Raising money to start your business has always been an issue with most wannabe entrepreneurs. It is also a convenient excuse not to keep moving. The importance of cash for funding a start up business cannot be over emphasized, but ranked side by side with original ideas, focus, persistence, passion and vision, money ranks right at the bottom. If you have all these but lack money, you can keep pushing and before long, the money will show up. Lets assume you have reduced your start up budget to the barest possible minimum and need cash to produce your first sample or batch of production are whatever. You are wondering where to get money from. If you have been working for some years, you have many options. You have your savings, assets (or liabilities), friends and family, cooperative societies, savings and loans, banks etc I will start with the preferred option, starting closer home, and take each one by one. The best source of cash to start your business is your savings. You have to start saving towards your business, if you have not done so already. This involves cutting out the fat in your budget, taking off things you can do without for a season. Depending on your lifestyle, it may mean reducing eating out, cutting your spending on clothes (especially the ceremonial variety aso ebi etc), reducing your phone and cable TV bills etc. The issue is not what you cut, but the fact that you adjust your lifestyle to allow you to save at least 10% of your gross income as a start. If you save 10% of your gross income, you have an equivalent of one month salary in 10 months. If you save 20%, you have one months salary saved in five months and so on. There are expenses we incur by virtue of the image we want to show to the outside world, based on where we place ourselves in the society. There is nothing bad in enjoying the good life or looking affluent. However, if you are serious about saving for your business, image and leisure may be forced to take a back seat for a season. A dainty looking pregnant woman who is at the throes of labour cares nothing about her hair do, make up or who is looking at her. At the height of pain, she doesnt care about being politically correct as she yells, sometimes at the poor husband. In addition to savings, you can do Clean House on you. On the show Clean House on the fashion network, homeowners are made raise 50% of the cost of the makeover of their homes (at times kicking and screaming) while the show matches the amount. This money is raised from clutter (by having a yard sale). Since we are so adept at turning cash to thrash, for once, we can reverse the process by turning thrash to cash. Most of us have so much cash trapped in our homes as clutter unused appliances, adult toys, electronics, computers, jewelry etc. Some of us have cars we hardly use or can do without it we make up our minds. Some have unused boys quarters that can be rented out etc. Your options are limited by your imagination. Release the cash and put it to work in your business. The extent you go depends on the depth of your desire to raise the money and get your business off the ground.