The Marketing Agency Talk

A technical recession is defined as 2 consecutive quarters in which the economy has shrunk compared to previous quarter. Generally, the duration of a recession is the full period of the business cycle that economic activity is in decline. There is no universally accepted way to measure a “real” recession. Some suggest a full-year economic contraction or 2 consecutive quarters of the economy shrinking compared to the same period in the previous year.

Whether it is a big powerful country like USA or a small dot on the map like Singapore, these developed countries are experiencing technical recession now. Not many people lose their jobs currently, but everyone fears the worse will come next year when the full impact of the global economic slowdown became more evident.

When people lost their jobs, 2 scenarios happened - one group will seek social securities while the other group will start a small business. Naturally, I hope more people will join the 2nd group. It is always better to help ourselves than wait for help to come. However, that does not mean we shouldn’t leverage on OPR (other people’s resources). As long as we are willing to seek, to ask and to accept, there are many OPR around - from OPM (other people’s money), OPT (other people’s time), OPE (other people’s expertise) and more. When money is tight, bartering is common so getting OPT and OPE should be easier than OPM.

A lack of money is never the reason not to start a business. If you can find a niche that needs your product/service and your expertise, you will thrive albeit you may trip and fall several times along the way. You can borrow from family, friends or even financial institutions. Unless you have a rich Aunt Martha or Uncle George, what you pooled together may not be quite enough. Many people do not know the magnitude of business expenses and only realized with horror that they were terribly short of funds after they set up their business. It could be tough to get banks to provide a loan in such gloomy outlook too. This will be made tougher if you do not have a solid business plan and the eloquence to convince the bank manager why he should even consider providing a small business loan to a rookie.

In time like this, some people get their small business loan through business financing firms that specialized in unsecured loans and lines of credit for small business owners. These firms helped borrowers to avoid costly and financially deadly mistakes by preparing the application package correctly and sending it to the lenders that based on the finance firms’ extensive experience are most likely to approve the request.  The one fact you must be aware before approaching them is that you must not had any bankruptcies in the last 10 years, or any re-possessions, foreclosures, etc. in the last 7 years. If you are free of these problems, the process is straight forward and and approval is easy provided you meet the normal qualification criteria everyone else would have to meet.

For those who are familiar with Robert Kiyosaki’s books, you will remember that he put “cash flow” at the base of the business pyramid. We know cash flow is king and that small business financing is an area of importance for any start-up as well as small-medium enterprises. If your cash keeps flowing out and never in, you will be out of business in no time. However, I reiterate, a lack of cash is never the reason to extinguish the fire of entrepreneurship in you.  If you know you have an above average business acumen, a good product, a ready market, just do it …. even in this gloomy economy. Where there is risk, there are also opportunities.

If you are an employee reading this, start asking yourself: “Will I be a boss if I’m thrown out of a job?”

My agency’s boss did that.

Tags: be own boss, small business financing, small business loan