Having a online business you can run from home has a lot of great advantages and conveniences, but it has a lot of potential pitfalls, too, if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s easy to avoid falling into common home business mistakes, though, if you do a little research. Here are some smart tips for making your home business thrive.If you want to make money with a online business from home, you must be the type of person that is able to learn new things easily. No matter how much you know about the area your home business specializes in, you will still constantly need to learn new things in order to grow your business. If you are not the type of person that is willing to learn, your business is sure to fail.To get the word out about your new home business, have cards printed with your company name and logo. Give one to everyone you know, and leave them lying around everywhere you go. Spend an afternoon in a busy shopping district and leave your business cards on the bulletin boards of retail stores and professional buildings.If you have made the decision to quit your day job in favor of pursuing your own home-based business, do not put in a formal notice with your employer before all preparations have been made and finalized for your own business. Even the most well-laid plans sometimes fall through, and it is best not to burn your bridges.If you’re considering a home business, ensure that there is a market for your wares. If there are a hundred people already engaged in the same field it will be difficult for you to get clients. Instead, take your idea and focus it on a niche – for example, if you want to be a personal chef focus on dietary restrictions and advertise with them in the text.If you have a home online business, follow the IRS guidelines, so they don’t audit you. Strictly adhering to their guidelines will make the tax process go easier for you.Make sure you keep accurate records of all your home business activity. It’s easy to put off pesky record-keeping tasks till you feel like doing them, but strive to keep everything pertaining to your business up-to-date so that you won’t be confused and stressed out later on.When looking for home business supplies, shop online rather than at a brick-and-mortar retailer. You can save a lot of money by searching online for your supply needs. In fact many online retailers offer deeper discounts if you subscribe to an ongoing automatic purchase of the product. This is a great way to save, and these days every cent helps!These ideas will help keep you on the straight and narrow when it comes to running your home business, so that you can put all your energy into successes instead of failures, and you can avoid making the standard mistakes that others have made many times before you. That will leave you with more resources to put into pushing your business into growth and profit.”To Get Access To Some Of The Best Training Online To Learn How To Set Up And Grow Your Very Own Online Business, CLICK HEREAnother really great resource to help guide you in your online business journey is Wealthy Affiliate. They truly are very dedicated in helping people start and grow their own online business, they have thousands of like-minded members that are very eager to help you with any issues you may have with your online business, I highly recommend anyone looking to start an online business go and check them out for yourself. I have been a member of Wealthy Affiliate for over 4 years now and If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I have. I will drop a link below so you can go check them out for yourself.OK so that’s all I have for now on getting started with a online business, I really hope you got some value from this. To your great success on your online business journey, Bob @ Lurnprofit
Tips From Education Defense Attorneys: How to Get Special Services for Children
For some children, school can be a challenge. These kids may require some additional help. If a parent notices that his or her child is in need of assistance, the child’s needs should be identified, and school records and an evaluation should be requested. Education defense attorneys may need to get involved in some cases to fight for the rights of children.Identify the Child’s NeedsBefore moving forward with an education defense attorney, parents should try to determine their child’s trouble areas. Struggles can range from an inability to absorb or retain information to poor reading skills to a delay in motor skills to poor social interaction skills. Hyperactive behavior and lack of physical milestones can also hinder the ability to read or write properly and prevent students from focusing on their studies.Once these problems are identified, the next step is to attend conferences with teachers and administration. Teachers spend hours each day with the student and should be able to speak to any concerns. If a parent cannot get assistance at the school level, going to the district level or seeking help from education defense attorneys may be the next step.Request School RecordsTo get a student into special programs, the parent will need to get a copy of his or her school records. This information will provide insight into how the child is performing academically while providing a way to gauge the need for intervention. Student records often also include disciplinary reports, testing results, comments made by the teachers, and grade reports. A parent has legal rights to this information once it is requested.Request EvaluationIn most states, school districts are legally required to make efforts to identify all students attending school who require special services. However, parents may have to get involved and request an evaluation to expedite the process. Making a request in writing will document efforts in case evidence is needed at a later point. After making a request, school administrators may test a student to determine what services may be necessary. Parents will then receive evaluation results along with recommendations from the school.If a child is denied services at school, parents typically have the option to appeal the decision. Education defense attorneys prove beneficial if the appeal process becomes necessary. Education lawyers can serve as an advocate for the child and help to ensure a student’s right to assistance.
Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?
There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.
In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.
But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.
Different Types of Financing
One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.
Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.
But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.
Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.
Alternative Financing Solutions
But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:
1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.
2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.
3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.
In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:
It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.
A Precious Commodity
Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).
Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.
Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?