Thursday, May 3, 2012

Why Every Business Needs Business Funding & A Backup Plan In This Economy


In this economy, you never know what may happen.  However, most people do not take steps to secure their business in the event of a downturn or other issue until it is too late.

As a successful business owner, I know that the time to acquire access to money for your business is when you don’t really need it.

No matter how well thought out and organized your business plan is, there are always unexpected issues that arise that can substantially slow down or even halt the opening or growth of your business.

Have you ever wondered why some businesses stay open for years through every economic shift while others can’t even stay open a few months?

The number one reason for this is lack of enough funding!

What the mainstream does is just go to a bank with your own personal guarantee and get a loan or, if you’re really fortunate, find some angel investors to provide capital.

But then the question is, how do you go about getting enough funding if you’re personally “maxed out” and/or you are too new (or some other reason) to get business credit or investors?

In all my years as a business owner, I often times felt like there must be some “big boy” network or “insider” information that I just didn’t have in order to get all the types of funding outside the norm.  Well, as it turns out, I was mostly right, there are other avenues and although they are not known by most, they aren’t secret either.  You just need to know where to go and what to do.

The few people who do know how this works just keep it to themselves and when they do share the information with others, the charge quite a sum.

So what should you do in order to open your business and keep it growing regardless of what issues may arise?

·         Educate yourself on these other sources of funds and start immediately on establishing credit for your own business whether you think you need it or not.

·         Set up a “Set Aside” account that will be a contingency against immediate cash needs.  Take a percentage of gross sales and put in this savings account and then try and operate so that you never need it.

·         Keep your overhead expenses as low as possible so that even when sales are down you can still stay open.

·         Build an email list of your current clients and prospects and use an automated system to stay in contact with them.  Your best source of income is always your customer base.

If you follow just those four steps, you will be doing what I feel most small businesses don’t do and you will be securing your businesses future and even allowing for growth.
Find out more on how to get many types of business funding and access to our investor network http://bestlistbuildingonline.com/businessfunding.html