Lideresm Business

It’s going to be a big year for you! You’ve decided it’s time to step up and into your own small home based business – but you want to make sure you get it right so you don’t suffer financially, right? It’s common knowledge that many small business start-ups fail quite quickly, and home based businesses are no exception. There are many reasons why home based businesses fail. Here are just two things that can contribute to the failure of a home based business:

Inability to attract clients – particularly corporate ones – due to a perception of the business as a small home based operation;
Poor customer service including a failure to respond to prospective clients in a timely and professional manner, leading to a loss of business;

If you’ve done your market research and you’re confident you have sufficient funds to survive the early growth stages of your business you’re well on the way to success. The next step is to ensure that your business appears professional and that you’re able to attract good clients and communicate with them in a professional manner. A New York virtual office can help you with that – and from as little as $25 a month!

With a New York virtual office from VH International Business Solutions you can:

Have a physical New York office address for your business. The address can be used on your business cards and clients can send mail to you at the address. Any walk in clients will be able to leave a message for you at our staffed reception area.
Have a New York telephone number. Calls to your New York virtual office number can be forwarded to you or to a message bank. Alternatively, you can arrange to have a live operator answer all your calls during business hours and take messages personally.
Arrange meetings or presentations at your New York location – we have meeting rooms and offices available for short term hire at inexpensive rates. That means that when you need to be “at the office” physically, you can be.

You might be years away from being able to afford office rental in New York – and perhaps you don’t aspire to that at all – but a New York virtual office from VH International Business Solutions can give you many of the benefits of a great office address without the expense, or the need to travel to the office!

It’s no secret that small business operators often try to make themselves look bigger. It’s a matter of survival really. Corporate clients are often reluctant to deal with a one person business, particularly one that appears to be run from home or purely online.

Many online and home based business operators have only a post office box at best – and this can raise doubt as to their credibility – no one works out of a box. Prospective clients who find your business online will often first look to see if you have a street address. If you don’t, it raises the concern in their mind that if you don’t do the right thing by them, you can ignore their communications and they have no means of getting hold of you. It’s enough to make them leave your site and search for competitors who do have a street address.

There’s no doubt about it – having a street address gives your business credibility.

Likewise, corporate folk can be reluctant to deal with a one-person business because there’s a perception that if you were successful, surely you’d be bigger!

If you don’t want to work from a professional office address or you simply can’t justify the expense of renting city office space, but you need the credibility of having an office address then a virtual office in a major city can be the perfect answer.

A NYC virtual office from VH International Business Solutions can give you the appearance and credibility of a larger business at a cost of less than $30 a month. And you can still work from home, wherever that may be! Your virtual office will forward mail and telephone messages to you.

If your business is based in the country – or even overseas – and you already have a street address, you can give your business a boost by adding a NYC office address.

When the cost of a virtual office, from VH International Business Solutions, for an entire month is about the same as one good meal, and it could improve your business turnover, it’s difficult to come up with a reason not to give it a go!

The primary difference between a secured and an unsecured business LOC is that a secured credit facility has underlying collateral of which a bank or finance company can claim if you default on your credit line. As we have seen in previous articles, the collateral that can be used to secure a line of credit can vary greatly. Collateral can include but is not limited to:

Property owned by your business or personally
Equipment owned by the business
Accounts receivables
The general cash flow of your company (although this is semi-secured).

With an unsecured line of credit, there is no collateral involved. Again, this type of business LOC is highly akin to a credit card. Your income and your personal/business credit are the factors considered when applying for this type of credit line.

The primary benefit of using a secured line of credit is that the interest rate is typically far lower than that of an unsecured credit facility. Again, in the event of default, a secured line provides the bank/finance company with a great deal of security as you have pledged a tangible (and saleable) asset that the bank can use to recoup their debt investment. With an unsecured business line of credit, the granting financial institution has far less flexibility when attempting to require the funds that they originally lent to you.

As such, and if it is possible, you should try to obtain a secured business LOC. This will ensure that should something go wrong with your business – you have spelled out exactly what you stand to lose to the bank. However, it should be noted that if the collateral that you have pledged depreciates in value during the duration of the revolving credit facility then you will still owe the balance of what was recouped versus what was borrowed.

It should be noted that while obtaining an unsecured credit line is certainly possible, the current lending environment has caused almost all banks to now require substantial collateral for obtaining a business line of credit.

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In past discussions, we have focused heavily on obtaining a business line of credit, securing the credit facility, and the pros and cons of using this type of financial instrument. In this article, we will focus on how the terms of revolving credit facilities are often structured. As we have discussed earlier, the mechanics behind the usage of a business line of credit are pretty straightforward. Much like a credit card, a business LOC allows you the flexibility of drawing down a principal balance, paying the interest owned on a monthly basis, and the ability to payback the principal and use it again at a later time. Primarily, this article will focus on what happens when a credit line comes to the end of its term. Again, the typical time frame for a business line of credit can range anywhere from three to ten years (with the average line having a lifetime of five to ten years).

When the credit line is about to expire, one of three things can happen. First, you can apply to have the credit line’s life extended. If your business is doing well and if you are producing enough positive cash flow then more likely than not you financial institution will extend the credit facility for an additional number of years. Again, it is important to remember that banks are in the business of lending money, and if you have developed a solid history of responsible usage of your business LOC then there is very little reason for a bank to discontinue the line.

The second thing that can happen is that the line closes. This scenario will trigger one of two events. The first scenario is that any outstanding principal balance will be converted into a normal business loan, and will is to repaid over a specified period of time. This arrangement is typically within the business line of credit contract that you received when you initially applied and were accepted for the credit facility.

The more unlikely event is that any outstanding principal balance will be due immediately upon the closing of the credit line. Again, this will be discussed and placed within your borrowing contract at the onset of the credit facility. If this is the case then you should plan accordingly for when this day comes as any drawn down principal will need to be repaid immediately.

Although it sounds like we are now beating a dead horse, your accountant should be involved with the management of your cash flow. They will assist in ensuring that any of the three scenarios will be handled appropriately and will have minimal if no impact on your business.

While the primary focus of our discussions has been regarding the 7a SBA Loan, there are a number of other types of loans that are guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. These include the SBA 504 loan program, the Microloan program (which has some overlapping features with the SBA 7a loan), and the disaster assistance loan program.

The foremost guarantee program besides the 7a is the SBA 504 program, which is also known as the CDC loan (“Certified Development Companies). This highly specialized lending program is specific for providing long term and fixed rate financing to acquire large assets such as real estate or equipment. It is specifically designed for traditional businesses that operate “brick and mortar” type facilities. For instance, this type of loan would be most appropriate for a small scale manufacturer that needs a large fixed rate loan to purchase a new piece of manufacturing machinery. If this is the primary need of your financing then you may want to look at this program as an alterative to the 7a SBA loan. The maximum loan amount via the SBA 504 program is $1. 5 million or $2 million if the business conducts business with the federal government or a state government.

The Microloan programs provided by the SBA provide financing for businesses that need less than $35,000. These loans are primarily used for ongoing inventory purposes, cash flow management purposes, or inventory acquisition purchases. This is also one of the small business lending programs that is available to not for profit foundations (although they can only be used for purposes the benefit the community).

Finally, there is the disaster assistance loan program. Unlike other aspects of SBA programs, this loan can be used by individuals. However, this is not a frequently used program as it is specific only to when major disasters occur.

As we have stated before, the SBA provides a tremendous amount of flexibility when seeking business financing. Despite the fact that this site is dedicated primarily to the 7a SBA loan, there may be a number of other financing options that would be well suited for you needs.