The Factoring Force BIG Blog

The good Lord only allowed me a few minor abilities to help me survive in this dog-eat-dog world. I can spell, add and subtract, read and turn a phrase or two. But Mr. Will Eustsey of Las Vegas, NV can do it all. It’s just not fair.

I am always looking out for the shining stars of the accounts receivable factoring industry. I don’t know how Mr. Eutsey eluded me until now. I stumbled across his website and was overwhelmed by the scope of this man’s empire. I’m not quite sure what that empire is, but I can tell you that there are gold mines, oil and natural gas exploration, harvesting glaciers for fresh water, an entertainment division (which may supply music and movies to the workers in the mines and on the glaciers) and some kind of consulting service that costs $7,500 for the honor of Mr. Eutsey reading your proposal. There are more costs after that but it depends on whether Mr. Eutsey deems your proposal worthy of charging you more money so he can proceed incurring expenses on your behalf.

It makes my head spin. Here I am just trying to put together a few measly resources that will help business owners identify methods of leveraging existing assets to move their businesses forward and Will Eutsey is doing it all for everyone. I am humbled to even have this man’s name featured on my blog.

Visit Mr. Eutsey’s site and read his FAQs and if you can make head or tail of what in the world this man actually does I will be most grateful. In the meantime, I will remain in awe of the asset factoring prowess and musical talent assessment capabilities of this inspiring human being.

Here’s to you, Will Eutsey…whatever you do!

“I’ve just run out of options.” How many timed has a business owner uttered those words as he/she found themselves in a really tight cash crunch? Countless, I’m sure. But Naomi Monk of Small Commercial Mortgage Online apparently believes that there are always options.

To that end Ms. Monk has authored a white paper titled “21 Ways a Business Owner Can Raise Cash and Reduce Debt.” And among the various ways that Ms. Monk proposes to access cash is factoring accounts receivable.

Now I’d be a liar if I were to tell you that there are some brilliant tips that provide magical solutions to cash flow and debt issues. There aren’t. But when you are facing certain challenges or dilemmas, it is sometimes helpful whaen you can leverage the unencumbered thinking and professional experience of others.

So if you are staring blankly at your balance sheet and you are seeing numbers with parentheses around them that shouldn’t have parentheses around them, then you might want to download Naomi Maonks white paper. What the heck, it’s free!

Whenever I am reading about the advantage and disadvantages of invoice factoring, one of the first negatives mentioned is the expense. Of course, the alternative being considered is normally some sort of loan and the comparison is invoice factoring vs. a business loan.

Ozark Capital has published an article addressing this topic and the author makes a pretty good case for the advantages of factoring. But one of the premises that I find a bit disconcerting is that the author seems to take the position that a business loan is preferable to invoice factoring because he/she states that factoring is something to be strongly considered after a business owner has been turned down for a business loan. I would like to do a post in the near fiyure that compares the actual out-of-pocket costs for these two methods of financing.

One intriguing position in the article presents a scenario where it is actually a financial disadvantage to avoid invoice factoring. The author refers to this as “incremental profit analysis” and measures the cost of factoring vs. the financial opportunity missed by not factoring. Very good point!

They don’t mess around Down Under. (Actually, I’m not sure if New Zealand is considered Down Under. If I’ve offended any New Zealanders or Aussies I apologize.) I read a newspaper article today in which a car repair shop in New Zealand threatened to send gang members to collect on a debt if a certain customer did not pay up.

Actually, he did not threaten to just send a bunch of thugs to the customer’s house. he threatened to sell the debt to some unsavory characters. Said the repair shop owner, “If he had just paid his bill it would not have come to this. I’ve done nothing illegal. It’s called ‘factoring’. The article then went on to explain exactly what invoice factoring was so the unenlightened would become enlightened.

I found this really comical. I’m sure that many readers were hearing about invoice factoring for the first time. And their introduction to the practice is to read a description of an invoice being sold to a “factor” that is a group of thugs that likely includes kneecapping in their collection techniques.

Hmmm. I guess this falls into the category of “notification factoring.”

It’s time once again for the “Invoice Factoring Video Roundup!” Yee Hah!!

We have scoured the Internet (actually we spent about 36 seconds on YouTube) looking for the finest representations of the asset factoring industry presented in video format. Our winner this week is “Platinum Funding Group” for their scintillating video presentation of a company press release in January of 2008.

Company spokesperson, Daniella, a business development officer, presents the release about a series of information and networking events planned by the company. My two favorite parts are the mesmerizing details about the neo-gothic design elements of the Bush Tower in NY followed closely by the production crew loudly turning the page on the flip chart which Daniella (an attractive trouper) is using as a teleprompter.

Seriously, I know that it is effective optimization to include video as part of your online marketing mix. But every now and then we need to remind ourselves that potential clients or existing clients may actually see this stuff. Factoring companies are sometimes lumped into the same category as payday loan companies by the allegedly more sophisticated members of the financial industry elite (many of whom are either unemployed or in the process of being bailed out by generous Democrats). We should look and act the part of the sophisticated international industry that we represent.

Plus, dammit, we’re making money. So lets look the part.

Actually, this really isn’t about whether notification is appropriate or not. It is really to provide a very basic explanation of the difference between Notification Factoring and Non-Notification Factoring. But I will leave that task to the experts.

TracyZ, of Factoring Investor, has presented an elegantly simple explanation of the difference between these fundamental components of the receivables factoring process. So read what she has to say. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Honestly, I couldn’t. Not even close.

Wade Henderson of http://www.IMMFinancial.com has crafted an article that places the dilemma of the smaller businessperson relative to the plight of the corporate giants that are in financial trouble. Wade indicates that the “Big Players,” as he calls them, have the advantage of turning to the government when things get rough and they need some assistance.

The “little guy,” however, has no one that is eager to help them out considering that there is no major ramifications if they fail. A few jobs and some tax revenue loss. No big deal. But if Citigroup fails, we’re all doomed. So, who’s there for the little guy.

No one.

Banks don’t want to help because they are now completely risk averse. So if a smaller business needs help staying afloat, the primary lending institutions are too busy keeping themselves afloat to worry about Ma and Pa and there 15 person printing company.

But receivables factoring companies are an option for these smaller concerns when the banks that are being bailed put, bail out on the little guy. By factoring receivables, a company can let the assets already on the books go to work for them now. As factoring companies purchase these invoices the company receives an expedited infusion of cash and gets to keep the wheels of small business industry turning.

Small business is responsible for something like 80% of the new jobs created over the last decade. And if the traditional lending institutions are going to ignore the Little guy then the little guys will work around them. Factoring receivables is one way to make a detour around the Big Players.

Once again, Kent Harlan over at Ozarks Capital Funding, has presented an excellent overview of the medical receivables factoring benefits on his blog. Actually, it is a reprint of an article Kent wrote and submitted to article directories quite a while ago but the fundamentals of the medical invoice factoring process and benefits are the same. With the ponderous delays in processing government reimbursements, health care providers may be wise to consider the merits of medical factoring to gain access to cash more quickly and keep the practice thriving and solvent.