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Whether you are starting an import business or have an established importing business, it can be a very profitable venture if you have the right financing to grow your business. Imports are defined as: a good that crosses into a country, across its border, for commercial purposes; a product, which might be a service that is provided to domestic residents by a foreign producer; or a combination of the two.

Starting or running an import business has never been more profitable because of computers, the internet, and the availability of low cost imports from countries such as China and Mexico. These imports may be resold for up to ten times their cost depending on the competition in your field of operations.

It is essential that you have good, honest suppliers plus creditworthy customers with purchase orders for your imports. If you have the right financing, your business can grow exponentially. But how do you finance growth if your own resources or bank lines of credit are not sufficient to take advantage of big opportunities? A combination of purchase order financing, accounts receivable financing with inventory financing may be the solution.

Definitions:

Purchase Order Financing

Purchase Order financing is the assignment of purchase orders to a third party, a commercial finance company, who then assumes the obligation of billing and collecting. Purchase order financing can be used to finance all current and subsequent orders to improve your company’s cash flow. The process works as follows: 1) Your company obtains a purchase order for products to be sold another company; 2) A letter of credit may be issued, based on a finance companies’ credit, to guarantee payment to suppliers or factories producing the goods; 3) The order is shipped, delivered and accepted by your customer; 4) The customer receives an invoice for the goods; 5) The Purchase Order Company pays the supplier/factory; 6) a commercial finance company or Accounts Receivable Finance Company pays the Purchase Order Financing Company after the products are delivered to your customer; 7) The customer pays the commercial finance company for goods received; The accounts are settled and the profit is paid to you.

Accounts Receivable Financing

Accounts Receivable Financing is the selling or pledging of your company’s account receivable, at a discount, to a Factor, a Commercial Finance Company or to an Accounts Receivable Financing Company who may assume a risk of loss. You receive a portion, usually 80% to 90% of the face value of your receivables in advance of payment from your customers in return for a fee, or interest, to be paid to the commercial finance company. When the commercial finance company is paid by the customer, the appropriate fees are deducted and the remainder is rebated to you. “Accounts receivable financing” is also called accounts receivable factoring, factoring financial services, invoice factoring and cash flow factoring. The terms are used to convey the same meaning.

Inventory Financing

Inventory financing is a loan secured by the inventory of your business. Inventory finance enables import companies to hold more stock without cash flow strain and to generate more sales. Inventory finance is often part of a Purchase Order and Accounts Receivable Financing commercial finance package.

These three types of financing can enable an import business to increase purchasing capabilities dramatically; you can accept larger orders and grow your business exponentially. You can use your inventory to leverage your purchasing power. You can use your customer’s credit to obtain these three types of financing; and you can use the commercial finance company’s credit to obtain a letter of credit.

The concept of financing your import company with “other people’s money” is part of a safe and sound business plan. Add strong product quality controls, inventory controls, and good accounting to maximize the success of your import company.

Copyright © 2007 Gregg Financial Services

www.greggfinancialservices.com

Individuals and small businesses sometimes balk about using personal finance and small business accounting programs like Microsoft Money for online banking or online investing. However, the sign-up process is usually very straightforward. And–and here’s the good news–the signup process is usually the only task that requires any true effort on your part.

Signing Up for Online Banking

To sign up for online banking, you need to talk to your bank. Specifically, you need to get the bank’s online banking application form, complete the form, and turn it in.

After you have turned in the form, your bank will send you a letter that explains how to connect to the service—this is really very easy—and give you a personal identification number, or PIN, that you’ll need to supply to Money so it can communicate with the bank’s online banking system over the Internet.

NOTE Your PIN may come in a second letter for security reasons.

Typically, once you’ve signed up for online banking, you use the service to pay bills, transfer money, and get up-to-date account information from your bank.

But let me make a quick observation. Although online banking can be a very helpful tool, the feature isn’t so powerful that it warrants switching from one bank to another. Switching banks is a headache.

You definitely don’t want to move from a well-run, convenient bank to a poorly run or inconvenient bank. What’s more, while online banking might save you time, it isn’t quite the silver bullet some of its proponents would have you believe.

Signing Up for Online Investing

Online investing services work roughly the same way as online banking services. To use online investing, you need to sign up for the service with your online broker. This probably means you complete an application, and then receive and follow instructions on how to set up Money for use of the service.

One clarification: You don’t actually buy and sell securities from within Money. Money’s support of online investing works like this: You buy and sell securities in the usual manner—probably using your web browser and an online broker’s web site. Money helps with your investment record keeping for this activity. What you may be able to do, what you should hope you will be able to do, is have the online brokerage web site automatically send investment transaction information to Money. By doing this, you won’t have to enter transactions in the Money investment registers. The online broker’s web site will do it for you. This is a great time saver—especially if you are an active trader.

Even though longer-term business finance techniques might be appropriate for many circumstances, there are some important short-term business loan options that will be less costly in producing improved credit card processing and commercial mortgage results for business owners. Short-term business financing choices can be misunderstood because of a preference by many business owners for long-term commercial real estate loan and commercial loan programs.

Two Important Short-Term Business Finance Options

Two of the most overlooked short-term working capital business loan strategies are short-term commercial mortgage loan programs and business cash advance programs in conjunction with credit card processing. Both of these business finance options are relevant for most business owners but are frequently misunderstood.

Short-term Programs for Commercial Real Estate Investment Financing

A long-term business loan is appropriate for many businesses that own commercial real estate investment property. Business properties should normally be financed with a combination of short-term and long-term business finance funds. When a longer-term commercial mortgage is viable, it is preferable to secure long-term business financing, preferably for 30 years.

However there will be many commercial mortgage loan situations in which longer-term real estate business financing is not appropriate for the business owner. In such circumstances it is important for a business owner to realize that there are viable short-term working capital management options.

When a Short-Term Commercial Mortgage is Appropriate

If a business owner plans to sell or refinance their business within a few years, it is preferable to explore short-term business finance options. The best short-term business loan will have minimal prepayment penalties in comparison to terms commonly included with long-term commercial real estate investment property financing.

The avoidance of business finance prepayment fees and lockout fees fees in some short-term business financing programs is an important benefit of these short-term commercial mortgage approaches. The absence of these potential fees could produce a savings of up to 20% or more if the business property is sold during the period which would have involved lockout fees in a longer-term commercial loan.

Short-Term Commercial Real Estate Investment Property Financing Limitations

There are some trade-offs that need to be understood if a business owner chooses shorter-term business financing even though prepayment fees will usually be avoided with a short-term business loan. When short-term commercial real estate financing is a realistic option, the loan-to-value will usually be no higher than 70%, the commercial mortgage will not be readily available for special purpose business investment properties such as golf courses and the interest rate will frequently be in the range of about 12%.

Best Investing Possibilities for a Short-Term Commercial Mortgage Loan

Warehouse, multi-family, office, mixed-use and retail business properties are the best possibilities for short-term business financing. Business owners should be comfortable with a time period of less than three years for a typical short-term business loan.

Fewer Mortgage Lenders for a Short-Term Commercial Real Estate Loan

There will typically be a very small number of commercial real estate investment property lenders who are effective at implementing the short-term commercial mortgage loan strategy properly. There are also a number of problems to be avoided with a short-term commercial real estate loan, so choosing an appropriate provider is extremely important to any business owner considering a short-term business finance program.

Credit Card Processing and Business Cash Advance Programs

For any business that accepts credit cards as a method of payment, a business cash advance is a critical working capital management tool that is often overlooked. Even thriving businesses frequently need more working capital than they can borrow. One of the least-known business finance strategies for successful businesses is potentially the single best working capital loan strategy for obtaining needed cash for growing their business: the use of a merchant cash advance or business cash advance program.

Primary possibilities to take advantage of this business financing program are service and retail businesses. This credit card processing and credit card financing strategy uses credit card receivables to determine the amount of a merchant cash advance.

Working Capital Management: Credit Card Financing and Credit Card Processing

This business financing technique is called credit card financing or credit card factoring. Some business owners might have used a business finance technique referred to as receivables factoring to sell future receivables at a discount and receive immediate cash.

Many service and retail businesses cannot document business receivables to obtain a business loan. Businesses such as bars and restaurants do not typically have receivables to use for business financing.

What these businesses do have in many cases is documented sales volume and documented credit card sales activity. It is this documented level of sales volume and credit card sales activity that becomes a financial asset to the business and its business finance strategies. Business cash advances from $5,000 to $300,000 can usually be obtained based on a merchant’s sales volume and future credit card sales.

A business financing merchant cash advance must usually be paid back in less than 12 months. For business owners that want to renew the working capital cash advance program, it is typically possible to get more working capital after payback of the initial advance.

Limitations and Problems to Avoid with Credit Card Processing and Merchant Cash Advance Programs

As with any successful business finance strategy, there will typically be only a small number of commercial lenders who are effective at implementing this working capital management strategy properly. There are also a number of problems to be avoided with business cash advance programs, so choosing the appropriate provider of this commercial financing service is extremely important to any business owner considering a credit card financing program.

The very terms “software leasing” and “software financing” are confusing to many businesspeople. This is due to the fact that software is typically not seen as something that is purchased over time.

This view is shared by both end-users, and the developers of software. Companies who think nothing of financing a vehicle or a new computer system will stress over how they will pay for expensive new business software. And the producers of software see no need for offering a software leasing or a software financing option.

But times are changing.

Third party equipment finance companies – companies who offer small and medium size businesses equipment financing and working capital – have responded to a need for software financing and software leasing. Thus, they are starting to include software amongst the equipment they finance or lease. There is one big overriding reason for this shift:

The High Cost of Buying Software

The simple fact is this: Software can be very, very expensive. Oftentimes more expensive than the hardware that runs it.

Now, keep in mind that when we are talking about software in this way, we are generally talking about “vertical software”. Vertical software is software that is written for a specific, narrow industry (this can include industry-specific point-of-sale software, ERP systems, specialized databases, etc). It is not software that’s available on the shelf at your local office supply store (the software you see there, even the business programs and operating systems, are “horizontal software” – they can be used across a variety of industries, and are relatively affordable.)

A good, clear example of vertical software is an auto parts store – they use software that’s specifically written for the auto parts industry. Another example is your local jewelry retailer – they likely use a point-of-sale system specifically made for the jewelry industry.

To understand how software financing and software leasing can positively affect a business, it is important to understand the advantages of vertical software first.

For most businesses, Vertical Software usually means far more efficient business processes. In the case of an auto parts store, for example, the software will already anticipate the thousands of automobile makes and models. And will almost certainly be updated every year. The jewelry store’s software will differentiate the subtle differences between two diamonds by any number of categories. And so on.

In fact, these “vertical” software programs are so effective, and become so crucial to day-to-day operations, that businesses often need this type of software to remain competitive. In many cases, it’s not an option to do without.

However, since the software is so narrowly focused, it usually comes with a hefty price tag. The developer will sell relatively few copies as opposed to a word processing program (which will sell in the millions), so they must get a premium for their work. Vertical software can sometimes reach five figures for a single license.

This brings an obvious problem: “Businesses need the software, but it’s very costly to buy outright.”

And that’s where software leasing and software financing come in – business don’t have to “buy” it upfront.

The Advantage of Software Leasing and Software Financing

The advantage of financing or leasing software is clear:

Software leasing and software financing take the huge up-front cost of new software out of the equation. Like most other business equipment, software is now beginning to be seen as a tangible asset (this was not always the case.) This means software can largely be treated as any other equipment purchase in the case of financing or leasing. A business can finance that new ERP system instead of having to budget a huge cash outlay.

This can be very beneficial to the bottom line, as software generally pays for itself over time. In fact, since “vertical” software almost always reduces the cost of doing day-to-day business, leasing or financing said software can actually create a positive cash flow right away.

But Who Offers Software Financing or Software Leasing, and how does it Work?

It’s true that software developers have been very slow to embrace the business model of software financing or software leasing. They would prefer to be paid up front for their software.

Likewise, banks, being part of an “older” industry, are also largely reluctant to finance software.

However, third party equipment finance companies who specialize in small and medium sized business equipment financing often offer attractive software lease and software financing packages. What happens is the equipment finance company pays the developer in full, and then provides the software to the end user under a finance or lease agreement, often at very attractive rates. In all actuality, it’s fundamentally the same as financing or leasing most other equipment.

Of course, like any other financing, the agreements can (and will) vary from traditional fixed rate financing to a “software lease” with a buyout at the end, etc. And the rates and terms also vary – your individual equipment finance company will have more details.

All in all, software financing and software leasing have definitely entered the business consciousness, and because it is so friendly to the bottom line, it is a business model that is here to stay.

Software leasing and Software financing are only a few of the services provided by Crest Capital. Regardless of the size of your company, Crest Capital can provide you with the equipment financing and working capital you need to successfully grow your business. Learn about financing options that can increase your bottom line and reduce your 2007 tax bill with a free online quote today.