Every entrepreneur dreams of landing that big, game-changing business order from a new customer, one that can really change gears for the company. And, it’s a great feeling when it happens. But then reality sets in - how do you fulfill that order on time and on budget when your existing capacity is not geared up for something so big? Your machinery may not be big enough or fast enough to cope with such a big order and you need to scale up in order to meet the demand; you may have to bring in additional people resources and they need specific training in order to create the products you are selling. It’s a good problem to have, but it still needs a solution, and usually the extra finance to inject into the business to scale. And there tends to be the problem. Banks are not always the most understanding or supportive in these circumstances. One solution is to ask the customer to pay a percentage of the order up front with the balance on delivery. The other is to look at financial organisations that offer purchase order funding to bridge the gap between order and payment. Either way, more solutions are needed to support entrepreneurs at those times when they have opportunities to scale, but need innovative funding mechanisms to make it happen.
Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie