Sometimes it's all about the money, or lack thereof

Recently, I've been reminded that great ideas can be stopped cold by a lack of funds. I, like tons of other people, have great business ideas. In the same token, I, like tons of of people, don't have the startup cash to get these ideas rolling. This is better known as startup capital. Either you have it or you don't.

There are basically two ways to get startup capital. Either you scrimp and save all your pennies to build a nest to spend off of, or you borrow it from someone else (the bank, for example). In my last major effort to run a business full time, I did the first option - it's the safer of the two. Why safer? Because when you run out of cash (and most of us do,) you don't owe anything to anyone.

There is a potential business venture up in Maine. The people involved have been egging me to get up there a lot. Problem is, the startup capital simply doesn't exist.. and it has been hinted to me that I may need to pony up some out-of-pocket expenses up front. Um.. no. That's not going to happen. Maybe if I had reasonable assurance the biz would work I would go - but I don't have the assurance. There's no business plan, no future projections, nothing. Definitely not in my best interest. I have been asking (more like pleading) with the leader of this project to put something on paper that shows what this whole shin-dig is all about - and nothing has come forward. Not even a mission statement. Bad call on his part.

In addition to all this, I've been reminded me that Connecticut sucks and that I will most likely end up here with all the other failures of society if I don't get out there and do something with my life. I understand the intentions are all well and good, however, taking my entire kit'n'kaboodle up to Maine with no assurance of a solid foundation of business is just plain dumb. For every business success there are 10,000 failures or more.

In my last biz effort I was able to get out "clean" because I knew how much I had and how much I needed to get out of it if disaster struck (or just running out of money). In this particular venture, there is no disaster plan. No beginning, no foundation, no contingency plan, nothing.

I tried in my best effort to explain all this to a friend last night.. but the only thing through his mind was "Get out there and do it anyway, you only live once". Being that I know he will read this: NO. When the time is right I will make my move. Now is not the right time. A business needs proper planning and execution. No plan = no biz. I am not about to sacrifice my personal security (both fiscal and mental) on a loosely based idea that has no foundation or method of recovery, period.