Small Business Financing Options: A Brief Introduction

Financial assets are often what determine if a small business start up succeeds or fails and it is for that reason it is important to understand the options available to entrepreneurs. Even if all sources options are available for cash, it is critical that a close and in depth comparison is conducted to help reduce interest paid or shares forfeited and risk.

The most common and sought out financing option is the use of commercial bank loans. Bank loans are often the preferred option of getting cash because they do require business owners to turn over any equity or control to others. Loans, depending on the size can take many years to pay off and are not available for everyone. In fact many businesses and start ups do not have access to loans due to the amount of financing needed, bad credit and/or too much risk involved.

The second option entrepreneurs should consider is getting investors (the first option if business owners do not mind giving up some control). If large amounts of financing are needed this may be the only option. There is little risk involved as the investors money becomes the companies money in exchange for shares or part ownership, this means when the company profits they profit and when it loses they lose. The issue is actually finding investors. There are two main types of investing parties for start ups and small business, angel investors and venture capitalists. Angel investors often invest smaller amounts in higher risk companies while venture capitalists are much more risk avoidant and often invest higher amounts and only target established and high growth companies.

Less desirable options include home equity loans and financing through credit cards. Home equity loans, although a cost effective substitute for business loans (they often have lower interest rates), pose a high risk because they require the borrower to use the equity of their home as collateral. Credit cards are often used for cash advances when smaller amounts of capital are needed, the issue with using credit cards is the interest can building leading to thousands of dollars owed leading to bad debt. In most cases both options should only be considered as a last resort and in low risk situations.

The safest method of small business financing is your national and regional governments. Each year millions of dollars are placed aside to provide grants and low interest loans to start ups and small business helping entrepreneurs get the financing needed with little risk and interest paid while stimulating the economy.

It is important to weigh all the options and risks, ask yourself what amount is actually needed and if the risk is worth it. For small fees, financial planners can help entrepreneurs choose the right option.

Shipping services

Summer always manages to come and go. Before you realize it, the holiday season is already here. It’s time to stop procrastinating and get on top of things. Prepare and start early for the holiday seasons. Many Canadians during this season usually ship Christmas presents to love ones across the country and have plans to go abroad. Travels back home are also prominent to a country filled with immigrants. With so many preparations to organize for, it’s always a good idea to know a good shipping service to rely on.

Know what numerous of shipping terms are always a good idea. Transporting packages and cargo are usually done by air, land or sea. Ground shipping is usually done by trucks or trains that transports cargo from its origin to the airport and which are then transported by air freights to their destination. Freights are moved in bulk are delivered to sea ports and air ports from its origin. Most shipments are usually done by ships and are the most transportation for 50 percent of international trade.

If you’re planning to make shipments from just within your community, there are other shipping services that you may wish to look into. For instance, Courier Delivery Service delivers mails and packages with emphasis on speed, security, and tracking. They are committed to delivering your packages at specific times which are not common for everyday mail services. Other shipping options include overnight and cross border shipping.

For more information on shipping services look online. There various services that may just fit your specific situation. Don’t let small problems to ruin your holiday season. You’ve been waiting for it all year, enjoy it!

Software innovations: What does it mean?

The business market is always changing. Corporations are constantly challenged to keep up with competitors or be at risk and be driven to the ground. Companies are now using various software to effectively manage their financial data and ensure accuracy and timeliness of reporting processes.

Critical business processes such as accounting has seen the importance of using software in their work. Not only does it save them time but it also ensures the reliability of business transactions and financial data during each accounting period. For instance, accounting software now functions as an accounting information system that records and processes transactions within functional modules such as accounts payable, time sheet, billing and payroll. Software such as these are becoming more predominant in the workplace. Bookkeepers for instance are using accounting applications to debit and credit financial transactions. Account Managers on the other hand, use financial and accounting software such as Sales Management Software to prepare financial statements like the company’s income statement and statement of retained earnings more efficiently.

Technological improvements have given suppliers the opportunity to provide software at lower prices, therefore, making them more available to businesses at various growth stages. New software innovations are also being created and introduced that target the technological savvy generation.

Though numerous software are becoming more prominent in the workplace, they are also gradually becoming more popular for personal use. As suppliers claim their effectiveness for managing your own financial accounts, the lower costs and ease of use have made them very attractive for these users. However, there are still certain risks associated with preparing your own taxes without an Accountant to oversee the process. Hence, it is crucial that you have an adequate understanding of what the software is trying to do.

Keep a critical mind when using any software. Despite technological advancements, any software has its flaws so be cautious.

How Can You Market Your Business Properly?

Although newer and newer innovations are coming out on the business front to help companies operate in this rather volatile business environment, there is still a substantial amount of confusion relating to how to market your business properly. Production isn’t as hard as it used to be – there’s a standard procedure to making a product or delivering a service…it’s become an automated procedure (even for the customized services). Taking the finances down hasn’t changed much either – there is, again, a process to complete the entire accounting and financial procedure very feasibly. So, it’s evident that marketing has undoubtedly become one of the more variable components of every modern-day business.

Before explaining how marketing has changed, it’s key to understand what marketing is in the first place. In my personal opinion, marketing is the process of pulling in consumers’ interest in a particular product and service you are selling, attempting to intellectually, emotionally, and mentally stimulate them to increase their loyalty to the product and the brand of the company itself. Essentially, marketing should always end up with a call to action, something that wakes up the consumer and tells them to do something very plainly – in most cases, this involves actually purchasing the product or service. This definition of marketing isn’t the most “up-to-date” because of all the new technological inventions and innovations (like address validation software which uses postal code map technology) that are coming out in the business environment, but it is the most fundamental one. People will definitely utilize at least a portion or “the gist” of this concept for years to come.

Now, let’s move on to the big question – how can we properly market the modern-day contemporary business. First off, let’s establish that it’s not an easy task – it requires substantial research and analysis before even proceeding. You have to understand exactly what product you’re selling and the benefits or advantages of purchasing said commodity. If you blindly believe that this product will yield you positive results because of its “alleged” quality and value, then you probably won’t be successful. It’s all about understanding the value-add from the perspective of the consumer. Spend a bit of primary research time testing out the product with a sample consumer base – what parts of the product to they like? Dislike? Any other comments that they input should be taken down and referred to at a later basis – these will all be useful in marketing the good or service to them.

These are just tips to understand how marketing should actually take place – companies run into this process blindly with no real goal. However, with the proper procedure, it’s possible to break down each step of the marketing process to maximize your ROI.

Why Does My Car Insurance Matter If I Get A DUI?

About 10 years ago, I remember one of my friends calling me up at around 11pm and giving me some pretty disturbing news. Earlier that night, he had been at the other end of a car accident – worse, the person responsible for the accident was driving intoxicated. Thankfully, he was fine and escaped with a few minor bruises. However, I still remember the news shocking me – the accident was not an “accident” after all. It was due to neglect, irresponsibility, and ignorance by the other person who was driving drunk. Then I thought about something a little different – how would the car insurance of the person responsible get affected?

Here’s the answer. There are three ways in which your assurances auto can be negatively affected:

Insurance Suspension/Termination

Let’s make one thing clear – driving drunk is an illegal activity. It’s very much against the law and not tolerated one bit. Since this is an illegal activity, your insurance will be suspended and invalid following the charge. If your insurance is invalid, then that means that you are not protected from any further accidents that might occur. This also means you’ll have to compensate the other person injured for any injuries they have faced – you will have to pay off their medical bills.
Complete vulnerability and an empty wallet are the two resulting components of an insurance suspension and a DUI charge

Threat of lawsuit

Now, the other person who has been injured in the car accident will be completely taken care of by their assurance voiture provider, giving them the funds necessary (from your bank account, of course – refer to the first point). Once the person has fully recovered, their insurance provider will come up right next to you and sue you for the damages faced by their client. So, you’ll end up having to pay the medical expenses for you and the other person and the lawsuit thrown at you by the person, emptying your wallet completely.

Insurance Renewal Problems

The last issue relates to insurance renewal. Once you get a DUI and you try to renew your insurance, you don’t need to because your driving record is wiped completely clean. When some of my friends heard this news, they were utterly delighted. I remember their exact reaction – so it’s like this DUI never happened! Wrong. Wiping your slate clean means that the insurance rates you’ll face will be incredibly high. I’m talking sky high here. You’ll end up with no money very soon because these rates will stay stable for about 10 years and then start to decline. It won’t be a very pretty situation.

So, on the whole, I think it’s sufficient to say that drinking and driving is not a smart move. Not only are you hurting peoples’ lives, but you’re also damaging the relationship you have with your insurance provider, leading you to become bankrupt very soon. On the whole, don’t drink and drive, but if you have to, make sure you hire a designated driver.

The Changing World of Business

At one point in time, business was pretty simple. Go back to the first monetary equivalencies and you’ll find out that, in the past, goats can be exchanged for clothes. In other words, the entire system of finance in a country was based on commodities, not on a medium of exchange, like the dollar/euro/yen. Business, at that time, was all about trading. Trading fur, trading wool, cotton, you name it – it was an item used in a business setting.

However, things are a little different today. Make that extremely different. We’ve dropped the entire commodity system and we’re not using not only the fixed medium of exchange (the dollar) but a ton of other information. Information, in the early days, existed, but it wasn’t as abundant as it is today. Everywhere we look, some message is being communicated to us in a persuasive way. This information, in a business setting, quickly adds up. What used to be a simple financial calculation to figure out the exchange rate between two commodities is now a component of a complex formula in order to run a business. We have to not only consider our business’s financial status, but the state of the economic environment, the state of our competitors’ financial status and many other parameters that are not very easy to immediately dig up.

In recent years, innovations have risen to make this situation a little different. Firstly, we have to recognize what businesses actually want – they just don’t want to store information in a large data center– they want to USE this information to bring value to the company itself. Why is this important? Think about it…in the type of economic environment we’re operating in, it’s really important to understand what parts of your businesses are profitable and what parts are not. For this, financial management software have come up that analyze the cost and profit drivers of your business and break down your budget for you using a process called data mining. Essentially, the system takes data over data over data and interprets it – it provides VALUE to the entire process instead of just communicating what the data literally says to the user. This is really valuable to the business, since finances always come in databases and spreadsheets – there’s always a long list of things to keep in mind whenever making a managerial or an executive decision, so this system is definitely an asset to any business.

Another important advancement is the creation of enterprise risk management software, which scans the economic environment you’re operating in and lets you know of the potential (predicted) ups and down of the economy. Two years ago, we faced one of the great financial meltdowns of the 21st Century. If businesses are able to anticipate crashes in the stock markets, inventory deficiencies and other disasters, then the overall performance of the firm itself will increase. That’s definitely a good investment for any modern-day company.

Why Get A Car Insurance Quote For New Driver In Canada?

If you want to be able to drive freely on the roads of Canada then you need to have the proper car insurance coverage. A car insurance quote for new driver in Canada is the best way to go if you want to reap all of the benefits of auto insurance. Take a look here in order to unlock all of those benefits and tips you need!

Just like every country in the world, Canada has set laws and limitations that need to be followed when you are driving on the road. A certain amount of vehicle insurance and proof is necessary in order to stay out of trouble. Your insurance will also work to keep you and all passengers safe as long as you are paying for the premium.

Car insurance quotes are very easy to find. Most major car insurance companies will give you all of the quotes that you could ever want on various cars. Once you gather all of your vehicle information, you can easily begin the quote process. This can also be looked at as a great way to find out how much owning a brand new car can be.

Your goal is to save as much money as you possibly can on your car insurance. The car insurance quote for new driver in Canada that you look over will show you your payment options. Many people will choose for a 6 month payment plan simply because the payments are lower and easy to pay. However, if you do have the extra cash put it all down on your premium so you have definite insurance for 6 months at a time.

If a down payment is required make sure that you find the lowest down payment around. Each insurance company is going to quote a different number. This number is based on a number of aspects including your overall credit history. Sign up with the company that can save you the most money and asks for little to no money down on car insurance.

Roadside assistance, medical coverage and rental car expenses might all be covered under the coverage plan that you are looking at. With each car insurance quote for new driver in Canada there are features that need to be looked at closely. A rental car will surely help you get back on your feet and keep your routine even if your car is stuck in the shop!

Being safe is what it is all about and when you choose car insurance quotes you are taking the right steps! Make sure to choose the proper medical coverage on your policy that you can keep you and your friends safe while driving. Insurance companies can also make recommendations during the quoting process in order to keep you from spending too much money each month.

As you can see there are many advantages that come with having car insurance. A car insurance quote for new driver in Canada can really come in handy if you do not have a lot of money. Take the time to look around today and see which companies will work best for you!