Though running a business, small or otherwise, certainly isn’t easy, small businesses are hugely important here in the United States. With more than twenty eight million of them spread out over the country, it’s no surprise, really, that small businesses now account for more than ninety nine percent of the businesses found on U.S. soil. And small businesses carry a wider range than many people realize as well. From clothing boutiques to coffee shops to even luxury goods shops and auto repair shops (etc, etc), small businesses come in all shapes and sizes. When you choose to support small businesses, you are often giving directly back to your community.
But small businesses often struggle in ways that businesses on a much larger scale do not. For instance, cash flow can become a real problem at many small businesses throughout the country, as small businesses simply can’t take the hits that larger businesses might be able to sustain, as there is simply not as much wiggle room, so to speak, in terms of their finances. In fact, the data that has been gathered on the subject shows that among all the businesses that fail (small businesses or otherwise), more than eighty percent will do so because of a concern with cash flow.
Though there are many causes for problems with cash flow, one of the main ones can be linked back to unpaid invoices. Unfortunately, invoices are paid laid more frequently than they are paid on time, with more than half of all invoices (around sixty percent of them, to be a little bit more exact) paid after their due date. For a larger business, this might not be all that much of a big deal. But small businesses often rely on that money being given to them on time, and the absence of this happening can result in a huge issue with cash flow until that invoice is paid – and sometimes, the invoices that are missing are paid too late.
In fact, it has been found that the simple paying of invoices on time would make a huge difference, financially speaking, to small businesses all throughout the country. It’s estimated that small businesses alone would have the funding to take on more than two million new employees across the board if all of their invoices were paid on time. In addition to this, the prompt paying of invoices would also allow them to keep on the employees that they already have on a more stable basis, reducing unemployment rates – between the hiring of new employees and the continued employment of already existing ones – by as much as a truly impressive twenty seven percent.
But invoices are not always paid on time, and this is simply a fact that the vast majority of all small businesses will have to deal with. So what can they do in the meantime? How can they keep their businesses afloat? For many small businesses here in the United States, the answer lies in one of the best working capital funding strategies, small business loans in the form of business invoice factoring.
Invoice factoring loans are ideal as one of the best working capital funding strategies for a number of reasons. For one thing, they provide businesses with the cash they need when they need it. For this reason alone, business factoring services are one of the best working capital funding strategies, as they can help businesses stay afloat until they can get the invoice payments that they are owed and pay off the loan (typically in full). Invoice factoring loans are often varied by need as well, sometimes paying only ninety days worth of unpaid invoices, sometimes paying only sixty days, and sometimes paying significantly more.
But though invoice factoring loans are one of the best working capital funding strategies out there, it’s still important to remember, one of the best working capital funding strategies or not, they are still a loan and must be treated responsibly. Ideally, you will have good business credit before applying for one, as this will help you get the loan that you need.