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Assume that after those six months are over, you will still have to pay out of pocket for some of your operating expenses for up to two years. Why? Statistically, you will not be making a regular profit for two years. Sure, you will have profitable months before then. But you may need two years to figure out what your annual business cycle will be. You will probably need two years to learn to anticipate slow months. And you will probably need two years to save enough reserves to weather them. In short, it normally takes two years before you are out of the building stage of your business and into the maintaining stage. Of course, you might hit a steady target enrollment before then. Some businesses are self-supporting in a year or less. But though you can hope to be out of the building stage in a year, though you can work toward that goal, you should plan to have backup funds available for two years.

How do you handle the financial demands of those first two years? One way is to get a business loan for just start-up costs. You then set up a revolving credit line with a bank or private lender for initial operating expenses. You can draw money from the credit line as you need it, and repay the debt as you have extra profit. Another option is “bootstrapping.” You borrow the start-up costs and keep your day job to meet your living expenses, maybe even to help pay some monthly business expenses, while you’re growing the business. Whichever option you choose, make sure you know where you will get the money for those early operating expenses. You don’t want to get desperate and eat up your family’s nest egg.