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How to Sound Like and Become a Business Credit Expert

What can a business credit expert help you do?  What do you need to know to sound like or even become a business credit expert?  It’s not as simple as a Google search, that’s for sure. You need someone who really knows the secrets to nailing small business funding. 

Language is Impressive but Knowledge is the True Test of Being a Business Credit Expert

Use terms like tradelines, business credit reporting agencies, starter credit, credit line hybrid, EIN and more and you will have people thinking you are a business credit expert in no time.  The problem is, unless you actually have the knowledge to back up how you sound, you can’t really help people, or yourself.  Unless you are a business credit expert, you cannot guide people through the process of building business credit and using it properly. What do you need to know?  Everything.

Business Credit Expert: What is Business Credit?

First, a business credit expert has a true understanding of what business credit is.  Just having a credit card that calls itself a business card is not business credit. Business credit is credit under a company’s EIN. It has no association with the owner’s Social Security number. It is totally separate from personal credit, and therefore the business credit score can differ drastically from your personal credit score.

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

This is credit in the business’s name and it is based on the business’s ability to pay, not the business owner’s. When done right, it is possible to get some business funding based on a business credit score without a personal credit check. Also, you, the business owner, aren’t personally liable for the credit the business gets.  Business credit is essential to getting the small business funding you need. 

Business Credit Expert: How is Business Credit Different from Personal Credit? Biz Credit Expert

The obvious answer is that a business credit score is based on the business’s ability to pay, not the owner’s.  However, they are different in a number of other ways as well. Various factors affect your business credit score in ways vastly different from how they affect personal credit. Each of these factors affects business credit and personal credit in different ways. 

 

  • Late Payments

 

Most personal accounts do not report late payments to your personal credit report until they are 30 days or more past due.  Business credit accounts report to business CRAs when an account is only one day late.

 

  • Inquiries

 

When someone checks your personal credit report, there is a negative impact on your credit score.  When a lender checks your business credit score, there is no negative impact. 

 

  • Access to Business Credit Reports

 

The only ones who have access to your personal credit report are those to who you give signed authorization.  In contrast, anyone can check your business credit score.  They do not have to have authorization from you. 

 

  • Name of the Reporting Account

 

Your personal credit report has the name of the company holding each account reporting.  Your business credit report only lists the industry of the reporting account, not the company’s name. 

 

  • How long information stays on your report

 

Though it varies, most information stays on your personal credit report for the life of the report.  The average life of information on your business credit report is 3 years. 

The details may vary between CRAs, but this gives a good idea of how long certain information can affect your business credit score. 

 

  • Amounts reported

 

Exact amounts are shown on your personal credit report. Business credit reports show rounded amounts. 

 

  • Who Reports Payments to the CRAs

 

With personal credit, everyone reports your accounts and payment history. Only about 7% of those who check business credit actually report accounts to the business credit CRAs.

 

  • Debt-to-Credit Ratio

 

The amount of debt you have in relation to the amount of credit available to you makes a real impact on your personal credit score.  If your cards are near their limits, you’ll see a decrease in your score.  With business credit, being near your limits does not affect your score. 

 

  • Regulation

 

There is much less regulation when it comes to business credit, and there is virtually no regulation when it comes to correcting mistakes on your business credit. 

 

  • Monitoring

 

You can get a free copy of your personal credit report each year.  In addition, there are a number of free credit monitoring services that let you get a peek at your credit score.  These are typically updated at least once a month.  

There are business credit monitoring services.  However, they are not free.  Still, if you choose the right one, it’s worth it to know what is happening with your business credit.

Business Credit Expert: What are Business Credit Reporting Agencies?

Business credit reporting agencies are agencies that provide business credit reports.  There are several, but the main three are Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.  A business credit expert needs to understand what the business credit reports issued by these agencies say to lenders about businesses. Then, you can begin to understand the impact on small business lending. 

Business Credit Expert: How Do I Get Business Credit?

You can’t until your business is set up properly.  It has to be set up as a separate fundable entity aside from the owner. Until then, any accounts you have are just reporting to your personal credit, even if they are called business accounts. How do you change that?   

Contact Information

Your business has its own phone number, fax number, and address.  That doesn’t mean you have to get a separate phone line, or even a separate location.  You can even still run your business from your home or on your computer if that is what you want.  You don’t even have to have a fax machine.

 Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

EIN

You also have to get an EIN. This is an identifying number for your business that works like how your SSN works for you personally.  You can get one for free from the IRS.

Incorporation Matters

Incorporating your business as an LLC, S-corp, or corporation is vital.  It lends credibility to your business as one that is legitimate. It also offers some protection from liability. The big thing for business credit and fundability however, is that it is the only real way to separate business finances from personal finances.

Which option you choose does not matter as much for fundability as it does for your budget and needs for liability protection.  The best thing to do is talk to your attorney or a tax professional.  What is going to happen is that you are going to lose the time in business that you have.  When you incorporate, you are creating a new entity.  You basically have to start over.  You’ll also lose any positive payment history you may have accumulated. 

This is why you have to incorporate as soon as possible.  Not only is it necessary for fundability and for building business credit, but so is time in business.  The longer you have been in business the more fundable you appear to be.  That starts on the date of incorporation, regardless of when you actually started doing business. 

Business Bank Account

You have to open a separate, dedicated business bank account. First, it will help you keep track of business finances.  It will also help you keep them separate from personal finances for tax purposes. 

Furthermore, there are several types of funding you cannot get without a business bank account.  Many lenders and credit cards want to see one with a minimum average balance.  In addition, you cannot get a merchant account without a business account at a bank. That means, you cannot take credit card payments.  Studies show consumers tend to spend more when they can pay by credit card.

Licenses are a Must

For a business to be legitimate it has to have all of the necessary licenses it needs to run.  If it doesn’t, warnings are going to go up at every turn.  Do the research you need to do to make sure you have all of the licenses necessary to legitimately run your business at the federal, state, and local levels. 

Is That All? 

No, it isn’t.  The next thing you have to do is get accounts reporting.  First, get a D-U-N-S number.  You can apply for a free one on the D&B website.   Dun & Bradstreet is the largest and most widely used business credit reporting agency.  You cannot have a business credit report with them unless your business is in their system.  The D-U-N-S number is how you get in their system. 

Once you have this number, you can start to do business with companies that will report your payments to the business credit reporting agencies. You can do this in a few ways. The best bet is to try all three ways.  The more positive payment history you have, the better. 

Ask Companies You Already Work With 

Vendors you already have a relationship with may be willing to give you credit without a credit check.  Even if not, they may offer net 30 terms on invoices.  They don’t have to.  So, you will have to ask.  If they agree, ask them to report the payments to the business credit agencies. 

Ask Utility Providers 

You pay things like utilities, rent, and the internet each month anyway.  Ask those companies to report payments.

Use Starter Vendors 

This is a little-known secret of business credit experts.   Many business owners are unaware of starter vendors. Certain retailers will extend Net 30 terms in your business name without a credit check.  Then, after you pay, they will report those payments to the business credit reporting agencies.

This is how you can get started building business credit business credit.  They do not check either your business or personal credit score.  Of course, they do have other risk reducing guards in place.  They vary by vendor.   Here are a few to help you start the process. 

Crown Office Supplies

Crown Office Supplies offers paper and other office supplies. They report to all three of the major business credit reporting agencies, which of course include D & B, Experian, and Equifax. It can be hard to find vendors which report to Equifax, so getting credit with Crown is a good move.  They do have a $99 annual membership fee.

Uline

Uline sells shipping, packing, and industrial supplies.  Also, they report to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian.  This means you must have a D-U-N-S number. 

In addition, they ask for 2 references and a bank reference. The first few orders might need to be paid in advance to get approval for Net 30 terms.

Grainger Industrial Supply 

Grainger sells power tools, pumps, hardware and other things. In addition, they can handle maintenance of your auto fleet. You need a business license and EIN to quality, as well as a D-U-N-S number.

You can apply by fax or over the phone. If you need less than $1,000 in credit, you only need a business license for approval. For over $1,000, you will need trade and bank references.  

If you are just starting out and do not have references, the $1,000 is plenty to get you started building your business credit. 

Why You Really Need an Actual Business Credit Expert

Knowledge is definitely what makes you a business credit expert.  The best way to become one, and get that knowledge, is to work with an actual business credit expert.  They know things that are not widely made known to the public.  These are things that a simple Google search will not tell you.

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

For example, you need a lot of accounts reporting business credit.  You need several of these starter vendor accounts, but it is not easy to find vendors that will work like this.  Most vendors do not make it known if they report payments to the business credit reporting agencies, or not.  You need expert help to help you find the ones that you qualify with and that will report. 

Vendor accounts change their underwriting and reporting practices regularly.  It is incredibly difficult to keep up with.  It takes alot of time and a lot of effort. An expert has the time and knowledge it takes to stay on top of which vendors are approving accounts, and what they look for.  Also, they can keep tabs on who reports accounts and who they report them to.

In addition, it is usually a shot in the dark as to why you were denied business credit.  A business credit expert has the knowledge and expertise to help you set yourself and your business up to give you the best chance possible. They know what creditors are looking for, and what gets you denied.  It’s likely many of the reasons businesses are denied credit will shock you. 

It is not easy to keep up with the ever changing world of business credit.  With a business credit expert, you won’t have to guess. 

The post How to Sound Like and Become a Business Credit Expert appeared first on Credit Suite.

How to Create Your First Website Like a Pro

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You’ve decided to create your first website—great! I’m going to teach you to set up your site like you’ve done this thousands of times before.

What You Should Know About Starting a Website

In order to get your website online, you will need a domain name and a web host. 

  • A domain name is where people access your website. For QuickSprout, that would be www.quicksprout.com (also called a URL, the technical component of a domain name).
  • A web host is a business that you pay to provide storage for all of your crucial website data.

Bluehost allows you to buy and register both a domain name and hosting plan. 

What If I Want a Free Website?

You can start for free at WordPress.com.

To use the free plan, you will not need to register a domain name or choose a web hosting provider since your website will automatically be generated as a sub-domain of WordPress.com. For example, if you wanted to start a blog about vintage teacups, your URL could be www.vintageteacups.wordpress.com.

If you’re in this for the long haul, keep in mind that your audience will be much more likely to trust your brand if you own your domain name (i.e. www.vintageteacups.com). Investing in domain registration and hosting is the first step towards growing an independent business.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your First Website

Ready to get started? These 8 steps will walk you seamlessly through the process from sign-up to beginner content building so you won’t have to worry you’ve left anything out.

Step 1: Consider your website goals 

Do you intend your website to be a portfolio of your work? A niche blog? An eCommerce site? You can do all of this and more via WordPress, which opens up the world wide web of possibility with its full-powered CMS.

How do you want to be known by your audience? That’s your business name. 

And how do you want them to reach you? That’s your domain name. 

Since your domain name will be a major face of your business, you’ll want to put some good thought into it. 

A strong domain name serves your business goals by referencing your product or service. It should be catchy, memorable, and easy to type. Try for shorter rather than longer names where possible.

How can you come up with the right name?

Let’s take the two businesses we’re working with in this guide as an example. 

WordPress is short, iconic, and evokes images of text (“word”) and potentially a printing press (“press”). It’s clear that their business model is based on sharing content. 

Similarly, Bluehost includes the word “host,” suggesting they are a web host provider. The combination of “blue” and “host” is simple and catchy. 

Both names are highly brandable and easy to remember.

Step 2: Choose your Bluehost plan

The benefit of hosting on Bluehost rather than just WordPress.com is that Bluehost takes care of your site’s security, speed, performance, and updates for you.

We recommend shared WordPress hosting, which gives you access to a server specifically attuned to the WordPress software package. This means that safety, security, and speed are all built in—put another way, managed for you. 

To choose a plan, go to Bluehost’s pricing page. You’ll see this:

Bluehost offers four hosting plans: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. At every tier, the plans include a free SSL certificate (adding an extra layer of security to your site), unlimited bandwidth, and plenty of storage. For most sites, the performance of the hosting will be more than good enough. 

Select the plan and that’s right for your budget. You can always upgrade later.

Step 3: Register your domain name

After selecting a plan, you’ll be prompted to register your domain name. 

If you already own a domain name, enter it on the right. You may need to change your DNS records to make sure your domain name servers point to Bluehost, allowing people to access your website. 

If you are registering your domain name with Bluehost, enter it on the left. Domain registration is free for one year with a managed WordPress hosting account. Always be sure to note when your domain must be renewed so it doesn’t expire without your notice, leaving your website inaccessible. 

You’ll be asked to fill in personal information before finalizing your purchase. 

Be sure to choose a strong password for your Bluehost account (preferably not the same one you use to log into any other site). You’ll then be ready to install WordPress.

Step 4: Install WordPress with one click

Connecting Bluehost with WordPress is incredibly easy. In your Bluehost account control panel, navigate to “MOJO Marketplace” and choose “One-Click Installs.” 

This will bring you to the Scripts and Platforms page. After you click the WordPress icon—found under “Blogs” at the top of the page—an installation window will open. Click “Start” to begin installation.

  • Choose the domain name on your account where you want to install.
  • In “Check Domain,” you’ll make sure your domain name is pointing to your account. This is especially important if you bought your domain name before signing up for Bluehost. If you get a warning that you are overwriting files, you can check the box without worry—since this is your first website, there’s nothing to overwrite. 
  • In “Show Advanced Options,” you can choose your WordPress username along with a strong password—or log in if you already have a WordPress account. Check “Automatically create a new database for this installation.” 
  • Read the terms and conditions and check the box.
  • Almost there! Click “Install Now.”

You’ll now be taken to the progress page. After installation is complete, you will see your site URL, admin login URL, your username and password. Print and store this master list in a safe place.

Time to log in to WordPress! Log in at your admin URL and you’ll find yourself at the Dashboard, where you can begin on the visual design for your site.

Step 5: Try on some themes for size

Also called “skins,” your site theme is like an outfit for your website. The theme you choose will affect your site visuals, content layout, and some of the customizable design features you have access to. 

WordPress has a number of both free and premium (paid) themes.

When choosing a theme, pay special attention to:

  • Good design: Is the design clean and organized? Is it responsive to optimize for the roughly 50% of people who prefer mobile viewing? How easy is it to navigate?
  • Compatibility: Is the theme compatible with the latest version of WordPress and with popular plugins?
  • Back-end: Is there active development on the design? How easy is it to access support and documentation? 

Most themes allow you to try a Live Demo so you can see how it will look and compare its appearance to your design and content goals for the site.

When you’re ready, click “Activate theme” to install. You can always add plugins for additional functionalities or switch themes when you are better accustomed to WordPress.

Step 6: Add some helpful plugins

If your website theme is like a “skin” or outfit that gives the website substance, design, and form, your plugins are the accessories that pull the outfit together. 

Plugins work alongside your theme to provide desirable functionalities, like a comment filter, contact form, or search engine optimization (SEO) toolbox, and are built to work seamlessly with WordPress’s back-end operations. While some are best-suited to a particular type of site, like eCommerce or blog, many are all-purpose. Plugins can be free or paid.

In most cases, you will need a WordPress Business plan or higher to use plugins. Aspects of Jetpack and Akismet (see below) are included with your blog.

Popular plugins:

  • Jetpack: This integral plugin enhances your site security, performance, marketing, and design capacity. Site speed, image serving, and SEO are just a few things it can help you with. 
  • Akismet:  A “spam-fighting service” that protects your posts, trackbacks, and messages from spam.
  • All-in-One SEO pack or Yoast SEO: These SEO plugins help you optimize your site to be found organically in search results when people search for similar products, services, or content.
  • WP Forms or Ninja Forms: You can use either of these plugins to build professional contact forms within minutes, without any coding experience required. 

Be sure to vet your plugins before installing: A large number of positive user reviews alongside information about the developer, functionalities, and latest release date can all help you make the best decisions for your site. 

Step 7: Begin building your site content

On WordPress, there are two meaningful distinctions when it comes to organizing your site content, pages and posts.

  • Pages make up the main framework of your website, and generally appear in the navigation bar for easy access. There are a number of essential pages you’ll want to add, including your Homepage, About page, and Contact page.
  • Posts are individual pieces of content, each with a unique URL, that make up a blog. Many people choose to make their blog a central focus of their website, but you don’t have to. Many businesses keep blogs as a tool in their content marketing toolbox, and WordPress makes it possible to designate as a secondary page (see Step 8).

When you start adding content to your website, it may be helpful to get inspiration from existing websites, both those where you spend a lot of time and sites that have a similar function to yours. Ask yourself:

  • How is the content of these websites organized? 
  • What are the major pages? 
  • How prominent is the blog? 
  • Does the site include subpages, and what are they? 
  • Where is the contact form located? 
  • How do they use media to create an engaging experience?

Here’s how to create your first page (ideally, the homepage):

After creating the essential pages, consider your website’s functionality from the point of view of your future site visitors. Although it may be tough in the beginning to put yourself in their shoes, successful site content is laser-focused on the audience. Ask yourself: 

  • What will my visitors want to do on my site? What will be less useful to them?
  • How can I structure my pages, content, and media to create a positive User Experience (UX)?
  • How can I set up site navigation so that important information and features are easy to find?
  • What information do my visitors need to understand my offering?
  • What information do my visitors need to trust me? 

Don’t feel pressure to include all possible content at once; less is often more for a new website. Your site will likely change over time based on your evolving business model as well as the needs of your audience. You can always add more content as you go. 

Additional pages

On the one hand, the beauty of website creation is that your site design is completely up to you. Depending on the purpose of your website, however, you may be required by law to include certain content, like:

  • Contact details
  • Cookie handling
  • eCommerce: terms of service, refund policy, privacy policy

Be sure to check the relevant law in your area and update your website regularly.

Step 8: Finalize your homepage and navigation

Do you want your homepage to appear as a traditional homepage or a blog?

WordPress allows you to choose whether you want a static (unchanging) or dynamic homepage (shows your ten latest blogs). The dynamic version is the default.

To designate a static homepage, find the “Site” category in the left-hand sidebar and click “Pages,” then “Add new page.” You can choose a premade layout or click “Use Blank Layout,” as in the photo just above. Then name your page and click “Publish.” For example:

Now, navigate to the “Design” category in the left-hand sidebar of your Dashboard and click “Customize.” 

There are many things for you to play around with here, including adding your Site Title, Tagline, and Icon, adding a header or footer, and changing the site colors. For now, click on “Homepage Settings” and toggle the option for “A static page.” Beneath, you can choose the page you just created.

It’s time to start adding content to your homepage!

Once you add more pages, like About or Contact, they will show up as part of a navigation bar that is designated by your theme. In “Customize,” click on “Menus” to change the page order and location. 

What’s Next?

You’ve just created your first website. Congratulations on this exciting new step!

Now you can start familiarizing yourself with the WordPress interface. While creating Pages and Posts, you’ll be using the Block Editor, which uses Gutenberg blocks to help you add content and make your site engaging and interactive.

Since your website is a representation of your brand, I recommend building your content with a critical eye. At the same time, learning as you go is part of the experience. You can always delete or click the back button—no change is permanent, so feel free to play around.

The post How to Create Your First Website Like a Pro appeared first on Neil Patel.

What might a condensed 2020 F1 season look like?

With the coronavirus pandemic delaying the F1 season indefinitely, Laurence Edmondson looks at how F1 can salvage anything close to a full season once normality resumes.

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The post What might a condensed 2020 F1 season look like? appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Remaining Clear Of Loan Penalties It’s like a spiral, you’re…

Remaining Clear Of Loan Penalties
It’s like a spiral, you’re late on a negotiation, so you get a late expense, after that the price makes it harder to accomplish your adhering to payment so you get an extra late fee, or a late fee from one of your different other accounts.Well the first factor to acknowledge is that you can never ever before be billed a late cost for being late on resolving an existing late cost. You’ll still owe the $20 late price, nevertheless you can not be billed a late price for not resolving it on time.A product of recommendations if you’ve acquired also much more than one account, is to continue to be as well as effort up to day on all nevertheless the late one. Well the really initial factor to identify is that you can never ever before be billed a late expense for being late on paying back an existing late price.

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It’s like a spiral, you’re… appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.