April, 2012 | BizSieve.com

How to Deal with a Bad Credit Loan

Every single day, millions of Americans struggle with the issue of having bad credit. A bad credit reputation, along with a bad credit score, can have negative impacts on a person’s life. It can prevent one from buying a home, vehicle and even from getting a job. However, all hope is not lost when you are in financial dire straits. This is because it is in fact possible to be approved for what is known as a bad credit loan.

If you are seeking a loan when you have bad credit, one thing to keep in mind is that you will charged a higher interest rate. This is because you are generally seen as a poor risk due to your bad credit history, and the lender knows that. It is somewhat of an incentive toward getting their money back. This is typical of an unsecured personal loan.

When you apply for a bad credit loan, there is some chance that the lender may take sympathy on your situation. Scenarios that are good examples of this include losing your job, recently going through a divorce and relocating to a new city or state. In some cases, your lender may reduce your interest rates if you fall under any of these categories. There are also different types of loans available for individuals with bad credit, so be sure to inquire with your lender about your options.

However, you might also possibly qualify for a secured personal loan as well when you have a history of bad credit. These loans may be more attractive to certain individuals due to the fact that they carry interest rates that are considerably lower than those of unsecured loans. You can generally qualify for a secured loan when you put up property, most often your home, as collateral toward it. You can borrow as much as 125 percent of the property value with this type of personal loan.

There are plenty of companies listed online that will offer individuals bad credit loans. However, it is wise to do your homework and check them out. Ensure that the organization is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and always call them and make sure to speak to a person.

5 Ways To Raise Capital For a Business

One of the major challenges before any entrepreneur is to raise capital for his business. This becomes more important for a new entrepreneur as he starts the business without any contacts or experience. No doubt, a business plan, office, workers, contacts and and many more things are involved with a business but raising capital is the primary challenge. There are a number of ways to raise capital for a business and this post covers detailed information regarding those methods.

Loans From Banks

One of the easiest methods to get the required capital for a business is to take loan from a bank. In order to get loans from banks, you will have to submit security worth the loan amount. Even after the easy availability of loans, most of the entrepreneurs avoid bank loans as a medium to raise capital for business. This is bank loans are associated with high interest rates and various other complications.

Venture Capitalists

Another method to obtain necessary funds for starting a business is from venture capitalists. Since venture capitalists are very strict with approval and sanctioning loans, you must have a solid business plan based on an innovative idea. If the venture capitalists are impressed with your plan, you can easily get the required capital. In return, you have to provide them some equity in the business. One of the merits of this method is that you also get the opportunity to benefit from the experience of venture capitalists. As a result, you can modify your plan on their recommendation which can improve the chances of your success.

Private Investors

There are a number of people who are looking to invest in fresh business ideas. Most of these people are business man that want to diversify their income sources and thus are ready to invest in projects of other people. All you need to do is to search few private investors in your locality and then explain you business plan and possible returns to them. If you are able to convince them, you can easily raise the required capital for your business. Again, you should do proper planning before fixing a meeting with private investors. You should be able to justify your budget and business plans. Also, explain the whole plan from the perspective of the investors also so that they feel interested in the project. Once you have made good relations with private investors and showed him your potential, you can expect monetary helps for future projects also.

Family

If you cannot afford to pay the interest rates of banks or individual investors, you can ask your family and friends for help. This is one of the most conventional ways of generating capital for a business. These people simply give you the money for the bond they share with you.

Friends

If you are taking monetary help from a friend, you should offer him some share from the profits. Again, your attitude also plays a vital role in convincing your family and friends for investing.

About the Author: Our friend Sara Muler at www.loansforpeoplewithverybadcredit.net provided this free guest post. Please check out her website when you get a chance.

Top Tips to Ensure You Never Miss another Deadline at Work

Whether you run an online or an offline business there are certain targets that you need to meet. If you want people to buy your products then you need to ensure that they get their orders delivered on time and in good condition. If you have a boss that you have to keep happy then you need up to date reports on sales figures and future forecasts.

Those busy people who recognise that they cannot keep track of everything by themselves have now cottoned onto the fact that if you let an efulfilment (also known as web fulfilment) company take on some of your tasks; you won’t upset your boss with a missed deadline.

Tip 1: Getting Stock Delivered

You can spend a lot of time chasing up various members of staff to ensure that a customer’s order is actually booked and is due to be delivered on a certain day. One way to avoid all the hassle of chasing other people when it comes to response and delivery is to engage the services of an efulfilment company. A reputable and experienced company will be able to receive your goods and have orders packed and mailed out to customers within a given time frame. When you use the right service, you won’t have to worry about packing and delivery again, you can rest assured that customers will receive their orders in good time. Whether you need simple mailing of goods or a full picking, packing and delivery service the right company will make all the difference to your customers and thereby to your business.

Tip 2: Keeping Track of the Data

If you are not detail minded then accounts and sales reports may go untended, making it difficult when the boss calls a meeting to ask about the current state of the business.

When you engage the services of an efulfilment company they will run an audit trail on both the accounts and the sales figures, allowing you to have the details at your fingertips when you need them. A good company will do their best to identify and prevent potential delays and hold ups in securing an exact picture of the data. If you have a company website it’s a good idea to get some professional advice on the best way to handle it. A good professional outfit can manage many of the day to day tasks, such as processing payments for you, leaving you free to get on with the rest of your job.

Tip 3: Taking Care of the Little Things

One of the problems for those whose job it is to manage a successful business is that there is not always time to take care of all the little things that please customers and make your company unique. It’s all too easy not to check on how customers’ goods are packed and to miss the fact that you should be using bespoke packaging. A good company can handle all the little details that bog you down, including sending out goods in bespoke packaging.

This post was written by James Harper on behalf of Hallmark Consumer Services.

Working at Home – Know Your Stuff and Avoid the Scams

Having the opportunity to work from home is a dream for many people. Some people choose remote working as a way to earn a little extra money while looking after their kids, while others opt to work from home so that they can avoid the daily commute, or just structure their work day a little differently to the average 9-5 job.

Because remote working is so popular, this has led to a lot of scams job advertisements cropping up. Job sites do their best to try to remove the scams, but it can be difficult for them to stay on top of the sheer number of job postings that are submitted. If you want to avoid dodgy work-at-home advertisements, try the following tips.

work at home

Remember That Real Jobs Don’t Cost Money

If a job posting asks you to pay money up front, steer clear of it. A real employer would not charge money for training materials or equipment. Never hand over cash when you apply for a work-at-home job. You won’t see that money again.

Don’t Expect to Get Rich

Avoid listings that promise good incomes for part-time hours. Those listings are almost always pyramid schemes, MLM, or something similar. Work at home jobs are still jobs, and you’ll have to put in real work to earn real money.

Read the Advertisement Carefully

Before you apply for any remote working job, make sure you understand exactly how it will work. Many jobs work on a commission basis, or a revenue sharing basis. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a scam, but it does mean that your income isn’t guaranteed. If you need a fixed income to pay the bills, be careful applying for commission related jobs.

Common Scams to Avoid

Until recently, assembly related jobs were a common work-from-home offering. These jobs tend to require fiddly, difficult assembly work. You can expect to work long hours to meet your targets, and will then have a sample of your work quality tested. If any of your work fails the test, you won’t get paid for that batch. Home assembly jobs might sound nice, but you’ll probably do a lot of work for very little money.

Another common remote working scam is data entry. While fast typists can do very well financially from real data entry jobs, in the work-at-home world, data entry is a euphemism for posting spam advertisements on forums and job boards. Your income (if you get any) will probably come from scamming other people into paying to buy the “data entry” start-up kit that you just purchased yourself.

Finding Real Work-at-Home Jobs

The best way to approach the work from home job hunt is not to look for jobs that advertise themselves as “Work from Home”. Instead, treat it like a normal job hunt. Figure out what your marketable skills are, and look for jobs in those areas. Jobs such as tech support, public relations, accounting, and software development all support working from home these days. Look for jobs with well known, reputable employers, and negotiate remote working with them if you want to avoid scammers.

About the Author: This post was written by James Harper on behalf of Maintel the remote working experts.

Image: Eric__I_E / Flickr

Get Ready For The Trade Show Season

Trade show season is almost upon us! In fact, for some industries, it’s already begun. Toy Fair took place last month, Auto Shows are already taking place, and next month will see the Gadget Show Live along with the first of Europe’s major Games Festivals. If you want to make an impact this year, you’d better start planning your booth, and contacting trailer producers and poster printers now!

trade show tips — Are you ready for 2012 trade show season?

Trade Shows or Festivals?

The state of the economy right now means that many business owners can’t afford to attend several events per year, so they have to plan their events strategy carefully, taking their display trailers only to the events with the biggest impact. The trick is figuring out what kind of impact you want, and who you’re trying to reach.

Sponsoring festivals and sporting events is a good way to raise brand awareness and generate goodwill. If your message is a simple one, such as “Come buy your guitars from our music shop”, or “We sell football kits”, then generating awareness in this way is a good start.

If your message is more complicated, or you want to reach a wider range of people than you would at a local event, then you should consider attending a trade show. Some trade events are industry only – such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. This event is attended by international press, investors, video game publishers, and buyers for stores from all over the world. If you’re preparing to launch a product, and want to generate a lot of buzz, this is the place to do it.

Other events are open to the public. At public events, there are a lot of companies competing for the attention of the visitors, and in many industries there’s an ever-increasing battle to produce the flashiest display trailers, offer the best swag, and pull the biggest publicity stunts. If you’re on a tight budget, getting into this kind of battle is a bad idea, unless you’re sure that you can create a lasting impression. People who visit your booth for a free inflatable sword and shield or other crazy gift set won’t buy your product – but people who visit your booth to demo your product and pick up a catalogue might well turn into customers later.

Keeping Costs Down

Trade shows are great for networking. Ideally, you should try to attend any shows that are local to you, and also try to find room in your budget for a major, highly respected show elsewhere. The power of being able to say “As seen at the Frankfurt Auto Show” should not be underestimated.

To keep costs down, start negotiating with trailer producers early, and show space as soon as you can to take advantage of early bird discounts. Try to get bulk discounts for posters, business cards, and other essentials. While you’re at the show, take advantage of any networking opportunities – get out there and hand out cards to people at other stands, and take the time to see what other people are doing. Trade shows aren’t just good ways to spread the word about what you’re doing – they’re good ways to find out what’s happening in the rest of your industry too.

Image: Yodel Anecdotal / Flickr