Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “34% of businesses were no longer in existence two years after their birth and more than half were gone within four years.” To what do most business owners attribute their “failure” to? Lack of capital. Solving the Capital Equation: Financing Solutions for Small Businesses provides the small business owner and those working with them with financing knowledge.

This book is targets small business owners whose companies generate revenues of $300,000 to $20 million. It discusses how to access capital for growth – hiring management, paying for marketing and advertising, purchasing equipment, etc. If you are considering starting a business or buying into a franchise, you too can benefit from understanding what options exist to grow a business. In addition, some of the sources referenced in the book can work well as sources of start-up capital. Finally, the book presents a number of financing options for those who are considering acquiring an existing business.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Solving the Capital Equation is unique. Lots of small business financing books write about bank financings and how to pursue it, and other fairly apparent finance sources. Solving the Capital Equation describes options in details. For example, in the book’s discussion of banks, it covers them all - from large central banks to regional to local to minority-owned - and when it makes more sense to choose one over the other. The book covers everything from factoring and equipment loans to going public via hedge funds.

Solving the Capital Equation’s real-life examples and easy-to-follow case studies take you through the process and provide step-by-step alternatives for financing your business. It provides actionable and practical advice for solving your financing issues and a roadmap through the potentially confusing process for securing capital for any company.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have served as a business advisor to small to medium businesses with revenues of $500,000 to $80 Million and now provide interim management services to this same group. I have acquisition experience – I purchased one company, am pursuing other acquisitions, and advise on acquisitions. Over the last four years I have helped companies obtain over $20 Million in financing and over $31 Million in contracts and purchase orders. I also have an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In prior positions I evaluated and valued small companies and led investments in or purchases of small companies.

But the main reason I believe I am the best person to write this book is because I kept getting the same questions as well as seeing companies make the same mistakes over and over again, simply because they were not aware of all their alternatives. So I wrote the book.

The idea to write the book took seed when I created a Financial Roundtable Forum hosting expert speakers on a monthly basis to discuss the ins-and-outs of financing options. Once a year we produced multi-person debt panels and equity panels where experts fielded questions from the audience. I also spoke at a number of small business-related association meetings and conferences. Once again, I kept answering the same questions providing illustrations and examples to help elucidate the issues and alternatives to clients and audience members. I started writing down these answers, which evolved into writing Solving the Capital Equation: Financing Solutions for Small Businesses.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Solving the Capital Equation: Financing Solutions for Small Businesses sets itself apart by presenting case studies to illustrate common problems and solutions to those problems. There are over 25 case studies of different types of companies – service, manufacturing, distribution – in various stages of maturity and growth. Another way the book distinguishes itself is by presenting various scenarios of when to use each financing option. In addition, a portion of the book is devoted to listing a variety of options to consider as the business matures and grows, given the type of business.

There are many books on the market that talk about approaching banks, pursuing grants, or using private placements to raise money. These all walk through the how-to but none address the when or why nor do they provide examples. Most business owners have not been in school for some time yet the finance books use a more academic approach. Those who are out there living what’s in books do best when presented with knowledge formatted in the way they live and learn. That’s what this book provides.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Solving the Capital Equation assists company leaders in finding answers to whom, what, when and how to finance their small- to medium-sized businesses. Straightforward and simple to understand, the book guides readers through complex issues in an intelligent and useful manner.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: The Lifestyle Financed: You are enjoying a lifestyle that is financed through debt, and you aren’t sure how you will ever live without credit.

The Career Trapped: You have a job and income, but would do something else if you thought you could afford to.

The Starting Out: You are just starting on your financial journey and want to get off on the right track

The Worried Wealthy: You are managing your assets, but don’t enjoy your wealth because you worry about losing your money.

Enlightened Wealth has been especially popular with women age 40 - 65, who have some money and want a better understanding about how money interacts with their life goals. They are looking for lifetime financial security.

Q: What is this book about?
A: If it’s personal financial independence you’re looking for, Enlightened Wealth is where you start and where you return to throughout the wealth creation and management process. Change is uncomfortable - even if it’s for the better. In Enlightened Wealth, you will have a place to get clear on what’s really important to you and where you really want to go. The “Daily Review” section of the book is designed to help you see what’s happening to inspire you throughout the day, supporting your vision or things that could be improved. Its a tool to help you become accountable to your goals and to develop greater clarity about your true priorities.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?

A: I’m a Certified Financial Planner(R) professional with expertise in insurance, banking and investments. My career has spanned over 16 years in the financial industry. While working as a successful broker for one of Canada’s largest investment firms, I realized that the charts, graphs and rates of return weren’t helping my clients win in all areas of their financial lives. So I developed some day-to-day financial tools and processes to help explain financial success planning and coaching concepts to people who don’t want to become “money experts.”

My perspective also comes from both personal financial success as well as financial loss and the frustrations of starting over. A government tax audit forced my family into bankruptcy - it was applying the principles of MoneyMinding that brought us back from the brink. I’m proof that succeeding financially is not about sacrifice; it is about individual strategies based on universal facts about finance, success, and you!

Q: How is this book different from other books on the same topic?
A: This is a book about personal finances, but it also incorporates the success teachings that conventional financial planners miss. Instead of saying “save money and cut back”, Enlightened Wealth encourages you to Believe, Begin and Become - by determining your life goals and your “ideal budget”, then working out how to provide the ongoing income to meet those goals. Where other financial planners say “contract”, Enlightened Wealth encourages you to expand your possibilities, your imagination, and your chances for success - and gives you practical tools to do it.

Q: Is there anything else to know about this book?
A: Enlightened Wealth is currently available in two formats - a concise 80-page manual to use with your own journal, and a year-long journal where you can write your daily thoughts and progress.