Speed Your Way to Success: How to Find Business Credit for Your Gig Economy Job

Get Business Credit for the Gig Economy

The gig economy is a booming market. With more and more people working as independent contractors, entrepreneurs, or freelancers, many are looking for ways to streamline the process of securing business credit. In this blog post we’ll discuss how you can use business credit cards to speed up your way to success in the gig economy.

The Gig Economy and Business Credit

Business credit is good for any type of business. You don’t have to be a large company. And even gig economy workers can start businesses.

What is the Gig Economy?

The gig economy means jobs for a short-term engagement, for a specified time, say, 6 weeks.

Temping is nothing new, but now it’s on steroids. In a gig economy, temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace. Companies tend to hire independent contractors and freelancers, versus full-time employees. At times, this can be difficult for workers due to less employment stability. Working conditions aren’t always the best.

Gig Workers Going in a Different Direction

Workers for places like GrubHub, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Relay, GoPuff, and Instacart might not want or be able to unionize or wait for legislation or otherwise try to change their working conditions. What’s the solution? Become your own business!

How Do You Become Your Own Business When You’re Just One Gig Worker?

If a car sharing service doesn’t say you’re an employee, then you can set yourself up as a corporation on an LLC. Yes, even a single person can do either. By delivering as a corporation and not an individual, you can build business credit.

Building Business Credit

Incorporating is the only way to go (chances are, you will want to start an S corporation and not a C corporation). It creates a separate business entity which can help give you a degree of tax and liability protection. But at the very least, it’s highly likely that your insurance company will still ding your personal auto insurance, if you get into an accident while driving.

Why Create an S Corporation?

It will carry lower risks. But owners must report business profits on their personal tax returns. However, you can save on Social Security and Medicare taxes. An S Corporation owner has protection from personal liability for the corporation’s business decisions or actions. Corporate decisions can include whether to take a certain delivery job at all.

You pay taxes only on the money you earn from the business, recorded as personal income. The business itself is not taxed. Since you’re both an owner and an employee, you pay taxes based only on your compensation. Hence you don’t pay Social Security or Medicare twice, like owners of unincorporated businesses must.

Why Create an LLC?

A limited liability corporation carries lower risks. But business profits go on your personal tax returns, which can result in you paying high taxes. You also pay an employment tax on the net income of the business.

An LLC isn’t a separate structure (per the IRS). Yet as an LLC member you have protection from personal liability for the company’s business decisions or actions. If the LLC goes into debt or is sued, your personal assets are usually exempt. LLCs tend to be for groups of professionals, like doctors’ practices and law firms.

Why Not Both?

You can create an LLC and have it become the sole shareholder of an S corporation. Get the benefits of an LLC’s informality, and the tax benefits of an S corporation. It is best practices to talk to a professional before making either move. For business credit building, becoming an S corporation is the way to go. The only question is whether its sole shareholder is you or an LLC.

Fundability for the Gig Worker

Fundability is the ability of your business to get funding. You’ll need (among other things):

  • An EIN from the IRS
  • A D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet
  • An NAICS code (485310—Taxi Service or 485320—Limousine Service will work)
  • A separate business bank account

Most of the credit providers we’re listing today will require all of these.

Gig Economy Business Credit

A driver’s expenses include:

  • Fuel and maintenance
  • Possibly buying a vehicle (if yours breaks down or you want a separate one just for your gigs)
  • Registration fees and taxes
  • Phone (hardware, purchased apps if necessary, data plan)
  • Computer (to best manage all expense figures, etc.)

Did you know you can buy ALL these things with business credit?

Building Gig Worker Business Credit

Your driving business doesn’t start off with good business credit already built. Orderly, speedy building business credit means getting vendor accounts. Starting with vendor credit accounts is a proven way to start building business credit.

Building Business Credit: The Process

Gig Economy Credit SuiteUse your business credit and pay on time, just like you should with personal credit. These vendors we’ll show you will report to the business credit reporting agencies. And you’ll build a good business credit score. These trade lines are creditors who will give you starter vendor credit when you have none now. And, they’ll report positive payment experiences to the business CRAs. So use the credit, pay back what you used, and the account goes on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Once reported, then you have trade lines, an established credit profile, and an established credit score.

You MUST have 3 or more vendor accounts reporting to move onto more credit with higher limits and better terms, more reporting accounts are even better. It will take 30—90 days for those accounts to report, 60 days on average. Do NOT apply for tier 2 credit without having 3 or more accounts first.

Using Business Credit Vendors

Check out three of our favorite starter vendors to help your driving business:

  • 76
  • Wex Fleet
  • Marathon

All three come from Wex.

76

Phillips 66 Company owns 76. This card reports to: D&B and Experian. Before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, make sure to leave enough time in between applying so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.

To qualify, you need the following:

  • Business must be in good standing with the applicable Secretary of State
  • EIN
  • Company address matching everywhere
  • D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet
  • Your business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • Business phone number with a listing on 411

Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can give a $500 deposit instead of a personal guarantee if you’ve been in business under a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15. Use at any P66, 76, or Conoco fueling location.

Wex Fleet

Wex reports to Experian and D&B. They offer universal fleet cards and universally accepted business fleet cards with a rewards program. Before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, leave enough time in between applying, so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.

Wex Fleet Card

If you’re not approved based on business credit history, or been in business for at least a year, then you must give a $500 deposit or a PG. Apply online or over the phone. Terms: Net 15 (Wex Fleet Card), Net 22, or revolving (Wex FlexCard).

To qualify, you need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN
  • Business address (matching everywhere)
  • D-U-N-S number
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • Business phone number with a listing on 411

Marathon

Marathon Petroleum Company provides transportation fuels and specialty products supporting commercial, industrial, and retail operations. This card reports to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. Remember: before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, leave enough time in between applying so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.

To qualify, you need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN
  • Business address (matching everywhere)
  • D-U-N-S
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • Business phone number with a listing on 411

Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can provide a $500 deposit instead of using a PG if you’ve been in business less than a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15. Let’s move onto what’s called fleet credit.

Fleet Credit

Fleet credit comes with and after starter vendors. Use it to:

  • Buy fuel
  • Maintain vehicles of all sorts
  • Repair vehicles

Even if you just have one vehicle, you can still benefit. Fleet credit works for everything from luxury cars to minivans. These are often gas credit cards.

There may be a minimal time in business requirement. If your business can’t meet this requirement, you may be able to, instead:

  • Offer a personal guarantee or
  • Give a deposit to secure the credit

Now that you’ve got cards to support a vehicle, and your business credit is looking good, it’s time to look at vehicle financing to buy a vehicle!

Vehicle Financing

Vehicles financing is a great way to get a vehicle ASAP. With a fleet car, choices are usually buying or leasing. Providers include banks like Bank of America or the financing arm of a manufacturer, like Chrysler Capital.

Using Business Credit for Vehicle Financing

You can even finance a vehicle purchase or lease through our Business Credit Builder. These offers are in Tier 4. So they have certain requirements that business credit beginners just won’t be able to meet. Lenders want to see that you have the income to support the purchase. Consider Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing.

Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing Via Credit Suite

Ford offers several commercial vehicle financing options. These include loans, lines, and leases to actual business entities. This is not for sole proprietorships. Get a loan or a lease.

Ford may ask for a PG if you do not get approval on the merit of your application. Apply at the dealership. Ford reports to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.

To qualify, you need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN
  • Business address- matching everywhere
  • D-U-N-S
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • Strong business credit history

You must have a good Experian business credit score.

Ally Car Financing Via Credit Suite

Ally provides personal financing. But they will also report to business credit bureaus. If your business qualifies for financing without the owner’s guarantee, you can get financing in the business name only. Ally will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.

Ally Car Financing: Ally Commercial Line of Credit

To qualify, you need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN
  • Business address- matching everywhere
  • D-U-N-S
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • Bank reference
  • Fleet financing references

If you use a personal guarantee, they will not report to the personal credit bureaus unless the account defaults.

Ally Car Financing: Ally Commercial Vehicle Financing

Get a lease or a loan. To qualify, you need most of the same things as you need for an Ally Commercial Line of Credit, except for

  • A bank reference
  • Fleet financing references

There is no minimum time in business requirement. Apply in person only, dealer will advise if approved or PG is necessary.

One More Thing About Vehicle Financing

With commercial vehicle financing, business owners may have to personally guarantee vehicle loans. If you are a co-borrower, the loan will tend to report to your personal credit report. Starting off by giving a personal guarantee means you can get money and get your vehicle now instead of later.

When you provide a personal guarantee, you are adding your Social Security number to the application. So expect a hard inquiry. You’re also adding the details of your personal income to the application.

No PG (Personal Guarantee) Financing

With no PG financing, you can get higher limits and better terms. Continue to build exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time. In general, the following will eliminate the need to provide a personal guarantee for this type of financing:

  • good business credit
  • a decent amount of time in business or
  • good personal credit

Much like with any other kind of business borrowing, the more assurances you can give the lender, the better. And with well-built business credit, you’ve got a hugely positive assurance to provide.

Takeaways

Gig economy workers can build business credit to stabilize their employment situation and plan for the future. Use business credit to finance your delivery job in the gig economy and make it easier and more affordable to work as a flexible gig worker.

The post Speed Your Way to Success: How to Find Business Credit for Your Gig Economy Job appeared first on Credit Suite.

How to Increase Page Speed

If a user clicks through to a page on your website and finds themself waiting more than a few seconds for your page to load, they are likely to leave your page and can cost you a conversion.

Luckily there’s a remedy to increase page speed, but it involves the identification of the issue or issues causing slow lead times.

Since it can be difficult to pinpoint what’s wrong, you can use tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights to help. Google PageSpeed considers several factors for an overall score load time score. When you analyze page speed, Google gives you a list of metrics that contribute to the score. Let’s find out what those metrics are.

Increase Page Speed with Google PageSpeed Insights Field Data

The first set Google PageSpeed Insights gives you is called field data. This includes a variety of aspects of your site. (You can also learn more about core web vitals and how it will affect speed and SERP performance.)

Google insights - page speed

1. First Contentful Paint (FCP)

FCP is when your browser renders the initial information. That includes text, images (including background images), non-white canvas, and scalable vector graphics (SVG).

2. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP is a Google experience metric that measures the time it takes for the largest bit of information on the page to load. Google uses LCP as a ranking factor for pages.

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS is another ranking factor for Google. It’s an unexpected shift—meaning jumping around to other locations on your screen—of page elements as it loads. It’s an indication of poor coding and can be caused by images, ads, videos, contact forms, and fonts.

4. First Input Delay (FID)

FID measures site response time when a user first interacts with it. If your user clicks on a video, the time it takes to play a video is your FID.

Using Lab Data to Increase Page Speed

The second set of elements is called lab data. It includes the elements above, as well as total blocking time, time to interactive, and speed index.

using lab data to increase website speed

1. Speed Index (SI)

SI measures the average time it takes for all elements on a page to become visible. Measured in milliseconds, it calculates the time it takes for visual elements to load above the fold—the part of a webpage seen before a user has to scroll.

2. Time to Interactive (TTI)

TTI measures how long it takes for all of the interactive elements on a page to become fully functional. It’s the time between the First Contentful Paint to the time the page can handle the user’s input.

3. Total Blocking Time (TBT)

TBT measures the time between time to first contentful paint and the time a site becomes interactive.

Why Is It Important to Improve Page Speed?

Page speed affects user experience, which can make or break your site. Faster page speed makes for a better user experience and can increase page views and conversions and reduce bounce rate. Let’s get into more detail on the benefits of improving page speed.

1. Improve User Experience by Increasing Website Speed

According to our research, 47 percent of consumers expect a website to load in no more than two seconds.

increase website speed

Every second afterward damages user experience. Viewers don’t want to wait for your page to load, and they’ll often bounce to find another business with a better user experience.

2. Increase Page Views

You might have noticed that some of the metrics I mentioned above, namely LCP and CLS, affect Google page ranking. In their quest to provide high-quality search results for users, Google includes metrics measuring load times. So, the better your page speed, the better ranking you may get on Google.

3. Increase Conversions

If your pages load quickly, it stands to reason your users will be happier and more willing to turn into customers. In 12 case studies conducted by HubSpot, they found decreasing page load time increased conversions by anywhere from three to 17 percent.

We did the math. If you’re an e-commerce site making $10,000 a day, a one-second page delay could cost you $2.5 million per year.

4. Lower Bounce Rate

According to Think with Google, when your page load time increases from one second to three seconds, the probability of bounce increases by 32 percent. If it rises from one to five seconds, that probability increases 90 percent.

The difference of a few seconds is the difference between keeping and converting users and watching them go elsewhere.

8 Ways to Increase Page Speed

To get a baseline for your current page speed, test your site using a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights.

8 ways to increase website speed

It will prompt you to enter a URL, then take a few minutes to analyze your page.

When it’s done, you’ll get an overall score that looks like this.

score - increase page speed

This is a pretty low score, but don’t panic. Google explains a number of factors can affect the final score and even cause it to fluctuate. Some of these factors include:

  1. conducting A/B tests
  2. changing the ads on your page
  3. changes in internet traffic routing
  4. testing on different devices, such as a high-performance desktop and a low-performance laptop
  5. browser extensions that inject JavaScript, which can add or modify network requests
  6. antivirus software

Google can analyze these factors and serve you a list of opportunities and diagnostics to help you speed up your page load time.

analysis to increase page speed

You can also try the following actions to increase page speed:

1. Limit Redirects

The more redirects you have, the longer it takes the server to find and load the correct page. Eliminate unnecessary redirects wherever you can.

2. Include the Trailing Slash

Don’t forget to include the trailing slash at the end of the URL. By doing so, you’re telling the server there are no file directories to search, and this page is the final destination.

So, instead of www.neilpatel.com/ubersuggest, your URL should read www.neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/.

It will shave a fraction of a second off your load time, where every millisecond counts.

3. Compress and Optimize Images

Large image files or a lot of images can take up a lot of your page load time. Make sure all your images are resized and compressed correctly.

They should be saved in the right format as well. PNG and JPEG files are the most easily compressed, and every browser supports them.

Compressing an image reduces the size of the file and is represented in kilobytes and megabytes. As a general rule, high-quality images can be compressed by 60% to 80%. You should never have an image larger than 1MB.

Resizing changes the size of the image on the page. Hero images may take up the entire width of your site (or about 1900 pixels), while smaller images should be 700 pixels or fewer. You can always size down, but it’s very difficult to size up without an image looking pixelated.

4. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

With a CDN, a network of servers hosts your site locally to speed up page load times. A user in Dublin accessing a website hosted in Los Angeles, for example, wouldn’t have to ping the server of origin but rather a closer one in Ireland.

By spreading out the content on multiple servers, it reduces the number of requests to the server of origin, which slows down load times.

5. Limit Plugins and Extra Page Elements

Plugins, JavaScript, and other extra elements add to page load time. Include only those elements that are necessary for your page.

Of course, there are plugins made to help with site speed. Plugins that automatically resize images, minify code, and defer JavaScript loading can help with page speed. You have to determine if the bells and whistles these plugins allow are worth the trade-off with page speed.

6. Minify Your HTML or CSS

When you minify your site’s code, you take out all the spaces, notes, and extra markup developers use to make their code readable and easier to work on down the road. A server doesn’t need all that to read HTML, JavaScript, or CSS, and it can get in the way when it tries to load a page.

There are tools to help you minify your sites:

  • YUI Compressor from Yahoo! for CSS
  • Google Closure Compiler for JavaScript
  • Microsoft Ajax Minifier for CSS
  • HTMLMinifier for HTML

7. Utilize Caching

When a site caches, the server saves copies of its pages, so it doesn’t have to start from scratch every time it loads the site. By using caching, you can reduce time.

8. Choose Your Web Host Carefully

When it comes to web hosting, you get what you pay for. Cheaper plans may not be able to handle as much traffic, which could slow your page speed.

There are four kinds of web hosting services you can choose from:

  • Shared Hosting: A single server hosts multiple small sites. The price for shared hosting is low, but a surge in traffic to any other hosted sites can slow down yours.
  • VPS Hosting: A virtual private server, or VPS, hosts many sites, but each site has a virtual “spot” dedicated only to them. Because it’s virtual, it gives you more resources, potentially reducing the risk of site speed issues related to traffic.
  • Dedicated Server Hosting: One site is hosted on a single server. Although more expensive, it helps to lower or eliminate the risk of losing site speed due to other sites’ traffic surges.
  • Cloud Hosting: Websites are hosted on a network of virtual and physical servers that offer more resources and more flexibility. If you suddenly get a surge in traffic, a virtual host will scale up to handle it.

To choose the right hosting service for your site, consider the sizes of your site and budget.

Conclusion

A fast load time has always been an important component of user experience. Now that it’s one of Google’s components in its ranking algorithm, page speed has become critical for ranking and page views.

To improve page speed, look out for common issues that cause pages to load slowly like the images too large or you’re using too many plugins.

If you are unsuccessful or overwhelmed by following practices that increase page speed, our agency is here to walk you through the steps.

Have you taken a look at your site speed? What were the most common causes of slower load time for you?

The post How to Increase Page Speed appeared first on Neil Patel.

Rapid Speed Student Loans Approval Even With Bad Credit

Rapid Speed Student Loans Approval Even With Bad Credit

Quick Speed Student Loans Approval Even With Bad Credit
If the trainee does not currently have a well-known debt, this might be a barrier to the trainee’s more education and learning. Negative credit score trainee finances are lendings which are particularly packaged for trainees with poor debt.
Bad Credit Student Loans
Poor credit history pupil financings are the following ideal choice if you can not certify for the basic trainee funding for any kind of factor. These poor credit report pupil fundings can likewise be made use of for the objective of fixing your credit score background. The very easy escape would certainly be to settle all your expenses as well as pay them off with the aid of a poor credit report trainee lending.
Poor credit score pupil lendings are offered to the pupils at a somewhat greater interest rate contrasted to the rates of interest on the typical pupil car loans. The loan provider reduces the rate of interest price on the funding if the pupil makes prompt settlements on the negative credit history finance for 2 years continually.
Locating The Right Lender
There are several means in which one can look for poor debt trainee financings. As well as there are likewise numerous pupil funding administration business that solely deal with various kinds of trainee fundings. Such car loans are normally temporary, like money advancement lendings as well as trainee incomes.
The finest component regarding using for poor debt pupil car loans online is the versatility of the time element and also the reducing of ranges. An appropriate study job as well as a contrast of various funding choices is needed prior to you use for a negative credit rating pupil lending.
Online Bad Credit Student Loans
These on the internet poor credit history pupil lendings are typically temporary fundings that do not call for any kind of credit report checks. A trainee requires to send out a post-dated check to the lending institution after the authorization of the finance application.
The details called for in the kinds for negative credit history pupil fundings is extremely standard: your address, some various other individual information, and also at times, your credit report scores. Expert aid can come in convenient at the time of application for trainee car loans. There are likewise lots of colleges as well as universities that supply working as a consultant and also assistance with concerns to the various pupil lendings as well as economic items.

Poor credit score pupil finances are financings which are particularly packaged for pupils with poor credit scores. If you can not certify for the basic trainee finance for any kind of factor, poor credit rating trainee financings are the following finest choice. As well as there are likewise several pupil finance monitoring firms that solely deal with various kinds of trainee car loans. An appropriate study job and also a contrast of various financing choices is needed prior to you use for a negative credit score pupil finance. These on-line poor credit report trainee fundings are normally temporary financings that do not call for any type of credit scores checks.

The post Rapid Speed Student Loans Approval Even With Bad Credit appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.