, and strategies
• Establish how much money you will need and when
• Determine the type of capital you will most likely qualify for
• Define what information you need to present to Lenders or Investors
• Package your request for your best chance of success
• Establish the format and flow of your presentation
• Direct you to the Funding Sources that offer exactly what you need

(If you don’t know where to send your request, what is the point of all this?)

Libraries and bookstores are full of financial "How To Books" and I highly recommend you read as many as you can. These books will tell you about generic sources of capital, debt versus equity financing, business planning, goal setting, etc. This book will brush on these topics, but they are not the main focus.

While there is no new technology discovered here, the methods are proven and you will benefit from them only if you apply them. This book is designed as a workbook so get out your pencil and answer each question as you go. Each chapter will guide you by asking you section related questions and giving you some clues about the answers.

When you have completed this workbook you will be able to use the sections, the questions, and your answers to construct your request for business capital. Then this book gives you the format for packaging your request, additional information you will need to have ready and where to find potential funding sources.

The difference between failure and success

Statistics show that 90% of all new businesses fail. I believe that is a direct result of the failure to plan. Please take the time to plan and complete this workbook, it will greatly increase your chances of successfully capitalizing your business.