If you’re ready to apply for a term loan for your small business, you want the terms of your loan to be as unique as your business. That said, one of the most important factors you should look at when taking on a term loan is…how long should your loan last? In the world of small businesses, the general impression has been that term loans offered by both banks and alternative lenders are typically short-term, usually with a maximum duration of 24 months.
That has changed in recent years, however, as more banks and alternative lenders, such as Kapitus, have begun offering a new option to small business borrowers – term loans extending up to 60 months. In some cases, long-term loans may offer benefits for established small businesses such as a lower fixed payment.
What Factors Should You Consider?
There are several factors to consider when determining what the duration of your loan should be. Additionally, the factors you should consider for a 60-month loan may be different than the ones you would consider for a loan that is 24 months or shorter.
Josh Jones, Kapitus’ Chief Revenue Officer, said the duration of your term loan should be a major factor when deciding to get financing.
“If you’re able to get something approved outside of two years, you have a different decision as a business owner,” said Josh Jones, Kapitus’ Chief Revenue Officer. He added that when a small business owner is considering taking a loan of 24 months or shorter, they should examine what they are using the borrowed assets for and when they expect a return on those assets.
For example, if your business is borrowing money to develop and market a new product that will be introduced to consumers in two years, then maybe a 24-month loan makes more sense for you.
“For something 24 months or shorter, you have to look at your needs, and kind of do some liability matching to what the use of the capital is and whenever it is a return is going to happen,” said Jones.
If you’re considering a 24-month loan, you should take into account the total amount that you would be paying back the lender over two years, and the fact that new debt will most likely be available to you, if needed, once you’ve paid off the loan.
“Typically, debt payment coverage based on the use of the money is a big thing,” said Jones. “Or the fact that I know I have regular needs for capital. If I know my business can support that regular payment, I may not want anything longer than 24 months because I always want an available credit limit.”
Factors to Consider When Going Long
When considering taking a loan longer than 24 months, there are several factors that you need to consider the the total cost of the loan. If you apply for a term loan that will be paid back over 60 months, for example, the total interest will be higher on that loan because the lender is taking on longevity risk – the risk that your business may not still be around in five years. After all, the average lifespan of a small business in the US is 8½ years, according to NAV.
Are you, the borrower, willing to pay more for a five-year loan than a 24-month loan? The answer to this depends on your ability to consistently make payments, and what you are using the borrowed assets for.
“With total cost, the shorter you go, the more the total cost goes down,” said Jones. “It is possible that the annual percentage rate (APR) of a 24-month loan will be more, but business owners should be more concerned about the total cost of financing, not just the APR. I’m borrowing this money, what is my total payback? If I can reduce the cost, if my business can support the payment, or my opportunity supports the payment of my debt, then that’s going to be the winning factor.”
With a longer-duration loan, you need to carefully consider:
- The amount you will be paying each month. Generally, the total cost of a 60-month loan will be greater than that of a 24-month loan (of the same amount). Therefore, if you need to borrow assets, and your cash flow only allows you to pay a limited amount of debt service coverage every month, a long-term loan may make more sense since the fixed payments will be lower than a short-term loan.
- Prepay Options. If you take out a 60-month loan and you want to pay it back in full in 24 months, you may have a few options in terms of the total cost of capital. Some lenders will charge you a prepay penalty by charging you the interest you would have paid had the loan gone to term. Other lenders may give you a prepay discount – they’ll discount the amount of interest you would have owed had the loan gone to term. In either case, you should carefully examine which option would be cheaper for you when you set the terms of the loan.
What Should I Use a 60-Month Loan For, and How Do I Qualify?
You can use the proceeds of a 60-month loan on anything you choose for your business, and the amount
Carefully consider the total cost of capital with a long-term vs. a short-term loan
taken out for a long-term loan is typically higher than a short-term one.
Generally speaking, proceeds for a long-term loan are usually spent on permanent assets for your business, which could include the purchase of property, office equipment, office furniture, computers and company vehicles. Perhaps you need a long-term loan to acquire a well-established business to complement your own.
Be aware that the requirements and underwriting process for obtaining a loan beyond 24 months are more stringent than a standard two-year loan, mainly because the lender is taking on that longevity risk.
“Even if you have a great credit score, it can be very difficult for a business to get a 60-month loan unless they have [many] years in business,” said Jones. “That’s because the likelihood of a business [that’s well established] making it another five years is much higher than a business that’s shorter. It’s not meant to be insulting to anyone’s good business, it’s just the way the stats play out.”
Talk to Your Financing Specialist
The duration of your term loan will depend on several different factors; but, like with most loans, your ability to pay the loan back will usually be the key. Examine your balance sheet and cash flow history, and talk to the financing specialist about whether lower payments over a longer time horizon may be a better option for your business.
You’ve just returned from a networking event where you learned that a colleague recently hired a life coach. They told you all about the experience, and it seemed to be a good one. It led you to wonder:”Do I need a life coach?” The more you think of it, the more you’d like to have someone on your side, coaching you through your journey. But you’re not quite sure it’s right for you.
We talked with Jenni Schubring, life coach and speaker, to identify what small business owners can gain from working with someone, how it differs from hiring a business coach, and how to determine if a life coach is the right fit for you. Here’s what she had to say.
Do I Need a Life Coach?
As a small business owner, you’re the heart of your business, whether you’re a solopreneur or have a large staff. You wear all the hats. You work early mornings and late nights. You also determine how much risk you’re willing to take to grow your business. Unless you have a business partner, you’re left bearing the weight of all that responsibility.
Wouldn’t it be nice to partner with someone who can help you determine your strengths and weaknesses? They can help you plan to use this knowledge more in your business – and life – so you can work towards your goals and achieve more.
Schubring explains it by saying, “Small business owners throw everything they have into their businesses. If any part of their life is ‘off’ it can — and will — affect their business. A life coach will address the whole person helping them get from where they are to where they want to be.”
She continues, “People see life through their own lens. That lens is usually tinted by life events. A life coach is an expert in helping people become more self-aware. This is such an important skill as a small business owner because our intent can be misunderstood. Those misunderstandings can be detrimental to our business. We can’t fix what we don’t know. A life coach will speak truth when it’s hard to hear. A life coach will help you see a more accurate picture of your reality.”
But, Wait. Why Not Hire a Business Coach?
Business coaches have their purpose for sure! Schubring says, “A business coach’s focus is on the business and performance. They will give you action steps on how to step up your business and help you meet your business goals.”
She then explains how the two fields differ, and says, “A life coach focuses on the whole person and the coachee’s personal development. A life coach’s process is to work on the coachee as a whole so they can better impact their world, which also includes their business.”
For example, when working with a new client, Schubring might start off with a personal assessment. She says, “My personal favorite is the Gallup Strengths Finder. This tool, and others like them, can help small business owners uncover a personal awareness that can lead to positive change.”
She then shares in more detail, “We know that to have a good business we need to have good relationships. It is important to recognize how we interact with others. We can then make the appropriate changes to positively impact those relationships. While the results of these assessments can help with that personal awareness, having [someone] walk you through the results and teach you how to apply them is a powerful piece that could be missed without a coach.”
How Can Business Owners Find the Right Life Coach?
If you’re wondering, “Do I need a life coach?”, the best approach to finding that answer is to interview life coaches and see how those meetings make you feel. Schubring recommends starting your search by looking for a life coach who is licensed or certified. In addition to that, she says that finding someone who feels “right” is so important, too. But how do you know when there’s a match?
Schubring says, “Find that out by taking coaches up on their free discovery calls, follow them on social media, watch their videos. Do the research. I also highly recommend making sure your life coach has their own life coach. We need to walk the talk.”
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Like many veteran journalists, Laura Rich found herself blindsided by the 2008 financial crisis. Many publications began cutting staff and instituting severe cost-saving measures. But rather than move into public relations or to another corporate job, she took a gamble and grew a publication from scratch. Now after six years, she just sold the business and is staying on with the company to help grow it further.
In 2008 Rich was working at Conde Nast‘s ill-fated business magazine, Portfolio. It was the latest in a slew of high-profile publications that she worked at including Inc., Fast Company, The Industry Standard, and AdWeek. But early in 2009, like so many other people, she was out on her own after Portfolio folded. Media chiefs around the world watched in horror as advertising revenues dropped precipitously.
Along with two other women, she launched RecessionWire in December 2008. It was a website aimed at helping people deal with the new economic reality of mass unemployment and reduced access to credit. “We saw there was a whole group of people who needed to understand what was going on,” says Rich. Given that recessions, even bad ones, don’t last forever the website was always going to have a limited shelf life. The site shuttered in 2010.
Planting a new seed
Around that time, with her newly acquired knowledge of running an independent website, Rich saw a new potential opportunity. It was one she thought might have some legs.
“In early 2010 I started noticing that Foursquare, Groupon, and other similar companies were disrupting hyperlocal marketing, and that industry had no name and no center,” she says. “I thought it was interesting and a great opportunity.”
Specifically, such companies were disrupting the way local businesses were interacting with local consumers. The past ways of using local newspapers and the Yellow Pages were now being supplanted.
So with $50,000 raised from family and friends, she launched Street Fight in February 2011 with her as CEO and publisher. The content in Street Fight was about best practices for hyperlocal marketing; and their conference-style events brought this community of people together to meet each other and share stories and ideas. “Street Fight was the place that brought that all together,” Rich says.
The hardest thing?
She says the most difficult part was finding the right people. In Street Fight’s case that would mean employees would need to be comfortable working in remote locations as part of a tiny workforce. It was quite different from the world of glossy magazines where she had worked for so long.
“Many of the people who worked in my past offices would not have survived,” she says, pointing out that her partner in the business worked in Providence while she was located in Boulder. She says, initially, there were some problems in finding the people to fit into the team culture, but eventually it worked out. “We have five people who have been with us since the start,” she says. Such employees were able to work independently without constant supervision.
Moving on and up
In 2016, she had a thought: “We’ve been doing this five years and we need to take it to the next level,” she says. “We needed to juice it, so we went looking for a buyer who would understand our business.”
She had previously developed materials to help raise capital when the company first started.
“So we updated our deck with our current financials and made a list of companies we wanted to approach,” she says, and details that there was a “dream list” of acquirers, a “middle list” and a “if nothing works out list.”
“Then we started going through our contact list and told them we wanted a buyer and a home for Street Fight,” she says. The result was a lot of meetings.
Brandify, a digital marketing company, was not on on the list because the main idea was to find a media company rather than a marketing one. But because the process was under way we mentioned it to them.
“They came back to us and said why don’t you talk to us,” says Rich. The rest is history. Brandify bought Street Fight. The deal closed on February 9, 2017. She won’t disclose the amount but says she’s staying on to help build the brand further.
To give customers what they want, traditional brick and mortar retail is rapidly morphing into e-tailing, or electronic retailing. Providing customers a seamless omni-channel experience across multiple platforms requires technology to manage everything from online ads to checkout and payments. But how do restaurants book more tables?
Many restaurant owners haven’t made the leap to e-tailing, either because they don’t see the benefits, or because they find it a challenge to adapt; however, effective tools for online booking with up-sell capabilities can turn a restaurant’s website into a robust online marketplace.
Online Booking Systems
Different than reservation systems, online booking systems manage venue rentals for events, accommodations and tours. Most booking systems use software that seamlessly integrates into your existing website using modules or plug-ins, unlike a third-party reservations sites like OpenTable. These systems feature calendar management, photo galleries, payment management, contract execution, and cancellation processes.
Additionally, these systems give you the ability to create alternative revenue streams.
Up-Sell Using Add-Ons
Seek a booking software provider that includes the “add-on” feature. It’s an extension that allows for the customization of add-ons during the online checkout stage. An add-on is the inclusion of additional products or services. This unique up-sell tool is a great way to maximize revenue generated through space rentals and special events.
Why stop at holiday parties when you can host year-around events? For instance, what about booking professional networking events, social mixers, wine classes, cooking classes, or selling online gift certificates? Bar owners might offer advanced seats when broadcasting sporting events.
Cost-Efficiency
Depending on your web platform, you may be able to use a free or a low-cost cloud-based service provider. Check out providers like Event Compass, Skeeda, Zozi Advance, or Checkfront.
And don’t panic if you’re not tech savvy. Most website management systems permit module and plug-in installs using “one-click install” from website control panels. If yours doesn’t, most providers offer tech support and easy to follow guides to get you up and running.
Read Attracting Holiday Business This Year for tips on booking more parties and creative add-on ideas to book more tables.