When money is tight, small business owners have a variety of financing options available to them. They can sell equity to investors, they can apply for small business loans through the SBA, or they can try to secure funding through traditional financial institutions.

But not all business owners are keen on the idea of selling stakes in their companies. Additionally, many business owners don’t have the patience required to secure funding via the SBA. And even if they were okay with filling out mountains of paperwork, small business owners—particularly those with bad credit and those who haven’t been in business that long—are unlikely to have banking institutions view their applications favorably.

Luckily, another option for outside financing is found in the form of working capital loans.

Unlike most traditional business loans, the approval process for working capital loans is lightning fast. There’s a minimal amount of paperwork required, and even folks with bad credit scores can secure funding within a few business days. Business owners also don’t have to put up any collateral, nor do they have to make any personal guarantees to secure funding. So if for whatever reason your small business is unable to repay a working capital loan, you won’t have to worry about putting your personal assets in jeopardy.

Working capital loans are meant to cover expenses in the near term. So while you shouldn’t use a working capital loan to put a down payment on a piece of real estate, you can use the money to:

• Meet payroll. You can’t expect to keep your doors open if you don’t have money to pay your hardworking staff. You can use a working capital loan to ensure you remain current with payroll—which means you’ll be able to continue to rely on your employees.

• Get more inventory and supplies. A restaurant owner, for example, can’t expect to grow his or her business while constantly running out of food and drink. In this light, working capital loans can be used to ensure businesses have enough inventory on hand to meet customer demand.

• Pay rent and other bills. Both your landlord and the electric company won’t be too happy if you don’t pay your bills on time. Working capital loans give small business owners the money they need to ensure their accounts don’t become delinquent.

• Invest in new equipment. From time to time, small business owners will need to invest in new tools and equipment to stay competitive. Restaurateurs need new refrigerators, physicians need new exam tables, and marketers need new technology. Use the money from a working capital loan to finance these kinds of crucial acquisitions.

• Open an additional store or restaurant. When business is going well, sometimes it makes sense to expand to another physical location. Working capital loans help you cover the costs associated with securing a new spot and getting it ready for business.

• Renovate an existing location. For the most part, you can’t expect to continue to attract customers to your store if it looks like it was designed decades ago. Use a working capital loan to modernize your physical locations.

• Launch a new marketing campaign. To grow your business, you need to reach out to your customers—at least every now and again. It can be hard, however, to find enough money to set aside specifically for marketing. Instead of kicking the can down the road and telling yourself you’ll get around to it eventually, you can use a working capital loan to finance your new marketing initiatives today.

• Cover miscellaneous expenses. You never know when a customer might accidentallydrive through your front window or when an employee might clumsily knock over a laptop, breaking it. Working capital loans provide the funds you need to absorb any kind of unpredictable expenses like these.

Thanks to consumer comparison services, it’s easier than ever for small business owners to find working capital loan lenders. You can search many lenders at once, making it incredibly simple to find the best quote for your business—and quickly.

Quite simply, working capital loans give small business owners the peace of mind that comes with knowing they will be able to invest in growing their operations while also being able to stomach any unforeseen expenses that may materialize. What’s not to like?