Any ideas on seeking investors?

[adam34996]

I have been doing some internet research on getting some capital but always love to hear the boards opinions and advice.

I am fresh out of college, putting graduate school on hold indefinitely while I concentrate on my internet business.

Last June I surpassed (by a long shot) any income I could generate from an entry level position through my internet sales.

I have a proven business, I show strong profits with high margins and low risk. I am very pleased with my progress so far. I am growing at about 15% each /month on average but it could be much higher.

I have big dreams and I am limited by the amount of capital I have to work with. The amount I make as a direct correlation with the amount I spend on inventory (who woulda thunk?).

I am 23 years old, I have no employees, and little assets (about 15K). With that said, are my financials enough for me to get some capital from investors/banks?

Anything from 15-30K should be sufficient to get me to the next level.

Thoughts?

[tokie]

Let me first start off by saying I am far from a professional. I am not a college graduate actually I am a high school drop out. Not because of my inability to graduate but my stubborness to finish school I however have provided a comfortable life for myself by myself. I reach out in a lot of different ways to make my income but have no solid business or plan at that matter as my a.d.h.d has me in a new direction every week.

I have also been fired (suspended) by ebay, paypal, adwords..........so my advice might suck so lets call it all opinion

First of all just by your post alone you have a lot of ambition and the right attitude that it takes money to make money thats the simple truth. I mean not always I could go into several different ways online you can make money but none of it comes quick and all of it involves work, research, etc, etc.

I currently sell, blog and affiliate market but it is all risky and none have me comfortable feeling for my long time success.

Ok back on point!!! I would suggest to you to take as much of your time and energy as possible before all other effort to develop and create a strong business profolio. Not just idea's off the top of your head over a glass of wine, thats where you find the capitol your looking for of course.

The money you seek is not much, many people 15-30 grand is a ass ton of money but to a good investor its not much at all.

I do not know your area or situation but myself I live in a city so their are a great many places I can run into people and get my idea out their to them BUT......

They take you very seriously when you excuse yourself and come back with a very professionally presented and well written, easy to understand business plan showing everything from ideas to potential risks and leave it with them.

Unfortuanly as far as I know (I have never used them) at this day in time you have to have kick ass credit to even have a chance at a personal loan/business loan from a bank.

Your best bet is to put together a solid business plan and get out their and sell yourself not your plan. Once you sell yourself the rest is easy. You find someone that has faith putting that money in your hand will make them return and your in their.

Personally I would steer more towards a return on their investment then a "Partner" as partners always seem to lead to trouble. I had one once and while I wanted to invest heavily into our striving business he wanted to be in strip clubs and riding in limos all the time.

So in the end I would say your best bet is to catch the right ear and get them to hear what you said here then have something to back it up and you might just find that investor your looking for.

Excuse me, I type fast and this is just short of a book, my apologies I am sure their are grammer and spelling mistakes but I am not clicking spellcheck or proofreading it, on to the next thing in the end.

Your 23 years old and seem like you have a direction and plan, your on a great path, remember it is totally cool to crawl before you walk and keep grinding and intesting all off yourself you can. Be smart and I am sure you will do very well for yourself in the future because at 23 I was somewhere in a strip club after eatting a 10 pack of skittles and acting a fool and I turned out..........well I am getting their!!!

Giid luck brother and sorry I dont think I even answered your question but I sure enjoyed trying!!

Tokie!

[Dire]

Unfortunately Internet sales is being considered by clever investors as highly risky field of activity. Selling on well-known marketplaces can't deliver any guarantees to them, most official investors want to see smth really promising and innovative. But if you really need some extra money to increase your turnover.. i would advise you to register new limited company and open business bank account in decent bank which focuses on small business development. As far as i know after half a year of positive history you are entitled to apply for credit. 20k-30k is not much at all and it's likely you will be approved, so I would try to go through this procedure.

[jeffweico]

I would try a local bank or credit union.

You have some negatives here, but also some positives.

Negatives would include a short credit history, your age and your experience.

On the positive side, you seem to have an actual OPERATING business with actual PROFITS. This means a lot to the banks. It is much better than someone coming in with just an idea.

I would put together a business plan and some REALISTIC profit projections. Show the bank how you are going to use their money to increase your business. Show them your plan to pay them back.

Will their loan be secured by the inventory? If so, that is another plus.

Have all the necessary information to give to them. Prepare some statements showing your income and expenses for each month you have been doing this. Prepare this in a CONCISE manner. Nobody wants to see someone dump a ton of statements on their desk and try to figure this out on the fly. If they want to do the loan, they will ask you for whatever they need proof-wise.

I think what MAY get you to YES in this case is that your business is operating and showing a profit. It is growing. The money the bank will earn on a $30k loan is minimal, but they might see this as an investment in a successful long term relationship with you that will prove valuable in the future.

When you speak to them, don't use slang, just proper English. Be confident, but not arrogant. You don't necessarily have to dress up in a suit and tie, but dress professionally - maybe like a nice sweater or something. No gym shoes. Be friendly, but avoid telling them about the time that you were SO DRUNK that.....

You have nothing to lose here. All they can do is say no. If that happens, ask them if they can give you any advice. And then move on to the next bank.

I don't see an investor going for this, UNLESS you can offer them a huge payout down the line. And why would you, if you can get a loan and keep 100% of your business?

Good luck!

[adam34996]

Thanks guys....I love this forum

I read a book on creating a business plan a couple years back that I will reference. I also see tons of templates and ideas online so ill start there.

Great point on the inventory backing the loan, I didnt even think to mention that.

I say 15-30K being conservative. I would love 100-150K for new equipment, a warehouse, and tons of inventory

But as everyone here knows, a solid business today might be worthless in 5 years. I like to think I can start a career doing what im doing now but good things never last and the market could always dry up/become saturated.

But your right, I have nothing to lose. I am going to take my time and come up with a good draft but I will keep you guys posted.

Thanks again.

[newtools]

First off you need to look at your credit reports. You are not going to reinvent the wheel which means you are just spinning what already been done in a new way.

Make sure you do not have negs on your person credit report and then start building personal as well as business credit. to get the amounts you are looking for you will need a strong personal credit report with solid lines of credit. they call this tradelines... as in credit cards, loans, car loans etc...

also you will need to reg. a corporation: c corp, s corp or LLC depending on your type of business. you can reg. in your state for usually around $50 - $90 depending on the state. then file for an EIN - sales tax id #

Sign up for D & B - with your new business name and Ein, and start building your business credit also. The earlier you start the better.

once you build your person file, and business file you can start applying for credit over the internet and get your 20-30K and more. Just beware that you will have to PG - Personally Guarantee and business credit with your ssn so do not just think it free $ to use

Getting credit is the easy part, but having a good business idea and a business plan is what you need. i put some infos in the everything else section of the forums a while back.

[DogFacedBoy]

Sounds like you've gotten some real solid advice here