One of my favorite questions for entrepreneurs I meet is, “What’s really holding you back from closing more sales to grow your business in the next 90 days?” The answer to this question tells me a lot about the mindset of the person with whom I am speaking.

We help our clients find capital all the time. But most of us think of working capital in terms of money alone. However, with the banking system in utter turmoil these days, it’s clear that lines of credit are virtually impossible to secure or renew. Which means entrepreneurs need to get creative and think of working capital in more than the traditional, money sense if they really want to grow their business.

Working capital in a financial sense is only one form of leverage we use to grow our businesses. (I’m not talking about buying a new Hummer because your accountant told you it was a good idea. I’m talking about investing wisely in your business to make it grow.) I am talking about thinking out of the box and looking at working capital in more ways than what your banker can do for you.

Here are three ways to look at working capital in a different light.

1. Intellectual capital. How you think and act is the basis of your intellectual capital. What kind of energy do you bring to your game? How creative are you? Can you think out of the box about ways to grow your business without your bank giving you a line of credit? Are you willing to get on the phone and make cold calls or reach out to every customer who did business with you in the past? How about the things you can do to close more sales that come into your pipeline? What kind of creative marketing such as a workshop can you leverage to bring in new business? What kind of bootstrap marketing campaign can you think of to drive more leads into your pipeline?

I spoke yesterday with a business owner who said all he needed to do was “get off his butt and make things happen.” When I asked what he meant by this, in the context of internet marketing strategies, he suggested that firing up his old website (that his neighbor designed years ago when times were good) might be a good idea. I doubt it. What he was telling me is he isn’t really motivated enough to invest his time, energy and a little bit of money to develop an effective internet marketing strategy that can generate new business. It seemed there wasn’t much in the way of intellect that would really help him grow his business. Ooops.  This is a classic example of limited intellectual capital. And it’s definitely holding him back.

I am sure he’s really good at what he does. But he’s not in the business of internet marketing or website design. Professional website design and copywriting services are huge factors these days when it comes to generating more leads. Hundreds of millions of searches are done every day. Even the best website won’t help you if no one knows how to find it. The internet also affords tons of opportunity to leverage effective public relations marketing that can be done for a fraction of the cost compared to traditional public relations firms.

2. Human capital. Look at the people in your business and immediate network. What kind of talent are we talking about? How can you better leverage your employees, customers, past customers, suppliers and centers of influence to help you grow your business? What kind of sales training program can you implement that will get you a hefty return on your investment? Could a business coach help you in any way? What about social network marketing campaigns that require only your time and human capital? Don’t think in terms of how you can use people in your network without giving something back. Think in terms of you can help people in a way that would enable the human capital around you to rally for your cause.

Have you ever heard of fusion marketing? It’s all about creating a strategic alliance with other people and leveraging their human capital and existing marketing. You create a plan to market together. For example, we are working now with a major online community of entrepreneurs to offer website reviews. They have the traffic in the community. We have the team to create fantastic Web 2.0 designs and social network marketing. For all the new business that is generated from our joint effort we plan to share the revenue. Our people work with their people and we all win. And no new money out of pocket.  Their creative, human capital combined with ours is a great formula for new business. So think about what you can do in terms of creative marketing planning leveraging human capital in your network.

3. Financial capital. So your banker is out to lunch for the foreseeable future. But you need money to grow your business. What about working with suppliers? How about a financial partnership of some sort? How about bootstrap efforts to create more cash flow by closing more sales. What about private money or hybrid lenders?

Private capital is filling much of the gap when traditional lenders are out of the game. And you need to know how the game works. I had breakfast with a good friend of mine yesterday who funds private companies. Not only does he bring the money to the table when no bank will play, but he brings his knowledge, expertise and internal controls to the business to help the company grow while protecting his investment.

Private money can be a great source of financial capital for a business. Yet few business owners know how the game works. Forget the banks for a while. We can teach you how to attract private capital and alternative funding sources if your bank is out of the game.

Working capital is about more than just money. Think about working capital in ways beyond what your banker will or won’t do for you and learn how to better leverage the three kinds of capital outlined above. Think of your intellectual capital and human capital in a way that you can find leverage to grow your business. Learn how to attract private money if it’s a good fit for your business.

If you want to learn how to attract more capital to your business let us know.  We have a great creative team, a huge network you can leverage, and resources to help you attract new financial capital.

As always, if you have had success in any of these areas, please tell us about it and share your successes with the WealthNet community of entrepreneurs.