Million Signatures

Archive for September, 2010

The Worst Small Business Financing Strategy Ever?

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 work.

The would be entrepreneur develops what they believe to be a sure fire business plan that can’t fail.

Unable to locate any form of start up capital, they start their business with credit cards as the only source of financing, and an expectation of sustainable business results within 3 to 6 months.

If everything goes well, the debt will be retired within a year and funds will start building in the bank account.

Sounds Good, right?

I mean the thinking lines up perfectly with all the get rich quick business opportunities that exist on and off the internet today where some of them even try to convince you to use your credit cards because the opportunity is soooooooo good and can’t miss.

The problem is that every business can miss.

Every single one.

And the vast majority do fail.

Have you ever spoken to someone who runs a successful small business; perhaps one that’s been around for 10 to 20 years?

If you take the time to ask one of these entrepreneurs about their start up period, what you learn may shock you.

Even some of the most successful small and medium sized businesses out there today had some hairy moments making a go of it in the early years.

And some times the difficult early years lasted for several years.

The point here is simply this.

The process of getting a business operating and successful can take many unexpected twists and turns, no matter how diligent you are in creating a thorough business plan and business financing strategy.

Therefore, to increase your probability for success you need to allow for the unknown, the unplanned, and the unfair.

A business financing strategy that cannot accommodate unforeseen events is not much of a strategy.

A business financing strategy that is based on high interest credit cards that can destroy both your cash flow and your personal credit is also not much of a strategy.

To improve your odds of small business success, here are some tips for developing a solid business financing strategy.

>>> Invest Your Own Cash

If you have some of your own cash penciled into your business financing strategy, it will immediately increase your likelihood of getting some sort of start up loan.

The more “skin” you have in the game, the more interested a lender will be in approving your loan request.

There is also something to be said about the psychological incentive of losing your own money and the motivation it creates for you to work harder to keep it.

>>> Create Contingencies in Your Cash Flow

Whatever you estimate your working capital requirement to be, double it. At least increase it by a factor larger than 1.

Things can and will go wrong, so give yourself a fighting chance and develop a business financing strategy that allows for less than perfect results.

>>> Use Credit Cards Wisely

Used properly, credit cards can be the cheapest form of working capital that you have at your disposal.

Some business credit cards provide 40 days of interest free financing. If you pay off the entire balance every month, you have an extremely low cost of working capital financing.

But if you start carrying large balances without paying them down monthly, you will go from the cheapest source of working capital to one of the most expensive, and you will likely also destroy your credit rating in the process.

>>> Make Timely Government Remittances

Small businesses are by default tax collectors. And the taxes collected can sometimes wind up funding the business for longer periods of time than they were ever intended.

Using government remittances as a business financing strategy is basically a bad idea.

Government agencies that are assigned to collect from you have large budgets and enough broad sweeping authority to create plenty of grief for you if you are too slow in paying.

If you apply for a business loan while you have an overdue balance with a government tax agency, your loan request will likely be declined.

Even after the balance is paid up, you may have burned your bridge with the lender as a history of overdue government remittances can brand you as a bad credit risk.

>>> Watch Spending Closely At Startup

One of the things you can control early on is how much you spend and what you spend it on.

This is going to change in time, but if you can spend wisely in the beginning you may be able to avoid a cost cutting exercise further down the line.

While its normally true that you have to spend money to make money, you can still be smart about the spending process.

The burden of debt is becoming more and more common in the United States than ever before, and many people simply can’t find a way out. The reason for this is that credit cards provide a stream of money that is so convenient, yet extremely damaging at the same time if used improperly. Thankfully, bill consolidation is a solution that is available from many companies, and is becoming popular with people trying to conquer their financial troubles.

Some people would say we simply have to get rid of credit cards, as they are obviously the biggest contributors to the epidemic of being in debt… but the truth is, some people simply can’t pay all of their expenses with cold, hard cash. But others may spend excessively on things they don’t need, while putting themselves further and further into debt. Either way, with the high costs of mortgages, car payments, student loans, and other costs, credit cards are here to stay.

Eventually, your debts may add up to catastrophic amounts until you simply can’t make the minimum payments anymore. It can become difficult to even remember when each payment is due. Also add into the equation the fact that your interest rates could also be drastically increasing.

Bill consolidation provides a very convenient solution to this financial nightmare. With a bill consolidation company that effectively does its job, you’ll no longer have to worry about multiple payments at all. They’ll combine everything into one convenient payment, and even deal with all of the annoying creditor calls!

By negotiating with your creditors, they’ll also drastically lower your interest rates and monthly payments. They will be your representative and sit down with the respective lenders in order to get the lowest rates possible. The goal is to get you entirely financially free in the shortest amount of time possible.

Also provided by the bill consolidation company is a manageable payment plan. It will lay out exactly how much you need to pay per month, and create a simple budget that you can apply to your daily expenditures. You will then be on your way to conquering your debt and achieving financial freedom.

Many millions of dollars a year are spent on buying chemical protective gloves to use as personal protective equipment. Gloves are available in a wide selection of natural and synthetic materials and range in price from a few cents to as high as seventy five dollars a pair. Each glove has its purpose and employers need to know how to select the best chemical protective gloves to withstand exposure to chemical agents and protect the wearer. All liquids, solids, gases, vapors, aerosols, fumes, dusts and fibers are chemical agents. They are classified as chemical agents to differentiate them from biological agents, such as micro-organisms and physical agents, such as noise, vibration and friction.

The law requires that employers make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health from exposure to chemical agents at work and to do everything possible to protect the worker. This is covered by many of health and safety legislation such as OHSA.

If it can be clearly shown that:
1) There are situations at work where risks to health and safety are unavoidable
2) Methods of control other than protective gloves are not reasonably practicable
3) Employers have further legal duties to provide suitable protective gloves to any employee who may be exposed to such risk.
4) Any protective gloves provided must be manufactured to the appropriate standard and marked.
5) The gloves must also be compatible with the wearer, the work to be done, and any other PPE to be worn, such as aprons, overalls or shoes.
6) Chemical resistance of protective gloves

Protective gloves are available in a wide range of natural and synthetic materials. However, there is no single glove material or even combination of glove materials able to provide unlimited resistance to any individual and also the combination of chemical agents. There are three ways in which any protective glove will, at some stage, fail to protect the wearer from exposure to any chemical agent and these are:

Permeation ? the process by which a chemical agent migrates through the protective glove at a molecular level;
Penetration ? the bulk flow of a chemical agent through closures, porous materials, seams and pinholes or other imperfections in the protective glove;
Degradation ? a damaging change in one or more physical properties of the protective glove as a result of exposure to a chemical agent.

The selection of suitable protective gloves can be a complicated procedure and the degree of protection they give is not always easy to establish. When choosing gloves, always seek expert help from the manufacturer or your distributor of the chemical agent or glove. They are best placed to provide you with glove performance test data which can be used to assist in predicting the permeation, penetration and degradation of specific glove materials by specific chemical agents. Also look to the MSDS sheets for guidance.

There are four requirements which must be met for any protective glove selected to be suitable. The glove must perform the following:
1) Be appropriate for the risk(s) and the conditions where it is used
2) Take into account the ergonomic requirements and state of health of the person wearing it;
3) Fit the wearer correctly, if necessary, after adjustments;
4) Either prevent or control the risk involved without increasing the overall risk.

Proper selection should therefore take into consideration the wearer, the workplace conditions and the protective glove. Employees need to be trained in the correct way to put on, wear and then take off protective gloves to ensure maximum protection. There should be adequate facilities for disposal of contaminated protective gloves.

If protective gloves are selected or worn incorrectly there is every possibility that this may increase the wearer’s overall risk to health because:
Contaminants may get inside the glove to reside permanently against the skin which could cause greater exposure than if a glove had not been worn at all_ Wearing a glove for extended periods can lead to the development of excessive moisture, such as sweat, on the skin which in itself will act as a skin irritant_ Wearing gloves manufactured in natural rubber or latex can cause an allergenic reaction in certain individuals.

Selecting protective gloves must be part of an overall health and safety risk assessment for the job to be done. Remember gloves only protect the wearer; they do not remove the contaminant from the workplace environment.
Some types of glove are inconvenient and interfere with the way people work and may cause another danger. Wearing gloves interferes with the wearer’s sense of touch. If protective gloves are used incorrectly, or are badly maintained, the wearer may receive no protection at all.

The importance of using a glove material depends on the extent of exposure. For chemical groups such as strong acids, there maybe only one choice of glove material. Whereas, a range of materials may be suitable for other weak acids. Where there is a choice of glove material, the extent of exposure to the chemical agent and how it is handled. Factors such as controlled pour or splashing will determine the best selection of the glove. Where there is a choice, price can also be a significant factor in choosing a particular glove. Consideration also needs to be addressed in the removal of the glove. If the task requires the wearer to take the gloves off their hands repeatedly, the gloves either need to be washed thoroughly or disposed of. Reusing contaminated gloves will provide little or no protection. A good idea if there are many types of chemicals requiring different glove materials, is to color code the chemicals and the bin where the gloves are stored. Any employee will know the red dot on the bottle, requires gloves from the red bin.

Glove selection seems to be an easy task, but in dealing with different chemical compounds the selection in the right glove can be complex. Consult with your suppliers in the chemicals and even your suppliers in safety equipment for the best advice. The MSDS will also be an excellent source of information in the chemical handling and hazards.