2016 Holiday Baking Recipes

Sep 30, 2016

2016 Holiday Baking RecipesThe holiday season is a time for fun and festive bakery treats.  It’s also a time catch up on new trends and opportunities and capitalize on new tastes.  Many of this year’s trending recipes are new versions of classic dishes.  We’ve scoured the internet to find some of our favorite new holiday baking recipes.  As always, putting your own twist on these examples will help your bakery to be unique and differentiate yourself from the competition.

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Topics: Bakery

Thanksgiving Marketing For Small Business

Sep 28, 2016

Thanksgiving Marketing For Small BusinessIt’s almost holiday time and small business owners should already be preparing their marketing plans.  Thanksgiving is a time for family and showing appreciation.  It also represents a time for companies to get back into the black.  Thanksgiving provides a variety of different opportunities to ramp up your marketing efforts.  This is a time when people start to spend their holiday budgets and aren’t afraid to spend more than they expected on a good deal.  With cash flowing more freely than any other time of year it’s important to be bold in order to rake in your share.  Here are some tips, tactics and just plain nice things to do to increase your Thanksgiving revenue.

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Topics: Small Business, Marketing

Making Sure Your Business Cash Advance Makes You Money

Sep 24, 2016
Businesses need capital to run from month-to-month and even day-to-day. Without capital, a business can't pay for inventory, labor, office or retail space, and more. Business cash advances can provide capital for businesses, but in most cases, the capital should be used to make money for the business rather than for regular monthly expenses.

While in rare cases it makes sense to use a business cash advance for monthly cash flow needs (such as when waiting for a large payment or contract to be processed), it is usually necessary to use these cash advances to make more money for the business.

How Business Cash Advances Work

A business cash advance is a purchase of future credit card sales. The provider gives the business a percentage of its projected future sales up front, then takes a percentage of those sales each day until the amount, plus fees, is satisfied. For instance, if projected sales for a gift basket business are 20,000 per month, and they take a cash advance of 20% of that amount over 6 months, they would get $24,000 up front, then pay out a percentage of their gross receipts each day until the $24,000, plus fees, is paid.

Because of the fees paid, it doesn't benefit a business to take a business cash advance unless they can use it to make enough money to cover the fees, plus make a profit. Earnings that are level will not give the business enough cash flow to cover the fees paid; therefore, they will end up worse off after paying back the cash advance amount and fees.

Business Activities With Positive ROI

Some business activities are more likely to generate positive ROI (return on investment) than others. Here are some possible ways to use a business cash advance to make more money:

-Expand your retail space and add additional inventory (or add to your office space if you need to hire more sales staff, or add seats to your restaurant).

-Upgrade your equipment so that it can produce more or do more for the business in less time. Do this only if the increased efficiency will translate into more profit within a few months.

-Purchase additional inventory which can generate a profit within several months over and above the cash advance fee.

-Replace broken equipment without which your business can't generate income, if the profit is sufficient to cover the advance fee and still meet the business's needs.

Calculating the ROI of a Business Cash Advance

To calculate the ROI of a business cash advance, simply subtract the total profit you will make from investing the cash advance from the total amount of the cash advance, including the fee. You can calculate the total profit on a yearly basis, but keep in mind that the ROI may be much higher if the business continues to generate higher profits in future years as a result of the investment.

Quikstone Capital Solutions provides business cash advances to help businesses grow and increase their profits.
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Topics: Funding Your Business, Growing Your Business

Keeping Your Sense of Humor During Election Season

Sep 23, 2016

Keeping Your Sense of Humor During Election SeasonElection season can be a time of great animosity and contention between coworkers and families.  Keeping your sense of humor during this time and not allowing it to affect your business is extremely important.  While everyone is sure to have different views on the presidential candidates, enjoying a good laugh is something we all have in common.  As a side note, using humor during this time to market your business and draw in website visitors is also a great idea.  Holding events that revolve around debates and other election events can be a great way to draw in customers.  Be sure not to choose sides as you don’t want to alienate faithful customers.

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Topics: Merchant Cash Advance

Merchant Cash Advances Gaining Popularity

Sep 20, 2016

Merchant Cash Advances Gaining PopularityIn 2013 the merchant cash advance market was lending around the $500 million mark.  As of today, that number has increased to well over $3 Billion.  There are many reasons for this.  What was once thought of as a fly by night industry has now blossomed into one of the more popular options for small business owners.  With more options to choose from and stronger competition, the market has weeded out some of the less reputable companies and has become a much more trustworthy option.  Merchant cash advances have many differences from that of a bank loan.  Here we’ve outlined some of the biggest reasons for the rise of the merchant cash advance.

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Topics: Merchant Cash Advance