There’s no doubt that it’s been a difficult few years, with pandemics, conflicts and the cost of living crisis all contributing to unease and uncertainty. Whether your business has been directly affected or not, you might have put off raising finance or had ambitions dashed by unpredictable circumstances. Caution is wise, but that doesn’t mean you should abandon all your growth plans until things settle down.
There are still plenty of good reasons to source business funding in 2023.
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1. Things are looking up(ish)
Contrary to predictions, the UK benefited from a World Cup boost to GDP in November, which may have helped to narrowly avoid a recession. Okay, so that growth might have only been 0.1 per cent, but it shows that there’s always scope for optimism.
On top of that, after a period of high inactivity, PWC predicts that 300,000 UK workers could rejoin the labour market in 2023, giving you the opportunity to invest in key talent and plug skills gaps in your business.
2. There have never been more funding options
Crowdfunding, credit cards, invoice finance, government grants – there have never been more ways to access finance and there’s something out there to suit every type and size of business. In fact, alternative finance options are seeing growth even as other funding sources dry up.
According to UK Finance’s Business Finance Review of Q3 2022, levels of invoice finance and asset-based lending surpassed those reported in Q1 2020 following nine quarters of consecutive growth. And businesses that use these types of alternative finance have seen a 14 per cent increase in sales compared to the first three quarters of 2021.
3. There’s no time like the present
If you have big ambitions but you’re waiting for things to calm down, you could be waiting a long time. We have a tendency to assume there will come a perfect time to put our plans into action, but the truth is that those perfect moments rarely, if ever, come about.
That’s not to say we’re not going through an especially challenging period, but if you have access to finance and growth plans to action, why not just go for it? You might need to adjust your expectations or reign things in, but maybe, just maybe, the right time is now.
And having seen how global events can have big consequences for small businesses, you could use this knowledge to invest in strategies that make your business more resilient to future challenges, whether that’s bringing your supply chains closer to home or investing in the latest technology to drive efficiency and get ahead of the competition.
4. You can power change
Instead of being at the mercy of uncertainty, why not use your entrepreneurial skills to change things for the better?
Whether you make amazing coffee or help people find better deals, transform lives or just make someone’s life a little bit easier with a nifty solution, your business has the power to help others cope with challenging times. Raising finance can help to grow your business and reach even more people.
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