Author: Complete Controller

Best Alternative Financing Options for Self-Employed and SMEs

Alternative financing has become a lifeline for self-employed individuals and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking funds for growth and success. Traditional lending institutions often need help with these businesses, making it crucial to explore non-conventional funding avenues. This article delves into the most effective alternative financing options available today, providing valuable insights for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Introduction to Alternative Financing

Self-employed individuals and SMEs frequently encounter obstacles when attempting to secure traditional loans. Banks typically require extensive credit histories, substantial collateral, and lengthy operational track records – criteria that many small businesses struggle to meet. Alternative financing bridges this gap, offering flexible and accessible funding solutions tailored to the unique needs of smaller enterprises.

Popular Alternative Funding Options

Peer-to-peer lending

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms connect borrowers directly with individual lenders, bypassing traditional financial institutions. This model offers several benefits:

• Lower interest rates compared to conventional loans
• Faster approval processes
• More flexible lending criteria

P2P lending caters to both personal loans and small business financing needs. When considering this option, it’s useful to discuss the basics of personal loans, as the principles often apply to business borrowing as well.

Crowdfunding platforms

Crowdfunding has revolutionized the way entrepreneurs raise capital. This method involves collecting small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via online platforms. Benefits include:

• Access to a wide pool of potential investors
• Opportunity to validate business ideas
• Marketing exposure during the fundraising campaign

For instance, Oculus VR raised $2.4 million on Kickstarter before being acquired by Facebook for $2 billion, showcasing the potential of crowdfunding. To discover the transformative benefits of crowdfunding, reflect on how it beautifully aligns with your business goals.

Invoice financing solutions

Invoice financing allows businesses to borrow money against the amounts due from customers. This option provides several advantages:

• Improved cash flow
• Quick access to funds
• No need for additional collateral

This method is particularly beneficial for businesses with long payment cycles. You can find more on learning about effective financial planning, including how invoice financing can play a role, here.

Merchant cash advance solutions

A merchant cash advance provides a lump sum payment in exchange for a portion of future sales. Key features include:

• Quick approval and funding
• Repayment based on sales volume
• No fixed monthly payments

While merchant cash advances can be more costly than traditional loans, they offer significant flexibility that can benefit businesses with fluctuating incomes. These advances provide a lump sum of cash in exchange for a portion of future credit card sales or receivables, making them particularly useful for businesses that experience seasonal variations in revenue or unexpected cash flow challenges.

This funding option allows business owners to meet immediate financial needs without the strict repayment schedules often associated with loans. This article explains how liquidity and cash flow management affect businesses.

Private equity funding

Private equity involves investment firms or high-net-worth individuals providing capital in exchange for ownership stakes. Benefits include:

• Large amounts of available capital
• Strategic guidance and expertise
• Long-term investment perspective

For example, Beyond Meat secured private equity funding before its successful IPO, demonstrating how this option can fuel rapid growth.

Emerging Trends in Alternative Financing

The alternative financing landscape continues to evolve, with new technologies reshaping the industry:

• Blockchain-based lending platforms offer increased transparency and reduced costs
• Artificial intelligence improves risk assessment and speeds up loan approvals
• Mobile-first solutions cater to the growing number of smartphone users

Experts expect these innovations to greatly expand small businesses’ access to capital, enabling more entrepreneurs to obtain the funding necessary for growth and success. As technology continues to evolve and transform various sectors, including finance, business owners and stakeholders need to stay informed about these trends. Read this article to gain a deeper understanding of how these advancements are shaping the landscape and to explore the latest developments.

Benefits of Alternative Financing for Small Businesses

Alternative financing offers numerous advantages over traditional lending:

• Increased accessibility for businesses with limited credit history
• Flexible terms and repayment options
• Faster application and approval processes
• Opportunity to build relationships with investors and mentors

These benefits make alternative financing attractive for self-employed individuals and SMEs looking to grow their businesses.

Conclusion

Alternative financing provides a wealth of opportunities for self-employed individuals and SMEs to secure the funding they need. By exploring options like peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding, invoice financing, merchant cash advances, and private equity, businesses can find tailored solutions that match their unique circumstances and goals.

As the alternative financing landscape continues to evolve, it is crucial to stay informed about new trends and technologies. To learn more about financial strategies and business growth, explore the expert insights available on blog.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

2023 is the time of network protection and cybersecurity. An ever-increasing number of organizations are getting on board with network safety. Information-driven organizations are searching for various approaches to improve information or data security.

Keeping your information more secure is an extreme challenge because of the constantly developing dangers. The moment some information or data security innovation hits the market, new digital threats emerge to meet it. In this manner, informing yourself how to venture into your business information security is fundamental.

Extending your business requires assets and a solid portion of technical education as the world vigorously depends on the web to approach its everyday business. In a mainly digital climate, information is, in a real sense, everything. Let’s discuss ensuring your business information or data is safe.

The Correlation Between Cybersecurity and the Growth of Big Data

The danger of information penetration has never been more relevant than it is today. If we’ve discovered anything about the significance of reasonable network safety measures, it would be the way that any business size is helpless against digital dangers.

There are increasing dangers that associations should know about, and digital assaults have become more normal than ever in recent memory. It goes with the development of considerable information and general knowledge’s significance.

Since most current organizations work online, the measure of information accessible to hackers is staggering. A 2019 report tracked that 52% of all information penetrates against organizations online were hacking assaults, while 43% of these assaults were against private companies.

So, it should be evident that network safety is not an alternative but a need. It’s an ideal opportunity to get fully informed regarding the most recent network protection measures and figure out how to keep your hidden, individual, expert, delicate, and critical information relevant to your association and customers safe.

Standardize your Offline and Online Storage Options

The environment where you choose to get your data is critical regarding keeping your information secure. It can’t be a non-secure and shifting environment such as an information stockroom, where most organizations keep their information.

When the last move to the cloud, these associations leave all that information unprotected, which is a catastrophe waiting to occur; the ideal approach to avoid this very unreasonable danger is to consider normalizing your online and offline information storage alternatives.

Since your information needs to focus on ordering, arranging, and fragmenting, just as refreshing, you’ll need an answer that will permit you to make your information effectively manageable and retrievable.

It permits you to tackle the force of robotization, dispose of human mistakes, keep all your essential information in one spot, and manage who approaches your information. The instrument will not disturb any tasks while giving a simple and successful approach to protect touchy information while keeping up your business activities.

Implement Cybersecurity Policies

One of the main things on your rundown should be clear network safety strategies, paying little attention to how enormous or little your business is. These network protection estimates help enhance your sensitive information’s safety by keeping it private and secure. Even more significantly, they help decrease the danger of data falling into the wrong hands.

Clearly state what information is essential and confidential, and you can unreservedly share data external to the organization. Try to incorporate every one of the gadgets utilized at work and the proper use of these gadgets.

Install Firewall Protection

If you’re searching for venture network protection measures for your business, introducing a firewall is a requirement. A frontline-type guard protects an infection, hack, or assault on your organization before it grows into something destroyed. Remember that a firewall needs continuous updates to guarantee there are no holes in your security.

Bottom Line

Keeping your sensitive information protected constantly is a consistently expanding challenge for modern organizations of all sizes. Luckily, the most recent and trendsetting innovation can assist with putting away, using, and essential business information in the best, most secure way. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Practical communication skills solve most of our problems. When it comes to venturing as an online business in the already crowded digital world, the correct information-sharing patterns of the company save you from several inconveniences. Poor communication in the business environment does you more harm than you can think of. The outcomes can be unfavorable if you don’t share information with your target audience using the right tools, from leading you to make wrong decisions to bringing you poor results. Therefore, your company must make the most of communication-sharing platforms when communicating its next big moves. On the contrary, one of the worst things an organization can do to hamper its growth is carry out its operations in Siloes.

The organization operating in a silo is more like a locked-up cave that existed years and years ago. At that time, people would continue with their routine lives without knowing about the outside world and the world not knowing anything about them. Companies operating in environments like such are called siloed! And of course, there are positives and negatives attached to this – however, the negatives most times supersede the positives. 

Let’s find out why sharing information benefits online businesses’ growth.  

Information Sharing for Promotional Campaigns

With a gazillion substitutes available, promotional campaigns and marketing have become one strategy that varies from one brand to the other. Brands invest more than life in their marketing campaigns to stand out. For such campaigns, they choose to add transparency to their content. Whether it is their web content, web copies, blogs, articles, or infographics, they decided to add the most relevant information in their range that their target audience comes creeping in.

If your brand comes across a scandal, the transparency in your information sharing will help you a truckload. That is, your audience will know about the products and services you offer – the more your audience is involved in your brand, the more they’ll stand with you in your tough times – especially for a solely digital startup. The point to be noted here is that, for brands operating on a small scale, a good reputation helps them in ways you might not realize. It establishes trust between you and your audience, and they start to promote you with their word-of-mouth. Word of mouth is one of those marketing strategies that marketers make the most out of without investing substantial amounts. 

Establishes Your Brands’ Credibility

Establishing a brand’s credibility is what marketers go for once they start with their marketing tactics. Making the most of information-sharing platforms is how they achieve this. It helps them earn the confidence of their audience as they become more supportive of your brand and its offerings. 

One good strategy to achieve this could be to ensure your information source’s quality. For instance, you can outline essential questions and confirm the information. How is it coming, and why is it coming? Who provides the data, and why should you share such information? All such questions will help you understand the technicality of sharing information about your brand. The fact that biases mainly influence word-of-mouth – you – as a marketer, need to exploit such beneficial marketing tactics. 

Another essential factor you need to be careful about is the kind of information with your audience. Some information demands confidentially, while others can go out. For example, you cannot share everything with the world – especially the critical information your company’s competitors can use against you. You can bring expert marketers who can help you in this regard. They’ll help you in devising strategies for you. From designing campaigns to planning content to capture and establish a robust digital presence for you.

Lessen Inter-Departmental Synergy

Once you know how to utilize information-sharing platforms efficiently, you get to promote synergy in different business units of your company. One way to put it would be when companies manage information efficiently; they lessen the friction among other operational departments. Inter-departments help the employees work in a team without any negativity influencing them. As a result, they meet their targets on time, feeling motivated, passionate, and inspired to perform better in the long run.

There you have it, a guide telling you why sharing information rightly can benefit an online business. Be sure to consider these tips the next time you find yourself confused, as chances are the results will take you by surprise. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Social media marketing is the game changer of the digital era. Today, when every business and every startup thinks of shifting to digital platforms, they look for a social media marketing strategy to help their business grow over time. 

Social media was just a platform for playing games, connecting with people, or sharing pictures and videos with your loved ones. However, today, it differs from what it says, maybe seven to eight years ago. 

With the evolution of technology and the respective trends, social media is beneficial in multiple ways. It can also prevent trouble if you understand its proper usage. 

Let us discuss how social media marketing can keep you out of trouble in multiple ways.

It Helps You Build Relationships

When you make friends on Facebook or professional connections on LinkedIn, you do yourself a great favor. It is because whichever platform it is, you are building relationships.

These relationships will help you whenever you need them. Let’s say you’re working on your startup and want to hire people; you can post on LinkedIn so that your connections can refer you to available potential profiles of candidates. Similarly, if you need people to help you with a problem, you can post on Facebook or anywhere else. This establishment of the ‘right network’ will always help you grow in the professional world.

Also, if you’re wondering where social media marketing is of use, let us tell you that establishing professional relationships happens when you can market yourself the right way.

You Can Instantly Update the World

In the world of social media, where multiple social media marketing agency startups have been solely working on marketing a business, it is self-explanatory that these agencies work on each aspect of marketing.

For example, let’s say your business has recently received funding so that you can grow and expand, working on its scalability. What will you do next?

You would want the world to know about it, wouldn’t you? Just imagine if this was to be done back in the olden days. It would have been hard, wouldn’t it?

Yes, social media marketing helps a business grow in today’s world. Whether you have an announcement or a piece of news to share, you can instantly post it on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media platform. Eventually, you can reach out to the world, spreading the news to a whole new level.

Who might know that it opens doors to new opportunities? Give it a try!

It Helps You Establish Collaborations by Finding Common Grounds

If you’re a business person, you would know how important it is to establish collaborations with competitive businesses. It helps a company expand and grow.

You can easily find people who share common interests. For example, if your business sells the same products or services as you do, you have found common ground. With this common ground, you can grow and expand your business to a scalability level that will help you connect with like-minded individuals.

It Allows Faster Communication

Work, family, and commitments have left us with no available time to wait for ages to communicate with people. Thanks to social media marketing, it has now become more accessible for businesses to share and grow.

With audio and video conferencing features, businesses can now expand their horizons and conduct online meetings. It also helps save time and cuts down unnecessary expenses otherwise.

It has Helped Introduce Remote Working

As the world is progressing faster, businesses have started considering remote working opportunities for people worldwide.

By examining profiles on social media platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook, startups need to employ talent worldwide. It helps connect people from all parts of the world. Still, the social media marketing of a particular business can spread to different cultures and countries, making your business a noteworthy one.

Summing It Up

In conclusion, if you are new to this, there are ways beginners can start social media marketing. It will not only help you grow but might also open doors to new opportunities. Hence, social media marketing saves you from many troubles and helps you become productive in every way.

Invest today to enjoy a worthwhile experience! About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

“Jack of all trades, master of none” is something you are bound to be stuck with if you do not make tough choices in your life. Of course, one can argue that business growth in different directions comes from diversification and the projects managers pick. However, it is also important to note that sticking with a hierarchy of purpose will help managers focus and streamline tasks closer to a business’s corporate and strategic goals. 

One of the most common mistakes managers make is their involvement in a team handling the projects. Showing up once a week for a team huddle and speaking a few words of motivation followed by quick department updates is not the best way to execute successfully. Senior-level executives should make decisions to put the company in a good light and help the firm make more money. A confused manager will lead to unclear objectives, resulting in employees working for hours in the end.

What is the Hierarchy of Purpose?

The hierarchy of purpose helps companies and managers break down tasks and projects according to priority. Companies working in the service sector go-between product perfection and service excellence. The line that divides the two can get blurry, although it is instead defined. What can you do to drive an internal clean-up in the organization? 

What often helps executives is returning to the drawing board to rethink and focus on the projects at hand. And this is where the hierarchy of purpose takes its first steps. 

Purpose

Determining this step lies in the organization’s values and vision/mission statement. What is the purpose of the organization? How has the definition been served so far? What projects will help us cover as many values as possible? Does the objective need to be redefined? These are all critical questions businesses must focus on to get back on track. 

Priorities

The hierarchy of purpose helps people pick and choose out of all the projects that come their way. Do you want ten small projects with a payout equal to $10 million or four big projects that will pay $8 million? Do you want a connected network in the long term or reinvestments to grow in the short time? Setting strategic goals and having the entire company on board is essential. Clear and transparent communication is critical.

Projects 

Once you have listed down your priorities in line with your purpose, you will pick up projects coming your way quickly. This step will also set the standard and pace for projects in the future. 

People

The human resource aspect of the organization is probably the most challenging aspect to manage by most firms. It is safe to say that bringing all teams on board is not an easy task in strategic and corporate alignment because communication gets lost from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy. However, this process takes a while to perfect; having a cohesive team will help you perfect your execution. 

Performance 

It is much more important to track the outputs the company creates once they work on a project. However, inputs such as the time, money, and other resources to complete the task are easier to follow. If your outputs outweigh your information, that should be your defining aspect. Success helps you determine your strengths and weaknesses and propel yourself further. Setting up specific KPIs to measure your success against will also help you efficiently track your performance. 

Companies’ biggest challenge is aligning their internal team with the organization’s corporate and strategic priorities. Employing the hierarchy of purpose will help managers take small steps to align projects and teams cohesively to produce impactful, effective results in the company’s best interests. The decisions made by the upper management will also pave a path for the future resources of the company. And the contingency plans needed to adapt to economic or financial turmoil. 

The job of senior-level managers should be to focus on paths that will lead to outcomes. The environment you are operating in will analyze and focus on what you did to create an impact qualitatively. Create a checkbox to ensure that the hierarchy of purpose is fulfilled. Of course, a company has no timeline because each organization will take its technique depending on its size, geographical location, and many other internal and external factors. 

A close-knit organization does not have a small number of employees but becomes so due to clear communication. The best way to communicate your priorities is to spend time with your team and guide them. Managers must help their teams and expect to be allowed to execute projects smoothly from start to finish. 

It is impossible to pick up projects that align perfectly with all your company values and vision/mission statements. Other times, projects that seem too crazy to take up are the ones that will define the success of your company. It all depends on the risk appetite of the manager and the willingness to be involved with the project throughout. 

Closing Thoughts

The hierarchy of purpose will not work unless you do. You can train your staff for countless days, streamline processes, and efficiently use company resources for impactful outputs. However, if you are unwilling to roll your sleeves up and get busy with your team, you will still have unclear strategic goals and meaningless projects. The choice is yours. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The American economy is progressively service-based, meaning that human capital is one of the most important resources a company can have. So, hiring top talent and effectively training them is the most important thing to do.

Many companies have some internal training & employee development programs, but some incorporate external training resources. Here, we have input from the experts we have discussed.

 New Perspective

One of the drawbacks of internal trainers can be that they are internal. Internal staff trains people on changes in the industry. The internal staff unavoidably have their perspectives colored by their experiences in the organization that the trainer and trainee both work for – which means they could be missing out on significant external environment instances.

After all, the fact that a company is offering training on all emerging world trends suggests the organization recognizes it is not as updated as it could be. In such cases, bringing in somebody with external expertise and perspective may make sense.

The Cost

Many people may disagree, but the cost is one of the most important and apparent reasons most companies avoid hiring resources from outside. Why not utilize staff on the payroll already?

Employers should keep the cost of internal training in mind, including taking time away from internal subject matter experts or employing full-time training personnel.

Sensitive Topics and Relationships

We must understand and consider the sensitivity of the training subject and the dynamics of the trainee/trainer relationships. For instance, most companies favor external trainers for offering training to top executives. It can get a little awkward for the trainer and trainee when moderately low-level staff instruct company leadership on the topic.

Trainers may hold back, afraid to be seen as the “talking down” to some top officials on whom their success in the company depends. The executives may observe a lack of integrity in the staff that works numerous management coats below themselves.

Correspondingly, training any organization’s level on any sensitive topic helps to have an external resource engaged. Workplace civility, management issues, or sexual harassment are better suited for external resources. The cases are a little more sensitive and require a subject and delivery expert to bring expertise and credibility.

Fit

We have already discussed enough to know that there are pros and cons of external and internal training – all we must consider is the best fit for a given situation. For instance, the same community may believe it makes the most sense to use internal staff to train new hires on the bank’s customer services and relationship-building tactics when bringing in external industry experts to help educate the team at all levels.

Understanding that cost should not be a “fit” factor element is essential. Option A costs more than B and does not impact if option A fits a training needs better. We don’t mean that cost is unnecessary, just that it should be weighed against the fit and must be considered independently of cost concerns.

Eventually, a company may choose internal vs. external training for cost motives even if it identifies that the outer option is better in the perfect world with unlimited financial resources. The effort, time, and help put into employee training can pay off significantly – whether in the form of more outstanding quality and efficiency or avoiding expensive mistakes or errors in judgment.

All in All

It is nearly impossible to make a blanket statement on whether the training should be directed by staff or outside personnel. Internal and external, both environments have their places within the organization, and corporations must consider the underlying requirements when considering which is the best option. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Hiring professionals for any business type is an important and challenging process. The best attorney for your business depends on the company’s legal needs. A company may have more than just one attorney to handle everything. Chances are the best lawyer may even become a law firm with numerous attorneys with different specialties.

New and small businesses often require help setting up the proper legal form of business, like negotiating contracts with clients or suppliers, taxes, assisting with real estate needs, protecting intellectual property, zoning and licenses, or settling litigation.

Then how should a business owner find just the right legal help for their business? One option is to ask friends and other business associates for referrals. Bankers, accountants, and insurance professionals have attorneys they’ve worked with and feel comfortable around.

The Right Way to Hire a Lawyer

You must interview more than just one attorney. You may even have to question several profiles before you get the right lawyer. Finding someone with experience in other business types than small businesses would be best.

You may ask questions about their experience with specific legal issues you may be facing. If you want, you may even ask for references to check how pleased other small business owners were with the services they received. You need to understand what the lawyer means when talking to you. Try understanding here that you are the customer in this situation, and you must think that this person or the firm you may be associating with can serve your needs now and in the future. Talk about things you are most concerned about to see how they react to your concerns.

Settle fees in advance for this initial discussion and clarify the number of payments charged in the future for all legal work.

Most people do not view attorneys as critical business professionals, creating other significant issues in the business. Attorneys are professionals you would want on your small business team at all costs. The right attorney saves your business money and time dealing with complex legal matters.

Do You Need a Lawyer for Your Organization?

Legally, you do not require a lawyer to start your business. But it is still essential to have one as they help you in many legal matters.

A business comes across so much legal paperwork that you, as a business owner, cannot figure it out yourself unless you have a professional by your side. Here are some ways a reliable lawyer helps you walk through the legal process:

• A lawyer helps you navigate legal forms and documents
• A lawyer protects your business’s reputation and your name
• Lawyers handle all legal challenges so that you can continue with your business
• A lawyer advises you on all legal paperwork, documents, and forms.

So yes, while it is possible to form a business independently, a business lawyer can significantly streamline the process. When you are proactive and consult a business attorney while starting a business, you set the stage for a healthy lawyer-client relationship.

Situations Require a Business Attorney

Here are some of the situations where a company or organization hires a business attorney:

• Contract Disputes
• Employee Contracts
• Service Agreements
• Business Breakups
• Intellectual Property Infringement

While recognition and awards are essential and speak to a business lawyer’s quality and professionalism, nothing is as profound as experience. When hiring a business lawyer, you must completely trust that they have your best interest in mind and are also capable of getting you the desired result.

All in All

Indeed, lawyers may not disclose specific confidential client details. Still, there are a few ways that some law firms can highlight their experience without negotiating the client’s protected information. Ask your attorney about their relevant experiences.

If you do not get information on their websites – if they have any – do not hesitate to ask about one of their recent trial experiences or any notable cases on which they have worked. You deserve to know as much as you can about the attorney in front of you before deciding whether they are a good fit to represent your company. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Understanding Crowdlending

For startups, raising funds can be challenging. It requires campaigns and strategies to lead investors to invest in their projects. Out of all the others, crowdfunding is the essential system or process for raising funds. As the name suggests, crowdfunding means raising significant money from people.

Consequently, crowdlending involves investors. Investors lend money to startups and finance their ventures. But to put it aptly, they are co-financiers of the projects, lending as loans to the lenders.

This process is called P2P lending, i.e., peer-to-peer lending and marketplace lending. Here, we discuss crowdlending in detail.

How Does Crowdlending Work? 

If your company opts for crowdlending, consider working on your creditworthiness. If your company’s credit history is adverse, it might dampen your lenders’ interest in investing in your project. Your credit history tells if your company is indebted or not, which may make your investors turn away from your project. So, if you are considering crowdlending after your credit history is sound, go for crowdlending platforms or markets.

Why Do You Need Crowdlending for Your Ventures?

As this has been the year of crowdfunding, financially speaking, the shortage of credit that undermines the competitiveness of independent and small companies has further sharpened the ingenuity and more alternative financing formulas for which SMEs and entrepreneurs, such as crowdlending.

Crowdlending is another collective funding formula in which individuals are doing business loans from online platforms. The main difference between this financing model and crowdfunding is that, in the second, individuals invest in social capital, obtaining company shares, while in the first, the financing is in the form of a loan.

As crowdlending companies operate from online platforms, they are cheaper and will not cost startups investments. So, crowdlending is quite helpful for raising funds and would help increase enough investments for your project.

What are the Conditions of Crowdlending Loans?

In this credit system, the investors and individuals decide the amount they will lend and the interest rate. Suppose a company receives a variety of financing requests. In that case, it can choose between those that offer less interest, and at the end of the financing period, everyone will receive the requested appeal.

This financing model’s philosophy is to give individuals the power to decide what type of projects they will consider for investment. Thanks to the online platforms from which the investment stems, transparent information is offered on the project activities in which they will invest their money.

Although it has gained ground, it is a developing formula in most countries. And it is necessary to consider aspects. Crowdlending has become widely accepted in recent years because of transparency and connection between the investor and the company in the online environment and, primarily, through social networks.

However, it would be best ito remember that crowdlending platforms are not within the deposit guarantee fund. So, if the company it has invested in fails, the individual will have a challenging time recovering the investment.

However, the platforms that manage this type of financing carefully select the projects that will become part of them. Furthermore, it has reduced the default rate to 2%, while the delinquency in banking is more than 10%.

Bottom Line

Crowdlending has become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly among startups and small businesses that may have difficulty obtaining loans from traditional lenders. By bypassing the middleman, borrowers can often secure funding more quickly and with less paperwork than they would through a bank or credit union.

For lenders, crowdlending offers an opportunity to diversify their investment portfolios and potentially earn higher returns than they would through other investment options. However, it’s important to note that crowdlending does carry some risks, as borrowers may default on their loans or the platform itself may experience financial difficulties.

Despite these risks, crowdlending has proven to be a successful model for many borrowers and lenders alike. By cutting out the middleman and connecting borrowers directly with investors, crowdlending has transformed the lending landscape and created a win-win situation for all involved.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Invoice automation is an increasingly visible trend in business. Streamlining billing processes allows the company to obtain benefits that result in more modern and efficient work processes. However, to access the advantages of automating invoices, it is necessary to have the appropriate software technology.

The Benefits of Automating Invoices

You often find that you must repeatedly make duplicate invoices with identical amounts on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. This type of situation occurs when your clients have contracted service with a period of permanence or service that works by monthly subscription.

If that is the case, repeating the duplicate invoices repeatedly, where only the date and invoice number change, makes you waste time, especially if you have hundreds or thousands of clients in the same situation.

Invoice automation instead has advantages:

1. You reduce human errors

When we do it manually, we usually make mistakes—human errors, false invoices, and data that are not correct.

This results in that in our ERP system. There can be incidents that you then must solve one by one, times trying to understand you with an angry client, as is logical.

You will solve this through management software that allows you to automate invoices because you can program to whom and when the invoices will go.

2. Streamline payment processes

Times, customers do not pay because they have not seen the invoice. If you send the invoice manually and send hundreds of invoices one by one, it is normal for the process to be exceptionally long and tedious. A medium-sized company cannot manage it if it wants to have strict and professional invoice management processes.

In this sense, you should use your online management program to automate the billing process to have a better forecast of payments and liquidity that you will have.

3. Improve employee productivity

When employees in charge of the billing area do not need to devote dozens of hours to perform administrative tasks, they can fixate on the most relevant. You must automate everything you can to improve worker productivity and not waste time excessively.

To improve productivity, you must have complete control of the work processes and define each person’s tasks completely. In this sense, it will also be very convenient for you to work on an ERP in the cloud because the data is uploaded in real-time and in a shared way.

4. You save costs

The improved productivity will inevitably be linked to cost savings. You can get more for less because everyone is doing their homework. In this sense, a way to save costs will be to allocate resources to more creative tasks and automate everything routine.

When you do this, it also increases the competitiveness of the company. Because suddenly, you will much better focus your Human Resources on what generates profitability for the company and not on mechanical tasks.

5. It is essential to sell online

The management processes of billing in online sales can be complex. If you must sell to people who hire monthly services, you cannot remember what situation each client is in, what they have contracted, and what bills to pass them.

In this line, we recommend that you work with management software optimized to manage large groups of customers and automated invoices that you can also have connected to your online store to sell online more comfortably and without having to repeat tasks unnecessarily.

In Summary

It would be best to have business management software that allows you to automate invoices to improve your productivity, optimize your internal processes, save costs, and achieve better results in managing invoices, making your company gain liquidity and profitability and your customers feel more satisfied. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Bank credit is one of the most common types of financing for people and businesses. Whether the loan is for real estate, consumer, revolving, car, or business, loan seekers turn to this substitute to help finance their startups. Although this form of financing is not the best practice, it is a source from which a person can make and use money safely. Below are the advantages and disadvantages of using a bank for loans to help people decide:

What is Bank Credit?

Before going into details, understand the real meaning of “bank credit.” Credits are the best and most feasible way to acquire household goods, real estate, computer equipment, or recondition homes without “breaking the bank.” Bank credit contains all the bank’s reserves for personal or business purposes. In return for these funds, the bank can obtain a percentage/ fee in the form of interest. The interest ratio can be both variable and fixed. Attractions and monthly payments will be paid depending on the conditions written in the loan settlement. There are conventional bank loans, each with its interest ratio and the grant’s requirements. There are, for example, bank loans whose repayment term does not exceed six months and are determined by a particular ceiling. We talk about consumer credit, revolving credit, overdrafts, money advances, and other short-term credit repayable for up to three years.

Meanwhile, the payment term of medium-term loan maturities ranges from three to seven years. Companies will offer long-term lends for more than seven years. Long-term loans are, for example, real estate credit whose refund can last up to thirty years in banks. For a person, money coming in and bank scoring situation access to a bank loan. For a company, such credit relies on an assurance such as building commercial walls.

What are the Advantages of Taking Out a Bank Loan?

For the loan to initiate, the loan between individuals, microcredit, the aid of CAF, the sale of the real estate or appliances, and the sale of its furniture to repurchase. Nevertheless, each of these solutions mentioned above has disadvantages and strengths. Bank credit allows for a greater financing volume than these other solutions. For companies especially, this means of obtaining money is significant because it will enable both getting money, buying equipment and real estate business, buying the goodwill or the social part of the company. Another shareholder or take over the company. In addition, when a manager contracts a bank loan for his business, he cannot be removed from the decision-making power in his structure. There is an option of tax deductibility regarding interest for bank credits. For individuals, consumer credit offers have the advantage of being easy to access.

Moreover, loans have a fixed interest ratio and a regular monthly payment. The mortgagor can quickly dispose of the property they have sought after, even if they have no money to pay. For example, a person can buy a car or a house they had always fantasized about only if the bank considers that, in this case, they will have the required conditions to obtain credit. The personal loan also allows him to cover his finances if he still has short accounts or runs out of money. Instead of filling their bank for fifteen years or saving for twenty-five years, they can buy a property.

Furthermore, those stuck in the mud with the repayment of credits can opt for restructuring bank debts. This solution also helps to lighten its finances by extending its monthly payments over time and consolidating its loans into one. For the banking institution, for its part, this type of financing is a financial windfall. Banks reap their profits via this means.

In Conclusion

Bank loans can benefit those who have a crucial need to purchase goods/materials and can repay the amount rented. Yet, if a person cannot repay the fund, it is better not to do any financing, as this could lead to over-indebtedness. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.