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There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.

In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.

But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.

Different Types of Financing

One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.

Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.

But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.

Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.

Alternative Financing Solutions

But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:

1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.

2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.

3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.

In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:

It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.

A Precious Commodity

Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).

Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.

Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?

It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of pharmacy technician jobs today, and that number is expected to increase by 25 percent over the next 5 to 10 years.Working as a pharmacy technician or `PT` is one of the best jobs with which to enter the healthcare services industry without having a medical degree, and can be a very satisfying position with much room for advancement.Depending on a person’s education and job experience it is possible to move into a variety of specialized employment positions with their qualifications, as there is much more to the job than simple retail sales at a drugstore or chemists.Different Pharmacy Technician JobsRetail – This is the most known setting and position for most PTs. Technicians who are employed by retail pharmacy stores do a variety of jobs, which start with assisting the Registered Pharmacist or PharmD on duty but generally expand to many other duties that are typical in any retail environment.Techs will count and prepare medications, do record keeping, inventory, ordering, stocking, insurance billing and records, and much more depending on the establishment and the need to do other tasks as well.Depending on qualification and certification, sometimes pharmacy techs in a retail setting are also able to counsel consumers on the use of their prescribed medication as well. It is possible to obtain a job as a PT without any specialized education or training although more and more employers are beginning to require one or the other, or sometimes both.Hospital – Every hospital has a pharmacy from where both outpatient prescriptions can be filled and inpatient medications are dispensed.Working under the Pharmacist on duty, pharmacy technicians in a hospital setting are usually responsible for stocking, delivering and recording all medications that need to go to the different hospital departments, specially compounding medications for patients in the hospital and taking care of any and all medication requests throughout the hospital from other staff.Knowing all hospital regulations in regard to the dispensing and handling of medications is a detailed yet essential part of the job as is being able to keep concise records for billing, inventory and legal purposes.In-patient Care Facilities – Numerous types of inpatient care facilities such as rehabilitation centers, psychiatric hospitals and other facilities keep their own pharmacies as well, and require technicians to assist the Pharmacist on duty.Pharmacy technician jobs usually entail inventory, stocking, ordering and recording of medications, preparing medication doses for patients, delivering daily medication doses to nursing stations, and most of the duties mentioned above as in any other hospital. Once again, record keeping and regulations are an extremely important part of the job for billing, inventory and legal purposes.Medication Compounding – Certain pharmacies do not sell directly to the public, but instead create special medication mixes – called compounds – for other pharmacies and facilities.In a compounding pharmacy, technicians are required to work under the supervision and guidance of the Pharmacist on duty in mixing medications as required by special orders, bulk orders for hospitals and facilities and other requests. Generally this work also involves great detail in record keeping, interpreting prescriptions, medication labeling and medication packing and shipping.Obtaining Pharmacy Technician JobsThe best way to get a job as a PT is to complete a training and education program for pharmacy techs. There are many of these programs available today lasting anywhere from 6 months to get a course certificate and basic education for a retail pharmacy setting to up to 2 years or more to become certified as a pharmacy technician and be able to advance to some of the more detailed positions mentioned above.The best way to find out about schooling and any career requirements is to contact any local pharmacy technicians’ professional organizations in order to get recommendations and learn more about the career as a whole.In most cases, those who have been to school should be able to get pharmacy technician jobs quite easily as it seems there is a constant and growing need for good, certified pharmacy technicians.While qualifications do differ depending on state, region and country, in general it seems as though there are always positions available as the profession continues to grow and pharmacy technicians continue to get more and more responsibilities under their specialty.