Veteran Owned Business Financing Methods

By Debbie Gregory.  

Are you ready to start your business? If so, you need to think about how you’re going to fund your business. There are many different ways to secure financing, so here are some suggestions. 

• Equity Financing – is the method of raising capital by securing investors. Think Shark Tank: in return for the investment, the shareholders receive ownership interests in the company. You need to be prepared to give up part ownership of your business. Angel investors, Venture Capital firms (and Sharks) provide not only the capital you need to grow, but often their wisdom and advice can be an invaluable resource to your business. 
• Debt Financing – is the method of funding your company through business loans. Like any loan, you’re required to pay back that debt plus interest over an agreed-upon amount of time. This method allows you to retain 100% of your company. 

Some loan options include short-term and medium-term loans, equipment financing loans, Invoice financing, SBA loans, line of credit and merchant cash advances.  Below we take a look at them in greater detail.

• Short-Term Loans – offer smaller amounts in financing usually paid back period ranging from three to eighteen months. These are good options for less-qualified borrowers, but usually have higher interest rates. 
• Medium-Term Loans – offer a larger amount of capital at a relatively affordable rate. 
• Equipment Financing – can only be used to purchase new or used equipment. Equipment lenders advance up to a specific percentage of the value of the equipment.  
• Invoice Financing – is sometimes referred to as contract financing or factoring.  This is an asset-based lending product that allows companies to finance slow-paying accounts receivables through the sale of invoices sold to a factoring company in exchange for an immediate payment. Choose wisely especially if you want to continue to do business with this customer because often these companies will not focus on customer service when collecting the amount owed. 
• SBA Loans – are loans issued by a traditional bank, but with very low interest rates and guaranteed by the SBA.  
• Lines of Credit – Provides access to funds that a business owner may draw from whenever they want or need the funds for their business. Interest is only paid on the funds drawn from the line of credit, and only for the time the funds are outstanding. 
• Merchant Cash Advance – provides a lump sum of capital, that is repaid by allowing the lending company to take a fixed percentage of your daily credit or debit card sales each day until you’ve repaid in full. 

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association encourages you to carefully investigate and select the right option for your Veteran Owned Business. 

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,  

By Debbie Gregory. 

Having funding is extremely import to veteran entrepreneurs.   Below are some financing options available to veteran-owned businesses.  We have listed them in alphabetical order.   Some of these funding sources are under the radar and we hope they are helpful. 

•   7-Eleven Veterans Franchising – offers special benefits to veteran franchisees. Eligible veterans can receive up to 20% off the initial franchise fee and up to 65% financing through 7-Eleven. 
•  Family and Friends – those who are close to you and believe in you might be interested and welcome the opportunity to assist you with financing. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. 
•  Hivers and Strivers – an angel investment group, offers equity financing to veterans who graduated from U.S. military academies. This includes graduates from West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard. 
•  Little Caesars Veterans Program – offers several discounts to honorably discharged veterans (including a $5,000 franchise fee discount, a $5,000 discount on the first equipment order, and free marketing and supply services of a $30,000 value). 
•  The Military Economic Injury Loan program – is for military reservists whose businesses were impacted when they were activated. This loan program is specifically meant to help get businesses back on track within one year of the completion of active duty service.  
•  The SBA Express Loan Program – offers business loans of up to $350,000 without upfront fees. You should receive a response to your application within 36 hours. 
•  StreetShares/StreetShares Commander’s Call Veteran Business Award– Veteran-owned StreetShares is an online loan marketplace that acts as an auction marketplace where veteran entrepreneurs can connect directly with investors who have an interest in investing in small businesses. They also have a $5,000 business award for veteran entrepreneurs, the Commander’s Call Veteran Business Award, presented to a veteran or military spouse-owned business with strong growth potential. 
•  The UPS Franchise Discount – is an initiative to help veterans cover the many costs associated with opening a franchised location. This discount of $10,000 can be used to cover the UPS franchise fee, along with a 50% to 75% discount on the initial application fee. 
•  VetFran Business Grant Fund – assists with funding for franchise opportunities via a $10,000 grant. 
•  The Veteran Business Fund – focuses on East Coast companies in the technology, healthcare, business services, and manufacturing space and offers a maximum investment of $3 million. 

We recommend that you take the time to investigate carefully and choose wisely. 

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,  

By Debbie Gregory.

Where is the best place to start your business? Below we have listed the top ten cities and chosen them based on seven key indicators that include:   rate of entrepreneurship; wage growth; job creation; population growth; net business creation; high-growth company density; early-stage funding deals:  The cities in descending order are:

10 – Portland, Oregon – Portland is experiencing a construction boom. The two sectors that are projected to grow the most over the next decade are health care and computer and electronics manufacturing. Currently, the startup areas that are booming include tech companies, early-stage food companies, and apparel companies.

9 – Orlando,Florida –  Orlando has become a high-technology hub with more than 200 aerospace and aviation companies in the city. Additionally, its modeling and simulation industry, that designs programs used for both military training and to power rides at the nearby theme parks, provides more than $4 billion in annual contracts.

8 – Denver, Colorado – Denver is growing due to technology such as A.I. and machine learning, followed by block-chain and cryptocurrency,

7 – San Diego, California – San Diego is the place for startups focused on life sciences, aerospace and biotech.

6 -San Jose, California – San Jose is home to three of the world’s most valuable companies–Apple, Google, and Facebook but there is a critical shortage of office space.  Housing is challenging with San Jose having some of the highest housing costs in the nation.

5 – San Francisco, California – Just north of San Jose, San Francisco is the birthplace of some of the most successful startups, including Uber, Airbnb, and Slack. San Francisco also has astronomical commercial rents and housing costs even higher than San Jose.

4 – Nashville, Tennessee  – Nashville has more than just a thriving music economy; the city’s biggest industry is health care. There are also more than 20 college and university campuses and is home to more megachurches than anywhere else in the country.

3 – Raleigh, North Carolina – Raleigh has been transformed into a software hub. The Research Triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill boasts the fourth most educated population in the country, and forty-seven percent of the local talent pool holds a bachelor’s degree or higher

2 – Salt Lake City, Utah – Salt Lake has more than great snow. Tech giants such as Adobe, Electronic Arts, and Oracle all have offices there. The city is also one of the most affordable tech-centric places to live making it very desirable.

1 – Austin, Texas – Austin has an extremely reasonable cost of living, loads of sunshine, well-educated people, and a fun streak.  Texas also does not have any state income tax making it highly desirable. Tech giants including Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Dropbox have all established large presences in Austin. Apple has announced it will be investing $1 billion to build a new campus that can eventually hold 15,000 new employees. There are also thriving startup scenes in food and drink, computer hardware, enterprise software, and consumer tech.

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,

By Debbie Gregory. 

If you’re hiring your first employee, congratulations! It’s important to start off on the right foot as an employer by making sure you follow all of the legal rules that now apply to you.

First of all, make sure you obtain your employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS. Next, go to the Department of Labor’s website for a list of state unemployment insurance tax agencies. Make sure you have workers’ compensation insurance. Keep in mind that being an employer carries a number of new obligations and one of them is payroll taxes. There are some misconceptions about these taxes which are clarified as follows:

You may think that all tax-free fringe benefits are exempt from taxes, but the reality is that tax-free benefits for your employees such as 401 (k) contributions, company-provided cars, adoption assistance and dependent care assistance are subject to some employer paid taxes including FICA and FUTA taxes.

You may also be tempted to transition employees into independent contractors in order to save money, but the reality is that the IRS and other government agencies have strict guidelines that must be adhered to. By definition if you control when, where, and how work gets done, you’re likely dealing with an employee. An independent contractor is usually free from the control and direction of the hirer, works outside of the usual course of the hiring entity’s business, and performs the same type of work for others.

Don’t think that outsourcing to a payroll service provider relieves you of the liability for computing payroll taxes, withholding them from employees’ paychecks, remitting payroll taxes to the government, and filing employment tax returns. The ultimate responsibility is yours, so choose wisely. With this said, it is generally a good idea to use a reputable payroll service and well worth the cost.

You must deposit federal income taxes withheld including both the employer and employee share of FICA with the U.S. Treasury using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). Also, deposits are required for FUTA tax for the quarter within which the tax due is more than $500. If you are working with a reputable payroll service, they will handle this for you. Below is a list of some of the biggest payroll companies to consider:

· ADP

· Paychex

· Deluxe

· Intuit Quickbooks Payroll

· Gusto

· Square

· Paycor

· Zenebits

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,

By Debbie Gregory.

The United States K9 Corps were created on March 13, 1942, and this has been designated as National K-9 Veterans Day. Although it is an unofficial holiday, most dog lovers don’t need much of an excuse to celebrate “man’s best friend.”

Military K9s, Border Patrol K9s, Customs K9s, Police K9s, Secret Service K9s, Airport Service K9s and FBI K9s work to aid and protect us.  They preform important tasks and dangerous tasks such as search, rescue, explosives detection, scouting, patrolling and subduing suspects.

Some of the most relied upon breeds that perform this work include German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, and Labradors.

Today’s military dogs are valued.  They are important members of their military units and even have their own retirement ceremonies, awards and medals and memorial services.  Often they are adopted by a member of the team.

We salute non-profit American Humane’s Lois Pope LIFE Center for Military Affairs which helps reunite retired military dogs with their former handlers, provides veterans struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress, PTS with lifesaving service dogs, arranges free veterinary care for retired four-legged service members, and drives legislation that supports military dogs and their human counterparts.

A few extraordinary K-9s include:

• Jag, a Labrador Retriever who retired in 2013 and served with the U.S. Army for seven years. Jag was adopted by battle buddy Sgt. Dennis Dow.
• Jig, another Labrador Retriever who served with the U.S. Marine Corps for five years as an IED Detection Dog until he was medically retired do to an oral melanoma.
• Kyria, a Dutch Shepard, who worked at Lackland AFB before joining the Albuquerque Police Department as an explosive detection canine.
• Nico, a German Shepherd who served with the U.S. Navy Seals. Nico was eventually reunited with his handler.
• Summer, a Labrador Retriever who served with the U.S. Marine Corps for five years and now serves with the TSA K-9 team for the D.C. Amtrak police.
• Taker, a Labrador Retriever who retired in 2012 and served with the U.S. Marine Corps as an IED Detection Dog. Taker was adopted by battle buddy Sgt. Kevin Zuniga.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the canines who are placed in harm’s way to protect our servicemembers and first responders.

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,