I am looking to start a small timber frame buisness in Flagstaff, Arizona and have a few questions.

1. Where do I find investors and how should I go about asking for money?

2. What would be a good amount to ask for to start with?

3. What basic tools would I need to start?

4. Where are the best places to advertise?

5. What schools would anyone recomend?

I would like to get started by this summer and no later than this fall, any help that anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.

i would suggest that you go easy on borrowing money until you see a clear income level for your business
you need tools to match your work -so you should understand the style of building you plan to do!
lots of volume requires bigger stronger power tools
if you are looking for smaller volume and more quality in the building then you will need a bigger range of layout tools and probably more hand tools
i'm in ontario so i won't be much help on advertising.....
good luck, we are learning one of the keys to getiing a business going is asking for help from people in the know
-Mark in Ontario.

My wife and I have been in business for many years. I can tell you without reservation, it is not a very good approach when starting a new business to borrow capital, and it's also unlikely that anyone will be willing to invest in a new company unless you can demonstrate business experience and a degree of proficiency in the trade.
We started in business doing only what we could do without borrowing and as the business greww and our background increased, lenders began approaching us. We have never, in 43 years borrowed capital.
These days we will charge business purchases to a credit card, simply because it's convenient, but we never let it go past the end of the month, and therefore, we never pay interest on it.

Just some words of advice (not necessarily wisdom) from a (now) elder citizen in business.

Regards,

Don

Damn buttons are too fast for me - sorry about bad post.

I second the opinion of starting without an "investor" - do it yourself. One of my mentor's rules was never start a new business without 3 clients already lined up. Talk someone into hiring you and use that initiate the business. If you bring in someone with all the money - they get all the control; you'll be working hard to pay them.

There is a time to borrowing capital funds, but plan it the easy way - thru a bank. To do that show a couple of years of good stable operation, show them you can make money and know what you are doing (the financial statements). If you are running smart they will beg to loan you funds - that's how they make money.

Looking back on my company startup - I'd do at least one thing different. After 2-3 good years, we needed capitalization to ramp up sales and production rate. I didn't borrow then and it has caused me headaches.

Zak,
From your questions it sounds as though you are yet inexperienced in this Trade.

That is not neccesarily an obstacle to starting a "Business", but, I would ask, without experience, what makes you think that THIS Business is the one which is right for you?

I can imagine that many investors would ask the same thing, and, that most clients would want to know why they should place their trust -- and their cash! -- with you.

Timber Framing is that marvelous trade (like many actually) that requires little in the way of Starting Capital -- Don's response is a good example.

In Residential Construction, the Capital is typically provided for by the Client, you provide the expertise the tooling and the crew. And through properly scheduling dispersments you seek to avoid cash-flow problems.

In a SMALL company, Tools are accumulated along the way, as you are accumulating experience, and, thus, there is no reason to seek out an investor to help you to purchase them.

It seems as though, we are trying to say, starting a small business is Not that difficult. But, the first step is to educate yourself -- even a little bit -- Learn the answer to what tools you will need by at least reading some books, and, the answers to the rest of the questions will begin to answer themselves.

Lastly
The best school I would recomend is someone's shop. Why pay money to learn when someone could be paying you, but, I went that route, many others prefer to get a few tips and learn on their own.

And, word of mouth is still the best advertising there is. (good or bad)

Tim Berube