Ideas for Newbie Entrepreneurs in 2020

And The Winner Is...

The results are in. This year’s winner of the 2M7 Forward Thinkers Scholarship is Claire O’Brien. As a member of The University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, Claire was able to overcome stiff competition in this year’s contest. To do so, Claire not only demonstrated a strong performance in her academic journey thus far, but also clearly  communicated a keen interest to harness the knowledge she acquired to this point, to succeed in the world of business as she moves toward her professional goals. Claire exhibited the enthusiasm, and aptitude that 2M7 Financial Solutions’ CEO, Avi Bernstein was looking to reward, and intended to encourage with the creation of this scholarship opportunity.

“Each year, university students face multiple challenges in their pursuit of their academic goals; and these stretch far beyond the classroom. Post-secondary schooling is extremely expensive and places a significant financial burden on those who attend, which can potentially negatively impact the studies of these students as they see to the financial obligations that arise with school funding. That is why I made it one of my goals to help lessen this burden: these students have enough “on their plate”; I want them to focus on what they are paying to study not on how they are going to pay for it. Claire’s essay not only exhibited her potential for business success, but also showed me a character that the 2M7 team strives to promote when we do business. Congratulations, Claire.

The 2M7 Forward Thinkers Scholarship is an annual scholarship that is available for post-secondary students studying in a business related field; and offers the winner a reward of $2,500 so they can better manage the expenses of their schooling. This year we had another strong applicant pool; and we encourage those not selected this year, to re-apply during next year’s contest, for their chance to get a generous amount of financial assistance. We at 2M7 would like to thank all those who participated in this year’s contest; and we wish all those that did decide to vie for this scholarship all the best in their future endeavours.

As you seek out new financial solutions for your business, you’re wondering about merchant cash advances. What is an MCA, and what can it do for your small business?As it turns out, a merchant cash advance has serious benefits for small businesses. Check out these advantages, and you might be convinced that an MCA is the right move for you.

Funding Based on Your Future, Not Your Past

One of the biggest benefits of a merchant cash advance is that your future is more important than your past. With a traditional bank loan, you must provide your business’s past income and revenue. They’ll also want to see the business’s credit score and maybe your personal credit score.A merchant cash advance, however, is extended on the basis of anticipated future sales. The lender examines your past credit card and debit card sales to make an estimate about what you’ll earn in the future. They offer the advance based on what you’re likely to bring in.That’s great news for small businesses without a lot of history under their belt. Plus, since it’s forward-looking, it takes into consideration that your business is growing. That’s much better than a traditional loan that looks at your past and doesn’t consider your future needs.

You Can Use It for What You Need

A merchant cash advance offers more flexibility to a small business. Some traditional loans will earmark your funds for particular business uses. An equipment loan, for example, needs to be used to buy equipment. A payroll loan must fund payroll.An MCA can be applied to either of these expenses. Since the funds aren’t earmarked, you could use the MCA to help with payroll. Then you could take any leftover funds and put them towards that equipment.You can even use the MCA to help with day-to-day operations. Need petty cash? The MCA’s funds could stock it up. What about keeping the lights on? The MCA could help you with the electricity bill too.This gives small business owners greater freedom and flexibility than other traditional loan products.

A Merchant Cash Advance Offers More Payment Flexibility

Perhaps the biggest benefit is that the MCA gives small businesses more flexibility when repaying the advance.With a traditional loan, you’ll have a set monthly payment. If you experience a poor sales month, then you might only be able to make a partial payment. You might default on the loan or require another loan to pay it back.The MCA is different. The lender takes a percentage of your actual credit card sales as payment. When you have a good month, you can pay your MCA back faster. If you hit rough waters, then the payment decreases accordingly. You don’t need to worry about defaulting on the payments.

Discover the Benefits of an MCA for Your Business

These benefits can make a merchant cash advance the right choice for many businesses, but they’re especially helpful for small business owners.Ready to see what an MCA could do for your business? Get in touch with the experts to get the funds you need today.

With COVID-19 being active throughout the year, e-commerce is generating more money than it ever has. Most of the physical means of buying and selling have been run out of business. Therefore, having an online presence has become more important than ever before. With that said, it’s safe to say that investment to update your website will be the best use of your money in 2021. It serves as the face of your business. Your website aims to earn your customer’s respect, as it helps them develop their first impression. Whether you trade-in footwear or have a grocery store that delivers, you would want to address several errors in your site, proving to be a profitable investment.

Long Term Investment

On average, a good website lasts for about three years. A well-made website with good optimizations and regular content updates can provide business that will exceed your expectations. In some cases, minor upgrades every now and then may last you more than three years. Spending money to milk those three years out of the site is a good idea because of the high ROI. You’re spending more upfront, but you’ll earn back tenfold in profit throughout the site’s lifetime.

Stay Up to Date

Website trends are changing rapidly. Just think about what websites are right now and what they were a year ago. These days, companies are focusing on minimalism and subtle color schemes. Two decades ago, the business made websites with flashing colors to attract the user’s attention. It doesn’t matter how good of a service you provide. If your website isn’t up to date, you’re not going to make a sale.

Outshine Competitors

Regardless of what service you’re offering, there’s always going to be one guy or one company that’s better at it than you are. So, when you just can’t outshine your competitors with your product, you can best them in other places. For instance, maybe your rival’s websites take 15 seconds to load. You could get the upper hand by halving those loading times. This would give your customers a much better experience with your website. Hence, even if your product is slightly inferior, your website makes up for it by outshining your competitors.

Maximize Security

If you’re ever used an antivirus software, you’ll notice that these applications receive updates almost every day. It may seem like developers are constantly updating their apps, but that is not the case. Instead, they’re trying to keep up with all the new and improved forms of malicious malware that people are constantly putting out on the internet. If you made your website five years ago, it’s optimized to the security threats present then. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the site is safe from some of the modern digital threats we’re facing today. By updating your website, you’re not just protecting your own data, but your client’s data as well.

Closing Thoughts

Updating your website can be a pretty expensive ordeal. Between hiring a web developer and paying server hosting fees, you can expect to sometimes pay bills ranging up to several thousands of dollars. To ensure you have the right resources to update your site, you can get some assistance from 2M7 Financial Solutions. We’re a company that offers merchant cash advances to business that need it. MCA means that you will only have to return a certain amount of your sales each month. If you need a company that can cover your website updating costs, get in touch with 2M7, and we’ll help you out.