simple + green

Here is an interesting story of how a company like onlinecheck.com can help people with simple businesses.

My wife is in the early stages of getting her design business off the ground. As you can imagine, this is not the ideal time in history to start a small business. She has been a designer for years, even before we had met. Creating her own business was equally a function of want and need.

And so she has taken the plunge!

Part of persevering in a tough economy, as we’re finding out, is to keep costs low. As a consultant, she is already operating on a pretty modest margin.

Another part of the equation is capital for operating income. While her business is profitable within a reasonable range, as long as she keeps her business simple, some friends of ours have a different story. These friends are in a related field, and are a source of referrals for her. So, there is some synergy between the two.

Our friends own a small retail shop on a nice street, known for good shopping. The downturn has really affected them, along with most other retail shops.

Operating simply has not been an option for them. With rent to pay, inventory and employees, the costs are high. One interesting thing is that walk-in sales are down, but out of state sales (usually by phone, their company website doesn’t have online shopping function) are increasing. They’ve done some grass roots marketing, and had luck with getting some out of state press.

To grow the business however, they are reviewing ways to get access to more funding.

They have options, of which onlinecheck.com is one. Conveniently, they offer solutions to our friends’ major needs. I found this site, and was impressed by the range of services they have. For one, they offer a “Fast Business Loan”. They note that this loan has less stringent requirements, faster approval, and no closing cost or fees.

So our friends have an option now, which is certainly good news.

I’ll be giving this recommendation to them. And to anyone else who needs this kind of one-stop resource for loans, credit card processing and other similar services.

For businesses that are in a tighter spot, onlinecheck.com offers a Merchant Cash Advance. Essentially, it is what is states: rather than being a loan, this is an upfront cash payment. Repayment is against future sales or revenues collected through electronic means.