​By Monique Dean, Client Marketing Advocate, PalmPons, LLC
Business owners are not limited to traditional loans to fund their business. There are a lot of ways in which they can secure funding through other avenues. Below, we will go over some of the more non-traditional ways that you can secure funding for your business. 
Crowd Funding

Pitch your business idea on the web to generate excitement and get people from all over the world eager to contribute to your vision. There are many crowdfunding sites, like GoFundMe and Kickstarter that will give you the opportunity to pitch your idea in order to gain financial assistance from others. To do this, you will have to set a goal, pitch your idea or business and explain why you need the amount you are asking for. If you fail to reach your goal, the site will not release the money you raised and it will be returned to the investors. If you exceed your goal, you will be able to use that to further fund your company. Usually, companies will offer incentives or prizes to those who invest in order to help them reach their goal.

Personal Credit 

With generous payment terms, you can use your personal credit line or credit cards to push some of your expenses further down the road. If you are smart about it, you can make your small and everyday purchases using credit. This will free up the money that you would otherwise use for those purchases to instead spend on your company.
Home Equity Loans

If you own a home, you have the option to liquidate some of the equity that you have and use it to finance your company. Although this option is only reserved for those that own a home and have equity to draw from, it is usually easy to obtain and the interest rates will typically be more favorable than through other avenues.
Peer-to-Peer Lending
Not to be confused with crowd funding, peer-to-peer lending is where people come together to lend money to each other. Lending Club and Prosper are two big names in this industry, where they connect everyday investors to borrowers without the banks.  Since they are both online marketplaces, they can offer lower interest rates to borrowers and attractive returns to investors. With a simple qualification process, you receive offers within minutes and can evaluate loan options with no impact to your credit score.
Invoice Financing
Also known as “Accounts receivable financing” or “factoring,” invoice financing is an alternative financial solution that can turn your unpaid invoices into cash. Companies like BlueVine and Paragon Financial can supply cash on your business sales immediately, rather than waiting for 30, 60, or 90 days+ for customer payment. Whereas traditional bank loans determine how much money an individual qualifies for based solely on the borrower’s creditworthiness, an invoice company will research the credit history of the seller’s customers prior to purchasing the invoices. With faster funding and a higher approval rate, this option allows you to capitalize on more business opportunities or pay employees.
Angel Investors
This is a less creative option, but still worth considering once your business is ready to scale. An angel investor is someone that will agree to provide capital for your company as it needs it. In exchange, you give the angel investor some equity in the company. This can become a mutually beneficial partnership. The investor has an incentive to continue to invest in your company in order to help it grow and increase the value of their original investment. On the company’s side, you won’t have the hassle of seeking out different investors every time you need more funding. 
We’d love to hear what you think!  Have you used any of these non-conventional avenues to raise money for your business?  Or have you used a different channel that is not discussed here?  Is there a certain option you prefer for your business growth?

​by Carolyn Carlson, Carlson Consulting 
According to industry marketing experts, roughly 25% of a database grows stale over one year, and 40% after two years. Termed as the "rot rate", data and lists can degrade records over time. For example, records can change when individuals move, get married, change jobs, buy new homes, undergo a divorce, retire or die. 
When reconnecting with an "opt-in" audience who is familiar with your business brand or micro-target a specific marketing niche, it is important to update as many records as possible to ensure your records remain accurate. 
- Pay attention to any data entry errors or typos.
- Eliminate duplicate records or households that have several different names within one address.
- Keep an eye out for missing contact data (i.e., a street name without correct numbers or missing numbers, wrong zip code, or four digit zip code instead of a five digit zip code.)
- Fix incorrect area codes for phone numbers. There are area code splits which fall into two or three geographies.
- Look for street addresses with no suite or apartment number. Customers may forget or purposefully omit this info which makes it more difficult for the post office to deliver the mail in a timely manner.
- Update/remove mailing addresses of deceased individuals. Failure to update records is lost money and can be interpreted by a family as being insensitive or lazy. Identifying a new contact will help to protect your brand.
- Obtain correct formatting for global addresses. Global contact data comes in different address formats and many postal code systems.
- Determine whether an address is residential or business. Many shipping companies charge a higher price for residential deliveries.
These are just some of the tips which overall will add up to boosting and positively expanding your outreach and online communications. Check back in a few weeks when we discuss the top ten tips for outbound email broadcasting.

​by Doug Taylor, Shareholder, Bean, Kinney & Korman, P.C.
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently released updates to seven model or “form” notices and certification forms dealing with requirements under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”).
Briefly, the FMLA applies to any employer that employs 50 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. In order to qualify for coverage under the FMLA, an employee must have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours during the immediately preceding 12 month period.
Occurrences that give rise to FMLA leave entitlement include:
            1. The birth of a child;

2. The placement of a child in the employee’s household for adoption or foster care;
3. The need for the employee to provide care for a spouse (state law determines the meaning of “spouse”), parent (but not in-laws), son or daughter (whether biological, adopted or foster) with a “serious health condition”;
4. A serious health condition that prevents the employee from performing an essential function of his or her job (includes serious health conditions related to pregnancy and child birth) and
5. A qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a covered military member is on active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty, in support of a contingency operation.

FMLA requirements for employers include:
1. Prominently display a notice explaining the FMLA’s provisions and provide information concerning the complaint process for employer violations of the FMLA;
2. Notify employees of their eligibility to take FMLA leave, upon request from employees or acquisition of knowledge by the employer of the need for FMLA leave;
3.  Contemporaneously with the FMLA eligibility notice, provide employees with notice of their FMLA rights and responsibilities and
4. Provide employee notice of whether leave is deemed covered under the FMLA and how much time will count against the employee’s FMLA leave entitlement.
The DOL’s newly revised FMLA forms can be found here:
WH-380-E Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition (PDF)
WH-380-F Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Member’s Serious Health Condition (PDF)
WH-381 Notice of Eligibility and Rights & Responsibilities (PDF)
WH-382 Designation Notice (PDF)
WH-384 Certification of Qualifying Exigency For Military Family Leave (PDF)
WH-385 Certification for Serious Injury or Illness of Current Servicemember — for Military Family Leave(PDF)
WH-385-V Certification for Serious Injury or Illness of a Veteran for Military Caregiver Leave (PDF)