Guide To Small Business Factoring

Factoring is becoming a popular yet not so well known tool in the arena of small business. It is an important way of keeping cash flowing through the business when invoices are delayed or accounts receivable are higher than the money in hand. Basically factoring helps you get cash for your business without having that time delay from the time you issue an invoice. They also provide you with collection services and sales ledgers that can be helpful as well. If you are a small business owner, then you should consider this guide to small business factoring as a way to fund your business month to month.

How does factoring work? It is easy and yet complicated all at the same time. The factor will generally manage your sales ledger for you while also providing you with colletion services for all outstanding invoices. Typically you will be loaned 80% to 90% of the total amount of the invoice. You will generally receive the money within 24 hours of agreeing to the services of the factor.

Factoring for a small business does cost money, though. Usually there are a couple of different costs you have to consider. A service chare will usually cover the management of your sales and collections. The other charge is a percentage of sales factored as well as an interest charge of some sort on the cash advance the factor is giving you. The interest rates, obviously, will depend on your company’s credit, the credit of the invoiced companies, and the institution you factor through.

No guide to small business factoring would be complete without telling you want to look for in a factoring company. Obviously you should look for a stable financial institution that will be able to support the business. You should also look for good terms and a company you are comfortable working with since there will be plenty of interaction. Finally, you may want to consider a company that will give you internet access to your accounts. You can easily track the ledger, sales, collections, and your factored amounts that way.

It is also important to understand that no two factoring companies are completely alike. While much of what this guide to small business factoring has explained is typical, there are exceptions to most every situation. The best thing you can do for your business with regards to factoring is research the companies you are considering. Think about what you need and what you want and what everyone is offering you.

A guide to small business factoring can never be complete. There are too many ins and outs when it comes to almost any financial transaction. There are also a number of variables involved like current interest rates, your credit rating, reliability of your invoiced companies, and many other things as well. Before you ever agree to a factoring relationship, make sure you understand all terms as well as how long the contract is for and what renewal terms are. Protect yourself and do your homework and you can use factoring as a way to keep your cash flowing.

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The Politics Of Scrabble

Friday night while some people were going out to dinner or the latest movie, Susan and I finished dinner and settled into a raucous game of Scrabble. Yes, I said raucous because when we play Scrabble, it is an intense challenge trying to beat Susan at this game. She is really good.

When I was a kid and played Scrabble, I always felt that my vocabulary and spelling skills were a benefit to winning, and usually did win a lot of the time. However, Susan has taught me that it is not just how many letters that you use, it is how you use the letters. It turns out that I played the game and Susan plays the strategy.

In business, we sometimes find ourselves playing the game. We know what needs to be done and because of our upbringing and being taught an employee mentality since we were children, we go to work in our business as employees rather than entrepreneurs. We are in essence playing the game.

Business however requires a strategy to win. Much like playing Scrabble, it is not the number of hours that we work that makes us successful. It is the strategy in the way that we work that makes the difference. We can be employees in our business or we can create jobs for employees in our business. The choice is ours.

When we are looking at our business from day to day it is easy to get lost in the details of our daily tasks. We become overwhelmed with the minute details, trying to play all of the roles that are required to keep the business going along the path of our vision of what it is supposed to be. We find it difficult to see how we can trust others to fulfill those roles and do the job as good as we might. It is hard to let go.

The truth is that as we continue to hold on to our task load, we defeat the purpose of having a business in the first place. To work less and earn more. Thus we find ourselves burnt out, depressed and just plain tired of all of the crap that goes into running the business.

Many people at the point of frustration simply give up and go back to the world of being an employee. Rather that take the steps that could ultimately make the business work, we break down and give up, thinking that it is hopeless and that we can never change.

I recently read a book called “The E Myth Revisited”. It talks about business and how to shift the thinking from being an employee to being an entrepreneur. It is a very easy read and it has a lot of really good ideas in it. I highly recommend it.

So what does this have to do with Scrabble? Nothing really except that without the strategy I usually lose. In fact in the more than 30 times I have played Susan I have only won one time. Is it because I am stupid? Maybe. however I believe that that is not the reason. I believe that Susan wins because she has a strategy to win.

One day my strategy will be as good as hers. One day I will win many games in a row. Until then, I will continue to work on my strategy. I will develop my strategy based on what she does to win. I will observe, copy, emulate and downright mimic what she does and then modify it to my own style.

Isn’t that how we win in business too?

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It Can Happen To You, The Misorganizations Of Joe

This is the story of Joe, the office guy. Just a peaceful, ordinary fellow, who was plain and simply a messy pig in his office. He never thought it was any big deal to have things strewn from one corner to another in disarray so bad that people would cover their eyes when they walked by.

One day, as Joe arrived at his office, he decided he would take care of several “to do” items on his list. He did all his personal things from his office as well as business things. The first item on his agenda was paying for his homeowners insurance. He was certain he received that last notice that said cancellation, but was unsure just where he put all those nasty little bills and reminders. He thought and thought. He searched and searched. He was not successful, and finally gave up and decided he would look for those when he got home, knowing full well that they were indeed buried somewhere within his stacks of crap in his baskets at work.

He moved on to the next item on his agenda, paying his car payment. Again, I suppose you can guess what happens here… Now perhaps had he filed those bills and reminders neatly in a file folder, he would have known exactly where to go. He always paid his bill online, but he still had to have the bill so he could get his account number from it. Why he never wrote it down on a post-it note, I cannot imagine. Well, no luck with that task either, so he just put it aside for later.

Well now, Joe was thoroughly disgusted at this point. Even more infuriating was the fact that his boss kept bugging him for a report that was due the day before. How dare he be so insensitive when poor Joe was only trying to pay his bills. Is that not why we go to work, to pay our bills? The report, which he HAD actually finished, was lying right on top of his desk organizer in a red report cover when he left last night. Was the red report cover still there? Well, I suppose you can imagine the answer. In actuality, his report and its red cover were lying on the floor, wedged between the desk and the wall unseen by poor unsuspecting Joe. Now, he would have to redo the entire thing.

His day was not getting any better. Joe got up to go to the bathroom and tripped over a stack of binders. As he fell, he hit his head on the corner of his desk and saw not only stars, but whole galaxies. He was indeed bleeding all over his index cards and paper clips. That was the last straw! He was going home!

He told his boss he was leaving for the day and went out to the lot to retrieve his car. He always parked…… wait…. where the heck was his car? He went back inside and the receptionist cooly reported to him that a tow truck had a rendezvous with his car about half an hour ago. It was repossessed! Damn, he should have paid that car payment. Had it not been lost in his basket, that would have happened. He called his friend for a ride home, stewing all the way.

Upon reaching his street, he was amazed to find that the street was blocked by fire trucks. There was a fire pretty close to his house…. no wait… oh damn… it WAS his house! I can guess what you may be thinking. Uh oh, I guess Joe should have found that homeowner policy and paid that bill.

You can see how the consequences of having a messy office have affected Joe. Some simple organization would have went a long way. The next time you take a look around you and cannot seem to be able to put your hands on something you are sure is in the stack somewhere, remember the plight of Joe and get it organized!

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Become A More Valuable Virtual Assistant

Being of value to your client or your boss is invaluably important to job security. But how does one go about creating value? You become more knowledgeable and indispensable. Learn as much as you can about what your boss/client does.

Ask questions. Most people are flattered to know that you care enough to ask how they do what they do and why they do it.

By learning more and asking more, you will be able to answer questions about the client/boss to his or her potential clients. If you can help him or her along this is way, you will inevitably become indispensable.

Make suggestions. If you see ways to improve a particular process or task – whether it creates greater efficiency or saves money – you’ll look like the hero.

Offer to save the client/boss money. Everyone – I don’t care how rich or poor they are – likes to save money. Don’t recommend something you know to be a waste. Instead, offer a better, cheaper, more efficient option.

Practice good will. It goes a long way. A good example: This week a client asked about finding a particular list for him. No problem, I’d researched something similar for another client. I gave him the contact information so he could check it out and perhaps buy the list (from another vendor). He asked,
“Well, how are you going to make money on this?”
My response?
“I won’t and I don’t need to – all I did was refer you to someone who could help you out.”

He would have gladly paid me $100 for the referral – even offered to. But, my offer of good will in not accepting that $100 will net me a lot more in future business than just $100 one-time. I don’t want him to think that every time I do a favor he owes me money. I want to build up that favor bank so he owes me favors and has no other option but to pay those favors back in the way of referrals and/or future business. And, because he now knows I’m not going to rip him off, he’ll keep coming back forever!

Let the client/boss know what else you can do. Listen to him rattle on about his thoughts, ideas, and business philosophies. When you hear some little tidbit that you can help with – mention it! You’ll get more work and he’ll have more faith in your abilities.

Be willing to accept suggestions. Of course, this one’s a no-brainer.

Don’t whine! When a client/boss asks for something, don’t whine about it – just do it. If they think they have a whiner on their hands they won’t want anything to do with you.

If you work as an admin or assistant of any kind, you need to be able to enjoy serving other people. That’s the basis of your job – realize that use a corresponding attitude

Improve your skills. If you’re so-so at using Excel, being a whiz will carry you far. Most software programs have tutorials build right in. Use it! In your own time, run through the tutorials and practice, practice, practice. Join a chat group if you need to learn more of the software’s functions. Then let the client/boss know what you can do. It’s always impressive when someone says,
“I know how to do this now, and may I help you?”

A good share of being a good admin is putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. Ask yourself on a regular basis,
“How would I want this done and what response would I expect from someone working for me?”

Your answer to that question is exactly how you should handle the situation/request.

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Overview Of Accounting And Accountants

Accounting is a very important part of a business. As an entrepreneur, you either do it yourself or get someone else to do it for you. I have included this article for freelancers to have a very broad outline of the accounting profession. With this you can at least appreciate the discipline as well as its role in your business. As your business grows, the distinctions between the different types of accounting will become increasingly important.

When you are first starting, the only form of accounting you’ll ever meet would probably be record-keeping and bookkeeping. This is the part where you record the sales you’ve received and the expenses you have made using receipts, invoices, cheques and other transactions source documents.

Firstly, what is accounting?

For most people, accounting does not concern them because they think of it as a laborious activity performed by people who are ‘good with numbers’. Accounting is often confused with the narrow concepts of record-keeping and bookkeeping.

Accounting of course is much broader than that. “Accounting is the system that measures business activities, processes that information into reports and communicates these findings to decision-makers”. The accounting system produces financial statements that report on an individual’s or an organization’s business in monetary amounts.

Who Uses Accounting Information?

1. Individuals, 2. Businesses, 3. Investors and Creditors, 4. Government Agencies, 5. Taxing Authorities, 6. Non-Profit Organizations and 7. Other Users including employees, consumer groups, labour unions and the general public.

The Types of Accountants and The Specialized Services Performed By Them:

1. Private accountants – These work for single organizations. They may perform cost accounting, budgeting, information systems design, internal auditing, financial accounting and management accounting;

2. Public accountants – These serve the general public. They may perform specialized services such as auditing, tax accounting and management consulting.

For small business owners, the areas that would occupy most of your time is financial and management accounting. Financial accounting provides information to people outside the business including creditors and the government for tax purposes. Management accounting generates information for you, the person who manages the operations of the business. This will produce how much you are spending on manufacturing your products or providing your services in a way that you can see where you are lacking and where your are doing well on.

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Please note that this article serves as a guideline only. You should still seek professional advice regarding the matter because laws and practices change over time and they differ from country to country.
For small business owners, the areas that would occupy most of your time is financial and management accounting. Financial accounting provides information to people outside the business including creditors and the government for tax purposes. With this you can at least appreciate the discipline as well as its role in your business. As your business grows, the distinctions between the different types of accounting will become increasingly important.

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The History Of The Food Concession Business

The history of food concessions may seem to be short but if you look at street vending through the ages you may find that it is older than you think. Street vending, now sometimes called food concessions begin with early entrepreneurs. These venders profited from those milling around in the public markets purchasing other things. It was very popular and began to become quite common. Venders in current times have much the same philosophy as those from ancient times: take advantage of large gatherings of hungry people. Three major early influences on food concessions are from Ancient Rome, Medieval times, and.

One of the most influential times of history on the concession business is that of Ancient Rome. During the times of Ancient Rome, there were many ways people had become aware of public entertainment. One of the ways that people entertained each other and themselves was during popular gatherings of the Roman Coliseum. Spectators would come to see different contests and competitions such as chariot races, sports, and circuses. While some visitors managed to bring their own goodies to eat, others didn’t. This was noticed and before long, tables were set up during competitions to feed and refresh those who were willing to pay. Breads and wines were often offered to those with an empty belly and plenty of money in their pockets. This became quite popular and many were becoming quite wealthy off of these spectators.

Another really popular segment of the past of concession trailers is medieval fairs. During medieval times, very much like Roman times, people often gathered in flocks in search of entertainment. The medieval society often put together fairs that brought people from miles around to see contests and other spectacles. When these fairs would gather, part of the entertainment was the food that was offered. As is similar with modern fairs, different types of foods were available that weren’t necessarily available when fairs weren’t in town. Looking at modern fairs today you can see the influences early fairs may have had on them.

One final thing that affected the way we view food concessions today is the sports arena. For years and years, baseball, football, and other sports complexes have offered goodies such as hotdogs and cold beer. Boxing specifically had a big effect on concessions when Harry Stevens began providing refreshments ringside. These sporting events are well known for their great classic American foods and other offerings they have.

No matter how you look at it or where or when the first concessions, the past has effected the way current vendors do business. These early entrepreneurs made major leaps in the way money was made and the way events were enjoyed. We, as concession trailer owners, have taken a page from the book of those who came before and perfected their already great ways of mobile food vending. Though they may not have worked exactly the way today’s venders work, the principal is definitely the same: provide food to hungry patrons, preferably gathered in a confined area. The rest is definitely history.

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The Value Of Hiring Good Employees

In one of my previous articles, I wrote about the importance of customer service in business, and specifically the food concession business. In order to help implement this trait with your food business, hiring good employees is extremely important. But having good customer service isn’t the only reason to hire good employees. Other traits of good employees are trustworthiness, good work ethic, and ability to learn. These traits are all extremely important and an employee without one or more of these traits is simply not the full package. In order for your mobile food concession business to run smoothly and successfully, finding employees with the whole package is crucial.

Customer service is so important in being able to keep your customers happy. While you alone know how important it is to your business to create good relationships with your customers, since you probably won’t run the business completely by yourself, you must also convey this message to your employees. Good employees will care that you want to be kind to your customers. Employees that aren’t worth much might treat customers well in your presence but then treat them without care when you aren’t around. You must always leave a way for customers to leave feedback so that you can be sure your customers are getting treated in a way that will be good for your business’s reputation.

Knowing you can trust an employee to treat your customers well even when you aren’t there is part of the trait of being trustworthy. This is one of the most important traits you can find in any employee. An employee that you can’t trust does not need to be part of your team. An employee that isn’t trustworthy will not have any problem stealing goods, money, or supplies from you. This can be an unbelievably high cost to lose. Employee theft is one of the biggest expenses of businesses these days. A trustworthy employee is worth his or her weight in gold.

Another important trait of an employee with the whole package is good work ethic. This also goes along with trust. You have to be able to trust your employee to really work when your back is turned. An employee with good work ethic will do that for you. This is a priceless trait when you need to get as much work for the money you are paying employees as you can. Employees that just sit down when you leave are robbing you of your hard earned money. Getting something for nothing should be considered theft and if you have employees like this, either tell them to change their ways or they are out.

Finally, ability to learn is certainly near the top of the list of important traits for good employees. You have to have employees that pick up on procedures very quickly if you run a concession business. This will make your job much easier when it comes to being able to leave them alone and having work get done. If you have employees that aren’t good at learning on the go, you will not have as efficient of a business as you could. All of these traits are important employee traits for any business. Finding employees with the total package can help you have a successful experience in business.

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Why Communication Is Key To Business

There is no simple trick to running a business. This could beneift smaller companies most being run by either a sole trader or a very small group of people. Even if you have a small organisational structure and commincate brilliantly in the office just how good it with the customers?

Many people choose the modern way of owning a business and that is of course to operate solely on the internet. The improvment of communication has made companies on the internet very successful.How is it they suceed? Even with the brilliant products and prices without communication you could be flushing money down the toilet?

The truth is that many businesses suffering at the moment are blaming it all on the recession when in truth it is possible that many of them simply lack the communication they need to bring in the customers. Simply just having an online ordering system may not be enough to bring in those customers who do not trust the way that many sites lay out their bank detail requirements. Many people will want more than the site description offers which is why having that phone link can proove to be useful.

This is where 0871 numbers could really help to benefit any business suffering from lack of communication. An 0871 number means that instead of a customer simply having to stick to what is on the site they can contact you and inquire into something more or give you their details over the phone. Options are always key as many people still like to personally talk to the owner/staff member to make sure everything is bought to their satisfaction. Another benefit of these 0871 numbers is that you will recieve a small part of the fee the customer is paying for the call. Customer’s will never be presented with a voice system during working hours as the number can be redirected to anywhere from the office to the home and even the mobile.

If a 0871 number isn’t for you why not choose a 0800 number or one of the premium rate numbers?

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