Is blogging right for your business? I would say in almost all cases that it is. We had stopped blogging the past year because like a lot of things, we ran out of time. However as we evaluate the many marketing channels available to us, this is certainly a way to discuss some of our successes and failures in regard to marketing. Hopefully these shared experiences will benefit other small to medium sized businesses. As I continue to view and review other blogs, I get ideas and understand how things may benefit our marketing mix.
One of the keys, I believe, is that the blog has to touch on subjects that their audience needs information about. A blog can not be a company (or person) simply saying all the great things they do. We have experiences with a lot of small to medium sized companies in a variety of industries and we can share those experiences without naming names and hopefully those experiences will benefit our readers.
Another benefit to blogging is that you will hopefully understand better what your target market is searching for. The better you understand the issues your customers have, the better you can provide solutions for those issues.
I look forward to diving into a diverse range of subjects regarding small to medium sized businesses. I am also a very positive person and look forward to how America’s businesses will fuel the recovery of our economy. Let’s enjoy the ride.
Alternative funding for business is a real hot-button issue for most companies in America. Finding resources which can finance a company without the delays, documentation downloads, and decision-less credit committees can be a matter of life and death to a business. Where do you find an alternative to banks and investors? Factoring of invoices can be the answer.
Accounts receivable factoring has been in existence for over two hundred years in America. It is a low-cost, high-speed way to put money into the company checking account. It utilizes a client’s customer’s credit rating and payment history, not the client’s rating or history, so factoring taps into an un-mined resource. Turnaround time for funding is very fast, usually 48 to 72 hours after submission of documents. After that, most invoices get funded within a day.
Factors manage accounts receivable, collect balances and report the information to their client. It’s like having an off-site A/R department. The elimination of the costs for collections staff or collection agencies, the overhead and difficulty of managing accounts receivable and the lack of cash flow that often results from running an in-house A/R effort makes factoring all the more attractive.
Costs for factoring invoices run between 2% to 5%, so the issue of discounting invoices to get payments in early becomes moot. The money lost from providing early payment discounts more than covers the cost of having another company take care of collecting and accounting for the invoices.
Research factoring and you’ll find a reputable, viable, long-present industry which provides a number of valuable services to their clients. It is a competitive, resourceful and an available alternative.
Searching for a solution to the cash crunch? It may be frustrating looking at the current economic environment and seeing what options are available for a small business to get funding. The government is promising liquidity through the banking system. Unfortunately, most banks are in a tough spot. They would like to lend, but they certainly do not want to do any “bad” loans. The banks’ guidelines have not changed much, but it is hard for a typical business to meet the guidelines of profitability, debt to equity ratios, current or quick ratios, debt coverage, etc. because sales, equity, asset values, etc. have slumped in the last eighteen months.
How does a business keep going when the bank is not loaning money? There are a few options. It’s surprising how few options there are, but there are a few. Investors, asset sales and discounting on sales or invoices are a few ideas. Reading some of the small business gurus who write for large newspapers; these seems to be a pretty common thread that runs through their narratives. Friends, family and other fools – credit cards – state and federal loans or grants through your local/regional/state government all pop up.
What is truly interesting is that none of them mention Factoring. Factoring is an excellent source of money. As an alternative lending resource, it is highly valuable and entirely legitimate. As a means to get cash for operations financing, it comes at a very reasonable cost – between 2% and 5% of a factored invoice.
Accounts receivable collection, management and reporting can all be handled by the factoring company making it a complete, one-stop alternative funding resource. Contacting and starting the process for factoring requires minimal time and effort and normally results in funding in less than 72 hours. Three days or less – it seems too good to be true, but it is true.
Investigate factoring for your business. You’ll find a competitive, capable, supportive partner who respects a business’ need for cash and provides a long-term, cost-effective funding alternative for many companies.