Many different reasons can push entrepreneurs into financial difficulties: taxes, customers not paying or unexpected expenses throw a spanner in the works. In order to escape a possible insolvency, it is important to keep a cool head and to think carefully about the financial planning.
1. Immediate action
As soon as you notice that your financial planning is not working the way you had imagined, you must act immediately to protect your business from bankruptcy. Do not put your liquidity problem on the back burner, but contact the right expert for your problem.
1.1. Rely on the expertise of a management consultant
Don’t skimp on an excellent management consultant. With his extensive knowledge, he can bring you more money than he actually costs you. He will help you to develop solutions for your short-term liquidity bottleneck. Below that falls Pre-financing of current expenses using a cheap one working capital loan through your house bank or development banks. A loan from development banks can be requested if your own house bank does not want to grant a loan, for example due to a bad one Schufa scores.
The working capital loan ensures that financial bottlenecks are bridged in the short term and that you continue to operate successfully in the economic system. Depending on the type of company, you use the working capital loan to provide temporary financing
- personnel costs
- Rent
- your fleet
- marketing expenses
- or the purchase of goods
With the help of your management consultant, you can decide which of the three forms of working capital loan is the most suitable, or whether you need an investment loan for short-term financing of machines or systems.
2. Easy loans via P2B
Another easy way to get a loan is offered by various P2P lending or P2B lending platforms. Whereas P2P means that private investors give other private individuals a loan (peer-to-peer), in P2B – lending private investors give companies a loan (peer-to-business).
This is a useful alternative if you are not granted a loan because of a negative Schufa entry. However, with this form of financing, the interest rates are definitely higher than with normal bank loans.
3. More liquidity through leasing
Leasing companies offer almost everything that a solar technician needs, from vehicle fleets to machines. The advantage of having more liquid assets is obvious. Should there be unexpected expenses, such as repairs, you don’t have to throw your entire financial planning overboard.
3.1. settle payments
The more customers you get to make your payment, the less credit you need to bridge the gap. In the best-case scenario, you no longer need a loan at all. You see, the tedious work of asking customers to pay the bill can save you the expense of a business consultant and the struggle to get a loan.
3.2. Learn from your mistakes and take responsibility for financial planning
Someone who makes a lot of mistakes in a particular area and learns from them is called an expert.
Use your mistakes and learn from them to avoid potentially much more fatal mistakes. Educate yourself financiallyby examining your current account system.
Are there separate accounts for taxes, the fleet, marketing, reserves for unexpected payments (“war chest”), a billing account from which rent, employees, office supplies and more are paid. If this is not the case and you only pay your expenses from one account, it is definitely a good idea for better financial planning. They can more easily identify unnecessary costs and explicitly see their budget for each area of the company.