Financial Strategies

all business owners, one of the most perplexing situations is a realization that there are now essentially “good banks” and “bad banks”. To make matters worse, it is rarely easy to distinguish between the good and bad ones. For many commercial borrowers, business finance consulting has emerged as a helpful tool to determine which banks are still effective. But overall, the world of banking has changed dramatically for almost everyone, and many business borrowers are angry and confused by a new commercial banking landscape that does not seem to be working very well.

One of the more difficult aspects associated with the “good bank and bad bank” analogy is that there are so many competing explanations as to what constitutes a “good bank”. One popular analysis has focused on how much banks are really worth in view of the toxic assets that are so complicated to evaluate. In this perspective, “bad banks” are those whose assets are estimated to be worth less than their liabilities and as a result have been referred to as “zombie banks” and “dead banks walking”.

Not surprisingly we have not yet experienced a bank which has openly agreed that their liabilities exceed their assets and therefore they should be considered to be a zombie bank. This would be tantamount to describing themselves as a bankrupt bank. If a bank is truly deserving of the bankrupt status (and there are a number which certainly appear to be in this category), the current banking laws do not permit such a bank to go through the kind of bankruptcy process being considered by General Motors and Chrysler.

Instead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is supposedly required by law to assume the operation of the bankrupt bank until a new management and ownership arrangement can be established. For a number of smaller banks, this has in fact occurred during the past few months. What has been missing so far from this legal bank takeover approach by the FDIC has been the inclusion of larger banks which appear to have problems that are much more serious than the smaller banks which have already been liquidated and transferred to new owners by the FDIC.

The reason that the FDIC has not liquidated larger problematic banks has not been made public. It is certainly possible that the FDIC and key public officials feel that the public failure of a major bank would create a crisis of confidence for all banks regardless of their financial health. An equally strong likelihood is that the FDIC simply does not currently have sufficient assets to cover the failure of a big bank. This viewpoint is supported by the recent announcement that the FDIC is in the process of raising fees paid by banks in order to replenish the FDIC insurance funds.

To realistically protect the future financial health of their own business, small business owners need their own evaluation standards to determine what constitutes either a “good bank” or “bad bank”. Business owners should include an assessment that focuses on results as to which banks can provide the needed help for their specific business circumstances involving working capital financing and commercial loan needs. The banks themselves are not likely to be helpful in providing the needed data to produce a candid evaluation of their financial status, even though such information would go a long way toward establishing a good bank-bad bank distinction.

As noted above, it might be possible that there are several bankrupt banks still functioning normally because they have not rushed to advise the public that they are in serious trouble. While most banks have been publicizing during the past few months that they are making SBA loans and small business loans in a normal fashion, in most cases these banks have actually reduced commercial lending dramatically. Some specialized business lending such as commercial construction financing has been frozen altogether in many areas.

In addition to the critical importance of identifying “good banks”, we have published a related report which describes the delicate issue confronting many business owners who might need to fire their banker. There are “good bankers” and “bad bankers” just as we have noted that there are “good banks” and “bad banks”.

Business finance consulting has emerged as an important tool to help small business owners work their way through a complicated commercial banking maze. One of the common questions asked in the Bernie Madoff fiasco concerns the repeated failure of investment advisors to analyze internal operations prior to placing investor funds with the Ponzi scheme constructed by Madoff over a period of many years.

Our candid final point is that the use of a commercial finance consultant should be at least considered by commercial borrowers in their search for new working capital loans and commercial mortgage financing. Businesses now need to act more aggressively than before in order to protect their own financial interests.

Many people today dream of owning a business. Being your own boss can be liberating, not to mention profitable. However, small businesses have a disturbingly high failure rate and the new owner wants a prospect with a proven history of success.

Franchises give entrepreneurs the opportunity to open a business with an established regional or national brand identity. With a plan to follow and experts to consult, your chance of success soars. Franchising is the path of choice for the slightly more conservative entrepreneur.

The downside of franchises is that they are often quite expensive, more so than starting a business under your own name. Coming up with the initial capital can be tough and preserving your assets is paramount. One of the largest expenses is equipment financing. When stocking your franchise with equipment, leasing rather than buying is the more cost effective solution.

Start up equipment leasing

The initial franchise fee buys you assets such as the right to use the brand, initial training, and long-term consultation to keep your business running profitably. You still need to acquire the equipment necessary to run the business.

For example, let’s say you buy a franchise of a successful, well-recognized steak house but you need tens of thousands of dollars worth of stoves, tables, and plumbing fixtures. Rather than taking out a huge loan to equip your restaurant, equipment leasing allows you to get the kitchen and dining room furnished without depleting your valuable capital.

Financing upgrades

When you own a franchise, you aren’t truly your own boss. You still have to make changes at the whim of the parent company in order to preserve the brand. Sometimes this is something simple like integrating a national ad campaign into your local marketing efforts or changing a few options on the menu. Sometimes it’s more complicated and expensive.

Parent companies look at the national or global impact of their decisions and project the financials years in advance. They reason that a short-term loss in assets, say from upgrading their restaurants nationwide, is worth it for a long-term boost in profits.

On the multi-billion dollar corporate level that might be fine, but the cost of upgrades can be devastating to the local franchise owner. Small business owners don’t have the deep pockets of the parent corporations and it can be daunting to face the prospect of substantial debt in the hope of future profit.

For a small business, equipment leasing allows significant upgrades to be done in a more cost-effective and less financially damaging manner. You don’t have to squander your resources nor risk your credit rating on expensive new purchases.

Although you may be part of a national or global franchise, you are actually a small business owner. You have the benefit of consulting with experienced support personnel at the parent company, but you are operating on a tight budget and can’t afford huge equipment costs. Equipment leasing is the smart choice for franchise owners.

Buying a house or a car is a huge decision because of the money involved. This is the reason that customer will look into the budget first and check if the salaries of the spouses can pay the monthly amortization before pushing through with the deal.

It is a good thing that most car dealerships and real estate developers offer easy payment financing plans to the customer and all the person has to do is choose whether to pay it in the next 3, 5 7 or 10 years. In business, the same thing takes place for entrepreneurs who do not have sufficient funds. Instead of reaching out to banks, it will be a good idea to talk to a venture capitalist investor.

Should both parties have an agreement, a financing plan can be drawn up from the moment that the startup business opens. What is the first step in starting any business? This will be to come up with an idea and then write a business plan. This document should cover the objective or goal of the business, the amount needed, the projected sales and the return of investment.

Though the timeline for this project is not accurate, it can give the investor a good idea as to how much money is needed and how long will this be recovered. The next thing for the entrepreneur to do is to send this out to as many people as possible hoping that someone will like to invest in it. This may take months and countless meetings with various companies and individuals who in most cases will reject the proposal.

But those who persevere will soon be able to find someone who is willing to take a chance in the hopes that this will work. Where can the entrepreneur find an investor? The person can get this information from business magazines or friends. Those who have worked before and opted for early retirement can even tap the old boss or some former clients.

Venture capitalist investors will not just wait for the money to come back like the creditors. This is because aside from lending the money, these people will also be there taking an active role to make sure everything is all right. Before any important decision is made, these individuals will advice the entrepreneur so that each penny spent goes to the right place than regretting it after a setback has happened.

One of the most important things in order to start a business is a plan. Why? This is because more than 85% of those who invested fail with the inclination that money is all that is needed. Having a good business plan is like building a house using bricks instead of sticks. This will have the vision and objective of the company, how much is needed, the sales projections and the return of investment.

This will serve like a guide to be able to foresee certain problems and have contingencies in place to deal with it. Of course, the entrepreneur will still have to worry about money. But a sound business plan will surely invite a venture capitalist. This individual could either work alone or is a part of a bigger organization.

Maybe the person has no time to do it but sees the entrepreneur thinking in the same direction and will like to see how this turns out. Since most startups are risky with the possibility of failure, this individual will also like to play an active role in the business.

The venture capitalist is usually someone who is familiar with the industry that the entrepreneur wants to engage in. This means that person may know the ins and outs so that mistakes can be avoided and surging the business forward.

Where does the person find the person or the company? The entrepreneur can start by asking some friends or those at work should this by the step towards leaving the regular job and spending more time in this endeavor.

After getting a few references, it is time to write a letter together with the business plan to give the prospective investor what this is all about. A formal meeting will usually take place after that and if everything goes well, then the money will start pouring in.

Venture capitalist companies have helped a lot of starters in the information technology industry. The same thing can happen for the individual regardless of the field one is coming from because there are people out there who have the money and are just waiting for the right opportunity.

Does the individual have what it takes to come up with a business plan and then sell it to someone who has the money? That is going to be the question the entrepreneur has to ask oneself because these the venture capital company will also be reviewing other proposals with the same promise of returns.