Budgeting Expenses and Income Through Business Credit Cards

06 January 2010

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There comes a time in the life of any small-business owner when he or she poses the question: Can I apply credit in a smarter way without getting my business into too much debt? The basic answer to that is: Yes, by protecting your credit.

The first three years of a business life are the most crucial. During this time, the business owner will need to carefully budget business expenses and realistically project income. This forces the owner to give the important numbers a good, hard think. It is important to develop a picture of the monthly cash flow, particularly in the first year. This ensures that you know where your money is going and that you are keeping tabs on every aspect of the business.

The Small Business Administration says that many businesses fail because of undercapitalization that is, not recognizing how much you really need to start the business and / or not having the means to access the capital. This is where business credit cards can help. Business credit cards are a common funding option for small businesses. So good, in fact, that there is a general observation that small business owners often overuse their business credit cards during their first years of business. And, if they do not yet have small business credit cards, they normally end up overloading their personal credit cards.

Small business owners understandably heavily rely on business credit cards to help them over those rough periods when the bank balances are low. Unfortunately, in using the business credit cards, some of the small business owners defer paying off the balance for too long and often suffer the penalties of charges in late fees and interest as a result.

The first thing to remember when it comes to using business credit cards is that you should reserve the use of business credit cards for short-term spending only. Business credit cards will allow your business to start building a credit history. If you pay off a large portion of your business credit card balance each month, or even the whole balance when you can afford it, this favorable credit behavior will enable you to build a solid credit reputation under the business name, which will make cheaper commercial loans accessible sooner. That kind of payment behavior also helps you avoid the dangers of falling behind on your business credit card bill.

Remember you already have a budget worked out. Use the monthly statements for your business credit cards to note down your expenses and to track your cash flow status. The business credit card companies already classify your charges, so it should be much easier to do. You can even download your business credit card transaction history from the websites of the business credit card companies. This should speed up your expense reconciliations and give you the time to focus on making your business grow.

Learn to use the discounts offered by business credit cards for business expenditures. Using business credit cards for certain purchases can entitle you to as much as 5 percent discounts. This feature in business credit cards can actually help you save and will go far towards balancing your budget.

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7 Tips To Improve Your Income

19 November 2009

Everyone says that a man with money is a strong man, and we all know thats true. You cannot have a successful business man without a suitable cash flow. If this secret is so well known, why are so many struggling businesses? When running the daily aspects of a business this kind of things, money aspects, are not so clear. We will present you 7 tips to help you improve your income.

1. Cash and Carry. Try to build a business based on cash and carry system and stay far away from worries about receivables. This is the best business plan, where customers pay when they buy leaving you only with the money. Collecting money takes a lot of your time, thats why you are almost obligated to come with new options of paying. Set your rules from the start of your business, so your partners and clients will know what you want from them.

2. Collect receivables in a very strict way. Dont let the customers pay you when they remember, go and collect your money in time. To be a good administrator of your business means to have a successful business, so create and apply a set of collecting rules. Longer wait for receivables, harder becomes collecting them. You dont need a rude attitude to collect your cash; all it takes is a strong voice behind a stronger man. A very useful thing to do is to establish a collecting date after witch you should send out a follow-up statement within 10 to 30 days from the established date. Each business has its own opinions about the perfect time. You should not send follow-up statements sooner then 10 days from the established date. Payment may be delayed by the mail, but no longer then 30 days. If you dont receive the payment within a 45 60 days term, you should notice your customer trough a phone-call. Accounts that go past a 90 day term should be taken to the next step, of collections with a method you established for this situation. Because time is money, every day that passes youre collecting term ads more costs for your business.

3. Receivables Funding. Apply a program that involves accounts receivable funding. Factoring of accounts receivable its a very good way to keep the cash flowing. Factoring programs are very used by businesses that work with government agencies. If your clients are small businesses or individuals you may find it more difficult to apply an accounts receivable funding program because there are more risks to assume.

4. Suppliers. Negotiate terms with your supplier to help delay the outflow of cash payments. Usually you can delay the payment until the end of the month or even up to 60 days. This allows you a little advantage of working with their money on your projects. Also this delay will end (hopefully) just when your clients pay, so you can pay forward to your vendors. Some companies prefer the route of forwarding, giving you the opportunity increase your offers without having to invest large amounts of money in more products.

5. Deposits of customers. Have your customers pay a deposit before starting your work. This will help you cover the first costs of the project. More and more companies use this method of funding. It reduces the risks of nonpayment because you already got some upfront money.

6. Permanent credit limit. Implement a credit account through a lender to help you keep a floating line of your cash. Especially if the sum of savings form prompt pay discounts is bigger then the financing charge of the lender is smaller then the suppliers charge for late payment.

7. Save founds. Create a hard time funding source. Most businesses have ups and downs in their activities and an efficient cash management can be quite difficult. Put some money away during your top times to help you in harsh times. We all know this sounds a little bit hard, but its very easy, take a percentage of your monthly earnings and put it in a savings account.

You may find all of these 7 tips useful for your business, or just 1 or 2, but remember that anything you do to improve your cash flow will raise your business. The worst thing you can do is sit back and hope for the best. See all those CLOSED signs in the shop windows? They hoped and they lost. Be smart, do your best and keep your business at a pro level.

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3 Opportunities To Help You Make An Extra Income Online

08 November 2009

3 Opportunities To Help You Make An Extra Income Online

I have been in exactly the same position, for years I have been searching the internet for ways to earn an extra income, not to make me a millionaire over night but just to make enough to help with the bills or to have some extra cash in my pocket for the little luxuries in life.

With so many sites trying to take your money it is not easy to wade through the scam sites and the legitimate opportunities. What as well if you dont have any idea in what is a good product and will make money and what is a bad product that will just drain your resources? Over the years I have tried so many of the so called opportunities and been burnt financially.

I now believe that I have found the 3 best opportunities available that require a little bit of thinking and time but can give you great rewards once you follow the proven system. Remember you dont get anything in life for nothing! This is a golden rule to remember, no matter what you do it is important that you need to work at it, how much you work at it can depend on how much you get out of it, not only in a financial sense but also on a personal level.

The best products are ones that can make you an ongoing cash flow, ones that have longevity and have entered a market place where there is a niche. It is no good trying to sell something online where the market is already swamped with goods, this will just lead to your product being another one of hundreds without a customer in sight. This is where the research and the years of hard work have been put in to provide the best products available and you can be a part of this.

The website gives you an overview of the 3 best finds on the internet and gives you the opportunity to make some extra money with a small amount of effort. Remember my golden rule, the more effort you put in the more you will get out. To find out more about these opportunities then go to http://www.toponlinebusinesses.com The website breaks down the best 3 opportunities and gives an overview of what is on offer, take a look today, the sooner you take a look the sooner you can get started and build a brighter future.

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