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As a business owner in the modern era, you are likely well acquainted with the Internet.  You may use it for paying bills, staying in touch, and bragging about those cute babies in your life.  So why not tap into that computer prowess when getting financing for your small business (SMB)?

A Debt Service Coverage Ratio is a key factor for many lenders, both traditional and alternative, when it comes to making credit decisions. But what is this scary sounding thing that can make or break a small business loan application?

The words “tax time” are enough to get many first-time entrepreneurs’ hearts racing. We conjure up visions of grim-faced IRS auditors rifling through our papers and scrutinizing our inventory—and, if they find a single small mistake, turning around and demanding money that our bootstrapped businesses can’t spare.

Tax liens can seriously impact financial health for a small business owner. But does having one mean there is no chance to get the healthy financing needed to grow a business?

Depending on where you are in your life and your career, you might be facing a little — or a lot — of personal debt. Many would-be entrepreneurs owe money on credit cards, student loans, mortgages, cars or all of the above, and these heavy outstanding balances could put their dreams of business ownership on hold.

According to research, roughly 550,000 entrepreneurs launch new businesses every month across the United States. If you’re thinking about creating a startup venture, you’ll be swimming in this sea of competitors right out of the gate. Your product or service may be as innovative as they come. No matter how amazing it is, if you don’t have […]

Small business owners sometimes find themselves strapped for cash and hard pressed to make payroll. Here are three tips to avoid getting into that position in the first place.

The world of third party sales on the Amazon Marketplace is growing in size and importance but financing for many of these strictly eCommerce merchants can be confusing but not impossible.

Women and millennials have unique challenges as small business owners but there are four tips for keeping their finances in good shape.

A recent survey of borrowers conducted by Dealstruck, showed most small business owners are concerned about hot issues such as healthcare and taxes. The survey also showed a remarkable amount of confidence in where the economy is headed and the potential for growth and success for small businesses.

A common theme in business and finance circles is that women are underrepresented, less capitalized, and face an uphill battle when it comes to building and financing their small businesses. While the statistics may bear this out to some degree, the women-owned business horizon is markedly better than the picture painted by this conventional data.

The Dodd-Frank Act had unintended consequences for small businesses around the U.S. By imposing stringent regulations that required increased paperwork and oversight for banks on everything from debit cards to mortgages, small business lending became too expensive and onerous for all but the largest loan sizes.

If your small business needs working capital and has outstanding invoices from slow-paying customers, one option is to sell those invoices to a factoring company for immediate cash.

Entrepreneurs tend to share a few things in common, including high thresholds for risk taking, persistence, and resilience. No doubt those qualities come in handy for starting a business, but they can have a few side effects. Chasing a dream is exhilarating—so exhilarating, in fact, that you might fail to notice how tired or hungry or thirsty it's making you.

Getting financing, for many entrepreneurs, is about as much fun as going to the dentist. You’ll need to figure out what you need, get your financial paperwork in order, and be prepared for rejection. But it’s also crucial. After all, every business needs cash to grow – and one of the big reasons that entrepreneurs fail is lack of funds.

Small businesses’ cries for financing are being heard. Not by traditional banks, but instead by an array of online financing organizations that use technology and data to speed money to borrowers. While these new options can be more expensive due to the greater risk they undertake, these lenders ultimately make more money available to a greater number of businesses.

From the New Entrepreneur blog to the halls of Congress, much has been made of the alternative financing startups angling to enter the market. Perhaps too much. “Alternative lending can only be a niche market,” Rohit Arora, chief executive of online lending platform Biz2Credit, told me earlier this week when I was working on a story on big banks’ credit-card lending to small businesses. “It’s high-cost, short-term money, and you can’t use it to replace long-term options.

Debt crowd funding site Dealstruck recently announced an arrangement with peer-to-peer loan fund Direct Lending Investments. In order to better understand the import of the arrangement, I reached out to the leaders of both companies to get a sense of what the deal means for social entrepreneurs and others seeking growth capital.

The finance industry is under attack from startups. Dealstruck initiated the latest front of this battle today with its online alternative to business loans from banks. Its marketplace connects small businesses with a community of accredited and institutional investors. Business owners can bypass banks to access more affordable loans from a crowd with less hassle. On the other side, investors are connected with investment opportunities that promise higher returns than other short-term, fixed income investments.

Ivan Rincon’s products may have been skimpy, but he was convinced his growth prospects were not. Orchid Boutique, the online swimwear shop he founded six years ago in Miami with his wife, Mayra, was approaching $3 million in annual sales. It had been profitable since 2010, he said, with margins that ran between 10 and 15 percent. But the business was highly seasonal, leaving him scrambling for cash in the off-season when he needed to place orders.