There's no doubt that your business can beef-up its bottom line this holiday season. Do you want to pull in your absolute maximum number of customers? Do you want to offer them such a unique, personalized and pleasant shopping experience that they're almost 100% guaranteed to return? How about getting the word out to potential new customers about your business's offerings, services and location, and spread the word about a special sale you're having? If you have a web storefront, wouldn't you like to offer your shoppers free shipping? Have you considered how you plan to pay for all these business pursuits? I'm sure you have, as have most business owners at one time or another. This time of year (November/December) is a great time to take advantage of eager consumer spending. You're likely to attract new customers that buy more and have the opportunity to make them loyal patrons. One of the major roadblocks to opening the door to this "money room" is the lack of access to upfront capital that most businesses face. They wind up having to choose between one solution or the other, feeling incapable of producing and generating the results they truly desire; unable to achieve an ideal marketing mix due to a lack of financing. Nowadays, this reasoning has become less of an excuse, even during a time when businesses struggle to get approved for loans. How can this be?

Something many new businesses have never heard of, a business cash advance or merchant cash advance, is a fast and easy answer for businesses looking to acquire financing and offers a lot more flexibility than a traditional business loan. Business cash advances are acquired by merchants who process credit card transactions through a merchant services provider. The cash advance is given to a business upfront with the understanding that the business will pay back the advance over time through a portion of their future credit card receipts. The amount of capital that a business is eligible for is determined by taking into account its previous months of credit card processing volume. For example, if they're a large retail electronics store that gets many large credit card payments for things like computers and televisions, they would be eligible for a larger advance than, say, a boutique clothing store.

The rate at which you pay back the advance is flexible and determined by which advancing company you end up using. Any of these companies will offer you the ability to pay back the advance over whatever period of time is most comfortable for you. This means that if you have a busy month in December, you'll be paying back a larger chunk of the balance than perhaps a slower month, where you are not penalized for making low payments. One of the highlights of a cash advance when compared to a standard business loan is that there's no interest rate to worry about. The advancing company will give you a set amount of cash up front, and then you will pay back an agreed upon amount over time.

You can use a business cash advance for anything at all, no restrictions. To help get some ideas flowing on what kind of potential a cash advance affords your business, here's a short list of things you could use a business cash advance for during this year's holiday season:

1. Use the cash from the advance to help pay for advertising for your business, whether it's brand-centric or focused on a particular special promotion you have going on. Advertising costs can get pretty eccentric, but it's crucial to make that investment if you want your business to grow. Try putting together a newsletter full of helpful shopping suggestions to help your customers pick out gifts; perhaps a "Top 10 Most Popular Items for 2010." Or, if you're planning to take a more local approach, consider using the cash to place ads in the local newspaper and having your coupons run in a local coupon mailer program.

2. Send out holiday greeting cards to your existing customers, if you have their address information. If not, use your cash advance to purchase a CRM system. An investment in this type of software will help your company grow and retain customers going forward. And think about how pleased your patrons will be to find a personalized holiday greeting, perhaps with a special, for-their-eyes-only offer included in it, in their mailbox from you.

3. Have a "free gift with purchase" promotion. Use your cash advance to buy up extra merchandise, in bulk, that has a high chance of being of interest to your ideal shoppers.

4. Hire seasonal help! With all the business you're sure to be doing, you're going to need some extra sets of hands. Use your cash advance to help with the initial costs of bringing someone new onboard this season.

5. Online stores - offer free shipping to your customers. Think about how many times you've made a purchase decision based on how much shipping an item costs. Now think about that, multiplied by how many potential customers you could win over, by extending them the same offer. Use your cash advance to offset your shipping costs, and you're guaranteed to see a return on your initial investment.

6. Stock up on supplies. If you're doing any sort of promotion or relationship-building exercises this season, be ready to handle a LOT more sales. Extra supplies and inventory can be acquired using the money from your business cash advance. If you can, take note of high-popularity items from last December and be sure to have lots of that stock on hand this year.

Remember, you have to invest in your business in order for it to grow. Sometimes getting access to financial capital can be tough, which is why it's worth it for you to look into acquiring a business cash advance if you're serious about taking your business to the next level.