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Business travel could be a profitable, enjoyable and even exciting experience. The moment you spend conducting business in other destinations increases your business reach and opportunity and increases you as a person too. Getting skilled at business trips is a strong business objective because there is knowledge related to business travel and being productive on the road that is not possible to learn if you don’t get out there and travel.Many of the knowledge associated with business travel are locked up in how you can live productively on your way. This is especially important when you’re on a long business travel. The life of moving in and out of hotels, traveling by car or airplane and also the challenges of the job could wear down even the most sturdy and knowledgeable business traveler.Keeping healthful eating while traveling for business is a critical challenge and one that really can only be attained with a few serious planning. You will finally find yourself consuming in a lot of dining establishments on your way and that kind of meals does not provide itself to a diet that is intended for fat loss or for a diet you must sustain for wellness reasons.The first but greatest step forward to accomplishing diet plan targets while traveling is to converse your wants to your traveling companions. In a business environment, there is normally a lot of encouragement to eat and drink well. Everybody is on the cost account so it’s an easy task to go crazy. Yet if you permit your coworkers and customers understand you’ve convincing reasons to sustain a disciplined diet, most of the time they will regard that and find methods to allow you to become successful.Another magic of business travel isn’t to rely on restaurants for your foods totally. If you may get out to a market early in the travel and buy some fresh fruit and vegetables, you can prepare some healthy food in your room to satiate and keep you on track. Then in the event that you have to eat in a restaurant to talk about business with colleagues or build relationships with the client, your appetite will be low so you can get by on a smaller amount.You can also be a voice for small amounts in the choice of eating establishments for your foods. Obviously, fast food is not going to be considered a good choice for you. So when there is discussion about where you can stop, you can vote for a spot that will serve a good variety of meal choices including some healthy choice menu options. In that way if you must eat in a restaurant, you’ll find items to order that can be prepared in accord with your diet requirements.You’ll be amazed how many allies you will find both in your travel associates and with those you are doing business with at your place who’ve diet plan targets but haven’t been successful because of the temptations of the life on the road. Your open statement of intent to stay to your diet regardless of the rigors of business trip could be a huge motivation to them. Furthermore, because they build partnerships in your purpose to reside wholesome, it’s entirely possible to consider your business to a healthy restaurant or deli and permit the rest of the party to go to a place of their liking. As long as this is performed without bitterness, everybody wins.Avoiding alcohol and snack foods could be a large concern on the road too. Very often in a seminar setting or within a lengthy day of conversations, the sponsor organization or office will give you biscuits or other treats to assist the conference go well by keeping everybody’s blood sugar up. These snacks are going to be difficult to resist. One way to help yourself in that situation is to be prepared with your own snacks in your brief case to bring out to replacement for the fattening food being supplied.By thinking ahead about your diet plan needs and how you will offer yourself while traveling, it’s possible to sustain a healthy lifestyle even during business trips. By supplementing theses steps with exercise and rest, you may find that your weather the travel much better than those who abuse their bodies and find yourself more productive as a business person as well because you made the effort to eat well on the road.

There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.

In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.

But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.

Different Types of Financing

One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.

Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.

But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.

Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.

Alternative Financing Solutions

But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:

1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.

2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.

3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.

In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:

It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.

A Precious Commodity

Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).

Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.

Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?