How to Open a Vape Shop with No Money

Alternative Small Business Funding

Do you want to open a vape shop? Perhaps you have dreams of running a vape shop, having lots of loyal customers, and providing a valuable service to the community? If so, this is great news because your passion should take you a long way. However, many dreams fall at the first hurdle because of one problem: financing.

Fortunately, we’re going to explain how you can get vape shop funding in this guide. That’s right - we’re looking at alternative business funding. After this guide, you may find ways to open your vape shop even if you don’t have the available funds right now.

We’re going to split this guide into two:

• The process of opening a vape shop
• Alternative vape shop business funding

While the first half deals with the general process of opening a vape shop, the second half will deal with bad credit loans and alternative business vape shop funding for those with no resources. If you can’t get a traditional business startup loan from the bank, you’re in good hands.

Opening a Vape Shop

Create a Business Plan

You have no money, but this doesn’t mean that you can start cutting corners. If you want to launch a successful shop in any industry, it all starts with a plan. First things first, you’ll need to research. What are the laws in your state? Does your state have high excise taxes on vaping products? What competitors will you have in the market? Is there a customer base for your chosen location?

While potential names are exciting to think about, more important aspects of a business plan include tax research, potential obstacles to success, how you plan to overcome these obstacles, marketing strategies, and more. If you create a business plan where everything is perfect and you get to $1 million in revenue in one year with no problems, most lenders will laugh you out of the office.

By showing that you understand the challenges and have a plan to overcome them, lenders will feel much more confident in your ability.

Obtain the Relevant Permits and Licenses

This is true for all businesses, but it’s crucial to open a vape shop. As well as registering the business, you’ll need the right permit and license depending on your local and state laws. Once again, research will save the day here. Before buying premises and getting too excited, research the fees associated with the relevant permits and licenses.

Think About Funding

Once you have funding, you’re ready to implement your business plan and get started on your journey. You can get a business credit card, choose premises, get business insurance, advertise on social media, launch a website, choose your stock, and more. Yet, as we’ve already discovered, all these future steps are just a pipe dream if you can’t get vape shop funding.

Luckily, you’re in the right place and you’re going to learn some potential solutions today. Before we start talking about options, consider what level of funding you’ll need. For example, you may need to cover the following:

• Premises
• Marketing costs
• Staffing
• Inventory
• Contingency

In terms of inventory, this alone includes replacement coils, hardware, vape batteries, vape juice, e-liquids, battery chargers, and more. Before even looking for funding, consider how much you’ll need to get your venture off the ground. The last thing you want is to secure funding only to then realize that you don’t have enough to even get the shop open.

Funding a Vape Shop

Traditionally, the best way to finance any new shop was to head to the bank. You would show your business plan and the bank would dig into your financial history (this means personal and credit checks). If you were reliable, you would gain access to funds to start the business.

Unfortunately, this has always kept people with bad credit (or even no credit history) from achieving their dreams. Well, the good news is that solutions now exist for these people. Thanks to alternative business funding, you have access to bad credit loans and other methods. The South Florida Funding Group has a team of experts ready and willing to help all those who need access to this type of funding.

With the right provider, you’ll find finance options that don’t come with a credit check. What’s more, they often have favorable terms and allow business owners to get their shop up and running. Of course, you’ll need to compare the many options and choose the right one for your future. Below, we’ve broken down some of the best bad credit loans and alternative funding options if you don’t qualify for a traditional bank business startup loan (as well as briefly discussing bank loans themselves).

Unsecured Business Line of Credit

Firstly, this is designed to offer working capital to all business owners who need it. Like a personal credit card, you can dip into the funds to make a business purchase. As long as you maintain the balance, you can keep dipping into the line of credit. One good feature of an unsecured business line of credit is that you only ever pay interest on the amount you borrow.

Depending on your situation, you could access this form of finance within a few days. However, one potential problem is the availability for startups. While shops with six months of experience can access a business line of credit, brand-new shops will struggle. One way to get around this is to operate online for a few months (where costs are much smaller) until you qualify for finance options like this one to open a vape shop.

SBA Loans

Elsewhere, you may have heard that the Small Business Administration helps startups with financing. If your financial history isn’t strong enough to secure a whole loan, it might secure a small percentage of a loan, and this is the idea behind SBA loans. Essentially, the Small Business Administration guarantees a large percentage of the loan to reduce the burden on the small business owner.

Sadly, it can take months to receive funding and you’ll also need to complete an extensive application form. This being said, you can borrow up to $10 million (including financing for real estate).

Secured and Unsecured Small Business Loans

Another area in which the South Florida Funding Group can help is through unsecured and secured small business loans. While an unsecured business loan is guaranteed by the creditworthiness of the owner, a secured business loan is guaranteed by an asset. For example, you could buy a property and use this property as the guarantee. In other words, the lender will take control of the property if you fail to make the repayments.

Compared to SBA loans, these loans are much faster with access within a couple of days in many cases. With just a one-page application, you can receive up to $500,000.

Bank Loan

Just because you have no money now, this doesn’t mean that you have a poor credit history. If you qualify for a bank loan, it’s worth exploring this option for the favorable interest rates. However, one of the biggest issues is the lack of flexibility and the extensive application process. After spotting a gap in the market, you want to get the business operating as soon as possible. With a traditional bank loan, this just isn’t possible.

Thankfully, the alternative business funding niche is improving conditions for startups and other small businesses. As you’ve already seen, access to finance is generally much faster and allows for a quicker launch.

Equipment Financing and Leasing

To open a vape shop, you’re likely to need some equipment, and this is where equipment financing and leasing come in. As the name suggests, these allow you to get the important equipment without having to pay everything upfront. With a lease contract, you essentially borrow the equipment from a manufacturer. You’ll pay a monthly fee and return the equipment as soon as you’re finished with it.

Alternatively, a finance contract allows you to pay monthly while becoming the owner of the equipment. Once the contract ends, the equipment is yours. Once again, the application is simple, and the approval process is fast.

Summary

Even after this, we could talk about merchant cash advances (an advance on future income) and other forms of alternative business funding. For those who want to open a vape shop, you have many different options…even if you don’t have any money.

Just because you’re choosing an alternative form of funding, this doesn’t mean that you don’t have to take things seriously. You still need to research the market, obtain the right permits and licenses, choose between a franchise and a startup, choose the right legal entity, consider possible threats and challenges, calculate estimated costs, consider marketing techniques, buy insurance, choose the right location, and put everything into a business plan.

If you’re determined and passionate about the idea, contact the South Florida Funding Group for your vape shop funding to learn more about your funding options to turn your dream into a reality!