Entrepreneur's Journal: Alternative financing in a tough economy

John Hayes is one of the pioneers of the PC Revolution, having co-founded Peachtree Software and Health Network / GeoMedica. Now, he is back with yet another company, FTRANS. Essentially, the company provides outsourcing services for account receivables (A/R).

John has also been busy writing, and has a new book called Use the Credit Crisis to Grow Your B2B Business.

Yes, the timing seems to be pretty good. But, more importantly, the book is filled with useful advice for business owners.

For example, John takes a look at some alternative financing approaches. They include the following:

Longer Payment Terms: Go to your vendors and try to work out longer payment terms. This can be an easy way to boost cash flows.

Outsource A/R: There are some things that need expertise. After all, does it really make sense to handle your own payroll? The same goes for A/R. So, you can check out FTRANS to see how you can outsource this function, which should result in lower costs and improved cash flows.

Factoring: Essentially, you can get early payments on you're A/R using a process called factoring. True, this can be expensive. Then again, it can be a way to help smooth out the volatility in revenues. You can check out this article for more information on factoring.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.