Entrepreneurial

– Cynthia Hsu is a contributor to FindLaw’s Free Enterprise blog. FindLaw is a Thomson Reuters publication. –

Small business owners that are struggling to make ends meet sometimes need business loans – or a pawn shop. Pawn shop loans are now something that some business owners are turning to as a result of the tight economy and lack of lending.

Pawning is probably easier than getting a bank loan, though the interest rates may be significantly higher.

Pawn shops, including online pawn shop Pawngo.com, will evaluate your item, and e-mail you an offer about how much they are willing to loan you. If you are able to repay the loan, you will get your item back. If not, the pawn shop will keep it. Pawngo itself has loaned about $1.35 million in about 46 states, according to the company website.

Pawn shop owners say that the number one reason why small business owners tend to go into their office is because they want to have enough cash flow to pay their employees, reports CNN Money.

Making payroll has always been a bit of a fraught experience for Shelley O’Sullivan and her husband at their five-employee construction firm located just north of San Francisco. But a simple mobile app has reduced that anxiety.

“The hassle we were always having with the computer issue is that we do payroll on Thursday and so we have to be home and input it by 3 o’clock to get the checks (out) by the next day,” said O’Sullivan, whose husband started using the iPhone app offered by their payroll service provider, ADP, a month ago. “Now that we have an app he’s out in the field and hits a button and boom, it’s done.”

O’Sullivan said the app is especially handy for their construction business, as they normally spend a lot of time outside the office on sites.