Tag: small business

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Business Career & Education Financial Insurance

Your Guide to Choosing Small Business Insurance

Your Guide to Choosing Small Business Insurance

Getting small business insurance is a very hard thing to do. Especially, if you don’t have as much knowledge about the small business world. Still, don’t be fooled into thinking that you can go for too long without insurance.

Small business insurance provides a net for you whenever you have some problems with money. If you have the right type, it can save you from total bankruptcy! You need insurance to handle unexpected costs and accidents that can befall your company and your employees. Those costs will come and pile up!

What Types Of Insurance Can I Pick From?

Here are some of the common types of insurance, and the one that you end up picking will be the one that completely benefits you.

One of the first types is Business Income Insurance. This covers all forms of money loss from physical property damage. If your bottom line or earnings are impacted by a car crash or damage to one of your buildings, then that is what is covered by this insurance. It’s very useful if you have some type of property to your name, less useful if you do not.

Another type that small businesses need to consider is the Business Liability Insurance. This keeps your small business safe from being sued. Many owners do not get this insurance, as they incorrectly think that an LLC will provide protection. It does not.

Other Types Of Insurance

If you are running a small business in the construction or building services, then you are going to need contractors professional liability insurance. This protects your contractors from being sued for errors, and liability claims. It’s a must for this niche, especially when you are just starting out.

Employment practices liability insurance is focused on protecting the employees of your small business from wrongful employment practices and these include discrimination, wrongful termination, and harassment.

Picking The Ones That Work

The insurance you need depends on your business. If you are hosting a small business with no employees and completely online, you will need different insurance than a construction company with 20 employees. Still, the most basic form of insurance should focus on protecting your business from the various problems that can plague it.

If you are unsure about what insurance your business needs, or are concerned that you are missing something, you should talk to an expert. A lawyer who specializes in small businesses and an accountant who knows the financial side of things, makes sure that you will cover all your bases.

If you don’t have insurance, you are leaving the door wide open for financial ruin for your business. The work and small sums that you pay now for business insurance are going to save you much later whenever problems arise, and you certainly won’t regret taking the time to have it done.

Make insurance an important part of your plan, and then you can get back to serving your customers.

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Business Career & Education

Starting a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Starting a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Starting a business is no easy feat at all, and it takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. It also has a lot of time and money invested into it. Thankfully, every business from a bakery shop to a Fortune 500 company is all about using the same steps.

Here are some of the best steps that are crucial to building a business, and the ones that you will need to follow no matter what business you decide to start.

Step 1: Prepare Your Idea

Every single business starts with an idea or a ‘why’. Maybe you want to sell makeup kits online, maybe you want to tutor students in math, maybe you want to build the next skyscraper. However, an idea in a vacuum isn’t worth squat.

So, you need to make sure that your idea has some level of substance behind it. Let’s say you want to sell makeup kits. What type of kits will you sell? What products will you use? Who will you market those kits for? If you can answer specific questions about how you will get your idea off the ground, then you will be able to make sure that you have a structure in place.

Nothing sinks a business faster than having an idea and not much else on your end, so always make sure to answer those common questions before you get started.

Step 2: Put A Business In Your Budget

Every business will cost some amount of money, and you need to be prepared for that. Setup costs, supplies, website hosting, and in some cases physical space are all expenses that will at first be coming out of your pocket. It could be a little or a lot of money, but no matter what you need to make sure that you are prepared for that expense.

Set some money aside 3-6 months before you start your business, and keep that little nest egg growing as you flesh out the ideas. Once you get started with finally getting your business off the ground, you can focus on creating your business and not your money woes. Plus, it’s good practice for the budget that your business will actually need!

Step 3: Pick Your Niche and Audience

An epic business is nothing without someone to sell too and something to sell, but most businesses go far too broad trying to please everyone. Instead of making your products ‘one size fits all’ you should focus on making your products applicable to a certain niche.

If you are designing a jewelry business, pick one thing and do it well. For example, you could try and sell only necklaces or only earrings until you get your audience.

Follow These Steps and You’ll Have A Chance

These three steps are the best way to have a clear vision for your business, and will make sure that you have an actionable plan going forward. Then you will be able to build on that plan with confidence!

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Business Career & Education Financial Loans

5 Steps to Getting a Business Loan

5 Steps to Getting a Business Loan

You want to start your own business. That is great news, a huge step, something that should be encouraged and applauded. But it isn’t just as easy as coming up with an idea and making it a reality. There are many hoops to jump through to make your business come to life, including getting a business loan so your company can have the capital to be a huge success, find customers, and make it long into the future.

How is that done? How does someone secure a business loan, especially if it is their first time starting a business? While not all of the steps are easy or short, the process is simple enough to follow. Make sure you follow this necessary procedure and you will stand the best chance to get yourself a business loan and create the company you have always dreamed of.

1.   Are you Eligible?

Before you get too excited about your business, you need to first determine if you are even eligible for a business loan. There is a lot riding on this fact. Actually, everything is riding on it.

How do you decide if you can get a loan? You need to weigh a lot of different factors. For example, what is your credit score? Have you opened any other business? Do you make enough money? All of these things must be figured out before you can land your business loan and open your company.

2.   What Type of Loan Do You Need?

Did you know there are many different types of loans available to you if you decide to start your own business? It’s true, there are more than you think. You need to figure out which type of loan you need. Do you need a personal loan or a business credit card? Maybe you need a government-backed loan or a more traditional loan from a bank? These are the sort of questions you need to ask and answer before moving forward with getting your business loan.

3.   Online Lender? Bank? Who Should You Look To?

In the modern world, there are many different places you can go to to get your small business loan. Do you want to rely on a bank or microlender or online lender when you are looking to get your loan? Weigh your options, see what each has to offer, then move forward by requesting the loan from the supplier of your choice.

4.   Gather your Information

Obviously when you are applying for a loan, you will need a lot of documentation and information to give the possible supplier of your loan. You will need tax returns, bank statements, legal documents, and a legal plan. You need to round all of these up and have them prepared for a sit-down meeting for your loan. Make sure all the ducks are in a row before you take the final step.

5.   Apply for your Loan

Now that you have followed all the other steps you are ready to finally apply for your loan. Make sure you are dressed your best, bring all your documents, and have a solid business plan when you are stating your case for the lender of your choice.

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Business Career & Education Credit Financial

What are the Best Cards for Small Businesses

What Are The Best Cards For Small Businesses

Starting a small business is exciting, fun, and nerve-wracking. It can also be truly terrifying if you are not sure where you are getting your funds from. Some business owners find their financing through a bank, others from loans by brokers or family and friends. Then others get their companies up and running by using one of the many business credit cards on the market.

If you are looking to fire up your own small business and want to rely on a credit card to get things moving, you have a lot of choices to pick from. Which one is right for you? Which card has the best features, the best rates and the greatest rewards? Be sure that you make the right choice because, frankly, the future of your business depends on it.

American Express Blue Business Cash Card

A 0% annual fee? 2% cash back on all purchases up to $50,000? 0.0% intro APR purchases for the first 12 months? The American Express Card is a great way to finance your new business. It is a wonderful way to buy furniture, make down payments or secure rent. The 2% cash back is a great feature and it lasts for an entire year. After that, it will drop down to 1% which is still quite nice. It is made for people with really good credit, so you need to keep that in mind when applying. But it is a powerful, handy and reliable card from one of the biggest card companies in the world.

Capital One Spark Cash for Business

The Capital One Spark Cash for Business card is a great tool to create and sustain your business in its opening year. People know that the first few years of a company are the most challenging time for it, and the Spark Cash for Business card helps out tremendously. How? By providing $0 annual fee for the first year and an unlimited 2% cash back on every single purchase you make. Plus, the card gives a one-time $500 cash bonus once you spend $4,500 within 3 months of opening your account. If you need to make a foreign purchase, this card is also great for you because it has absolutely no foreign transaction fees. For all these reasons and more, you can’t go wrong with the Spark Cash for Business card.

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express

Everyone is wild about reward points with their credit cards. They are all the rage. The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express is full of rewards. In fact, you earn 2X Membership Rewards points on business purchases for the first $50,000 purchases per year and then 1 point per dollar spent after that. That alone is enough to sell many business owners and have them sign up for the card. But the 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months is another great reason to take a look at this card when you are getting your new business up and running.