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Considering raising finance for your business?  Should you borrow?

Posted by Pete Faulkner on Jul 18, 2018 3:38:00 PM

Stealing probably isn't the best option but when seeking funding for your business, be sure that no one steals from you.  Get the best deal for your business by knowing what you want and what is available.

Running you own business can be intensely satisfying, rewarding and frustrating at the same time.  What I want as a director/owner is to be able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.  Opportunities wear many masks and require different tools to unlock their potential.  I have probably been in the same position as you will have been.  I know I am likely to be in the same positions again. 

I bet these scenarios are very typical for most business owners:

  • Your business is flying but you are struggling with cash flow and sufficient working capital to take advantage of opportunities?

  • You know that new kit will make such a difference to your bottom line?

  • Following expansion, you have to move premises and wonder if you should look at buying next?

  • You took out finance a few years ago. Whilst you would like to extend this, you know that you should now be able to negotiate better terms and you wonder what is best for you?

  • You have a great idea for a new business, you have done your research, you know how you would manage it’s birth and growth, you have people on board with your idea but don’t have enough cash to get started?

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These are just some of the scenarios facing entrepreneurs every day.  The answer normally involves money, someone else’s money!

A problem most successful small business owners face is, like most of us, they are specialists in their given field but unsurprisingly do not have an acute understanding of business funding and what is best for them.

  • What business finance is available?

  • What funding is best for my business requirements? Should we seek independent advice?

  • How do we go about applying for business finance?

  • When we have decided that applying for business funding is right for us, how do we select the best lenders to approach?

The aim of this blog is just to reassure you that we are all in the same situation and that we need to give the funding question a quick sense check? 

  • Are you very clear about what you might need funding for and what difference the funding will make to your business?

  • Have you considered what is important to you. Are you prepared to either; take on debt that will probably involve signing personal guarantees or, alternatively, for selling a share in your business where it is likely new investors will want some involvement in your future decisions; after all they will own some of the business?

  • Are you prepared? For anyone to trust in your business they will need to see that you have a detailed realistic plan.  How will you use the funding to achieve your objective?  What is your objective?  Do you have a business plan with everything that a business plan entails?  Even if you end up not requiring the finance, you really must have a business plan!

I would like to answer all of these questions for you.  Unfortunately, like you, whilst I believe I’m pretty good at what I do, what I’m not is a specialist in business funding.  In the course of our day we are often asked our opinion on the finance options that our personal guarantee customers have selected or are contemplating.  This made us think about writing a detailed paper giving customers the answers they are seeking. 

I encourage you to download this booklet.  We receive no benefit from distributing this and we have no relationship with the authors; that’s how good we think it is!

We hope you enjoy.

Download report

 

                                                              

Topics: #commercial finance

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