Each and every day, it’s likely that you’ll see a television commercial promoting one of the big banks. Chances are you’ll also see billboards and ads on the sides of buses heralding banks as well. Not that we particularly disagree with these ads. We all need banks!

And while there are many benefits to having a bank account, of course, it doesn’t mean that the bank can do everything that you need. Working with our clients over the years has really helped to open our eyes as to how difficult it can be for a business owner to borrow money.

Our clients often tell us that even when they’ve established long relationships with their local branches, they are still turned down when applying for loans. It’s important to understand that banks are hesitant to take risks. And providing a loan to a business owner looking to renovate his restaurant, for example, is considered a big risk.

The great thing about a merchant cash advance is that it is not a loan. The risk factor is eliminated by the fact that our clients are not borrowing money. Instead, they have made a sale. Synergy purchases a portion of their future credit and debit sales. And we pay for those sales upfront.

Within five days, a merchant can receive the cash that he or she needs to renovate, advertise or expand. Honestly, our clients may do whatever they like with the money they receive. Of course, the money isn’t free. The mere idea that the money has no charge is one thing that scares some business owners away – assuming they are getting involved in a scam!

Naturally, we must charge a one time fee for the cash advance. This is not an accruing interest rate. The cash advance is paid back over time through a small percentage of those future credit and debit sales that we purchased. So there is also no fixed repayment schedule. This means that there is no such thing as being late.

Our clients often tell us that this is their favourite aspect of the program. They have peace of mind in knowing that their credit scores will never be affected and they will never have collectors knocking on their doors asking for cash. Some advances are paid back with a couple of months. Some take closer to a year. No matter what, the cost of the advance never increases.

Contact one of licensed funding specialists today to get yourself a free, no obligation quote for a merchant cash advance!

The article we reviewed on Monday is just one of many reports that help to showcase Canada’s strong economic rebounding skills. Promising news has continued to pour in this week, as on Tuesday, QMI Agency reported that Canadians are looking past the woes of the recession and are living life fairly normally.

In fact, a new BMO poll has determined that nearly two-thirds of Canadians still plan on taking a vacation either this fall or winter. According to the poll, 61 per cent plan on taking a holiday while 79 per cent took a vacation this past summer. It also found that 20 per cent of those traveling intend on taking advantage of the strong Canadian dollar while on their trips.

The post popular destination, however, is the United States. So it doesn’t seem like many Canadians plan on traveling too far from home. According to QMI: “Younger Canadians were twice as likely to travel outside the country than those over 44 years old, the poll found. Almost a fifth of the under-44s were planning to head to the U.S.”

It is notable that the recent economic downturn has not grounded us Canucks. Somehow, our nation’s citizens have found a way to make it through the recession in better shape than their American counterparts. In fact, only 13 per cent of those polled indicated that they would need to use their reward points to lower their vacation costs.

In another interesting find, 19 per cent of those with incomes more than $100,000 said that they would use reward points to economize. Evidently, those with money know how to use it wisely! This concept, of course, rings close to home with our funding specialists who are always assisting business owners with ideas on how to use money to make money!

Su McVey, the vice-president of customer communications and marketing at BMO, would agree. Said McVey: “In today’s economic environment, I would encourage every Canadian vacationer to take full advantage of their travel-related rewards to reduce their holiday expenses.”

In his special to QMI Agency, Ellis lists a few ideas about how to have a happy haunting experience without forking out the big bucks. His first tip is simply to “shop early to avoid last-minute crowds and craziness.” At this point, that means getting to the stores this week as the end of the month is fast approaching!

Set a budget and decide in advance how much you want to spend on a costume, says Ellis. This is always an important part of making sure your money is used wisely. In fact, it’s not much different than the conversations our licensed funding specialists have with our clients. When you plan out exactly what you want to use your money for, your desired outcome will be within closer reach.

“Combine new and used items for an original look at the best price,” recommends Ellis. Going back to some of his suggestions from yesterday’s blog, Ellis notes that, to save money, buying a costume may mean picking and choosing from a number of different, inexpensive items to create an original and unique look that is easy on the wallet.

“Look in different departments,” he says, “you never know what you might find.” In other words, you don’t even have to be shopping for a Halloween costume to create one. For all you know, the perfect superhero cape could be a table cloth you find in the houseware section of a department store!

“Bring a picture for inspiration and so you won’t forget details when shopping,” says Ellis. If you know exactly what type of look you’re going for, your shopping experience will be that much easier. You may even want to draw your ideas so that you can match your concepts to the items you find that most closely resemble them.

And finally, “check back often if you don’t find the piece or costume you’re looking for to complete your costume.” According Sara Gaugl, the marketing manager for Value Village, “100,000 pieces are on the floor of each Value Village store at any given time and 5,000 are added each day.”

However, as Jim Ellis explained this morning, in his special to QMI Agency, celebrating Halloween does not have to be an expensive activity. In fact, you can find a number of inexpensive ways to both decorate and dress up by visiting local thrift stores. He writes that Value Village is a great place to find cost-effective costumes.

One of the reasons for this, is that the store employs “costume consultants” in preparation for the big, scary celebration on October 31st. These friendly employees – all decked out in “holiday drag” – provide assistance to those looking to get all spooky without emptying their wallets.

The best way to do this, writes Ellis, is to DIY. You know, “Do-It-Yourself”? In other words, you can always create your own costume by using a variety of different supplies. Even creating your own original pirates, superheroes, vampires and zombies can be done with just a little bit of imagination.

Sara Gaugl, the marketing manager for Value Village, advises shoppers to pair up the store’s previously-owned pieces with goods from accessory kits or even their wig department! Among the most popular costume ideas this year? According to Gaugl, pop sensations Lady Gaga and Katy Perry are definitely in.

Movies such as Black Swan and The Smurfs are also inspiring a lot of costume ideas this year. And believe it or not, Value Village is even offering online makeup tutorials so that shoppers can get the looks right. “Browse every department,” recommends Gaugl, who is sure that enough mixing and matching will make the perfect Halloween costume.

Of course, you don’t have to visit a thrift store to get all of the pieces necessary for a great Halloween costume. You just may have all of the right ingredients lying around the house! In tomorrow’s blog, we’ll take a look at a number of Ellis’ tips on how to DIY instead of buying your costume this year.

Perhaps, their reputation with helping Canada to strengthen its economy is one reason that Canadians are so willing to support local retailers. According to an article posted by QMI Agency earlier today, a new study to coincide with Small Business Week found that Canadian shoppers are actually willing to go out of their way to support smaller local shops.

According to Scotiabank and Harris/Decima, 63 per cent of Canadian shoppers would either walk or drive farther to support a small business. 43 per cent of respondents said that they would also be willing to pay more to “help the little guy”, while 85 per cent revealed that they would spread the word about their favourite small businesses.

Said Scotiabank’s director of small business, David Wilton: “As Small Business Week kicks off, we want to acknowledge the value small businesses provide to all Canadians. Small businesses are the backbone of our communities, and when they succeed, we all benefit from their innovation, growth and the employment they create.”

This is all good news for our excellent clients. Perhaps, we had it the other way around at the beginning of this blog. Maybe the reason that small businesses are so significant to Canada’s economic growth is because of the support they receive from the great people of this nation!

The QMI Agency report makes clear that the majority of Canadians feel that that small businesses help to improve access to products and services. In addition, they create jobs while providing leadership in the community. The Scotiabank and Harris/Decima study did, however, point out a few spots where small businesses could improve.

According to the article, “Shoppers polled also said they’d like to see more personalized service (21%), increased advertising (20%) and more competitive prices (19%) from their local businesses.” As always, Synergy Merchant Services offers its innovative merchant cash advance program as a solution to helping small business owners put their plans to improve into action. Give us a call to find out how!

Of course, there are many things that Canadian small and medium-sized business owners may do with their money. But maintaining good business practices is what will ensure that a business experiences steady growth. Laura Tiffany of Entrepreneur.com has helped us with a number of suggestions throughout the week. We’ll conclude our look at those tips today.

“Chat online,” she says. Using your website in addition to other social networking websites has become the most popular way to communicate these days. Blogs and newsletters are excellent marketing tools. But even more importantly is the way you interact with your clients.

Allowing them to respond so that they know their voices account for something is a great way to develop strong relationships with your customers. When you offer an e-newsletter, says Tiffany, it “establishes you as an expert, but it also provides another very important marketing tool: e-mail addresses of potential clients.”

Now you have a way of keeping in touch with clients to provide free information, in addition to first-hand knowledge of sales and discounts. Give your customers the “in” when it comes to your company. And hopefully they will come “in” more often! However, don’t just wait for them to find you online, Tiffany insists.

She writes: “Rather than purchasing an e-mail list for mass, impersonal advertising, spend some time trolling the Web, looking for businesses that have some sort of connection to your own business. Then write them a personalized e-mail telling them why you think they should build a business relationship with you.”

As always, we hope that our list of suggestions will help you take your own business plans to the next level. Our “More Business” blog series this week, was designed to get entrepreneurs thinking about ways that they can use their money to make more money. And this is what our licensed funding specialists do best. So give them a call, and start putting all these points into practice!

On Entrepreneur.com, Laura Tiffany shares a few ideas of her own. In addition to the suggestions we listed yesterday, she also advises business owners to “get friendly”. In other words, it’s important to offer your expertise to those who need it. She notes that this will make you both a good business person and “all-around good person”.

It certainly wouldn’t hurt your business if its owner became known as someone with a great enthusiasm for helping others. Tiffany suggests getting involved in your community or aligning your brand with a nonprofit organization. Each time this organization raises funds, they would be promoting your business as well. It’s a win-win situation all around.

“Offer work samples,” recommends Tiffany. Sometimes when you offer free services – similar to how a restaurant or grocery store may provide a free food sample – you endear yourself to would-be customers who would have an idea of how your company operates. Whether you offer products or services, a free sample now and again may certainly improve your chances of attracting paying customers.

It’s important to network, Tiffany reminds us. Listen to what people have to say. This goes for both customers and industry professionals alike. Make sure you keep your ear to the ground in order to figure out what people are interested in. Your business should always be on top of supplying what the public is demanding.

It’s also a good idea to cross promote with other businesses, as well. Do you share customers with other businesses? Of course you do! One way to build upon your current customer base is to work with other entrepreneurs who can refer customers to your store. If you do the same, it’s a free way of growing your client base.

Writes Tiffany: “Whom do you share customers with? Find them and figure out how you can promote one another. If you’re a PR person, hook up with a copywriter or graphic designer for client referrals.” We’ll conclude our look at Tiffany’s suggestions in tomorrow’s blog.

Renovations, expansion and advertising are just a few of the suggestions thrown around as our team works diligently to find ways to help entrepreneurs in Canada grow their companies. Naturally, it takes money to get a plan off the ground. But, of course, a good business plan is necessary for a company to succeed. So how to start one up then?

On Entrepreneur.com, Laura Tiffany lists several ways that business owners can utilize their funds to bring in more business. Some of her suggestions have to do simply with the way you treat your customers. Other tips involve a more in-depth look at how companies can publicize themselves to stand out from their competition.

One of Tiffany’s first tips is to greet customers “with style”. Something as simple as your voice greeting when someone calls your business can be a big enough reason to turn a customer on or off. Be sure that you don’t forget about you voice mail when considering your marketing plan. Make sure that it is courteous and professional and allows for enough options that the caller finds what he or she is looking for.

Tiffany also suggests that you narrow your focus in an attempt to pinpoint your target audience. You don’t necessarily want to market to everybody. Consider regularly attending appropriate trade shows and become part of specific networking groups that will benefit you in your field of business.

Making the most of trade shows, says Tiffany, is an important component to bringing in more business. Even if you don’t have a booth, it’s important for you to attend the event in order to mix and mingle with like-minded business people. You should never be without your business cards, or perhaps some promotional items to give away.

As many of our blog readers are well aware, Synergy Merchant Services takes part in the annual CRFA Show each and every March. We have a wonderful time each year, knowing that the event helps us to meet so many great people in the restaurant and food services industry. This is an industry, by the way, that makes up a very important part of our client base.

We’ll continue to take a look at some more of Tiffany’s suggestions on how to bring in more business over the next two blogs.

In fact, Statistics Canada reports a growth of 61,000 jobs last month, with nearly all of them being full-time positions. This has lowered the national unemployment rate from 7.3 per cent to 7.1. As well, these findings have helped to lessen what appeared to be growing tension across Canada, that the country would soon be falling on hard economic times.

In both the United States and Europe, there is still a stress on the economy and jobs are becoming harder and harder to come by. Thankfully, there is cause for some optimism on the home front as Canada continues to demonstrate its prowess in bouncing back from the recession of a couple years ago.

According to Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty: “September’s job growth shows Canada is on the right track for steady, modest job creation and economic growth. But too many Canadians are still looking for work and the fragile global recovery – especially in Europe and the United States – will continue to have an impact on Canada.”

Naturally, when a country falls on hard times financially, the primary concern of its citizens is the loss of jobs. Especially with the holiday season fast approaching, the necessity of having a steady income is at its highest point for people all over the country. Thankfully, as Dunn points out, the current unemployment rate in Canada is the best it has been since 2008.

This is thanks, in part, to the province of British Columbia, which led the nation with 32,000 new jobs being created last month. The west coast province was followed by Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island as leaders in job growth, while Ontario, Alberta and Quebec remained even.

Not all Canadians are bound to view this recent finding with optimism, however. But, at least, it shows some promise. This is the sentiment felt by Craig Wright, Royal Bank’s chief economist. Said Wright: “Our view is one of cautious optimism. We see an uncertain, uneven and underwhelming recovery, but a recovery nonetheless.”

The sold-out MTS Centre was all abuzz yesterday afternoon, as the Jets marked their official start of their newly acquired life in professional hockey. After having the previous Jets leave Winnipeg to become the Phoenix Coyotes back in 1996, the NHL is back with a vengeance in the capital of Manitoba.

At Synergy Merchant Services, there are many hockey fans. But it is not lost on these forward-thinking individuals that the new Winnipeg Jets present a bit of a dilemma in the current National Hockey League. “They’re going to have to come up with a new division alignment,” insisted one of our reps last week.

Just like the funding specialist that he is, this member of our staff, is always thinking about ways to improve, move forward and build a better brand. This, of course, is his job daily, as the merchant cash advances he provides for his clients all come with the intention of having that business owner make changes to his or her business that will help it to grow.

“The Jets used to be the Atlanta Thrashers of the Southeast Division,” he pointed out, “They share a division with Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington and Carolina. It only makes sense that since the team moved to Winnipeg, they share a division with Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. It’ll make for great rivalries.”

So we decided to put our specialist’s mind to work. How would you reconfigure the NHL divisions to make sense of the Thrashers moving from Atlanta to become the Jets in Winnipeg? Our associate smiled, revealing that he had already thought all of this through and was prepared with an answer.

“Division alignment, as you know, is based on geographical location,” he began, “so it makes sense for the Jets to play in the Northwest Division. This should bump the Minnesota Wild out of that division to play in the Central Division. That should bump the Columbus Blue Jackets out of that division to take the Jets’ place in the Southeast. Simple!”

Well done, we think. But we’ll have to wait for next year’s NHL season to kick off to see how accurate our specialist is with his realignment suggestions. In the meantime, we are confident that he’ll help you make plans to bring your business to the next level. Give us a call to figure out how. And oh yeah…Go Jets Go!

Unlike a bank that requests detailed business plans, we do not insist that our clients tell us what they plan on doing with their money. Most, however, are only too eager to inform us of their plans. So, we thought that we would share some of those ideas with you today. After all, who better to discuss our program than the clients who are taking advantage of it?

Offered one of our clients: “During the fall season, I do all I can to buy new inventory. With the holiday season on the way, it only makes sense for me to get as much stock as I can now, because I know that the shopping rush will soon be here. The last thing you want to do is not have enough supply for the upcoming demand.”

“I put most of the money towards advertising,” said another of our great customers, “Shoppers are always looking for deals in my area. So I make sure that I flyer my entire community to let them know that my store is where they can find the best deals. To me, if you’re not advertising, you’re simply not trying to make money!”

Because our clients may do whatever they like with their cash advances, it gives them a lot of freedom to do many different things. One of our clients insists that there is no one reason to get additional funding to grow your business. In fact, the more options one has, the better it is for business.

“I prefer knowing that if the money is needed, it’s there. The last time I used a merchant cash advance, I made some repairs and spruced up the place a little bit. I also bought some new inventory and started a special sale to commemorate the start of the summer season. I had enough left over to do the same once the fall started. It works great!”

As always, we encourage you to contact one of licensed funding specialists to find out how our merchant cash advance may help your company to grow. And there’s no such thing as “too late” with us. Remember, that you may have access to funding in as little as five business days! It’s time to make your sales rise this fall!

And while we, here at Synergy, do not wish to publicly endorse any specific candidate, we definitely wish to endorse your right to vote. It’s important to keep in mind that, as a Canadian (and in this case, Ontarian), your ability to vote is a privilege. Not voting indicates that you have no voice – which is certainly not the case.

Canada made its collective voice loud and clear this past May during the federal election which saw Stephen Harper’s Progressive Conservatives earn a majority government. Meanwhile, the late Jack Layton’s NDP became the official opposition for the first time in the nation’s history. It is yet to be seen if the weakening support for the Liberal party will have an affect on Premier McGuinty’s campaign.

Earlier this week, Terry Davidson of The Toronto Sun reported that the Liberal party was actually gaining support based on a recent Abacus Data poll. He wrote that the poll’s numbers indicated that McGuinty had 37 per cent of the vote from decided voters compared to 34 per cent for Hudak.

When it came to undecided voters, 40 per cent said that they would “very likely” vote Liberal while 35 per cent favoured the vote for the PC. On television, campaign ads for Tim Hudak strongly challenged McGuinty’s position on taxes, highlighting that that the current premier has broken promises to not raise or introduce new taxes.

David Coletto, the CEO of Abacus Data, questions if the PC campaign is working. Said Coletto: “Over the last few days, people’s attitudes have shifted or firmed up. There’s a general sense that even though McGuinty probably has some faults, he’s a better alternative than Tim Hudak. People didn’t trust (Hudak) enough…(He) hasn’t inspired that many people to get on board their train.”

Today, however, Ontarians will take to the polls to cast their official votes to determine who should be in charge of running the province. Be sure to make your voice heard by voting for the candidate that you feel would best serve Ontario’s best interests. By tomorrow, we will all know how that person will be.

We are proud to say that we live and work in a country where our entrepreneurs are hard-working, determined individuals who seem to be constantly striving for success. Just yesterday, further proof came out that seems to prove this point of view. A QMI Agency report revealed that Forbes magazine has declared that “Canada is the world’s best place to do business”!

Knocking the former champion, Denmark, out of first place, the magazine’s recent annual ranking of global economies has placed Canada in its top spot. Among the factors leading to Canada’s worldwide dominance as the “best place to do business” are improvements to the nation’s tax system, a lack of red tape and strong investor protection.

QMI also notes that Forbes has placed Canada in 9th place when comparing tax systems in countries across the world. This is a significant jump from the nation’s previous holding of 23rd in this category in last year’s study. Formally 4th place in the world, Canada’s new number one spot places it right in front of New Zealand and Hong Kong who round out the top three in that order.

There are some Canadians who may disagree with the idea that the nation’s tax system is one to celebrate. The recently-introduced and widely-hated Harmonized Sales Tax is one reason that many might feel that way. However, QMI points out that Canada has made cuts to employee and corporate tax rates as well as the HST in Ontario and British Columbia.

The United States, by the way, just made it into the top 10 by claiming the tenth spot. According to Forbes, “While the U.S. is paralyzed by fears of a double-dip recession and Europe struggles with sovereign debt issues, Canada’s economy has held up better than most. The $1.6 trillion economy is the ninth biggest in the world and grew 3.1% last year. It is expected to expand 2.4% in 2011, according to the Royal Bank of Canada.”

The worst countries in the world to do business in? According to Forbes magazine, that would be Burundi, Zimbabwe and Chad. So congratulations Canada! Especially to you business owners who work tirelessly to provide optimum services and products that have helped our country become recognized around the world as the best place to do business.

In addition, not having a fixed repayment schedule ensures our clients that they will never experience a late payment. As a result, there are also no late fees or negative impact to their credit scores. Instead of worrying about such things, our clients are focused on using their merchant cash advances to grow their businesses through renovating, expanding, advertising or just about anything else they choose.

The popularity of the cash advance concept is apparently growing, as we saw in yesterday’s example of it appearing in hip-hop lyrics. And while the idea of using cash advances over loans may be creeping its way into popular music, we understand that this may not be a defining factor in why our program may be of use to you.

So with that, we took to the internet to see what else was being said about merchant cash advances. On TheAnotherDay.Blog.com, a blogger known as David2365 shared his own views about the cash advance concept, noting that it fills an immediate need for business funding. Of course, our program’s “quickness” is yet another great feature that our clients just love.

With Synergy, a business owner may receive his or her cash advance within five business days. As David2365 points out, “At times there’s a want to get a enterprise for quick instant cash to either be operational or to be in a position to do some upgrade around the gear or their flooring room.” This is where our program certainly comes in handy.

We often say, however, that our program’s greatest feature is the fact that there is no fixed repayment schedule. We believe that it is this element that puts our clients minds most at ease. David2365 notes that not having to pay back an advance within a set amount of time allows for a stress-free process of receiving funding.

He writes: “The great thing about a merchant cash advance is that there is no have to pay out fixed month-to-month amortizations to get a offered span of time as that from the lender mortgage. It helps the cash flow with the enterprise by not burdening them with fixed monthly payments.”

If you have any questions about our merchant cash advance program, our licensed funding specialists are standing by to speak with you. Feel free to give them a call and discover the ways in which merchant cash advances can assist your company, without the hassles usually experienced when dealing with banks.

This was evidenced earlier this morning, when one of our esteemed Synergy reps entered work with a cool story about a new hip-hop album he had purchased over the weekend. It seems that Raleigh, North Carolina rapper, Phonte is well-versed in the cash advance game, as he raps some very interesting lyrics on his new Charity Starts At Home album.

“Thinking of a master plan, all good like a cash advance. All bad like paying back a G when you only borrowed half a grand. Too interesting…” raps Phonte on “Eternally”. Offered our rep about this lyric: “It is often said that if a rapper makes mention of something or someone in a song, it means that the reference must be pretty socially significant.”

And we would have to agree. On “Eternally”, Phonte touches upon something that most of our clients make mention of when they discuss the benefits of merchant cash advances. And that would be the fact that there is no accruing interest rate. As Phonte’s clever wordplay unveils, interest rates inevitably cost business owners too much.

“It’s not just the fact that a client is continually charged for as long as they are borrowing,” added another rep during a discussion on the topic this morning, “it’s that interest rates do not take into account the financial situation of the business owner. If they are going through a slow period, making payments becomes much harder for them.”

“With interest accruing on a balance that is already difficult to pay back during slow seasons, this only creates a more stressful situation,” he continued, “Synergy’s clients love the fact that no matter how sales are going, there is no worry of more money being tacked on to what they owe.”

“Instead, they make payments based on their credit and debit sales. They have peace of mind knowing that they will only pay back a percentage of what they make, so they will always be able to afford their payments. And again, no accruing interest rate means that they know exactly what they will be paying back no matter how long it takes to pay.”

Who knows? Perhaps, there will be more rap lyrics about cash advances in the near future. It’s good to know that the benefits of our program are not only becoming more widely known, but are proving to help business owners across the country. That’s certainly something worth rapping about!