4 Scenarios When It Makes Good Sense to Take on Business Debt Debt is often necessary to grow.
By Mike Kappel Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You need to invest money into your business to make it grow. You need money to expand your workspace, buy more materials or equipment and to market your business.
Without an infusion of money, your business will remain stagnate. You might be able to grow a little bit, but you'll never get big results.
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If your business doesn't bring in a large revenue that can be funneled back into the business, you'll likely need some type of loan. The loan will give you a financial boost, and you can pay off the loan with increased revenue from business growth.
You shouldn't automatically think of debt as a bad thing. Debt is often necessary to grow. But, there are good times and bad times to take on debt.
Here are four times taking on debt is beneficial to business growth.
1. You want to provide more products.
If you want to offer new products or carry more inventory of current products, you need money to buy them. Getting a small business loan can give you enough money to provide more products.
When you carry more inventory, you need space to store and display it. You might use a storage unit, buy a second location, move to a larger location or maybe even add on. Small business debt can help you purchase more space.
Related: 5 Ways to Grow and Build Trust
2. You want to increase your marketing efforts.
You will only get more customers by getting the word out about your business. That's why you need small business marketing.
Marketing doesn't have to be expensive. You might create something as simple as flyers or do basic social media marketing. But, to reach more people, you might need more elaborate marketing tactics. You can invest in magazine ads, radio ads, billboards, pay-per-click ads and more. To achieve marketing success, you might need to consider taking out a small business loan. The extra cash will let you market your business well. You can pay off the loan with the increased revenue from the influx of new customers.
3. You want to build your credit score.
You need good credit to get a loan. Plus, good credit can get you better payment terms with your vendors. But to get good credit, you need experience with taking on and paying off debt.
Taking out small loans can improve your business credit score. Small loans show that you are responsible and capable of handling debt. And when you make payments on time, your credit score increases.
Once you build up your credit and prove to lenders that you can handle debt, they will be more willing to give you larger loans. And, your score and timeliness might result in better loan terms, such as lower interest rates.
Related: There's a Real Difference Between a Personal and Business Credit Card
4. You want to hire employees.
At some point, you might spend so much time on your business that it consumes your life. You might miss out on time with your family and friends. Or, you might have so much business stuff to do that you can't get everything done.
Hiring an employee can help you grow your business. You can get more done and produce better quality work. You can hire employees who have special skills that will benefit your business.
Spending money on an employee is worth it if having that employee can help you earn more money. If this is the case, you might take out a loan to help prepare for the employee, cover recruiting fees, and pay for wages until your business begins earning more. When figuring out how big of a loan to take out, make sure you consider the true cost of hiring an employee.
