If you want to go to b school or become an entrepreneur, you need to know one critical detail. It’s going to take capital. However, if you think about it, raising capital for education or business is the exact same idea, you just have slightly different methods of arriving at the same conclusion.
It doesn’t matter if you’re going to read books or sell widgets, when you’re starting out, you’re not at the point yet where a many lenders or investors are going to fork over some cash. You haven’t proven yourself yet so that means you need to hock your assets, borrow money from institutions, max out credit cards, tap into your 401(k) or borrow from loved ones.
In business this is called friends and family funding. In school it’s just called being broke. It’s normal. You’re not weird. And there’s no shame in it. After you exhaust those options it’s time to move onto crowdsourcing.
Startups can use programs like Indiegogo, Kickstarter, Selfstarter, Fundable or Microventures to get enough capital to get going. Schools work similarly, believe it or not. Sites like Scholarships or Fastweb offer capital to students often free of charge to students.
In both cases paying the money back isn’t the goal. The goal is to get enough capital to get started so you can find alternative ways to continue paying for your venture.
When you’re down with crowdsourcing there’s negotiating.
Did you know you can talk your way out of classes? Upon orientation sit down with your adviser and discuss books you’ve read and real life experience you’ve had that translate into the classroom. You may be able to get out of taking classes which saves you money. The same idea applies in business. Business works the same way. Sit down and speak with someone in your field about how you can use your knowledge to save money and get your business off the ground.
Don’t forget about grants. Professors are often able to write grants for some students which waives class cost. There are grants available in business too from the SBA, the Clinton Foundation and more. Oftentimes the biggest hurdle in finding grants is that you have to have a hook. Find out the angle of the people or organizations that are offering the funds and make sure that your need reflects their mission.
So in the end, you don’t have to be rich to get capital for b school or business. You just have to know how to Google search to begin looking for funding to start whatever venture you desire.
About the Author
Named Top 100 Leaders by 2012 Magazine, Jasmine Grimm has been nominated for Central Penn Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40,” and The Lancaster Chamber’s ATHENA Award.
Jasmine founded Ruby, Inc. a personal styling business that teaches women how to dress for their body types and became a two-time nominee for Inc. Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30 Top Young Entrepreneurs in America. She won the 2013 SCORE Business Development Award, the won the Central Penn Business Journal’s Top 25 Women of Influence Award in 2013 and the 2013 Leadership Award from the MS Society.
She has been a popular guest lecturer at the Maastricht Institute of Entrepreneurship and has been featured in Under 30 CEO and Productive Magazine, was the cover story for Harrisburg Magazine and her writing has graced National Geographic Television and Film, Harvard University and more.
She’s a 5,3,8,3 on the Kolbe A Index and her strengths include input, relator, learner, responsibility and achievement.
For more information visit her Google + Page.