Author: Sandra Radtke

The Fundability Meaning Game: What are the Rules and How do You Play?

When it comes to the fundability meaning game, most business owners don’t even know they are playing. Even if they do know, they have no clue what the rules are.  You can’t play if you don’t know the rules. You especially can’t play if you don’t even know you are in the middle of a game. In order to improve your fundability, you have to understand what fundability means.  

5 Rules to Play the Fundability Meaning Game

It can help to first understand what fundability is and how you got in the game to begin with.  In short, fundability is your ability to get funding for your business. Specifically, it is the ability to get loans and credit cards for your business.  

In the fundability meaning game, being fundable means that lenders view your business as a low credit risk with the potential for a good return on investment.  You see, lenders are not just handing out money out of the goodness of their hearts. They are in it to make money. If you want it, you have to play the game. More than that, you have to play to win.  Without further ado, here are five rules to play the fundability meaning game. 

Fundability Meaning Game Rule 1: It Starts Now

The truth is, you are playing the game before you even know it. While not fair, it is simply the way the game works.  Since you are already playing passively before you even know the game exists, you have to start playing actively as soon as you are in the know.  For many of you, that is right now. You are officially in the game.  

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

So how do you start?  You need to ensure your business has a fundable foundation.  Setting up your business to be fundable is vital. Take a look at the elements of a fundable foundation and make any adjustments necessary to ensure you get the best start possible now that you know you are playing. 

Elements of a Fundable Foundation 

You cannot follow rule number one if you don’t know the elements of a fundable foundation. Take a close look at your business and make sure you are all set in this department. 

Separate Contact Information

The first step in setting up a fundable foundation is to make certain your business has its own phone number, fax number, and address.  Some are surprised to find out that doesn’t mean you have to get a separate phone line, or even a separate location. You can still run your business from your home or on your computer. There’s not even a need for a fax machine.  

In fact, you can easily get a business phone number and fax number that works over the internet instead of phone lines.  In fact, the phone number will forward to any phone you want it too.  That means, you can just use your personal cell phone or landline. 

Faxes can be sent to an online fax service, if anyone really does fax you.  It may seem outdated, but it does lend to the legitimacy of your business. 

You can use a virtual office for a business address. How do you get a virtual office?  It’s not what you may think.  There are businesses that offer a physical address for a fee, and sometimes they even offer mail service and live receptionist services.  In addition, some of them offer meeting spaces for times you may need to meet a client or customer in person. 

EINfundable definition Credit Suite2

Next, you have to get an EIN.  This is an identifying number for your business that is similar to your SSN.  Some business owners use their SSN for business transactions. This is what a lot of sole proprietorships and partnerships do.  However, it really doesn’t look professional.  Also, it can cause your personal and business credit to get all mixed up.  When you are looking to increase fundability, you need to apply for and use an EIN. You can get one for free from the IRS.

Incorporate

Incorporating your business as an LLC, S-corp, or corporation is necessary for a fundable foundation.  It helps solidify your business as one that is legitimate and offers separation from the owner for building business credit. It also offers some protection from liability. 

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.  When you incorporate, your time in business starts 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.  There are a few reasons for this.  First, it helps you keep track of business finances.  It will also help you keep them separate from personal finances.  This is important for tax purposes. 

In addition, there are several types of funding you can’t get without a business bank account.  Many business credit cards and lenders want to see a minimum average balance in a business bank account.   Also, you can’t get a merchant account without a business account at a bank. As a result, you cannot take credit cards payments without a separate business bank account.  Studies show consumers often spend more when they can pay by credit card.

Licenses

For a business to be legitimate, it has to have all of the necessary licenses it needs to run.  If it doesn’t, red flags are going to fly up all over the place.  Do the research you need to do to ensure you have all of the licenses necessary to legitimately run your business at the federal, state, and local levels. 

Website

Today, you do not exist if you do not have a website.  However, having one that is poorly put together can be even worse than not having one at all. 

Your website is the first impression you make on many, and if it appears to be unprofessional it will not bode well for you with consumers or potential lenders. 

Spend the time and money necessary to make your website the best it can be.  Pay for hosting also. Don’t use a free hosting service.  Along these same lines, your business needs a dedicated business email address.  Make sure it has the same URL as your Website.  

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Fundability Meaning Game Rule 2: You Can’t Rely on Business Credit Alone

While business credit is a huge piece of business fundability, you cannot rely on business credit alone to make your business fundable.  Find out more about business credit here.

If business credit isn’t all there is to it, you have to know what else is happening to play effectively.  

Financial Statements

Both your personal and business tax returns need to be in order.  Not only that, but you need to be paying your taxes, both business and personal.  

Business Financials

It is best to have an accounting professional prepare regular financial statements for your business. Having an accountant’s name on financial statements helps your business look more credible and legitimate. If you cannot afford this monthly or quarterly, at least have professional statements prepared annually. Then, they are at the ready whenever you need to apply for a loan. 

Personal Financials

Often tax returns for the previous three years will suffice.  Get a tax professional to prepare them.   This is the bare minimum you will need.  Other information lenders may ask for include check stubs and bank statements, among other things. 

Personal Credit History

Your personal credit score from Experian, Equifax, and Transunion all make a difference.  You have to have your personal credit in order because it will definitely affect the fundability of your business.  If it isn’t great right now, get to work on it.  The number one way to get a strong personal credit score or improve a weak one is to make payments consistently on time. 

Fundability Meaning Game Rule 3: You Have to Apply Strategically

Having a clear application strategy can make all the difference.  Timing is important because, if you begin applying for business loans or credit cards before your fundability is sufficient, you will absolutely not get approval.  However, you have to make sure you apply to the right type of lender and for the right type of product also. 

For example, if you apply to a traditional lender for a business line-of-credit before your fundability will support that, you will run into problems.  However, if you have some aspects of fundability and are working on others, you could qualify for a business line-of-credit from a private lender. Making these choices is all part of the game.  Find more about what options are out there and which ones might work best for you here. 

Fundability Meaning Game Rule 4: You Have to Monitor Your Credit Yourself

No one else is going to do it for you.  You need to know where you stand with both business and personal credit to play the game well. That means checking each regularly to ensure all information is complete and accurate. You can get a free copy of your personal credit reports annually.  For business credit, it isn’t quite so simple. You can monitor directly with D&B, Experian, and Equifax. However, it is quite costly. You can monitor your business credit with D&B and Experian for a fraction of the cost here.

Fundability Meaning Game Rule 5: Your Past Will Haunt You, But You Can Overcome It

You know how I said you are actually playing the fundability meaning game before you even know it?  Here’s how. There are things in your past that can indirectly, or directly, affect your fundability that you may not even realize.  

Other Business Data Agencies 

In addition to the business credit reporting agencies that directly calculate and issue credit reports, there are other business data agencies that affect those reports indirectly.  Two examples of this are LexisNexis and The Small Business Finance Exchange. These agencies gather data from a variety of sources, including public records.  As a result, they could even have access to information relating to automobile accidents, liens, and other things you never dreamed could affect fundability. While you may not be able to access or change the data these agencies have on your business, you can make sure that any new information they receive is positive.  Enough positive information can help counteract any negative information from the past.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Bureaus

There are several other agencies that hold information related to your personal finances that you need to know about.  For example, personal FICO score needs to be as strong as possible. It really can affect business fundability.  In fact, almost all traditional lenders will look at personal credit in addition to business credit. 

Also,  you have ChexSystems.  Simply put, they keep up with bad check activity.  This makes a difference when it comes to your bank score.  If you have too many bad checks, you will not be able to open a bank account.  As a result, you could run into fundability problems. 

For this point, everything comes into play.  Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Do you have a bankruptcy or short sell on your record?  What about liens or UCC filings? Everything can and will play into the fundability of your business. 

Play the Fundability Meaning Game and Finish Well

Truly, the meaning of fundability is like a game with many rules.  The problem is, the rules are not widely published. If you don’t even know everything the term really encompasses, you can’t know how to build it.  Hopefully, these rules to the fundability meaning game can help you understand exactly what the meaning of fundability is. Then, you can make sure your business is as fundable as possible. 

The post The Fundability Meaning Game: What are the Rules and How do You Play? appeared first on Credit Suite.

One Stop Shopping: Stockleaf is Newest Resource for Investors

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Make Meaningful Business Connections and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Make the Most Meaningful Business Connections and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! So let’s start making meaningful business connections!

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Let HR Lead the Way in Fulfilling Business Objectives

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about hitting your business objectives with Human Resources.  Effortless HR says Human Resources is a great place to start when it comes to meeting certain business goals.

Our favorite tip was all about corporate culture. We particularly loved the idea of HR being a vehicle for anonymous surveys and other means of taking the temperature of the workforce.

Getting a handle on whether employees are happy is a laudable goal for any organization. By putting HR in charge of that, it removes the personal nature of such an inquiry from the equation. Rather than being pressured to say everything is awesome, employees can feel free to be honest in their assessments.

A corollary to this is working with HR to get a pipeline of employee suggestions set up. Because on the other side, HR can be the buffer between employees and management. A more frank discussion can happen if there is a referee. And HR, with its traditional tact-filled role, is perfect for the job.

#9. Stop Shrinking!

The next awesome tip is about effectively stopping shrinkage in your business. Business KnowHow lays it all out for us.

Er, what’s shrinkage? If you are a seller of goods rather than services, then you are all too familiar with it. It’s when the amount of stock you think you have on hand does not correspond to the amount of stock you actually do have on hand.

What Causes Shrinking?

The article lays out four reasons and three of them are criminal in nature. Those are shoplifting, employee theft, and return fraud. Return fraud comes in many forms, such as fake receipts or ‘returning’ goods which were shoplifted in the first place.

The only one of the four which is not criminal in nature is administrative errors. Even with computers and impeccably honest employees, someone just might enter a 9 when they meant to enter a 6.

Fix Your Incredibly Shrinking Problems

The solutions are likely the ones you would expect. Better store layouts with fewer blind spots can deter shoplifters. Improving employee hiring practices can cut down on employee theft. That is, if you ask for references, follow up on them! As for return fraud, better employee training can help, so your employees can spot this fraud and feel empowered enough to push for receipts and even identification. As for administrative errors, an improved point of sale system can help, as can better employee training.

We would also suggest doing inventories more often, so if there is a problem, it’s found before it snowballs into a disaster.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Make meaningful business connections today.

#8. Bring it All Home

Our following life-changing tip concerns your inbound marketing strategy. G2 says it’s all about the specificity.

Inbound marketing is, essentially, the use of a website to attract prospects. By creating sharable, findable content, you bring people to your website (more about making your website awesome in tips #4 and #3). These often are ‘warm prospects’, i.e. people who are seriously considering plonking down some money on either what you sell or something awfully similar thereto.

Hence inbound marketing is an exceptionally important tool in your kit. But when you’re scattershot, your inbound marketing efforts are wasted. Or, at the very least, they involve a lot more effort than they should.

The part we really loved was the ‘blink test’. Which is: can you find the value on any given page in two seconds?

Yes, two seconds, less time than it takes for the fastest humans to run a 100 meter dash.

So the moral of the story is, get to the point. Yesterday.

#7. Defrost Your Emails

For our next sensational tip, we looked at cold email tips. Sales Hacker tells us there are some basic, almost universal components to a good cold email.

A cold email, of course, is a lot like a cold call.

But the first element is, unlike a 100% cold call, you introduce yourself and give a reason why you’re emailing. You make the contact a little less out of the blue this way.

Next up are the offer, and proof that it works. After all, why should your prospect download your e-book or schedule a demo or whatever if they have no idea what’s in it for them?

Last are the call to action and what to do next. “So hit reply and I’ll….”

That’s it? That’s it!

#6. Why Don’t You Write Me?

This tip is so cool, and it works! Foundr tells us all about how to make money with your email list.

We have written about email marketing before, but it bears repeating: it may not feel glamorous or cutting edge, but it sure does sell. And that’s kind of the whole point, now, isn’t it?

Segmentation, Measurement, Timing, and Calls to Action

Let’s say you own a residential real estate business. Don’t your childless clients have different needs from those who have kids? So why are you sending emails with information about school districts to people who aren’t parents and aren’t planning to change any time soon?

Measurement and metrics are, of course, some of our favorite things (we also kind of like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, if you must ask). But measurement, ah measurement. It’s the surest way we know of to know if we’re succeeding. So bring on the yardsticks (and see tip #2)!

Timing matters because your customers and prospects might prefer weekend shopping, so an email on Monday is too late. Or they might want to take advantage of a sale – so they need some lead time.

As for calls to action, we sprinkle them throughout our blog posts and you have undoubtedly noticed them. These can be anything from ‘click her to buy’ to ‘call now for a free consultation’. Because your customers and prospects won’t know what you want from them unless you tell them.

Valuable Business Relationships Credit Suite#5. Make the Most Meaningful Business Connections

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Meaningful business connections will help you sell – because it’s all about the business relationship these days. And customers don’t want a summer fling – they want a business relationship with some heft to it. Entrepreneur gives us the lowdown.

Go beyond networking and create meaningful business connections. But how?

Everyone Has Value

We had really hoped this would be 100% intuitive. You know, the kind of common sense which turns out to be utterly uncommon? Yeah, that stuff.

So the concept here is to be kind to everyone. As in the taxi driver, the receptionist, and the person who delivers your food. This should, when we get right down to it, be the kind of thing we all do instinctively. But unfortunately that is not always the case. So consider this a little refresher, okay?

And gather ‘round the electronic hearth because it’s time for a true story.

True Story

Nobody starts at the top, and your intrepid blog writer is no exception. Hence, way back (as in the Reagan Administration), I was a receptionist. It’s a fairly repetitive job. You answer calls, leave messages, and occasionally file or make copies. Keep in mind, this is way before the internet and a PC on every desk.

Of course job seekers would come in. They were always pretty obvious – nervous-looking people who seemed overly uncomfortable in their good clothes. They rarely accepted any offers of water or coffee.

So far, so good.

Most people are good and kind-hearted. We’ve all been in the same or a rather similar boat. Most people are polite and can sometimes be to a fault.

Then there’s the (thank goodness) minority.

Being barked at is no one’s idea of fun. It’s not even a cocker spaniel’s idea of fun.

Have you ever heard a story about a person who didn’t get a job because they were rude to the receptionist? That is a 100% true story. Yes, of course I told the powers that be if someone was rude. You better believe it.

Meaningful business connections start with being good to everyone, for you never know who can help you. Be a jerk or be successful. It’s your call.

Make Networking a Lifelong Habit

For a lot of people, networking can feel like a minuet of sorts. We trot it out only when we need work, and then it feels forced and weird.

But what if you did it every minute of every day? And what if you stopped calling it networking? What if, instead, you called it talking to people?

When networking and other attempts at forging meaningful business connections are only done when you want something, you’ll never get comfortable with the process. By the way, this also applies to your personal life. If you only talk to the gender of the person you desperately want to ask out when you want to ask someone out, then every single one of those conversations will be fraught with meaning. The stakes will be unbelievably high. The pressure will be enormous.

So cut yourself some slack and communicate more often with your fellow human beings. Yes, even if the pretty ones where you get all tongue-tied. This is the best way we know of to relieve that kind of social pressure.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Make meaningful business connections today.

#4. Don’t Let Your Domain Name Crush Your BusinessValuable Business Relationships Credit Suite

Check out this spectacular tip, all about choosing the right domain name. Lead Pages tells us there are a lot of ways you can mess up your domain name. And some of them you might not even realize.

Scrap, Therapist, and More Unintentionally Funny and Cringeworthy Domain Name Words

Woe be unto Benjamin Dover, a scrap metal dealer with multiple hits and a therapy business on the side. And consider the problems William Todd Farmer (he’s a real person – just Google him) has when he just wants to use his initials.

So write out your proposed domain name. Then write it out again. And again. Get people you know and trust to give it a look-see. They might spot something you don’t.

And be prepared to change your idea of an ideal domain name.

So perhaps the best piece of advice is one we get from reading between the lines. And it is this. Until money changes hands and you actually own a coveted domain name, don’t get too attached to it, just in case you find out it’s a bad choice after all.

Top Level Domains

The article also repeated some information which we find to be exceptionally helpful. And that is, if you are buying .com, then you should buy .net, .us, etc. as well. Why? Because you don’t want someone to spoof your site, particularly when you are right in the middle of a social media crisis. And you also don’t want to have to buy those extra top level domains at an inflated price if you need them some time later.

So spend a few extra bucks at the start and cover these bases. You will be unbelievably glad you did.

#3. Build Your Business Empire Online

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you create a business website – fast! Crowdspring lays it all out for us.

One of our imperatives when it comes to business credit building is to set up a professional business website. The first step is one we discussed in tip #4 – get a good domain name.

Logos, Design, and Coding

You may or may not be artistic, and you may or many not understand HTML or WordPress. But lots of other people do – and they are easy to hire.

Why do you want to hire a professional? Because otherwise you run the risk of getting a generic logo, a boring design, and out of the box, by-the-numbers coding. We highly recommend Upwork and Fiverr for these necessities. You can spend less and still get a great website.

#2. Bring on the Yardsticks!

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on using Google Analytics. Main Street ROI tells us there are lots of great ways to use this amazing data. But they recommend five rather specific measurements.

Channels, Pages, and Products

Do you know where your visitors are coming from? Do you know if you’re getting more visitors from Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter? And do you know if your widget page is doing better than your signup page?

Measuring People

What are the main characteristics of the people who visit their website? What makes them ditch their shopping carts? How old are they? Where are they? When do they visit your website?

Google Analytics makes all of this measuring possible. We loved this article, and we highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

#1. From Local to Online and Back Again

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on how a home services company can improve their online sales. Young Upstarts says a purely local business such a plumber can still get great sales from online visitors.

Our favorite tip was to provide more detailed information. As in, probably a lot more detail than you might expect.

For instance, let’s say you own a day spa. Do you offer manicures? And if you do, do you offer gel manicures, or nail art? You may think it’s overdoing it, but giving your prospects a better idea of what you can do for them will tell them whether it’s worthwhile to head on over to your shop.

And much like in tip #8, you’ll attract prospects who are searching for what you can provide. After all, they won’t know what that is, unless you tell them. So tell them!

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Make meaningful business connections today.

The post Make Meaningful Business Connections and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.