What's the best way to raise cash ASAP for a mainstream venture?
 

This snow on the East coast has opened an opportunity for my mainstream property services business but I am not sure I can swing it without some financial help in the beginning. I have been in touch with a contracting firm that is promising 24/7 work for the next 4 weeks on as many machines as I can get a hold of. With 10 machines I can gross roughly $160k a week.... more machines more money obviously.. I have in place the machines it is a matter of helping them to get to this area with fuel and transport costs and then they are cool with net 30 on the labor and the rest. I am in negotiations with the project manager for more money for a fleet as large as I can get AND maybe 7days net on the first payment then net30 after that on the rest. Work may surpass 4 weeks with more snow on the forecast and freezing temps making it much harder to remove the snow.


I think if I could acquire $20k-$50k cash up front to foot the rental fees of the machines, some of the fuel, food, housing and labor costs to keep the crews I have started to get in place happy then this could be a huge boost for my company.

Please contact me with any offers. I am willing to pay back a premium rate within net 90 at the VERY latest but I really hate to even borrow from anyone so you would be top of my list. I am not looking to borrow from a loan shark, if this doesn't yield any results I will have to go back to trying my bank. I would be willing to meet if you are local and also willing to sign a contract you will hopefully have. Money will only be required once everything is a go, I will not take any if things aren't falling into place exactly how I want as I am not a risk taker with mine and especially with anyone elses money. If FEMA kicks in soon with disaster relief money and this extends past the 3-5 week mark I would be very willing to pay back double the initial investment.

find a 50/50 partner for this venture, times have changed, real cash for ventures aint happening.

a silly person would say "ill be doing all the work all he does is give me money, im not giving him 50%", in these days that means you will have 0

even small amounts like 10k investments people cant get

good luck, i like seeing people make money

Very well said, and dead spot on. Bravo.
:thumbsup

Most people, with the cash, who contact you about any partnership or joint venture will not have the skills. So you are basically left with the decision.... do I want the money bad enough to do ALL of the work and give up 50% of the profits.

If you look for someone with the skill set you need. You often times find YOU need the cash, or I should say, YOU are the one who has to bring the cash to the table. They have the skills and no money. So again, you are at the crossroads. Skills and no cash, and giving them a percentage.

It is a really hard choice, but I can assure you it will be a learning experience.

Good luck.

You keep mentioning machines but not what kind of machines. I'm guessing some sort of snow plow?

Have you already spoken with your bank? It just seems to me that if you already have a successful business (with current capital for collateral) your bank may be willing to throw up some money in an arrangement to help you get more machines. Plus your bank will probably give you a better rate than some stranger would. And they can repo the machines a lot easier than some random guy halfway across the country if things go sour.

Good luck on seizing the opportunity. I would hit up your bank, friends, and family before someone you don't know on the Internet.

Was wondering if I was missing something.

The machines are skid loaders aka skid-steers, "bobcats" . I am not purchasing just leasing/renting short term. 10 machines would be 300k-600k brand new. I can rent them from a big box rental store from midwest around $1500 a month each. The good is they bill when you return they just need a card up front to pre-auth on. The bad they are 10-15 hours away and I will have to hire an interstate transporting semi at around 1800 each direction, five skids per trailer load btw.

Ah, so there is no purchase, just renting. Meaning no equipment to repo.

Seems very risky from a stranger's perspective. I agree with EscortBiz, you need a partner. You could offer me 25% and it would still be way too risky... unless you are putting up your house, haha.

Seriously that's what I would do. If it's a project you truly believe in, go to the bank and put up your house. If you have enough equity, that should cover you pretty easily.

Sly you are the man

I will wait until Monday when I have a concrete contract in my hands and go back to the bank and see what they can do. Thanks for the honesty and tips guys, I'm not in a position to put up a house. My mothers' boyfriend said I could use his credit card to pre-auth up to $20k I guess I'd rather do that and scrape by with every last penny I can scrounge up then to ask if he'd put up his house and land for another extra $10-$20k. I have only been down here near DC for 3 years now and am looking to buy within 6 months regardless of this deal.

If you owned all the equipment and this wasn't just a seasonal boom I would say http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/ as even if they laugh at you that publicity would increase your business, sounds like mom has a keeper as I don't know many you would offer 20k, good luck to you. :thumbsup

Yeah shark tank is my favorite show, won't really help me with such a short deadline though.. Would I have trouble getting a bank to give up 20-30k if I had two skids to put up as collateral? Value would be atleast 60k probably closer to 80-90k

just from a common sense standpoint it sounds like you are gambling on the weather. but i dont live where you live so i really don't know the ins and outs. i do hope you make some money and everything works out for you man.

It would be gambling on weather for future storms.. there is 4 feet in some cities and people haven't seen a plow in 6 days. If it snows again Tuesday and power goes out some people WILL die there is not major roads in these cities to get fire or EMS vehicles through. I hate for it to seem like taking advantage of the situation but it is exactly that. The company I would be sub contracting from has his their 2 million dollar cap on their contract in TWO DAYS. They are renegotiating to 10 million while they are waiting for FEMA to bail out the city then I am pretty certain their cap will hit hundreds of millions if not billions.

In a normal economy your odds are probably better as I assume banks have enough homes they foreclosed on these days they can't sell, they like collateral but honestly they don't want to repo stuff they would rather see you succeed as it's less headaches for them, I think it will fall on your business plan which you should write out and your past credit rating plus any collateral you can put up, I'm not a banker so I don't know the exact formula that makes them say good plan or this guy is crazy so I don't wanna guess at the outcome, get your plan on paper and sit down with them and see how it goes, a good business plan with collateral and if you can get a contract for the work you will probably have the best chance, depends on the bank as well as some may be willing to set their risk level higher than others which of course would give you higher interest rates as well, good luck. :thumbsup

too late now. get shit ready for next year. shovel ready companies already have the contracts.

sell something of value

I would not count on any number of work days if you are talking Snow.

I should clarify there is 4 feet on the ground right NOW not "maybe" or "could be"

Try http://uship.com for transporting the bobcats

you still looking for money? i can front you money but i need to know more, what are risks involved? are you guaranteed the money? let me know