However, sometimes the price of living out your passion comes with the cost of a cash crunch during a downtime when sales from your company are sluggish. Or, perhaps your small business income is plodding along just fine, but you're in need of extra cash in order to grow your business at a faster pace.
Thankfully, in this new age of technology and changing advancements, there exist new and exciting options for getting emergency cash that didn't exist mere decades ago – and those options that did exist are experiencing a shifting resurgence.
Get a CDFI Loan
CDFI stands for Community Development Financial Institutions, and in 2012, they loaned a whopping $343 million to small firms, plus an additional $116 million to micro enterprises. When banks fall short or refuse to lend to certain risky people, Forbes notes that CDFI loans might be an option – especially for the record number of women who are launching new companies.
Uncle Sam as well as other organizations fund the money to the CDFIs – and they help provide training, too. Get started here by choosing your state from the drop-down box beneath the text that says "Find a CDFI near you" and click "Go" to uncover organizations to contact about gaining funding for your firm.
Sell Your Old Devices for Cash
With all the rapid advances in technology, our smartphones and tablets may seem positively outdated after a year or two. As a result, new businesses such as Gizmogul.com are picking up the slack and paying out funds by wiping our old devices clean and "e-cycling" them, paying out good cash to people whose devices fit the bill.
Scour your drawers and nightstands for any device you're no longer using, and seek to get some quick money that otherwise would've gone unrealized sitting in a dusty location.
Try New Loan Options – or An Old and Familiar One
Keep your eye on new options like Lend Up, or similar would-be loan places as they expand across more cities. If small and expensive emergency loans do become a last resort option, try your best to pay them off in full as soon as possible.
Forbes recently examined the interesting phenomena of just how popular it is for 20-something-year-old to garner a payday loan and use a prepaid debit card these days. No doubt there's an unknown portion of those in the Millennial Generation who are seeking that type of funding not merely for emergency personal expenses, but to infuse their own entrepreneurial dreams with the lifeblood of cash.
This process could be a viable option, too, at least for those who steer clear of predatory payday lending practices and truly understand how much certain loans will cost them overall, after fees and interest rates are taken into consideration.
Try Again With Banks for Small Business Loans – Approvals are on the Rise
Even if your company has been rejected for a bank loan in the past, it might behoove you to try again, reports the Associated Press in an article that notes how bank loans to small companies are once again on the rise. At the same time, AP cautions about doing your homework in the form of a business plan first before approaching a bank – and to learn things like your firm's credit report rating and the best banks for particular industry loans so you're not hurting your credit worse with too many loan inquiries.
Overall, maybe the best way entrepreneurs can get money to save their firms is to take a look at all of their viable cash-getting options in order of the least harmful first. If you own a valuable website, perhaps you can sell it on Flippa.com – or if American Express' debt collectors are calling every week, seek to work out an auto-pay deal with them directly to have specific amounts debited from your bank account each month until the balanced owed equals zero.
No matter what, don' stop trying to fund your dream job – as long as you are certain it's exactly where you belong.
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