Many students, especially those in high school, could benefit from taking a step back and considering the idea of “balance.” For some, it is all work and no play; getting perfect grades and building up one’s resume is considered the most important aspect of one’s time in school. For others, it is all play and no work; homework seems boring, classes are tedious, and the idea of hanging out with friends seems tremendously more appealing than going to school. Both ends of the spectrum can be problematic for various reasons.For the students who believe that the only purpose of going to school is getting the perfect grades that will earn them acceptance into the next school, here is a message: those very schools are placing more and more weight on what kind of person you are aside from your transcript. There is a reason that going to school entails being surrounded by your peers: it allows you to learn about friendship, social skills, and relationships, and it exposes you to new interests, hobbies, and activities. No matter what your career goals may be, having strong social skills will always set you apart and will make you a more effective communicator, participator, and leader.However, many students take the opposite approach and develop a stubborn attitude that anything related to academics is inherently useless and a waste of time. What these students should realize is that most people who shared this mentality during school come to a point later in life where they regret it. Brushing aside one’s academic obligations is not only precarious for one’s future success, but it is also wasting the time that one could spend developing a love of learning. Many people who work full-time agree that they would love to be back in school because they miss being compelled to learn about a variety of subjects. The students who claim that classwork is “boring” or that it “will never be useful later in life” could not be more wrong. No matter what you are learning in school, there will always be a time later in life when you can call upon what you learned to make educated decisions.Therefore, the most effective strategy when it comes to balancing school and a social life is to make sure to focus on balance at all times. When you receive good grades, reward yourself by spending extra time with your friends doing something you love. Limit the amount of time each day that you do something social, but do the exact same thing for the amount of time you spend doing homework. Don’t let either academics or socializing take over your life; be sure to include a little bit of both in everything you do.
How to Balance School With Your Social Life
Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?
There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.
In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.
But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.
Different Types of Financing
One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.
Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.
But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.
Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.
Alternative Financing Solutions
But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:
1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.
2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.
3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.
In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:
It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.
A Precious Commodity
Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).
Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.
Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?
CPA Advertising – A Better Choice For Low Budget Online Advertising
Just like any information medium, the internet cannot survive without the advertisers. Most websites and online services are fueled by advertisement. For business newbie’s, the internet is one of the most cost-efficient ways to reach a larger number of potential customers and to increase sales.Cost-per-action (CPA) advertising is an online marketing process where the advertiser only pays whenever an action that is indicated in their advertisement has been made like sign up a registration form or buys a product. For instance, a client is asked to sign up a form with their e-mail address and zip code, when they submit the form, the client will be paid by the advertiser.Unlike the traditional cost-per-click (CPC) model for marketing where an advertiser has to pay for every click or view of their advertisement without the assurance of getting a lead or if a product would be sold, CPA is a much better choice for low budget advertisers.CPA advertising is strictly a performance-based advertising. There is more assurance that the money that an advertiser pays for advertising will be converted into profit unlike assuming that a product will be sold by just seeing the advertisements.In CPA advertising, a return of investment is also assured especially for an up starting company or individual who is only starting to build a business. It is also an effective way of reaching out to a larger number of prospective customers without expanding the limits of a business’ resources.A CPA network takes charge of the CPA advertising. The network pays out affiliates in exchange for their traffic from the agreed fees from the advertisers for the cost-per-lead or cost-per-sale. Conversions-meaning conversion of advertisement to leads (visitor to a site that discloses personal information in order to be approached for a product to be sold) or sale of products-are dependent on the traffic while at the same time; the network is dependent on conversions. More conversions mean larger revenues for both the network and the advertiser.It is best to take note that an advertiser must make sure to provide a high quality product to produce high-conversion rate for the product or service being sold. In this way, a CPA network will immediately approve an advertiser’s application especially when one is new in the business.Because a company or businessman can save in this kind of advertising, more likely, they can save more for their online advertisement campaign and use their savings for other aspects in their campaign.Because this kind of advertisement is also being utilized by major branded corporations, it can also be used by companies as testing grounds for the effectiveness of their advertisement before launching into a major advertisement campaign.Whether an advertiser relies on CPA advertisement or not, the success of a high rate of sold products by advertisement does not rely on the mode of advertisement but on how the product is packaged for the consumers to buy the product. Keep on track and see if what’s best for a business’ advertising needs.