Business Loans Tips and Advice

Securing a business loan can be very difficult, even harder for small businesses this is due to the strict lending conditions meted out by banks. But most times, obtaining financial support from external sources is often inevitable to cover the daily expenses or expand a business. Bob aims to show us how small businesses can secure these loans to get their business off the ground. Bob Jenson is a Chief Innovation officer of smallbusinessloans.co and a frequent speaker at business events. For the past four years, Bob has written a monthly blog column called “Business Success.” He has also taught at the university level for several years.

Although finding and securing that business loan for a small business can be daunting, however, if you do your homework and carefully find out more about loan applications for small businesses, you may just stand a greater chance to better your odds. With these five steps, you can get that business loan approved for your small business.

1. Be Certain Of Why You Need a Loan

Lenders will not just throw money at your feet at your request; they will be willing to find out why you need this loan. And it is almost certain that they will ask you, why you need the loan, to begin with. However, your reply should sound like any of these statements below;

• To launch your business
• To cater for your operational expenses
• To have a safety cushion in case of a cash crunch.

2. Decide Which Loan is Ideal for You

The reason behind your need for a loan will go a long way to determine what kind of loan you get.
If it’s a new business, loans may be hard to come by in the first twelve months of your launch as lenders will demand cash flow support to pay off the loan. Thus, startups almost do not stand a chance in this regards. Startups may turn to other financial options like crowd funding, souring from friends and families or nonprofit lenders. For businesses that have lasted for over two years and have a stream of income, their financing options include SBA loans, invoice factoring, term loans and business line of credit.

3. Find out the Best Type OF Small-Business Lender

There are several sources of small business loans, some of which may include nonprofit microlenders, banks and online lenders. These lenders will offer products such as lines of credit, term loans and account receivable financing.

You should aim to compare different options the moment you settle for a particular lender, compare them against annual percentage rate and terms of the loan that you are eligible for and settle for the loan with the least APR in the event that you can continue to cover the loan’s regular payments.
Small businesses find it difficult to get bank loans due to factors like low sales volume and cash reserves, lack of collateral and bad personal credit. Although banks are your lowest APR (Annual Percentage Rate) option, a bank loan can take anywhere from two to six months to get approved.
Settle for a Bank if:

• You have collateral
• The loan is not urgent
• Your credit score is good

Microlenders are nonprofits that have a higher APR than that of banks but usually offer short-term loans of less than $35,000. They may require a financial and business plan and a description of what the loan is intended for. They are an alternative to banks and you should settle for a microlender if you cannot access a bank loan because your business is not large enough.

Online lenders will provide small business loans and lines of credit ranging from $500 to $500,000. The APR varies with lenders, but it is typically between 7% to 108%.They feature higher APR rates but they are ideal if;

• You don’t have a collateral
• Need a quick loan

4. Find Out if You Are Eligible

How long have you been in Operation?
For most business loans, you need to have been in business for at least a year to qualify for most small business loans.

Do You Make Enough Profit?

Most times, most lenders will require an annual revenue that ranges anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000. Know what part of the divide you lay before applying.

Can You Meet Up With Payments?

Evaluate your business to ascertain if you can afford to pay back the loan, a good way to find out is to ensure that your total income is at least 1.25 times your total expenses including your loan repayment. Thus, if your business was making around $11000 and your total expenses stands at $8,000 you can only afford a loan repayment of $1000 monthly.

5. Ensure You Have The Relevant Paperwork

Once you have settled for a lending option, it’s time to apply for that loan for your small business. Lenders requirements may vary, but you may be required to submit a copy of either/a combination of the following documents;

• Business financial statement
• Business tax returns
• Business legal paperwork (franchise terms, lease, etc.)
• Personal and Business bank account statements

So, with these five tips in mind, you should have an idea about how to approach a lender for a loan for your small business and most importantly, you know the lending option that is better suited to your emerging business.

IBM just announced a 50-qubit quantum computer

By Dom Galeon 

In Brief Earlier today, IBM announced a 50-quantum bit (qubit) quantum computer, the largest in the industry so far. As revolutionary as this development is, IBM’s 50-qubit machine is still far from a universal quantum computer.

Setting New Heights

At the IEEE Industry Summit on the Future of Computing in Washington D.C. on Friday, IBM announced the development of a quantum computer capable of handling 50 qubits (quantum bits). This breakthrough puts IBM on the cutting edge of quantum computing research, as a 50-qubit machine is so far the largest and most powerful quantum computer ever built.

Seen by experts as the future of advanced computing, a quantum computer performs rather differently compared to traditional computers. Instead of processing information using binary bits of 0s and 1s, a quantum computer uses qubits, which can simultaneously be a 0 and/or a 1. This is made possible by the quantum effects known as entanglement and superposition.

Aside from their 50-qubit machine, IBM also has a 20-qubit quantum computing system that’s accessible to third-party users through their cloud computing platform. IBM managed to maintain the quantum state for both systems for a total of 90 microseconds. That may seem short â€” because it is â€” but it’s already a record feat in this growing industry, where one of the biggest challenges is sustaining the life of qubits.

“We are really proud of this; it’s a big frickin’ deal,” IBM’s director for AI and quantum computing Dario Gil, who made Friday’s announcement, told theMIT Technology Review.

A Step Closer

IBM has been makingsignificant advances in quantum computing ever since their researchers helped to create the field of quantum information processing. But they aren’t the only one in on the race to build working quantum computers. Google and Intel are also developing their own quantum computing systems, and San Francisco-based startup Rigetti wants to revolutionize the field. Meanwhile, Canadian quantum computing company D-Wave has already developed a couple of quantum computers which have been used by NASA and Google.

A 50-qubit machine can perform extremely difficult computational tasks, but with Google suggesting thatthis many qubits could outclass the most powerful supercomputers, IBM’s machine isn’t yet ready for widespread, commercial, or personal use. Like all of today’s quantum computers, IBM’s 50- and 20-qubit systems still require highly specialized conditions to operate.

Furthermore, as University of Maryland professor Andrew Childs pointed out to MIT Tech Review, IBM hasn’t yet published the details of their new machine in a peer-reviewed journal. “IBM’s team is fantastic and it’s clear they’re serious about this, but without looking at the details it’s hard to comment,” he said, adding that more qubits doesn’t necessarily translate to a leap in computational ability. “Those qubits might be noisy, and there could be issues with how well connected they are.”

At the very least, this development is bringing us one step closer to a future where quantum computing transforms how we process information and helps us to solve many of the world’s most difficult problems. IBM is set on making their quantum computer work, and they’re expected to announce an upgrade to their quantum cloud software today. “We’re at world record pace. But we’ve got to make sure non-physicists can use this,” Gil told the MIT Tech Review.

By Dom Galeon 

 
This article originally appeared at: https://futurism.com/ibm-announced-50-qubit-quantum-computer/.

UberAir Flying Taxis by 2020, Thanks to Uber + NASA

Would you fly in a taxi to avoid traffic? UberAir is banking on it. 

Uber announced its partnership with NASA to help create air traffic management systems for its flying taxi initiatives today at Web Summit in Lisbon. 

Tweets galore took flight today with news, comments and polls in response. The 4-passenger flying taxi is on the docket for 2020 in LA. 

  

Uber developing “flying taxis” with NASA. They plan on beginning testing in Los Angeles in… 2020. What. https://t.co/mVD9TgNiFg pic.twitter.com/REWFC88QUz

  

This Is What Koenigsegg’s Record 278 MPH Nevada Speed Run Looked Like Behind The Wheel

On Saturday, the mad Swedes at Koenigsegg did something truly remarkable: in an Agera RS, a factory driver achieved an average speed of 277.9 mph during two runs on Nevada’s Route 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump. This may make the Agera RS the world’s fastest street legal production car. Now you can see what those runs looked like from the driver’s perspective.

The nice folks at Racelogic sent us the video recorded by the VBOX HD2 during the two runs, and if you’ve ever been curious what approaching 290 mph looks like from the cockpit, you’re about to find out.

The video shows both runs: one with a top speed of about 272 mph, the other way up there at 284 mph. The two speeds were averaged together to get the official time. Throughout the day, the max speed seems to have been 284.3 mph.

It’s almost terrifying. Even with the straight road and presumably an even grade, I can’t even imagine how close you could come to disaster at that velocity. At the same time, I’m extremely jealous of the pure, unfiltered speed driver Niklas Lilja must have felt. It must have been scary and liberating at the same time.

Koenigsegg told Jalopnik the run was done on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, the same tires delivered to customers, and that Michelin reps were on-hand to make sure everything went okay.

This article originally appeared at: https://jalopnik.com/this-is-what-koenigseggs-record-278-mph-nevada-speed-ru-1820157256.

Here are 3 companies that want to monetize our time

We are following trends that look most promising using implementation of blockchain. There are so many new companies with ICO (Initial Coin Offerings) launches right now, you’d be right to say that many of these are a long shot for long term survival. 

I have noticed that most of the founders I meet have great ideas. It’s rare that they are expecting to cash in on the ICO and run off into the sunset. Unfortunately, some of the great ideas that founders have don’t survive my Facebook Test… That’s where I listen to the pitch for anything not already done well by someone else (often Facebook) and ask “Oh, you mean Facebook”

Today I’m reviewing companies suggested by Josiah Motley on TNC. In fact, I’m writing this post in the Brave Browser, which certainly has some Facebook Test questions to answer. I’m reserving judgement on Steemit to see if I can finding something beyond the “compete with all social media” problem. 

I’m enthused by MyTime. There’s not much to see, but it hits one of my easy-win criteria. It is following the trend of the best ideas I’ve seen… replacing outdated systems with a fintech tool that cuts transaction costs. 

Do you know about a tech that uses blockchain, disrupts outdated systems and will be easy to use?  

Share in the comments

Here are 3 companies that want to monetize our time

Ok, so we’ve figured out ways to pretty much monetize everything at this point, with one of our last precious finite resources being time. Yes, time. We can have all the renewable energy in the world, but eventually our time is going to run out. It makes it our most valuable asset – so why aren’t we making more companies pay for it? We help them stay in business with our purchases, impressions, and clicks, how about a little kickback?

I’m not alone in this thought, and we’re beginning to see a rise in companies that are using this basic idea to build services that could help all parties benefit in the future. Everyone from the end user to the companies providing a service, all the way to advertising partners can increase their gains. I’ve compiled a list of a couple different players that are shaking things up with this thought of monetizing time, you can read more about them below!

Brave browser and the BAT

Headed by Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich, the Brave browser is a Chrome alternative that offers fast speeds and much more security that everyone’s favorite Google browser. This is mainly accomplished by native ad blocking. Obviously, ad blocking can be bad – especially for the sites you love to visit, so Brave is working on a system that allows for what basically amounts to micro transactions to the sites you utilize every day. They get paid, and you don’t have to deal with potentially harmful ads.

Combo this with the new Basic Attention Token and you have a system that can do a lot of this heavy lifting automatically through the use of the blockchain and cryptocurrency. Based on Etherium, this currency connects users, advertisers, and publishers. Users can get rewarded for using and spending time with the Brave browser, while putting more attention on the native Brave ads that replace the ads you might find through other browsers.

Steemit

We’re out here creating every day for free – posting pictures on Instagram, creating spicy memes on Tumblr, and making uninformed political opinions on Facebook, while the social platforms we use to share our voice is raking in the money. Yes, we’re getting a service for free, but we’re also submitting a lot of personal information to these companies in exchange for that. Our content is keeping people on these sites, so a little kickback isn’t too much to ask for, right?

That’s basically Steemit‘s philosophy. At its core, they are a blockchain-based social media company that rewards users with cryptocurrency (called steem) for engaging content and contributing to other user conversations. Two voices are not always worth the same amount, however. The bigger your social footprint and influence is, the more your time and content is worth. It’s an interesting system that promotes engaging content, not just spamming whatever comes to mind in an effort to boost your revenue.

Mytime

Taking some of the aspects of both of the services above, mytime (yes, they have everything lowercase and no, I don’t like it) is a platform that also rewards users for their time spent while on a platform that supports the mytime cryptocurrency. Whereas Steemit and BAT are more centralized, pin-pointed solutions, mytime is looking to integrate their platform into both new and existing services to broaden the idea of monetizing time.

Using the same premise as the other examples, users are rewarded for their time with a service through the use of smart contracts on the blockchain, those rewards being mytime’s cryptocurrency, MYTC. Being able to build new ideas on this platform is what helps make this one exciting. Free to play games could use a reward system tied in with MYTC to keep users engaged. Websites could reward users for reading more articles or watching more videos. There are a lot of options, and considering you have a currency that could be used across different, there are even more channels for users to find value in the currency.

More and more apps and services are competing for our time. We already have to pick and choose what we spend our time on, so having options that actually reward users for more time spent is pretty great. The world of blockchain and cryptocurrency is helping make this idea much more realistic thanks to smart contracts and a decentralized currency that is valued the same across the globe. While many of these platforms still have things that will need to be figured out to reach large market adoption, the premise is both strong and exciting.

 

Barclays’ former CEO on Blockchain: Big banks need to start over

Antony Jenkins was asked:

What do you think about blockchain?

When you have a banking system, which is basically a set of intermediaries, what those intermediaries do at any point in time is they cluster risk. Now, it’s not that the risk is created or destroyed. It’s simply clustered in one place. When it’s clustered in one place, you then have to hold a lot of capital against the fact that this risk may crystalize one day. Classically in banking, we leave our money in our banking account, and the bank lends that money out to somebody. If the bank doesn’t get repaid, that risk crystalizes, but we still want to get our money out, so the bank has to hold capital to buffer against that risk.

If you imagine a world in which we’re all connected by some distributed ledger technology, there’s no need for those central counterparties. There’s no need for the capital that sits in the middle, and all the friction that goes with moving in between those counterparties. You can imagine a world where you have essentially frictionless banking. You don’t eliminate risk, because risk is always there. But you eliminate the clustering of risk and that capital behind the cluster and the things that go with it.

Read the full interview here