What is the most common way to fund a small business?

Most businesses lose money for a certain amount of time and there is no way of telling how long it's going to be unless you really know your business. It would never be exact, but you can come fairly close. It's either your own money or money from a relative or friend or some money that you borrow. How you borrow it depends on a lot of different things such as your credit rating. You start with your own money and assets. You look at what kinds of assets you have to borrow against. In other words, you decide if you have equity in your house that you are willing to put at risk. Depending on the type of business, there are companies called "venture capitalists" that provide funding. But venture capitalists are usually interested only in very large businesses. It depends entirely upon the business. I cannot say this works in every instance. Borrowing against your home is not the last resort, but it is one of the last resorts because if you fail you are going to lose your house unless you've got other ways of paying it all back. By the way, credit cards are a last resort. If it's a small business, you can use credit cards, but it's the last thing we recommend because the interest rates are so high.