Access to capital for growing your small business is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face.

Hopefully, you’re not in a situation where you desperately need the money to keep the ship afloat. In all likelihood, you’re looking for extra money to buy a new piece of equipment, add some extra help to your staff, or for some other reason that indicates your small business is getting bigger.

Banks, however, haven’t been so friendly to small businesses like yours in this situation. The situation is getting better and lenders are starting to approve more loan applications from small businesses, but it’s still more likely that you’ll be rejected at least once from a traditional lender — like a bank.

There are newer forms of lenders, namely online, that use other factors to determine if your small business is worthy of an influx of cash, but your company may not be ready to go that route.

This week, we want to know if you’d consider asking family or friends for the money you’re looking for to grow your business. So, in this week’s poll question, let us know if you’d be willing to lean on family or friends to get that capital you need.

And if you have reached out to friends or family for business funding in the past, let us know of your experiences in tapping these resources for capital.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

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This article, “(POLL) Would You Ever Ask Family for Money for the Business?” was first published on Small Business Trends