While I was unemployed, well-meaning friends and family members would always tell me I should go the entrepreneurial route. I had the charisma and talent, they told me, as well as plenty of experience in web development. Why couldn’t I just start a business and make my living doing what I was good at?
Their words came from a good place, but it was also a very privileged place. They hadn’t experienced unemployment, except for periods when it suited them. They didn’t know what losing a job could do to your self-esteem, your finances, and your credit.
It was the credit issue that scared me most. I could work on my self-esteem and I had people to fall back on financially when absolutely necessary. I was also able to find freelance jobs that covered my basics. But with a bad credit score, I assumed I would never be able to get the money I needed to start a business. The best I could hope for was to find work and rebuild my credit score until it was in a good place again.
But the longer I remained unemployed, and the more disillusioned I got from bad interviews for jobs I didn’t want, I became more determined to follow my dreams. My resolve finally overcame the despair I had felt and I decided to start seeing the opportunities before counting the roadblocks.
My first steps
I needed funding for my business, and I had stuck with the assumption that I couldn’t get a loan with my bad credit. I hadn’t done the work to find this out for sure. For a while, it had suited me to wallow in my helplessness. But now I went online and researched the subject, and this is how I found out about unsecured business loans.
Unsecured business loans provide the opportunity to raise capital in spite of bad credit, and without lots of paperwork specifying what the loan is for. It was exactly what I needed. I had no assets to use as security anyway, and I needed capital for time spent working out exactly what I needed to do. I couldn’t put that down on paper, so a loan that gave me a level of freedom was necessary.
There are, of course, downsides to unsecured business loans, especially if you have bad credit. The interest rates are going to be particularly high, and if your business doesn’t take off you can get stuck in a serious debt cycle. Those who don’t have the confidence that their business will make them enough to at least meet the monthly repayments should either try finding a different source of capital or improve their business plan.
At the time, I had no idea if my business would really take off. I didn’t know if I would make more money than I’d be making at whatever job I managed to land. But I did know that, at the very least, I would be able to keep my business going with small contracts until I was able to land big deals. In other words, I knew I could make enough to cover the basics and make payments, even if my business took its time to really get off the ground.
Finally thriving
Fortunately, it has worked out incredibly well so far. I have a thriving business providing big companies with web development services. I’ve put together a small staff. The jobs are satisfying and we’re so busy I regularly turn down new business.
This wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t stopped fixating on the challenges and given the opportunities a proper look. An unsecured business loan helped me get by, in spite of my bad credit, and with a combination of resources and confidence, I managed to build my dream.
