Funding a small business is an intimidating task, especially for first-time entrepreneurs. There are so many different options for financing — how can you know which one is right for your business?

We’ll be discussing this topic, and others about financing your business in our fireside chat on October 19th. Don’t forget to RSVP (it’s free!)

We wanted to get the nitty gritty on some important small biz financing issues, so we reached out to a few experts.

How can I find my most accurate credit score? Does checking my score actually hurt it?

Ali Pourdad, CEO, Progressa:

You can check your personal score at Equifax or TransUnion. These services charge a modest fee for each report, but are considered the most accurate in the industry. Checking your score through these services is unlikely to have a significant impact on your credit history.

Cassie Price, Wealth Generation Collective:

Pulling your own credit NEVER impacts your score. Most business financing will look at your personal scores generated from three bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Everyone actually has about 40 different credit scores, and I have seen them vary over 100 points between them. The best (and only) place to get most of them is myFICO.

What are some tools that can be used to find small business loans?

Are there any tools or resources that can make the process of finding a loan a little easier? That's what we sought to find out when we talked to small business experts to get their take. Here’s what they said:

Ali Pourdad, CEO, Progressa:

Online lenders and tools have proliferated — each designed to open up new avenues of financing to small businesses whose volume and credit history does not meet the criteria for a loan from a major bank. The most popular of these include peer-to-peer loans, crowdfunding, and merchant advance lending — in which a fair percentage of a business’ daily debit sales is used to pay back a loan or line of credit rather than having the business pay a fixed monthly sum.

Cassie Price, Founder, Wealth Generation Collective:

There are some interesting solutions out there; one is called a Direct Public Offering or DPO. Instead of trying to raise money on the New York Stock Exchange (or any other stock exchange), a company can sell stocks for their small company to friends, family, and fans. It's usually limited by state, though, meaning you can't sell stock to your friend in another state.

Nick Braun, CEO, PetInsuranceQuotes.com:

If you're a small business owner banks aren't really an option unless you have a track record of profitability. We opted not to go the crowdfunding route because I wanted to know who my investors were and find people who could add value to our business.

What if I have bad credit or none at all — are there any alternatives for my business to get financing?

Ali Pourdad, CEO, Progressa:

Online lenders are taking advantage of advanced, data-driven underwriting methods that go beyond credit scores to analyze such factors as relationship with suppliers, cash flow and seasonality, and even the way a small business engages with its customers on social media. These agile approaches to underwriting allow online lenders to assess a business more wholly, which in turn means they’ll base their lending decisions on more sophisticated data than simply the sum of your credit scores.

Cassie Price, Wealth Generation Collective:

There are some interesting solutions out there; one is called a Direct Public Offering or DPO. Instead of trying to raise money on the New York Stock Exchange (or any other stock exchange), a company can sell stocks for their small company to friends, family, and fans. It's usually limited by state, though, meaning you can't sell stock to your friend in another state.