Payday loans are the method of choice for millions of consumers whenever a financial emergency arises, as they offer quick cash in times of need, and are easy to apply and qualify for. So why are so many people bashing the payday loan industry? It’s simple, really. They see the unlawful actions of a few and assume that everybody is doing the same things – not disclosing terms, taking advantage of borrowers with usurious (excessive) interest rates, or in some unfortunate cases, requiring money up front; these loans are referred to as “advance fee loans,” which are Internet scams that have snookered hundreds of victims.As with any industry, there will always be some “companies” that seek to mislead customers to make money, all the while giving the industry a black eye. In addition to this, many borrowers take out payday loans without fully comprehending the terms of the loan, which obviously does not make for a positive experience. The fact remains, however, that obtaining a payday loan does not have to be a bad experience. If you research companies thoroughly, deal only with reputable companies with a proven track record, and carefully read the terms of a loan, you will find that obtaining a payday loan is a perfectly safe, manageable means to rectify your financial situation.Let’s examine the reasons why people choose to shy away from payday loans further. First, as previously mentioned, many borrowers are either not informed of the terms of the loan before signing the document, or simply gloss over the terms without fully understanding them. All of a sudden, the borrower finds him/herself in a precarious situation. It is mandated by law that lenders MUST disclose all terms in the loan agreement, including the interest rate and schedule for repayment. By simply reading over your loan agreement before signing it, you can decide whether or not you want to proceed.Secondly, let’s be realistic – the interest rates associated with payday loans are rather sky-high. What one must realize is that you are paying for convenience – you are getting fast money at a much higher interest rate than a regular loan. Whereas approval for a regular loan could take weeks, approval for a payday loan can be almost instantly. Credit does not factor into the decision either, so applicants with bad credit or no credit can get approved – when you consider all these factors, it is not hard to understand why lenders are able to get away with charging high interest rates. A rule of thumb to remember, as you have probably seen elsewhere, is you will be charged $15 for every $100 you borrow. The bottom line is, that if you borrow infrequently and responsibly, payday loans are the ideal short-term solution for a financial emergency.Probably the most unfortunate reason why payday loans get such a bad rap is because many borrowers misuse and/or overuse payday loans. They simply rely on them too much, and use them for unnecessary reasons, such as to go on vacations or purchase expensive things. That is not what payday loans are supposed to be for! Payday loans have an explicit purpose – to provide short-term financial relief for emergency situations – a hospital bill, car problems, etc. Overusing payday loans is another problem, as many borrowers have gotten into situations where they have to roll over loans because they cannot repay them. This results in financial ruin, as finance charges pile up and all of a sudden your financial “emergency” becomes a financial “nightmare”. Again, if you borrow infrequently and responsibly, this can be avoided, and payday loans can be seen for what they are.In conclusion, there is a common thread here – in order to get the full benefit of a payday loan and ensure that your experience is as smooth as possible, the onus is fully on you to make sure you do not either get taken advantage of or plunge yourself further into debt. By dealing with reputable companies, such as industry leaders OneHourCash or PayAdvanceLending, you can avoid being taken advantage of and feel secure knowing you are dealing in good faith. Lastly, by borrowing ONLY for financial emergencies and not for unnecessary things you can live without, you will be able to avoid any further debt and the despair that comes along with it. It is up to you – do your research, and make the right decisions.
Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?
There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.
In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.
But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.
Different Types of Financing
One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.
Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.
But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.
Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.
Alternative Financing Solutions
But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:
1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.
2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.
3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.
In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:
It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.
A Precious Commodity
Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).
Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.
Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?
Online Marketing Your Home Business With Google AdWords PPC – Practical Do’s and Don’ts
There are many ways to marketing your home business online. Whether you are a season internet marketer or a newbie, it is always good to review some practical tips regarding your online marketing efforts. Whether it is articles, videos, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Bing, Yahoo or Google, marketing online requires some basic principles to ensure that you are executing your campaigns in an effective manner.We are going to focus on some practical do’s and don’ts when it comes to marketing via Google AdWords PPC.Let’s start with the Don’ts.
Don’t: Start using Google PPC without gaining knowledge. I know, this sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at the number of people that think “I’m smart enough, I’ll figure it out”. These are the same people that run through all the money they had with nothing to show for it. There are plenty of resources online that will get you up to speed on the in’s and out’s at basic level so you can go into PPC with a solid foundational understanding of how it works. Google has some good, free online training. There’s also Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide To Google AdWords that will take your knowledge even further.
Don’t: Start without reviewing Google’s Advertising Terms Of Service. Recently Google has been cracking down on violators of its terms of service. It is important that you understand what is and what is not allowed with Google. Chances are that if you violate these terms, you will be suspended and in some cases, banned from advertising on Google.
Don’t: Market duplicate websites. Google has a very complex algorithm that calculates the quality of your website. One thing that is known is that this algorithm takes into account whether the content on your website is duplicate. If you are going to market via Google PPC, make sure that you have a unique website with content that is unique.
Okay, now that we know some of the don’ts, lets look at some of the Do’s.
Do: Keyword Research. Before you initiate any campaigns, the first thing you want to do is your keyword research. Find out what keywords you want to target that your potential buyers are using to search for you. Without the right keywords, you might get some traffic, but it will not be the right traffic. You want certain type of people visiting your website, you want to attract your target market. There are some free keyword tools that Google provides including Insights, Trends and External keyword research tool. You can also purchase some more elaborate keyword research tools online. Don’t underestimate the importance of this very basic step!
Do: Competitive Research. It’s always good to do competitive research. Find out what your competitors are doing. Review the top ads in your market, the ones that continue to appear at the top of the list, day after day, week after week. Take a look at their website. How does their ad tie back to their website? Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer, What about their ad attracted you? Did the website make sense after you clicked on the ad?
Do: Test, Test, Test. The most successful PPC marketers constantly test their ad copy and websites. Always have two or more versions of your ads running so you can split-test to find the best performing ad. Once you do that, make another small tweak and test again. Keep making minor improvements, but more importantly…
Do: Analyze Your Results. The only way you are going to make any sense of testing is if you analyze your results. PPC marketing involves a lot of analysis. Constantly testing means constantly analyzing your results so you can move forward with the best performing modifications. Google provides reporting, charting, trending that will provide you with the tools you need to do some thorough analysis.
Do: Track Your Results. Always track what works and what doesn’t work. Don’t forget that you are in this to make a profit. What good is a great ad, great website, great product, if you can’t track what does and what doesn’t make sales?
Google PPC marketing is a force in the internet marketing world. There are plenty of people that have made tons of money using this method of advertising. Always remember to diversify your efforts, make sure that you’re marketing strategy includes PPC but does not completely rely on it. Treat your marketing strategy as you would your investment portfolio. Diversify, diversify, diversify. Just be sure to follow the practical do’s and don’ts when dealing with Google PPC.