This is a guest post by Amy Zimmerman. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
With the state of the economy of late, it is easy for businesses to get themselves into debt and land themselves in a position that they cannot recover from. Business debt can affect any business from a small start up to a large enterprise. Many companies around the world have been closing their doors, which means that the best thing you can do, is to stay out of debt, especially if you are a new business where the survival rate for the 1st year alone is only about 10%. If you are already in debt, you need to formulate an effective strategy to get your business out of debt in the shortest amount of time possible. Here are 4 tips to get rid of your business debt so that you can make a success of your business.
Tip 1: Reduce spending on any credit accounts
Getting into debt is a circular effect, with businesses spending more and more money on account because they need to in order to keep running. This obviously leads you further and further into debt making it virtually impossible to get out. The best and only way to get rid of your business debt is to start paying for supplies and goods in cash. This will force you to re-evaluate your business model, readjust your budget and focus on only the most important items that are crucial to spend money on. Try to avoid owing money to anyone and start reducing your expenditure.
Tip 2: Negotiate with money lenders
If you have lines of credit with various money lenders, it can be highly beneficial to negotiate with them in order to reduce the total amount of money owing. Most of the money lenders and banks will offer you a discount for paying them off in a shorter period of time. Many credit providers set a 3 month goal for the total payment to be made in order for you to qualify for a huge discount. Although it might be hard to come up with the money each month, you need to think about your business in the long run, and compare the costs spent over this period to that spent over years to pay the debt off in full bearing in mind that interest will also be added on.
Tip 3: Generate new business to increase income
One of the simplest ways to get your business out of debt is to come up with a new business strategy that will boost your income. This could be in the form of a new product, hosting a special sale, offering discount coupons and more. By offering specials, you can increase your profits dramatically by getting more customers excited and interested in your product or service. Other ways to generate business include making appearances at events and conferences, hosting seminars and providing samples for the public. Any way you can get your name out there and reinvent yourself so to speak will help to boost your customers and therefore improve your bottom line. This, along with reducing your business expenses, will help you to get out of debt quickly and easily.
Tip 4: Approach investors to help bail you out
This is a bit of a risky move, but if your business is seriously in trouble, but you have the potential to be raking in a lot of money, then approaching investors can be a smart business move. Not only will you get enough money to pay off your debts, but investors will also see to providing you with enough capital to get your business off the ground successfully. It is up to you, however, to make it work, as you will probably sign a contract with the investors that allows them to take a certain percentage of your profits and gives you a specific amount of time to pay them back. In a way it is like consolidating your debt, but gaining a business partner at the same time.
Amy Zimmerman on a regular basis critiques financial companies to let consumers understand specifically what to anticipate.