Financing a business without recourse to borrowing or share issues. A business can only be started on a self-financing basis by those with some initial capital. The business can then expand only by the plough-back of retained profits. The advantage of self-financing is that it combines safety with control: a self-financed business can be run without any regard for the opinions of creditors or shareholders. The main disadvantage is that an entrepreneur’s initial capital and profits may not be large enough to allow full advantage to be taken of possible economies of scale.