Successful Blog

Credit Reports Matter for Businesses and Consumers

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credit-history-represents-debit-card-and-bankcard-100297005Whether you run a business or are just your everyday consumer, you more than likely know how important your credit history is, especially when it comes to meeting your financial needs.

For the small business owner, one’s credit score is very important in order to solidify yourself as being financially sound, most notably in the event you need to acquire a small business loan.

For the typical consumer, a solid credit score rings important when trying to get a new or used car loan, a loan to buy a home and much more.

With that in mind, do you truly know whether your credit report is thumbs up or thumbs down?

Obtaining a Loan or Credit Card

Typically the top reason you want a positive credit score is when it comes time to try and obtain a loan. The same holds true in looking for your first or an additional credit card.

Whether you get your information from CreditSesame.com or another such provider, your score will go a long ways in determining whether you get the funds you seek.

For starters, do you know where you stand when it comes to your credit score?

While the number range can fluctuate to a degree, the following scores mean:

  • 630 or below (Bad credit) – This range means you likely have missed some credit card payments, you have no credit card history, or you at some point filed for bankruptcy (personal reasons such as high medical bills and/or a small business that has gone under). One of the down sides to numbers in this range is that you will have to deal with larger interest rates and fees moving forward;
  • 630 to 689 (Average credit) – This range puts you in with millions of other Americans. While not the worst, your credit could be better if you did away with a sizable portion of bad debt hanging around. Numbers in this range can make it difficult to get a loan;
  • 690 to 719 (Good credit) – This range allows you to be eligible for a variety of different credit cards, with lenders also viewing you as a good risk in most cases;
  • 720 to 850 (Excellent credit) – This range is as good as it gets for consumers. Many will have the opportunity to receive cards that offer great rewards.

Check Your Report in Detail

When you get a copy of your credit report, make sure you go over it with a fine tooth comb.

Look for any inaccuracies, especially given today’s world of identity theft.

If you find something amiss, reach out immediately to the fraud departments of those you do business with and have your account placed under review, making sure no money can be withdrawn until the matter is cleared up. You should also have a security hold placed on your credit report.

Whether for personal or professional use (running a business etc.), your credit report and your history of handling credit will go a long way in determining your financial future.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes for a variety of websites on topics such as marketing and small business.

Is Starting a Small Business a Health Insurance Headache?

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multi-ethnic-team-during-meeting-10066408If you’ve been thinking about turning your hobby into a small business or even buying an existing business, you may be hesitant after you start looking into the health insurance aspects of hiring employees.

Thanks to Obamacare, more small businesses are now required to provide health insurance plans.

That’s all well and good for owners who have the resources necessary to fund such plans, but it bodes ominous for startups that are bootstrapping their business.

In fact, the sole requirement for a health plan can deter new businesses from starting up in the first place.

Don’t worry.

Starting a small business doesn’t have to be a health insurance headache.

There are ways around the Obamacare mandate, just as there are ways to comply with the law in ways that won’t negatively impact your business finances.

Here are some effective ways to get your small business up and running – and keep it running – while dealing with health insurance requirements:

How to Get Around the Requirement

If you have zero funds available for a health insurance plan, yet still need employees to operate the day-to-day tasks of your business, hire independent contractors. Independent contractors are in business for themselves.

As such, they are responsible for their own taxes and health insurance.

They work for you on what’s called a “work for hire” basis. You assign them tasks based on their expertise and specialties, and they invoice you for work that is satisfactorily completed.

Independent contractors don’t technically work for you, and are not your employees. Thus, you are not liable to provide health insurance for them.

The management of your independent contractors needs to be systemized so that in itself doesn’t become an organizational headache.

If this is an avenue you’re interested in pursuing, consider hiring a project manager and investing in some kind of online collaborative software to ensure projects get done on time and under budget.

Keep in mind that if you want or expect your business to grow, eventually you’ll need to move to a traditional employee model.

At that time, you will need to implement a health insurance plan for them, and you’ll need to save in order to manage that scenario.

How to Work With the Requirement

The fact is, there are so many complicated requirements within the Obamacare mandate that it can be compared to the complexity of the overall tax law in general.

As the following article shows, a small business owner, will be hard pressed to research and understand the basic key health insurance terms, let alone come up with a health plan by themselves that satisfies the vast legal requirements.

Your best course of action is to outsource your health insurance plan management to a professional company that specializes in working with small businesses like yours.

Otherwise, the vast amount of your time and the time of your admin team will be spent trying to navigate the minefield of employee health insurance.

Whatever you spend on the health plan management company is tax deductible and the return on investment will prove substantial, even in the short term.

As a small business owner, how are you dealing with the new health insurance requirements?

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Kate Supino writes extensively about best business practices.

The Business of Preventing Fraud

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fraud-calculator-indicates-rip-off-and-calculate-100303071While both large and small businesses can fall victim to fraud, its small businesses that are at the highest risk, with a frequency around 31 percent, according to Association of Certified Financial Examiner’s (ACFE) 2012 Report to the Nations.

The report states that the most common types of fraud amongst small businesses are billing fraud, corruption, check tampering, skimming and expense reimbursement fraud.

Sadly enough, close to half of the fraudulent individuals had been with the company between one and five years.

Breakdown of fraud in the workplace: The ACFE found that of those that are guilty of fraud, 42 percent are employees, 38 percent are managers and 18 percent are business owners or executives.

Fraud Can Occur Just About Anywhere

Surprisingly, even physicians can be affected by fraudulent acts.

The article “Physicians and Stolen Tax Returns: Avoiding medical malpractice fraud” states that physicians in Texas, in addition to other states, are victims of bogus filers that are trying to scheme millions of dollars from the federal government.

While typically the physicians aren’t responsible for these acts, being a victim of fraud takes a tremendous toll on one’s life by adding an immense amount of stress that could have been avoided.

How to Stay a Step Ahead of Fraud

For individuals, such as the physicians mentioned above, they can protect themselves by contacting the Identity Protection Specialization Unit and filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, the US Department of Justice and the Social Security Administration.

Businesses can protect themselves by:

  • Use highly-secured computers – For all banking and financial duties, you should have a computer strictly for those needs and those needs only. No surfing the web, no sending emails and no playing games. Install antivirus software on the computer to prevent your information from being hacked.
  • Keep tabs on your money and personal information – Never wire money unless you know for sure that the recipient can be trusted. Also, do not give out your personal business information to those that you do not know. Check all your bank statements on a regular basis to make sure there is nothing sketchy going on with your accounts.
  • Always perform background checks on employees – Ensure that their past is clear by performing background checks on all potential employees.
  • Insist employees take time off – A main characteristic of a fraudulent employee is someone who insists on never taking any time off of work. The reason being is that they do not want anyone else doing their job for them and perhaps catching them in their fraudulent activities. Have employees work in teams and check each other’s work regularly.
  • Encourage an honest environment – By encouraging honesty throughout your company, keeping tabs on employees and even setting up an anonymous “fraud tip” phone line, you lesson your business’s chances of falling victim to fraud.

While fraud cannot always be prevented, it does tend to happen more often in businesses that are not actively trying to avoid it.

Always have your guard up, follow your accounts closely and if you suspect something suspicious, confront that employee immediately.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Sarah Brooks is a freelance writer living in Charlotte, NC. She writes on a variety of topics including small business, social media and personal finance.

Budget Your Business Better in 2015

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abudgeterBudgeting makes the world go around, especially if you’re a business owner.

With the New Year right off and running, there’s no better time than now to get your budget on the right track.

When it comes to better budgeting for your business, here are just a few ways you can improve your financial plan for 2015:

Make and Follow a Spreadsheet

If you don’t run the numbers as the come, it could spell trouble for your budgeting endeavors. Spreadsheets are a business’s best friend, so if you haven’t already, the New Year is the perfect time to create and follow and budgeting spreadsheet.

You’ll want to make sure your spreadsheet updates are part of your daily routine, so put aside a little time each day for your budget.

If you wait until the end of the week or month to update your spreadsheet, it’ll make finding budgeting errors complicated.

Cut Costs Wherever Possible

Just because your business isn’t over budget doesn’t mean you can’t use the New Year as an opportunity to cut costs. No matter how small your budget is, there’s always room to reduce business costs.

Whether you change suppliers to reduce delivery charges or you simply use less paper in the office, every little bit counts.

If your business has unnecessary costs, chances are they’ll quickly pop up in your budget breakdown.

Assess Regularly

Having a budget is one thing, but following it is something else entirely. Assessing your budget regularly is the best way to stay on top of your business’s finances.

As the following article shows, you can keep track of your finances with a free budget template, which will take the guesswork out of the budgetary process.

Budget templates are great tools for easily tracking your daily, weekly, and monthly spending habits.

The best part is budget templates are available for all of your mobile devices, so you can check your business’s finances on the go.

Leave a Little Wiggle Room

Your business should never live above its means, which is why it’s so important to leave a little wiggle room in your budget.

You never know what’s around the corner for your business. Some extra financial cushion will ensure you don’t have budgeting issues during slow periods or when unexpected costs arise.

In terms of wiggle room, you don’t need a massive amount. A good rule of thumb is to keep 3 to 5 percent of your overall budget open each month.

If you find you don’t need that much cushion or you need to allocate those expenses elsewhere, you can adjust your wiggle room accordingly.

Set Realistic Goals

As your business bid farewell to 2014 and entered 2015, it’s important to set realistic budgetary goals.

Numbers change all the time, so keep this in mind when setting up your budget, be it for employee costs, advertising, marketing, supplies and whatever else you need to efficiently and effectively run your company.

In other words, don’t create a budget that’s so hard to follow that your business struggles just to meet its financial objectives.

If you’re ready to revamp your business’s budget for 2015, keep in mind the financial pointers above.

As a business owner, how do you stay within your budget each year?

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including finance and small business.

Tech Products Make for Better Business

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Technology is making the business world a better place, which translates to better business for companies and consumers.

Whether your business needs a little tech boost or some on the go gadgets for traveling employees, there are plenty of options to choose from.

With a tech-fueled business in mind, here are just a few ways tech products make your business better:

Tablets for Employees on the Floor

Most customers who are on a shopping mission like to find what they want, purchase it, and move on with their day. This means your sales team needs to have your business’s entire inventory in the palm of their hands.

The solution: tablets.

That’s right, tablets are becoming increasingly popular for employees who need to look up prices, search in-stock items, and locate specific items within your store.

Even if your business doesn’t deal in retail, tablets are a great way to keep all the employees in your office connected. Whether on lunch break, in a meeting, or across the hall, tablets allow your employees to take their work with them on the go.

Anywhere Payments

Technology is also improving the payment process for many businesses.

Mobile card swipes connected to smartphones and tablets allow your business to accept credit card payments from anywhere. This not only boosts sales, it also makes shopping more convenient for your customers.

Employee Mobility

If your employees take advantage of telecommuting, then technology can help your remote employees stay better connected to your business. The same goes with employees who travel to clients throughout the day.

From employees who make service calls to employees who work from home a few days a week, major retailers like Walmart carry a full line of smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy 5 that will improve your business’s telecommuting atmosphere.

Technology and Customer Service

It’s no surprise that technology is improving the customer service sector for businesses of all kinds.

For example, call-waiting technology is making the calling process more customer-friendly and less frustrating.

Call waiting services used to simply ask callers to wait on the line until a representative could take their call.

With intuitive call waiting, your business’s call waiting service can actually give customers updates on how many minutes they have left to wait for a representative.

In addition, improved call-waiting technology can actually give your customers the option to have a representative call them back in a timely manner. Intuitive call waiting is just one way technology makes life better for your customers and your business.

Business Apps

Computer technology is improving the business world by digital leaps and bounds.

Such is the case with mobile apps that put your business in the spotlight. With a mobile app specifically designed for your business, you can keep your customers informed on your products and services, send shipping and package notifications, and accept payments for online merchandise.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your business in 2015, the technology above is sure to make a positive impact.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including technology and small business.

The Business of Properly Billing Clients

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If your business isn’t on top of the billing process, then there’s a good chance it’s missing out on precious income.

Whether you’re in the retail, medical, service industry, or other, you need to make sure your clients are billed properly.

When it comes to income, here are just a few reasons why billing is so important to your business:

 

Too Many Claims = Lost Revenue

There’s a difference between a few outstanding balances and multiple claims that completely disrupt the revenue process.

When your business has more claims than payments, it can seriously damage your income to the point where your business has trouble covering its costs.

Claims have a snowball effect, especially for a billing department that isn’t prepared for the collections process. It’s important for your business to have a plan in place for anytime an outstanding balance does enter the claims cycle.

Outstanding Balances Are Difficult to Track

Customers who pay their balances on time make owning a business a pleasure.

However, every business experiences customers who allow their outstanding balances to grow beyond what is acceptable. In cases such as this, the numbers become difficult to track.

A bill that’s paid on time is considered an asset in the eyes of accounts receivable. When that same bill becomes an outstanding balance, it puts your business’s collections in the red.

In addition, the outstanding balance costs your business more money every day it’s not paid because it takes your billing department more time and energy to track it.

Whether your business collects interest on unpaid bills or not outstanding balances are bad news for both your business and its customers.

Revenue Software

For medical practices in particular, claims and unpaid balances can seriously damage revenue over time. Because medical practices have such a high volume of patient turnover, hospital and clinic billing departments oftentimes become overwhelmed.

As the following article asks, Where does your practice fall on the medical billing risk matrix?

Well, if you are in the medical industry, Revenue Cycle Management software, or RCM, can help you get your billing under control. With RCM software, your practice can automatically track balances, claims, and insurance coverage considerations from one payment cycle to the next.

Collections Agencies Are a Headache

Collections agencies are an unneeded stress that no business should have to deal with.

Unfortunately, there are clients who don’t pay their bills and some businesses have no choice but to use outside resources to collect on outstanding balances.

To avoid the hassle and headache of collections agencies, there are some things your business can do to improve its billing process.

Billing Tips

There are clients who are negligent with their payments, but in most cases, clients simply forget a bill is due. Sending helpful email reminders to your customers a few days before their bill is due will help avoid unpaid bills.

If an unpaid balance does go beyond one or two billing cycles, then your billing department should call the customer directly.

Explaining the payment situation to the customer and coming up with a new payment plan is the best way to reach a payment resolution.

By keeping in mind the pointers above, your business will keep its income stream flowing without issue

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including small business and finance.