If criminals and fraudsters could draw up their plans on the basis that the intended victims are much smarter than they are, they would be more likely to succeed in their schemes. Unfortunately, they tend to assume that others are fools.
–JOHN UDONSAK

Today we continue on our series and focus on how to unleash what I call the most potent weapon to attract funds for your project or business plan. As usual, we list 7 steps for raising funds to put this piece in perspective.
1.Develop Accurate Estimate of funds needed.

2.Identify how much of needed funds that would be funded externally.
3.Identify your position of strength to potential fund providers
4.List all your measurable Cash-Convertible currencies for potential lenders
5.Develop strategy to get your potential lenders to see and recognize your strengths

6.Remember: Money is a form of Energy and consequently obeys the Laws of Conservation of Energy i.e. it cannot be created or destroyed but can only be transformed from one form to another.

7.Approach ONLY those who represent lowest-risk funding options.
The quote above is from a friend, John Udonsak. Being deeply religious, organized and very legit in his ways, the quote could be misread as John’s endorsement of criminality but on the contrary, he was using the analogy to illustrate a point on receiving another ‘419’ email.

His point is that in our relations with others, particularly when we want something from them, we tend to expect them to be less knowledgeable than we are. Sometimes, our expectations suggest that we think very lowly of the intellectual or mental capacity of the people, group or company we are dealing with.  To take it one step further, our quests and plans when engaging others will have a significantly greater chance of success if we realize that people or organizations will only buy into what we have to sell when they first see their gains within the framework of our project or plan. In other words, your projections, passion, plea or presentations will not attract any credit facility, buyers or funding partners based on your profit projections alone. The potential lender must find a compelling reason to give you the money. He must feel the fear that if he doesn’t grant you the loan, he’ll lose the opportunity presented by your project to someone else.

As an example, no man proposes to marry a woman simply because the young woman is in need of a husband. The key reason why a man would decide to go all the way and ask for a woman’s hand in marriage is when the man realizes what he stands to lose if he doesn’t marry her. He must see that she completes him, at least in one or two major areas where he considers very important to him

When a man sees a woman that meets or exceeds his expectations, he simply cannot wait for the marriage or wedding to take place. Anybody, friend, relation, or colleague who asks him to slow down becomes an instant enemy to be avoided.

The fact that the woman is approaching 40, needs to settle down to calm family members, wants to have a baby before menopause sets in and other women-specific challenges have very little bearing on a man’s decision on who to marry. In a similar way, a man who thinks every woman is desperate for marriage and expects any woman he approaches for marriage to accept his proposal is in for a shock. Some women are still single because they refuse to accept just any man who does not meet their quality specifications. Desire for marriage cannot be more important that the requirements for personal satisfaction.

So what’s my point here? Simple!. If we want others to buy into our plans financially, we have to go the extra mile to bring out the strength or major advantage in our plan that will attract the potential investor, bank or financier.

It is easier for us to make this extra effort when we see its significance or value. I’ll give an example with something that happened some years back. I had commissioned my Architect to design a serviced apartment structure on a small parcel of land. To create a better visual effect, I asked him to also build a live 3-D model (not the computer 3-D animation).

The Architect actually preferred building live 3-D models and his other 3-D displays somewhat influenced my decision. When he completed it, I placed the model as well as pictures of the model in several views and angles in my office. The objective was to constantly remind me that I had to do something to move it from concept to reality. I did not want to forget. While I was still running through a number of funding and project execution strategies, two very influential friends came visiting me in the office. On sighting the visually stimulating models, they asked me what that was all about. I casually replied that it was a private development project and that when it is completed, I’ll let them know. One of them did not like the tilt of my response. He accused me of trying to eat alone. He said I have decided to keep it all to myself so as to reap the rewards alone. He reminded me that ‘he who chops alone, dies alone’. To cut the story short, they said I must allow them buy into the project. They were willing to contribute equal amounts to fund the project and similar ones.

When I told them how much the Quantity Surveyor estimated the project to cost, within one week, they had paid their contributions for 100% project completion into my account. But I lost complete ownership of the project and land. But I had more money in my hands than anticipated because the evaluated price of the land had appreciated by over 100%. With construction funds in-tact, I used the profit from the appreciated land to buy another piece of land in a developing area to preserve value.