E. James Burton is Dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN. He holds a Ph.D in accountancy, as well as an MBA. His books include Total Business Planning, Accounting and Finance for Your Small Business, and Sales and Operations for Your Small Business, all published by John Wiley & Sons.
Q. My growing business needs additional capital for expansion. Would the Web be a good resource for me?
A. The good news is, there really is lots of help available. But my feeling is, this is one of those rare cases when the Web isn't as useful as old-fashioned, person-to-person contact. Where to go instead? There are the usual suspects: your own savings, family and friends, angel investors, banks, and investment groups.
But there's also one other, often-overlooked source I would suggest you consider -- your suppliers. That means suppliers of anything from equipment and inventory to the building you work in.
Why would a supplier be interested? Suppliers that have put a great deal of resources in your business have a vested interest in seeing that you succeed; if you don't, they lose the investment they, in effect, have made in you. Plus, if you are a good customer with a growing business, they have another incentive: They're likely to grow along with you. At the least, they might be willing to negotiate longer than usual terms. Many suppliers are small businesses themselves, however, so they'll probably look for short or intermediate-term arrangements of one to two years. The exception would be someone who has built a building for your business; they've invested so extensively in your success that they may be willing to do a longer-term deal.
