Working Capital business financing is never a question of why – it’s just simply a matter of when! Working capital and cash flow are of course the heart of every business. The challenges of obtaining that financing become a question of time.

Perhaps you need cash for for your regular ongoing business cycle – that’s the simple one – you buy inventory, your produce things, you sell, bill and collect. In a perfect world your suppliers give you unlimited time to pay, and unlimited credit limits. And of course your customers pay you in exactly 30 days. Guess what? It’s not a perfect world!

If you are a traditionally financed firm you have access to bank capital for revolving credit lines based on your business needs. But for a growing number of Canadian firms that access to traditional bank capital is not available. Those scenarios require a special expertise in identifying sources of business financing that work for you. The solutions actually are quite numerous – its becomes a questions of which solution works for your firm, what are the costs involved, and does the solution fit within your business model.

The business financing we are talking about can take many different forms – it might include an asset based line of credit, inventory financing or purchase order financing, a sale leaseback on unencumbered assets,, working capital term loans, or accounts receivable financing, otherwise known as factoring.

One of the most important things you can do for business financing is to ensure that the type of financing you source matches your needs. What we mean by that is that you should match short term needs with short term financing. Factoring might be a good example. If your receivables aren’t financed, and you need cash to meet inventory and supplier commitments that type of financing is immediate and addresses your needs. Why would you enter into a five year term loan at fixed payments for a short term capital need or requirement?

The best way to think of short term financing is to focus on the current assets part of your balance sheet – those items include inventory and accounts receivable typically. Those assets can quickly be monetized into a working capital facility that comes in a variety methods. The reality is that your inventory and accounts receivable grow lock step to your sales and your ability to finance them on an ongoing basis will give you access to, in essence, unlimited working capital.

There are some solid technical rules of them around how you can generate positive pricing for operating facilities. By calculating and analyzing some basic financial ratios (we call them relationships) in your financial statements you can get a strong sense of whats available in working capital business financing and what pricing might be involved. Those ratios are your current ratio, your inventory turns, your receivables turns or days sales outstanding, a, and your overall debt to worth ratio. Depending on where those final ratio calculations come in will ultimately allow your working capital financier to put your firm in a low risk, medium risk, or high risk band of pricing?

In Canada working capital rates range from 8-9% per annum to 1-2% per month, depending on what assets are financed and how they are financed.

So whats our bottom line in working capital business financing? It is simply there are alternatives available and you as a business owner of financial manager can assess those alternatives in terms of short term needs or long term needs. Pricing and solutions vary, and your ability to convey the positive aspects of your business to the working capital lender will ultimately lead to a final pricing and solution. Speak to a credible, experienced and trusted working capital business financing advisor to determine what solutions are the best for your firm.

Planning to get into the finance industry? Well there is a lot you will want to know about the much hyped industry before you actually join in. It is indeed one of the most popular career choices today and finance careers are indeed looked upon as golden careers. Finance jobs today pay the best salaries in the job industry and you should stop worrying about the recession coz it is almost over. The finance industry has almost completely recovered from the recession and is back to making a steady progress. Fresh investment is flowing in and finance seems to be thriving like the good old times.

There are many avenues to finance jobs today. Government finance jobs promise you job security and are still a popular preference for many. In fact there are many government institutions which have a good intake for finance jobs. Except for government banks and financial institutions almost every government office does need a finance department.

Now if you are really ambitious and have huge set goals for the future the private sector is where you must concentrate. It’s not that one cannot develop in a government organization but there are many limitations to this growth which are absent in the private sector. There is a huge requirement for corporate finance jobs owing to the big scale corporatization of the business industry. Be it multinational companies or small local companies almost every organization is heading towards corporatization which again is a great advantage for finance aspirants.

Now how to begin a career in finance? The first thing you need is a strong educational background. Make sure you do your academics well and score the best of grades coz these are the only things which will help you in the initial years in finance. You firstly need to graduate from a reputed college for which you will need excellent high school grades. If you are still in high school this is the right time. Start getting serious about your education today itself.

After this you will need to get into one of the best finance internships available. Internships are one of the best ways to learn more about the finance industry. On the job training at an internship will groom the finance professional in you. You will also get a chance to interact with some of the big guns in the finance industry this way. It helps with developing a network in your industry which is very essential to grow high. This network not only helps you with job opportunities in finance but also ensures that your work moves on smoothly no matter where you are.

After the internship you should get into an entry level finance job. It is very essential that you give your 100% in these jobs as the competition is humongous and to leave an impression you have to prove your worth. Do not dream of reaching the skies in a day rather work to achieve your ambitions in a slow and steady way.

If you’ve never written a song before, or if you are struggling with a case of ‘songwriter’s block’, it can be difficult to make progress.

For a song to be a hit, it has to be unique, yet catchy enough to be memorable. This may pose a challenge when trying to come up with a riff that hasn’t been used before.

To remedy this, some songs use samples of older tracks, which allows them to cash in on an existing hit with established memories and connections. For example, Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust was sampled on Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani, which was in turn sampled by Dua Lipa on her hit Hallucinate.

For greater originality, you can come up with your own musical riffs from your own inspiration, or by adapting riffs from other songs that you like.

Now you know from where to mine your melodies, let’s take a look at how to turn the raw materials into chart hits.

Find Your Process
Some artists prefer to write their lyrics first then fit the melody around the words. Others prefer to write the melody first and choose lyrics that fit with the tune and beat. If you’ve written songs before, you may already have a good idea of which process works best for you.

If you’re new to songwriting, consider your natural abilities and talents. What aspect of it do you find most natural?

If you’re inclined towards music, and can easily visualise the atmosphere you want to create, you may prefer to write your music first. But if you’re more of a wordsmith, it may feel easiest to write your lyrics first and then fit the melody around them.

Get Inspired
There are many ways that artists get inspired to write their songs. Consider what interests you, and the things you are passionate about.

If you feel inspired by nature, for example, try taking a walk. The pace of your feet will set a steady 2/4 rhythm, which it is easy to construct a melody around.

Look for shapes, textures, and colours around you and describe what you see in prose. Then, consider how you would change the format and add elements of repetition, such as a chorus, to translate it to song format. Or if nature isn’t your thing, try reading some poetry, or even experimenting with visual cues such as fridge magnets.

If you prefer to work melody-first, listen to some other artists you find inspiring, or take cues from your environment.

Are there any sounds you would like to replicate? Perhaps you like the sound of the birds, or hear the sound of a vehicle or other common objects that might integrate well.

Some of Pink Floyd’s greatest hits feature noises like animal sounds, clocks, and cash registers. What gets your imagination going?

Remember to write down inspiration as it strikes you. Many sources of creativity can be found in day-to-day life, and can be easily forgotten if you put them off until later. Try carrying a small writer’s notebook in your pocket or bag, and see what comes to you.

Get Jamming!
Some of the best sources of inspiration come from collaborating with other artists, and coming up with musical themes on the spur of the moment. A lot of the best original jazz was composed on the spot as a result of the creative fusion between a group of artists.

Collaboration allows you to draw on the experience of other musicians, and you may well find that the process flows more easily by just going where the mood takes you.

Find Your ‘Hook’
Your song’s ‘hook’ is the part of the melody which grabs your listener’s attention and stays with them. It should be catchy, memorable, and ideally involve an element of repetition, which makes it accessible to a new audience.

Your hook can be the chorus, but it can also be a repeating riff, or even the intro/outro of the song. Once you’ve got your riff, you can build the rest of your track around it.

You may prefer to come up with the main melody later, and work from the beginning of the song to the end, or even work from the end to the beginning.

This is very much a case of ‘do what works for you’. But however you decide to do it, remember to identify which part of your song you want to be the most impactful, and place emphasis on that chorus, riff, or verse.

Work On Your Lyrics
Once you’ve found your musical ‘hook’, you can fit your lyrics around it. If you have a riff or chorus, remember to use repetition here for impact and to make it easily accessible to new listeners. Your lyrics and melody should both be original and memorable to keep your song from getting confused with others in the same genre.

Make sure you go into songwriting with a clear image of what you want to write about. If it helps you find your flow, you can try writing out your story first, and then play with the words, structure, and tempo until you discover a catchy melody.

Use Your Lived Experience
The most effective songs have a strong emotional component that listeners can relate to. This ‘relatable’ factor can be sourced from personal

experiences that are common to a lot of people, which is why songs about romantic relationships (and breakups) are often popular.

Listen to a few of your favourite songs – can you identify any common themes? How do these themes relate to your life, and how can you use your experiences to engage with your audience on an emotional level?

Don’t Complicate Matters
Always remember that for your song to be a hit with new listeners it has to be memorable. For most people, this means that new songs should be fairly simple, with repeated riffs, choruses, and uncomplicated lyrics.

As a general rule, it also means that your song should not be too long. Songs are becoming shorter overall, as they are more suitable for a mass market, are more easily remembered, and prevent listeners from becoming bored or disengaged.

When determining the length and structure of your song, keep your audience in mind, and consider their tastes and attention span. If you are writing a pop song, for example, your song should ideally be no more than 4 minutes.

If you are writing a classic rock-style hit, you may find that your audience is more familiar with longer tracks, so you can afford to add a couple more verses.

This also goes for the styling and genre: for example, if you are writing a punk hit, it’s unlikely that your audience will want to listen to a long classical bridge.

Take A Break And Come Back
If you spend too long staring at a single page, you may find that you end up overcomplicating your song, and your creative process may begin to stagnate.

Coming back to your track with a fresh pair of eyes can put a whole new perspective on your songwriting.

Take a break to do something that inspires you: go outside, listen to some other music, or take on some other creative work such as painting. This will help to keep your mind focused, while doing something different to mix things up.

Stop Adding!
Once you’ve reached a point where you’ve created a track that is memorable, catchy, and original, stop adding to it. Overcomplicating your track with too many additional elements can take away from its effectiveness, and make it harder for your listeners to remember.

If you’re still not sure about your new creation, take a break and come back to it. You may find that it is more effective than you think it is in the moment.

Get Feedback
Getting feedback from other musicians or listeners can give you a great insight into the impact of your work on a new audience. Don’t take feedback personally – it’s all part of the process, and it allows you to get a new look on your piece.

Make sure you pick somebody whose opinion you trust – it doesn’t have to be a professional musician, just someone whose input you may find helpful. Alternatively, simply choose a listener who aligns with your target audience and has experience with your genre.

The feedback process also gives you one last chance to listen again to your creation. Are there any final changes you would make? And does your listener agree with your choices?

By following these steps and getting the constructive feedback you need, maybe you can write the next chart-topping classic!