I was watching a Seinfeld rerun the other day and Jerry was talking about how much pressure putting a man on the moon has caused us all. “We can put a man on the moon but you can’t deliver a hot pizza to my home. We can put a man on the moon but it takes 7 guys to repair a pot hole in the street,” that kind of thing.
His point was that now that we can accomplish what was once unimaginable, nothing should stand in our way as we try to accomplish anything we can think of.
The same is happing in American small business. I can buy ten times the computing power at a tenth of the cost of a few years ago and carry it in my briefcase on in my palm. That means a single individual or small group of intelligent, motivated people can compete against the “big guys”.
Google $1.6 Billion purchase of YouTube is a great example of how easy it has become to disrupt business as usual. So question #1 is…will you be the disruptor or the disrupted?
Your answer may depend on your ability, your intelligence or even your connections, but it will not depend on your access to capital. At least not much longer.
For years, one of the advantages the “big guys” had was access to capital. It is a competitive advantage in advertising, client acquisition, site locations, personnel decisions, almost every area of business can be improved or benefited by an abundant access to working capital.
Over the past few years that competitive advantage has slipped away from the “big guys” as creative funding companies have provided hundreds of millions of dollars to small business owners across the country. We helped over 50 clients in the 4th quarter alone.
From $7,500 to a pizza restaurant owner to $280,000 to a restaurant chain client, capital is flowing, helping our clients and leveling the playing field in American business.
Our clients have more good ideas than the capital necessary to implement those ideas. Well, the capital is finally starting to catch up. And, as I look forward into 2007, our funding partners are developing products and funding strategies to help more business owners in different industries, different cash flows and different demographics.
The cost of capital will be less in 2007 for owners with good credit and there will be more funds available for business owners with lesser credit scores.
So, back to Mr. seinfeld and the man on the moon. Whatever you imagine for the future of your business. Whatever heights you aspire to, capital is much less likely to be an obstacle for you. That excuse is no longer valid.
Now that capital is available and easier to access, what will you become? How will you expand? How will you out market your competition? Where are opportunities for growth? In the past, you may not have been forced to answer these questions because capital was limited. Without those limitations…what will you become?
Good luck in 2007!
