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Financial planning for quickly as possible.

Debt needs to be attacked and refinanced ASAP
SMBs looks radically It’s hard to imagine that there are even a handful of

different now businesses (especially small businesses) in the United
States that didn’t have to lean on loans and financing in
the last two years to keep their business up and running.

Unfortunately, a lot of debt that was accrued was
particularly expensive—with sky-high interest rates
putting a huge dent in small business finances in both the
short and long-term. Reducing the amount of money spent
on interest and paying down on the principal at every
opportunity gives small businesses a lot more freedom
and a lot more flexibility.
You may not ever reach "debt zero" with your small
business—and it may not even be advantageous to try—
but you do want to come up with a plan to get rid of as
much expensive debt as possible.
Bootstrapping is back on the menu

If there is a silver lining for the last two years of mayhem
that hit the business world, it has to be this: Almost
By Chad Otar everyone learned how to succeed with far fewer resources
Lending Valley Inc than ever before, literally bootstrapping to build, grow
and succeed during some of the most trying times in
business history.
very single business—regardless of industry—
will have to tackle financial planning differently
going forward than they did before. Sure, some Businesses that worked hard to survive the pandemic
E bedrock principles of financial planning for now have a better idea of how to sustain and grow their
small business will remain unchanged. And your goals operations without having to throw mountains of money
into the mix. Getting lean, cutting fat, and maximizing
(as well as your results) are going to dictate a lot of your
decisions moving forward. profits at the same time will be a big part of financial
planning for 2022 and beyond.
At the same time, though, the last two years have radically Small businesses are planning for
changed so much in the business world that it would be every conceivable black swan event
impossible (and irresponsible) to ignore these seismic
changes when planning for your next year of operation. Truth be told, because of the ridiculously fast pace of
In this article, I'll run through some of the most important our modern world, lots of small business owners and
things to focus on when planning the financial future of entrepreneurs got suckered into the belief that long-term
your business. planning was obsolete.
Building an emergency fund is We have all collectively learned a hugely valuable lesson
mission priority number one with the pandemic, recognizing that while businesses
have to remain flexible to adapt and adjust on the fly in
According to information released by the Federal Reserve today’s lightning quick business environment, they also
in the 2020 Small Business Credit Survey, nearly 70 percent need to prepare for black swan events (unpredictable,
of small businesses have faced cash flow challenges catastrophic events) in the long term, too.
within the last 12 months. Cash and capital crunches
kill businesses all the time. In fact, it’s one of the biggest Start thinking about how to work on your business and
reasons that small businesses shutter their doors forever.
not just in your business. Create an operation that is as
resilient as possible. If you plan for black swan events
In 2022 and beyond, it is critically important to financially that may happen in the future, you’ll be ready to confront
plan for an “emergency fund” that can sustain your those problems head-on should they come to pass.
business for anywhere between three and six months—
and ideally even longer than that. Obviously, most Expect major investments in
businesses won't be able to build this reserve overnight. pandemic-era business models
But there has to be a goal to achieve these reserves, and
there have to be action plans put into place to get there as Starting in 2020, the pandemic and related measures to

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