One of the most common complaints from small business owners in the past few years is that they’ve had a lot of difficulties in obtaining the type of financing they require to expand or otherwise keep their companies afloat. As a result, many are trying to find more innovative ways to drum up funding when they want or need it.
Since the end of the recession, many of the nation’s financial institutions have been extremely restrictive about small business lending in general, leading to frustration and more severe problems for many owners, according to a report from the Huffington Post. In fact, most data shows that the issuing of these types of loans was, through the end of June, down 27 percent from the same month five years earlier. However, some other data shows that there has been an uptick in this type of lending activity over the summer, but much of the slack has otherwise been picked up by financing from other sources.
That includes small business owners leaning on family and friends for financing, as well as using company credit cards to finance things they might have used funds from regular lending to cover in the past, the report said. Other owners have brought on business partners that could inject a little cash into their companies, while some even relied on their home equity to keep their enterprises afloat in potentially rocky financial times. Of course, some of these decisions come with more risk than others, and owners will have to carefully weigh such decisions to make sure they are doing what’s right not only for their companies in both the short- and long-term, but also for themselves and their families’ personal financing standing.
One way that owners may be able to successfully free up some money that might otherwise be better used in other aspects of a company is to look into ways in which more affordable small business insurance may be able to shore up a company’s bottom line. Cutting monthly premiums for coverage such as workers’ compensation or general liability insurance, which are certainly vital so most independent operations, can save companies thousands of dollars over the course of a year and in turn put them in a better position to succeed as they attempt to expand their companies.
