ForumsFinancing Tips

I would just add this. When we started out our housepainting company, we got so frustrated that we could not get a loan. However, it turned into a good thing in the long run. For one, it forced us to get very clear on our plan and then we were able to get some very small loans from friends and family. The bigger thing was that a SCORE counselor worked with us to show us how we could do a lot more financing via customers, employees and vendors. A few examples,

1. We get 20-50% down payments on all work right away from customers. We jazz it up so that they can schedule the way they like or we guarantee the job will be done in a set number of days if they lock in. So, during our busiest season, we are often borrowing $10K to $20K from our customers since we can get them to pay a deposit anywhere from 20 weeks to 2 weeks in advance.

2. We get vendors to provide us with materials on very extended terms by offering weekly progress payments.

3. Our employees effectively lend to us because we pay them lower hourly wages and then have a bigger bonus pool that they earn up over the course of each quarter.

You'd be amazed at the way you can manage yoru cash flow by a) having a better story to convince the people you know that you are worth investing in or lending to and b) using your employees, customers and vendors to effectively lend to you. As a mentor once said - the banks figure that if you can't convince the 3 wealthiest people in your life to lend you some money, why should they. Report as inappropriate

I may not be well versed in the financial area; however, I did take a look at your site. Here's how I see it:

The main page seems too cluttered. Although colors are creative, it can also be an eye-sore. I would stick to 1 or up to 2 colors. Green and Yellow tends to hurt the eyes. The Header graphic with the Red and Dark Grey (on the Karaoke & Event Rentals pages) makes it difficult to the eyes. I would use white or yellow for the font color of the header as you used in the Home page. You may want to use a CSS or use frames on your site. The changes from page to page is dizzying (?).

On your pricing and packaging page, the large font size, different font colors and purple background is a bit of a turn-off. I would suggest to keep it simple, yet elegant. I would use smaller fonts and eliminate the background color -- keep it either white or black (like black tie affair). I would also put your packages listed side-by-side (like a comparison chart) in a table. All pages should fit a standard color, font size and background.

These are just some of the things I've noticed. Good luck in finding the funding you need.