{"id":114272,"date":"2017-09-08T11:22:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T10:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chrisw92.sg-host.com\/?p=114272"},"modified":"2017-09-08T11:22:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T10:22:52","slug":"what-business-owners-achieved-alternative-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/what-business-owners-achieved-alternative-finance","title":{"rendered":"The growth four business owners achieved with the help of cash advance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Indeed, there are still ways to get expansion plans off the ground and achieve that brilliant idea plus increased turnover. This concept has been highlighted by”four daring entrepreneurs who turned around rejection from a bank and achieved great things with their alternative finance.<\/p>\n

(1) Valley Cruises<\/span><\/p>\n

Valley Cruises<\/a> is a family-operated boat hire company with sites at Stratford upon Avon and Coventry, which has?rapidly expanded to keep up with growing demand.<\/p>\n

However, when taking?on a second location with a 50-mile stretch of lock-free canal, the owner was presented with the opportunity to do something more original than adding boats to the fleet. Although narrow boating has enjoyed a renewed interest from people of all ages, many are put off by not feeling confident when operating the locks.<\/p>\n

So, in order to attract these people to the canals, Valley Cruises soughtAlternative finance in the form of a business cash advance to purchase a boat for parties and day events. Itis a form of funding that is paid back as a small percentage from your customer card transactions. So you only ever pay back your loan when your customers pay you.<\/p>\n

If business is booming, you?ll pay it back quicker, and if you’re having a quiet period, you?ll pay back less. Also, there are no fixed monthly repayments, APR or hidden fees and the loan is unsecured so your home won’t be at risk.<\/p>\n

Itsconcept has been so well received that David Moore, managing director, has said that in several months” time they will?look to purchase another holiday hire boat.<\/p>\n

(2) Exotic Palms & Spas<\/span><\/p>\n

Based in Gillingham, Exotic Palms & Spas<\/a>. has been operating for 15 years and sells 14 different types of hot tubs, saunas, gazebos and barbecues. The company also provides a hot tub cleaning and repair service.<\/p>\n

Itis dedicated to offering high end products to itscustomer base, including specific hydrotherapy hot tubs, designed by chiropractic engineers. These products are incredibly beneficial in helping to support the healing of the body, bones and spine, so one would naturally assume that a cash injection would be used to acquire more of them.<\/p>\n

That was not the case. Business owner Chris Whitton used alternative finance to redesign and refit the company’s’showroom so that itcould showcase the high quality products to potential clients.<\/p>\n

The redesign features a striking, wall to wall, mural of celebrities and famous people across the years which add a luxurious and unique backdrop to the environment of the product range.<\/p>\n

Such a venture is not immediately seen as a viable funding option for traditional lenders, but utilising an alternative finance source has allowed for such a unique project to be fulfilled and it”has had a positive impact on both the sales and working environment of the business.<\/p>\n

Find out why one wedding boutique sought alternative finance<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(3) Ivory Wardrobe<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ivory Wardrobe<\/a> is an independent wedding boutique located in Woburn Sands, Buckinghamshire. The business has been running for 30 years, with the current owner, Laura Buckingham-Brown, taking the reins in 2010. She led a rebrand then, which sawextensive refurbishment.<\/p>\n

In recent times, more couples are choosing to get married which has meant business is booming. As a result wedding boutiques need to stock more product. However, the purchasing process in the wedding retail sector can cause significant cash flow challenges.<\/p>\n

For example, sample dresses are usually brought twice a year to meet the six?month lead time from order to delivery.<\/p>\n

Buckingham-Brown<\/span> purchases her dresses in March and September and this requires cash outlays ranging from £5,000 10,000 each time to ensure she has seasonal samples to meet her customers” expectations.<\/p>\n

By acquiring a business cash advance, she wasAble to invest in stock, including the latest designs as well as original dresses for brides-to-be. Traditional business lenders don’t usually approve finance for things like additional stock, but in this instance, alternative finance boosted Buckingham-Brown<\/span>‘s business through the mainstay of her offering.<\/p>\n

(4) Foam<\/span><\/p>\n

Laura Howells ran a bar restaurant at a marina, but the constraints of the kitchen’s size meant she could not scale the enterprise or develop the menu. So she rented a former office building on the seafront<\/span>And got planning consent for change of use. Some 12 weeks of building works later and a family investment of over £100,000?” Foam<\/a> opened for business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to its popularity,?Howells<\/span>created a glass-walled room to better utilise the seaward facing patio. A few months later, the coffee station outside was replaced with a specially designed caf bar which transformed to a full restaurant bar at night. But although the landlord added the cost of the glassroom extension to the rent, all other costs fell to?Howells.<\/span><\/p>\n

She had been declined for a startup loan in the business” first year despite the significant personal finance already invested and the business” ongoing success and wasn?t deterred, utilising a business cash advance to aid growth. This alternative line of finance allowed the business to continue improving its offering alongside meeting the needs of business operations.<\/p>\n

Deciding to take out finance proved to be a profitable move as Foam’s turnover has increased substantially, year on year.<\/p>\n

Since the Glassroom has been in use, the business has diversified to include private functions, tapas nights and live music events, none of which would have been possible without the expansion of the premises. Foam is now open seven days and six evenings a week and continues to receive great reviews.<\/p>\n

Rafferty Gifford is digital marketing executive at Liberis<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rejected loan application can hinder your expansion and growth plans. Being too afraid to take out business finance due to a poor credit score or fear of repayments can be just as limiting. Luckily, much can be achieved through alternative finance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":114273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[2676,10122,10124,10123,10121],"class_list":["post-114272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raising-finance","tag-alternative-finance","tag-exotic-palms-spas","tag-foam","tag-ivory-wardrobe","tag-valley-cruises"],"views":985,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}