Funding My Business the Old Fashioned Way

I've decided to revisit some old friends. Earlier this year, around April, I interviewed for a director position of an after school program. The process required several expenses that were not reimbursed and not worth pursuing unless I was interested in a long term position. I received several phone calls after the interviews requesting I work with their company. While I enjoy working with the teenagers at my youth camp for behavioral challenged students during the summer months, working with staff and younger students daily was a much bigger commitment. The location was great, and only 4 miles from home but the hours were from 8 am - 5 pm. I was more interested in helping them to develop a program they needed to fully develop to fund a grant they had been awarded. During the initial interview process they had already began making plans to quickly promote me to the next level in their corporate office within 3 months of hiring me. Their corporate office was located 60 miles away, and the morning commute was a terrible one. I let the prospect of working with their organization fall by the wayside. Yesterday while running personal errands (my Mondays are typically reserved for personal business) I received a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. I let it go to voicemail, and checked the message when I got home that evening. It was the company I interviewed with in April asking me to please return the call and they were still interested in hiring me.

Knowing they are anxious to work with me gives me an advantage that I don't plan on letting pass. While I dislike the commute into Orange County from the Inland Empire, I will gladly make it after
10 am (when traffic has died down some), and only 3 days per week maximum. This will allow me to have a steady flow of disposable income that can be put directly into the businesses for further development. I would love to be able to walk into a bank with my business plan that would blow away any loan officer, but the fact of the matter is banks are even more skeptical these days and are not lending to start-ups. So I have to fund my business the old fashioned way, by working for it. This is how most of us start our businesses, we save we work, we borrow from friends and family who believe in what we are doing. Funding a business (that is not a non-profit organization) can be a challenge and you must sit down and develop a way to fundraise just as you drew up how to start your business.

So I returned the phone call, and received a call back within 15 minutes. The two woman who originally conducted my first and second interviews, were so impressed by the interview portfolio I put together (that left no room for questions wether or not I qualified for any position within their organization), they want me to start immediately. Apparently the school program has received more funding and an elevated status. Therefore they are no longer requiring I go through the extra expenses they were not willing to reimburse me for, and I was not willing to eat the cost. I was informed they would be calling me back to inform me of "any" open positions. I quickly dispelled the myth that I was desperate and still searching for employment after all this time. I reminded the woman that I still had my own businesses, and unless the position fit my needs, I would not be interested. It seems they are in a bit of a jam to find someone who is available still (after all this time) that has the educational requirements to fill the needed positions. She offered me a teaching position and I respectfully declined. After I hung up, I immediately began to develop my consulting proposal that I would submit to the corporate office for review. It's well worth the shot, after all I now have advocates on the inside of the company that can speak regarding my professionalism and educational background.

We'll see how it goes! This is one method of funding my business, I'm currently working on several others that are further along than this one. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, instead of always hiring yourself out as an employee, consider asking for a consultant contract instead. It allows you to set your own hours, make more money, and it saves the employer in insurance expenses, payroll taxes, etc. They will enjoy that part, and admire your for being businesses minded enough to consider their expenses. Be smart, at the end of the year they will 1099 you, and you will have to do your own business taxes (which you will be able to write off way more things). You are worth more than the paycheck you earn!!