Although growing your inventory to keep up with demand sounds like a no brainer, getting your financials together to make it happen isn’t so simple. Do you grow your business by burying yourself in interest? Or do you look for smarter ways to get some capital? Here are 3 ways you can start working on today to get capital to grow your inventory.
1. Credit Cards
Credit cards? Really?
YES! But we’re not talking about burying yourself in credit card debt until the interest payments are larger than the principal. While you do have to have decent credit for this one to work, we’re talking about leveraging your credit cards so they work for you, not the other way around.
- 0% Interest Credit Cards: Many credit cards offer 0% interest for the first 12, 15, or even 18 months. This means that you can make a purchase using your credit card and only pay off what you buy without having to pay any interest at all! Just make sure you’re making your minimum payments and have the entire balance paid off before the end of the promotional term. Otherwise, they may backdate the interest and charge you as if you never had 0%. If you can’t pay it off by the end of the term, all hope isn’t lost. You may be able to initiate a balance transfer to another credit card for a small fee and then do the dance all over again.
- Balance Transfers: This is where you transfer a balance form a high interest credit card to a lower interest credit card so you don’t drown in interest debt. Many credit cards will even offer you 0% interest in the balance transfer for a 12 months or more! There is usually a fee of 3-5% of the balance being transferred but it’s a one time fee and it’s nothing compared to what you would pay if you continued to pay the original interest rate. It comes out to be $30-$50 for every $1,000 you transfer so not bad at all. Just keep in mind that balance transfers could take a while so plan ahead and don’t wait til it’s the day before your payment is due to initiate a balance transfer.
- Cash Advance: This is a last resort and you really shouldn’t have to use it unless you’re buying from someone who only accepts cash. Some credit cards offer you a certain amount of your credit limit in cash. This means that you can get actual cash from your credit card. But there is a catch in that the interest rate on cash advances is usually higher than the regular rate.
2. Capital Funding
How do you process payments for your business? Many payment processing companies like PayPal, Square, and Stripe will offer you lo interest loans just for being their customer. This means that you can get a loan from your credit card processor, and pay it back through convenient automatic deductions from your daily card sales so you never have to think about it. You may even be able set up even payments so you have your loan paid off over a certain amount of weeks or months. It’s really worthwhile to simply create a free business account with these companies and use them for some online shopping. Who knows you may start to get offers from them sooner than later.
Click an option below to learn about capital funding from each company.
3. Leasing/Financing
This should be your last resort but some companies offer their own financing/leasing programs. Although you may catch a low interest promotion once in a while, these programs typically have extremely high interest rates. Thinking of paying off your loan early to avoid the interest? Think again! Most of these companies have insanely high fees associated with early payment so you’re usually stuck paying the high interest for the length of the term.
Pay Yourself Like A Boss & Plan Ahead
Perhaps the best way to pay for new inventory and equipment is to plan ahead and save for it. It may sound simple but there’s actually an awesome strategy we’ve been using in our own. Check it out below!
https://www.myadacademy.com/blog/boss-vs-employee-pay-policy-process/
