Business Loans In Canada: Financing Solutions Via Alternative Finance & Traditional Funding

Business loans and finance for a business just may have gotten good again? The pursuit of credit and funding of cash flow solutions for your business often seems like an eternal challenge, even in the best of times, let alone any industry or economic crisis. Let’s dig in.

Since the 2008 financial crisis there’s been a lot of change in finance options from lenders for corporate loans. Canadian business owners and financial managers have excess from everything from peer-to-peer company loans, varied alternative finance solutions, as well of course as the traditional financing offered by Canadian chartered banks.

Those online business loans referenced above are popular and arose out of the merchant cash advance programs in the United States. Loans are based on a percentage of your annual sales, typically in the 15-20% range. The loans are certainly expensive but are viewed as easy to obtain by many small businesses, including retailers who sell on a cash or credit card basis.

Depending on your firm’s circumstances and your ability to truly understand the different choices available to firms searching for SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE options. Those small to medium sized companies ( the definition of ‘ small business ‘ certainly varies as to what is small – often defined as businesses with less than 500 employees! )

How then do we create our road map for external financing techniques and solutions? A simpler way to look at it is to categorize these different financing options under:

Debt / Loans

Asset Based Financing

Alternative Hybrid type solutions

Many top experts maintain that the alternative financing solutions currently available to your firm, in fact are on par with Canadian chartered bank financing when it comes to a full spectrum of funding. The alternative lender is typically a private commercial finance company with a niche in one of the various asset finance areas

If there is one significant trend that’s ‘ sticking ‘it’s Asset Based Finance. The ability of firms to obtain funding via assets such as accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets with no major emphasis on balance sheet structure and profits and cash flow ( those three elements drive bank financing approval in no small measure ) is the key to success in ABL ( Asset Based Lending ).

Factoring, aka ‘ Receivable Finance ‘ is the other huge driver in trade finance in Canada. In some cases, it’s the only way for firms to be able to sell and finance clients in other geographies/countries.

The rise of ‘ online finance ‘ also can’t be diminished. Whether it’s accessing ‘ crowdfunding’ or sourcing working capital term loans, the technological pace continues at what seems a feverish pace. One only has to read a business daily such as the Globe & Mail or Financial Post to understand the challenge of small business accessing business capital.

Business owners/financial mgrs often find their company at a ‘ turning point ‘ in their history – that time when financing is needed or opportunities and risks can’t be taken. While putting or getting new equity in the business is often impossible, the reality is that the majority of businesses with SME commercial finance needs aren’t, shall we say, ‘ suited’ to this type of funding and capital raising. Business loan interest rates vary with non-traditional financing but offer more flexibility and ease of access to capital.

We’re also the first to remind clients that they should not forget govt solutions in business capital. Two of the best programs are the GovernmentSmall Business Loan Canada (maximum availability = $ 1,000,000.00) as well as the SR&ED program which allows business owners to recapture R&D capital costs. Sred credits can also be financed once they are filed.

Those latter two finance alternatives are often very well suited to business start up loans. We should not forget that asset finance, often called ‘ ABL ‘ by those Bay Street guys, can even be used as a loan to buy a business.

If you’re looking to get the right balance of liquidity and risk coupled with the flexibility to grow your business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor with a track record of business finance success who can assist you with your funding needs.

Why Blog? Two and a Half Reasons Your Small Business Success Depends on Your Answer

Why Blog? Do you like to eat?Kidding aside, here’s why leveraging your product or service with a great blog is the easiest way to build your following. You want your clients to get to know you so they know what you are selling. Competition is raging in nearly every field as thousands of people displaced from their careers are giving online business a try.As a small business owner, coach or author you have to do things differently to be noticed. That is old news. What’s new is that you have to be even more client savvy than ever before. People are being awfully careful about hitting that buy button.As John Hiler of Microcontent News says, “Just log onto the web and you’re in the Blogosphere. Geography has become irrelevant. The Blogosphere is increasingly global, and as more and more countries come online, it will become even more so.The Blogosphere is nearly free–both for bloggers and for readers. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can take part in the global conversation with some of the smartest and most informed people on the planet. What are you waiting for.”1. Google LOVES Blogs: Blogs are dynamic websites. Adding content every week is what makes the site get Google’s attention and gets it ranked closer to the first page.. Traditional websites are static. New material is not added every week and so even though they may be beautiful, they are not as attractive to Google.2. Your clients use Google and they are typing something into the search window that could be pointing to you. If you have enough presence on-line and they can find you! The more pages you have on line, the higher your internet presence is recognized by Google.Each blog entry is a page and you have complete control of when and how often those pages are published, you don’t have to have a web designer publish for you. (Awesome for all the control freaks out there, just sayin’)Blog Angel Tip: Don’t over do it though, two a week is considered polite in cyber-land, if you slam with 4 a week, it is considered rude and you never want to be perceived as rude on-line, it’s a neighborhood after all.3. Do you really need a number 3?Blogging is simply having a pen pal relationship with your clients or customers. The key is to have an easy format for posting. I use WordPress and have since I wrote my first blog in 2007. Once you open the door, your followers will come right in and they will let you know what they are looking for. Seriously. Nearly all of my list building is done through my blog.My blog tells me exactly what people type into the Google search window that brought them to my site. Then I write articles with that very issue, sometimes the exact question that was searched. (Google: “I Just Had Ex Sex. Now What?” and you’ll see what I mean.)I operate my entire business from a blogsite. I have a separate site for the LOAinLoveClub.com I work at getting two blogs posted a week. Some weeks I make it, some I don’t. I also send notices through Facebook and Twitter whenever I post a new blog. I have met the best people this way…clients, colleagues and mentors.If your blog experience hasn’t been fun for you, yet…. please don’t give up! It is possible to learn a few basic skills and be enjoying your blog time in no time! If I can do it…you can do it too!

US Markets in green on Friday; Dow 30 up over 345 points, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 up nearly 1%

US Markets were trading in the green on Friday with Dow 30 trading at 30,678.80, up by 1.14%. While S&P 500 was trading at 3,701.66, up by 0.98% and Nasdaq Composite 10,690.60 was also up by 0.71 per cent

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US Markets in green on Friday; Dow 30 up over 345 points, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 up nearly 1%
Earlier today, Indian stock markets ended the week on a winning note. It was the sixth straight gains for equity markets. Source: Reuters
US Markets were trading in the green on Friday with Dow 30 trading at 30,678.80, up by 345.25 points or1.14 per cent. While S&P 500 was trading at 3,701.66, up by 35.88 points or 0.98 per cent and Nasdaq Composite 10,690.60 was also up 75.75 points or 0.71 per cent. A Reuters report said that today’s strength was on the back of a report which said the Federal Reserve will likely debate on signaling plans for a smaller interest rate hike in December, reversing declines set off by social media firms after Snap Inc’s ad warning.

Source: Comex

Nasdaq Top Gainers and Losers

Source: Nasdaq

Earlier today, Indian stock markets ended the week on a winning note. It was the sixth straight gains for equity markets. The BSE Sensex ended at 59,307.15, up by 104.25 points or 0.18 per cent from the Thursday closing level. Meanwhile, the Nifty50 index closed at 17,590.00, higher by 26.05 points or 0.15 per cent. In the 30-share Sensex, 13 stocks gained while the remaining 17 ended on the losing side. In the 50-stock Nifty50, 21 stocks advanced while 29 declined.