10 Ways to Find Money for Your Project!

There are many ways to find money for your business or project. I will be talking about how to do that. No, I won’t be going with the ask your uncle for money. If you had an uncle who could give you the money, I am sure you would have done it by now. There are some new things happening that allow people to get money for projects. Some of it is bootstrapping but some of it is not. If you are frustrated trying to get the money together or every time you get the money together, something happens to take you off track, then you need to attend.

I will share with you one strategy that I will NOT be covering at the workshop. I appreciate you stopping by the page and want to give you value no matter what you decide to do. If you are already in business but need more money at your fingertips then consider this:

Sell Your Invoices to Improve Cash-Flow

It’s also called invoice factoring or factoring. Waiting for payment on goods already delivered can make a small business’ cash-flow tight. Using invoice factoring is an effective strategy to moderate the ups and downs of the billing cycle, yet only one fifth of qualifying businesses take advantage.
There are several types of invoice factoring, including debt factoring, which can help with salaries, tax payments and other financial demands on your business during the slow parts of the billing cycle.

Invoice factoring explained
Financing by invoice factoring similar to invoice discounting; it’s a business to business service leveraging invoices of sold goods to get cash now. Invoice financing, technically not borrowing, involves the financing business buying invoice receivables at a discount. Payment collection from the customer becomes the factor’s responsibility. By including a non-recourse clause in your agreement, they also take responsibility should the customer default. Be sure to deal with a reputable factoring company. They will be dealing directly with your customers.

How it works
Before your customer makes payment on their invoice, the factoring services company purchases the invoice at a discount, often 70-90 percent of full value. Once the factoring company collects from the customer, they’ll take an agreed upon service fee and return the balance to your company.

Why it works
There are several reasons invoice factoring is an effective option for your business.
You can receive immediate payment for invoices, better managing cash-flow over longer billing cycles.
Receive cash without effecting your credit rating. It’s still best to compare rates and charges to traditional financing options, like banks.Invoice factoring helps manage risk. you can pay bills and salaries on time, and have the cash on hand for unexpected expenses.
Moving collections to the factoring company gives you more time to work on money generating activities.

Potentially save money. Costs associated with invoice factoring can be more than offset by reducing your collection management costs, because the factoring company manages the process. Good’s factoring companies ensure customers pay on time, shortening the payment cycle.
Your ability to access more cash with invoice factoring grows as you increase your sales. As your invoices grow larger, your invoice financing increases. Stop renegotiating borrowing rates and credit limits with banks. By smoothing the ups and downs in cash-flow and allowing you to make payments when they’re due, invoice financing can decrease stress levels.

Let’s get you on the track to making your dreams come true. The Los Angeles Workshop is April 16, 2016 and ticket prices benefit the Celebrate Life Cancer Ministries.

5 tips to manage cashflow and improve business costs

5 tips to manage cashflow and improve business costs

Whether planning a start-up or reviewing financial management and operation of an existing business, there are usually two questions at the forefront of the mind: how do I manage cashflow best? And how do I keep business costs low?

To list down every recommendation, trick, piece of advice, process and consideration to address these fundamental areas of business success would require an extensive textbook… so this article offers five quick tips to establish control over your cashflow and business costs, and the impact they have on your profit, survival and growth:

1. Invoice smarter

Slow-paying customers can present a huge issue for small businesses in particular – especially when those businesses are experiencing the same issues as your business and waiting for their own cash to come in. It can be a tricky cycle.

Ensure your invoicing process is streamlined, invoices are promptly mailed out and the invoice content is clear and easy to read. Simple omissions such as failure to include purchase order numbers and payment terms can bring on setbacks and delays.

Assess whether your business is able to go one step beyond and make the payment process easier and faster for your customers.  Electronic payment systems, or discounts offered for rapid payment of invoices, can speed up transactions and may also improve processing times on your side.

2. Negotiate

Just because a price has been quoted, or you have been paying the same rate for years and years, doesn’t mean that is what you have to pay.

Work hard to negotiate with your suppliers since many are willing to discuss pricing and rates (they want to retain your business after all!)

Every little bit might just help – whether addressing standard utility overheads such as energy and phone bills, or working to pay less for the office stationery  – it could have a significant impact on your bottom line.

3. Get close to your accountant 

Many businesses, particularly smaller ones, look to liaise with their accountant only at a time of need.

A solid accountant can provide invaluable advice and serve as a useful resource, sharing knowledge, insight and recommendation all year round.

Services such as cost management, profit management, investment, funding consultancy and general check-ups can help you keep things on track and optimise the health of your balance sheet.

Build a regular relationship and dialogue with your accountant to drive smarter business decisions, higher profits, reduced taxes and improved cash flow

4.  Explore alternative credit and funding options

A wide range of alternative funding solutions are available in the market – non-bank lending is now at its highest in five years as more and more SMEs recognise the benefit of short-term, affordable cash flow solutions.

Beyond the company credit card, hire purchase agreements, leasing arrangements and overdrafts – cash flow products such as crowd-funding and invoice finance could provide much-needed cash and capital to help you manage seasonal demand, or the challenging peaks and troughs of delayed customer payments. If you have followed the previous tip and have a good accountant, they will be full of advice and recommendation on the best path for you.

Overdrafts, premium funding, lease facilities and cashflow funding products such as factoring can all be excellent tools to help match cash supply with outlays. These arrangements take time to set up, so you need to be prepared in advance.

5. Plan, plan, plan – and stick to it

Heavily monitor your balance sheet and your cash flow budget.

The continual review and action planning for the credit you arrange, the bills you pay, how you pay those bills, and when your payments are coming in are all critical for the survival of the business.

It is important to revise your cash flow budget periodically which an accountant can assist with and deliver as an automated, streamlined process. Simple exercises such as payment prioritisation, strategic management of credit terms, weekly cash flow projections and payment collections all form the foundations of the dynamic accounting function of a business.

A solid system in place such as this will also allow you to plan for lean times and schedule purchases and allocation of capital when you need it most.

About the Author: Beth Nicholas is a professional writer for Plus Accounting – chartered accountants and providers of business financial services based in Brighton, England.

Learn how to stop paying for postage

Learn how to stop paying for postage, and get a higher customer adoption rate

Yes, you read that right!  It’s not that postage is going down – in fact, expect postage rates to climb as service slows down due to cost-saving closures by the USPS. No, the reason your mailing and printing costs are going to go down is due to a new form of technology called iPDF Billing offered exclusively by CTP Solutions.

Whereas you may have previously relied on printed, mailed statements to your customers, you now have the option of sending interactive electronic statements or a combination of electronic and printed statement to your customers. The great thing is, there’s a 35% – 50% electronic adoption rate for typical customers because the iPDF technology also offers them many great benefits.

For instance, customers can interact with their invoices in several ways:

• accessing their payment histories
• asking questions through a linked chat button to your customer service team
• learning about limited-time promotions your company is offering
• taking advantage of offers from your ‘paid’ affiliate advertisers.

Yes, I said ‘paid.’  What that means is that you can actually derive advertising revenue simply by offering unused ‘white space’ to others to market their products/services.

Plus, the iPDF technology allows you to modify and personalize the invoices you send out through its highly-flexible customer control of images, offers, and messaging using a graphical user interface.

Through the delivery of an interactive PDF (iPDF), you’ll be seeing costs going down and increased efficiencies for your company, your marketing and customer service team, and your document recipients.

Picture this: immediate delivery of invoices with no postage expense, less customer calls questioning bills and faster payments back to you.  Sound good?

Join us on September 18, 2013 at (time of webinar) for our free, hour-long webinar entitled, “Electronic Billing: How it Can Improve Your Bottom-line.” To sign up for the webinar or for more information prior to our webinar, please contact Jack Schachtel email jschachtel@CTPsolutions.com or call me  at: 818-597-1222 ext. 304