Use Money To Borrow Money. Most companies get started on less than $10,000 and those funds typically come from personal savings or a family loan, not a bank. The fact is there is no such thing as a startup loan from a bank.

Topic for Discussion: Where did Carol get her startup capital?

Answer: From the bank, but not really. Carols parents saved money to pay for her college tuition. Because she completed school in three years, they gave her the money she did not spend on a fourth year. Rather than use that cash to make a down payment on the building and purchase inventory, she borrowed money against it. By using the cash as collateral for the bank loan, she had easy and quick access to it in case of an emergency. Yes, she did have to pay interest, but interest on mortgage loans is tax deductible.

When he was eleven years old, Bill Tobin borrowed his mother's credit card to buy a lawn mower. He has since started and self-funded nine companies, all out of retained earnings from that first business.

Tom Gegax and his partner Don Gullett each put in $15,000 to buy three gas stations, their vendors helped at first. Don borrowed the $15,000 from his parents and Tom used a retirement fund. For growth funds they tried a bank. Judi Jacobsen and her first partner each put in $200 to print their first group of greeting cards. They took no salaries the first two years.

Marty Edelston thought it would take $1.2 million to start his publishing company. When he couldn't find any investors or banks to put up the money, he kept his job and used $30,000 of his own money to get started.

Grace Tsujikawa-Boyd is an artist. While working full time, she started making pots in her basement and people actually bought from her immediately. With her confidence buoyed by sales, she went looking for money. A friend told her about SBA-backed loans and she went through the process to qualify.

Cheryl Womack didn't need start-up capital because she had startup customers. But, she kept her overhead low by working in her home with one phone line and call waiting. She had established herself in the insurance business; and when she got the idea to start the National Association of