Maureen Farrell is a staff writer at Forbes.com and I think I can tell from her recent article that she is an academic who never had to make payroll or struggle for capital. T
Most business owners seem to be pleased to have the opportunity to make a choice between “expensive” capital and none at all. Without this type of financing, who would provide the money to grow thousands of small business…the bank? The mortgage industry? Forbes? (Which I love by the way).
What surprises me is that Forbes knows how the free markets work. Capital flows in because of demand and because these funding companies can make a profit to justify their risk without regulation created by beaurocrats to protect business owners from themselves. If there is a great demand for merchant cash advance, it is because there is a great need not being met.
She also makes it seem like this is a product newly popular because of the recent credit crunch. In fact the industry was been around for 10 years now and provided over $500 million of financing to small business owners of all credit profiles in 2007.
I am also a small business owner and collectively we are the largest employer in the Unites States. We have a long history of being the back bone of American business and the engine of creativity. I am surprised Ms. Farrell and Forbes would not give us credit for having the ability to make intelligent business decisions about capital and the growth of our businesses.
