by speedadmin | Feb 28, 2023 | Blog
Cash flow is important because it lets businesses meet both immediate and future financial obligations. To improve your business’s cash flow, try implementing some or all of the following strategies.
Monetize Your Savings
A fire-and-forget way to boost your business cash intake is by seeking a savings account with a high-interest rate. Assuming you won’t need the funds in the near future, the contents of a savings account can build up money through interest payments without effort on your part.
Excise Excess Expenses
All businesses incur expenses, but without occasional pruning, unnecessary expenses can linger and eat into the cash flow of your business. For instance, subscription-based software that nobody uses anymore can extract money regularly from your business while providing nothing in return. To counteract this problem, set up a regular schedule to review your recurring expenses and eliminate unneeded ones.
Incentivize (and Make) Early Payments
To get cash from clients and customers into your business’s coffers sooner, you can implement a discount program, rewarding people when they submit their payments early. Conversely, you can approach your suppliers and contractors about whether they’ll offer a discount to your business in exchange for ahead-of-time payments on your part. Either method may boost cash flow.
Promptly Invoice Clients and Customers
After your business has delivered goods or services, send out an invoice as soon as possible. This way, the person or business that owes you money will get the invoice while the payment is still top of mind. Be sure to clearly spell out due dates, acceptable payment methods, and any penalties for late payments.
Research Different Price Points
Some businesses don’t maximize their cash flow because they’re undercharging for their product or service. To get an idea of whether your business is undercharging, try researching what your business’s competitors are charging. That can help you figure out what price(s) will maximize your profits while still being acceptable to consumers.
Looking for specific advice on your business’s cash flow situation? The experts at Speed Funding are available to talk.
by speedadmin | Feb 21, 2023 | Blog
Bridge loans are a financing tool many borrowers have turned to. Essentially, a bridge loan fills in the funding gap that arises in situations like when you’ve sold a home but are waiting for the proceeds to flow in. They are quite useful whenever an individual or business needs to cover a cash-flow gap, as shown by this article’s look at their advantages.
Bridge Loans Have Faster Applications
Compared to traditional loan applications, such as those for mortgages, bridge loan applications are generally faster. That makes them a good fit for when a business or individual needs to make a time-sensitive purchase.
Shorter Terms
Bridge loans are generally shorter than most other loans businesses and individuals encounter. You can usually expect a loan repayment length of six to 12 months. Conventional loans often drag out for many years, so bridge loans can be a good way to get cash in quickly, then promptly move on from the debt. (This condensed timeframe may come with higher interest rates and different payment obligations than a borrower is used to, so as always, carefully consider any loan’s parameters before entering an agreement.)
Protecting Opportunities
A bridge loan can help borrowers make sure opportunities don’t slip away. For instance, if a business is short on cash because they’re waiting for clients to pay, but a great deal on inventory presents itself, the business could use a bridge loan to seal the deal on the inventory. As clients pay up, the business would pay off the bridge loan. An individual, meanwhile, may use a bridge loan to make sure a real estate opportunity doesn’t fall through.
Convenience
Bridge loans can lead to more convenient transitions for individuals and businesses. On the individual level, if you need to move rapidly for a job, a bridge loan can let you secure a home in your new city quickly. Businesses, meanwhile, gain access to funding rapidly while avoiding long-term debt obligations.
Considering bridge loans or another type of funding solution? At Speed Funding, we’d love to discuss your options, so please reach out today.
by speedadmin | Feb 17, 2023 | Blog
Search engine optimization isn’t some mystical enigma that’s impossible to decipher. It’s also not as simple as some brands may think. SEO requires hard work, experience, and persistence, but if you follow through, you can get great results.
That’s par for the course for most things in business, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that investing time and money in SEO pays dividends. What should you do to have greater success?
Work with SEO Professionals
The first key to success is hiring the right company to help with your digital marketing efforts. In the world of online advertising and search engine optimization, it’s true what they say: you get what you pay for. If you try to do it yourself with a small team, it’s not realistic to expect good results.
SEO professionals have two main advantages for helping your web content perform better. First, they have years of experience. They understand how key markets and statistics work, so they can adapt when changes are needed for results. Many SEO experts also keep up with search engine changes, so they use modern techniques that competitors probably don’t know about.
Use Keywords Naturally
A common mistake for businesses with new websites is spamming keywords all over the place. Choosing good search terms for your audience is smart, but articles need to make sense for the average reader. Otherwise, your web pages sound like an advertisement. People tend to ignore that type of content, which hurts your rankings considerably.
Instead, choose high-value keywords for your customers, and then create entire articles around them. For example, imagine that you want to attract visitors looking for the “best power tools for construction.”
Instead of using that keyword phrase over and over on different pages, create a detailed guide dedicated to the best power tools for construction. That way, you can use the keyword naturally throughout the content, but visitors receive high-quality information that helps them.
Make Navigation Simple
Imagine what it would be like if a grocery store only had one long aisle with hundreds of different products on it. Finding the right item would be next to impossible. That’s exactly what it’s like for website visitors when you only have a single “products” page or “services” page.
To improve the customer experience and help your search engine optimization, create sub-pages under your main categories. Clothing websites do this with pages for “women’s fashion,” “men’s fashion,” “shoes,” and similar categories. The easier it is for people to find what they want, the better your page statistics look.
by speedadmin | Feb 14, 2023 | Blog
Annuities promise guaranteed future payments from the insurance companies that sell them. But if you need funds sooner, annuity financing is a useful tool for transforming annuities into immediate financial help. Annuity financing can help you keep possession of your annuity while still handling unexpected expenses or pursuing business ventures.
To make the most of this financing option, it’s useful to understand what non-qualified and qualified annuities are, plus the methods for unlocking short-term cash via an annuity.
Qualified vs. Non-Qualified Annuities
Qualified annuities generally are found in workplace retirement plans. Pre-tax dollars contribute to their funding. When they begin paying out income, that income is taxed. Meanwhile, non-qualified annuities receive their funding from post-tax dollars.
Non-Qualified Annuity Financing
Non-qualified annuity financing is a loan from your annuity you’ll pay back over time. You’ll first need to determine if the insurance company allows annuity loans, then apply. If you’re approved, review the terms carefully to make sure you can keep up with the repayment schedule. If you accept the offer, you’ll have quick access to a lump sum of cash.
Qualified Annuity Financing
Qualified annuity financing works similarly to non-qualified annuity financing, but to avoid taxes and penalties, you may need to meet certain guidelines, such as paying the loan back within a short time. Borrowing from a qualified annuity may lead to an undesirable tax loop, too: You’ll repay the loan with income that has been taxed, then pay taxes once again on the income the annuity pays out down the line.
Using Annuities as Collateral
Another annuity financing method is using an annuity as collateral to secure a bank loan. However, the IRS will levy taxes, plus a penalty if you’re younger than 59 and a half. Annuities that are part of a retirement plan are off-limits for collateral purposes, meaning qualified annuities generally won’t work.
Want to go over your financing options? Speed Funding’s pros are eager to hear from you.
by speedadmin | Feb 7, 2023 | Blog
Retail financing takes multiple forms, but they share the general goal of injecting cash into a retail business’s funds to help it operate. This article takes a look at three predominant types of retail financing: loans, merchant cash advances, and equipment financing.
Cash Advances
When a business takes out a cash advance, the business receives a short-term injection of cash from the financing entity. Generally, this involves one of two financing types.
The first financing setup is through a merchant cash advance. In this setup, the business receives cash, and then the lender withdraws a percentage of the business’s credit card sales, often on a daily basis.
The second financing setup involves ACH withdrawals. They are taken from the business’s bank account daily until the cash advance is paid back.
Different lenders will charge different markups for these services depending on the business’s creditworthiness and other factors.
Inventory Retail Financing
As the name suggests, inventory financing involves taking out a loan or using a line of credit to purchase inventory. Lines of credit are often a preferable route, as you can access the precise amount you need for inventory. Then, you’ll pay back the withdrawal to restore the amount of credit available.
Franchise Financing
Franchise retail financing helps franchisees get their franchise branch up and running. Some parent organizations run lending programs to help new franchisees out. Other potential sources of franchise financing include banks and alternative lenders.
Equipment Financing
Almost all businesses need some kind of equipment to operate. If purchasing the equipment outright is prohibitively expensive, businesses can use equipment retail financing to gain access to it. This can take the form of a loan, which is often preferable for equipment that will remain in use past the end of the loan’s repayment, or a lease, which is generally good for shorter-term equipment needs.
To explore retail financing and other funding options in greater depth, you can always talk to an expert at Speed Funding. Contact us to get started.
