Whenever a business offers payment terms to their customers — they become a sort of “lender.” The customer owes for the work, and the business is waiting for payment, essentially a business loan. There are things a business should note when offering terms that may bring beneficial results when looking to access capital. If a

Last week in “The Siren Song: The Bank as the Only Choice“, we covered why bank financing might not be the only option to funding a company in growth mode. Although banks usually offer the lowest cost of capital, it comes with strings that may very well inhibit this growth in certain situations. If a

Getting a loan from a bank always sounds appealing. Your company is growing, new hires are coming on board and it is getting increasingly difficult to pay bills, payroll and taxes. Most business owners instinctively think to call on a bank to lend them money to deal with this cash crunch. Here are some strategy

A lot of attention has been given to the draconian rules that threaten to go into effect in 2012, requiring organizations to issue 1099 forms to companies from whom they purchase over $600 in a year. While a repeal is in the works, you should already be tracking those expenses, in case Congress cannot get its act

As a government contractor, if your company is considering making a large purchase on credit or applying for any type of commercial loan, you will have to sign a UCC-1 Financing Statement when going to closing on the financing.  The U.C.C. or Uniform Commercial Code was developed as a way to promote uniformity among various state jurisdictions

A common complaint small businesses make is that government agencies stick to bigger vendors and don’t try out new smaller companies. (It cropped up again this week, during a Maryland small business forum featuring both of the state’s U.S. senators and Bridget Bean of the SBA.) The reason for this is contract officers (COs) don’t like problems.

The single biggest impediment to securing debt financing for your business is existing debt financing. A typical scenario in today’s economy has businesses reaching out for additional working capital from a new lender while already having a loan in place. A business may have qualified for a line of credit from a bank, and over

Whenever a lender is considering financing for prospective clients, the very first hurdle borrowers must clear is a determination of their creditworthiness. For borrowers, it is important to provide ample information in the formal loan request that speaks to their potential credit question. Often, borrowers are overwhelmed with the information they need to provide. Thankfully,

When it comes to sales and marketing initiatives the name of the game is to stand out. Typically the goal is to be unique and different from the crowd of competitors. But the opposite is true for companies looking to gain access to capital. There’s a good reason for that. Most people who deal with