Owning or starting a small business today can be very difficult. Existing businesses have many financial sustainability problems because of the current world financial crisis. It is becoming more and more difficult to afford staff wages, afford any type of advertising, keeping up with the demand of equipment and sometimes to find enough work to keep your income healthy. For new businesses, it can be an exciting time with people realising their dream to own their own business, have staff and provide a good quality business for their customers. This can however quickly turn to despair when you realise the difficulties you face now and in the future, when it comes to becoming and remaining financially viable.
When we talk about owning, starting or operating a small business it is sometimes thought of as easy. For those of us who have no experience at all in family businesses and how they operate, everything can look good on the outside. Particularly being involved in a small family business can be extremely tough for the family to agree who is in charge and what decisions will be made. This is on top made even harder by today’s financial climate. The economic state that we live in affects all types of business, not only family ones. When we talk about running or starting a small business, equipment is a major part of what we need.
Depending on what a small business is involved in, the type of equipment it needs to function properly normally varies greatly. There are your average run-of-the mill office businesses that need computers, office furniture, shelving, software and printers, scanners and other hardware to function. Other businesses such as dry cleaners need washing machines, dryers, cleaning products and other furniture. Owning and running a motel, restaurant, pub or service-station are other common small businesses. These need furniture, cooking and drink making equipment, cutlery and shelving. People or businesses generally can’t afford to buy all of this equipment and for this reason is the idea of leasing equipment developed.
Some advantages of equipment leasing are convenience, flexible financing terms, cancellation options, tax benefits, maintenance and speed. Leasing is particularly convenient and flexible because you can agree to a contract which allows you to have what equipment when you want it and for however long you need it. Tax benefits are always present when leasing equipment because of the lease payments being generally tax-exempt. When you want to lease equipment you can normally agree to terms within a week which is extremely advantageous instead of trying to organise a line of credit from a bank.
An equipment leasing contract might be made up of many different elements. These elements can include duration of the lease, lessee renewal options, tax responsibility and miscellaneous options.
Once there is an agreement between the two parties involved with the leasing contract, the equipment can be delivered quickly and efficiently. When a leasing contract is made, it generally should include the affects of what could happen in many circumstances. For people looking to be financially clever, leasing is definitely a good option for small businesses out there.