- Almost every fucking day, I get private message
on Facebook, e-mail, or Instagram DM,
someone asking me, like no joke,
Dan, can you lend me $5,000?
Dan, can you loan me $10,000?
I'm gonna pay you back, I need to start this business.
Or, you know, can you, it's almost sometimes a handout.
(swanky music)
Now here's the thing:
Just because someone is successful,
they are not obligated to help you
if you don't even fucking help yourself.
By just looking at the request,
I know the level that you are at.
First of all, clearly,
you have not studied my fucking work.
Maybe you saw one post of mine
then you submit a request, Dan give me some fucking money.
Here's the thing, if you study my work,
you know I'm all about adding value
before you ask anything in return.
So its shows me you have not studied any of my work,
no wonder you're fucking broke.
Second is, you don't approach a successful people
asking for something.
You approach a successful person adding value,
giving them something first
before you ask anything in return.
And third is if you have no money,
just think about if I'm betting on horse-racing.
You as a jockey, as entrepreneur, you suck.
Because you never done this before.
The horse, your business, your idea, probably sucks too.
If I was to bet on a horse, why would I bet on you
when I am getting approached
by winning, award-winning jockey
with a track-record, with a kick-ass horse,
and I turn down 99% of those opportunities.
Then why, I don't even fucking know you.
Why would I give you money?
So it your fault.
So let me give you some strategies, actually,
four ways that you can find money
to fund your business, okay?
Number one, you can find money,
the first group of people to go to is what I call sharks.
Yes, sharks, they are the people on Shark Tank.
They are the venture capitalists in the world.
They are the professional investors in the world.
Chances are, maybe many years ago,
they started just like you, like myself.
They were entrepreneurs and now they're made of money,
they have a pool of money,
and they're looking for wise, smart investments,
experienced entrepreneurs to invest in.
So they're sharks.
Now there's a reason why they're called sharks.
Chances are they want to make more money.
They want to put their capital to work.
And they only usually invest in proven investments.
They bet on prove award-winning horses or jockeys.
They don't best on idea, they don't bet
on pie-in-the-sky kind of bullshit.
And that's why you see on these shows,
that people say, I've got this widget,
I've got this idea, I'm very passionate, so fucking what?
You have idea how to win the race.
You don't know, you have no business skills.
You have no business acumen.
The fact that you have none is the fact
that you need five, 10,000 to grow in business.
Believe it or not, that tells people a lot.
So, sharks, when you're dealing with sharks,
knowing that probably, you could get money from them,
even if you could manage to convince them,
however, you will need to be prepared
to give a good chunk of the company.
Because they're risking their money on you.
And usually sharks also have, chances are
they have a lot of experience in business.
They may ask for a big piece of your business.
So sharks, dealing with sharks.
Second, and chances are if you're watching this video,
99.9% of the people watching this video,
you're not gonna get money from venture capital,
you're just not there yet.
Number two, it's what I call dolphins.
So the dolphins, they are the financial institutions,
they are the banks, they are the credit union,
they are institutions where you can borrow money.
And banks, you can say banks,
the problem with banks is you go to the bank
and remember I was trying to, many many years ago,
even trying to get a line of credit for $2,000.
$2,000, a line of credit!
They wouldn't give it to me.
They just wouldn't give it to me.
And now, my fucking bank is calling me all the time,
hey Dan, do you need money, I can loan you some money.
Do you need a mortgage?
Do you need more line of credit, another credit card?
You need more financing for your deal?
I said I don't need money.
No, but you might, if you need, let me give you a call.
Here's how usually banks work.
They loan you money when you don't need it.
That's right, they loan you money, dolphins,
they loan you money when you don't need it.
They don't loan you money when you need it.
They don't loan you money when things go into shit.
They don't do that, because again,
bankers, dolphins, they are very conservative.
Now although you may think dolphins
are kinda nice animals, and they're kinda nice,
but don't be fooled by that, okay?
Dolphins can also bite your head off.
Their teeth are just as sharp as a shark.
So don't be like, I'm dealing with dolphins, they're nice.
No, they are, they make their money, dolphins,
on the interest, right, the money they loan you.
They're a money lending business.
They want to protect investments, no different.
So time and place, there's a time and place for dolphins.
And chances are, maybe, if you're starting
from scratch, you're starting, you are,
this is your first couple businesses,
you don't have a track record, very difficult
for you to borrow money from dolphins.
Third is what I call fish.
Fish is your family and friends.
Right, your relatives, your brothers,
your sisters, your mum and dad.
Your vendors, your suppliers, chances are,
not to put you down, those are the people
who are dumb enough to loan you money.
They will be dumb enough and say, hey, you know what,
you're a good guy, you're a good girl,
you're hard-working, I believe in you.
Knowing that you're probably gonna lose it,
but you know what, I'm betting on you
because of the relationship.
Not because of your track record,
not because you're skilled,
but because relationships, you know what,
here's $5,000, here's $10,000, I would invest in you.
Chances are, I remember I borrowed money
from my uncle to start my business,
I lost all his money, he was a fish, right?
So I've done all of that, but the best way
to find money to fund your business,
that I believe, that I've used my entire career
is you get the money from your customers.
You get the money from your customers.
How do you get some money?
You go out and you sell some shit.
You get some sales, it is the easiest way to get it.
You don't come to me and say, hey Dan,
give me ten grand, good luck.
What can you do for me?
Offer your service, offer your skill, offer your expertise.
You make the money, show me you can make money.
Show me that you can add value.
Go to your customers, my whole life,
yes I have done business with dolphins,
I've done business with sharks,
but ideally, go to your customers.
Sell something; let's say you're a digital marketer.
You wanna start a digital marketing business,
you wanna help people do, I dunno, graphic design.
You don't need a lot of money, you don't need
to borrow a ton of money, print business cards,
create all this fancy shit, go sell something.
Get your first client, that's how you get the money.
There you go, you get the money
from your customers, make that sale.
Oh but Dan, I don't know how to sell.
That's why you don't have money.
So you have, you don't have money, you don't know
how to make a sale, what makes you think
you would know how to sell when I give you more money?
When you get more money?
It makes no sense, right, so if you don't know
how to swim in a swimming pool, what makes you think
you know how to swim in a lake?
What makes you think you know how to swim in an ocean?
You'd be drowned, you'd be dead.
You can't even fucking, do the fucking little kick
in the swimming pool, you can't even float
in a fucking, you know, the top.
Jesus Christ, right, that's what I'm talking about.
Also, you can also get money
from your customers in many other ways.
Maybe it's paid in advanced, get them to pay in advance
before you even make the damn thing.
Like a Kickstarter, you have an idea,
you're gonna pitch it, you're gonna get it
out in the marketplace,
and you'll see if people likes it.
Have your customer fund your business.
It's the best because there's an invested interest.
Or even a subscription model.
Have them pay on a monthly basis,
which is, I love that model, paid events,
subscription, Kickstarter, all of those ways
you can your customer funds your business.
And you get that going first.
And you prove your model.
Once you have a proven model, then you can take it
to the dolphins or even the fish,
and say you know what, I've got a good thing going on.
I've done as much as I could with my ability.
I've got it to this point.
But now I've got the proven thing, I want to scale.
Now when you talk to the sharks,
when you talk to the dolphins,
they're more likely to listen to you
and say, hey, you know what, hmmm.
You've got a good thing going on.
You've already got revenue, they love
to see, before they even make the damn thing,
you're making money, before you even do anything,
you've got reoccurring coming in every single month.
Hey, this guy, not so bad after all.
Maybe he's a decent entrepreneur,
maybe he's got half a brain.
Maybe let's bet on this guy.
That's what I'm talking about, that how you--
It's never about the money.
Money goes to the people who don't need it.
Money goes to the people who know how to multiply.
It is not lack of money, it's lack of,
it's your, it's you lacking of the ability to attract money.
I'll say that again, it's not about lack of money.
There's so much money out there.
Banks, investors, they are flooded
with cash, they want to put their money out there,
because every single bit of money
that's sitting in a bank, they're not putting
to work, it's costing them money.
They want to invest in good deals
and good entrepreneurs, but the problem is
they're so few of them out there.
There're so few of them out there.
When you approach them, when you have the right mindset,
the right skill, they would fund your deal.
Your customers would fund your deal.
This just makes sense, comment below.
So don't be telling me, I don't have the money
to expand my business, I don't have the money
to start a business, because you're a lousy business person,
that's why, so think about that.