First Star Capital - September 2010 Newsletter

“Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”

- George S. Patton Jr. – U.S. Army General

Most of us in the business community can appreciate this quote from General Patton. We have all weathered some challenges, and are now beginning to experience victories with increasing frequency. The outlook, for most, has brightened as worries of a double-dip recession fade. A double-dip decline in the economy would be inconsistent with all of the good news that has been reported recently such as:

• Manufacturing activity expanded for the 13th consecutive month in August and at a faster pace than forecasted as factories added workers and increased production.
• Consumer confidence also climbed more than forecasted in August as Americans turned less pessimistic about the outlook for jobs, easing concerns that households may retrench even further.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stated in late August that the Central Bank “will do all that it can” to ensure continuation of the economic recovery, and outlined steps it might take if growth slows.
• Corporate earnings: 459 of the S&P 500 firms have reported Q2 profits, with 75% exceeding expectations, 9% meeting them and only 16% falling short.
• Investment in equipment and software has been strong and is expected to continue to advance at a solid pace.
• Numerous business studies and surveys have exceeded expectations including better than expected business activity, lower than expected jobless claims, and stronger than expected home sales.

First Star Capital is on the proverbial front lines conversing with business owners and corporate executives across the country daily. Many businesses are experiencing stable or improved financial performance. However, optimism is guarded in certain industries such as those directly tied to residential real estate or consumer discretionary spending in specific geographies with higher than average unemployment.

The crew at First Star remains focused on promoting continuation of the economic recovery and fueling business growth. The First Star funding programs are designed to help businesses of all sizes prosper regardless of where we are in the economic phase, but they are especially powerful during a period of recovery. Many of our recently funded transactions have been geared toward making businesses more efficient which in turn produces top line revenue growth along with enhanced profit margins.

Equipment leasing has always been exceptionally powerful during the last few months of the calendar year. It could be especially advantageous this year due to the pending expiration of substantial tax benefits such as extra depreciation and the enhanced Section 179 deduction limits. Under the current parameters a business can deduct up to $250K against taxable income in the current fiscal year. Choose First Star Capital as your funding partner in the 4th Quarter and this significant tax write off can be attained with minimal out of pocket expense – the deduction can be realized by making as few as one or two monthly payments before the end of the year. For more detailed information please go to: www.EconomicStimulusInfo.com or www.irs.gov.

For more information please visit www.FirstStarCapital.com or email info@firststarcapital.com.

About First Star Capital

First Star Capital is an established national firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. We are an independent commercial lender with a specialty focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between ten-thousand and ten-million dollars. Since we are a direct lender with our own funding and servicing capabilities we are able to deliver tangible value added financing solutions with the utmost flexibility. First Star Capital has the internal ability to underwrite a variety of different financing requests - nothing is too big or too complicated.

Brad Harmon is featured in CLP!

Brad Harmon, the President of First Star Capital, was recently featured on the front page of CLP (Certified Lease Professional). Please check out the article here!

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

First Star Capital Announces Three Working Capital Programs

San Francisco Bay Area based commercial equipment leasing and financing firm, First Star Capital has recently added three types of Working Capital programs: Merchant Cash Advance, Accounts Receivable Factoring, and Purchase Order Financing. This addition expands their current financing and leasing programs, with programs specifically designed for small-to-medium sized businesses that face the growing pains of cash-flow and liquidity strain.

“Throughout the past year we have seen increasing demand for Working Capital programs,” said Brad Harmon, CLP, president of First Star Capital. “Listening to our customers, we have been very diligent to create some of the most competitive Working Capital programs available.” Announcing the allocation of significant funding resources and personnel to these new programs, First Star Capital wishes to meet customer demand.

Accompanying the programs is a redesigned dedicated Working Capital webpage. “This webpage has been carefully designed to quickly educate, inform, and connect our customers to their specific working capital needs,” stated Brad Harmon, CLP. The working capital page contains all the necessary information and documents, allowing for First Star Capital to have pre-approval turnaround time of approximately 24 hours.

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First Star Capital is an established firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. They are an independent commercial lender with a specialty focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between $10,000 and $10,000,000.

First Star Capital
3050 Citrus Circle, Suite 222
Walnut Creek, CA 94598
P: (800) 604-4817 F: (925) 262-8244
Email at Info@FirstStarCapital.com

Work With the Time Given, Not Against

"Without the management of time, you will soon have nothing left to manage." - William D. Reiff

Time is of the essence. It seems these days that there is simply not enough time in the day to do everything we would like to get done. The key is to be more productive in the time that you have. Sure, you can work twice as long and get much more done. However, the secret to true success is making the time you currently invest in your business twice as productive.

Successful people know how to divide their time well. They know when it's time to focus and be productive and when it's time to replenish and rebuild their strength. It's not uncommon to see people who appear to be highly productive burnout quickly. It is important to take time out for yourself and relax. Spend time with friends and family, exercise, sleep, or do whatever else that may help you regain your thoughts and energy.

Successful people are also strict about what types of interruptions they allow during productive business time. It is easy to let trivial interruptions disrupt our working life. For example, don't take inventory or clean out your desk during prime selling hours. Find ways to eliminate busy work.

Identify the most important thing you should be doing right now. Successful businesspeople always tackle the most important things first. The items of top priority are usually not the easiest. That's why we tend to put them off until later. Getting these heavier items out of the way will relieve stress and increase your productivity tremendously. Over time you'll notice that sales have increased and you're enjoying your work a lot more

-Brad Harmon, CLP
President of First Star Capital

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First Star Capital is an established firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. They are an independent commercial lender with a specialty focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between $10,000 and $10,000,000.

Identity Security

"Trickery and treachery are the practices of fools that have not wits enough to be honest" -Benjamin Franklin

As a business owner, it is vital to know what's on your credit report so you can prevent errors that can inadvertently harm your company. One of the biggest threats out there today is identity theft. The ability to grow a business through help from lending institutions depends heavily on the credit profiles of the owners. Protecting your identity from thieves is crucial.

People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years and thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of a good name and credit record. In the meantime, victims of identity theft may lose job opportunities, be refused loans for education, business, housing, or cars, and even get arrested for crimes they didn't commit. Humiliation, anger, and frustration are among the feelings victims experience as they navigate the process of rescuing their identity.

The US Federal Trade Commission recommends taking these precautions to avoid identity theft:

• Shred documents and paperwork that contain personal information before you discard them
• Don't give out personal information unless you know who you are dealing with
• Use firewalls, anti-spyware, and anti-virus software to protect your computers
• Don't use obvious passwords, like your birthday or mother's maiden name
• Be alert for discrepancies in your financial bills and statements and query them immediately
• Report fraud to the police as soon as you detect it and file a complaint with the FTC

If you have lost personal information or identification, place an initial fraud alert on your credit report with any (or all) of the three consumer reporting companies:

Equifax: www.equifax.com

Experian: www.experian.com

TransUnion: www.transunion.com

At First Star Capital, we recognize the importance of protecting our clients. We follow strict procedures to keep all personal information and sensitive data secure. First Star will never sell, rent or provide any customer data to a 3^rd party unless specifically instructed to do so in writing by the customer. Please review our corporate privacy policy to better understand the steps taken to protect our clients.

www.FirstStarCapital.com
www.FirstStarCapital.com/privacypolicy.html

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First Star Capital is an established firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. They are an independent commercial lender with a specialty focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between $10,000 and $10,000,000.

First Star Capital Expands Financial Services in Medical Sector

First Star Capital, an established national leader in the commercial equipment financing industry, is expanding its services in the medical equipment financing sector. The company has taken a variety of steps to focus on the specific financing needs of the medical and dental community, offering alternatives to traditional bank loans. They have announced that they have set aside significant funding resources to allocate to this division, increased lending limits for the application only programs, implemented a new working capital program and launched a comprehensive new website dedicated to medical and dental professionals. (www.firststarmedicalfinance.com).

The medical and dental industry has always been one of the company’s strongest performing sectors. “We recognized an opportunity to expand upon something that has always been a strong performer for First Star”, says President Brad Harmon. “We’re excited to ramp up our focus, allocate greater resources and provide more expanded financing options for medical practices and medical equipment vendors in a time when capital is scarce.”

In addition to adding more staff to service the growing division, First Star has launched a new website specifically for the growing medical equipment finance division (www.firststarmedicalfinance.com). “The new website was designed to showcase our expertise in medical equipment financing and provide medical professionals a comprehensive financing option for needed equipment replacements and/or additions. The site provides a thorough overview of the different types of medical lease and finance options available, tax benefits, payment calculators and all of the relevant credit and application documents”, says Harmon.

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First Star Capital is an established firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. They are an independent commercial lender with a specialty focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between $10,000 and $10,000,000.

SunPods and First Star Capital announce a partnership for financing On-Demand solar power generation

SunPods Inc., a company delivering modular, fully integrated and tested solar power generation systems to customer sites has teamed with First Star Capital to make it easier for small and medium-sized operations (2.5kW to 400kW) to fund the purchase of solar electrical power generation.

SunPods delivers reliable, cost-effective solar power generation. SunPods’ unique Solar Smart Technology™ creates a modular, rugged solar power appliance from the most advanced components being produced.

First Star Capital recognizes that eliminating the uncertainty of cost and schedules that have normally been associated with solar power installations presents a unique financing opportunity. According to Brad Harmon, President of First Star Capital, “We can now treat solar power generation like any other capital investment. With traditional solar installations, the custom design and installation process make it harder to put together a financial package because each project has to be carefully evaluated for risk. SunPods eliminates the risk. We’re financing a capital acquisition, our expertise, not an engineering project.”

More accessible financing makes solar power generation a reality for more operations. “There is large demand at small to medium-sized installations, but financing is a necessity. For example, SunPods makes sense for agricultural operations but they need predictable financing so they can replace payments to utilities with payments on their own solar equipment. First Star Capital has the expertise and knowledge to make this happen.” observed Dan Jaeger, President of SunPods.

SunPods is currently shipping three product lines:
· SP-100 for commercial installations
· SP-300 for EV charging stations
· SP-500 for support of agricultural operations

Financing from First Star Capital for SunPods’ systems is available immediately.

About First Star Capital
First Star Capital is an established firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. We are an independent commercial lender with a focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between $10,000 and $10,000,000. Corporate headquarters are located at 3050 Citrus Circle, Suite 222, Walnut Creek, CA. 94598. Phone: 800-604-4817. Website:http://www.firststarcapital.com.

About SunPods Inc.
SunPods is expanding the solar power generation market by delivering modular, self-contained solar power appliances. Fully configured units are shipped from our factory to the site. Site preparation is minimal and there is no on-site assembly. SunPods’ units are pre-engineered, pre-manufactured and pre-tested in a rigorous factory setting making them ready to power up on delivery. SunPods makes project management and execution simpler and quicker. Corporate headquarters are located at 1922 The Alameda, Suite 214, San Jose, California 95126. Website:www.sunpods.com.