Sophia Rowe asked:


You aren’t the only one with circles under your eyes, staying up nights worrying about how the economy is endangering your lifestyle and standard of living.

Millions of North Americans are wondering just how they will meet life’s goals — like owning a nice home, sending their kids to college, or even affording retirement. Some are even losing sleep over it, as well they should.

You probably know people — maybe even yourself — who have seen their retirement savings drop out of site in the volatile stock market. Or maybe the business you’ve spent much of your life building is suddenly struggling just to stay open.

Or maybe you’re wanting to start your own business and KNOW you have a winning idea, but you don’t have the cash to begin and no one wants to loan you the money.

Fear not! The Cash Flow Industry is coming to the rescue. Financial professionals like myself broker notes. That means we buy financial notes you hold and give you a lump sum of CASH.

For example, when you sold your home, you financed the loan for the buyer. Now the buyer is making payments to you. But frankly you would love to have ALL your money RIGHT NOW — and not have to wait 10, 20, or 30 years to get it all.

Another common scenario is your spouse was in a bad traffic accident. The good news it wasn’t your fault. The court ordered the other person to pay for your wrecked car and medical costs. Typically that money is spread out over years in monthly payments.

Our firm steps in, buys the note from you, and gives YOU all your money in one BIG lump sun. That’s cash you can use NOW to buy a new car and pay off medical bills. Suddenly, cash flow is no longer a problem.

As banks have walked away from the credit market, making loans harder and harder to get, a rapidly growing number of individuals and businesses are turning to the Cash Flow Industry for the money they need so badly.

Just to give you an idea of the possibilities, I often purchase mortgage notes, owner-financed mortgages, commercial notes, structured settlements, lottery payments, annuities, and court settlements.

These are frequently very valuable assets you posses that simply aren’t bringing you much money RIGHT NOW when you need it most. Rather than having to see your money trickle in over a long period of time, you get your lump cash payment all at once — right now!

Rather than wait for your business to falter, or your child to have to put off college, or delay retirement for another 5 years, you can have the money you need immediately.

Many of the businesses and individuals I talk to say having their money NOW is far more valuable than sitting on an asset that yields income only very slow.

For many, these are troubling times when a good dose of cash flow NOW can not only ensure survival, but enable your goals and dreams to become reality.

Russell Dalbey asked:


If you want to successfully work in the cash flow business, you are going to have to effectively prepare yourself otherwise you could see your business struggle or even fail. You will need to prepare for success or you may find your business stagnating. Here are eight tips for finding success in the cash flow business.

Build a knowledge base

The first thing you will want to do before starting in the note business is to gain a basic knowledge of the cash flow industry. Learn your craft and build a foundation from which you will work from.

Find a coach

Perhaps the most important step to find success is to find a great coach. If you don’t have someone to guide and advise you, you will be forced to survive by trial and error alone. There is no need to reinvent the wheel – you are better listening to someone who has been through the battles and has a wealth of knowledge from which you can learn.

Balance your budget and your time

Many small businesses struggle and never grow, and one of the primary reasons for this is a lack of planning. A successful cash flow business should have a budget that is adhered to, and a plan of action that takes both time and monetary constraints into account.

Market your business

Successfully working with cash flows is more than just knowing the business – it is about getting out and marketing your business. There are many ways to market, but not doing so will almost certainly lead to failure. Learn ways to market, and then implement them!

Implement your plan

Creating the greatest marketing plan in the world is useless if you do not also implement that plan and put the wheels in motion. Many new business owners enjoy the planning stage more than following through with those plans. Planning can be fun. Actually doing things equates to work that you may not like, but you need to not only do, but do it well and with enthusiasm.

Maintain consistency and repetition

Putting the plan into action is critical, but sustained success will only come with consistency and repetition. If you do not look to build upon your past endeavors and continue to reinvest time into marketing, you will see your new opportunities fading. Obviously you need to always create more opportunities, not lessen them!

Review and adjust

Don’t be satisfied simply marketing and continuing the same patterns as an automaton. Review your efforts. What works, and what doesn’t? What can you improve upon, what can you do to maximize your efforts? It is just as important to constantly adjust your efforts as it is to get started in the first place.

Improvise and adapt

The cash flow industry is not a static thing, and you will need to be prepared to take advantage of any changes that occur in the marketplace. There will always be opportunity– the question is how do you find it? First, never stop learning! Never stop adjusting your business to the changing innovations in the industry and in marketing your business. The most successful cash flow professionals know that what they don’t know could be just as critical as that which they do know. Therefore, it is important to listen to new information, new knowledge and new potential opportunities.

Russell Dalbey asked:


If you have opened a newspaper or turned on the news in the last year or two, you may very well have noticed that there is a level of financial uncertainty relative to the mortgage industry. Many enterprising individuals remember that historically every downturn in the economy leads to an upturn and that the change in general financial climate can lead entrepreneurs to new economic opportunities. Market changes provide entrepreneurial opportunity, be it in a bear or a bull market, a strengthening or weakening national economy. Being entrepreneurial yourself, you may very well be looking at the mortgage industry and trying to discern if there is a chance you can find some way to leverage your skills and ability to generate new revenue streams.

Does this sound like you? If so, you may want to look at a unique niche of the mortgage industry by working with privately held cash flows. What’s a privately held cash flow? In a nutshell, most homes are bought using borrowed money from banks and other financial institutions. This is not the only place financing can be found, however. Often, private individuals will actually carry the financing of the sale. In this scenario the home buyer then makes scheduled payments to this private party instead of to the bank.

The private note holder then holds “paper” which is secured by the property purchased. Once the agreed upon terms have been met, that “paper holder” relinquishes all rights to the property and the buyer of the home will own the home free and clear. The system can work well for everyone involved. The buyer of the house may get into a home they would not have qualified for under bank requirements due to poor credit or some other reason. The person financing the home will receive payments over a period of time that could equal out to a much higher dollar amount than would have been possible when receiving the sales price value all up front.

This particular private financing is becoming more common as financial institutions tighten lending requirements while recovering from the current sub-prime debacle. How can you get involved? If you have very deep pockets, you may become interested in purchasing the right to hold the financing. While banks often bundle portfolios of mortgages together and sell them to other banks, similar things occur on a daily basis in private financing as well. Note holders may sell their notes for the same reasons banks do, to generate liquid for reinvestment

Purchasing liens secured by property can be a costly enterprise, but even people with shallow pockets can find potential gain in the private cash flow industry. There are note holders that may want or need to sell their notes, and there are potential investors looking for an opportunity. How to bridge the distances and understanding between the parties? A unique group of people who call themselves “note finders.” Note finders find, inform and potentially bring together note holders and note buyers, and receive a fee for their service. The finder helps the holder get liquid capital today, while helping the buyer to invest where the buyer sees benefit. A note finder helps people and gets paid for it, while performing in a unique and lucrative niche in the mortgage industry. Not a bad place to find gain in an economy that is suffering over all!

Terry H. Hill asked:


If, as many experts agree, that the golden rule of business is “cash is king,” then happiness in business is a positive cash flow. Cash flow is the movement of money in and out of your business over a defined period of time (weekly, monthly, or quarterly). If cash coming into your business exceeds the cash going out of your business, your company has a positive cash flow. However, if your cash outflow exceeds the cash inflow, then your company has a negative cash flow. To create a positive cash flow, generate more cash and collect the cash in a more timely manner and at the same time, maintain or reduce your expenses.

Positive cash flow does not happen by accident; it happens because a well-defined financial management technique called “cash management” is functioning. A good cash management system helps to efficiently and effectively manage the activities that produce cash. Maintaining an optimal level of cash that is neither excessive, nor deficient is of the upmost importance. Accelerating cash inflows wherever possible is a mandatory practice. Two activities that accelerate cash inflows include invoicing customers as quickly as possible and collecting cash on past due accounts. Delaying cash outflows until they come due is a critical step in good cash conservation. Negotiating extended payment terms with suppliers also delays cash outflows. In addition, investing surplus cash to earn the highest rate of return is a good business practice.

In order to understand the magnitude and timing of cash flows, plotting cash movement, with the use of cash flow forecasts, is critical. A cash flow forecast provides you with a clearer picture of your cash sources and their expected date of arrival. Identifying these two factors will help you to determine “what” you will spend the cash on, and “when” you will need to spend it.

Your financial reporting documents should include an Income Statement, a Balance Sheet and a Statement of Cash Flows. Your “cash flow forecast” reflects the same three types of cash flow activities that appear in your Statement of Cash Flows. The three types of cash flow activities are:

• Cash Flows from Operating Activities: This is the cash flow that is generated which is the direct result of the sales of your product/services.

• Cash Flows from Investing Activities: This is the cash flow that is generated from non-operating activities, such as, investments in plant and equipment or other fixed assets.

• Cash Flows from Financing Activities: This is the cash flow that is generated from external sources— lenders and investors.



These three types of cash flow activities are interrelated. They depend on, and affect each other. The cash flow forecast should take this into account, and provide a complete picture of where cash will come from and how it will be used for the period being forecasted. The relationships between the different cash flow activities may depend on the nature of your business, the stage of development of your business, as well as, general economic conditions, or conditions within the market or industry in which your business operates.

Cash outflows and inflows seldom occur together. In most cases, cash inflows seem to lag behind cash outflows, leaving your business short on cash. This shortfall is your “cash flow gap.” The cash flow gap is the period (number of days) between your business payment of cash for goods and services purchased, and the receipt of cash from your customers for goods or services sold. In other words, inventory days on hand + receivables collection period – accounts payable period = the cash flow gap. This interval, the cash flow gap, must be financed. Keep in mind the fact, that for each day your cash flow gap is extended, so too is the amount of interest being accrued. Even when interest rates are low, the cost of financing can add up quickly.

Here are three ways your company can narrow its cash flow gap:

1. Stretch out your payment terms on purchases for inventory. In most industries, payment terms are largely determined by tradition and vary from industry to industry.

2. Shorten the collection period. The faster your company can collect money for products and/or services sold, the smaller its cash flow gap will be.

3. Increase inventory turnover. The faster your company moves inventory, the less cash it needs. The key to managing inventory successfully is to continuously monitor your daily sales activity to your inventory on-hand.

Profit growth does not necessarily mean more cash on hand. Profit (or net income) is the difference between your company’s total revenue and its total expenses. It measures how efficiently your business is operating. Cash flow measures your company’s liquidity (the ability to pay bills and other financial obligations on time). You cannot spend profit; you can only spend cash to pay suppliers, employees, the gov¬ernment, and lenders.



Many small business owners have discovered that profitability does not guarantee liquidity. Over time, your company’s profits are of little value if they are not accompanied by a positive net cash flow. To create a positive net cash flow, generate more cash and collect the cash in a more timely manner and at the same time, maintain or reduce your expenses. The four ways that can help your company to generate more cash, are:

1. Increase sales by attracting new customers. Your business cannot sustain itself without the addition of new customers. New customer acquisition is a process that combines market data with direct marketing tools to identify and reach high-potential prospects and convert those prospects into customers.

2. Increase sales by selling additional product/services to existing customers. It is far less expensive to generate additional business from your existing customer base than it is to generate new business from new customers. A regular review of your customers’ buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers’ buying habits.

3. Generate more cash from each dollar of sales. More cash is generated because of increased profit margins made possible by increasing selling prices and reducing costs of goods sold.

4. Reduce overhead. Overhead costs generally include facilities, equipment, administrative and management personnel. The key is to produce a larger volume of business at a lower cost.

Ideally, during your business cycle, money flowing into your business should be greater than money flowing out of it. The buildup of a surplus cash balance is important because it enables you to plug cash flow gaps when necessary, to pursue expansion initiatives, and to reassure lenders and investors that your business is in good financial health.

Copyright © 2008 Terry H. Hill

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Russell Dalbey asked:


Many who consider becoming involved in the cash flow industry as private note finders have no concrete understanding of what a note is. Some simple education on the matter however, can help new note finders get started on the path to success in the note business.

When professionals in the cash flow business refer to a “note” they are not talking about love notes, music notes, or a “note to self.” In the language of the private cash flow business the word “note” is shorthand for promissory note. While it is easy to get tripped up in the various types of notes, this term refers to an official IOU; the right to collect payments based on terms outlined in the promissory note itself. In most cases a note is secured, meaning the borrower stands to lose something if they fail to make payments in accordance to the terms of the note. The security can be any form of property including cars, boats, planes, or real estate. While some venture into niche markets, the type of note most finders work with is the real estate note because they are well secured and it’s easy to find note holders and buyers.

A real estate note, commonly called a mortgage, trust deed or land contract, is simply a note that is secured by a home, vacant land, or other type of real estate property. These notes are very attractive for buyers and finders for numerous reasons, with one of the most prominent ones being the sheer volume created on a daily basis. Additionally, in most circumstances, real estate notes are more secure because real property tends to appreciate in value and is fixed in location, whereas many other types of property (like cars) tend to depreciate and can be easily moved. Buyers want to get the most bang for their buck which is why many of them choose to work with real estate notes. They know that should a borrower fail to make payments it would be more realistic for them to recuperate their invested funds by foreclosing on a single family home than on farm equipment. It’s also much more difficult for a borrower to hide a house than a tractor. Smart note finders know to look for what the buyers want – and real estate notes are often it.

Regardless of the specific area within the private cash flow business new note finders choose to explore, they must understand that many of the people who own notes and collect payments aren’t aware of what exactly it is they have or their right to sell those payments. The well informed note finder will be able to clearly address all of those questions and match that seller with an interested buyer for the incoming payments on their promissory note. Once a new note finder has the basic understanding of what a note is it is time to start developing the additional skills needed to start and maintain a successful note referral business. First up is learning how to use all of this new information to locate note holders and refer them to buyers interested in purchasing their monthly payments.