In this episode, we talk about how the nature of the relationship between a business owner and their banker has changed dramatically over the past 30 years.

In this episode Matt and I discuss:

• How your relationship with your banker is more like one of a supplier than of a trusted advisor
• How to create a strong, healthy relationship with your bank and banker
• How to go about finding a new bank

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

Other options:

• Download the Episode Here (MP3 | 22.2 MB | 24:14)
• Click here to subscribe via iTunes
• Click here for the RSS feed (non-iTunes)

How you approach your customers, the way you run your business, and advisors whom you trust may leave an impact on your bottom line. Readers voted for a handful of articles that redefine a few ways to look at your business.

Countdown: March 25^th, 2011

#5: More Small Firms May Qualify for Federal Contracts (via WSJ)

Sarah E. Needleman covers a recent U.S. Small Business Administration proposal that could increase the revenue-size definition of which businesses can qualify as “small.” This opens up opportunities of growth for firms that were a tad too large to fit the current “small business” definition, allowing them access to certain Federal programs.

#4: More Small Retailers Optimistic on the Economy (via AE OPEN Forum)

Readers enjoyed the quick infographic that shows that 51 percent of surveyed retailers with 20 to 49 employees believed the economy will improve, rather than stay the same or worsen, over the next 12 to 18 months. In other words, things are starting to look better according to the surveyed small business owner.

#3: Three Things Your Accountant May Not Be Telling You (via AE OPEN Forum)

It’s not an account about your accountant’s accountability. Oh no. This article revisits three assumed practices that most business owners believe their accountants are obligated to perform. Make sure to read between the lines.

#2: The Many Faces of a Successful Entrepreneur (via AllBusiness)

Rieva Leonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media, talks about her experience with entrepreneurial success and a commentary on the many faces she believes entrepreneurs wear. Her article suggests that other entrepreneurs take a look at how they juggle the different personas needed to be successful in today’s business world.

#1: Building a Business in the ‘Thank You Economy’ (via Entrepreneur)

Readers enjoyed Gary Vaynerchuk’s take on the importance of a customer-focused company culture and how he challenged readers to take a better look at how they engage their consumers.

Take a look again.

Hopefully these reader picks will inspire you to take a moment to redefine at your outlook on yourself (as a business owner), your business, your trusted advisors, and on your customers.

If you haven’t done so yet, follow us on Twitter to join in on the inspiration, letting us know which articles you enjoy.

Stay tuned for next week.

In this episode, we summarize the findings of research study that we had a third-party firm conduct on our behalf.

In this episode Matt and I discuss:

• Cash flow
• Compliance
• Bankruptcies

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

Other options:

• Download the Episode Here (MP3 | 21.1 MB | 22:51)
• Download the Transcript Here (PDF | 138KB )
• Click here to subscribe via iTunes
• Click here for the RSS feed (non-iTunes)
• Click here to enjoy the podcast on YouTube

This is probably one of many more to come.

Readers enjoyed articles from a variety of expert sources on entrepreneurial tips, anecdotes, and ideas. Do you agree with their top choices?

Countdown: March 18^th, 2011

#5: How to Bag an Angel Investor (via AE Open Forum)

This article highlights networking and strategy tips for any entrepreneur seeking to find an angel investor to fund their next innovative project.

#4: Getting Finance and Sales to Collaborate (via AE Open Forum)

Readers enjoyed the insight on why sales and finance departments from all types of firms seem to disagree on certain business-related functions and topics. A combination of emphasizing the roles of natural leaders and a little software help was the article’s suggestion for success.

#3: CEOs Don’t Necessarily Deserve Prison (via Huffington Post)

Gregory Reyes went from CEO to cellmate after a set of poor decisions made while working at Brocade Communications. Readers enjoyed the story on Huffington Post written by one of Reyes’ prison mates, Michael Santos, who explains his experience with the former CEO and how the author learned lessons on persistence, discipline, and living with integrity.

#2: Startup Bus: An Entrepreneurial Rite of Passage En Route to SXSW (via Huffington Post)

He claims he turned “…strangers to best friends in two weeks,” said Elias Bizannes, creator of the Startup Bus. His magical voyage took a group of innovators to SXSW 2011 and author Joan K. Smith gave her account of the ride.

#1: Entrepreneurship in the World’s Oldest Profession (via Small Business Trends)

The top article of the week dissects a racy industry with economic and social concerns of entrepreneurship in America. Regardless of your profession, it may be an interesting read to see how wealth shifts in the world’s oldest profession.

Sharing is caring.

We love that all of you small business and entrepreneurial types enjoy content from all around the web and we’re glad we get a chance to share it with you.

If you haven’t done so yet, follow us on Twitter to join in on the inspiration, letting us know which articles you enjoy.

Stay tuned for next week.

Readers enjoyed a collection of articles about different ways to fine-tune their small businesses this week. From credit policies to cash flow, and even the most effective way to register your business, these tips can help fine tune a growing operation.

Countdown: March 11^th, 2011

#5: The S Corp Versus the LLC (via Small Business Trends)

Do you know the difference between the two? Depending on how you’d like to own and operate your business, you might want to consider which option fits best. Check out the facts in this reader-favorite article.

#4: Is Your Revenue Model Right For Your Business? (via AE Open Forum)

Are you a champion of the “freemium to premium” model? Or do only high-margin goods belong in your marketplace? Readers enjoyed this article as a reference to many popular revenue models for today’s small businesses.

#3: Establishing a Formal Credit Policy (via AllBusiness)

Are you cutting certain customers some credit slack, but not others? Diligence, organization, and strong policies go a long way toward keeping your accounts up-to-date. Establishing a formal policy for your customer accounts was a reader-favorite article this week.

#2: How to Maintain Positive Cash Flow During Hard Times (via AE Open Forum)

Not too surprised that this is a reader favorite. Maintaining a strong cash flow can be a critical strategy toward keeping a small business above water.

#1: An Alternative Financing Option for Startups (via WSJ)

The top article of the week sounds dedicated to the rock star entrepreneur with a blazing new idea. Heard of royalty financing? Readers enjoyed learning about an alternative way to finance startups aside from persuading reluctant, wealthy family members or praying for angel capital.

You won’t need to break out the toolbox to make these adjustments to your business since an open mind and some guts are the only tools you need. This reader-voted collection is definitely some food for thought as the first quarter of 2011 comes closer to an end.

Find us on Twitter to join in.

We’re sharing the latest on small business finance and strategic growth on Twitter. As we traverse the web, we’re coming across all kinds of educational goodies to pass onto you, the small business owner.

Follow us on twitter to join in on the inspiration, and to tell us which articles you enjoy.

As always, stay tuned for next week’s collection.

Readers have voted and here are the results of what’s been going around the small business wire as we step into March.

While there’s a lot of great information out there about sharpening your business plans and maintaining a focus on cash flow, the Small Business Administration’s budget is going to be tightened.

This means that if you’re in the neighborhood for an SBA-type loan sometime soon, the competition may become quite fierce for these small business loans.

This week, readers enjoyed articles like this. They even retweeted our own podcast a few times. Many thanks for that.

If you’re a small business owner out there, these articles may be for you.

Countdown: March 4^th, 2011

#5: Obama Proposes Belt-Tightening for SBA (via WSJ)

President Obama’s fiscal 2012 budget proposes a cut in requested SBA funds, about 45% less than what it received in 2010. These loans seem to go like hotcakes. A dip in supply could drastically change how small business owners approach SBA help in the near future.

#4: How to Test a Brilliant Business Idea (via AE OPEN Forum)

Readers enjoyed this article that lists a handful of axioms to test against your business model. The tests explore a balance between dreaming big, being too greedy, and truly checking whether or not your heart is in it for the win.

#3: The New Leadership (via Results.com)

Brute force may not be enough! Readers enjoyed the insights brought by this article as it hones in on how “agility,” focus, and project management are a few key factors that strengthen the leaders of tomorrow.

#2: 10 Business Model Pivots to Improve Cash Flow (via AE OPEN Forum)

Readers enjoyed reading about the ten business plan “pivots” that they can make to maximize cash flow, regardless of what industry they’re in. In these tougher times, do you agree?

#1:  FC Radio 001 | Introduction to Debt Financing

Our followers retweeted the very first episode of our podcast series. As we ramp up the series with some more basic topics of financing, we’d like to get your feedback on how the show can better serve YOU—the small business owner.

There’s plenty of 2011 left to go.

As our readers enjoy inspiring articles on how they can maximize the effectiveness of their small business cash flow, they also explored what leadership qualities are favored in 2011 and beyond. Given, there was the ominous sign of tough times to come with SBA funding cuts, that did not stop our followers from continuing to improve their small business savvy.

Have a great weekend and stay tuned for next week’s Countdown. If you haven’t, follow @fairwayamerica on Twitter for the latest small business finance articles and mention or re-tweet to cast your vote on next week’s Countdown articles.

Until next time.

Many of you spend your time on the web socializing, reading email, watching all types of entertainment, and basically becoming a more entertained and informed individual.

We know because we’ve been paying attention. On our Twitter account, @fairwayamerica, we’ve been sharing all kinds of small business finance-related articles with our followers.

We shared, and like your Web 2.0 self would, you all shared back. Replies and mentions filled our inboxes, letting us know that what we’re sharing is appreciated by you, the small business owner or enthusiast.

Starting today, we’ll wrap up the week with the Countdown, a collection of the five most popular articles that we’ve shared from dozens of experts on small business, strategic growth, and financing.

With that said, let’s begin.

Countdown: February 25, 2011

#5: A Small Business Summit with No Small Business Experts (via smallbiztrends.com)

Our followers enjoyed reading about a small business summit sans guru. That’s right. Rather than listen to an expert dish out some advice, 300 small business owners discussed the state of smaller enterprises amongst one another, coming up with some great insights.

#4: Obama’s innovation push: Has US really fallen off the cutting edge? (via CSM)

Questions of whether or not the U.S. has lost its innovative edge piqued the interest of our followers as they enjoyed this article about the Obama initiative to stimulate job growth and its reception by business owners.

#3: Improving Broadband for Small Business (via WSJ Blogs)

Obama made the list twice as followers enjoyed an article about Obama’s pledge to grant broadband internet access to 98 percent of the nation in the next five years. This could be a boon to competitiveness for many small businesses who could take advantage of high-speed broadband solutions.

#2: U.S. small business confidence at three-year high in January

Readers enjoyed the momentum brought by a quick MSNBC analysis that small business confidence is at a three-year high as of January 2011.

#1: Groundhog Day: 10 Mistakes that Small Businesses Make Over and Over (via AE OPEN Forum)

At the top of the list is… another list. Ten mistakes that business owners make over and over again was a reader favorite. Hopefully, it was read enough to inspire fellow small business owners not to make the same mistakes in 2011.

Until next time.

Readers enjoyed a week full of momentum and insight and the excitement of new small business-focused initiatives from both the government and from the grassroots. Skeptics had their say, pulling in an article on timeless mistakes.

Stay tuned for next week’s Countdown. If you haven’t, follow @fairwayamerica on Twitter for the latest small business finance articles and mention or re-tweet to cast your vote on next week’s Countdown articles.

See you then.

In this episode, we introduce FinanceCoach Radio and touch on a few high level topics to get us started.

In this episode Matt and I discuss:

• The various ways to finance your business
• The difference between secured and unsecured debt
• The difference between revolving and fixed debt

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

Other options:

• Download the Episode Here (MP3 | 21.1 MB | 22:51)
• Download the Transcript Here (PDF | 138KB )
• Click here to subscribe via iTunes
• Click here for the RSS feed (non-iTunes)
• Click here to enjoy the podcast on YouTube

Maybe it’s the severe level of skepticism that mainstream media may have for nimble, cyber journalists, or maybe it’s more of the quickness that these folks get to the heart of problems, rather than skirting around them.

Whatever the case may be, the hard money bloggers, freelance finance analysts, and other lone sentinels knew very well that banks are holding onto deals, rewriting and restructuring them, hoping that their clients will turn business around to repay the bank.

As they continue to rewrite, they seize up capital that could be spent on servicing new loans to qualified borrowers.

True, these banks could just let their clients default on their loans and write off the loss, but this means the banks would take a massive hit in their capital base if they aren’t prepared ahead of time for such a loss. If they send their clients away to other banks capable of handing their near-delinquent borrowers, the borrowers may take their loyalty, and their deposits, with them.

The Wall Street Journal covers banks “Extend and Pretend” tactic as both a strategic move by banks to wait out the recession, but also as a foreshadowing of Japan’s own capital stalemate decades ago. They go into a bit of detail with an Umpqua deal that has been extended since 2007 or so.

Maybe all of this attention on this lose-lose scenario that conventional banks seem to be putting themselves in will bring to light the advantages of a hard money solution.

True, hard money rates are above market, but there is a lot of money available through hard money providers to pay off loan maturities without any big change in customer loyalty or deposits. Hard money lenders, like Fairway, are not interested in stealing your client. We really don’t have the function to do that so it’s seriously not possible.

We would like to see some more capital free itself up to encourage loan demand. Recovery means more business, more spending, and even more demand. That’s not a bad thing.

According to a Business Insider article on banks beginning to lend again, Analysts reported that July continued the increasing trend of conventional commercial lending, extending the streak to two months in a row.

The latter portion of the CNN Money article reflected upon loan demand being weak, regardless of bank activity. This made sense as business owners continue to hold on to their cash reserves through the rough economic times. Taking out a loan is not as attractive as paying down current debt. Of course, this route takes a toll on some business spending, such as equipment renting, product development, sales, and marketing.

The Business Insider article makes a similar forecast about loan demand as of July 2010, extending the downward estimate for the remainder of the calendar year. Reduced consumer spending, which signals businesses to hold off on supply if the demand isn’t there, is one factor that is assumed to keep loan demand at a low level.

We’d like to observe how loosened bank loan regulation and the insertion of fresh capital from entities entering the commercial lending market, such as bond traders and other deep-pocket institutions wanting to capitalize on the commercial lending market, will affect the markets through the end of 2010.

As credit loosens up, the roles of conventional money come back into play. Down the food chain, hard money opportunities arise for customers who need the tool to make ends meet in order to qualify for conventional financing at a later point.