Chris has been writing about small business topics since 2003. In 2015, he joined Merchant Maverick, where he writes about business financing, payment processing, and demographic trends in entrepreneurship. Chris has been featured in Fox Business, ABC News, Yahoo Finance, GoBankingRates, Newsweek, BizJournals, and other publications. He has a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Writing Arts from SUNY Oswego, and a Masters of Science in Interactive Media from the University of Central Florida. He currently resides in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
Despite tightening interest rates, companies founded or co-founded by women netted over $36.3 billion for the year ending in October, down from 2021’s $42.6 billion.
In Merchant Maverick’s inaugural data report on The Best States In Which To Survive Recession, our analysis found that the states in the best condition to mitigate the effects of a recession aren’t where you might expect. Most of them, as it turns out, are in the Heartland.
Stripe Payments is a powerful tool for some businesses that want to sell online, but it can easily be overkill for others. See whether the customizable checkout, extensive integrations, advanced invoicing, and recurring billing features are right for you.
Can you use Venmo for business purposes? The short answer is that businesses can take Venmo payments in three ways: online, in-app, or in-person. For most businesses, whether you should take payments through Venmo depends on your customer base.
GOBankingRates talks to banking expert Chris Motola about the benefits of credit unions.
Financial expert Chris Motola tackles why credit card rates dipped in 2020 in this article with GoBankingRates.
Business expert Chris Motola talks with Yahoo Finance at the height of the pandemic about the impact of government shutdowns on small businesses.
Loans expert Chris Motola discusses the paradox of obtaining credit cards with a high credit limit when building credit in this article from Medium.
When searching for a great commercial construction loan, you’ll want to keep in mind the size of the project, how quickly you need funding, and the resources you have available to use as collateral or downpayment. For many small businesses, an SBA 504 loan will be the best option for major construction projects. Others may be better served by bank loans or alternative loans.
ACH loans are unsecured loans that are both disbursed and repaid through the automated clearing house bank-to-bank transfer system. As a form of short-term loan, ACH loan qualifications tend to focus more on the flow of revenue into and out of your business checking account rather than your credit score.
While commercial mortgages have lower interest rates relative to other types of business loans, they are generally more expensive than comparable residential mortgages. This reflects the higher risk inherent in commercial development.
Equipment financing is low key one of the more complicated types of business financing. Not only do you want to keep in mind factors that apply to all business loans like interest rates, your ability to qualify, and term lengths, but you need to consider how the equipment you’re purchasing retains (or doesn’t retain) its value and utility over time.
If you’re looking to take credit card payments through your WooCommerce store, WooCommerce Payments offers a ready-made solution. WooCommerce Payments allows businesses to accept payments and monitor sales activity through their store’s dashboard.
The Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions are fortifying their reputation as the best states for Black entrepreneurs, with the Gulf states of Louisiana and Florida joining their ranks thanks to an increase in Black business creation within their borders. This is the finding from Merchant Maverick’s annual report on the Best States for Black Entrepreneurs.
Despite tightening interest rates, companies founded or co-founded by women netted over $36.3 billion for the year ending in October, down from 2021’s $42.6 billion.
A real-time payment is a transaction made through the Clearing House’s RTP network. Though more limited than ACH, payments made through the RTP Network settle almost immediately.
If you are new to using Stripe for your business, you may be wondering what the steps to set up your Stripe account are. Below, we’ll walk you through setting up a Stripe account and what you can use it for.
The average worker may be wondering what kind of impact this recession could have on job security. If you’re a construction worker, auto technician, sales rep, fabricator, or part of middle management, you may want to have a backup plan if things take a turn for the worse, particularly if you live in one of the states hit hardest by recent inflation. Medical professionals, public employees, and truckers have less to worry about.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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