It can be a daunting thing when it comes to raising finances for your business. What if no one wants to invest? What if all your hard work has been for nothing? What if you fail entirely and have to give up and start all over again?

What if it works? What if you get the money you need to become something big? What if you find the investors you want? These are the questions you should be concentrating on because finding investors for your business is not as difficult as it might seem, assuming you have a good business, to begin with. Once you have created something exciting, finding investors shouldn’t be as hard as you might think – here are some of the ways to go about it.

Take out a personal loan

When people think about raining money for their new venture, the first thing they will often consider is how to find an angel investor or someone to borrow money from who will have some input into the business. Although this is certainly an option – and we’ll discuss it in more detail later – it’s perhaps easier to take out a personal loan and fund the business yourself. In this way, you retain complete control of what is happening without having to give away any of your business.

You can use the money to purchase all the equipment you need, to get a company car from Georgesons Cars, and to market your business. Once everything is up and running, you can look into additional investments if need be, but at least you’ll have something to show the people who might be keen to invest.

Get a small business loan

A personal loan isn’t something that everyone is going to want to apply for as it will affect your credit score, and this could be a problem if you needed to get a mortgage, remortgage, or if you’re searching for a balance transfer card – in other words, you don’t want the loan to affect your personal finances. The best business books suggest keeping as much finance as possible internal to your business rather than straining the finances of your friends, family or spouse. Business is risky and the last thing you’ll want to experience if your business fails is the wrath of your loved ones.

This is why a small business loan can be a great option. Similar to a personal loan, the small business loan will usually have better interest rates. However, it’s not always easy to get such a loan as banks, and other lenders have tightened up their criteria. If you intend to get a business loan, you’ll need a watertight business plan to show the lender that you know how you’ll spend the money and that you’ll be able to pay it back.

Get funding from angel investors

Although there are easier ways to obtain money for your business, if you can get the help of an angel investor, you might find that this is the best way to fund your business. The benefits of using an angel investor – an individual or company that purposefully looks for businesses to invest in and get a return from – you might also benefit from their experience and expertise. If they know the right people to speak to in order to boost your business, it will be worth the equity they will take in return for their investment.

For some, it’s not the money (or not just the money) that is the important part of having an angel investor on board; it’s the contacts and experience that come with them.