Lara Hodgson, President & CEO of NOW Corp
Small businesses typically don’t go out of business, they grow out of business…until NOW.
(PRWEB) October 01, 2015
Since launching the MARTA NOWaccount® Revenue Accelerator Program earlier this year, NOW Corp has helped small and diverse suppliers take advantage of the tremendous growth opportunities available with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), the ninth largest transit system in the country. MARTA is investing more than $470 million in capital expenditures, in addition to the $100 million it spends annually with suppliers on operations, and it is committed to increasing its expenditure with small and diverse-owned businesses.
Since the initial roll out of the program in February with a limited number of small and diverse suppliers, the MARTA NOWaccount program already is proving successful. Within months of enrolling in NOWaccount, Sheila Jordan, CEO of Knowledge Architects, tripled her contract with the transit authority – a great win for her business, but one that would require her to fund a million dollar project.
“I didn’t even have to blink,” said Jordan, who is planning to launch a new product offering this fall with transit authorities across the country. “We never could have done that without NOWaccount. It’s a lifesaver!”
NOWaccount is not a loan or factoring, but an innovative new payment solution that enables Jordan to leverage her own cash from operations to fund growth. With NOWaccount, she can get paid within days on invoices to the commercial and government customers she chooses in a way that feels like and costs the same or less than accepting a credit card for payment. However, unlike traditional credit card merchant services, Jordan’s customers continue to receive her invoice and pay according to their schedules. In fact, NOWaccount is largely invisible to her customers.
“NOW Corp is proud to support forward-thinking organizations such as MARTA that work to level the playing field for small businesses,” said Lara Hodgson, president and CEO of NOW Corp. “Small businesses are vital to our economy and account for about half of all private sector jobs. However, their ability to grow can be constrained, particularly when they are required to fund trade credit for their large customers.
“Small businesses typically don’t go out of business, they grow out of business…until NOW,” she continued. “With NOWaccount, they can effectively manage cash flow and grow as quickly as they want.”
The MARTA NOWaccount program enables small business suppliers across the U.S. to fund sales to their business and government customers, both domestically and abroad, by providing suppliers with access to up to $1 million at any time, or up to $8 million annually, for a flat fee of 2.50% for a Net 30 invoice, regardless of when or if the customer pays.
With NOWaccount, small suppliers choose which of their commercial or government customers they want to put on their NOWaccount, and they get paid on those invoices within days. At the same time, their customers continue to receive the invoice with the extended payment terms they require, and pay according to their own schedules, with no late fees or penalties. NOWaccount is largely invisible to the customer who continues to send payments to their supplier. They simply send the check or electronic payment to a new remittance address.
“Like many small businesses, I’ve had to manage the cash in very creative ways. Most of which don’t work very well for a long term outlook, and they can be very costly,” said Jordan, who expects triple-digit growth in the next year. “My relationship with NOWaccount is the only way this would have been possible. Without hesitation, I would recommend this service to ALL small businesses with large contracts and slow paying customers.”
NOW Corp will be co-hosting the next MARTA NOWaccount webinar for MARTA suppliers and prospective suppliers on Tuesday, October 6th at 2pm EST. NOW Corp also will be presenting at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) annual meeting in San Francisco on Monday, Oct. 5 at 2:30pm during the APTA-COMTO DBE Assembly.
About NOW Corp
NOW Corp is a certified women-owned business founded in December 2010 to address the needs of small businesses seeking affordable and accessible means to fund growth, create jobs, and stimulate the U.S. economy. Recognizing a void in funding solutions in the $32 trillion trade credit sector, the founders leveraged their engineering and entrepreneurial backgrounds to optimize the best components of a variety of traditional capital sources to meet the needs of small businesses funding trade credit for their commercial and government customers. Since launching the revenue accelerator payment solution, with its flagship offering NOWaccount®, NOW Corp has empowered small businesses across the nation to GROW FEARLESSLY!™, often resulting in double- and triple-digit revenue growth within the first year of enrollment. For more information, visit http://www.nowcorp.com.
About NOWaccount®
NOWaccount is a revenue accelerator and revolutionary new payment solution designed to empower small businesses across the U.S. to GROW FEARLESSLY!™ – often resulting in double- or triple-digit revenue growth within the first year of enrollment. NOWaccount enables small businesses to Get Paid NOW® on invoices to the customers they choose in order to leverage capital from operations, rather than debt or equity, to confidently fund new and larger contracts with their commercial and government customers. With NOWaccount, small businesses get their actual revenue immediately, for the same or less than the cost of accepting a credit card, while offloading customer payment risk, and outsourcing the professional management of their accounts receivables. Similar to accepting a credit card for payment, except the small business supplier chooses when to use it, NOWaccount is largely invisible to the customers who continue to take advantage of the free and flexible trade credit they require through the traditional accounts payable system. For more information, visit grow.nowaccount.com.