Tuesday, October 27, 2009

10 Huge income creating startup business tactics

The economy is tough!  Who would start a new business in this environment?  The answer is a savvy business person who understands that when others are afraid there are greater opportunities.

Retail economics continue to look bad, however business-to-business (B2B) economics have huge potential.  Startup entrepreneurs looking for niches in B2B industries will find competitors cutting back on spending and staff in order to survive where the entrepreneur can innovate and excel as long as they have the right form of funding.

The following 10 income creating startup business tactics should help entrepreneurs see light at the end of the tunnel:
  1. Find a business-to-business idea.
    Mistaken entrepreneurs dive into retail in a down economy.  Giants in these areas have pressed their costs down to the limit and competitive startups struggle to compete.
    Instead, smart entrepreneurs realize that larger businesses who are letting off key employees to cut costs still need the services provide so they create startups to service these needs.  Great B2B industries that need refreshing exist.  Trained eyes can see it.  Talking to former executives in transition should shed light on such niches.
  2. Find a B2B industry that hasn't been refreshed with the latest technological tools where you can dramatically increase value.
    In typical niche life-cycles, 10 or so competitors fight it out to see who will deliver more value for less cost until 3 or so survive.  By the time such companies are in survival mode in a down economy, they have put off innovation because of larger relative costs.  However, grabbing available talent now in transition and starting a new B2B firm in those industries with alternative funding and new technology allows the entrepreneur to be ultra-competitive.
  3. Bootstrap and start lean
    Smart entrepreneurs know that in this financial climate getting a line of credit of loan from a bank for a startup could not be harder, so they get to revenue as soon as possible. They fund their grow with business development driven revenue and not selling equity dollars.
  4. Dramatically Increase Value
    With new tools that older companies in that industry haven't implemented or don't even know about, entrepreneurs are able to drive down costs and make more profit on competitive prices.  For instance, older manufacturing firms are heavily invested in the equipment they have now, but lean bootstrapping entrepreneurs can invest in new tech and executives with much experience in that industry.  It might be the difference between traditional printers and digital on-demand printers.
  5. Setup your startup to maximize use of alternative funding options
    Setup correctly, the invoicing and contract procedures can work for or against a startup.  If setup right, these same procedures can be optimized to work well with alternative funding sources.  The company can go after the type of clients that would make them fundable.  They can write contracts and sign up clients to make alternative funding work better.
  6. Fund only what you need
    When optimized for alternative funding, a startup can tape their assets when they need and not have long-term debt nor give up equity to grow.
  7. Utilize flexibility of alternative funding that grows with your company
    Startups might work 6 months to land a large deal only realize they don't have the cash flow to take the deal.  Alternatively funded startups and small enterprises can woo that business in confidence that they are optimized to be able to cash flow enough to excel for that client too grabbing the higher end of markets previously only touchable by much older and highly capitalized firms.
  8. Do what you do best and let the alternative funding firm minimize your cost of collections
    Collections normally doesn't fall under the expertise of entrepreneurs, yet they spend precious time and energy in collections trying to hurry large clients to pay early so they can pay taxes and payroll and suppliers in time.  Alternative funding optimized firms know that their funding source knows how to collect faster and that they aren't tied to waiting however long that client takes to pay.
  9. Tap alternative funding to avoid cost of lost opportunity
    Again large deals that might be impossible for cash strapped companies present no problem to firms optimized for alternative funding.  They can rest assured they wont miss out on the large deals with long sales cycles because they cannot afford the wait.
  10. Leverage your client's credit to fund and grow your business
    These firms know that while they don't have enough history or might even lack good credit, their funding isn't dependent on this.  Instead they go after large firms that might take longer to pay but which have good credit because they know they will get funded.  They also know that new clients will be pre-approved before they do any work for them minimizing the cost of wasted effort.
Now is not the time to hide from startup opportunities.  Now is the time for entrepreneurs to grab opportunities.
                 10-Reasons Companies Use Alternative Funding                

1. Significantly increase the cash flow of your business
• Earned cash is-available for qualified receivables in as little as 24-hours.

2. Use readily available cash to grow your business
• Funds generated by factoring can be used for new equipment acquisitions, inventory purchases, marketing expenditures/ facility improvements, etc. that otherwise may not have been feasible when you needed them most.

3. The process is very efficient and reliable
• Once approved, our clients trust American Prudential Capital for a userfriendly approach to doing business each and every month. Payments to our clients are dependable because we understand what a predictable stream of cash can mean to the life of any business.

4. Use what you need when you need it
• There are NO required monthly minimums for factoring and no long-term obligations. We recognize that factoring should be a "bridge mechanism" to more traditional financing and that typically our services are a season in the life of most businesses. Our contract is month-to-month because we earn your business.

5. Capital availability is flexible

6. Minimize internal costs associated with collections
• Your company will spend less time on collections since we take on most of this task. Thereby, you can focus more of your efforts on higher value-added activities such as sales and production.

7. Better knowledge of your customer's credit
• We are extremely proficient at verifying your customer's credit and ultimately their ability to pay your invoices. This enables you to make more informed decisions on where to target your efforts for the greatest gain and minimize your bad debt write-offs.

8. Leverage your customer's credit rating
• Your customer's good credit rating is one of the strongest assets you can have when factoring. It is their positive history as much as anything that makes this process work for you.

9. Factoring is not a loan
• No debt is created when factoring so there is NO negative impact on your financials. You are not using long-term debt to satisfy a short-term need for cash. This increases your appeal to traditional lenders because factoring creates cash in your bank account and not debt on your Balance Sheet.

10. Take advantage of early payment discounts to suppliers
• Minimize some of your factoring costs by leveraging supplier offered discounts for early payment and simultaneously increase your credit rating.

                 Find out what others think about working with us below                

What do our clients say about American Prudential Capital?

"As a subcontractor in the Commercial Construction' industry for nearly 12 years, I understand how difficult it can be to survive in a competitive market which is characterized by seasonal fluctuation and increasing demand for strong performance. My association with American Prudential Capital has been a lifesaver for my business. Not only have I received the financial assistance that I needed, but my good friends at APC have been there to help me make right decisions for our company. What I discovered by utilizing their service was that they truly care about their clients and want to help others succeed.' The degree of integrity with which APC conducts its business is unsurpassed. I trust them completely and I would highly recommend their services to any organization."                                               
Gary Carville - Commercial Care Services, Inc.

"American Prudential has been factoring Allrail invoices for over a year. They have been absolutely great to work with. Very simple process administered by a solid group of professionals. I have no reservations about referring this company to anyone."
Tom Morgan - Allrail Services, Ltd.

"We have been associated with American Prudential Capital using their invoice factoring services for over 7-years. Their helpful and dedicated staff has been a great asset to our business. The invoice factoring services are a great help with our cash flow which enables us to receive payment for our services within 24-hours after delivery. This helps us to manage our material costs for new orders and meet the needs of our customers."    
Larry and John Haller - Custom Welding & Fabrication