{"id":3384,"date":"2013-03-18T17:59:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T21:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.123print.com\/?p=3384"},"modified":"2015-07-21T20:33:55","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T20:33:55","slug":"small-business-financing-3-tips-to-give-you-an-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/small-business-financing-3-tips-to-give-you-an-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business Financing: 3 Tips to Give You an Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3385\" alt=\"Small Business Optimism Glass Half Full\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Glass-Half-full-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/>According to a February National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) study, <a href=\" http:\/\/www.nfib.com\/research-foundation\/surveys\/small-business-economic-trends\" target=\"_blank\">small business confidence rose<\/a> in February as companies adjusted to the tightening in fiscal policy and planned for increases in capital spending and inventory investment. While a positive sign, it\u2019s important to note that this doesn\u2019t indicate a huge surge in confidence for small businesses.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a glass-half-full kind of person, like I am, is now a good time to invest in your business? From my perspective, it\u2019s always a good time to invest in your business when you\u2019ve planned your strategy and have confidence in your ability to excel at meeting your customers\u2019 needs. So if you\u2019re looking for a working-capital loan, what should you do?<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3387\" alt=\"Outside the Box Small Business Financing\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Piggy-Bank-300x226.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Piggy-Bank-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Piggy-Bank-1024x774.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>1. Make sure your business plan is up to date.<\/strong> Maybe it\u2019s been a while since you put your <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/3-secrets-to-small-business-success\/\" target=\"_blank\">business plan <\/a>together, which makes now the time to re-evaluate your assumptions, reassess your opportunities and risks and reconsider your goals and strategies.<br \/>\n<strong>2. Prepare to talk with your banker.<\/strong> He or she will ask direct questions, so <a href=\"http:\/\/www.123print.com\/News\/Small-Business-Administration-to-Help-Entrepreneurs-Obtain-Loans-847\" target=\"_blank\">be realistic and specific about the amount of money<\/a> you wish to borrow, and be prepared with documentation and explanations as to how you came up with the numbers in your business plan and why you\u2019re a good risk.<br \/>\n<strong>3. Think outside the box when it comes to funding your business.<\/strong> Former 123Print president, Anita Brady, wrote an article about <a href=\"http:\/\/theworkathomewife.com\/how-to-fund-your-home-business-with-kickstarter\/\" target=\"_blank\">funding your ambitious, innovative and imaginative business projects online<\/a> with Kickstarter last May. Since then, the site has helped fund many entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, there\u2019s other good financing news: the Small Business Administration is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sba.gov\/about-sba-services\/7367\/502631\" target=\"_blank\">proposing new regulations<\/a> aimed at streamlining the SBA application process to give small businesses greater access to capital with less paperwork. Less paperwork from the government? Let\u2019s hope this gets passed!<\/p>\n<p>Are you feeling optimistic about your small business? Do you have tips you can share on successfully financing a small business? Please, leave a comment below and let us know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to a February National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) study, small business confidence rose [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,8],"tags":[728,1033,1055,1085],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9304,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384\/revisions\/9304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}