want to start my own business but my credit is bad. How do i get founded.?

Answer 1

To get started, I suggest contacting the Small Business Administration (SBA). Entrepreneur also offers a great site dedicated to money & finance – see below for both.

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 2

Did you mean founded or funded? Founding the business is easy, get a business license first and then formulate a business plan. Any investor will want to see that before they can seriously evaluate you for funding. You can always take out a HELOC on your house if you own one, or just try to find personal financing in the form of credit cards and personal loans. If you are a minority or a woman, the SBA has programs to help you get business financing.

Answer 3

That of course depends on how bad your credit is and why your credit is bad. If your credit is bad because you mismanage your funds, you may want to think twice about starting a business until you can improve your money handling skills. If your credit is bad because reasons outside of your control (divorce, laid off from work and couldn't pay bills, etc), and you feel you can properly handle funds, then the scenario is different. Regardless, work on getting your credit rating improved.

Achieving funding depends mainly on what type of business you're looking to start and how much initial money you'll need to get it going.

The first step, before you do anything, is write a business plan. Here is a good site for reference:
http://homebusiness.about.com/od/businessplans/Business_Plans.htm?terms=business+plans

Writing a business plan will force your to take a good hard look at the business you're thinking of starting. Many people romanticize the idea of starting a business only to get blind sighted once it's actually started. Writing a business plan will take you step by step through creating your business and help you determine how much money you'll need.

Once that's done, and you have an amount of initial funding in mind, you have numerous options:

1. Banks: Check with your personal bank to see if they offer business loans. Do your research and check with multiple banks; larger banks such as Bank of America and Wachovia specialize in business loans and may have programs designed to help small businesses get off the ground.

2. Family / Friends: This is a touchy area as you are mixing business with personal. If you end up borrowing money from family members or friends, keep it professional and treat them as a bank.

3. The SBA. This entity is specifically designed to help small businesses get off the ground. http://www.sba.gov/

4. Your town. Many municipalities have programs in place to assist in getting small businesses off the ground. After all, they want the tax revenue.

For assistance in getting guidance and advice in opening your small business, SCORE is an excellent (and often overlooked) wealth of information. They are an organization of retired individuals in all areas of business that helps small businesses get going. Try their website: http://www.score.org/ You can enter your zip code to find the closest office to you.

Hope this helps!