Everything America Won't Do on Ukraine

Telling Putin what he doesn’t need to worry about won’t stop him.

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Raycast (YC W20) Is Hiring to Make Work Frictionless (Remote in Europe)

Article URL: https://raycast.com/careers

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30565090

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Atomic (YC S20) Is Hiring a Senior Software Engineer – Fullstack

Article URL: https://boards.greenhouse.io/atomicvest/jobs/4378312004

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30566738

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by import_this in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2022)"

Ready for the next product-minded engineering role on a high-ownership team that creates real value for the user and the world at large.

  Location: Pacific Northwest, USA
  Remote: Yes, with 5+ yrs remote experience
  Willing to relocate: West coast considered
  Technologies: Full-stack including Vue.js, Django, Python, MSSQL, MySQL, AWS
  LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gareth--m
  Email: import base64; base64.b64decode(b'YWNjb3VudHNAYmFzZWxpbi5lcw==')

New comment by lumos_42 in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2022)"

  Location: Goa, India
  Remote: Yes, Remote only
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: Python, Go, Javascript, PHP, SQL, NoSQL databases, Message queueing, Microservices, Docker, AWS, Terraform
  Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shubham-goyal-74b2581b/
  Email: sgshubham@gmail.com

Hi, I’m Shubham from Goa, India. I have over 6 years of experience in software development working with Indian startups that grew to become unicorns. I’m more interested in the following industries – Sustainability, Cryptocurrency, and Dev tools. Send me an email and I will share more details. I would be happy to take on assignments to help you evaluate my skills.

‘SNL’ Weekend Update tackles Russia-Ukraine rhetoric — and Kamala's brown suit

“Saturday Night Live”‘s Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost this weekend joked that “we’re now at the point where at every press conference [President Biden is] asked, ‘Will there be a nuclear war?'”

Atomic (YC S20) Is Hiring a Senior Software Engineer – Fullstack

Article URL: https://boards.greenhouse.io/atomicvest/jobs/4378312004 Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30566738 Points: 1 # Comments: 0

Protecting Your Business Finances During Times of Economic Uncertainty

Economic Uncertainty Isn’t on the Horizon—It’s Already Here

It’s an understatement to say that times are uncertain right now. Inflation, the (hopefully) winding down pandemic, current supply chain issues, and the situation in Ukraine are all creating massive global economic uncertainty. There’s even economic policy uncertainty in our government.

As a result of this kind of instability, protecting your business assets should be up there. Markets are changing rapidly, as are consumer attitudes toward spending. Succeeding just might get a bit tougher. There is always risk and uncertainty in economics. But now, it’s on steroids.

Protecting Your Business Assets During Economic Uncertainty Should be Top of Mind

Fortunately, there are ways to protect your assets. And yes, business credit and financing are the way to go. Right now is the time when good business credit and a Fundable™ foundation are key.

Spend Better During Times of Economic Uncertainty

While no one knows what the future will bring, one thing is for certain. Prices are going to be in flux, because economic uncertainty can influence the price of just about anything. Is it better to stock up now, expecting a price rise? Or is it better to try to wait it out and see if prices will get better?

Whichever decision you make, business credit and financing can help.

Stock Up Now with Inventory Financing

If you want to stock up now, then you might not have enough cash on hand to cover a big purchase. This is where inventory financing can come into play. It can make it possible for you to buy big today in anticipation of bigger sales tomorrow.

Inventory financing is a revolving line of credit, or a short-term loan acquired by a company so it can purchase products for sale later. The products serve as the collateral for the loan. There may be restrictions on the type of inventory you can use. This can include not allowing cannabis, alcohol, firearms, etc., or perishable goods. There can be revenue requirements. And there may also be minimum FICO score requirements.

Get approved for a line of credit for 50% of inventory value, regardless of personal credit quality.

Rates are usually 5 – 15% depending on type of inventory. You can get funding within 3 weeks or less. But note that it can’t be lumped together inventory, like office equipment.

Or Wait Out Economic Uncertainty With Merchant Cash Advances

If you want to wait, then a good use of your time can be to enhance your relationships with your preexisting customers. This can include offering better payment terms. But it can hurt your bottom line if you end up waiting for payments from your customers. Not to worry. MCAs can make it possible for you to give your customers more time to pay without harming your own bottom line.

Details on Merchant Cash Advances

An MCA technically isn’t a loan. Rather, it is a cash advance based upon the credit card sales of a business. A small business can apply for an MCA and have an advance deposited into its account fairly quickly. So you can offer Net 30 terms, but not have to wait a month to get paid.

A merchant financing program is ideal for business owners who accept credit cards and are looking for fast and easy business financing. An MCA program works to help you get funding, based strictly on your cash flow as verifiable per your business bank statements. Hence lenders in general will not have any burdensome document requests.

A lender will review three months of bank and merchant account statements. They are looking for consistent deposits. There should be deposits showing revenue is $50,000 or higher per year. A lender also verify time in business of six months or more.

Lenders also want to see that you don’t have a lot of Non-Sufficient-Funds (NSFs) showing on your bank statements. You shouldn’t have a lot of chargebacks on your merchant statements. And you should have more than ten deposits in a month going into your bank account.

In essence, a lender wants to know that you manage your bank and merchant accounts responsibly. And they want to see that have a decent number of consistent credit card transaction deposits each month.

Save More During Times of Economic Uncertainty

How can you save more money when you’ve still got to get supplies for your business? Putting everything on credit is a recipe for a future default. But what about saving when you spend? Or getting rewarded for spending?

The Wex Fleet Card and Wex Flex Card

These are great cards for business credit building because they report to Experian and D&B. Wex offers universal fleet cards, heavy truck cards, and universally accepted business fleet cards. Their cards have features supporting a small business, including a rewards program. But before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, only apply for two cards at a time. Then, make sure to leave at least two months between applications so that they don’t red flag your account. This will not mean an automatic decline, but it could reduce the amount of credit for which you are approved.

Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15  for the Wex Fleet Card, and Net 15 or revolving for the Wex FlexCard.

To qualify for either card, you need a business entity in good standing with Secretary of State. You also need your EIN and D-U-N-S numbers. Plus you must have a business address which matches everywhere, and all necessary business licenses, if applicable. You’ll need a business bank account, and your business phone number must have a listing on 411. Apply online or over the phone, at (800) 395-0812 (then select option 3).

Economic Uncertainty The Wex Fleet Card

You must be in business for at least one year, with a strong business credit history. In addition, you will have to provide your Social Security number for informational purposes. But if a pull on your personal credit concerns you, contact their Credit Department before applying. Also, they want you to have a good PAYDEX score of 80 or better.

However, if you are in business less than four years or your business credit history is too sparse for the approval to hinge on it, they will require a Personal Guarantee or a deposit of $500 to secure the card.

With this card, you will need to pay it off in full each month.

The Wex FlexCard

There is no minimum time in business requirement. However, you must provide a Personal Guarantee.

Get a rebate of up to 3 cents per gallon on gasoline. Pay no annual fee. You can carry a balance with this card, if necessary.

Brex

Another great card to help you save more as you spend is the Brex card. It is a particularly good card for startups.

Brex is a business money management system that integrates with your accounting software. It allows you to track expenses and, depending on the level of service you choose, can also help with paying bills and controlling spending.

The easiest way to use Brex for both managing finances and building business credit is to open a Brex Cash account. Brex is not a bank, but rather a banking alternative. They have a partnership with the FDIC and your funds are secure.

Everyone that opens a Brex cash account gets a corporate card. It works just like a debit card, drawing from your Brex Cash balance daily. However, unlike a debit card, Brex reports these payments to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax every month, thus helping build your business credit score.

Since this card is secured by the balance in your Brex cash account, and limited to that balance, you do not have to worry about underwriting.

This card offers rewards in terms of points that can be redeemed for travel, cryptocurrency, cash back, statement credits, gift cards, and more. There are even virtual card options for online spending. Brex integrates with common accounting programs including Quickbooks, Xero, NetSuite, and Gust.

Since the card is paid off monthly, you do not pay interest. There is no fee for standard service, but you can upgrade to premium at a cost. Currently premium accounts start at $49.99 and offer more expense management options. And you can even use rewards points to pay for it.

Terms

This card is paid daily from your balance of money deposited into a Brex Cash account. No minimum balance is necessary.

Brex does not offer balance transfers from other cards to Brex, due to not requiring a personal guarantee. However, they will perform balance transfers within Brex accounts.

Qualifying

To qualify for a Brex card, you need a business entity in good standing with Secretary of State. You also need your EIN and D-U-N-S numbers. Plus you must have a business address which matches everywhere, and all necessary business licenses, if applicable. You’ll need a business bank account,

In addition, you will have to provide your Social Security number on your application, for informational purposes. But if a pull on your personal credit concerns you, talk to a representative before applying.

Apply online.

Protect Your Business During Economic Uncertainty: Takeaways

While our economy is in flux, your main focus should be to maintain and grow your business’s assets. Good business credit will help your business now and, in the future, when economic uncertainty starts to diminish.

The post Protecting Your Business Finances During Times of Economic Uncertainty appeared first on Credit Suite.

4 Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up With the Business Credit Bureau

Lenders pull business credit reports and scores from a business credit bureau. However,  not every business has a business credit report at all, let alone a credit score. Business credit, in stark contrast to consumer credit, does not start building automatically.

Avoid These Mistakes When It comes to Your Business Credit Profile

With consumer credit, as soon as you use your first credit card you have a credit report. If you continue to use credit responsibly, that report will include a strong credit score. The same is not true of business credit, and that leads us to mistake number one.

#1: Assuming You Are Automatically Set Up With the Business Credit Bureau

Just owning a business does not ensure you have a business credit profile.  There are some things you have to be intentional about to ensure this happens.  The first step is setting up your business with a Fundable foundation to ensure that it is recognized as a separate entity from you as the owner. This has to be done before you can even get credit in the name of your business.

Then, a business credit profile can be established with the bureaus.

How Do You Set Up a Business to Be Fundable?

In addition to a D-U-N-S number, you need to be sure your business has:

  • Separate contact information
  • An EIN
  • A dedicated business bank account
  • A professional website
  • And its own email address

This list is not exclusive, but it is a great start. Additionally, you’ll need to be incorporated. Operating as a sole proprietorship or partnership does not help you get set up with any business credit bureau.

Why Does a Fundable Setup Matter?

If your business is not set up to be Fundable, the information on the credit report may not be accurate. Furthermore, if your business is not set up to be a separate entity from you the owner, payment experiences may not go to business credit bureaus at all.

#2: Assuming There Is Only One Business Credit Bureau

There are many business credit bureaus. The three main ones are Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax. Among the others, FICO SBSS is gaining popularity. Not all of them function the same way when it comes to setting up a profile with them either. It’s different for each one.

Many of them don’t really require anything from you. But, you still have to have your business set up properly.  Then, when your creditors report payments, they are reflected accurately.

Dun & Bradstreet

D&B is the oldest and largest credit reporting agency. Go to D&B’s website and look for your business. Don’t see it? It’s probably because you do not yet have a D-U-N-S number. You MUST apply for a D-U-N-S number from them. If you do not have one and your creditors report payments, your business will not be recognized in the D&B system regardless of how your business is set up. This number is how D&B gets your company into their system.  You can get one for free.

Once you have a D-U-N-S number, you’ll need at least 3 payment experiences before they assign a PAYDEX score. A payment experience is just a reported purchase from a business, which reports to a credit reporting agency.

Experian

Experian will assign your business an identification number called a BIN after you have a payment experience reported to them. Just be sure your business is set up to be Fundable.  Then when you have business creditors that report to them, your business will be in the system.

Equifax

Equifax assigns companies an Equifax ID. It doesn’t appear that you will need to sign up for or request one.

#3: Assuming You Already Have a Business Credit Profile With a Business Credit Bureau at All

Suppose you have been in business for a while. Maybe you are just now figuring out what business credit is. Maybe you thought you had credit in the name of your business, when actually what you have is business funding that you got based on your personal credit.

Where do you start if this is the case?First, look for your business credit profile from each of the main credit reporting agencies, starting with D&B. Of course, if you do not have a D-U-N-S number you will not be in their system.It is POSSIBLE that you may be in the Experian or Equifax system. but you’ll want to check your information closely and request corrections to any mistakes.

Business Credit Monitoring

The next question is, how do you do this? You can go through the business credit bureaus directly, but it can be costly. Credit Suite offers business credit monitoring with all three of the most commonly used business credit reporting agencies, for a fraction of the cost.

Once you see your reports, or lack thereof, you can be proactive in either correcting errors or establishing initial reports. What sort of errors are you looking for? In addition to payment experiences being reported incorrectly, you need to look at your actual business information.

Make sure your business contact information is up-to-date and accurate. If you already have an EIN, ensure that it is attached to your business and is correct. One big issue a lot of small business owners run into is inconsistency in the name of the business.

Something as small as using an ampersand in one place and the word “and” in other places can cause big problems. Ensuring your business name is correct and consistent everywhere, including on your business credit reports, is crucial also.

#4: Ignoring FICO SBSS as a Business Credit Bureau

This score is becoming increasingly common. It stands for FICO Liquid Credit Small Business Scoring Service. Unlike your personal FICO, the SBSS reports on a scale of 0 to 300. The higher the score the better. In general, most lenders demand a score of at least 160.

The thing is, you don’t really “set up” your business with FICO SBSS. The scoring model for this score is very different from other business credit scoring models. However, that does not mean you are helpless.

How Does FICO SBSS Calculate Business Credit Score ?

The score itself isn’t readily accessible. The formula for calculations is proprietary, and they guard it well. The information is not public. Of course, this means you can go into a lender totally blind as to what your FICO SBSS credit score may be.

With other credit reports from business credit reporting agencies, you can actually get a copy of your credit report and know where you stand. In contrast, the FICO SBSS can be different from lender to lender.

How Does a Lender Get Your FICO SBSS Score?

After you fill out a loan application and turn it in with all necessary documents, the lender processes this information and sends it to FICO with a request for your SBSS score. At this time, the lender can ask for certain factors in the score to carry more weight than others. Your score can vary depending on how a lender weighs each factor .

A score variation can happen if a lender puts more weight on your personal credit score or your business credit. Similarly,  they could choose to weigh annual revenue as more important than payment history. It is their choice.

FICO then searches business credit information from business credit agencies including D&B, Experian, and Equifax. As a result, your score with these bureaus affects your FICO SBSS.

What Can You Do?

Even though there is no real way to set up your business with FICO SBSS, you can definitely work to affect the score. Establish your business with the other business credit bureaus. Keep your personal and business credit in good order. Then, if a lender chooses to use that score, regardless of how much weight they put on each factor, you should be good.

You Must Be Intentional When it Comes to Your Profile with Any Business Credit Bureau

You aren’t powerless. The great thing about business credit is that it does not just carry you off before you know what is happening. In contrast, you have to intentionally jump in. The first step is to set you business up to be Fundable. Then, get a D-U-N-S number. After that, find accounts that report and get started building your business credit score.  Check out our business credit builder for a step-by-step guide to building the strongest business credit score possible for your business.

The post 4 Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up With the Business Credit Bureau appeared first on Credit Suite.

Taking Dictators Literally and Seriously

Putin told us for years what he’d do. The West didn’t listen. Will we now listen to the world’s other threatening autocrats?

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