Most entrepreneurs find a time in their business when they need to access financing. It may be in the early stages of their business, when start-up costs for offices, equipment and employees must be covered. Or it may be later on, when they have to relocate, purchase more inventory or equipment, or market their business more aggressively.

Financing a business can be scary, but there are many options for entrepreneurs to consider. They each have different advantages and disadvantages, but chances are there’s a financing option that will work well.

When customers make a buying decision, they’re not just considering the quality and price of your products or services, they’re also evaluating the ease and convenience of the whole buying process. As a business owner, you should offer different payment options to provide the best customer experience and to ensure you receive timely payments

Here are four ways your small business can accept payments in 2020:

1. Credit and debit cards

So you’ve set up your business and sold some products and services. Now, you have to send an invoice to collect your payment. But what should you include on your invoices in order to get paid faster?

Even if you’ve been running your business for a while, you might be missing other information that you should include. So here is a step-by-step guide on what to include on your invoices.

Last week I got an automated call from my credit card company.  They had noticed some strange activity on my credit card and wanted me to call to verify the details.  Their message was pre-recorded and automated (I’m feeling suspicious already – I already get several scam calls a week with pre-recorded messages), they included their address in the message (why? They’re not asking me to write to them are they? – this is public data – is this a scammer trying to give me a false sense of security with publicly available information?) and gave a phone number to call that was not the number on the back of my card (third red flag here).

This should be something you focus on all the time. Just as the flight attendants tell you to put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping others, it’s the same in business – you need to look after yourself at all times.

What are the things that fill your ‘well of happiness’?

Hiring staff can be an exciting time, because it means expansion and growth in a business. Sometimes, however, companies grow before they’re ready to. Small business owners think their businesses look more professional with more staff so they hire people when they don’t need to.

In these difficult times, you may find your business slowing down and sales harder to come by. Given this trend, establishing and maintaining connections with existing and potential customers have become more important than ever. So here are some simple tips to help you step up your marketing game:

When you’re driving, there are certain things on your dashboard that you keep an eye on – your speed, your fuel level, and the engine’s temperature.

It should be the same in your business. You should have a business dashboard with 3-5 key things you’re monitoring regularly.

Use this four-step process to create your own dashboard:

When you’re a small business owner, you get used to people giving you advice. Sometimes you seek out their insights while other times they share whether you want them to or not. While the advice is almost always well intended, it’s not always good. In fact, sometimes it’s downright awful.

Here are some tips that well-meaning people give to small business owners that definitely should not be followed.

Now is the perfect time to evaluate your financial position and come up with innovative ways to add revenue streams and generate cash. Here are five ways you might consider to improve your cash inflow:

1. Evaluate your current company assets

Take a look at your assets, both fixed and human. Could you make slight pivots to create a new form of income?

Dan Murray, CEO of Opportunity International Canada wrote a blog post this week about the impact of the current global crisis on developing economies, Here’s a quick summary of the importance of OI’s Micro Finance programmes:

The essence of microfinance is financial inclusion.

Families trapped in ultra-poverty are marginalized at the fringes of society. Often illiterate and without equity, they are excluded from access to basic financial services that most take for granted — savings, mortgages, business loans, and insurance. Without such access, there is little opportunity to improve the quality of life or change the trajectory for the next generation.

When you’re an entrepreneur, your to-do list is often long and constantly growing longer. There are an overwhelming number of things you need to do, and it can feel like they’re all urgent. In such cases, it’s easy to push important tasks to the side and focus on less-vital activities, but that often means you miss deadlines, make mistakes or always feel as though you’re trying to catch up.

Here are some ways for you to determine the most productive order to complete your tasks.

1. Know all of your tasks

Most family business owners have a similar goal in mind – to grow the business and pass it on to the next generation of their family.

While keeping the business in the family and getting to work with your parents, siblings, or children who share common goals can be a fun and rewarding experience, running and growing a family-owned business isn’t without its challenges. Conflicting views on business and family matters such as succession of power, rivalry, favoritism, and disposition of assets often lead to tensions and even legal disputes.

So if you want your business to thrive while keeping family control over multiple generations, it pays to plan ahead and be prepared to navigate these complexities. Below we’ve listed some ways to avoid the most common pitfalls when managing and scaling a family-owned business. Financial Planning for Your Family Business

The COVID-19 pandemic has caught most of us off guard. Who would’ve thought that the world would spend the year battling a virus?

This unprecedented global crisis is a reminder that these business threats are very real and acts as a wake-up call for business leaders. Even if the scenario may seem far-fetched, it pays to prepare for the worst. When a pandemic hits, businesses play a crucial role in protecting the health of their employees and limiting the adverse impact on the community and the wider domestic economy.

In this guide, we will help you prepare for future outbreaks and similar events, as well as offer tips for managing your business during a pandemic. Develop a Business Continuity and Crisis Plan

It’s very rare these days that people just happen to find your business and become a client or customer with no work on your part. Your business has to grab people’s attention, turn curious visitors into leads and then convert those leads into sales.

This means that the more solid leads you have, the greater your chances of making a sale. Solid leads are those contacts who are engaged in your business, fit your buyer persona and are at least somewhat motivated to make a purchase.

Here are four great ways to develop more solid leads for your business this year.

Referrals are the easiest way to generate new business, and building strong networks is a great way to generate referrals. Networking and referrals are cost-effective ways to grow your business, as the return on investment can be huge. Think about the types of networking you can undertake and encourage your team to do the same.

Five ways to maximise referrals from your networks:

We’re pleased to announce our Slip Stream initiative. We’ve partnered with Opportunity International to support micro finance loans to small businesses in Honduras. We donate the first month’s accounting fees of all new clients to OI’s Honduras project.

I’d like to introduce you to Maria – a recipient of OI’s micro finance programme. We’re proud to be able to support people like Maria make a better life for themselves, their families and their communities. Watch part of Maria’s story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXcOKDCLHeo

It’s natural for small business owners to think that they won’t be victims of cyber attacks. Most of the news surrounding hacking and data breaches involves large corporations, but that is because that’s where a high number of victims are affected. Hackers may find they have an easier time going after small businesses and start-ups that aren’t prepared for a security breach. So while they might get less information from a small business, thieves will have an easier time accessing that information.

If your company keeps any time sensitive information on a computer network—whether that is personal information, credit card info, or other vital data—you need to ensure your cybersecurity is top-notch, so you, your business and your clients are fully protected.

We have recently finished our four-part webinar series titled “Business Unusual.” While the content is timeless, it has been geared towards helping businesses navigate the current COVID-19 crisis. You can watch the sessions for free here:

Networking can be a key way to keep your business growing.

Regardless of your industry or business size, it is hard to ignore the benefits of forming professional networks for potential partnerships, expanding your client base, and scaling up. However, while we are all constantly reminded about the importance of networking, reaching out to grow your network isn’t the same now thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social restrictions to prevent spreading the coronavirus do not allow traditional networking approaches such as in-person conference events or face-to-face business meetings over coffee or dinner. However, this doesn’t mean that you should put all your networking efforts on hold, because no one can really tell when this global crisis will end.