May 2022

May 26, 2022February 15, 2023

5 Tips for Expanding Your Consulting Business

As a business consultant, you often have considerable freedom when it comes to many parts of your work. However, if it’s your first venture into consulting, it can be difficult to know when — and how — to begin scaling and expanding. Here are the most important things to keep in mind as you take your independent business to the next level.

How You Know You’re Ready to Grow

There are a couple of important questions to ask yourself before you take the leap and work toward ramping up your consulting business.

Do you have the bandwidth to handle an influx of clients?

Once you begin growing, more clients can start coming in fast. You’ll want to make sure that you’re prepared, both in terms of your time and resources, to sufficiently address the new demand while still providing your customers with a high level of service.

Do you feel confident in your areas of expertise?

It can be tempting to want to boost your business quickly, but it’s most important that you really master your particular area(s) of specialty first so you can ensure that your clients have the best experience possible. Establishing a trustworthy and credible reputation can help set you up for more sustainable long-term success.

How to Broaden Your Reach

1. Find opportunities to become a thought leader

Venturing into the thought leadership space is a smart and effective way to ramp up your visibility within the local and global community. There are several ways to get started, including publishing custom content, applying for speaking engagements, or hosting educational training sessions. Above all, it’s important to put your name out there in spaces where those you want to reach are paying attention, even if that begins with something as small as a weekly LinkedIn article.

2. Invest in SEO

Search engine optimization can be a great way to bring more visitors to your website — and in turn, more clients into your consulting firm. If you don’t have experience with SEO best practices or the time to invest in a training course, it may be worth hiring a contractor who is well-versed in ways to ramp up your website content and increase traffic quickly.

3. Partner with other consultants (who aren’t competitors)

When you work independently, there can be strength in numbers when it comes to increasing awareness of your business, so long as you’re complementing each other and not competing. Think about linking up with another entrepreneur or independent consultant in a different industry, whether in the capacity of networking and mentoring, or to bundle and offer services together if it makes sense.

4. Broaden your offerings

Is there another area of expertise that you have been wanting to provide services in? If you feel sufficiently knowledgeable and have the capacity to take it on, expanding your repertoire can be an easy and quick way to take your consultancy to the next level.

5. Survey current and past clients

The best way to improve the experience of your future clients is to tap into the insights of those who have worked with you already. Creating and distributing a short online survey to your present and previous clients will provide quick and streamlined feedback that you can leverage to build on what’s working and address and refine what’s not, as well as gain a better understanding of how people are finding you. If you receive any particularly compelling positive feedback, don’t be shy about requesting the client’s permission to share their testimonial for use in your marketing and promotional materials — social proof is often critical when it comes to demonstrating your credibility to potential customers.

How to Fund Your Consulting Business

It often costs money to level up your consulting business, and fortunately, there are a variety of traditional and alternative options available to get an influx of cash relatively quickly. All come with pros and cons, though, so it’s important to weigh your options to determine the best solution for you.

Traditional small business loans — like the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loans — are often the first one that consultants pursue, and they can be appealing due to their typically fixed rate — and predictable monthly payments. However, the application and approval process is often quite strenuous, and you can face challenges if you haven’t been in business very long, as at least a few years of financial and business records are typically required.

Some consultants opt to open a business line of credit, which offers revolving access to funding as you need it and allows you to maintain cash flow. But these come with downsides as well: APRs can be very high, ranging from 10-20%, and there can be other fees for monthly maintenance, early repayment, and more.

There’s also an alternative option for funding your consulting business without taking on debt or taking out a loan: your home equity. A home equity investment can help you access cash to expand, minus the stress and hassle of another ongoing cost. You can receive the money fairly quickly — as soon as three weeks — and there aren’t any monthly payments or interest. Plus, you can use the funding for anything you’d like.

If you’re a homeowner who’s curious about whether a Hometap Investment might be able to help you grow your consulting business, take our five-minute quiz.

YOU SHOULD KNOW…

We do our best to make sure that the information in this post is as accurate as possible as of the date it is published, but things change quickly sometimes. Hometap does not endorse or monitor any linked websites. Individual situations differ, so consult your own finance, tax or legal professional to determine what makes sense for you.

May 16, 2022March 22, 2023

Cost of Living in Utah Makes Homeownership a Challenge

Utah is known for its beautiful natural landscapes, including national parks like Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands, plus skiing trails (thanks to all of the snow it gets every year), the annually anticipated Sundance Film Festival, and plenty of fantastic breweries. But along with this high quality of life comes high prices.

High Homeownership Rates — And Equity

As of January 2022, the average Utah home value stands at $555,263, and the state had the second-highest median price in the Western U.S. as of March, behind Colorado at $574,000. Regionally, prices are even higher, with single-family homes in Salt Lake County reaching $580,000 in February. In fact, Salt Lake City even ranked among the top five out of 51 metropolitan areas in terms of the biggest year-over-year jumps in median sales prices — a 26% increase from $410,000 to $516,759. This broke the previous all-time record for largest price jump of 20.1% all the way back in 1978.

The city also placed highly on the list of cities where houses sit on the market for the shortest amount of time, at 18 days — along with Omaha, Nebraska. This is compared to other metro areas like Nashville (14 days) and Seattle (17 days). It also ranked number two in terms of population growth between 2020 and 2021.

Utah has a fairly high homeownership rate of 69.1%, meaning that current owners are at an advantage when it comes to value and equity increases in recent years, and the average Utah homeowner gained $91,000 in equity in 2021.

“In some parts of our state, we’ve had 30% appreciation,” Dejan Eskic, senior research fellow at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, told KJZZ. Within the last 20 years, the highest appreciating cities are Montezuma Creek, Park City, Moab, Garden City, and Salt Lake City, which represent virtually every region of the state.

However, this growth doesn’t bode as well for first-time buyers.

Aspiring Homeowners Forced to Put Dreams on Hold

“Affordability now is the major issue because the mortgage payments are no longer masked by low rates,” Eskic also told KUTV 2News. “I estimate that approximately 67 percent of Utahans are priced out of the median priced single-family home. Because of this, we see more pressure into entry products like townhomes, pushing up their prices as well.” Prices are expected to continue to rise 10-12% in 2022, and according to local realtors, interest rate hikes and inflation will only make things more difficult for prospective homebuyers.

A recent analysis by ABC4 News found that currently, the average Utah resident would need to save 10% of their annual income for 10–12 years in order to afford a down payment of 10–15% on a home. What’s more, the average college graduate in the state makes just $39,000 per year, so they would need to save for an even longer period of time.

One one hand, the market is becoming less competitive — but this is because buyers are being priced out of the market, and in most cases, first-time buyers aren’t even being considered.

This is a conundrum, as the first-time buyer contingent in Utah is quite high, relative to the rest of the U.S.

“[They] are finally getting their life together and moving out of their parents’ basements. And they’re starting families,” Eskic also remarked. “Nationally, we have roughly 33 million people hitting that first-time homebuyer age of 32,” he said. “In Utah as a share of our population, we have an even greater percentage.”

YOU SHOULD KNOW…

May 13, 2022March 22, 2023

Transplants Helping Drive Housing Demand in Nevada

Beyond the glitz and glam of Las Vegas, Nevada has so much to offer potential homebuyers, from the relatively low cost of living — thanks in part to its lack of income tax! — to year-round sunny weather and a thriving economy. Anecdotally, Nevada has been drawing a large number of out-of-state transplants in recent months. For example, at an open house in March, 80% of potential buyers were not residents. However, skyrocketing prices have made it hard to break into the market.

As of April 2022, the typical home value in Nevada sits at $445,515, and the state has seen a 31.1% increase in value in the last year. The cities with the highest home value appreciation in the past 20 years — Genoa, Wells, Battle Mountain, Austin, and Ely — span virtually all regions of the state. As a result, Nevada homeowners have experienced significant increases in equity — with the average homeowner gaining $80,000 in equity in 2021 alone. Well over half of Nevada residents (55.6%) own their homes, but the recent rises in appreciation have presented significant challenges for those looking to buy as they’re frequently priced out due to bidding wars and offers well over asking price.

While 34% of homes in the state were built in 2000 or later, the majority (55.2%) were built between 1970 and 1999. And like in many cities across the country, inventory is down — with new construction slow to move forward due to widespread supply chain issues that have continued into 2022.

“You can work with delays — in person or online — but when you can’t get stuff, you can’t get it,” Nat Hodgson, CEO of the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association, told The Las Vegas Sun. “I feel so bad for the builders. The supply chain problems won’t change a lot this year. It’ll be another long year.”

Nevada Regions See Hot Housing Markets

In certain regions, like Southern Nevada (which includes Las Vegas), the market has been much more competitive than experts originally predicted. In September of 2020, CoreLogic predicted with 70% certainty that home values would fall 7.8% by July of 2021 — but instead, the median price increased 14% after they declared it the riskiest market in America. Home values reached $450,000 as of February 2022 and in March, 82.8% of houses in the area sold within 30 days. A recent report published by the Las Vegas Realtors trade group also found that nearly one third of all home sales in the region in March of 2022 were paid for with cash. It’s not just single-family homes, either: condos and townhomes in the southern portion of the state set a record with a median price of $270,000 in March 2022 — a 39% increase from the same month in 2021.

In the northern Nevada region, which includes cities like Reno, median prices jumped 29% from January 2021 to the same month in 2022, with the city of Reno reaching $600,000 for the first time ever. For comparison, the median sales price in 2017 was just $300,000.

No End in Sight to Soaring Prices (Yet)

More recently, CoreLogic has also stated that Las Vegas is among the 65% of markets across the U.S.that are “overvalued,” along with major cities such as New York, Miami, Seattle, and Dallas. However, this doesn’t foretell an imminent drop in home values — and in fact, nearly every industry report predicts that values will only continue to go up in the coming year. Still, experts acknowledge that there will eventually be a peak.

“Local home prices can’t keep going up this fast forever,” said Brandon Roberts, a longtime Nevada realtor. “The increases we’ve been seeing in the last year or so are just not sustainable. It remains to be seen how much higher these prices can go and when we might start to see the market stabilize, as many national experts have been predicting. Either way, I seriously doubt you’ll see home prices more than triple again in a single decade.”

If you’re a Nevada homeowner looking to cash in on your home equity without selling, whether your goal is to pay down debt, buy another property, or fund a business, you can do so with a home equity investment from Hometap.

YOU SHOULD KNOW…

May 13, 2022May 16, 2022

14 Questions with Hometap’s Head of Data Science

Brian runs Hometap’s data science team, leading strategy, organization, modeling, and analysis to make sense of large quantities of information that allows us to refine and improve the investment process for homeowners.

Q1: You served in the Navy for several years. How and why did you make the transition to the data science field?

While I was stationed aboard the USS Louisiana (a ballistic missile submarine), I was responsible for the quarterly data report — which included everything that happened related to the nuclear reactor for three months. Putting that together taught me that large amounts of data can hold interesting secrets.

I put that to work for me when I transitioned out; first in high-speed manufacturing, then at a civilian nuclear power plant, as both an analyst and manager. Somewhere along the way, I discovered that not only could all of that data tell me secrets, but it could also be used to predict the future, which is what Data Science really is.

Q2: Have you found yourself applying any skills or learnings from the Navy in your professional career?

Absolutely! Attention to detail, owning my mistakes, and being able to say that I don’t know something are three of the most important things the Navy taught me. Each of these (and more) have served me well in my career.

Q3: What’s the biggest challenge you face as Head of Data Science & Analytics?

My team supports the entire organization, and it can be difficult to effectively prioritize work that impacts different functions. Compounding that is the fact that the Data Team includes three distinct functions; Data Science, Data Engineering, and Business Intelligence, each of which are working on different things for different stakeholders.

Q4: What’s the most rewarding part of the role?

The products that my team builds can have very large impacts on the organization. It feels great when we build a machine learning model or dashboard that helps the organization to better understand and improve a process, especially in the case of homeowner-facing processes.

Q5: How do you stay apprised of the most current news in the data science industry? What are you reading, listening to, or watching?

I listen to a bunch of Data Science and Economics podcasts, and read as many blogs on the same topics. I am currently reading “The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity.” Modeling bias is a big concern of mine, and I’m always looking for ways to combat it.

Q6: What’s the best advice that you’ve received during your career?

Not to confuse urgency with importance. A task can be both, but many times something that looks important is actually just urgent. Those items can kill your schedule and never truly go away. The best tool I have found to help with this problem is the Eisenhower Matrix.

AT HOMETAP

Q7: What led you to Hometap and appealed to you about leading the data science team?

A couple years prior I worked to set up a lead share agreement with the company I was with at the time and a couple other home equity investment providers. During the process, I found that the HEI as a product interested me. So when Hometap reached out to me, I jumped at the chance to have the initial conversation. The product got me on the phone, but it was the people that sold me.

Q8: What’s something you wish members of other teams within Hometap understood about the Data Science team and/or the work that you do?

Very broadly, we use Business Intelligence to tell us what’s going on today (and what went on in the past) and Data Science to predict the future. Data Engineering supports both of those functions through clean, stable, data models. Sometimes science produces results that we didn’t want, and data science is science. That said, we can do a lot of crazy stuff that most people don’t consider. If there is a process that you wish you could predict that could help make your life easier, let us know! Chances are we can help.

Q9: Do you have a go-to interview question for new prospective members of the Data Science team? What is it?

“Python or R? Why?” The answer is irrelevant; I’m more interested in whether the candidate has enough experience with one or both languages to have an opinion.

Q10: If you could trade jobs with anyone else at Hometap for a week, what position would it be?

One of our QA engineers. The planning required to devise a testing strategy for new software intrigues me. I’d really like to dig into how you figure out what to test and what ‘good’ looks like.

Q11: What’s one quality someone needs to be successful at Hometap?

The ability to communicate effectively. We are entirely remote, and as such need to communicate with each other in ways that we haven’t done before. We can’t rely on running into someone in the office, so we have to schedule time to talk. That can be difficult with everyone’s busy schedules, but finding the time and being efficient in that time is vital.

OFFICE CULTURE

Q12: What qualities do you look for in a company’s office culture?

Communication. A team that is open and frequent in their communication is much easier to work with. It also indicates a culture where openness and honesty are the norm.

Q13: You’ve been with Hometap for about a year now. What’s one word you would use to describe the culture here so far?

Enthusiastic. Everyone works hard to build a better experience for each other and for our homeowners. There is no one here that I have spoken to that hasn’t been willing and excited about helping out. Everyone can see the impact they have and wants to keep doing great things.

Q14: What are the best and worst parts of working from home?

I love being able to step away for a minute and interact with the dog or cat (or laundry and dishes). That freedom, and the ability to schedule appointments midday is fantastic. On the downside, not being able to walk over to someone and ask them a quick question has made things more difficult. Communication can be a lot harder when you have to schedule every conversation.

We’re hiring! Learn more about the opportunities on our data science team!

May 13, 2022May 26, 2022

As Alt. Equity Provider Expands, Seniors and Reverse Mortgages Remain Important Factors

Shared equity investment provider Hometap is expanding into new states but sees significant partnership potential with reverse mortgage companies and individuals

Shared home equity investment provider Hometap recently announced an expansion into three additional states — South Carolina, Utah and Nevada — bringing its total footprint to 18 states. These already include high home-value markets including California, New York, Florida and Virginia. In the past, Hometap leaders have described the company’s posture as “complementary” to the reverse mortgage industry as opposed to competitive.

To get a better idea of the continued posture as well as the importance of the senior demographic to its operations, RMD sat down with Hometap CEO Jeffrey Glass to discuss these and other issues related to the company’s expansion.

This article originally appeared on Reverse Mortgage Daily. Read the full article here.

May 11, 2022May 12, 2022

Using Collateral to Secure a Small Business Loan

If you’re seeking a loan to fund your small business, it’s important to know that nearly all lenders will require some form of collateral from you to secure the financing in order to minimize their risk and recoup their losses in the event that you default on the loan. While it’s common practice, it’s still important to understand all of the risks up front before seeking out funding that requires collateral.

What Is Collateral?

Collateral is defined as an asset that a lender accepts as security for a loan or other obligation. While this can take many forms, it’s important to note that there are two types of collateral: those assets that you own outright, and those that you have a loan against (for example, a mortgage on your house).

The best asset to use as collateral will have a title of ownership attached to it — like a home, motorcycle, or watercraft. Land cannot be used as collateral, however.

The specific type of collateral required depends on the loan type. For example, for a standard small business loan, real estate is often used, but for equipment loans, the equipment is its own collateral.

Business inventory can also be used if you’re using a loan to purchase more, but lenders may be wary to allow this, because in the event you’re unable to sell your inventory, they will likely question their ability to as well and might not be able to recover the money they lend you.

There are other possibilities, including cash savings or deposits. Banks will typically always accept this option since it presents low risk to them and on the plus side, they often have the lowest interest rates attached. However, the obvious disadvantage is that you have the potential to lose this money if you default on the loan. In some cases, you can use accounts receivable, though this is not common for banks due to the potential difficulty of authenticating purchase orders.

How Much Collateral Do I Need?

Generally, collateral amount is determined by what’s known as the “5 Cs:” that’s credit history, capacity for repayment, capital, collateral type, and conditions (interest rate, loan terms, and loan amount). These take into account both the applicant’s financial health and the specifics of the lender’s requirements.

Before You Commit to a Loan That Requires Collateral…

Be Aware of the Risks

Putting up collateral like your home or car is a serious decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly, so make sure you are prepared to handle this worst-case scenario before closing on your loan. While not necessary, it can help to consult a financial advisor beforehand to determine your risk aversion.

Retain Your Records

One major problem business owners encounter is that they tend to overestimate the value of their collateral in comparison to banks’ more conservative market value assessment. If you don’t have a general idea of your assets’ worth, it can be helpful to consult an independent appraiser before applying for a loan, but you should be keeping track of all of your assets regardless. You don’t have to get super complicated — even a simple Excel spreadsheet with line items of all of your purchases clearly documented should be sufficient.

Negotiate If Possible

You may not always have this option depending on your financial standing and credit history, but if you qualify for a small business loan, you should be able to work out specific terms and conditions that make sense for your situation. It’s common — and often recommended — to compare rates from different lenders to find the right fit.

Consider Alternative Options to a Loan

If a small business loan isn’t feasible or preferable for you, there are several other avenues to explore. There are home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) that allow you to use your home equity to access cash to fund your business. However, with both of these options, your home is used as collateral. HELOCs in particular usually have variable interest rates, meaning you won’t have a consistent monthly payment.

A business line of credit is another option that allows you to tap into funds and doesn’t necessarily require collateral if you have what’s considered an “unsecured” line. You have a draw period, or a specific number of years that you can tap into the funds. But with unsecured loans and credit lines, interest rates are typically much higher than those that require collateral.

Peer-to-peer lending is another emerging option that, as the name suggests, allows business owners to secure money from another individual. The often web-based formats of these lenders can make it a bit easier to get a competitive rate. The process is fairly straightforward: you share some information about your desired loan amount and business, and if accepted, you’re listed as an option for potential investors.

Finally, if you want to use your home equity to fund your small business without interest or monthly payments, you may want to consider a home equity investment. While your home is the collateral with this option, you receive cash in exchange for a share of its future value, and once approved, can get the money you need in as little as three weeks. Plus, you can use the funds for anything you need them for: equipment, expansion, marketing, or whatever else you’d like. Take our five minute quiz and find out if a Hometap Investment makes sense for your business needs.

YOU SHOULD KNOW…

May 9, 2022May 10, 2022

Hometap Expands Home Equity Investment to Homeowners in Utah

With Mortgage Interest Rates Spiking, Beehive State Homeowners Gain Access to Non-Debt Alternative to Tap into Historic Level of Home Equity

BOSTON, May 9, 2022 — Hometap, which provides a smart, new loan alternative for tapping into home equity without taking on debt or rising interest rates, announced today that it is now available to homeowners across the state of Utah.

The roll-out is especially timely, given the recent spike in interest rates for cash-out mortgage refinancings and home equity lines of credit – the steepest sudden climb since 1987.

Unlike home equity lenders, Hometap makes investments in homes in exchange for a percentage of the future value of the property, providing homeowners debt-free cash today without interest or monthly payments. Homeowners can use the cash to accomplish their financial goals or fund significant expenses – from paying off credit card debt to building a dream kitchen to funding their small business or using the money towards a down payment on an investment property.

The typical home value in Utah currently stands at approximately $529,509, and has been growing rapidly, at a rate of 29.6% in 2021, according to data from Zillow. Average home equity gained in the state last year was $91,000, based on information from real estate data firm CoreLogic.

“Utah has seen a rapid acceleration in home values, but homeowners have been limited in how they can tap equity without taking on debt in a rising interest rate environment,” said Jeffrey Glass, CEO of Hometap. “As real estate values continue to soar, homeowners are looking for new ways to tap their home’s value without the added burden of a loan, both to address their immediate financial needs and meet their long-term financial goals. We are very excited about expanding our geographic footprint into Utah and helping more homeowners.”

The launch of operations in Utah brings Hometap’s state count to 18; the company also invests in homes in Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.

About Hometap:
Hometap is on a mission to make homeownership less stressful and more accessible. Our home equity investment product provides homeowners with a fast, simple, and straightforward way to access the equity in their home without taking out a loan or having to sell. By investing alongside homeowners, Hometap offers debt-free cash in exchange for a share of their home’s future value — all without any monthly payments or interest over the life of the investment. Through a combination of financial innovation and best-in-class customer service, Hometap enables people to get more from homeownership so they can get more from life. Learn more at hometap.com.

Press Contact:
Matthew Conroy
Stanton
(203) 610-1421
mconroy@stantonprm.com

May 5, 2022May 5, 2022

Home Equity Lending to Small Business Owners Up Since 2021

Small-business owners are turning to home equity to help finance their expenses, a trend that increased noticeably during the pandemic.

A provider of home-equity lending alternatives, Hometap, reported it made more than three times as many investments in dollar value with its small-business-owner clientele in the first quarter this year compared to the three months in 2021, increasing deployment to approximately $8.5 million from $2.3 million.Since 2018, the Boston-based fintech has assisted small-business owners with more than $30 million in home-equity transactions.

Hometap’s investment product allows clients to tap into their home’s equity in exchange for a percentage of the future value of the property. Unlike small-business loans or home-equity lines of credit, no interest or required monthly payments are required for 10 years, the company said.

This article originally appeared on National Mortgage News. Read the full article here.

May 5, 2022February 15, 2023

8 Ways to Grow Your Restaurant Business

The restaurant industry is a notoriously tough one to succeed in — but with quality food and service, the right attitude, and calculated strategies, it’s not impossible. If you own a restaurant, you understand that it’s a labor of love. You’re passionate about the food you make and the environment you’ve created for your community. And if you’re ready to expand, you’ve got a few options: you can grow your operation within a single location, or you can grow your number of restaurant locations. Here are some ideas for helping you expand your eatery’s presence and boost its revenue while you’re at it.

Grow Sales at Your Current Location

1. Make connections in your community

Whether it’s with fellow restaurateurs, potential patrons, or other businesses in your area that make sense to partner with — the more people you know, the more opportunities you have to spread the word about your restaurant business and bring in more customers. Often, communities have local food events that showcase area cafes, food trucks, and eateries with abbreviated menus, and they can be a great way to get your name out there while providing samples of your cuisine to potential future customers.

2. Think outside of the box when it comes to marketing

For any business, half the battle is getting the word out, and inventive marketing can go a long way to get the attention of future customers. If you’re just starting out, building a sense of mystery (but not too much) around your restaurant through social media or community flyering can pique the curiosity of patrons and get them in the door. In addition, coupons offering a discount or free item for first-time customers provide a tangible incentive to draw in business.

3. Host live entertainment, games, or trivia

You’re more likely to bring in business if you’re giving customers an ongoing reason to stop by — beyond your delicious food and beverages. Look at hosting a weekly pub trivia night through a company that specializes in it, a stand-up comedian, or a live musician or band to keep things fresh and build your brand.

4. Make changes to the menu (or the space)

Every restaurant needs the occasional facelift, whether it’s in the form of a revamped menu or some reupholstered booths. If things are feeling a little stale, start small by introducing a couple new offerings and testing how well they sell — or making a small cosmetic change like repainting. These steps can go a long way toward improving diners’ experiences and bringing them in for repeat visits.

5. Consider creating a loyalty program

If you have a core customer base, a structured system of rewards and discounts for frequent and new patrons alike can give them even more incentive to come back. In fact, a Gartner report estimated that 80% of a restaurant’s future business comes from 20% of its current customers. There are a few different types of loyalty programs to consider, but one of the most common and popular choices is rewarding customers each time they dine with you, whether it’s by earning points that they can redeem for a meal, or reaching a certain number of visits to receive a voucher.

6. Offer catering (or expand takeout options)

Expanding your offerings to provide larger portions at higher prices for events like weddings and company functions can help pad your bottom line and bring in some extra cash. Before pursuing this route, though, make sure you have both the time and staffing resources to dedicate to events you may be contracted for, as catering can be a fairly big undertaking and a less-than-stellar client experience can have the opposite effect and get people talking about your business — in a negative way (we’ll dive further into this below). Alternatively, you can expand into takeout if you’re currently not providing it, or simply consider making it available through more apps if you already offer it.

7. Monitor and engage with reviews and social media

With so many review sites and social media apps, it’s easier than ever not only to see what people are saying about your business — but to respond to them. In addition to a standard website, you’ll want to make sure you create profiles on all of the major social media sites: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Sites like Yelp typically allow you to “claim” your business’s page, so you can reply directly to reviews. For prospective patrons, being able to see that you address any negative experiences and make it right for the customer can help to give them a more positive impression of your restaurant.

8. Expand to an Additional Location

If you’re experiencing enough demand and sales at your flagship location, an outpost can be a great way to build upon that success. You’ll also have the unique advantage of being able to capitalize on your existing name recognition within the community — and market your new location at the first.

However, it isn’t as easy as it seems. First, you’ll need to create a completely new business plan that includes financial estimates for rent, staff, and any material/construction costs. There’s also the consideration of geography, as it makes the most sense for your new space to be near the first if you’re expanding due to capacity issues.

You’ll want to answer the following questions before you commit to pursuing another location:

Will you be able to successfully divide your time between the two places — or is there someone you trust that can serve as the manager at the outpost?
While the second location is starting out, is the flagship doing well enough financially that it can support it? If not, do you have alternative funding options?

While many of the ideas for expanding your existing restaurant don’t cost anything to implement, some of them — like marketing, renovating, catering, and entertainment — might require additional funds that can stretch your already-tight budget. And opening a second location will require a significant amount for construction, hiring, and more.

If you’re a homeowner who could use some extra cash for their restaurant business, consider a home equity investment from Hometap, which can get you the money you need in as little as three weeks. The best part? You can use it for whatever you’d like. Take our five-minute quiz to see if a Hometap Investment might be a fit for you.

YOU SHOULD KNOW…

May 2, 2022May 2, 2022

HousingWire Announces the 2022 Finance Leaders

DALLAS, Texas — HousingWire announced the winners of the 2022 Finance Leaders awards, honoring the top finance executives who are driving financial performance, expanding margins, improving liquidity and helping their businesses access the capital markets.

“When we launched the Finance Leaders award in 2021, HousingWire sought to recognize the forward-thinking finance executives who contributed to their organizations’ financial growth and strategic missions despite the challenges of the pandemic,” said Clayton Collins, CEO of HW Media. “We never anticipated the volatile mortgage rate environment, supply and demand
imbalances and overall market challenges that housing executives have endured over the last twelve months. HousingWire Finance Leaders are truly masters at managing liquidity, executing M&A and strategic deals and developing impenetrable balance sheets to position their businesses for enduring success.”

This article originally appeared on Housing Wire. Read the full article here.