“Any Attempt To Secure Business Financing Needs To Be Tempered With Patience”

Recently I was working on two different business financing deals. The first one was for a well established business with great cash flow, great credit, and a strong business model. The second financing scenario was refinancing a business that was struggling to cash flow growth and was trying to overcome many of the challenges that come with a start up business.

While on the surface they couldn’t be much different, the one thing they had in common was the amount of time it was taking to get the financing they needed into place.

And it wasn’t necessarily hard in either case to identify the potential source of business capital that could satisfy their needs. The challenges in both cases came from getting a final commitment in place and getting the funding advanced.

This is a very common occurrence these days post 2008 thru 2010 recession (which for many is still not over).

The lending process and related bureaucracy can be totally maddening to any business owner and manager who is used to taking charge of a situation and getting everything covered off that is required, within a certain time frame.

When it comes to business financing, the process can only be followed, not forced. As soon as you put pressure on a lender or a provider of capital, it will also inevitably lead to a no or decline of an application for funding that may have otherwise gone in your favor.

This is where patience comes in.

Once you have a source of financing lined up that you are comfortable with, its time to gear down and start moving at the speed of the lending process, which can be delayed or slowed down for any number of reasons, most of which you have no control over.

And when you start running out of time on a deal or funding requirement and the financing is still not either approved or available for funding, the tension and pressure of the moment can push you over the edge.

But if you want the options you’re working on to remain options, you’re going to have to create whatever contingency plans are necessary to get you through to the other side of the process where the money is.

Remember that the more people that are involved in getting everything covered off for a lending approval and disbursement (appraisers, accountants, lawyers, consultants, credit committees, customers, suppliers, etc.), the higher the probability that the process will take more time than less.

Sure, everything can come together quickly and be in place ahead of your expectation. But most of the time it won’t, and without a healthy dose of patience, good options can quickly be destroyed, putting you right back at square one.

Click Here To Speak With Business Financing Specialist Brent Finlay