A highly successful business is like a completed puzzle. The puzzle pieces represent every enterprise, like sales, marketing and, of course, the products or services. Funding is one of these crucial puzzle pieces, to get your business one step closer to completing the perfect picture.
Luckily, getting a boost in funding has never been easier for Yoco merchants, with Yoco Capital – our cash advance offering with unique Yoco flair. Qualifying merchants can get their risk-free cash advances in as little as 1 day, if they meet the requirements. No fuss, no paperwork, and no penalties!
Keep reading to find out more about the good it would do to inject some extra moolah into your business, and why it’s definitely something you should be thinking about.
1. What you put in is what you get out – invest in those assets
Imagine this: you’re running a bespoke hotdog stand in Durban CBD, offering affordable yet uniquely flavoured sausage rolls. Customers flock to your stand day in and day out and you’re moving as fast as you can to get those orders out, but your equipment (or lack thereof) is slowing you down. Your customers start to leave– they’re hangry and in a rush. You may even have lost them for good.
Now, imagine you got an extra braai stand and a bigger workspace. Your customers definitely wouldn’t have waited as long, and would probably never have left either. Making that extra capital investment would’ve definitely paid off, right? You could’ve used that improved setup to serve your existing customers, and a whole lot of new ones too. That’s the power of having enough cash to fund your much-needed operational assets!
2. Are you a one-man-band working your hands to the bone? Time to grow the team
There’s only so much that one person can do in 24 hours. Small business owners have a bad rap for being overly invested in their businesses, and unable to switch off after closing time. Who can blame them, though? As hard as it might be, sometimes we need to learn when to share the load. An extra set of hands can do wonders to upgrade your business.
By hiring an employee to help out with some of the daily grind (like manning your hotdog stand), you can use the freed up time to work on growing your business and maximising profits. Who knows? What if there’s an opportunity to open up a couple more hotdog stands in the near future, with you doubling or even tripling your income?
Securing funding for your business can give you a kick-start to a brighter future for your small business, and although hiring an employee may represent an additional expense, they contribute their own unique values and knowledge. Plus, if you share the same mindset and work well together, you’ll be well on your way to building your empire!
3. Stock up the shelves
Every business needs to keep enough inventory on hand to meet their customers’ demand at all times, otherwise they risk losing out on valuable trade. Having enough stock means you’ll never have to ask your customer to “come back next week”, and you won’t lose that sale (or that customer!) to one of your competitors either. But, buying enough stock costs money!
With a funding boost, you can afford to maintain just the right level of stock on hand to even meet unexpected consumer demand (like if an influencer raves about you on Instagram, and all their followers decide to check you out all of a sudden).
4. Time to expand
Have you ever thought about how you’d upscale your business if you hit the jackpot? Well, a boost in funding is sort of a jackpot too, right? Maybe you’d like to move to a larger premises? Or upgrade the facilities at your current location? Or maybe even open up a second location altogether! How about developing new products or adding another service to your offering?
Additional funding gives you room to grow, a chance to develop your offering, and a spot in the playing field of even greater opportunities in future. If the money is spent wisely, it’s a surefire way to help bring your business goals into fruition.
5. Prepare for setbacks
Imagine this: You’re a baker and you have a large order of cakes that needs to be ready for delivery first thing in the morning – only to be met with Stage 4 loadshedding! That leaves you without an oven or lights, and very little hope that you’ll be able to get it all done in time.
A boost in funding can be just what you need to get you out of trouble during unforeseen events, such as water cuts and loadshedding. If these are major setbacks to your business, it could be worthwhile investing in a backup plan to make sure things run smoothly, despite these challenges. How about a JoJo tank and a generator?
Depending on the type of business you operate, it might be worthwhile having these funds tucked away for a rainy day when your cash flow doesn’t quite… well, flow.
Clearly, there are several big pros to getting your business a boost in funding: from buying extra stock to opening up new locations, the sky really is the limit! Let us know in the comments below: What’s the first thing you’d do if you could get a funding boost?
