Credit Business Loan and Money Exchange

Finance markets are classified as primary (direct) and secondary (indirect). The primary markets deal in new finance claims or new securities. On the other hand, secondary markets deal in securities already issued or existing or outstanding. More often the classification is into money and capital markets. Money market deals with short-term claims having a period of maturity of one year or less and the latter does so with long-term claims having period of maturity of more than one year.

Stock Markets
A market in which shares of stock are bought and sold is called stock market. The word ‘stock’, in American usage, means equity or ownership in a corporation. A share is the basic unit of a company’s capital, which it tries to raise from the stock market. When you own a stock, you are referred to as a share or stockholder. A stock shows that you own a small fraction of a corporation; hence if you buy stock in the Pepsi Corporation and they come out with a ‘hot’ new drink, then you get to share the profits. A stock also gives you the right to make decisions that may influence the company. Each stock you own gives you a vote/s, so the more stocks you own, the more decision-making power you have.

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All business experience a period of low cash flow, where debts seem to outweigh revenue. While some business crumble under the pressure brought on by debt, some business survive and thrive through small business debt consolidation. Debt consolidation for a small business requires the same steps as a personal debt consolidation.

Begin by gathering all the information you have on your debts. You need to total all of your debts and all the invoices and earnings you have coming in for the current and subsequent quarter. You will need to rank your debts into two stacks: debts that need to be paid immediately and debts that can be paid later. Once you have a figure of your debt and a time line for when they need to be paid, you can start thinking about how you will get them paid. Now that you have an idea of what you owe, there are a few options available to help you pay or at least restructure your current debt.

A debt consolidation loan
Wells Fargo Bank provides a wealth of information on how small business can use a Small Business Administration loan for debt consolidation. This is only a better option when you can negotiate a lower interest rate on your consolidation loan. To get an SBA loan for this purpose you will need a total of all the current debts owed, collateral such as real property, equipment, deposit accounts, or other business assets, personal assets if needed, ability to pay principal and interest payments, a working and realistic business model, and the ability to show how the money will produce working capital for up to seven years. The loans offered by Wells Fargo are in the amount of $25,000 to $2 million, with either adjustable or fixed rates of interest. The loans they offer can be used to consolidate up to 10 years of debt.

To escape the debt trap of the global bankers, the power to create the national money supply needs to be restored to national governments. Alternatives include:

Legal tender issued directly by national treasuries and spent on national budgets.

• Publicly-owned central banks empowered to advance the nation’s credit and lend it to the government interest-free.
• Nationalization of bankrupt banks considered “too big to fail” (after expunging or writing down bad debts on inflated bubble assets).  These banks could then issue credit to the public and serve the public’s banking needs, with the profits recycling back to the government, defraying the tax burden on the people.
• Publicly-owned local banks (state, provincial, or municipal).

Publicly-owned banks have been successfully established and operated in many countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, India, China, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia.

In the United States there is currently only one state-owned bank, the Bank of North Dakota. The model, however, has proven to be highly successful. North Dakota is the only U.S. state to have escaped the credit crisis unscathed. In 2009, while other states floundered, North Dakota had its largest budget surplus ever. In 2008, the Bank of North Dakota (BND) had a return on equity of 25%. North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country and the lowest default rate on loans. It also has the most local banks per capita.

North Dakota has had its own bank since 1919, when farmers were losing their farms to the Wall Street bankers. They organized, won an election, and passed legislation. The state is required by law to deposit all its revenues in the BND. Like with the sustainable model of the bank of colonial Pennsylvania, interest and profits are returned to the government and to the local economy.

A growing movement is afoot in the United States to copy this public banking model in other states. Fourteen U.S. state legislatures have now initiated bills for state-owned banks. The model could also be replicated in other countries. In Ireland, for example, where the major banks are insolvent and are already nationalized or soon will be, the government could deposit its revenues in its own publicly-owned banks, add sufficient capital to meet capital requirements, and leverage these funds to create interest-free credit for its own local needs. That is exactly what Alexander Hamilton did when faced with government debts that were impossible to repay: he put the government’s existing funds in a bank, then borrowed the money back several times over, employing the accepted “fractional reserve” model.

Japan’s solution is also a variant of what Alexander Hamilton proposed two centuries earlier. Japan retains its status as the third largest economy in the world although it has a debt to GDP ratio of 226%. Japan has “monetized” the national debt, turning it into the national money supply. The government-owned Bank of Japan holds Japanese government debt equal to 100% of the nation’s GDP; and because the government owns the bank, this loan is interest-free and can be rolled over indefinitely. An interest-free loan rolled over indefinitely is the equivalent of issuing money.

As the economic recession gradually fades away, almost half of the American population realized that jobs can’t be taken for granted. The company for which you have worked so hard may suddenly lay you off without any prior notice. This was the case for most working individuals in America. So if you have thought of starting up a business because you think being your own boss is the right thing, then opening a small business is the best way to start. Now we all need a regular supply of small business financing to keep our business running without any hassles. The main question arises as to where to get the finance required for starting a new business. I have an answer to all your worries. There are thousands of grants for small business owners which are designed to help you to establish a successful business venture.

How to Apply for Grants for Small Business Owners

The main question that bothers an entrepreneur is how to get money for your business? Well, that’s a very logical question. Whether you’re starting a new business or expanding your current one, an adequate capital is always necessary. The first step is to apply for small business grants. However, you have to be well prepared to receive it as such grants are not provided to anyone at all. Always remember that nothing comes easily. It doesn’t matter if you’re getting grants from the government or from some financial institution, you need to show them that you are worthy of one.

You would have to give them all the necessary details, like purpose of the loan, opening day balance sheet, lease details, amount of investment by you in the business, projection of income, expenses and cash flow, signed personal financial documents, etc. If you are trying financial grants for business you have already started, you’ll also need to show them business finance statements of the last three years and other important related business documents.

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Some photographers exclusively produce either stock or assignment photography; some engage in both types of production; and many photographers shoot assignments that also generate stock photographs. Deciding which path to follow is a matter of understanding the effective differences between stock and assignment photography

Covering the cost of your operation

In assignment photography you don’t make photographs until someone orders them. Consequently, someone else pays for the work that you do within a short time after completion. The commissioning party pays all direct and indirect costs of production of the photographs. Stock production photography is self-assigned work. You must cover the production costs and the related overhead. This requires having enough capital on hand to meet those costs. The only way that you can recover your costs is by the future sale of your stock images. The images must sell at high enough fees to not only cover your costs but also to make a profit so you can stay in business.  It is important to understand that it can years to accumulate enough marketable stock photographs to earn an income that can pay the start up and ongoing costs of the business.

To be a successful stock producer you must have good insights into the future needs of the marketplace. You must produce trendy images before the need to assure that you have adequate time to have them visible in the marketplace when the actual need for such images arises. That is risky business. Very few photographers are successful in the stock production business. Those who are successful are so because they understand the imaging needs that drive the market.

Combining stock and assignment work

Photographers who direct some effort at assignment production and some at stock production usually want additional revenues that stock could produce but do not want the risk that the stock producer has to take. Revenues from their assignment business support their stock effort to shoot and sell stock photos.

The success of generating stock images from assignment work is dependent on the kind of assignments you shoot. Many photographs are not suitable for stock. If your assignments will expose you to subject matter that will have stock value, then you must retain the necessary rights you need to be able to market it. Your clients’ policies about rights will be varied. Most advertising and corporate clients do not want photos of their products, services, or personnel published without their approval, and they don’t want to be bothered by giving approvals. Some will allow the use of generic images taken on assignment for them. Editorial clients usually want non-exclusive usage so images on those assignments are good candidates for stock.

Financial risks

Since the client pays the fees and costs of assignment photography, the assignment photographer’s need for working capital can be less than the need of the stock production photographer. More capital needed to operate a business means more capital at risk. We can generalize that stock production puts more of the photographer’s capital at risk. Let’s look at the financial risks for assignment and stock photography producers.

The assignment photographers risk is that he will not be paid for an assignment. That could $200, $2,000, or much more.  But the loss of capital in such a situation is limited to the production costs that had to be paid out of pocket to do the work done.  That is less than the price, and not being paid can be guarded against with good business practices.

For the stock photographer the cost of making the images that end up on the market is similar to that of the assignment photographer, but the risk is greater because at the time of production there is no client to buy them. Eventually there might be assuming your photographs will appeal to a buyer.

The statistic I most hear quoted is that only 2 to 5 percent of a stock file actually ever licenses to clients. That means 100 percent of your production costs will have to be covered by 2 to 5 percent of your marketable images. If you license stock through a stock agency, you will pay a commission of 40 to 50 percent to the agency. So your images will have to earn $2.00 for each dollar of production cost to cover that expense. The stock photograph business is highly price competitive and there is an oversupply of stock images. Those conditions generally drive licensing fees down. When you add the low cost of micro stock to the mix, it makes matters worse.

Conclusion

Stock photography is a form of speculation. Can you afford to speculate? If you cannot, I’d suggest you stick to assignment photography and stay away from producing stock. The best solution is probably to mix your output. Shoot assignments, cull stock from those assignments that offer the opportunity, and produce stock when it is feasible and affordable to do so. That said, I think most photographers would be wise to maintain a healthy assignment business, and to continue to do so until they have a substantial understanding of the stock photography business which has undergone dramatic changes in recent years and is likely to continue to do so.