Small Firms Loan Guarantee its better than selling your kidney
Small Firms Loan Guarantee its better than selling your kidney
VC’s can get a bad press, if you’re looking for major capital investment expect to offer equity in return. What if you’re looking for a more modest investment to assist your business. There are always Business Angels or Private Equity investors who are looking for great ideas to help along the way, but you’ll still need to give away equity to secure the funding.
The alternatives tend to be sources of debt funding. These, however leave you with all the equity in your company but usually want your personal resources in return. You’ll need to offer the equity in your house or other assets that you’ve managed to accrue. They’ll expect to secure the loan against your holiday home in the Algarve or those gold bars under the bed should the unthinkable happen.
What if you don’t want to run that risk or don’t have the equity to secure funding against?
Her Majesties Governments of all colours don’t always come up with good business solutions. I could pull up a soap box and spend hours pointing out their failings. They did, however, come up with a great idea about 15 years ago to assist organisations who need unsecured funds for a variety of reasons. Aimed initially at the “Start Up” entrepreneurs but rapidly expanded into almost any type of commerce where investment is needed but security is in short supply.
As with most Government schemes, the SFLG comes with a hand book as thick as your thigh. This instructs you on who and how to apply. Most of the main lenders use this book as a door stop. This is because they are as confused as most on the rules and regulations regarding the Scheme and what the funds can be used for.
In a nutshell the scheme is this.
It is a government supported scheme that’s 15 years old and enables unsecured loans up to 250k.
To apply for this type of lending you do need a full business plan and 3 years of cash flow projections.
The Loan
Potential capital repayment holiday for the first 12 months to assist with cash flow.
You only need to draw down the amount you need at any one time allowing you to pay interest only on the amount drawn down.
Single application, once you’ve secured the loan you can top it up provided you continue to hit the qualifying criteria.
You can apply for a loan for every company you are a director of.
Interest rate is slightly above bank averages.
There are limitations on who can apply but often it’s a question of ensuring your business is shaped to qualify.
You’ll need a full business plan which includes a 3 year cash flow forecast linked back to your balance sheet and business plan. You’ll also need to know which lenders look most favourably on your business sector. 90% of applications fail either because the company isn’t shaped to qualify or they’ve approached the wrong lender for the funds. It’s always worth talking to people who know the rules and understand who funds against which project.
The Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme isn’t the only access SME’s have to additional funding. It can, like lots of Government Schemes, be daunting to the novice but it’s worth exploring before you sell a kidney.
Small Firms Loan Guarantee its better than selling your kidney - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Cottrell's Website.
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It’s rare that a business manages to go from start up to long term prosperity without having to raise funds. It can be at start up, when you’re looking to expand, for a take over or a rescue. Usually the times that additional funds are needed are exactly when they are difficult to secure. It’s when you’re looking for working capital because the cash flow is difficult or you want to fund that one big deal that will secure the future for you, that the traditional routes to funding seem to dry up. You could send your kids up the chimneys, or sell your soul to the devil, by jumping into bed with a Venture Capitalist.
VC’s can get a bad press, if you’re looking for major capital investment expect to offer equity in return. What if you’re looking for a more modest investment to assist your business. There are always Business Angels or Private Equity investors who are looking for great ideas to help along the way, but you’ll still need to give away equity to secure the funding.
The alternatives tend to be sources of debt funding. These, however leave you with all the equity in your company but usually want your personal resources in return. You’ll need to offer the equity in your house or other assets that you’ve managed to accrue. They’ll expect to secure the loan against your holiday home in the Algarve or those gold bars under the bed should the unthinkable happen.
What if you don’t want to run that risk or don’t have the equity to secure funding against?
Her Majesties Governments of all colours don’t always come up with good business solutions. I could pull up a soap box and spend hours pointing out their failings. They did, however, come up with a great idea about 15 years ago to assist organisations who need unsecured funds for a variety of reasons. Aimed initially at the “Start Up” entrepreneurs but rapidly expanded into almost any type of commerce where investment is needed but security is in short supply.
As with most Government schemes, the SFLG comes with a hand book as thick as your thigh. This instructs you on who and how to apply. Most of the main lenders use this book as a door stop. This is because they are as confused as most on the rules and regulations regarding the Scheme and what the funds can be used for.
In a nutshell the scheme is this.
It is a government supported scheme that’s 15 years old and enables unsecured loans up to 250k.
To apply for this type of lending you do need a full business plan and 3 years of cash flow projections.
The Loan
Potential capital repayment holiday for the first 12 months to assist with cash flow.
You only need to draw down the amount you need at any one time allowing you to pay interest only on the amount drawn down.
Single application, once you’ve secured the loan you can top it up provided you continue to hit the qualifying criteria.
You can apply for a loan for every company you are a director of.
Interest rate is slightly above bank averages.
There are limitations on who can apply but often it’s a question of ensuring your business is shaped to qualify.
You’ll need a full business plan which includes a 3 year cash flow forecast linked back to your balance sheet and business plan. You’ll also need to know which lenders look most favourably on your business sector. 90% of applications fail either because the company isn’t shaped to qualify or they’ve approached the wrong lender for the funds. It’s always worth talking to people who know the rules and understand who funds against which project.
The Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme isn’t the only access SME’s have to additional funding. It can, like lots of Government Schemes, be daunting to the novice but it’s worth exploring before you sell a kidney.
Small Firms Loan Guarantee its better than selling your kidney - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Cottrell's Website.
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For an online Car Loan Calculator and finance for a cheap car loan. Get approved on car loans or car finance in Australia with cheap bank car loans and finding a car finance broker. Commercial car loans including business car finance and car lease. Car Loan Calculator has information on finance companies and getting the right cheap car loan from banks at best car loan rates and a online car loan calculator for all finance in Australia. Get the best car finance with our help at Car Loan Calculator and Finance Ezi. - Visit Richard Jefferies's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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