Revisiting your business plan in 2008

As I look outside my office window, I am watching the snow fall quickly cover the bare branches of an oak tree.  It’s quiet this afternoon.  Groceries stores are busy with people running in to grab toilet paper, milk, and bread.  It’s a Baltimore tradition.  This gentle snow could be the blizzard of 2008.  Keep us housebound for days… sure.

The peaceful snowfall helped me to think about what you can do if this is a slow time for your business.  If you own a restaurant, January and February are typically slow months.  People get back to work, find out they have spent too much on presents, and decide they are going on diets.  Health clubs are swamped with the largest group of new members in any month.  So what can you do if you have a little more free time?

How about revisit your business plan. Read 2007’s plan and see what you have accomplished.  Are you still on track for 2008?  Have you made your changes for the 2008 year?  To operate at peak efficiency, your business must have a good sense of direction.  You cannot lead to a goal that you have not set.  You can wander aimlessly, having success, having failures.  But how can you really measure success?  It needs to be measured in relation to the milestones set.

Take the time to pull out your business plan. Give it a good read through.  Focus some effort on evaluating the goals and projections for 2008.  What actions can your company take to make 2008 your company’s most successful year ever?

Small Business Financing; Another Option?

Businesses seeking cash for working capital, look no further. There is a unique solution for clients who need a quick infusion of money now.

The reality of the economic climate facing business owners today is that traditional lenders are toughening the requirements needed to obtain working capital. 92% of all small business owners can not get money from banks. Reasons include length of time in business, lack of collateral, and owner’s poor credit just to name a few.

 

According to the latest statistics from Equifax, there are more than 18 million small businesses in the US. A high percentage of those small business owners are digging into personal savings, taking out home equity loans, borrowing from family and friends and running up credit card bills as forms of financing. All of these options require the business to take on additional debt.

 

Let’s explore a unique solution for business owners who need a quick infusion of capital. One of the least-known merchant financing strategies for successful businesses is potentially the single best working capital management strategy for obtaining needed capital. The use of a merchant cash advance program or credit card receivables funding.  For any business that accepts credit cards as a method of payment, a merchant cash advance is a critical business financing tool that is often overlooked. Capital advances are based solely on the predictability of a company’s future credit card sales. A merchant cash advance allows a business owner to get a large sum of cash now, without incurring any additional debt. The reason is simple; you are not receiving a loan. You are “selling an asset at a small discount”, your future credit card sales. Some of the key advantages of credit card receivables funding over other forms of financing are: no long application process, 24 hour approvals, cash in 7-10 working days, no application fees, no tax returns needed, no business plan needed, no closing costs, no fixed payment terms, no fixed time, no hassles. Typically a merchant can obtain between $5,000 and $300,000 per location.  The amount depends solely on your monthly VISA/MC sales volume.

 

You can you use the money for, buying out a partner, expansion, advertising campaign, hiring personnel, payroll, emergencies, almost anything related to your business.  Collection of the purchased credit card sales occurs automatically through the credit card processor, which sends the funding company a small fixed, predetermined percentage from each credit card sale. The seamless integration of processing and ease of obtaining working capital is a natural fit and an obvious benefit to businesses that can not acquire traditional funding.  Credit card factoring companies work with both established and expanding businesses to provide working capital to businesses in the small-to-medium sized range that prefer a funding option that aligns with their cash flow.

As you can see, a credit card receivables funding, or merchant cash advance, can potentially be the single best working capital management strategy for obtaining needed cash. This is a vital business financing tool that should not be overlooked.

 

Contact us at www.bedrockfinancing.com or email us at info@bedrockfinancing.com for more information.

Investigate your factoring company!

I came across this article while searching for news on accounts receivable factoring.  

A woman in New Jersey defrauded investors by soliciting their money to be used as part of a factoring business:
“Investors who poured $2.5 million into U.S. Funding were told their money would go toward buying other companies’ accounts receivable in a process known as factoring.But they weren’t told Angelica Gwinnett, the founder of U.S. Funding, would also be using their money to gamble in Las Vegas and Atlantic City or buy clothes from Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Victoria’s Secret. Nor were they told the telemarketers soliciting their investment would get as much as 40 percent of the money they brought in.”

It turns out the woman had no experience in factoring. But that did not stop her from sending marketing materials to investors claiming that she was experienced.

Please take the time to research the company’s you work with, especially when your hard earned money is on the line.  There are some very reputable and stable companies that offer legitimate accounts receivable factoring programs.  They have been around for awhile, because they know what they are legitamate. 

We work with a very reputable that provides factoring services to businesses.  Just ask us for details.  Remember, factoring can provided that much needed boost in cash flow to grow your company.

We Are Marshall

Just watched a great movie with my son tonight.  “We Are Marshall” was a great, inspirational movie.  Based on the true story of the 1970 Marshall team that died in a plane crash.  They lost their coaches, players, and some financial boosters of the school.

The coach had some great lines, (don’t know how many were made up or was he that motivational? 

Anyway, if you have not seen the movie, rent it.  Somewhere along the line, the movie will touch you. 

Are you smarter than a 12th grader?

I just finished reading a disturbing piece in Money Magazine, 35th anniversary special edition.

Quiz: Which investment produced the best returns over the past 20 years?  When asked in a recent survey, 18-24 year olds responded:

a) 52% said savings accounts

b) 20% said bonds

c) 16% said stocks

In fact, they got it backwards.  Stocks outperformed savings accounts by 11% points annually,  bonds by 9 % points.

Wow.  It makes you wonder what our education system is teaching kids these days.  But really, where do kids go for an education on money?  If their parents don’t teach them, who will?

First and Foremost

Yesterday, while at a birthday party, I happened to meet a cousin of mine who was looking into buying a liquor store. We talked and hopefully, we can work together to evaluate the financials of the business.

It reminded me of how important an elevator pitch is to your success. Whether you own a business or are an employee, that 15 second blurb about what you do, is vital to your success. If I was not able to clearly define what my company did, I might have never found about his liquor business.
Visit our website at www.bedrockfinancing.com
I’ll work on more tips over the next several days. Stay tuned. For any financing questions or needs, please check out my website.