One of the most daunting hurdles an entrepreneur faces is raising start-up capital. By familiarizing yourself with the basics of funding, you can come to understand the appropriate source of capital for the different stages of business growth. I read an article this morning that discussed early stage funding including seed capital from "friends, family, and fools," angel investments, and venture capital. Many start-ups do not progress to the venture capital stage; it is estimated that fewer than 2 percent of companies ever receive venture funding. One of our clients shared with us an excellent article about growing your business organically through revenues and profits.

We constantly receive requests for information about grants for female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses. While the obnoxious guy on late night infomercials exalts the ease of obtaining this money, Avocado Group would like to share some information we've learned about this topic...

The Women's Business Center at the SBA is always a great place to start. The WBC portion of the SBA site has some valuable links, message boards, and other great resources and insight. Grants.gov will always have a searchable listing of grants available from the federal government. As you may come to understand, the 'billions of dollars available for women-owned enterprises' do exist, but these funds may be reserved for very specific and/or esoteric contractors or agencies with varying social agendas. For our friends that are interested in creating lifestyle businesses (or any kind of business without a social agenda), we definitely recommend contacting the WBC @ the SBA to learn about the possible ways they can help with loans and grants.

Trolling through the results of popular search engines has been a largely fruitless effort, as we've found more online opportunists than legitimate grant-providing organizations. Some of these opportunists are providing information and resources that are free to you via Grants.gov while others demand your money before divulging that there are no grant opportunities that fit your situation - caveat emptor!

The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) maintains an extensive trove of information, resources, and opportunities that help women prepare for the journey of entrepreneurship.

As always, feel free to contact Avocado Group to learn more about the ways we can help woman-owned enterprises capitalize on opportunities!

Yesterday, we had an email exchange with Leslie Stewart, Project Manager for the Keep Louisville Weird campaign. For those who don't know, KLW is a grassroots public awareness endeavor, recently and quietly begun by a small but growing coalition of independent Louisville business owners. According to Leslie:

"Participating businesses now number over 100 and the number is growing day by day. Businesses range from retail stores to restaurants to service-oriented businesses and include all parts of the Louisville area including southern Indiana. We just had our first meeting on Wednesday March 2nd with 87 people attending, and are now forging ahead to incorporate as the Louisville chapter of the American Independent Business Alliance. Businesses can be a part of both the IBA and/or the Keep Louisville Weird campaign - although there will be chapter dues for the IBA once it's set up. There is no requirement for being involved with Keep Louisville Weird other than the cost of a window sign for your retail storefront if you have one. The campaign also asks that you provide a reciprocal weblink to the KLW site if you have a website, that you make yourself available to the media on occasion to talk about the importance of supporting independent, locally-owned businesses, and that you help spread the word to other business owners such as yourself."

We are encouraged by the progress of this campaign and look forward to networking with Louisville's entrepreneurs and independent business owners. The National Federation of Independent Business offers great advice on how to keep your business thriving despite intimidation from a tough national competitor.

According to John Gartner, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School, the answer to this question is yes. Gartner is the first researcher to offer a credible biological and genetic theory that explains why some men and women are natural entrepreneurs, why Americans are truly different from other people, and why American business is unlike that of any other country.

In his new book, THE HYPOMANIC EDGE: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America , Gartner draws a correlation between hypomania and America's spirit of entrepreneurship, arguing that America's spectacular achievements, unique entrepreneurial character, and unmatched wealth are due to a high incidence of hypomania-a mild form of mania that produces elevated levels of energy, creativity, and risk-taking. This series of case histories takes you through five centuries of the "American entrepreneur" from Columbus discovering America to Craig Venter decoding the human genome. According to reviews, you'll never read the business pages in quite the same way after reading this book.

Invention promotion firms entice patent holders with promises of instant success or wealth. Inventors should steer clear of high pressure tactics and instead review the Federal Trade Commission's need-to-know overview of invention promotion companies.

Bob Shaver, a patent attorney in Boise, ID provides useful insight on this subject:

"Almost every day I get a call from a client who has been contacted by an invention promotion company. I tell them that it's probably a scam. 'Oh no, these guys sound legit. They'll pay half of my airplane ticket to talk to them. They think my invention is great and will sell a lot.' Sure they'll pay half your airplane ticket, because they are going to take you for many thousands of dollars....Then I tell my client to ask them the 10 questions that they are required by law to answer, and get their answer in writing...."

Inventors beware! Entrepreneurship isn't easy and don't be fooled by those who claim it so.