Article URL: https://www.notion.so/atob/Founding-Team-Engineers-AtoB-1db448bd0b8c482db48857f04c7244cf Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26459129 Points: 1 # Comments: 0
The post AtoB (YC S20) – Stripe for transportation – is hiring founding team engineers first appeared on Online Web Store Site.
The age of the smartphone opened up a whole new window for businesses to connect with their customers in an interactive way using apps. Because apps allow customers to interact with businesses from anywhere at any time, apps quickly became popular. Unfortunately, apps are not as exciting to consumers as they were in their early …
The post When Should You Use Progressive Web Apps? first appeared on Online Web Store Site.
The post When Should You Use Progressive Web Apps? appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.
If you have bad personal credit, you may find yourself struggling to get a business credit card. The key to getting a business credit card, bad credit or not, is business credit.
You’re likely aware business credit is a good thing. You know you need it to help you fund your business. But do you know how it helps you specifically get credit cards, even if you have bad personal credit? Furthermore, do you know how to get it?
Business credit doesn’t just happen like personal credit does. You have to work to build business credit intentionally. While not hard, it is a process, and a time consuming one at that. The sooner you start the better, especially if you need a business credit card, bad credit being an issue.
First thing’s first. You have to establish your business as an entity separate from yourself the owner. This means not using your own name or address. That doesn’t mean you have to get a separate phone line, or even a separate location.
You do need separate contact information however. You can get a business phone number pretty easily that will work over the internet instead of phone lines. In addition, the phone number will forward to any phone you want it too so you can simply use your personal cell phone or landline if you want. Whenever someone calls your business number it will ring straight to you.
You can use a virtual office for a business address. This is a business that offers a physical address for a fee, and sometimes they even offer mail service and live receptionist services. In addition, there are some that offer meeting spaces for those times you may need to meet a client or customer in person.
Learn more here and start building business credit with your company’s EIN, not your SSN.
The next thing you need to do is get an EIN for your business. This is an identifying number for your business that works in a way similar to how your SSN works for you personally. Some business owners used their SSN for their business. This is what a lot of sole proprietorships and partnerships do. However, it really doesn’t look professional to lenders, and it can cause your personal and business credit to get all mixed up. You can get one for free from the IRS.
This step is vital. When you apply for a business credit card, bad credit can get in the way mainly because your SSN signals a look at your personal credit. If you use your EIN instead of your SSN, the lender will only be seeing the credit attached to your business.
Incorporating your business as an LLC, S-corp, or corporation is necessary for separation of business from the owner, and many other things. . It lends credence to your business as one that is legitimate. It also offers some protection from liability.
Which option you choose does not matter as much for these purposes 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.
You have to open a separate, dedicated business bank account. There are a few reasons for this. First it helps solidify the separation between yourself and your business. Also, it will help you keep track of business finances. This is important for tax purposes.
There’s more to it however. There are several types of funding you cannot get without a business bank account. Many lenders and credit cards want to see one with a minimum average balance. In addition, you cannot get a merchant account without a business account at a bank. That means, you cannot take credit card payments. Studies show consumers tend to spend more when they can pay by credit card.
Learn more here and start building business credit with your company’s EIN, not your SSN.
Now, once you have these things in place, you need to get accounts that will report your payments to the business credit agencies. It sounds easy enough, but the catch is, you have to find vendors that will extend credit without you first having credit.
We call these vendors starter vendors. They will extend net terms on invoices with little requirement. They don’t check credit. Typically, they require a certain number of days in business, a minimum average balance in a business bank account, minimum annual revenue, or some combination of these things.
Extending the credit isn’t enough however. There are some that do this, but there are far fewer that will actually report those payments. You need vendors to report payments to the business credit reporting agencies, thus building your business credit score.
Of course you are wondering what any of this has to do with applying for a business credit card, bad credit being in the way. Here’s how. Once you have several of these starter vendor accounts reporting, your score will be strong enough to support store credit.
A business store account is usually issued for that specific store or website specifically. Their limits are usually on the lower side as well. However, after you get a few of them and use them responsibly. Your score will grow even strong. These are cards from places like Home Depot, Staples, or Best Buy.
Then, you should qualify for fleet credit. These are cards from places like Shell that are used specifically for gasoline and automotive repair and maintenance.
After a few of those are reporting your consistent, on-time payments, you should have a strong business credit score and be able to apply for standard business credit cards that are not limited by where you use them or what you use them to buy. By using your EIN and not your SSN, you can get a business credit card, bad credit on your personal credit report and all. It’s all a big snowball effect.
Learn more here and start building business credit with your company’s EIN, not your SSN.
In the meantime, you can give your business credit building efforts a kickstart with a card like the Brex card for startups. It is one of the few true options if you are looking for a business credit card, back credit not being an issue. Even a FICO as low as 300 may qualify. There is no annual fee, and you can apply with your EIN rather than your SSN. There is no personal guarantee requirement.
The only catch is, not all industries qualify, and some industries require more paperwork than others.
You could also try getting accounts that you already have a relationship with to report to the business credit reporting agencies. This could be vendors you work with already. Maybe ask them if they will consider net terms and reporting payments. If you already make your payments consistently on time, they may be willing to do so without a credit check.
You could also consider asking utilities that you already pay regularly to report your payments. They may say no. They don’t have to do it. But they might, and if they do it can only help your business credit grow faster.
A credit line hybrid can be another great option to help speed things along. You have to have a 680 or better personal credit score, but you can take on a credit partner if you don’t meet that. The account still reports to your business credit, so you can keep building your score. And, you can get up to $150,000 unsecured financing for your business.
It sounds easy enough to do all of this on your own. However, there are some steps that are easier than others. Specifically, it can be very difficult to find starter vendors that will report to your business credit. For this and other difficult steps, it can be very helpful to have a business credit expert help you out. It’s definitely worth considering.
The post 5 Steps to Get a Business Credit Card, Bad Credit or Not appeared first on Credit Suite.
Accounts receivables are a necessary part of many businesses. A lot of potential customers can be lost if you do not allow businesses to pay invoices with net terms, whether 30, 60, or 90 days. However, you can lose a lot of money if you don’t collect on those receivables. How do you offer the benefit, without suffering the consequences?
Accounts receivables really can lead a double life of sorts. On the one hand, they lure in customers with their appeal. On the other hand, they can cause major cash gaps simply by their nature. Those gaps can fill with unpaid obligations quickly if there is no bridge over them.
So, the question becomes, how do you enjoy the benefits without the gaps. The answer is accounts receivable financing. In fact, this answers more than one question. Not only is it a way to bridge cash gaps, but it is also a way to fast access to cash for other needs.
For example, you may not have an unmanageable cash gap, but rather you need to take advantage of special pricing on a bulk purchase. Maybe you do not want to exhaust your cash on hand, or you do not have the cash on hand. Either way, you can leverage your accounts receivable to finance more than just cash flow issues due to slow collections.
Credit Suite can help you get up to $10 million in account receivable financing. Up to 80% of receivables can be advanced within 24 hours. Interest rates range from 8% to 12% currently. The minimum credit score requirement is 500, and the receivables must be from another business or government agency, not an individual. You also have to be in business for at least one year.. In addition to an application, you’ll need to provide a breakdown of existing receivables and a sample invoice.
Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans.
This is an ideal way to access fast cash for your business for a number of reasons, especially if your credit isn’t the best. Not only that, but the interest rates are much more reasonable than that of most credit
cards.
If you accept credit cards as payment, you have another, similar option to accounts receivables financing.
It’s called a merchant cash advance. Our merchant financing program is a good fit for businesses that accept credit cards and need fast, easy financing. You can get up to $500,000 without collateral and a minimum credit score as low as 500.
You only have to turn over bank statements to prove cash flow. The lenders we work with do not ask for other documents such as financials, business plans, resumes, or any of the other documents traditional lenders typically ask for.
Just 4-6 months of your bank and merchant account statements is all it takes. They just want to see consistent deposits and annual revenue of $50,000 or higher. Also, you do have to have been in business for 6 months or more.
They will also look to see if there are a lot of Non-Sufficient-Funds showing on your bank statements, or low chargebacks on your merchant statements. More than 10 deposits in a month going into your bank account is a key positive factors
Lenders want to see that you manage your bank and merchant accounts responsibly and have a fair number of consistent credit card transaction deposits each month.
Maybe you don’t have accounts receivable. That may mean you do not have the cash gaps that can come with them, but you might still need cash access anyway. There are other options. One of the most flexible but least known types of business financing is the Credit Line Hybrid.
A credit line hybrid is unsecured business financing. It allows you to fund your business without putting up collateral, and you only pay back what you use.
Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans
Unlike accounts receivables financing, you do need good personal credit to qualify for the Credit Line Hybrid on your own. Your personal credit score should be at least 685. In addition, you can’t have any liens, judgments, bankruptcies or late payments. Furthermore, in the past 6 months you should have no more than 4 credit inquiries, and you should have less than a 45% balance on all business and personal credit cards. It’s also preferred that you have established business credit as well as personal credit.
However, there is a way around those requirements if you don’t meet them. You can take on a credit partner that meets each of these requirements. Many business owners work with a friend or relative to fund their business. If a relative or a friend meets all of these requirements, they can partner with you to allow you to tap into their credit to access funding.
The Credit Line Hybrid is an option if you do not have accounts receivable or do not accept credit card payments. However, if you qualify for more than one, you can combine them for even more powerful business funding.
Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans
That said, the Credit Line Hybrid does have one bonus that the accounts receivables funding and merchant cash advance does not. The Credit Line Hybrid reports to your business credit report, in turn helping you build a stronger business credit score.
If you made it here from a quick search about accounts receivables financing, you may be asking yourself what on earth a business credit report has to do with anything. The quick and dirty is, a strong business credit score can increase fundability and allow you to access even more funding for your business.
Fundability is the overall ability of your business to get funding. Not sure where you stand or what kind of funding you can get? Try a free consultation.
Accounts receivables can truly be a blessing or a curse. They are a great tool to help you draw more business. The ability to pay later is a huge benefit, and it can make the difference between a potential customer lost and a new customer.
However, if collections become an issue, the curse can kick in. Accounts receivables financing is a great way to overcome the curse and keep the blessing. That’s not the only way to use this kind of financing though.
Your accounts receivables can be leveraged to get funding your business can use to not only survive, but to thrive. If you do not qualify, a merchant cash advance or the Credit Line Hybrid can help as well. If you qualify for all three, you can get triple the funding to grow even more!
The post Don’t Let Accounts Receivables Sink Your Business appeared first on Credit Suite.
Article URL: https://replit.com/careers
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26449952
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
How can you take your influencer campaign to the next level? You may want to include another angle, such as paid ads. Some of the best marketing campaigns integrate several elements, so potential customers start to see your brand in different places and from different angles.
There are many ways to layer marketing campaigns. Today, we’ll talk about one of those combinations: paid ads with influencer campaigns.
Before we get into the details about how and why you should combine an influencer campaign with paid ads, let’s break down those two elements and learn more about how each one works on its own.
An influencer campaign is about leveraging the influencing power of an internet celebrity or similar with a lot of followers and, as the name implies, “influence.” It’s a kind of word-of-mouth marketing using the fact that people trust the recommendations of others.
During your influencer campaign, the influencer posts about your product or service, sharing their review or recommendations on a blog, social media, or other platforms. This can be in return for free products or services or a fee.
Paid marketing campaigns consist of online ads, like pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns or social media ads. Paid ads are shown to people who search for keywords you include in your campaign or whose demographics you’ve decided to target. This also includes users interested in brands or organizations similar to yours or are otherwise part of your target audience.
To integrate paid ads with influencer campaigns, set up a series of ads showcasing the same products or services the influencer shares in their campaigns. In this way, you are showcasing your product from two sources, connecting with more people.
Think about it from the buyer’s perspective.
First, they see your brand from the influencer. It may be the first time they hear about your brand, but they could decide to learn more since they trust the influencer.
So, then, they may Google your company and read a blog entry. Or, they may see other mentions about your brand from that same influencer or other influencers they trust, giving you more credibility in their minds.
Radha Beauty took a real-time, multi-personality approach to their integrated campaign. Working with Carusele, they partnered with several influencers who created social posts about the beauty brand.
The brand watched which posts were getting the most traffic, then promoted those posts using the platform sponsored ad options to audiences reflecting those posts’ followers’ demographics. Their web traffic exceeded their stated goals.
Schick Intuition used influencers to spread the news about their new razors. In addition to influencers sharing their experiences with the razors and a coupon code to push sales, the company integrated video bumper ads and other in-video ads. They reported an increase of 229 percent for ad recall and a purchase intent rise of 113 percent.
Kettle & Fire worked with influencers to create photographs of their products. Leveraging the talent of those influencers, they gained brand awareness as well as compelling images. They were also able to see how well those images performed and reuse them for Facebook ads.
The most basic reason to integrate a paid ad campaign with your influencer campaign is to cover more ground. It allows people to see your brand more often in a shorter period. The more people see it, the more likely they are to buy.
Statistics vary regarding how many times people need to see an ad or other information about a product before they act on it. Some say it takes seven times, also known as the “Rule of 7.” Still, others say it takes 11 times.
No matter which number you believe, the reality is it’s always more than once.
Buyers aren’t likely to make a move while scrolling through their favorite social media app or catching up on a blog or video stream if seeing a brand for the first or second time. Even if the influencer campaign is engaging and persuasive, statistically speaking, the viewer will probably need to see your brand a few more times.
This is true even if the influencer talks about your product more than once. Most influencer campaigns aren’t prolific.
Paid ads, along with influencer posts, give you the chance to be in front of buyers again and again. This allows you to hit that magical number and potentially make sales.
It’s a timing question too. Think about how you catch up with your favorite influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or blog posts. You’re scrolling and consuming, probably for entertainment alone—you’re probably not shopping. You’re not very likely to stop watching a video to go to an online shop and purchase.
When are you primed to make a purchase? When you go shopping online. For many of us, that starts with a Google search. Before we order a gift for a loved one—or ourselves—we head to a search engine and type in what we’re looking for.
We rarely just type in a URL during our initial searches for items we’re shopping for. Instead, we type in the name of an item. This is the prime place for your ad to appear.
The influencer has already told your potential customer how great you are. Maybe a couple of times. Now the influencer’s fan goes to Google to look up a product in your industry, and there you are with a product they remember seeing.
Even if they didn’t click on the ad, perhaps they see your name next time they’re scrolling on social media, and their curiosity is now piqued enough to give you a click.
It’s also good to think about ad fatigue. To overcome it, users need to see something new. That’s where those paid ads come in. You can showcase much of the same information but in a slightly different way. Even just being an ad on a different platform may make enough of a difference.
If not, you can also try a different approach to your message. Maybe you share more about your product. Maybe you can show it in different styles, flavors, or other variations than the influencer did. The goal is to get the viewer interested in checking out this brand they’ve heard about.
Who should best represent your brand? Influencers who hold your brand’s values and are invested in using and sharing products like yours.
You can use a tool such as Upfluence or, after digging through social media, reach out directly. Once you know where and when they’ll be sharing your products, you can build your plans around theirs.
Placing your ads on the same platforms as the influencer improves people’s chances of seeing your brand more than once. You may also want to think about keyword-driven ads, such as Google ads, to increase your target market’s views. You can target people searching for your influencer as well.
To get the most out of this multichannel approach, you may want to set time parameters reflecting your influencer campaign. This is about reaching the same viewers with your ad, so working within a similar time frame helps assure that.
In the copy and images of your paid ad campaign, you should reflect a lot of what viewers have already seen before to remind them of your brand. You can introduce a new facet of your brand but stay recognizable to those who have seen your brand with the influencer already via similar messaging, product types, and even brand colors.
The short answer to when you should combine an influencer campaign with paid marketing is when you need to get the word out in a short amount of time.
Below, you can find suggestions about when some of these timely campaigns could be.
If a holiday, season, or other deadline drives your sales, integrated marketing campaigns can help you reach a wider audience quickly. This is great for seasonal items intended for use during a specific period. By showing up in influencer posts and ads, you can paint a picture of being everywhere and being the hot item everyone is talking about this year. Influencers may even show what the product looks like in their homes—so if, for instance, you sell Christmas ornaments, they may show them on their trees.
Another good time to think about using multiple campaigns simultaneously is when you launch a new product or service. Getting the word out through various streams can help build brand awareness and provide constant exposure to get people excited about giving you a try.
Much like seasonal products, trendy products have deadlines, albeit abstract ones. Eventually, the trend will dissipate or evolve. If you’re trying to ride the wave of a cultural phenomenon or something happening in society at large, running marketing campaigns while these things are happening may help drive more eyes to your product and let you leverage the popularity while it lasts.
Even if you don’t feel pressed against time, sometimes putting some paid advertising behind an influencer campaign just makes sense. If you have an exciting opportunity with an influencer, you may want to put money and effort behind it to spread the word and leverage that spotlight.
Integrating paid ads with influencer campaigns can help you get the most of the investment you are making in working with that influencer.
By leveraging a multi-channel marketing approach, you can reach more people, more often, with your brand message, increasing the chances and number of conversions. It’s not the only way to get those conversions, but it may be a fruitful one, taking advantage of great content already being created about your brand.
Who is your dream influencer for your next marketing campaign?
The post How to Integrate Paid Ads With Influencer Campaigns appeared first on Neil Patel.
Running a blog is a lot of work.
You have to continually feed it new content, keep up with WordPress updates, maintain your hosting account, moderate comments, respond to readers…dozens, maybe even hundreds, of little tasks. On top of all that, there’s promoting and monetizing your blog, which is even more work.
It’s hard for anyone to manage, and the larger your blog grows, the worse the situation becomes. That’s why it’s good to prepare in advance for blogging eventualities you might face.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, one of the questions you should ask yourself is “should I outsource my blog?”
If so, there’s a few ways to do this.
You could split up the work with guest posts, staff bloggers, or outsource your blog completely. The method you select will depend on a couple of things.
When you blog, you need to build trust, bonds, and relationships with your readers. They grow to know you and like you, and they can’t wait to read your next post.
There’s a downfall to this though: your readership may want content only from you. They may be turned off if you step back and start outsourcing your blog posts.
What will happen to your blog if you outsource your blogging? It depends.
If a blogger like Dooce or Naomi Dunford decided to outsource their blog, their readers would probably revolt. Their personalities are such a large part of the blog that it would be hard to get their readers to accept anyone else.
If your blog is already big and established, and you have thousands of loyal readers, it could be tough to outsource your blog. There’s a good chance you’ll lose some readers if you hire staff or start adding guest posters.
Fans will read their work politely, but it’s really you they want. It will take time, a good plan, and weathering rumbles from readers until they accept it.
No one likes change, but eventually, things will settle down. They’ll hang in there, especially if you’re still publishing quality content, are active with posting now and again, and if you hire a blogger whose style and tone match your brand personality. Make sure the blogger also provides similar-quality advice, info, or entertainment as you’ve been giving.
Of course, all of that only matters if you have an audience. What if you’re just getting started?
The truth is it’s a lot easier. You can build your blog around posting awesome content, rather than one particular personality. It won’t matter where the content comes from; as long as it’s awesome, your readers will be happy. That leaves the door open for you to hire other writers.
You can’t hire just anyone to write for your blog. You need to find a writer who fits with your business brand, its mission, and the level of knowledge your blog provides. Of course, this writer also has to be able to fit in with your goals and get results.
Here are some questions to think about before bringing someone on:
(Note that I didn’t mention, “How much do they cost?” We’ll get to that in a bit.)
First, though, recognize that outsourcing writing comes down to basically trusting someone with your business reputation. You’re not just shoving off a task; you’re giving someone permission to represent you and your business.
This means the person you hired needs to be able to maintain your credibility (or enhance it), please your readers and get them talking, and generally make your life better and easier by freeing up your time and becoming an asset to your blog.
Good writers don’t work for free, but they don’t always want just money, either.
Some ask for marketing exposure. Others want a link to their blog, republication rights, or a barter arrangement.
Before hiring someone, decide what you bring to the table. Can you send them traffic? Build their credibility? Improve their search engine rankings? Recommend their products and services to your readers?
You need to have something to offer in exchange for a writer’s work (and you’ll need more than $10 and a link), so figure out what you’re prepared to give in return for what the blogger brings to you.
In general, the more you give, the more you get.
Pay $10 for a blog post without offering anything else in exchange, and you’ll probably get a bad headline, sloppy grammar, and ordinary ideas, none of which would do much to build your blog.
At the other end of the spectrum, some bloggers will do everything for you, including editing, polishing, getting photos, and promoting your post to generate traffic. You’ll pay a lot more, anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per post, but you’ll be getting a lot more for the money, too.
Ghostwriters write on your behalf and you present the work as your own. The President uses ghostwriters for his speeches; nothing wrong with that.
It’s controversial, however, especially when it comes to blogging. Some feel it’s dishonest.
Others feel that there’s nothing wrong with hiring someone to help write and share your knowledge with your audience. There’s no rule that says you must slave over writing posts if you absolutely can’t stand it, don’t have the time, or just don’t want to.
Here’s another argument: if your writing skills aren’t up to snuff, you might be potentially damaging your credibility and sales.
People with average writing skills often hire ghostwriters who turn their notes, audio files, thoughts, and outlines into great posts. You’re using the same knowledge; someone else is just doing the writing. Often, it’s the knowledge that your readers care about, not who puts it into words.
Ghostwriting may be a great option for you if you don’t like to spend time writing, can’t write well, aren’t seeing the results you want, or want time to develop other areas of your business.
Every time you make a change in your business, there’s always the risk it might not have been the best decision.
Let’s say you hire a writer, work with a few guest posters, or decide to hire a ghostwriter. After a couple of months, you realize that you’re not getting the results you wanted; maybe traffic is down or your audience has shifted or sales have dropped.
Don’t freak out. It happens. All you need to do is adjust. Unless you’ve completely trashed your business reputation, you can always change your content and blogging strategy.
You can go back to blogging yourself, hire a new writer with a different personality, get a ghostwriter to write more posts for you; whatever works.
As we’ve demonstrated in this article, if you’re wondering “should I outsource my blog,” the answer is: it depends.
No matter what you decide about outsourcing your blogging, you’re never stuck and committed forever. A blog is just a marketing tool that you can play with and test, adapt to your needs, and measure for effectiveness as you go along, just like any other form of marketing.
If you’re nervous to start or shift your blogging strategy, reach out to us for a consultation. We are here to help you find success with your blog and content marketing in general.
The post Should I Outsource My Blog? 5 Questions to Help You Decide appeared first on Neil Patel.
Update time: March 12 – 8am Eastern Time To all our community members: As many of you know, there was a major fire at the data center of our service provider. This resulted in a …
The post Paper.li Service – Status Update appeared first on Paper.li blog.
At Teleport we built the access plane for engineers to securely connect to any computing resource anywhere: SSH servers, databases, web applications, etc.
If the future of computing will be similar – but less depressing – than the Matrix, we’re building the cord + the telephone system for getting in and out of it.
We are looking for someone to own, maintain and develop our web site: https://goteleport.com
Are you a front-end web developer who appreciates great design, understands the importance SEO and analytics but at the same time cares about end-user privacy?
Come work with us! We have an office in Oakland but open to remote locations with reasonable time zone difference. We offer great compensation, benefits and learning opportunities because you’ll be working next to industry’s best security/systems engineers.
Apply here:
https://jobs.lever.co/gravitational/26bbb80b-7ad6-41bc-aff9-…
Or shoot an email to CEO: ev@goteleport.com
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26440847
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
The post Teleport (YC S15) is building the Matrix and hiring web developers appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.
Koffie Labs | Software Engineer | Remote (US or Can) | Full Time We’re an InsurTech focused on trucking insurance. This line of business (like most of insurance in general!) is anachronistic in every way. We bring an experienced team and strong industry relationships. Intersects with logistics, autonomous vehicles and shipping. We’re getting our commercial …
The post New comment by trekking101 in “Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2021)” first appeared on Online Web Store Site.
The post New comment by trekking101 in “Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2021)” appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.