Author: Elizabeth Johnson

Best Contact Management Software

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When you’re trying to make the sale, you want to be as tactful as possible. You want to talk to your customer at the exact time they want what you’re selling.

This means going beyond storing their basic contact information and tracking points of contact, rebuttals, and previous sales deals.  

That’s where contact management software can be one of your most valuable sales tools. It helps you streamline your sales process so that you can close sales faster, keep your most valuable customers, and grow your business.

But how do you find the right contact manager to integrate into your sales system?

In this extensive guide, I review five of the top contact management tools on the market and walk you through the best features as well as their price points.

Let’s get started. 

#1 – HubSpot Review — The Best Free Contact Management System

HubSpot stands alone as a powerful free contact management system with tons of accessible tools to enhance your sales cycle from beginning to end. 

That’s because HubSpot gives away a free version of its award-winning CRM (customer relationship management) software. Contact management is one of the foundational services included with this suite, but you will find tools for sales, marketing, and customer service teams.

For a free product, it’s unbelievably rich.

Focusing in on just the list of contact management tasks you can do for free with HubSpot’s software still gives you a long list. You can keep track of contact website activity, deals, company insights, manage ticketing, manage ads, email tracking and notifications, and even messenger integrations.

HubSpot’s free contact management software is an excellent stepping stone toward more varied and growth-oriented contact management as your business grows since you can always upgrade to one of their paid CRM plans without having to migrate.

If you’re getting started with contact management and want to do more with your contacts in terms of sales strategy on a budget, I recommend you start onboarding HubSpot’s free tools for a strong beginning. 

Start using HubSpot for free here. 

#2 – Bigin Review — The Best For Simple Contact Management

A small or mid-sized business doesn’t always have use for tools built with enterprises in mind. Bigin takes the prize for a simple yet reliable contact manager you can easily start with. 

A single dashboard unifies all your data points so you can make strategic decisions at a glance and manage everyone on your roster. It helps to think of it as your own personal yellow pages except for ten times more useful.

You can do things like adding your preferred tags to contacts to find what you’re looking for quickly, glance over at your expected revenue numbers, and see all your pending tasks.

Bigin makes it easier for you to close deals by scheduling follow-up activities and then closely monitoring results, all on an intuitive dashboard. 

Bigin’s simplicity bleeds into its pricing structure, too. Here’s a quick overview:

Free

  • Single user
  • 500 contacts
  • One pipeline

Express – $7/user per month

  • 50,000 contacts
  • 5 pipelines
  • Add 10,000 additional contacts for $1/month
  • Up to 20 custom fields per module and 10 custom dashboards

It’s that simple. One user with one pipeline can manage up to 500 contacts free, forever. And the paid tier isn’t tough to stomach, either.

Get started with Bigin here to go beyond managing a simple list of contacts.

#3 – Pipedrive Review — The Best For Visual Contact Management

Pipedrive is loved not just for the wide array of CMS tools it offers but because it makes the whole contact management and sales process straightforward and visual. It’s been used by over 90,000 companies in more than 170 countries and business giants like Vimeo, Amazon, and Re/Max. 

Pipedrive is a highly intuitive system that easily updates and automates contact tasks and sales calls. The easy drag-and-drop features and their clean and approachable interface make them an easily adaptable and usable system. 

With a visual dashboard in mind, they don’t falter in the features department, as it offers plenty of tools for powerful contact management like task automation, lead pipelines, and smart lists that track the last time you contacted a prospect. 

You can always try Pipedrive free for 14 days. It doesn’t hurt to spend a few days trying out the software’s ins and outs to see if they’re a good company match. Otherwise, the ricing plans break into four tiers:

  • Essential – $12.50
  • Advanced – $24.90
  • Professional – $49.90
  • Enterprise – $99

#4 – Zendesk Review — Best For Reporting and Analytics

Zendesk is a dynamic CMS that emphasizes the analytical and reporting aspects of contact management. 

The last thing you want is to grow a robust list of leads and then have no idea what to do with them due to lack of data. Zendesk’s analytics make it possible for you to engage in better conversations with your prospects with their pre-built analytics features.

With them, you can track rep activities, call response times, and live chat interactions. Their rich reporting features ensure you keep a finger on every touchpoint of your sales cycle. This makes it easy to increase the ROI of each sales rep on your team. 

Zendesk’s price breakdowns can get specific depending on the solutions and features you’re looking for. The contact and relationship management tiers start at $19 per seat. 

Here’s a quick overview of the pricing tiers:

  • Team – $19 per seat per month
  • Professional – $49 per seat per month
  • Enterprise – $99 per seat per month
  • Elite – $199 per seat per month

Get started with a free demo of Zendesk here.

#5 – Salesforce Review — The Best Scalable CMS

Contact management software that scales with you and offers powerful tools to take you beyond the basics? There’s a tool for that. It’s called Salesforce.

The point of a CMS is to increase the efficiency of your daily operations, so you’re never blindsided by lost sales or missed relationship-building opportunities. 

Salesforce does that by offering the tools to build a good contact management base. This means contact history, survey answers, and email responses. But they take it a step further with their social data tool to keep track of what your customer is saying about products and services. 

Not only that, but Salesforce makes it easy to collaborate with everyone in your business. You can share documents, comments, analytics and insights, sales history, and any other information relevant to your ROI. 

On-the-go contact management is also possible with its mobile app. You can hop on a call armed with plenty of preemptive information about your customer from anywhere. This awesome array of tools makes Salesforce not only a contact management tool but a sales closing system, too, which is why it’s made it on my top five picks. 

Here’s a breakdown of each plan they offer:

  • Essential – $25
  • Professional – $75
  • Enterprise – $150
  • Unlimited – $300

Each plan comes with:

  • Account, contact, lead, and opportunity management
  • Email integration with Gmail and Outlook
  • Access to the Salesforce mobile app and all it’s features

The higher the tier, the more access to customizable features and tools you’ll have. Thankfully, you don’t have to jump right into a plan without testing how they work first.

Salesforce also gives you the option of testing any pricing tier first before committing. 

Try Salesforce for free first here and see what plan fits your contact management needs the best. 

What I Looked at to Find the Best Contact Management Software

Choosing the best contact management software goes beyond making sure they provide the standard contact management software (CMS) tools like sales tracking, customer notes, emails, and sales history.

Your business is unique, which means your CMS needs are also unique. Because of this, it’s hard to pinpoint a one-size-fits-all CMS that you can use in any given sales scenario or industry. 

You also have to consider the size of your team, your plans for scaling and revenue growth, and what functionalities are non-negotiable in your given industry.

Beyond that, there are a few specific key factors to think through when trying to make the best choice in a sea of software. Use these criteria to ensure you’re making the best contact management investment possible. 

Reporting and Analytics Capabilities

Some contact management systems put more emphasis on sales reporting and analytics than others. This can prove to be a valuable asset or just an extra feature to your team, depending on how you handle your sales process.

These days, contact management software is increasingly robust in terms of the analytics it can gather to help you make the best sales decisions. Some of them can measure everything from live chat interactions to sales calls, email responses, and even what you’re prospective customers say on social media about you or your competitor’s product or service. 

Deciding how deep you need your contact management analytics to go will ultimately depend on your sales goals and budget. Consulting with your sales team can be a sound idea in the process of making a final decision. 

Sales Process and Software Fit

The sales process you use to sell printers isn’t necessarily the same one you’d use to sell premium car parts. This also means you’ll want to find a CMS that fits every unique point of sale your team goes through continuously.

If done right, this can mean higher ROI, shorter sales cycles, and more revenue. This is where it’s a good idea to take the time to test drive every prospective CMS that looks appealing to your sales team. Most of them have the option for a demo or a 14-day free trial.

These trials exist for a reason. I highly recommend you take advantage of them before you commit.

User Experience

The more scalable integrations and features a CMS has, the more likely it is to have a big learning curve. This is important to take into account when thinking about onboarding your sales team to the system successfully. 

Besides that, the user experience for both your front-facing customer features like contact forms and chatbots and the backend features your sales team will have to interact with daily is also a crucial part of the process as far as ease of use goes.

An array of powerful features is pretty much useless if your sales team continually runs into trouble using them, or if integrations prove too clunky to operate properly. 

This also raises questions about what support features your preferred CMS provides and whether they offer any accompanying training options like forums, live chats, or even training webinars.

Summary

Finding the right contact management system can make the difference between constant sales, shorter sales cycles, and more efficient business growth all around.

But it starts with figuring out what your sales needs are, how you go through your sales strategy, and what you need to optimize for higher ROI. Once you’ve figured out your key needs, you can start narrowing down your list of prospects.

My recommendations are all excellent products, but they each have their strong suit:

  1. HubSpot – Best free contact management software
  2. Bigin – Best for simple contact management
  3. Pipedrive – Best for visual contact management
  4. Zendesk – Best for reporting and analytics
  5. Salesforce – Best scalable contact management software

My top choices for effective contact management are HubSpot, because of their extensive list of free tools, and Salesforce, because of how versatile and adaptable they are. Make sure to use this review as a roadmap to make your final decision. 

25 Social Media Tools That Experts Use to Streamline Their Marketing

With more than 3.6 billion social media users worldwide, social media marketing cannot be ignored.

Savvy marketers know social media is a vital part of every marketing campaign. For businesses, every social media platform is an opportunity to engage with their target audience.

Even marketing stars know that strategizing and managing even a few social networks can be overwhelming without the right management social media tools in place.

Consider this:

How can you keep up with your Twitter account when you haven’t even checked Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok today? What about all those new social media sites that are popping up every other day (or so it seems)?

How do you know which ones to target for your brand and which to skip?

Take a deep breath.

Managing your social media shouldn’t be overwhelming. Social media tools can help:

  • Save you time by doing the posting, social listening, and hashtag research for you.
  • Save you money by allowing you to allocate resources to other tasks.
  • Maybe even save your brand’s reputation by catching a negative post in time for you to run interference and resolve the issue quickly.

I’ve done the research for you and organized the top social media marketing into five categories. We start with tools that help with the four stages of social media marketing: discovery, creation, monitoring and scheduling, and analyzing. Then, I added a fifth miscellaneous category at the end.

If you find yourself stuck in a particular stage, just head down to the relevant section.

Are you ready to get productive, optimize your social media marketing, and become an expert social media marketer?

Let’s begin.

Content Research and Discovery

According to Statista, users post 347,222 stories to Instagram, and 157,000 share messages on Facebook every minute. It can be overwhelming to find value-added content in all that noise.

Let’s look at content curation social media tools that help filter meaningful content so you can find images, posts, and conversations that will resonate with your audience.

1. Nuzzel

This tool organizes stories shared by friends and followers on Twitter, Facebook, and other social apps. It’s available as a web, Android, and iOS app.

It displays aggregated stories from your social media circle as easy-to-read links in a feed. You can also add influencers in your niche.

Nuzzel is a social media tool that curates a news feed from social platforms.

You can catch up on news from the last hour, or go through the past week using the “Sort By” option. You can tap into content shared by your second-degree connections, as well.

Finally, you can also curate content from your newsfeed into an email newsletter.

2. Feedly

Feedly aggregates the top content in your niche from industry blogs and other publications. Their AI bot, Leo, acts as a research assistant that learns your reading habits and delivers articles you’ll be interested in.

It then “reads” each article and annotates them with relevant summaries, analyses, and links to relevant content.

Social media tool Feedly reads and analyzes content.

Leo learns from your behavior. If you save an article, it will show you more like it. If you click “less like this,” Leo will remember and show you fewer articles on that topic.

You can also set up priorities within topics. Choose a sub-topic, and Leo will include those articles under a Priorities tab.

Social media tool Feedly includes a priorities tab within topics.

3. BuzzSumo

There are several reasons I love this tool. On top of content discovery, you can use it to research keywords, track online trends, and even find influencers within your vertical.

Use it to dissect your competition, understand your audience, and find content with the most social network shares.

The Chrome extension lets you do your research while you browse, as well. To use it, enter your keyword or phrase to discover the top-performing content.

You can use the filters to customize your search by language, time frame, country, and a number of other parameters.

You can find the popularity of content on a particular social network by using the “sort by” feature.

You can also plug a blog URL into the tool to find its top-performing content pieces.

Analyze content articles with social media tool BuzzSumo.

4. Tagboard

This is another great social media tool for monitoring and searching for hashtags relevant to your industry and track brand mentions.

To start your search, plug in the keyword, and the tool delivers content from several platforms.

Here are search results for #neilpatel:

Find relevant hashtags with social media tool TagBoard.

You can directly respond to these mentions, right from the screenshot page.

On the right sidebar, you get useful stats around the frequency and sentiment of your hashtag.

Analyze hashtags with social media tool TagBoard.

Tagboard is especially useful to track conversations and engagement during conferences and live events.

Visual Content Creation

According to Venngage, 49 percent of surveyed marketers rated visual content as very important, but 43 percent said producing it consistently was their biggest challenge.

Social media has become undeniably visual, and having a presence on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, and other visual platforms is paramount.

Here are a couple of social media tools to help you create videos, images, diagrams, Pinterest boards, infographics, and more.

5. Canva

This is a simple graphic design web tool with pre-made templates for all kinds of social networks and uses.

It combines some of the best elements of Photoshop with a drag-and-drop functionality.

Drag-and-drop functionality in social media tool Canva

For every template, there are a variety of layouts, fonts, and backgrounds to choose from. And if you find yourself having trouble with a particular functionality, there are free tutorials to help you design better graphics.

For example, if you’re considering repurposing your most shared content for an infographic, there’s a tutorial for creating simple infographics with Canva.

Here are ten websites to source free and premium stock photos you can use in your designs.

6. Biteable

Biteable allows you to create videos, animations, motion graphics, and a number of other visuals for social, ads, and even presentations. You can use any of their templates to get started.

You can sync your marketing calendar with theirs to get tips and ready-to-go video templates for relevant seasons, holidays, and events.

Content calendar functionality in social media tool Biteable

7. Pixlr

Pixlr is a freemium service with a lot of the functionality of Photoshop.

Its free services include Pixlr X (for express) with essential tools for quick editing. Pixlr E (for editor) offers a more extensive selection of tools for more sophisticated content creation and Remove BG, an AI-based background removal tool.

If you need even more photo editing capabilities, they offer a subscription-based plan that includes more stickers, overlays, and visual effects, as well.

Pixlr offers templates, as well, some free and some part of the subscription service.

Templates available in social media tool Pixlr

Pro Tip: One-Pixel Pinterest Image

The images you share on Pinterest should be vertically aligned. But, if you insert a tall image directly into a blog post, it’ll take up a lot of real estate.

The solution is uploading the tall Pinterest image below the first picture of your post. Then, change its height and width to one pixel each.

Now, the image will appear when you click on the “Pin it” button to share on Pinterest. The alt text of the Pinterest image automatically serves as the caption for the image.

Monitoring and Scheduling

It’s impossible to manage your brand’s social media accounts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But the world of social media doesn’t turn off at 5 p.m.

Social media tools for monitoring and scheduling can help. They can save you hours every week by combining your brand activity from multiple social media networks into one dashboard.

8. Hootsuite

Hoot is a full-service social media management tool that lets you track mentions, engagement, and other metrics across all of your social platforms. You can schedule and track posts using their analytics tools and respond to mentions via your dashboard.

9. Buffer

This is an amazing app to schedule updates from your social network accounts at the times that you work best for your brand.

It works a lot like Hootsuite. You can create and schedule social posts, and then track them through their analytics.

Analytics example from social media tool Buffer

Buffer will also prioritize social mentions for you, so you can respond to the most pressing ones first.

10. Hopper HQ

Hopper HQ connects your brand with top content creators in your vertical. Once you choose from a list of recommended creators, they deliver content you can share in posts and paid ads.

11. CoSchedule

CoSchedule is a simple, integrated social media and blog publishing calendar.

Publishing calendar example from social media tool CoSchedule

It also includes a suite of organizing tools for social media, brand assets, work, and content. Schedule your blog posts, collaborate with different authors on a post, and assign specific tasks to different people.

It has an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface, as well.

In the calendar view itself, you can also keep track of the most shared and engaged with content.

12. IFTTT

If This Then That is a fantastic social media tool to connect applications and automate social actions. IFTTT offers a series of applets that allow you to connect platforms and streamline your work.

For example, you can send your Instagrams to Twitter as native tweets. You can also get a weekly notification email of all of the people who followed you on Twitter. You can also archive tweets to a Google spreadsheet.

You can create your own applet from scratch by choosing a trigger and appending an action to it.

Or, you can use applets created by other people.

Applets available in social media tool IFTTT

In this article, Kristi Hines explains a killer recipe to directly schedule social media updates from your Feedly account.

You can schedule the articles you choose to read later in Feedly on your social network accounts through Buffer. You only need Gmail and Buffer accounts to set up this applet.

Social Media Analytics

The best way to find the most effective social network for your business is by tracking your social media marketing efforts.

The right data allows you to calculate ROI from your social media marketing campaigns. It’ll help you find your top-performing content, so you can tweak your campaign and optimize your marketing efforts.

Let’s look at a few social media tools to measure and analyze your social activities.

13. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most widely used analytics tools to track user behavior on websites. But, you can also track social reports under its reporting tab.

To access your social network standing, log into your Analytics account. Then, head over to the Reporting tab. Click on Acquisition > Social.

Set up goals inside Analytics to access these social reports. There are standard templates inside analytics you can use to set actionable goals for your social media marketing campaigns.

If you get stuck, use Google’s official step-by-step guide for setting goals.

There are eight reports you can see under social analytics–Overview, Network Referral, Data Hub Activity, Landing Pages, Trackbacks, Conversions, Plugins, and Visitors Flow.

Once you set up goals, you’ll be able to see your social media impact in Overview.

Social value graphic in social media tool Google Analytics

The most important report is conversions.

You can break down your social media campaign by network and find out the most successful platform.

If you’re interested in the user behavior–the like and share buttons your visitors are clicking–you’ll need to set up social plugins.

Although setting up this report might take time, the end results are worth the effort:

A clear picture of the social network that provides the best ROI and the kind of content you should create for it.

14. HubSpot

HubSpot has a number of tools, from marketing automation to a full content management system. Their Marketing Hub allows you to create and manage social media posts, video for social, and conversations from their platform.

15. Followerwonk

To get the best results from a real-time social network like Twitter, you need to be active when your followers are online.

Followerwonk analyzes your Twitter followers and tells you when your followers are most active.

You can also use it to find influencers in your niche and discover relevant people to follow.

You can also track your followers by demographics, such as age.

Demographics pie chart from social media tool FollowerWonk

16. Olapic

Olapic is a great tool to add to your visual marketing arsenal. You can use the tool to discover, curate, and schedule user-generated content across Instagram, Pinterest, and all your other social accounts.

Use it on your site, in your social ads, and in your emails to lift engagement and increase conversions.

17. Keyhole

For Instagram and Twitter, a good hashtag analyzer can go a long way. Keep up-to-speed on hashtags relevant to your industry with Keyhole.

The tool also uses machine learning to forecast whether your campaigns will hit their goals.

Finally, Keyhole tracks and monitors influencer performance. You can use it to compare influencers to determine who is most effective for your brand.

18. Semrush

Not only does Semrush allow you to create, schedule, and track your own posts, it also lets you track and analyze your competitors’ posts, too. You can also use it to optimize your social ads.

SEMRush is also helpful for general keyword and content research in your vertical (or you can also use Ubersuggest for this).

Miscellaneous Tools To Increase Social Engagement on Your Website

You are already equipped with the best social media tools to research, curate, plan, schedule, monitor, and analyze your social media marketing efforts.

What about social engagement on your website? The end goal of most social campaigns is to increase your website’s engagement and traffic.

Here are some tools to power your website and drive social media interaction.

19. ClickToTweet

A simple way to increase the number of tweets on your blog post is by adding a link to every actionable comment. When a reader clicks on the link, it automatically adds a tweet to their Twitter account.

You can track all of your embedded links from the dashboard.

You can also analyze their performance using their analytics tool.

If you’re on WordPress, there is a simpler alternative–Better Click to Tweet plugin.

20. Share Buttons by AddToAny

Floating share buttons can either help or hurt your engagement and conversions, according to BigCommerce. For example, sharing buttons with counters can hurt conversions if the number of shares is low, while adding share buttons to product pages can actually distract users.

The best way to find out when and where to use share buttons is through extensive testing.

If you’re on WordPress, you can start with Share Buttons by AddToAny plugin. It has the option to activate share buttons in the sidebar, as well as above and below every content piece.

You can also customize the number of social networks you want to show your visitors, from the ones below.

I recommend experimenting with two or three social media share buttons and stick to the social networks where your audience hangs out.

21. Snip.ly

Do you feel like you’re losing time curating and endorsing content by other publishers?

Snip.ly can give it back to you. It’s a link shortener with a great add-on: a customized call to action for every link you share with the tool.

You can use it to drive direct traffic to your website by adding a non-intrusive, custom CTA at the bottom of each post you share.

The CTA can include customized messages, colors, images, and themes.

CTA example from social media tool Snip.ly

Besides direct traffic, you can drive app downloads, email list signups, and event registrations.

The analytics dashboard allows you to track the number of clicks and conversions.

22. Onalytica

Influencers are a trusted source of information for your customers. A recommendation from them can lift your product sales and brand visibility.

But, how can you find influencers interested in your post, service, or product?

That’s where Onalytica comes in. It finds relevant influencers for your brand based on your article link or uploaded file.

It scans an article, then generates a list of targeted influencers in under a minute. After reverse-engineering relevant influencers, you can connect and start building a relationship.

23. CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer

Headlines play a key role in engagement. It’s no wonder that Upworthy used to write 25 headlines for every post.

CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer is a great tool to ensure headlines attract attention—and clicks.

Using it is simple:

  1. Head over to www.coschedule.com/headline-analyzer.
  2. Plug your headline in the “Type your headline here” bar.
  3. Press the “Analyze Now” button.

You’ll get an overall score for your headline and a grade for the variety of words you’ve used, top keywords in your headline, and the sentiment your headline evokes

24. KingSumo

KingSumo helps brands manage giveaways on social media that can help drive emails sign ups and followers.

To create a giveaway, create a title, description, start and end date, and the number of winners. Then, post it directly to your social accounts.

You can manage and track all of your giveaways from a single dashboard.

Dashboard for social media tool KingSumo.

.

25. Facebook Comments Plugin

If a large section of your audience hangs out on Facebook, then activating Facebook Comments on your website can increase engagement and bring you closer to your social media marketing goals.

But, beware. There is a risk of comment scams that easily pass spam filters. You’ll need to stay on top of comment moderation.

Conclusion

Social media can become a huge distraction, even if it does help drive your business. Manually logging in to post blogs and business updates can eat up valuable time you could use to build a new product, take care of vendor orders, or handle customer concerns.

Start incorporating the above tools in your armory to automate repetitive tasks and batch your social media posts.

They’ll save you time every week. They’ll also improve your ROI from social media marketing and your bottom line.

Have I missed any of your favorite social media marketing tools? Can you share your social media productivity secrets? Please let me know in the comments below.

The post 25 Social Media Tools That Experts Use to Streamline Their Marketing appeared first on Neil Patel.

New comment by ween_trigger in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2020)"

Wyssen Avalanche Control | Backend/Full-Stack Engineer | Switzerland | Onsite | Full Time | https://www.wyssenavalanche.com/

Visa possible for the right applicant (EU preferred)

—

Wyssen sets the standard for innovative and high quality solutions for risk management in avalanche-exposed areas. We deliver cost-effective and ecological solutions for avalanche control equipment and software tools.

We have over 350 avalanche towers protecting roads, railroads and infrastructure in Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Chile and Canada.

We are constantly focusing on innovative solutions, and this has enabled us to set the standard in the field of avalanche control with our state-of-the-art technology and professional risk solution services.

—

We are located in Reichenbach im Kandertal, a small ski town in the Bernese Oberland (ten minutes to Adelboden ski area, 30 minutes to Interlaken, 30 minutes to Bern).

Our current team is small: one frontend engineer, one devops/backend engineer (me), and the electrical engineer who built the initial application. The practical challenge right now is to transform the current, non-OOP, primarily PHP application into a modern, extensible, and manageable tool for our users and for future developers. We are looking for someone with a strong architectural background and experience with PHP web applications. You and I will have an opportunity to define much of the direction and technologies we will adopt or modify.

Most of the team speaks Swiss German, but I am a native English speaker and we use English for technical discussions.

Job description (in German): http://minify.link/6hf

Please email me with questions: gerrit[at]wyssen[dot]com

The post New comment by ween_trigger in “Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2020)” appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

Contrasting The Two Types Of Investments

Contrasting The Two Types Of Investments

There are 2 significant sorts of financial investments carried out in the stock-trading sector nowadays– long-lasting financial investments and also temporary financial investments. If you discover on your own bewildered as well as puzzled in picking which kind would certainly be best, merely remember of the distinctions in between these 2 ranges as well as think about the benefits and also downsides of each to be directed in making the right choices.

Essentially, the significant distinction in between both financial investments is the reality that temporary strategies are really created to reveal a considerable return quickly duration. While lasting financial investments, on the various other hand, are developed to last for several years as well as provide a sluggish yet dynamic boost in its return.

When it comes to the negative aspects and also benefits of each kind of financial investment, allow us uncover much more regarding the distinctions.

Short-Term Investments

The significant benefits of spending for a temporary strategy are the possibilities for development at a really rapid time period, varying from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. There might be varying fads that can impact the market, temporary financings can still enable you much more control over your cash as well as you it is extra most likely that you can maintain a much more careful eye on your financial investment.

This kind of financial investment might be a little bit riskier due to the variations existing in such an unpredictable supply market, as stated over. As contrasted to its lasting equivalent, this sort of financial investment might a lot conveniently be influenced by unforeseeable scenarios since it remains in a much shorter amount of time. Therefore, also if there is a really massive possibility that you can make a great deal of cash in this sort of financial investment, there are additionally excellent opportunities that you can shed a great deal.

Long-Term Investments

For long-lasting financial investment intend on the various other hand, there is a higher capability for this kind of financial investment to get tiny and also dispersed revenues over a longer timespan. As well as due to the fact that it has a slow-but-steady rate, it ends up being a lot more secure and also includes less threats.

Of training course, a negative aspect for the slow-moving development of your financial investments might show that you can not anticipate to gain earnings right away specifically when you are severely in demand of cash. On top of that, you might likewise have much less control over your cash since your financial investment would certainly not develop right now.

Take note that since financial investments might need a great deal of costs to be paid as it proceeds and also due to taking place variations in the market, a lot of long-lasting financial investments might experience down time prior to they can really climb up as well as end up being efficient.

In picking in between these 2 significant kinds of financial investments, one of the most crucial point you need to think about in order to assess which strategy would certainly end up being a lot more useful to you is to consider on your factors for spending.

After that undoubtedly a temporary strategy would certainly fit you, if you spent in supplies with the best objective to make cash rapid. On the various other hand, if you desire to spend for future and also insurance coverage functions like in situations in which you desire to have cash when you expand old, after that a long-lasting strategy for investing is best.

Whatever your choice might be, constantly bear in mind that there are benefits as well as downside in all type of financial investments. And also eventually, to end up being effective in your undertaking, you need to want to tackle marginal dangers as well as make clever choices in order to handle your professions.

The post Contrasting The Two Types Of Investments appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

Lima One Recession Funding – Reliable Research So You Know What You’re Getting Into

The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world by surprise.  The economy is upside down.  If you are a business trying to make it during this time, we can help.  The Federal government has approved funding through  The CARES Act, including the Paycheck Protection Plan.  In addition, many states and local organizations are offering their own COVID-19 … Continue reading Lima One Recession Funding – Reliable Research So You Know What You’re Getting Into

Fund Your Business With Bad Credit During National Recessions

The world has changed. Right now, business owners are more scared than ever before. Many are unsure of what to do. It’s a time to be wondering about how to get the capital you need to grow, and if it’s possible to grow at all, let alone thrive. But you can! You can even get business loans for bad credit in a recession.

Conditions Are Changing on the Fly

Several states have already closed restaurants. Others are limiting gatherings. Stores are having trouble keeping stock on the shelves. Customers and prospects are jittery.

Interest Rates

Interest rates are at an all-time low. There has never been a better time to borrow. Banks are still lending. You can still get money within 24 hours. Such low rates mean business owners can get money at very cheap rates. You really can get business loans for bad credit in a recession.

A National Recession Won’t Stop You from Getting Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession

Starting a new business for some entrepreneurs can be hard when times are rough. This is especially for business owners looking to get their business off the ground. But it can be even tougher for business with bad credit. So you need funding! And you need financing for small business with bad credit, even during national recessions.

National Recessions and Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession

The number of US financial institutions and thrifts has been decreasing gradually for 25 years. This is coming from consolidation in the marketplace along with deregulation in the 1990s, reducing obstacles to interstate banking. See: https://www.fundera.com/blog/happened-americas-small-businesses-financial-crisis-six-years-start-crisis-look-back-10-charts 

Assets concentrated in ever‐larger financial institutions is problematic for local business owners. Big financial institutions are much less likely to make small loans. Economic downturns indicate banks come to be much more mindful with lending. Fortunately, business credit does not depend on banks.

What’s Bad Credit?

Business owners with bad credit have credit scores of 300 – 629. A score in this range can be a huge obstacle for any business owner looking to fund a new business. Still, having bad credit shouldn’t stop new business owners from looking for money.

Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession – Nonprofit and Micro Lenders

Nonprofit and Micro Lenders. If you’re a business owner with bad credit, consider a nonprofit or microlender. Nonprofits and microlenders typically establish loans with bad credit borrowers in mind. Most nonprofit and microlenders loans are to help women and minority entrepreneurs. They also help people from lower income and economically disadvantage communities.

A microloan is what it sounds like – not a lot of money.

You can’t get a microloan from a regular bank. Rather, you get a microloan from a microlender. Try the Association for Enterprise Opportunity to find a local microlender. A microloan is just what it sounds like; it’s not a great deal of cash. Still, if your business only needs something like $500 – $35,000, then a microloan could work.

Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession – Online and Offline

Need much more than a microloan? Then apply for a loan from a bank or an online lender. Prepare to provide collateral, which might be stock or real estate or the like. Pay back on time or your company’s credit rating will take a hit.

Because of your bad credit, banks often take out a UCC blanket lien if they give your small business a loan. Online lenders may or may not do so as well.

A UCC blanket lien is a note which goes on your credit report. It says the creditor has an interest in all your company assets until you pay off the loan completely. Hence, there may be unfortunate consequences if you have to default.

Also, most of these loans also require personal guarantees.

Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession – Unsecured Business Loans

If you can get a loan which does not require a personal guarantee, then it’s often an unsecured business loan. And those come along with excessive interest rates. These kind of company loans are either short term or vendor cash advances. 

Or they can be receivables financing. That’s where you can get a loan based on expected business because you have pending unpaid statements. These all come with rates of interest often 40% or higher.

Advantages of Unsecured Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession

You do not have to put up a personal guarantee or allow a UCC blanket lien. If you default on the loan, then your home and other individual assets will not be confiscated. Neither will your inventory. Still, this also shows you often need to have strong revenue or a substantial amount of time in business. Generally, your personal credit must be fair or better. This is even without a demand for a personal guarantee.

Disadvantages of Unsecured Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession

Interest, interest, interest. Per Nerd Wallet, Kabbage can provide an unsecured business loan. Yet the annual percentage rate can run as high as 99%! If you think that’s usury, think again. In Ohio, for example, usury laws don’t apply to unsecured loans.

Unsecured business loans often require at least six months in business. Or they may demand you have no personal bankruptcies. It’s possible your small business would have to demonstrate minimal annual revenues. 

If the business is new, with no regular clientele and profits yet, and you have had personal bankruptcy troubles, then this option is off the table.

Funding During National Recessions: Crowdfunding

Get funding from a crowdfunding site like kickstarter.com or indiegogo.com. But read the small print. Many crowdfunding platforms want all the money back if you do not make your goal by the end of your campaign. Note: Indiegogo has a flexible funding option. Also, crowdfunding websites take a percentage of the contributions.

Straightforward companies may not do so well. Crowdfunding tends to work best when donors can directly connect with the service or product. So product lines not quite in stock yet, or artistic undertakings, may do well. But conventional gizmos not about to really change are not going to attract brand ambassadors. And by extension, they probably won’t get contributors too excited.

Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession – Factoring

Another option is invoice factoring, where your company gets a percentage of the cash from outstanding invoices fronted by the factoring company. The factoring company then goes directly after any business which owed you cash, and collects on it themselves. 

Hence if a merchant owes your business $1,000 on a twelve month payment basis, you might give an invoice to the factoring company. Then you may get something like $950 in a week. The factoring company then collects the total from the retailer. This lets you extend credit or negotiate longer term payment plans in exchange for other, more favorable terms. And you can do so without holding a bunch of what are effectively IOUs for months at a time.

Funding During National Recessions: Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists

These may or may not work for you. They won’t work for most businesses. Both types of investors are often looking for a high growth opportunity. 

Angel investors often invest in early stage or startup companies in exchange for a 20 – 25% profit on their investment. Angel investing is more informal. Yes, your mom can be an angel investor.

Venture capitalists are different. In contrast, they give money to help build new startups which the VCs believe have both high growth and high risk potential. These can be fast growth businesses with an exit strategy already in place. They can get up to tens of millions of dollars for investment, networking, and building their business. 

Essentially, this is a gamble on prospective profits. Also, venture capitalists often plan to recoup their investment in 3 – 5 years. They also, normally, want a part of your business if not a controlling stake.

Go Beyond Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession with Business Credit

 

Don’t have cash, collateral, time in business, a guarantor, or good personal credit? Then build business credit.

Business credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t connect to a business owner’s consumer credit, not even if the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the company. 

Because of this, an entrepreneur’s business and consumer credit scores can be very different.

The Advantages

Since business credit is independent from personal, it helps to secure a small business owner’s personal assets, in case of litigation or business bankruptcy. Even new ventures can do this. 

Personal credit scores rely on payments but also additional components like credit usage percentages. 

But for business credit, the scores just depend on if a business pays its invoices punctually.

The Process

Building business credit does not occur automatically. A small business needs to proactively work to develop business credit. 

However, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much more efficient than developing consumer credit scores. 

Merchants are a big component.

Doing the steps out of order causes repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with business credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Company Fundability

A small business must be fundable to loan providers and vendors. 

A small business needs a professional web site and email address. And must have website hosting bought from a merchant like GoDaddy. 

Also, business phone and fax numbers must have a listing on 411. Do so here: http://www.listyourself.net. 

In addition, the business phone number should be toll free (800 exchange or comparable).

A company also needs a bank account dedicated solely to it. 

Licenses

A business must have all the licenses necessary for operation. These licenses all must be in the correct, accurate name of the small business. And they need to have the same business address and telephone numbers. 

So keep in mind, this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.

National Recessions Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Dealing with the IRS

Visit the IRS web site and get an EIN for the business. They’re free. Choose a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc. 

A company can start as a sole proprietor. But they will more than likely want to switch to a form of corporation or an LLC. 

This is to decrease liability in the event of a lawsuit. And it optimizes tax benefits.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a company as a sole proprietor, then at least file for a DBA. 

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the business name. As a result, you can wind up directly accountable for all company debts.

Also, per the IRS, with this structure there is a 1 in 7 probability of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 probability for corporations! Avoid confusion and noticeably reduce the odds of an audit simultaneously.

Kicking Off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B website and get a free D-U-N-S number. This is how D&B gets a company in their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s web sites for the business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process. 

This way, Experian and Equifax have activity to report on.

Starter Vendor Credit

First you should build trade lines that report. This is also known as starter vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score. 

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start to get revolving credit and the more universal credit you see with MasterCard and Visa.

These kinds of accounts often tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are usually Net 30, instead of revolving. 

Hence, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you need to pay back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Unlike with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used. 

To start your business credit profile the proper way, get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. Then use the credit. 

Repay what you used, and the account is on report to D&B, Experian, or Equifax.

Starter Vendor Credit – It Helps

Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are merchants that grant an approval with minimal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, revolving store credit. Here are some stellar choices from us: https://www.creditsuite.com/blog/5-vendor-accounts-that-build-your-business-credit/ 

Revolving Store Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one CRA, then progress to revolving store credit. These are businesses like Office Depot and Staples. 

Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the small business’s EIN on these credit applications.

For credit cards which are ultimately issued by a bank, you will need to supply your Social Security Number. This is a federal law to prevent money laundering. There is no way around it.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then progress to fleet credit. These are service providers like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to fix and maintain vehicles. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, apply using the small business’s EIN.

For credit cards ultimately issued by a bank, you will need to supply your Social Security Number. This is a federal law to prevent money laundering. There is no way around it.

National Recessions Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

More Universal Credit

Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move onto more universal credit. These are companies like Visa and MasterCard. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN.

For credit cards which are ultimately issued by a bank, you must supply your Social Security Number. This is a federal law to prevent money laundering. There is no way around it.

These are often MasterCard credit cards. With several trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.

National Recessions Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is showing up on your reports. Address any mistakes as soon as possible. Get in the habit of taking a look at credit reports and digging into the details, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less than it would cost you at the CRAs. See: www.creditsuite.com/monitoring. 

At Equifax, monitor your account at: www.equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business. Equifax costs about $19.99.

Update Your Information

Update the data if there are errors or the relevant information is incomplete. At D&B, go here: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. So for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to contest any mistakes in your records. Mistakes in credit report(s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs normally want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputes

Disputing credit report inaccuracies often means you mail a paper letter with copies of any proof of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never send the originals. Always mail copies and retain the originals.

Fixing credit report mistakes also means you specifically detail any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as clear as possible. Be specific about problems with your report. Use certified mail so you have proof you mailed in your dispute.

A Word about Business Credit Building

Always use credit smartly! Never borrow more than what you can pay back. Keep an eye on balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying off on time and in full does more to raise business credit scores than almost anything else.

Growing small business credit pays. Good business credit scores help a small business get loans. Your loan provider knows the business can pay its financial obligations. They recognize the company is authentic. 

The small business’s EIN connects to high scores and banks won’t feel the need to demand a personal guarantee. And you won’t need business loans for bad credit in a recession.

Business Loans for Bad Credit in a Recession –Takeaways

Looking for money, loans, credit cards, etc., to start a business can be a tricky task, especially if you have bad business credit. It may look impossible to start your business with bad credit, but it’s not anything you can’t work through. There are a number of choices. You’re not out of luck, not even during national recessions.

The post Fund Your Business With Bad Credit During National Recessions appeared first on Credit Suite.

Mazu E-currency Exchange Program Review

Mazu E-currency Exchange Program Review

Matt Gagnon might be an illusionist which’s why the Mazu Guide has actually gotten a lot press. Matt’s e-currency exchange program introduced in Dec. 2004 as well as has actually seen just success with Mazu’s really helpful ECEP overview on beginning in e-currency trading. Matt Gagnon’s newest upgrade within the e-currency company has actually been the launch of the sophisticated section of the ECEP in June of 2005.
Mazu’s e-currency exchange program appealed an ignored specific niche as well as has actually produced an innovative overview on just how to trade e-currencies. Current research study has actually revealed that 90% of Mazu’s consumers are pleased with the digital e-currency program. It is noticeable that in any type of market there will certainly constantly be unhappy clients; nonetheless this mosts likely to state that there is constantly area for renovation.
The e-currency exchange program is very easy to adhere to with led tutorials, video clips as well as CD’s that aid individuals beginning. Not just do individuals obtain described sources, yet accessibility to chatroom as well as online forums that are loaded with individuals enlightened in e-currency trading. One of the most effective source within Matt Gagnon’s e-currency exchange program is without a doubt the chatroom that is continuously loaded with specialists on the topic.
In a current telephone call with Matt Gagnon he described that the Mazu e-currency exchange program will certainly make $900,000 this year alone. Matt clarified his success has actually resulted from the competence and also the riches of understanding Mazu has in the e-currency profession company. After examining Matt Gagnon’s money exchange program it became a really reputable program offering important sources for e-currency trading.

The post Mazu E-currency Exchange Program Review appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

New comment by HannaTalend in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2019)"

Talend | Senior Security Architect | Paris or Nantes in France, or Bonn in Germany | Full-Time | Onsite

Talend is a cloud and big data integration software company with deep open-source roots. Talend is one of the largest open-source companies in the world, and we sponsor a lot of foundations such as the Apache Foundation.

We are looking for a Senior Security Architect to join our Architect team. You will work closely with the Development team and the Cloud Operations team on all aspects of Software Development and SaaS Operations related security and be responsible, amongst others, for coaching on secure programming practices and related code reviews and documenting the software development lifecycle from a security standpoint.

If you love working on data masking, data in motion, encryption etc. you should speak to us :)!

All details: https://jobs.lever.co/talend/603edbd4-a7df-4d5c-9186-3ee2021…

What we offer you: Join a passionate team and work with the latest technologies (Hadoop, K8s, Terraform, AWS, GCP to name a few). A challenging but rewarding environment with international scope. Top modern offices with ideal locations.