Recently our CEO Ross McGarvey was featured in Forbes.com, sharing some advice on how to boot strap as a start up if you have a bad credit score or in Ross’ case, no credit score at all! Please note that Ross moved to the US in 2009 from Scotland and thus didn’t have a credit history in America. Despite this, he knew he wanted to run a successful business, but had to kind of think out of the box to achieve his goals without traditional business funding options.  Here are some of the points he shared to achieve success without cash to hand or the chance to borrow some…

• Never be afraid to learn something new: Realize that success will likely require you to do things you’ve never done before. In fact, you’ll probably have to spend a significant amount of time doing the things a bigger company would probably hire someone else to do. Don’t be afraid of learning new skills. Having been through this myself, in one business, I had to learn to be a digital retouch artist to fill the gaps in my business. Since I couldn’t afford to pay my retouch artists overtime, I often stayed until the wee hours of the morning to help keep our workload under control and meet our deadlines.
• Don’t get caught up in the idea that you must have money to succeed: Of course, capital makes things easier, but McGarvey suggests you can bootstrap, you can reach out to friends, you may even need to sacrifice, but if you’re really passionate about what you’re doing, you can figure it out. He also suggests networking, but you’ll have to work the room. He argues you can find people willing to help you at networking events, you just need to do more than stand around hoping someone approaches you—you need to do the “approaching.”
• Overcome the obstacle of “I don’t know how to do it”: You’ll likely need to learn and do some things that aren’t in your wheelhouse right now. Jump in and learn what you don’t know now and don’t be afraid.
• Define what you need (the skills or expertise) and start searching for the right person: McGarvey says the startup community is such a thriving group, you’ll be able to find the right partner if you look. If you can’t offer a big salary and benefits package, you’ll likely have to give up some equity, but it can be worth it. The right partner might have the skill set you need to take your idea to the next, and more profitable, level.

Read the full article here at http://www.forbes.com/sites/tykiisel/2013/11/13/credit-score-what-credit-score/