Small business owners are always seeking ways to grow their business. Whether you are going after business-to-business (B2B) clients, business-to-government (B2G) contracting opportunities, or business-to-consumer customers (B2C), growing your business is the foremost thing on your mind.
It is all about growing your business to the next level and beyond. How you do this takes a multi-pronged approach. One such approach has to be diversification in how you operate your business and how your received payment for goods or services rendered. Understanding how diversification will play an important role whether you are going through survival or growth mode.
Getting a new contract or increasing business-to-consumer clientele will shift the dynamics of your company. It is important that you continuously work your business and marketing plans to fit your business model. If you do not work these plans, you can find yourself in jeopardy of failing.
Here are some questions to consider:
- Are you effectively working your business and marketing plans?
- Can your small business support an influx of new business?
- Do you have the staff to cover the increase in services and/or product delivery?
- Can your business maintain the growth potential over a sustained period of time?
- Are you financially set up for this great opportunity?
- Do you know how you will access working capital to maintain this growth period?
- If you are not financially sound, how will you finance this growth potential?
All of the questions listed above are vitally important, even if your small business is struggling to survive. If your business has taken a hit, such as low sales or tax issues, you seriously need to know your business financing options. You also need to know how to access these non-traditional financing, otherwise referred to as alternative financing, and when to do so. Remember, timing is an important factor in all that you do.
Accessing non-traditional financing is similar to accessing traditional or institutional financing with some variables. For example, how much time do you need to obtain funds, what are your decision-making options, and what changes need to be made to achieve desirable solutions for all parties are important things to consider.
The types of non-traditional financing vary in methodology from Micro Loans, Factoring, Equipment-Lease Financing, Asset-Based Lending, Purchase-Order Financing, and even Peer-to-Peer Lending. These options may be available to you depending on the type of financing best suited for your small business, and the actual source used to finance your business.
Growing any business can and will take a lot of work. Gaining access to the necessary resources your business needs, is important at all levels of operation. Having a mindset for success and thinking “Outside the Box” when needed, is vital to the survival or growth of your business.