Abrigo
APRIL 6, 2016
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” –Albert Einstein We could list many other amusing quotes about taxes and tax season. You can probably think of a famous quote right now. Tax season, as accounting firms know, is not just busy. It's the busiest time of year. Escaping this nonstop flight to April 18th can feel impossible.
Fundera
APRIL 29, 2016
Getting business financing today can feel a little bit like living in the Wild West. Startup businesses or those in “risky” industries often find themselves ineligible for bank financing—and foraging through the frontier of online lenders can be daunting. Business owners have to wade through unclear terms and high interest rates without much help. Have you found yourself in a similar situation?
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Fundera
APRIL 28, 2016
When it comes to food, most people just look to satisfy their taste buds. But another important factor is value: no matter how delicious something is, it’s difficult to get enough people to buy it if they think it costs too much. Finding the right balance between quality and price is a challenge for almost every business. No segment of the service industry is more acutely aware of this than food trucks and stands.
Fundera
APRIL 27, 2016
If you run a small retail or wholesale business, you know that maintaining your inventory—and the right amount of the right kind of inventory—is crucial to your success. To keep making sales, customers need to know that you’ll have the products they want and need available whenever they shop. But as with any business, cash flow can get tight from time to time for retail or wholesale businesses.
Fundera
APRIL 26, 2016
So you applied for a small business loan , but do you actually know what that lender is looking for in your application? If you want to have the absolute best chances of grabbing that business financing—so you can afford some new equipment, another marketing campaign, or a fresh batch of inventory—then you’re better off understanding what a lender really wants to see from you.
Fundera
APRIL 25, 2016
A Wool Story: Meet Meg Navoy from Nimblefox Productions on Vimeo. New York City resident Meg Navoy is all too familiar with just how wasteful cities can be. It’s a problem she tries to tackle one mitten at a time with her small business, A Wool Story. Meg is a knitter and craftsperson committed to a zero-waste life. Using 100% recycled materials, she takes wool products that might otherwise be heading straight to the dumpster and repurposes them into beautiful hats, mittens, and scarves.
Credit Management Source brings together the best content for credit management professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Fundera
APRIL 21, 2016
A business owner who moves into a relatively cheap commercial space is doing the right thing by keeping their fixed costs down. A business owner who finds a cheap space in a neighborhood that suddenly becomes more popular, thanks to the forces of gentrification, probably feels like they struck gold. But that same business owner might just end up in the tough position of suddenly dealing with massive rent increases, or even a lease non-renewal or eviction, from their landlord realizing the new wo
Fundera
APRIL 20, 2016
“Without business credit, you can’t secure a business loan.”. Many small business owners believe this—but it’s actually a serious misconception. It’s also one reason why plenty of small business owners with relatively new companies rely on personal loans or credit cards to finance their ventures. They just don’t think they have any other option.
Fundera
APRIL 19, 2016
“Business financing.” Those two words conjure up a thousand and one questions. Why do you need financing? How much? By when? Is your business doing alright? Are you doing alright? Phew—let’s take a step back for a minute. Finding business financing can be stressful, but it’s also one of the most important parts of starting and running a company. Few get along without finding some sort of external financing at all, and those that manage usually have to make a couple of sacrifices.
Fundera
APRIL 12, 2016
If you’re interested in starting a salon, you’re not alone: the beauty industry is worth over $56 billion dollars annually, and hair care the largest segment with 86,000 locations nationwide. Luckily, there’s rarely a shortage of people wanting to look more beautiful—even in economic recessions—and there’s often a waiting market if one is ready to open their own salon.
Fundera
APRIL 11, 2016
Every quarter, Fundera releases The State of Online Small Business Lending: a report that makes use of our data to educate business owners, borrowers, lenders, bankers, and anyone else interested in the trends of online small business lending. We do this because transparency isn’t just a buzzword at Fundera—it’s our mission. From our Small Borrower Bill of Rights to our very own business model, we’re trying to bring openness and accessibility to the lending industry.
Fundera
APRIL 11, 2016
Every small business starts from a single great idea. Ideas are a crucial part of our success as entrepreneurs: they fuel our work and unlock opportunities for growth. But where do they come from, and how can we attract more of those flashes of inspiration? What makes a good idea strike? That’s the question author Steven Johnson explores in his book, Where Good Ideas Come From.
Fundera
APRIL 7, 2016
Whether you’re just starting a business or moving a new product to market, it’s vital to keep your capital flowing. Many small business owners turn to loans to make that happen, and in recent years, a new kind of product has become popular for businesses that can’t qualify for longer funding—the short-term loan. Case in point: the amount of money that non-bank lenders provided for short-term loans doubled between 2012 and 2013 , increasing from $1.5 billion to $3 billion.
Fundera
APRIL 5, 2016
Dr. Donald Carter had a successful ENT practice in Denver for over 30 years before deciding to hand over the reigns and sell his practice. How did he come to this difficult decision? And how did he pull it off? “Keeping it in the family,” Dr. Carter sat down with his daughter Elle—Fundera’s Senior Operations Analyst—and answered a few of her questions on how he kept his practice running for so many years and what made him finally decide to sell it off. 1.
Fundera
APRIL 4, 2016
THIS MONTH’S FIRESIDE CHAT: Meredith Wood, Editor-in-Chief, sits down with Ryan Conti, Senior Account Executive, to discuss how you can figure out which kinds of loans make sense for your business. Small business lending has exploded in recent years, leaving small business owners with more choices than ever… But while that’s definitely a good thing, it can also get a little confusing.
Fundera
APRIL 1, 2016
Selling your products through just one channel is so 2000s. Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating, but it wasn’t very long ago that selling online through multiple channels like eBay, Amazon, or your own website was a major chore. You had to update multiple different listings every time an item sold—and hope very hard that you wouldn’t accidentally sell the same item twice on two different platforms.
Fundera
APRIL 21, 2016
Imagine that over the course of a given month, your small and young wholesale company has a sales volume of $50,000. You’re relatively new, so you’re pretty proud of those sales! At the beginning of the month, you estimate your costs in rent, payroll, and raw materials at about $46,000. So that’s $4,000 in profit, right? So you’re profitable! You broke even!
Fundera
APRIL 28, 2016
This time of year, taxes are generally on everyone’s mind—and that’s especially true for small business owners. ‘Tis the season to talk about tax liens and how they might affect your business. The Basics. If you’re not familiar with the mechanics of a tax lien, here’s how they work: Business owners who don’t pay their taxes on time will need to negotiate a payment plan with the IRS.
Fundera
APRIL 14, 2016
From millennials to baby boomers, almost everyone worldwide with an internet connection is on some form of social media. For entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, social media sites and platforms offer unprecedented access to advice and expertise from some of the greatest business minds of our time. But in all the white noise of business-related content that goes out on social media each day, how do you find advice worth your short supply of time?
Fundera
APRIL 15, 2016
When the majority of your formative career years are spent at a company like Merrill Lynch, you’ll learn a lifetime of lessons. And Emilie Christenson was certainly no exception. For over 12 years Christenson worked at Merrill Lynch, learning a ton about people, business, finance, and marketing—and managing big projects from beginning to end. “It was a great experience,” remarks Christenson.
Fundera
APRIL 20, 2016
When you’re applying for a small business loan , your business credit score is an important factor in the lender’s decision. There are a few different kinds of business credit scores that lenders might consider, but one of the most important that many small business owners don’t know about is the FICO Liquid Credit Score. Starting with the Basics.
Fundera
APRIL 5, 2016
While taking on debt in the form of a business loan might have been just what you needed to launch or expand your business, when you have the chance to pay your loan off early, you should, right? Not always. There are a few more things to consider. Why do you want to pay it off? And will it cost you anything to do so? Could paying your loan off before it’s due actually put your business further behind financially?
Fundera
APRIL 15, 2016
Letting employee spend on behalf of the company is a necessary part of running a small business. From event planning to construction, small business employees need to make purchases for a wide range of reasons—but traditional approaches to managing employee expenses can be frustrating and time-consuming. But prepaid business cards, coupled with expense management software, provide an alternative approach that small business owners can find useful and practical.
Fundera
APRIL 13, 2016
Money is the lifeblood of every small business, so having access to funding when you need it can make or break your situation. Business loans come in many shapes and sizes, though, so it’s not always easy to identify the right option for you. Figuring out precisely which loan—and which lender—best suits the needs of your business is vital if you want to stay competitive.
Fundera
APRIL 18, 2016
As a small business owner, you know that it takes money to make money. In order to help your business reach its true potential, you might find yourself needing to take on a loan to expand your customer base, increase your offerings, strengthen your workforce, or patch up temporary cash flow snags. And the good news is that there are more and more options now for small businesses that might not get approved for traditional bank loans.
Fundera
APRIL 26, 2016
Here’s the deal. Every business needs an accounting system: we’ve been over that a few times. So we got that part, right? I got this here. Cool. Now, I want to talk about your Chart of Accounts. I promise—this won’t take long. I just want to point out a few things to keep in mind when creating (or editing) your Chart of Accounts. What the heck is a Chart of Accounts?
Fundera
APRIL 13, 2016
Startup financing might seem like tricky business, requiring stressful meetings with potential investors or filling out page after page of loan applications. Some entrepreneurs trying to bootstrap their startup turn to an easy alternative— business credit cards. But is that a good or bad idea? As with so many things in the startup world, it depends.
Fundera
APRIL 7, 2016
If you’re like many new small business owners, you might not realize how important your personal credit is to getting you a small business loan. Learn why good personal credit is so important to future business credit—and how to polish yours. Why Business Lenders Look at Your Personal Credit Score. Lenders make their underwriting decisions based on the risk of a borrower not paying back the money received.
Abrigo
APRIL 28, 2016
Guest Post By Maria Contreras-Sweet, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration What creates two out of three net new American jobs; produces close to half of our nation’s goods and services (nonfarm private GDP); and can be found, coast to coast, in every small town, big city and rural enclave? The 28 million small businesses that propel our economy forward and define our national entrepreneurial spirit.
Abrigo
APRIL 27, 2016
If you’ve ever listened to or watched “The Dave Ramsey Show” or another financial advice program that features people who turned around their finances, you’ll frequently hear the host ask what prompted the people to make a change. Often, it was a crisis – a lost job or a major health problem, for example. It is human nature that many of us don’t get a handle on our finances until it is absolutely necessary.
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