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A Great Way to Do PR
As a business, non-profit or association manager trying to get a bang for your PR buck, you could pretty much concentrate on simple print and broadcast mentions or, for that matter, the whole basket of tactical public relations weaponry...
All The Comforts Of Home - Or Home Office!
With the continued explosion of small business startups these days, home office setups are becoming more and more of an issue. You need all the standard equipment of a brick and mortar business, but can you afford them? And does it really make a...
Are you ever your own boss!
I recently met with a very successful magazine publisher who was telling me how a chain of retailers for his magazines wanted everything their own way, even at the expense of losing revenue for their stores and missing out on the opportunity to...
Do You Love Food? - Then Maybe Opening a Restaurant is Not Such a Crazy Idea
The day care industry is expanding. There are now more than 100,000 licensed child-care centers and 250,000 licensed family day care homes across the United States. The market for day care increases every year as the working mother in society...
Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a New Business
Owning a home used to be the “American Dream.” However, this long-standing goal that so many aspired to, and ultimately reached, has been replaced with a new goal -- becoming a business owner. At first glance it sounds perfect: Leave the...
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THINKING SMALL
In talking with one of my funding reps recently, he mentioned that in his many dealings with entrepreneurs at many levels, he found that the vast majority of them had been trained to "think small." The reasons for this were that they were constantly being reminded of
1. the difficulty of raising capital,
2. high interest rates charged by lenders to small companies or
3. the insistence by many venture capitalists that the company owner(s) surrender control of their companies.
If, instead, they continued to "think small," they could still retain control of their company, even if they were unable to expand due to lack of capital and a funding strategy. Thus, these entrepreneurs are encouraged to export their products or services and are discouraged from becoming multinational corporations.
I've found similar attitudes. When I discuss a $1 million funding , I've often heard, "But it costs more to go public in the States" or "We only grossed $2 million, last year." These are often examples of being stuck in a mental rut, locked into what is thought to be "possible."
In such cases, my response is, "I understand. That's what you've been thinking about and planning...and that's fine. However, can you set that plan aside for a few moments and imagine what you might be able to do if your company were a multinational corporation? If you could get not only that million, but several millions more?" I generally hear a long silence at that point. Then the ideas begin to pop, the possibilities expand. If, however, you really don’t want to be a multinational corporation with its associated problems and the hard work required, along with the potential huge rewards, probably reading on is a waste of your time.
But if such an idea appeals to you, what are some ideas which might be considered?
ACQUISITIONS
You can grow the value of your company rapidly by finding cash producing companies in your field, supportive of your main product/service, that you might be able to acquire for cash. That saves you the huge costs of creating a new market. You buy it already established instead. It builds company value far
faster than by simply ramping up production, advertising and/or marketing.
FRANCHISING
Does your product or service lend itself to franchising? Macdonalds and similar firms would be far smaller if they had simply opened branches. The business would have become unwieldy very quickly. Helping others to own their own businesses, while they, in turn, increase your company’s cash flow, makes great business sense. It’s another way to buy a new market rather than building it.
FACTORING
While you’re building your company, can you increase cash flow if your product or services are sold to other commercial enterprises. Factoring is the fastest, most reliable form of rapid cash flow ever invented. One of the cheapest, too. The practice is over 3,000 years old and used by hundreds of thousands of companies. See my full article on this subject.
INTEGRITY AND PROFESSIONALISM
Probably the single biggest factor which made us decide to work with this funding group was their extremely high levels of integrity and professionalism. They trumpet a win-win-win intention from the very beginning. In over twenty years in the financial field, I’ve never met a group like them. Click her to read about them.
THINKING BIG
My suggestion is simple: Think BIG! What was your original dream? Might you be able to achieve it faster than you've thought? How big are you willing to grow? As an entrepreneur, what are you willing to tackle? If you can qualify for the funder’s program, we'll support you in your rapid expansion toward your goals.
About the Author
Mr. Barnes is President & General Manager of Capital Funds Group Ltd., a Canadian based consulting firm specializing in putting companies and financing together. They also work with non-US companies to take them public rapidly and inexpensively, then funding them with expansion capital.
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