Ali Habib Mayar is the Founder and CEO of Platinum Rapid Funding Group, an alternative lender based in Long Island, New York that helps entrepreneurs and small business owners access the capital they need when they require it. He founded the company to help small business owners succeed, leveraging his considerable financial sector experience to help them do so.
Today, Mayar’s company is broadly recognized as a leader in the merchant cash advance industry. Ali Habib Mayar himself learned a lot about small business success along the way and has generously decided to share four of his best tips for small business success in slow times with our readers.
The following advice may be applied to nearly any industry:
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Table of Contents
Utilize Merchant Cash Advance Services for Financial Assistance
Merchant cash advances, or MCAs, offer numerous advantages over a loan from a traditional financial institution. The application process is streamlined because they don’t pay too much attention to your personal credit history. Instead, they concentrate on your business’s cash flow and ability to fulfill its obligations when deciding whether to approve any particular funding request.
MCAs are also repaid based on your daily revenues, easing any cash flow issues you may be experiencing. This means that you don’t need to pay much on slower days, helping you keep the lights on until business picks up again.
Finally, there are no restrictions on how you use the proceeds of an MCA. This allows you to run your business however you see fit, giving you the freedom to live the dream of being your own boss!
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Leverage Seasonal Employees
Staffing is one of the most significant expenses any business faces. If you employ more people than you need, you’re just wasting money. If you don’t have enough staff, you may not be able to maximize your revenues during a boom period.
The solution to this problem is simple: seasonal employees. Most business owners can anticipate their busiest and slowest seasons in advance, allowing them to cut back for the lean times and staff up again when the need arises. Just make sure that any new personnel you bring in is fully trained and ready to go when you need them.
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Adjust Business Hours
You can also survive slower periods by adjusting your business’s schedule. For example, a restaurant that only gets a couple of covers for its lunch service every day is probably losing money by opening its doors at that time. That places more pressure on the company’s dinner business, making slow nights a financial catastrophe that could be difficult to recover from.
In that situation, the restaurant benefits from canceling lunch service entirely to focus exclusively on dinner. Overall revenues might decline slightly, but it’s a net positive if lunch-related expenses are higher than the revenues it generates.
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Cut Out Unnecessary Expenses
Finally, leaner periods are the perfect time to review your company’s financials and cut out any extraneous expenses. Is that advertising campaign actually getting people into the door, or is it a sunk cost? Is your management structure efficient, or are you paying for a layer of bureaucracy that you don’t really need? Are your suppliers giving you a fair rate?
Inventory is another expense that quickly adds up. While you should prioritize hot inventory that flies out the door, failed designs and products are better liquidated than stored indefinitely. This way, you recoup at least some of your initial investment while simultaneously creating more space for other merchandise.
Get More Business and Funding Tips From Ali Habib Mayar
If you’re interested in learning more about Ali Habib Mayar or the funding solutions that he can offer, please visit his personal blog, AliHabibMayar.com.