MasterPlans is a 10-year-old business plan writing company located in Portland, Oregon. To contact us, call 1-877-453-2011 or email info@masterplans.com.
button preload
button preload

MasterPlans: The business plan experts. Custom business plans by professional business plan writers. Business plan consulting by professional business plan consultants.

Archive for January, 2012

Stop Thinking & Start Planning!

Friday, January 27th, 2012

The Federal Reserve announced earlier this week that it plans to keep interest rates near zero through 2014. While there are convincing arguments on both sides regarding whether this is a good idea for the macro-economy, there’s no denying one thing: it’s great news for borrowers, especially small businesses and start-ups.

Take Small Business Administration 504 loans, which are paired with private-sector commercial loans, and which help small businesses purchase fixed assets, like real estate. Reuters reported last fall that the interest rates for Small Business Administration 504 loans are at unprecedented lows. The 20-year effective interest rate on a 504 loan—that is, the rate that small business borrowers pay, including servicing fees—is only 4.6%. 10-year 504 loans now have an effective interest rate of an even more miniscule 3.77%. Now with the Fed announcing its continuation of abnormally low interest rates, the good times should keep rolling.

In the past, high interest rates might have been enough to scare off even the most optimistic of borrowers. The thought of cascading debt left many wondering if Bank of America or Wells Fargo would eventually have to send around a guy that looks like this:

Not anymore.

There’s never been a better time to borrow, as repayment terms have never been more generous.

So are you still thinking about that great wine bar/cloud computing/gourmet pet food store idea? Stop just thinking and start planning!

Banks want to see a MasterPlan.

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Let’s say you’re a successful entrepreneur (an accomplishment enough in this economy!) looking to expand. You go to your local bank to try to get a $50,000 loan and offer the same amount as collateral. Yet the bank turns you down, offering only $25,000—this despite your sterling credit score, respected position in the community, and healthy balance sheet.

Crazy, right? Impossible, isn’t it? Must have been an episode of The Twilight Zone or something, correct? Wrong. It happened just recently to an entrepreneur who wrote into the Freakonomics Blog. Why? Well, according to the experts over at Business Insider, besides financial support, there’s one thing you need to successfully woo a lender: a robust business plan. One that, in the words of BI, “explains your businesses’ goals and objectives, projected earnings (including financial statements and pro formas), marketing strategy, and any other relevant info.”

Charles Moore, founder of Rocket.Lawyer, a legal service says, “Banks appreciate everything to be highly detailed and spelled-out, so don’t be afraid to include something like a bio of the company’s partners, advantages your company has over others, etc.”

It sounds to us like what Moore is saying is that what the entrepreneur needed was not just a business plan, but a MasterPlan. Our plans include everything he mentioned—and more. Check out what we offer.

Follow us on Twitter

All posts come from our CEO, Bryan Howe.

Like us on Facebook for free tools and articles. We have over 10,000 "likes"!
BusinessWeekBusinessWeekEO PortlandEO PortlandPortland Business JournalPortland Business JournalInc. 500Inc. 500EntrepreneurEntrepreneurWall Street JournalWall Street JournalBetter Business BureauBetter Business BureauAuthorize.netMasterPlans Facebook pageMasterPlans Facebook page
© 2000–2013
0