At a glance, hard money loans and private money loans appear to be the same, but they are quite different. Hard money lenders are effectively brokers for short-terms loans, mostly on real estate. On the other hand, private lenders can be just about anyone who has money. A private loan is a relationship-based loan where the lender could be a private company or even a friend or family member. 

Private lenders can be tough to find so that being said it takes time and energy to fund them and earn their trust. If you don’t have a track record, it will be difficult to convince anyone other than friends and family to loan to you.