Check out the results of this recent poll (Oct. 31) on Yahoo! Small Business Advisor:
I am a little surprised that "sales" ranked last, but may be because it was linked with "marketing." I've heard anecdotally from small business owners that revenues are really the biggest challenge right now. But you can't get to the point of generating revenue from sales if you can't get funding to start a business in the first place.
While seeking comment for an upcoming article, I noticed many business owners who are also U.S. military veterans say that getting a small business loan was the biggest challenge they had in the first year of business.
Dan Petery of Accessible Homecare Solutions LLC in Cleveland summed it up pretty well: "I can't stress how important getting business funding and establishing business credit are, it can be frustrating, non rewarding and energy depleting, but you have to be persistent."
Here are a few more ideas for getting startup funding:
- New Fund Spurs Young Entrepreneurs
- How to Find Funds to Launch a Franchise
- How to Estimate Startup Costs
And visit the Loans & Grants section of the SBA.gov website.
POLL NOTE: The poll was active on the Yahoo! Small Business Advisor site for about two weeks.
