How to get customers to pay on time

How to Get Customers to Pay on Time

Having customers that pay their invoices on time is critical to the success of any business. Late paying customers affect your cash flow and therefore your ability to meet your own obligations. In most commercial transactions customers pay their invoices in 30 to 60 days. This is commonly known as offering terms.

Offering terms to a customer is no something that can be taken lightly. Many business owners like to congratulate themselves when they close a big sale and send the invoice to the client. Careful owners save the congratulations until after they get paid. But how do you make sure that customers pay you on time?

There are a number of things that you can do to make sure clients pay one time. Apart from delivering good and timely services, the most important thing you can do is check their commercial credit rating. This will tell you whether they have paid their past suppliers in time. Although not a perfect indicator, it’s useful to know. For example, if a potential client has a track record of paying all their invoices 90 days past due, what are the chances they will pay yours on time?

It’s usually a smart strategy to check a clients commercial credit before making the actual sale. One additional thing you can do to help customers pay on time is call them soon after delivery to verify that they are happy with the work/product. Lastly, always verify that they have the proper paperwork (invoices/etc) to process your payment. Many payments are delayed simply because vendors forget to submit the proper paperwork .

Sometimes, clients simply pay slowly and there is not much that you can do about it. This can wreak havoc on your cash flow and threaten the stability of the business. If this happens, you should consider invoice financing.

Invoice financing is an innovative form of business financing that provides an advance payment using your invoices as collateral. Invoice financing is a convenient alternative to business loans that offers substantial flexibility. Although not a cure all, invoice financing can help companies whose biggest problem is that they can’t afford to wait for their clients to pay.

How to find good companies to work for

How to Find Good Companies to Work for

When you are between jobs your primary concern is whether or not you will be able to find a job which will give you comparable compensation to your last job or higher financial rewards in order to pay the bills, the last thing in our minds is paying attention to the details of the positions we apply for.

Often times we hear that people quit their jobs because their boss was a jerk, the payment was too low or there was just too much work/pressure. Actually, there is a long list of reasons why people quit their jobs, lets take a look at some of them:

— Your boss demands that you work harder, for longer periods of time in order to pick up the slack of one or more co-workers.

— Your boss is always tense and gives you a hard time.

— Your boss promotes someone who has less experience than you.

— Management shows favoritism among employees.

— Your boss doesn’t explain goals appropriately and when things are done in a different way they reject the work done which may lower your morale or hurt the feelings of those who took their time to prepare it.

As you can see most people quit their jobs because they have problems with management, in other words they quit their management not their jobs. Being able to manage people requires more than a degree, it takes «people skills» which can keep workers happy and increase their productivity at the same time. There is nothing worse for an employee than having a boss which is always in a bad mood and may be hard to talk to. These jobs are too hard for people to hold on to so they decide to move on.

If you are hunting for a job, the best way to determine of the person who is interviewing you could be a good boss is by turning the job interview into a conversation. Many people will be nervous during the interview but you have to remember that you will be spending most of your time with the person who is talking to you, so if you feel this person is tense or if you have the feeling that people who work at this place may be unhappy, it might be good to drop the position and apply somewhere else.

Another way to find out if management are is good is by asking questions to people who already work at this company, if someone is unhappy because X or Y reason, they are very likely to tell you why. Remember that if you put yourself in a situation where your boss is a real problem you may be hunting for another job sooner than you expected it, so take your time during the interview and try to get a good idea of the type of person(s) you will be working with, there is nothing better than working with people you can invite to your home or call friends.

Learn how to flip a house and become financially stable

Learn How to Flip a House and Become Financially Stable

Do you want to learn how to flip house and make a huge profit?  By definition, to flip a house means to buy a house at a depressed price and then to sell that property very quickly for a much higher price.  This process allows an individual to make huge sums of money without a lot of upfront capital and without a lot of financial risk.  Using this method you can become financially independent very quickly – often on the very first transaction.  Many people think that long complicated real estate techniques are utilized or difficult financial terms have to be understood.  However, this is not the case.  It is a simple and easy process. Just follow some basic steps and you too can learn how to become financially stable.

The first step is to understand how to identify and locate properties with depressed values.  There are several reasons that a house may have a depressed market value.  The owner may have defaulted on the mortgage for the house.  In this situation, the bank or mortgage institution forecloses on the distressed property and assumes ownership over that property.  In order to recoup a portion of the defaulted mortgage, the financial institution will put the house up for sale.  Desperate to recoup their financial losses, the financial institution will often price the house much lower than market value.  These houses present great opportunities.

There are several other reasons a house may have a depressed value.  A sudden death might leave a house in financial limbo.  If there is a last will and testimony, then the property may revert to another owner.  However, if this transfer of ownership is not specified, then the house may be auctioned off to the highest bidder.  These real estate auctions offer great opportunities because the price that a house at auction sells for is usually much less than the market value of the house.  Even if the property reverts to other ownership after an owner death, the new owner is often highly motivated to sell.  Anytime a seller is motivated to sell, the asking price will fall.  Other reasons that a house might have a low asking price include the house falling into disrepair, a house being condemned, or a house being in an unsavory location.  In all these instances the price of the house may be so low that a high profit margin can easily be attained.

The next step is to secure the money to purchase the house.  This is not as hard as you may imagine.  In all of the situations described above, the owners of the houses, be they financial institutions or private owners, are extremely motivated to sell.  Private owners will often offer owner financing, accept little to no down payment, or even hold off payment until the house has been flipped.  Motivated financial institutions will offer short term loans in order to move accumulated assets.  Once the house has been acquired for a low cost, the final step is to sell the house at a higher price.  Follow these simple steps to learn how to flip a house and become financially stable.

Lease versus own

Lease Versus Own

Lease versus Own

The foundation for success…

A common challenge for all businesses is how to pay for the equipment needed to perform their services. Even among experts and professionals, opinions will often vary. The one thing you must recognize is that each business is unique and there are no standards that work for everyone. Only you know what your capital reserves are and what type of reserves your business will require from month-to-month. While some businesses are more sophisticated than others, only you have access to the full spectrum of your financial position today and the forecast of what responsibilities there are to come. It is not only essential that you prepare yourself adequately; it’s crucial.

In the beginning, one of the first professionals you should confer with is a Tax professional. This person can view your company in its totality and then match your company’s needs with the proper tax plan. It is an accepted belief that proper tax planning is the primary step to a successful business. Upon properly identifying your needs, it’s now time to strategize your method of operation. To assist you with that method, we’ve compiled a simple list of the advantages and disadvantages of leasing equipment versus that of buying it. This list is generic but reveals the industry norms of features and benefits. As you review, apply these characters to your business and see how it measures up. Good luck!

Own

1. When you decide what equipment to use, you are of course purchasing it. The equipment is yours to do with as you please.

2. By purchasing the equipment, you have immediately created an asset to your company profile.

3. Depending on what your equipment is and how your company is structured; you may be entitled to certain tax benefits such as writing off the expense in the first year. (Check with a tax professional)

4. There are no payments. (You own it.)

5. Now that you own the equipment, you have the option to resell it. (At a lesser price)

Lease

1. The first benefit is that if you don’t have the reserves to purchase, a lease is a viable option.

2. If you were going to purchase with a bank loan, then the bank would likely require a 20% down payment. By leasing the equipment, the standard is that you are required one or two month’s payment upfront and that’s it.

3. Although you are leasing the equipment, it is still an asset to your company.

4. Even though you have a monthly payment, you also have the option to upgrade the equipment prior to it becoming obsolete.

5. When you acquire assets, you want assets that will appreciate in value not depreciate. With many equipment materials needed to function, they will depreciate after the first year of usage.

6. By leasing all of your equipment, you may be able to fully write-off up to 100% of your payments as a business expense. (Check with a tax professional.)

7. Most items can be leased such as phones, furniture and computers, not just heavy machinery.

8. Choosing a lease allows you the flexibility to maintain capital reserves for payroll and miscellaneous expenses that may occur.

9. There are numerous types of leases that can cater to your business profile and your company’s needs.

10. Lease rates are ‘fixed’ and range in term from 12 to 60 months.

As you can see, the features of leasing far outweigh that of purchasing or owning the equipment for many businesses. Eight out of ten businesses prefer leasing over that of buying. The list you just reviewed points out the key components to both options but with further investigation, you’ll find that leasing offers many more opportunities to fulfill your desires.

Please speak with an equipment leasing professional to locate the proper lease for your company. It’s good business!

J. R. Parler

JRParler@yahoo.com

Commercial Real Estate and Finance Specialist

Household budget spreadsheet and its importance

Household Budget Spreadsheet and its Importance

A household budget spreadsheet is the most efficient tools to manage the different aspects of personal finances including debt. It lets you keep a check on the expenses that are incurred due to the household activities. These are versatile mediums to keep track of unexpected and unnecessary expenses. Making such a spreadsheet is an easy task.

The first step is to select a budget template that best suits you. Wide varieties of budget templates are available on the internet and can be easily downloaded without incurring any cost. You can even design your own template using excel. A self made template is ensured to have all the attributes as per your requirements. You need to make six pages with the following titles: income, utilities, calendar, debt, seasonal and budget.

The budget page is used for balancing all the income and expenses. Subsequently you need to create the following list: income, utilities, seasonal, and debt. The income page is created so as to enter all the sources of income and the respective amounts. Then you need to total the amount column and this has to be linked to the budget page. However before you have the exact numbers you should key in the lowest expected income; which needs to be totaled and linked to the amount cell on the budget page.

The utility page consists of payments that are not debts namely electricity, natural gas, transportation, groceries, etc. After you have listed all the proximate values the total needs to be calculated and a link is to be established with the budget page. The calendar and seasonal pages are used as agents to remind you of yearly, bi-yearly and other payments. A column for every month is to be made and the respective payment for each month is to be entered in the corresponding column.  

In the Household Budget Spreadsheet the debt page is used to list all the debts due, interest rates and the minimum monthly payments. At the end comes the budget page which consists of all the amounts from every page.