Author: Deborah Morris

Does radio frequency skin tightening really work for everybody? Yes it does but you need to trust first the experts.

Cryotherapy Melbourne is a revolutionary method of cold therapy involving 2 – 3 minutes of exposure to subzero temperatures as low as -150 degrees Celsius.

Forget about the pain during laser pigmentation removal Sydney process they will apply an aloe vera to reduce the pain. You are wanting to offer tattoo removal services, you’ve done (or are doing) online research for the market and technology, and maybe you’ve had a conversation or two with a laser company representative. At some point – either sooner or later – you asked the question, “how much is a tattoo removal laser?”

Because you are looking at quality laser technology that is FDA cleared for use in the U.S. and are wisely only considering devices from reputable laser companies, the laser will have a price tag that many business owners decide to finance (though many still pay cash).

Financing a laser for tattoo removal is much easier than expected and can provide many benefits.

Astanza has years of experience working with customers to secure financing from local, national, and niche financial institutions. The process can take as little as a few hours and the laser experts at Astanza can help facilitate the process for you.

Why Finance a Laser vs. Paying Cash?

It’s all about flexibility.

Paying for equipment in cash up front can take away from on-hand capital as you’re starting out. Having cash on-hand allows you to pay for running inventory, personnel, advertising, and any unexpected costs while running the business.

By stretching the payments of a laser system out over a two to six year span, you allow the machine to essentially pay for itself along the way. Entrepreneurs often need this flexibility as they become established in a new industry.

Often there can be tax benefits in financing a laser and making monthly payments rather than paying one lump sum. Payments can often be deducted from your taxes as operating expenses, ultimately lowering the overall cost of your financing contract.

Besides, not the entire cost of the machine has to be financed – financiers will work with any percentage of the overall laser cost.

Where to Get a Laser Tattoo Removal Machine Loan

Astanza clients have taken loans from a variety of different providers. The team at Astanza works with you to figure out the best business structure and financial plan for your individual needs and budget.

Most often, clients use third-party lenders that specialize in capital leases, but many also use local banks, credit unions, angel investors, government organizations, and other well-known financial institutions to garner an attractive equipment loan. Astanza not only works closely with a handful of third-party business financiers who work specifically with capital equipment loans, but also can provide the resources you need when approaching other lenders.

Typically, to arrange financing approval and rates, you simply need to provide answers to a handful of basic personal and financial questions, a valid invoice or product quote from the laser company, and possibly a brief history of financial statements.

Often, for clients outside of the U.S., the best place to start searching for a business loan is at your everyday banking institution. You have a history with them and they have been known to offer the best rates in certain circumstances. However, local banks occasionally require liens on real estate, etc. which is not ideal and can negatively affect those without many assets.

If you were not approved for financing, that does not necessarily mean that financing a laser is completely off the table. Other individuals can help you secure financing for your laser system. A business partner, a medical director physician, an existing business owner, or a family member can co-sign an equipment lease or loan.

Regardless of what you think is the most attractive option, let Astanza’s financially savvy team help determine which type of financial institution makes the most sense to help you meet your goals. 

Consumer Reports vs. The Professional Painter: What Paint Is REALLY Best And Why?

It is the only paint protection Adelaide on the market that is permanent. It is a hard wearing ceramic clear coat with superior scratch resistance registering 9H and protection from chemical etching due to environmental impacts. One of our favorite customers from Mechanicsburg, PA recently pointed out that Sherwin Williams Paint typically does not rate well in Consumer Reports, but it is all she ever sees us using in her home. She had asked a handy friend about this, and this person told her that contractors prefer Sherwin to the other because “they get better prices on it so they can make more profit when they sell it to their customers”.  Is it possible we would compromise quality of work to save a few bucks on paint? Or could there be a more practical reason for our choices? Let’s take a closer look…

—Choosing Paint: Sherwin Williams vs. Behr vs. Benjamin Moore vs. Valspar vs. PPG. Most any professional painter who has been in the business for any length of time can tell you that there really isn’t a profit margin in paint. Even with the deepest of discounts, when you factor in the time it takes to figure out what you need and then drive to the store and back it becomes a wash at best.  Additionally, most residential contractors I know pass their discount on to their customers and consider picking up paint to be a courtesy to their customers – making it all the more difficult to consider profit from product in any area other than good old-fashioned customer service.  As I explained to Jan – professional contractors will always try to use the best possible product for any given time within the budget, and the qualities we consider to be important may go beyond what the average DIYer would think about. Of course we consider things like durability and coverage, but there are many other factors that go into our decision making process.  These factors include:

––Is this paint forgiving during the application process? Part of being a professional painter is the ability to get in and out of a customer’s house in a short period of time. This will involve a crew of highly-skilled laborers putting a lot of paint on the walls in a hurry (although never so fast as to compromise final result). Because of this, a paint that flows and level out well on its own is extremely appealing. DIYers don’t usually get enough time with any given paint to see a difference in this area, but folks who paint 40+ hours each week see it almost instantly. Having the ability to paint an area and trust it will look good without having to go back to it is crucial for us to keep a good pace.

—Is this paint capable of producing a uniform, even result with the use of both a brush and a roller? Often times the answer here is no, particularly with paints with higher levels of sheen. A cut line that looks different from  areas covered by a roller can produce walls that look “picture boxed”, making a wall look like it has a frame around the edges. There are tricks to dealing  with this, but they take a lot of time that I would much rather use to insure quality elsewhere on your job.

–Is this paint true to sheen? Most homeowners are unaware that there is a range for each level of paint sheen that is acceptable, so a “satin” from one company might look completely different from a “satin” from another company. In fact sometimes this varies from product line to product line within the same brand. In order to attain the look we are trying to achieve we must consider the light of the room and how much reflection the room will get from wall to wall.

—Does this paint dry slowly or quickly? And how long is the “open” time?  Open time refers to the amount of time we have to work with paint before it starts to tack up and can’t be touched any more. What we are looking for here varies from project to project and can be affected by humidity, heat, wind, and the overall time I have to complete a given job.  Sometimes we HAVE to get 2 coats done in one day, and in some cases we have to let paint cure overnight.                                                                                           –

—Other considerations may  include: What is the age/sheen/and type of paint we are covering?  Is it oil-based? Is there a lot of patching on the walls? Is soot/nicotine/water damage on the walls?

This is just a partial list. And while I did not get into this much detail with my customer, it should be noted that while we prefer more products from Sherwin Williams than other stores, there is an ideal use for paints from almost any manufacturer. A few items we find more efficient for certain applications  include Valspar primers and Valspar Duramax exterior paints (Lowes), PPG/Pittsburgh Breakthrough and Manor Hall interior paints (Snyder’s Paint Store Lemoyne, PA), Behr Marquee interior paint(Home Depot), And Benjamin Moore Aura and Regal Select (Auman’s, Hershey, PA).  The last though I have on paint manufacturer selection that often serves as a tie-breaker is customer service. Sherwin Williams stores tend to have a larger staff and be much quicker at handling multiple orders at the same time.  And they are EVERYWHERE. This is a huge advantage over  Lowe’s and Home Depot when paint is needed in a pinch during a project due to a spec /color change or addition. They are not immune to customer service problems, but overall Sherwin Williams are the easiest of the large chain stores to deal with by far. The smaller, independent stores ( in our area Snyder’s in Lemoyne/Camp Hill and Auman’s in Hershey) usually have extremely knowledgeable staff members  that can help with problem solving and answer even the most technical of questions. And they are not tied to any one manufacturer so they often have a better selection of paints and sundries to choose from. The only DISADVANTAGE  with independent stores is that they usually only have a single location, which is not always as close as we would like it to be…