Leo Kanell

Category: Biz Funding

  • Harness the Power of the Business Funding Formula

    Harness the Power of the Business Funding Formula

    You’re an Entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur and you understand that at some point, especially at the beginning or at key points during your entrepreneurial journey, you will need funding to jump start your business.  Access to money to jump-start your business is an opportunity, so I’m telling you there’s a chance when you discover the formula that will lead you to the funding you need.  Knowing about something and being able to actually do it are 2 Different things.  We might think, oh I will simply go to my bank, grab venture capital or crowdfund my way to success.  Talking about it, knowing about and actually understanding how to execute funding to success is different.

    The business funding formula is the holy grail for jump starting your business.  So many ivy league studies show that one of the top reasons businesses fail is lack of capital or funding.  Doesn’t matter what business you are in, what business model you have, you need capital.  Even a lemonade stand needs the table, the lemonade, the cups, the sugar, the signs to get going.  The BFF allows you to get the things your business needs like inventory, a new website, office location, money for marketing and the ability to hire staff.  This is not get rich quick just because you got access to affordable funding.  You need to focus on generating revenues and selling your product or service, but the BFF can open the door.

    This is not buying a shelf corporation or spending 12 months building business credit to get a 1k Staples card, this is real world cash funding strategies that you can use to fund your business now.  Is Venture Capital or CrowdFunding an Option?  Both venture capital and crowdfunding Fund less than 1% of businesses, even with those 2 funding options, you often face additional hurdles that require additional capital beyond vc and crowdfunding if you are fortunate to be in the small 2 to 3% of businesses that get vc money.

    What about my local Bank.  Tell most businesses no because most don’t show profits on paper and startups forget about it.  What about the SBA programs?  They all need 2 years of profitable business tax returns or collateral.  Securing Funding for an existing business and especially a new business is difficult.    Lending Before the Great Recession vs Biz Lending Now is completely different, the funding landscape is much more stringent.  Learn the Business Funding Formula, it’s is a skill that you can and Must Learn.  Harness the power of the business funding formula by SIMPLY Clicking Here to Apply for Funding and get qualified in minutes..

  • Introducing the BUSINESS FUNDING FORMULA book

    Introducing the BUSINESS FUNDING FORMULA book

    CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS THE BUSINESS FUNDING FORMULA?

    Now that you’ve come across this book you’re probably wondering what exactly is the business funding formula and how will it help me? If you’re reading this, then you are either an entrepreneur or an aspiring entrepreneur and you have realized that if you simply had access to capital and funding you would have a real chance at building not only the business of your dreams, but the life of your dreams as well. The ability to secure capital can be the difference between success and failure in business, it is absolutely that important.
    Before the recession of 2008 & 2009 it was not complicated to secure funding at your bank to launch or grow your business, but since then it has taken incredible creativity and knowledge to secure funding especially for a new business with unproven financials. Even for businesses with history and financials it is still difficult and even though several years have passed since the recession of 2008-09, banks and lenders still mostly lend to the top 5 to 10% of businesses and largely ignore the other 90% of small businesses who desperately need access to capital to have a chance to bring their products and services to market. To make matters worse the proliferation of many different high rate finance products and expensive lenders has made it even more confusing to find the best funding options to launch and grow your business.
    The Business Funding Formula was created to give all business owners a step by step process to follow in order to secure the best funding possible to turn your entrepreneurial pursuits into the truth. The funding formula has existed for decades and has had tremendous effect on some well known businesses that you recognize and probably use on a weekly or even daily basis. Without these business owners’ understanding of the funding formula it is very likely that their businesses would not exist any where near the level they do or may not even have survived without the funding formula.
    The business funding formula is the holy grail for jump starting your new or existing business. You’ve probably seen some studies done by ivy league schools and other organizations and many times one of the top reasons that new businesses fail is due to undercapitalization, a complicated term to describe running out of money. I don’t care if you are selling lemonade on a table outside of your house or a more complicated business model, it takes money to buy the cups, the lemonade, the table and the signs in the front yard to market your lemonade; so although it is popular to talk about starting a business without any type of up front money it is simply for the most part not part of the capitalistic world we live in. The business funding formula will break down the top funding options available for entrepreneurs including: SBA, unsecured loans, lines of credit, merchant cash advances, corporate credit, income and every funding option available on the planet today. Most importantly it will take all of this seemingly complicated BS and break it down into easily understandable steps to guide you to the best funding that you can possibly qualify for. It will also provide you with hacks and tactics to save thousands on any financing you need for the rest of your life. This book will also pull back the curtain to how your credit score is calculated and how lenders make lending decisions. The business funding formula is a tool that every entrepreneur needs in order to achieve massive growth for a business.

    Buy the Book here!

  • To be Self Aware is to Be Successful

    To be Self Aware is to Be Successful

    One of the biggest epidemics is that we constantly lie to ourselves. ‘Excucitis’  is a little disease that lives inside each of us. 90 percent of the country are not making six figures.  Being self aware is being honest with your shortcomings.

    Be aware of your weaknesses and bring in other experts that fill the gap in those areas and always be learning from those around you. Don’t be afraid to take honest constructive criticism. The majority of the population live with excuses to make themselves feel better.

    Being self aware is vital to having a successful business. Find the weak areas and make them strong! Remember, it’s okay to fail and make mistakes. Pick yourself up and learn from what went wrong. You really only ever fail if you give up.

    Look for mentors and those who have already crossed the peaks that you are looking to climb.  Be self aware of new skills that you must learn.  We often have this idea that being humble is about staying quiet and acting somewhat introverted and from what I have constantly seen from incredibly successful people is that they were bold in looking for mentors and books to teach them to accomplish what they want to do.  Yet they were humble enough to look for the answers by digging deep to find mentors and in particular information online and hidden in key books that will guide them to success.  That means you must be self aware of your strengths and the knowledge you are missing so that you can find it in a mentor or books.

    For example, let’s say you have a teenager or two that is becoming difficult for you to manage and guide to success.  IF you are humble that means you will dig into great books of experts who have figured out some simple keys that lead to success with raising teenagers.  This is true really with any topic that you wish to gain mastery over so don’t hold back, go for it, make it happen, be aggressive in searching for others who have succeeded where you want to.  Be opportunistic in looking for mentors.  Today in church I came across a big time real estate developer and you can bet that I will bring value to his life so that I can earn time and wisdom from him.  Life is that simple, find mentors, tell yourself the truth and know your strengths and weaknesses and you will rise above it all!

  • Why the Top Realtors Succeed and How to Join Them

    Why the Top Realtors Succeed and How to Join Them

    Recently, we have helped a lot of real estate agents to build their businesses so they could become top realtors in their local market.  It surprised us to find that on average Realtors make about 55k per year and the top 10% of real estate agents make about 105k per year.  So the bottom line is less than 10% of agents average over 10k per month over a calendar year.  This was somewhat surprising as we know several top realtors and mistakenly assumed that many of them on average make over six figures per year.  So that said it led us to do some investigating.

    We found through research and surveys from reputable firms that the top 10% of agents take action in certain aspects of their business that the other 90% of less successful realtors do.  It breaks down in to about 4 categories for the top realtors.

    MARKETING

    The top realtors spend more on marketing each year, the top 10% spend at least 5k and the top 5% spend twice that amount in marketing each year.  Marketing can mean everything from nicer listing for sale signs, to brochures, online marketing like Google pay per click ads, zillow ads, trulia ads and other real estate themed marketing.  The surveys did not break down the exact type of marketing, but rather just the fact that they spent the money increased their success.

    TECHNOLOGY

    In addition to marketing, the top realtors consistently spend money on superior technology than their less successful counter parts.  On average they spend at least another 5k per year in technology and again the top 5% spend even more on tech.  Tech can be everything from toll free 800 numbers with free info about a house listed to sell to superior sales funnels built out online and working in conjunction with multiple listing services in their local markets.  Again the exact type of marketing will certainly be important, but more important than anything was investing in the tech whether that means better cell phone and tablet and computer technology or something as simple as a new cell phone battery.  The other day I went to look at a property and the realtor was not prepared with a phone charger and with a dead cell phone was unable to open a property so I could look at it.

    WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA

    The next two important factors for real estate agents to be successful center around essentially what is more marketing and technology spending and it is with the agent’s own website and social media pages.  The top realtors spend more on a better website and social media and they also update those sites and social media pages as well as share content multiple times each week and engage their audience of followers including having more friends on facebook and linkedin that often translate in to more clients.  It really is incredible.

    So for a lot of agents you look at these findings and say well duh if I had 25k to 50k I could be a successful realtor, here’s the good news, we have the ability to help you secure funding for your real estate business, so get in touch and we will help you!

  • Fundability

    Fundability

    Fund • a • bil • i • ty – [adj. Fuhnd-uh-bil-i-tee]
    You won’t find “Fundability” on Dictionary.com, so don’t bother looking. Fundability is a phrase we’ve coined to describe how a business measures up in relation to the entire business lending and investing community.

    If you want to have the business of your dreams then often you need quite a few things to make that happen such as:

    • Equipment
    • A Better location
    • hire more Sales people and employees
    • run massive marketing campaigns
    • buy inventory

    Just to name a few, the common denominator with each item necessary to build the business of your dreams is that they all take a lot of capital and so that is why it is so important to be fundable so your business can qualify for the money it needs to become the business that will make your family proud of you.

  • Building a Business Foundation

    Building a Business Foundation

    When it comes to Funding your business, you must first begin by building a business foundation.

    Your business foundation is when your business is in compliance with basic tenets that most businesses have such as:

    1. Incorporate your business with you secretary of State department in the state you choose.
    2. Get an EIN (Tax ID) so you are registered in the IRS system as a business and other databases.
    3. Set up a business bank account.
    4. List your business with business directories
    5. Set up profiles with the major business credit bureaus like D & B, Business Experian and Equifax Business.
    6. Set up a business website and email (hint don’t use a gmail email.)
    7. Make sure you use the same address, business name and email address for each listing on all business documents including the business bank account, the EIN, the Secretary of state and so forth.
    8. Get appropriate City or County business licenses.
    9. Set up Social media pages for your business at least with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn at the minimum.

    By doing these simple steps now your business has a chance to receive funding.

  • Startup Business Funding Trends 2016

    Startup Business Funding Trends 2016

    Leo Kanell discusses the best funding and financing options available for entrepreneurs in 2016. For more tips and info regarding funding for entrepreneurs go to www.leokanell.com.

    For the majority of business startups bootstrapping is most often the path taken to launch your new business. For most they are under capitalized which puts them in a tremendously vulnerable position. In this video Leo Kanell explains the top 3 trending options for startup businesses to secure funding. These are options that can be available to any entrepreneur.
    #leokanell
    That said, some of these startup funding options are easier than others. So by following the newest movements with lenders you will increase your odds for successfully securing capital significantly. Leo Kanell teaches entrepreneurs how to creatively secure affordable financing to fuel the growth of their new or existing business. Nothing puts a smile on his face like knowing that the latest entrepreneur was able to secure funding and launch their business thanks to his expert guidance on the subject of startup business funding.

     

  • Startup Funding Options

    For most new startup businesses the task of securing some startup funding capital can be extremely daunting and in reality where to start is the most difficult thing to know.  Most new entrepreneurs immediately think of going to their local bank and seeing if they will qualify for some money, let’s begin by looking at that experience and then other options after that.

    When you go and see your bank it’s important to understand that most banks do not lend to brand new businesses since they are unproven and a high risk.  That means the only option you will find at a bank will be the infamous SBA option.  SBA has 3 loan types, the 7(a), 504 and the express.  The 504 and express almost always are exclusively for established businesses with 2 to 3 years of profitable business tax returns.  The 7(a) is the only option that can realistically be used for startup businesses.

    Qualifying for a 7(a) loan can be a difficult task, in reality it comes down to a lot of things like your business plan, industry type, your personal credit, but indeed the most important factor will definitely be whether you have any assets or collateral.  Acceptable collateral types will generally be significant equity in your home or other real estate properties, newer equipment with a strong value and generally a 401k or IRA.  So if you have those types of collateral then you stand a good chance at securing a startup SBA 7(a) loan.

    You will also need some type of down payment usually 10 to 25% is what most lenders want, for new businesses the percentage is usually much closer to 25%.  So you have to ask yourself what percentage of new startups actually have that type of collateral and down payment available for their business to secure startup funding?  Since I have personally spoken with thousands of new business owners in my experience it would seem that less than 5% of new entrepreneurs have those kinds of qualifications, assets and collateral.  So if you don’t possess those items then what other options are there?

    In reality the best option will be a mixture of unsecured credit lines.  These credit lines do not require extensive income documentation or collateral, in most cases you just need a 680 credit score to qualify for them.  The monthly payments are low and affordable and they are flexible tools.  Even if you are successful at securing an SBA loan, an SBA loan will often not be able to go towards working capital, so in reality you will still need additional funds for working capital like paying payroll, marketing and other costs.  For most startups unsecured credit lines are your best bet.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

    Leo Kanell teaches entrepreneurs how to secure affordable capital for their new or existing businesses.  For more info go to http://www.leokanell.com

  • Credit Inquiries Have Ruined My LIfe

    Over the years I have helped my clients secure over $120 Million dollars in funding and I’ve learned a few important items that lead to success when securing funding for a business.  One of the most misunderstood concepts that is constantly be spread across the country is the idea that a few credit inquiries aka “hard credit pulls” are going to drop my credit score 100 points and ruin my life.  Today I’m going to tackle this common misconception with the facts of when credit inquiries do negatively impact you and when they are irrelevant to your funding options.

    HOW INQUIRIES AFFECT YOUR CREDIT SCORE

    So let’s look first at how credit inquiries can affect your credit score, first of all credit inquiries make up about 5 to 10% of your credit score, in most cases the percentage is closer to 5% so will 6 to 8 inquiries drop your credit score 100 points, the answer is definitely no, it might lower the score by 15 to 20 points and that is about the biggest impact.  Of course if you go hog wild and have your credit pulled 25 to 30 times in a 30 day period then that could lower your score a lot more, in reality though most people have 2 to 4 credit pulls every 2 months and that is not going to make a big impact on your credit score.

    SECURED LOANS

    Let’s say that you are looking for a mortgage or an auto loan and you go to a few different mortgage and auto lenders to look for financing.  The good news is that the three major credit bureaus will actually count most inquiries that are mortgage or auto loan related as one inquiry when they are pulled within a 2 week window.  The credit bureaus understand that you are looking for the best deal and as such they don’t punish you.  Now regarding the effect inquiries will have on actually securing the mortgage or auto loan, well the answer is there is really no impact, secured lenders like mortgage lenders and auto lenders know that they have collateral and so in case of a client not making their payment and defaulting on a mortgage or auto loan they can take back the collateral, so what that means is they don’t generally take credit inquiries as an important factor in underwriting your loan.  At most a mortgage lender will require a letter of explanation for what the inquiries are.  In reality credit inquiries rarely have much of an impact on your ability to qualify for a mortgage or auto loan.

    UNSECURED LOANS

    Unsecured credit lines, loans and credit cards are affected much more with inquiries.  Unsecured lenders take on more risk than secured lenders so if you try to get a credit card or two and already have several other inquiries on your credit report in the weeks prior to applying for a new credit card then the credit card lender will assume you already secured financing elsewhere and in many cases they will automatically decline your request for a new credit card or credit line.  Thus in all of lending the biggest impact that credit inquiries can have on you as a borrower is when you apply for any type of unsecured credit lines or loans.  Some lenders nowadays will actually do a soft pull on your credit report which will have no impact, but most lenders will do a hard pull.  Either way you will want to pay special attention to hard credit pulls.