Why Establishing a Self-Sustaining Business is Important

"Have you pitched your startup idea to investors yet?"

"Have you got the funding you've been expecting?"

These are some of the common questions every startup owner out there hears every other week. If you see him or her all dressed up in formals, one of the first questions people tend to ask is if the owner is on the way to meet a potential investor.

Even most entrepreneurs get carried away by the concept of funding and inherently look forward to being funded. They come under the misconception that funding equals more chances of success and it is the only way forward for business growth. Unfortunately, however, they end up being wrong most often.

Now funding is a very subjective concept. Some business desperately need it for sustenance, manufacturing, and setting up of basic processes and workflow. While for other businesses, they are completely irrelevant. Such entrepreneurs are most likely to use funding as a cool concept and to be honest, to get a bigger office space, paint it with psychedelic colours, stick fancy Steve Jobs quotes, get bean bags, table tennis, and more. Very little focus is given on business development and actual growth that matter.

For such purposes, funding is absolutely unnecessary.

So by now, if you have understood if your business actually needs funding or not, you can take more informed decisions. In most cases, your businesses doesn't need funding because the moment you get funded, your attitude towards your business changes. To be honest, it is no longer your business. You are subjected to questions and clarifications and the liberty with which you've been driving your business vision changes. Scalability comes into factor and even a small decision of getting a better coffee table links back to numbers and profits.

So the key here is to develop a self-sustaining business model that will keep the business going without third-party investments. Till the end, it is you who has to retain business growth and command and in most cases, funding fumbles the very intention.

As we mentioned, businesses that need to be funded have no other option but if your business can do well without funding, keep going for as long as you can. If at any point of time, you feel the business needs funding, change your business model and experiment.

Keep funding as the last resort and if you see your business not going anywhere forward, definitely don't go for a funding because it pushes you to a situation similar to being in debt. Self-sustenance is the key to most business and the moment you crack it, there is no turning back.

The article has been written with a humble intention that you can differentiate between investment and funding. Good luck!