In the past bad credit when applying for a business loan usually only meant you would pay more in interest. That was bad enough, but now good credit is even more important. Bad credit can mean not getting a loan, needing a co-signor, or having to use your personal credit to obtain a loan. None of the three are great options and wise business owners prefer a simple, straight-forward business loan so getting credit, keeping it in good shape, and having great business performance records is important. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the newest buzz words to come out of the environmental crisis is the term “green-collar job”. What exactly is a green-collar job and will there be a need for green-collar workers in the future? Apparently so, as a study by the RAND Corporation and the Universtiy of Tennessee “found that if 25% of all American energy were produced from renewable sources by 2025 we would generate at least 5 million new green-collar jobs”.

Those numbers sound great, but what is a “green-collar? The United States is finally coming to realize that our dependence on fossil fuels is not only detrimental to the environment, it has negative economic ramifications as well. The need for new products and services that will help us develop a more energy efficient society is creating a host of new jobs and the redesigning of jobs that are already in existence. In order to bolster our economy, good jobs that are in green industries need to be created. Read the rest of this entry »

Bonding is NOT insurance. The purpose of bonding is to ensure that the project continues on or near schedule despite issues with performance or payment. The bond is there to provide assurance to the owner or general contractor that your company can and will fulfill its obligations as contracted. In the event that the bond is utilized, the bonding company expects full repayment for the amount utilized.

Bond companies need 10% equity (or higher) on the balance sheet. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently someone asked me some questions that I think are on the mind of everyone who is thinking about buying tax liens. People want to know how much money they need to get started in tax lien investing and if this is something that they can use as their main source of income. In this article I will give my experience of what it takes to get started as opposed to how much money you need to invest in order to turn buying tax liens into your main income source.

First let me make it clear that tax lien investing is only one of my income sources. I use it as Read the rest of this entry »

Depending on whose stats you pay attention to, approximately 80% of small businesses fail within their first 5 years of operation. In many cases, its not that a particular business could not succeed; there just wasn’t sufficient time to figure out how to succeed.

Which brings us to the worst small business financing strategy ever.

Here’s how it works: Read the rest of this entry »

Micro Lenders: A company or organization that offers small loans to businesses that are generally unable to obtain financing from a conventional source. Microlender loans often range from $5,000 to $25,000 at interest rates higher, but not always, than those charged by traditional commercial banks.

Micro loans first started in underdeveloped countries to help the poor become entrepreneurs. The loans were generally small. Today this has all changed. Micro loans are now available throughout the United States and one of their principle groups is women! Because women have had…

Finish: What Are Micro Loan Lenders? here

Being classified as a small business isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it means that you may qualify for a large amount of support from the Small Business Administration or “SBA”.

When you are in business for yourself, it is critical to develop a good knowledge base, and that is also what will help you wade through the myriad of small business loans.

So Let’s Look at How SBA Loans Work

The first thing you need to understand is that you as a business owner are not going to deal with the SBA yourself. The SBA does not act as a principle lender. Instead it backs loans made to small businesses that might otherwise not find a favorable market in traditional lending circles. This means that you will still seek financing from your regular source of lending: banks or other private financial institutions, and if they feel that you have merit but perhaps do not quite meet their more stringent requirements for a loan they put the loan forward to the SBA as a security backing. Read the rest of this entry »

No matter what, your business is it is likely you need supplies. For some companies it may only be a matter of office supplies and equipment, for others it might be an entire product line brought in for re-sale. No matter what type of business you are going to be dealing with vendors. Because of this you are in the perfect position to build your business credit in a way that will benefit your company in several ways.

Even if you can afford to buy your paperclips with cash—don’t. Right from the start you should be contacting vendors that you will be doing business with and enquiring about the possibility of trade credit. Use your business name, address, and pertinent information to obtain vendor accounts so that it is your business that builds credit not your personal credit history. Read the rest of this entry »

There are two main reasons objections come up in selling and there are sales tactics you need to successfully deal with them. One reason is a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the customer to realizing the close is imminent. They bring up an objection to slow down the process. These objections are the ones you can get past easily by just acknowledging them and carrying on with the close. Let’s assume you are starting to write an order and the customer says, “Hold it, that’s a lot of money for a computer system.” Some salespeople stop here and leave. Did the customer say he wasn’t buying? All he said was it was a lot of money and he is probably right. Try using a sales tactic like, “I understand” or “Yes it is” and keep writing the order. About 40% of the time, the objection won’t come up again because it was just a delaying reaction to the close. But, in 60% of the cases, you still have work to do. That’s when the following sales tactics can help. Read the rest of this entry »

Before you go a bank or financial institution to request information for commercial loans, you should ask yourself the following questions:

How comfortable are you with your past decisions of the finance company? You should know what kind of commercial funding to consider. For example, what kind of rate would feel more comfortable with? Do you feel secure about your history of repayment of commercial loans are personal loans?

When financial institutions give commercial loans, they tend to focus on three main ratios. Read the rest of this entry »