Small business owners need to get extra funds. Are you a small business owner? Then you’ve thought about getting extra money for your business. It’s not hard, but in most cases, you’ve to get in touch with banking or financial institutions. Sometimes business owners don’t want to have a contract with banking systems, and that’s why they search for alternative funding ways.

Invoice factoring as a simple funding process

Invoice factoring could be a life-changing for small businesses. Have you ever heard about the invoice factoring? It’s a straightforward process, and you don’t have to partner with banks. How do you get extra funds without taking a loan? Well, it’s a simple thing. All small businesses have unpaid invoices. Those invoices are already hopeless for business owners, but “factoring” companies into the play. “Factoring” companies mostly buy your outstanding invoices and get in touch straight to the customer. They have some financial tool that can help those customers to pay invoices. Invoice factoring company takes a percentage from each invoice and rest money goes to your company budget.

As a process, it’s a simple yet compelling way to fund your company. You don’t have to get loans, vice versa; you get access to hopeless money.

How to choose an invoice factoring company?

The whole process starts with sending an invoice to the customer. When a small business does its job and delivers results, then it’s time for payment. The company carries an invoice to the customer. If a customer doesn’t pay the invoice, then “factoring company” comes in the game.

You should know that before a business decides to factor company’s unpaid invoices, it may take like 1-2 weeks before you get paid from “factoring” company.

When you think about factoring companies, don’t choose them right away. First, think about the number of invoices you want to sell, what will be the frequency of factoring, etc.

If you answer those questions above, then you can easily understand the significance of factoring companies.

What do factoring companies offer?

When you get in touch with various invoice factoring company, first you’ve to learn about their offers. What’s their priority? Are they capable of factoring a certain amount of invoices? What’s the percentage they take from each invoice? Will they have discounts if you cooperate with them for a very long time?

Importance of Spot Factoring

There are so-called “spot factoring” agreements also. It’s some warm-up for a relationship with a factoring company. According to this agreement, invoice factoring company first buys single or few unpaid invoices from you. In this situation, “factoring” company wants to understand the credibility of invoices and your industry. They may schedule buying only a few invoices at a time.

 

Once you choose a factoring company, then your relations will go on next level. They will review your business, business credit score, and financial stability. You can learn more about the importance of business credit score before choosing invoice factoring company.

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There are limitless business opportunities online, and you can also find some of those in Amazon. If you’re a frequent online shopper then you should know that websites like Amazon also have an unlimited number of ways for you to earn more money. You can either sell directly or just resell something that’s already in the website.

If you are looking to expand your sources of income, you can make more money from Amazon:

1. Amazon FBA

FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon is a service that lets Amazon take care of preparing and delivering your products. You only have to ship your items to an Amazon warehouse for storage, and they will send it to your paying customers. In using FBA, you have to create an account to be a seller and input all the required details. You pay for the plan you choose.

Amazon has a lot of centers all over the world where you can ship your products. One of those is fbabee. You can review on any past updates that fbabee announced, so you are informed on how to send products and how everything works.

2. Amazon Affiliate Program

If you run your own website or blog, Amazon’s Affiliate Program can let you earn from those. Amazon’s Affiliate Program lets you monetize from your own blog. When you become an associate, you advertise the products from Amazon and its subsidiaries through your blog posts. It’s their way of helping web developers and owners earn money from their sites.

If you love writing, then you can use that to establish your site which provides helpful articles for consumers. You can write reviews of products which you can link to Amazon. Incorporate the affiliate link in the article, and when your readers click on it and purchase the product through your link, you earn a commission.

3. Publishing Your Books

Writing books is one of those things that you only need to pour all your effort on at first but could possibly earn you money for years to come. If you are looking for passive income, you can write a book and self-publish it. Write a quality book that you think is useful or even entertaining for people. If it’s great, then it could make you a huge amount of passive income.

Amazon offers three ways for publishing your book:

• Kindle – This is a digital reading format. You’ll sell soft copies of your book. The publication is free, and you get to own the rights of the book so you can make changes to the book whenever you need to. You can earn up to 70% royalty for every book you sell.
• Print – You can also sell hard copies of your book. The publication is also free, and you can earn up to 80% royalty fees.
• Audio – For audiobooks, you write the book and have someone narrate it. It will become available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. These platforms have different rates so you might want to read more about that.

You can choose any of these publishing options, and you can even select all three. Variety means having a bigger target market. You can appeal to those who prefer digital copies of the book, those who prefer traditional paperback, or those who would rather listen.

4. Sell Handmade Products

People who like creating stuff can also sell their crafts on Amazon handmade. It isn’t like selling any regular product on Amazon because your products need confirmation that they are indeed handmade. Amazon will charge a 15% commission and a $1 minimum referral fee.

Some handmade goods you can sell are:

• Cards
• Food in mason jars
• Quilts
• Jewelry
• Handbags
• Accessories
• Potted plants

5. Tips for Online Selling on Amazon

• Select Your Niche

If you are selling goods, choose your niche carefully. Some products don’t sell as well as others. The reason could be they are not on demand, they are useless, or maybe they are seasonal. Choose products that provide a use for the buyer — something that offers a solution for everyday problems like bath products or clothes.

Seasonal items are not entirely a bad idea. They could even increase your sales when it’s in season. For example, you make Christmas cards. Those cards won’t sell in May or April so you should have products that sell whole year round.

• Provide High-Quality Images

People tend to get weary when they buy stuff online. It’s because they don’t get to see or touch the products physically, so there’s a barrier for trust. Providing well-presented information and high-quality photos can ease their worries which can increase the chances of them buying your products.

• Keep Up with Good Reputation

Reviews are a huge factor whether people will purchase your products or not. You need good reviews to build trust among consumers. For good reviews, you need to uphold the quality of what you are selling. Five-star rated items are more likely to get bought compared to three-star rated ones.

Conclusion

You can never have too many sources of income. As long as its clean money and you are responsibly handling all of them, then it’s all good. Amazon offers lots of ways for profit so no one should say that there’s not enough chances or jobs in the world. While it’s true that there are plenty of competition but if you know what you are doing, then you are likely to succeed.

 

 

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Are you itching with an innovative business idea and just waiting to execute it? Does it have potential? Will it be a complete failure? Before entrepreneurs get the chance to build and launch their business, they might be wondering about the questions listed above.

You are in luck because you can more or less make an educated “guesstimate” on the likelihood of your business flying into success. There are actually ways to validate your big idea before launching it. You can carry out surveys to find out consumer behavior.

Here are some questions you might want to ask your target audience before starting your business.

1. Demographics of your target market.

Before anything else, you have to find out the demographics of your target market to know them well. The most basic demographic information you will need to build a robust framework or foundation are the following:

• Gender
• Age
• Status
• Location
• Education
• Number of children
• Income bracket
• Contact details
• Where did they heard about you
• Employment details

One of the most important things to know is the age of your consumer as this can go a long way. Many of the items you sell, you’ll have to take into account which generation your target audience belongs to. This will help you craft your product according to the preferences of the generation you are targeting.

2. Will this product solve one of your problems?

Your product must be able to solve a problem. Whether it may be a solution for cleaning or commuting woes, your product has to have a purpose. By asking this, you can also pinpoint who will be willing to buy your product or service and who to sell to. You can find out by running surveys through Survey Steve. Surveys are one of the most useful tools to find out market sentiments about your product.

3. How much would you pay for this particular product?

One of the questions you must ask your target audience is their willingness to pay. This needs to be asked to find out how much you will be pricing your product. Sometimes people are willing to pay more for the item even though you are pricing it lower. It’s crucial to know price points to adjust your costs and prices accordingly.

4. What do you think of the prototype?

When asking your target market, show them a prototype of the product or description of the service. Afterward, ask them to comment on the look, how much they like it, and what their suggestions are. Since they are the ones who are going to buy your product, you want them to love almost everything about it. Any comment should be well appreciated. You can also do this online through the Best Online Surveys for Amazon Gift Cards to find out customer sentiments.

5. Where will you buy this product?

You want your products within the convenient reach of your customers. Determine where you can effectively market your products by asking their purchasing patterns. Should you sell it in a grocery store, department store, a mall, or a kiosk? Will it be more convenient and conducive to sell it on an online platform? This will also help you develop a strategic game plan before launching your business or marketing materials.

6. What do you do for fun?

Get some insights into your customer’s hobbies, favorite books, movies, and interests. Talking about this can also reveal some demographic and behavioral information that can allow you to make better products for your consumer. It’s also important to look at a snapshot of a day in the consumer’s life.

This can help you find out where to place your ads, so your product comes into the mind of consumers. By doing this, you’ll be able to target your marketing efforts on the best placements to get the highest possible ROIs.

Launching a business will never be easy. Because of this, you must revalidate your ideas by asking your target audience to build a strong business. With the questions listed above, you should be guided on finding out what matters to your target audience and be able to make better decisions regarding your business. Hope this guide was able to help you pinpoint weaknesses and strengthen your business idea.

 

 

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If you want to venture in any business, you need to have enough capital. A franchise business is an excellent opportunity for you to become an entrepreneur. It’s a flexible business suitable for a newbie. By educating yourself about franchising through online resources, such as franchiseknowhow.com best opportunities, you’ll gain awareness and understanding of the best franchising strategies you can apply as a first-time franchise owner. But, what are the financing options available to start and sustain the first few months of your business? How can you pay the hefty franchise fee, advertising costs, and ongoing royalties? In this post, you’ll learn the different options available to finance your first franchise business. Let’s get started!

1. Franchisor Financing

The franchising industry is more flexible than ever. You’ll get the infrastructure and support you need from a well-established corporation. Because of tight competition, many corporations are offering great franchise business deals, including offering tailored financing solutions. Franchising options are now available depending on the capability of the franchise owners to capitalize in their small business. There are even programs offered to finance franchise fees and purchase of equipment. Some franchisors have partnerships with lending institutions and others provide a capital in the form of a loan or installment payment, directly from the corporation. It’s good to work with a franchisor who is also offering a good financing program.

The financing agreement differs, wherein some would shoulder as much as 75% of the required capital.  Deferred payment and structure repayment are two examples of the financing agreement. It’s advisable to talk to your accountant or lawyer to review the terms of the franchise and financing agreement so you can fully understand the terms and conditions before signing anything.

2. Traditional or Commercial Bank Loans

You can also borrow money from the bank through a commercial bank loan. How does it work? With a commercial bank loan, you’ll need to present documentation of your business plan to the lender for review. Your personal credit history will be checked. The bank will determine your capability to pay the loan amount you’re requesting. You’ll get a better rate and payment terms if you have a higher credit score and a stronger financial history.

3. Small Business Administration or SBA Loans

An SBA loan is considered one of the most desirable financing options for aspiring franchisees. It’s funded by the intermediary lending partners of the United States Small Business Administration. SBA loans follow the same model of a traditional bank’s term loans and alternative lenders. Lending companies offering SBA loans offer longer repayment terms and lower interest rates because they’re given an incentive, and a portion of the loan amount is guaranteed. There’s a strict qualification standard for SBA loans, but it’s a good idea checking your chances of getting approved with this type of loan before looking for other financing options.

You can also consider other business funding solutions from third party lenders to create more cash flow for your business.

4. Alternative Lenders

For quick money or to supplement your SBA or commercial loan, some alternative lenders don’t impose strict requirements with a shorter turnaround as compared to traditional methods. Alternative lenders offer term loans, business credit lines, and equipment financing. However, expect more expensive loan products from alternative lenders. This financing option is recommended for those who aren’t eligible to get an SBA or bank loan. This finance option is also useful if you need fast cash to start a life-changing opportunity.  It’s nice to enter into a franchising business if you plan on resigning or retiring early as a good source of income.

5. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a new and creative method of financing your franchise business. This financing option is also applicable if SBA, bank, or alternative loans aren’t possible due to blemish in your financial history or too high-interest rates. There are organizations you can approach to crowdfund your franchise business, or you can create and promote your crowdfunding website or fan page to gain investors.

6. Friends and Family Loan

Your friends and family are the closest people who can help you capitalize on your business. It’s a common way to finance a franchise business. However, the problem when you borrow money from your loved ones is the risk of family disagreements and lost friendships when the payment terms aren’t met. You’ve probably heard of some family businesses that fell apart because of money issues, and that’s the last thing you want to happen.

If you have willing family and friends to finance your business, it’s important to put everything in writing, similar to a formal contract, showing clear expectations and repayment terms. By doing so, everyone has a clear understanding of the terms and conditions which will prevent any disagreements and breakups in the future.

Conclusion

Becoming a franchise business owner is an excellent opportunity to test your entrepreneurial skills. You’ll get the support you need from a large corporation, even when it comes to financing your business. The other financing options like commercial and SBA loans are also available for those who have a good credit score or financial history. Crowdfunding, alternative lenders, and borrowing from family and friends are also flexible financing options you can try. The best financing option for you highly depends on your capability to pay and your compliance with the loan requirements. Happy franchising!

 

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