I need funds fast! Help!

This article first appeared December 8, 2009

Dear Aunty B,

I’m 25 years old. I started a product sourcing business and since I started my life has been on edge regarding cash. Now, I’m in real need of $23,000 to make a payment to a supplier. I need the loan for only one month, as I’ll get paid from my client as soon as the product has been delivered. How could I get this loan when I don’t have any type of security? Are there any possibilities or should I just give up?

Nalla

Dear Nalla,

Don’t ask me. I am a grumpy old bitch. Besides, all I will do is give you a big lecture on finance. For a start, who in their right mind would give you their money? Would you lend someone like you $23,000? With no way of getting it back? With no security? Probably no business plan? Have you got a business plan? Can you show an investor or financier that they have every right to trust their hard earned money to you?

Nalla, even if it was possible should you do it? You sound like you are lurching from one deal to the next. You’ll get caught out doing this.

Here is what you must do. Don’t give up. Just temporarily give in. What you need to do is take a step back. Get a mentor, do a business plan and a cashflow plan. Work out if you can run your business properly. There is a big difference between finding the first few years hard suffering cashflow pressures – and the deal-by-deal approach that you are taking.

You are young! Go and study business. Understand how to set a business up properly so you are not caught in this awful bind. And remember, life is too short to spend it worrying incessantly about money!

Good luck,
Your Aunty B

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