It is not easy for small businesses to get small business loans. Banks and other lenders require them to go through strict and complicated financial procedures with stringent requirements for qualification. After everything, credit approval is not even guaranteed.

Even the financing for loans supported by the Small Business Administration (SBA) cannot meet the needs of the majority of small businesses. Although the amount of credit available for small businesses has reportedly been increased by 25% since March this year, it is not that easy to avail of the said small business loans.

Small businesses seeking small business loans should know how to prepare the right kind of business plans that banks are looking for. To justify the loan, they should be able to show the banks in detail how they intend to use the money in business and how viable their plan is. Experts say lenders have specific points which they scrutinize applications for and applicants should know these points and tailor their submitted business plans accordingly.

It is also said that loan applicants should first establish a strong relationship with the lending bank in order to increase the possibility of having a loan approved. Banks supposedly give more small business loans to businesses they have already known and trusted long term. Since small businesses are usually new businesses, this is quite difficult to do and it cannot be done in a hurry. How can a new small business with financial needs establish a good long term relationship with a bank in time to meet its current needs?

Another requirement of lending institutions from small businesses applying for small business loans is a good credit history score.  A small business should first be deemed credit worthy by the bank before it can even be considered for loan approval. Again, small businesses that are stll young are at an immediate disadvantage here. How can they establish credit worthiness in time?

The US Congress has also placed Congressional restrictions on eligibility for the Small Business Administration loans. Small businesses first have to prove that they are at least two years old and are both struggling and viable at the same time. They should present proof that they have had a positive cash flow in one of those previous two years in business. They should, however, be currently struggling with “immediate financial hardship” with a decrease in income that should not be less than 20 percent. At the same time, they should submit their projections for cash flow for the next two years, proving that they will be able to meet loan payments.

A faster way to get small business loans would be through credit card services.

Any small business should have credit card services. Credit card services enable a company to accept customer payments for goods and services via credit cards or debit cards, whether over the counter in brick and mortar settings, through the phone or online. Credit card services provide the hardware and software for this.

Being able to accept payments through credit cards or debit cards can greatly enhance a small business’ income earning potentials. In addition to that, credit card services can provide the equivalent of small business loans with no need for any collateral. The amount of the small business loans are computed based on the average monthly income of the small business from credit card payments. The small business loans are then amortized through automatic monthly deductions of a certain percentage from the small business’ future credit card revenue. This means small businesses can almost automatically qualify for small business loans through credit card services, and will surely be able to pay such small business loans. Is there a faster way than this?

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How to get rich the smart way? Read what some creative people did:

1. Million Dollar Homepage



1000000 pixels, charge a dollar per pixel – that’s perhaps the dumbest idea for online business anyone could have possible come up with. Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire. 

What is the idea? (from FAQ on the site)

The idea is simple: to try and make $1m (US) by selling 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each. Hence, ‘The Million Dollar Homepage”. The main motivation for doing this is to pay for my degree studies, because I don’t like the idea of graduating with a huge student debt. I know people who are paying off student loans 15-20 years after they graduated. Not a nice thought!

So, everyone is welcome to buy my pixels, which are available in 100-pixel ‘blocks’ (each measuring 10×10 pixels). You will see the homepage is divided into 10,000 of these 100-pixel blocks (hence there are 1,000,000 pixels in total). The reason for selling them in 100-pixel blocks is because anything smaller would be too small to display anything meaningful.

You can buy as many pixels as you like, as long as there are some available (see the live stats in the top right corner of the page). When you buy some pixels, you can then display an image/ad/logo of your choice in the space you have purchased. You can also have the image click through to your own website. However, no obscene or offensive images are allowed.

The pixels you buy will be displayed on the homepage permanently. The homepage will not change. Using some of the money I make from the site, I guarantee to keep it online for at least 5 years, but hopefully much longer. I want it to become a kind of internet time capsule. So, in the long run, I believe the pixels will offer good value. You will have a piece of internet history!

2. SantaMail



Ok, how’s that for a brilliant idea. Get a postal address at North Pole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for every letter you send to their kids? Well, Byron Reese sent over 200000 letters since the start of the business in 2001, which makes him a couple million dollars richer.

About SantaMail from their site

Since 2002, Santa has been helping us write over 275,000 personalized Christmas letters. Santa makes sure that we use the finest heirloom-quality, acid-free linen paper so that his letters last a lifetime.

As Santa’s helpers, we help Santa print his letters and then mail them to him in North Pole, Alaska where he affixes a Christmas stamp on it and sends it on the way to your child. From there, the letter gets postmarked and mailed. (After December 16, he has us mail them directly from Austin, Texas so they reach the children in time!).

3. Doggles





Create goggles for dogs and sell them online? Boy, this IS the dumbest idea for a business. How in the world did they manage to become millionaires and have shops all over the world with that one? Beyond me. 

About Doggles from their site

We are famous for Doggles   goggles for dogs – the first and only eye protection designed and created just for dogs!  Seen on CNN, Regis and Kelly, The Today Show, Good Morning America and many others, they are quite a hit with everyone who has tried them! We are also an environmentally conscious organization, using as much “green” or recycled fabrics and materials in our products as possible, always keeping in mind that what is good for our planet is also good for our pets. Our standards are high, and you will see this in each and every one of our products. We are market leaders in the design and manufacture of tough and durable and yes, even “green”, dog toys. Please be sure to check our offerings in the toy category as you look through our site. Our outdoor line has won the praise of many an outdoor enthusiast as we continue to grow and improve the line. And of course, our fashion sense has never ended as we are always adding and improving to our fashion harness line. We have a wide range of products that are truly functional and have helped many pets over the years as we continue to innovate in the pet products field.  As always, keep an eye on us for more.

4. LaserMonks

LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, an eight-monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yeah, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! Their 2005 sales were $2.5 million! Praise the Lord.

5. AntennaBalls

You can’t sell antenna ball online. There is no way. And surely it wouldn’t make you rich. But this is exactly what Jason Wall did, and now he is now a millionaire.

6. FitDeck

Create a deck of cards featuring exercise routines, and sell it online for $18.95. Sounds like a disaster idea to me. But former Navy SEAL and fitness instructor Phil Black reported last year sales of $4.7 million. Surely beats what military pays.

7. PositivesDating.Com

How would you like to go on a date with an HIV positive person? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin thought that someone would, so they created a dating site for HIV positive folks last year. Projected 2006 sales are $110,000, and the two hope to have 50,000 members by their two-year mark.

8. Designer Diaper Bags

Christie Rein was tired of carrying diapers around in a freezer bag. The 34-year-old mother of three found herself constantly stuffing diapers for her infant son into freezer bags to keep them from getting scrunched up in her purse. Rein wanted something that was compact, sleek and stylish, so in November 2004, she sat down with her husband, Marcus, who helped her design a custom diaper bag that’s big enough to hold a travel pack of wipes and two to four diapers. With more than $180,000 in sales for 2005, Christie’s company, Diapees & Wipees, has bags in 22 different styles, available online and in 120 boutiques across the globe for $14.99.

9. PickyDomains

Hire another person to think of a cool domain name for you? No way people would pay for this. Actually, naming domain names for others turned out a thriving business, especially, when you make the entire process risk free. PickyDomains currently has a waiting list of people who want to PAY the service to come up with a snappy memorable domain name. PickyDomains is expected to hit six figures this year.

10. Lucky Wishbone Co.

Fake wishbones. Now, this stupid idea is just destined to flop. Who in the world needs FAKE PLASTIC wishbones? A lot of people, it turns out. Now producing 30,000 wishbones daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, expects 2006 sales to reach $1 million.

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Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) of Grey’s Anatomy is the woman in charge of her relationship with best friend George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), similar to the way Heigl is in charge of her engagement to singer/songwriter Josh Kelley. The couple are to wed come December, and Kelley seems to be relaxed about it, as Heigl has got the whole thing under control.

“I’m kind of a part of it, but I think she’s got a pretty good handle on it,” an amused Kelley told People magazine this week. “I said, ‘Baby, you know, anything you want me to do, I got it.’ But you know, other than that, what am I really gonna do? ‘The tulips need to go over here?!’ I don’t know.”

Aside from being an assertive, independent woman, Heigl has also become the new spokeswoman for Nautica. The company is launching their first scent for women, called “My Voyage,” which will soon be released at various department stores nationwide.

“To me, it’s really fresh and clean and there’s something about it you can easily wear during the day,” Katherine Heigl said in a press statement. Nautica also teamed up with Coty’s, who previously worked with a number of celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker and Celine Dion.

Heigl is also a pretty busy woman as she will be working on her next movie in April 2008. A romantic comedy, The Ugly Truth will focus on a news producer who hires an obnoxious relationship expert for her show. Because of the expert’s teachings, the producer finds the love of her life. The movie will be directed by Robert Luketic, who is responsible for the comedy films Monster-In-Law and Legally Blonde. Heigl already has a hit film up her sleeve entitled Knocked Up, and her upcoming movie 27 Dresses will hit theaters early next year. 27 Dresses also stars James Marsden, Edward Burns, and Melora Hardin, of The Office.

For more resources about Grey’s Anatomy or for the full story of Grey’s Anatomy: Busy Year Ahead For Katherine Heigl please review http://www.buddytv.com

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Since June 15, 2009, the United States Small Business Administration has been processing deferred payment small business loans of as much as $35,000 to be given out to 10,000 small businesses. This is covered by the SBA’s America’s Recovery Capital (ARC) Loan Program.

To qualify, companies should be private enterprises that are for-profit. They should have up to five hundred employees only and should be at least two years old. Furthermore, they should be able to prove financial need with a twenty percent decrease in sales, revenue or working capital. On the other hand, they should be able to prove that one of their two years in business has been profitable, and that with the infusion of cash they will be able to meet their existing and future debt obligations. This means positive cash flow projections. The ARC small business loans are intended to be used to pay outstanding debt such as payables to vendors.

For this batch of small business loans, there are no fees or costs involved, except if the borrower defaults on the loan later. In that case the SBA-approved lender can charge costs for securing and liquidating collateral.

The ARC small business loans also do not charge interest. Actually, the SBA pays the interest for the borrowers. Disbursement of the loan can take as much as six months but payment of the principal is also deferred for the next 12 months. After that, the borrower has five years to repay the loan principal.

Each small business can only avail of one ARC loan. SBA-approved lenders will offer the loans until September 30, 2010 or until available funds run out, whichever comes first.

There are, however, an estimated 30 million small businesses in the United States and only 10,000 of them can avail of the government’s small business loans. What if you do not happen to be among the 10,000 lucky recipients? How will your small business survive?

There are even doubts being raised on whether as much as 10,000 businesses can indeed avail of the ARC loans. There are fears that there may not be enough lenders willing or able to participate in the program. Lenders will have to advance the full amount of the loan, will not receive payment on principal for a full year, and will not be able to charge any fees, thereby absorbing all administrative costs. This may be too steep for many lenders. They may not be able to afford to participate at all.

This is where you as a small business owner can and should maximize your credit card services. We are not talking about your personal credit card services here. Instead, we are referring to the merchant services that enable your small business to receive credit card  and debit card payments. Surely, any business these days avails of these types of credit card services. After all, more people pay by credit card or debit card rather than cash.

Most credit card services offer small business cash advances that can be as substantial as small business loans. These small business loans do not require any collateral because they are secured by your company’s future credit card receivables. This is even more convenient for your business because repayment is also built into those receivables. Credit card services automatically deduct a percentage from your income to go toward loan repayment. For as long as you have incoming sales, you can support your loan. Interest rates are often quite affordable considering how the loan can help your business.

Small businesses should therefore look into maximizing these credit card services for small business loans. The survival of your business could hinge on this.

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