第7章 CHAPTER 2

are you ready?

You may have been bootstrapping for a while now—using your personal resources to fund your business and hoping that eventually you will be able to break even and start paying yourself and buying the things your business needs out of revenues.

You probably picked up this book because you are getting tired of bootstrapping. You're tired of working long hours because you can't afford a web designer or bookkeeper, forgoing a salary, and monitoring every penny your family spends. You're tired of not being able to give the best possible service to your customers because you can't afford the highest-quality equipment and suppliers or because you're so busy dealing with administrative issues that you don't have time to stay on top of new developments in your field.

You're quickly coming to the realization that an under-resourced business is a nightmare for the business owner and her customers alike.

Now don't get me wrong. I know that almost every entrepreneur needs to make sacrifices during the start-up phase. But there must be an end in sight. If you go on too long with a business that is keeping you overworked, overwhelmed, and broke, you will burn out and fall out of love with the entrepreneurial journey. And your customers may get tired of dealing with an exhausted, burned-out service provider who is trying to wear all the hats in her business.

Going for too long with too few resources is a leading cause of business failure. And you may get so tired of living like this that you decide to give up and look for a job.

This would be a real shame, because the world needs as many people as possible to turn their big, bold difference-making visions into reality.

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

—HOWARD THURMAN

You owe it to yourself, your family, and all the lives you have the potential to touch with your business to figure out how to get the resources you need for your business to thrive. And the sooner you start, the better. Finding the right funding for you can take many months. Start now so that you get the resources you need long before you start to feel desperate. Raising money when you're desperate is one of the hardest things an entrepreneur has to do. Congratulations—you have taken the first step by picking up this book.

How do you know whether you're ready? Turn to Are You Ready to Raise Capital in the assessments section at the back of the book to help you determine how ready you are and what you may need to do to get ready. The more questions you can answer with an emphatic yes, the more ready you are to raise money from investors.

For each of the questions in the assessment, make sure to write detailed notes about the answers in your journal. For example, saying you know who your competitors are and what makes you different from them is a lot less powerful than making a list of your competitors and writing down how you differentiate yourself from each one.

If you are limiting your business's impact and growth potential because you don't think that you're ready to raise capital, you are selling yourself short and denying yourself a huge opportunity, not to mention depriving the world of the impact you could have if you achieve your business's full potential.

Right now, you may be saying to yourself, Do you seriously believe that any business that can answer yes to most of those questions can raise money from investors? That can't possibly be true!

You're absolutely right. I do not believe that any business can raise money. To put a finer point on it, I do not believe that any business can raise money at any point in time. A business that is ready to raise money now may not have been ready one year ago. But I do believe that any business that isn't ready can get ready. So I take it back: maybe I do believe that any business can raise money from investors!

NOW WHAT?

Maybe you answered yes to quite a few of the questions in the assessment, but you're still having doubts about whether you can successfully raise money from investors.

In this book, I will share examples from real life entrepreneurs I've worked with who (to the untrained eye) looked like extremely unlikely candidates for bringing on investors and reaching their capital raising goals. I'll admit that even I have been surprised when some of my clients reached their goals! But I have been amazed time after time as I've seen so many entrepreneurs of incredibly diverse backgrounds, geographies, and industries use the steps that I am going to share with you in this book to raise the money they needed from investors who were incredibly supportive.

On the basis of my ten years of experience helping entrepreneurs raise money, I honestly believe that if you follow the steps in this book, you will reach your capital raising goal. Will it be easy? Probably not, although it may be. Many of my clients have approached the capital raising process as though they were throwing a big party. So much of what the experience is like for you will depend on how you approach it and your beliefs about it. If you approach it with the belief that it will be really hard, it probably will be. If you approach it with the belief that it will be a fun and exciting process, it is more likely to be that!

All I ask right now is that you put your skepticism aside, as well as anything you may have read or heard about raising capital, and approach the capital raising journey as you would anything else in your business: as a challenge to be greeted with ingenuity and a sense of adventure and without assumptions that limit your creativity.

It is natural to be nervous and maybe even terrified at the prospect of raising capital. Every entrepreneur experiences those fears and doubts. The key is to (1) know the options, (2) choose an option that fits your situation, and (3) feel the fear and do it anyway. As you move forward step-by-step, your confidence will grow.

Raising capital has many benefits beyond the obvious one of having more money.

I believe that raising capital is a major growth experience. When you finish, you will not be the same person you were when you started.

You will be stronger, more resourceful, and better able to see the value of what you are building as an entrepreneur. You will take on more leadership roles and take bigger leaps toward fulfilling your dreams for both your business and every other part of your life. You will be less likely to settle for things that are not working for you.

If you, like so many entrepreneurs I know, have always had trouble really believing in the value of what you offer, the process of raising capital will help you confront this limitation and grow your confidence.

Beyond that, if you follow the steps in this book, your investors will become a tribe of committed supporters whom you can call on in good and bad times.

Raising capital for your business provides greater tangible and intangible benefits than almost anything else you can do as an entrepreneur. It is an endeavor worthy of some serious attention, time, and energy. So let's dig in!