Capital sources: Finding capital

Whether you're a large conglomerate or a pretzel vendor, you follow the same rules for growing your business. At the foundation of business development is money. It's why people go into business and it's how they stay in business. Money symbolizes freedom and entrepreneurs want more of it.

Here is the new-business-owner paradox: How does one find the money to start a business to make money? Even if you have personal cash, most experts recommend that you use other sources; for leverage, for expertise and to share in the financial risk.

There are more sources of capital available today to the small business owner than ever before, according to experts. Of course, most have some type of string attached -- it's called the return on investment. You must carefully examine the alternatives to make sure the borrowing is done on terms you can manage, with monthly payments you can afford.

As the experts say, the cheapest money wins.