Small business loans are a versatile and powerful tool for many different types of organizations to draw on as they stabilize, secure, and grow operations. There are many different applications for a small business loan, from industry-specific uses to very broad ones. Here’s a review of some of the most common and useful ways small business owners can use their loans.
1. Managing staff and payroll needs
When you have a solid plan for expansion in hand and know that opening a second location, extending your hours, or growing your existing facility will bring in more business, you want to act as soon as possible. However, if your business doesn’t have the cash on hand to pay for staff to fill vital positions during the additional time your business operates, you can miss out on the chance to expand and the many potential returns that action provides.
A small business loan can help your business with the financial side of hiring additional staff or paying existing employees to work more hours, including the substantial financial burden of overtime. It can also extend to providing training and other resources for your workers to ensure they provide the best experience possible for customers.
With a small business loan available to bridge the gap between increased hiring and increased sales, your business can follow through on plans for growth and reap the rewards that can arise.
2. Funding advertising and marketing efforts
If you know your business regularly leaves clients feeling satisfied and has a stable customer base, an impediment to growth may be a lack of general awareness of your venture in the local area or within your target market. Advertising and marketing are time-consuming and complex endeavors that aren’t always easily taken on by a small business owner or an existing staff member.
A loan for your small business gives it the flexible funds needed to tackle a wide variety of awareness-raising and customer engagement efforts. Depending on what you think will work best and potentially work with a marketing consultant or agency, your company could target print advertisements, local radio and TV ad time, online marketing efforts, live events to attract customers, and much more.
One of the best things about a small business loan from a lender like National Funding is the range of applications: Your organization isn’t constrained to unnecessarily specific or limited uses for the money lent. Instead, as long as the expense is legitimately related to business operations you can choose to follow a variety of different paths in terms of marketing and advertising.
3. Increasing inventory
If you have a steadily increasing stream of customers – or your existing base regularly buying more products than in the past – the last thing you want to do is run out of inventory. Depleted shelves don’t just create a negative visual for shoppers, that lack of merchandise can also leave them frustrated and walking out the door with a negative experience in mind.
With a loan from National Funding, your small business can ensure a strong level of continuity in the items you sell to customers and your company’s ability to stock them. This is important for businesses experiencing significant growth as well as those with major seasonal adjustments that occur each year. If your enterprise does most of its business in the summer, the last thing you want to contend with is a lack of available inventory.
Your small business loan allows you to shore up your supplies and can be applied as needed, whether to address an unexpected surge in demand or one that’s more predictable.
4. Taking on major, unexpected costs
As a responsible business owner, you have insurance policies in place and money set aside to deal with unexpected issues. But what happens when the event is so substantial or unanticipated that it stretches your finances too far? Everything from structural issues with a leased facility to a massive product recall can leave your business in a tough spot, even when insurance and other protections are used. There are plenty of less extreme but still severe unexpected costs as well, like major machinery failures and large tax bills.
A small business loan helps your business work through these major obstacles and come out relatively unscathed on the other side. Whether it’s a major and unpredictable financial obligation or the need to restock your shelves when replacements from a recall aren’t soon forthcoming, these loans are flexible and effective.
5. Growing and expanding your business
When opportunity knocks, you don’t want to turn it down. However, as a business owner, there’s only so much capacity that you and your team can handle. Sometimes you simply don’t have enough staff, equipment, materials or time to handle more work. A business loan can help with this debacle; use it to expand your business so the next time a new customer seeks out your services, you can happily oblige. This might mean leasing a new machine, hiring a new team member or investing in more supplies.
Bonus: Getting in touch with National Funding
Whether your business has an operational need to address in the short-term or a loan is required for longer-term growth, don’t hesitate to get in touch with National Funding. Our quick application process, reasonable lending requirements and quick timelines for providing decisions mean we’re uniquely suited to helping your business succeed. Fill out an easy online application today!
