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Starting a business is always a tremendous undertaking. It is the most stressful undertaking a person could ever attempt to do. Most new business owners fail to understand that running a business is a complex operation, which will require the business owner/manager to pull many hat tricks to stay afloat.

As the stress of the business grows, many new small business owners find themselves completely overwhelmed by all of the work required to keep their new business afloat.

Much of the strain of establishing and running a business is centered on successfully juggling the finances. When working as the head of a corporation or as a sole proprietor, every decision made will affect the future of the business. Having a means of relief in place in the event that a wrong decision is made can often mean the difference between success and failure of the business. When a bad financial decision creates a situation where payroll cannot be met on time, a business can quickly find itself without staff to continue operations.

Business Credit Cards For New Businesses

In many cases, start-up companies seek out a loan at the beginning of their business. For business owners who are not comfortable taking out a large loan, there are other options that can be considered as an alternative.

A credit card designed specifically for business is an option many companies will choose to pursue. This is just like a traditional credit card, but it also provides a variety of business directed incentives.

Credit card companies generally offer low interest rates to attract new business enterprises. While the credit history of the owner of a small business is going to be considered in factoring how much credit a company can receive, other factors are considered to carry greater significance.

The business plan and financial projections of a new company are going to be the most important categories available for banks to examine. Lenders and credit givers are fundamentally interested in learning about your projected financial expectations.

For companies that have been around for awhile, an in-depth look at its financial history and business projections are going to be the most vital pieces of information a credit card company will want to know.

A business credit card provider is going to be most concerned with the stability of the company. Some banks are so concerned about the stability of a business that they will not risk the investment of offering any type of credit to a start-up company, even if that company has a checking account at their bank, until the company has maintained their business checking account for at least one year.

This is by no means meant to discourage a business owner from pursuing business financing. Instead, it is simply an observation of the difficulties that many business owners face when trying to establish business credit. Each bank has their own policies on business credit cards, and some banks will prefer to be more cautious than other banks.

The Pitfalls and Advantages of Business Credit Cards

As with any credit card, the most common pitfall of owning a credit card is the potential to overspend. It is always best to limit the amount of money that is charged on a credit card, whether in personal finances or business finances. Business start-up costs can be astronomical. There are also times when a company needs a few extra dollars to keep their utilities from being disconnected. If someone is not careful, they can easily charge their way into a deep pit of debt that could ultimately destroy their business.

The truth is that cash flow is always a problem for new businesses. Small business credit cards can make it possible for a business owner to pay all of their bills on time. The danger, of using credit cards to maintain a business’ cash flow, is when the owner is in a state of denial about the true health of his or her company. Unfortunately, some business owners become dependant on their line of credit and use it to prop up a business cycle that cannot sustain itself, ultimately leading to financial disaster.

On the other hand, acquiring a business credit card could also be one of the best decisions an owner could make towards the long-term stability of his or her business. When a business owner has access to additional funds to float his or her business during a short window of cash flow problems, that extra money could be just enough to keep the business alive to continue operations. An example of such a situation could be when the company’s bank intends to hold a deposited check until after the next payroll date. It is one thing for an owner to decide they can wait a few more days to be paid, but it is quite another thing altogether to ask a company’s employees to wait five days to be paid their wages.

Being able to access the financial means to keep a business steady and on sure footing can provide a terrific sense of security to the business owner.

The time when a credit card becomes especially handy to the business owner is when tax time comes; a business credit card can be a true asset. No one is better at finding accounting flaws than our federal government, and almost every new business is going to be audited in their first year.

If a company’s transactions are all done with a business credit card, then the company will have a permanent record of all of their business transactions. Having documentation of all of your expenses is vital, when dealing with the IRS.

The most important thing that a small business credit card can do is to provide you with the means to establish a reputable credit history with banks and lending institutions, so the business can gain access to higher credit lines than what the typical start-up company is afforded.

Inspiring Examples

One of the most successful cases of a small business succeeding by the use of a business credit card can be found with Google. Some would argue that Google is the most successful search engine on the Internet. It has become such a phenomenon that the company name has morphed in to a verb for all online searches.

It is amazing to think that it all began in a dorm room. Its next home was in a garage. Eventually the founders of Google, Brin and Page, realized they needed larger equipment. They bought all of their new equipment on credit cards, because banks were not interested in lending money to a small dot-com company.

Over 380 million people in over 35 different languages regularly use Google to enhance their online experience. All of this success was made possible by the start-up funds provided to the Google founders by credit cards.

In Conclusion

Business credit cards can mean salvation for a fledgling company. Having the resources to maintain your companies financial stability can make any business owner more confident with in their decision.

A good line of credit for your business can also lead to countless openings for future growth. Establishing a strong and steady financial history can be the perfect asset in finding interested investors and development opportunities, when it is time to reach out for a bigger line of credit.

For those small business owners who know how to utilize the credit system to grow their business, the future may be greatly enhanced. For those business owners who start their journey with credit cards, the climb to greater credit availability is made that much easier.

You are tasked with looking for software and in your research you stumble upon ‘free’ software. Can this be? It sounds too good to be true! How can they do that? It is very tempting - most of us at least take a peak. After all, why would we buy something we can get for free?

Or perhaps you start out looking for a good solid solution that will meet all of your needs, but your budget is tight and you begin looking at trimmed down or free solutions that may be available. You think that it may be good enough to get you by for now, and you can just purchase something better at a later date when things improve.

While this is tempting, one must consider the hidden costs of ‘free’ software. In the end, you could be spending more for a ‘free’ version, than a reputable, well built affordable solution.

Here are a few considerations when considering free software:

1. Many ‘free’ software solutions are not actually free. Essential components needed to use the software are additional - sometimes the components are minutely priced, but when you plug in your volume needs the prices really add up.

2. Does it really fit your needs? - With ‘freeware’ there is no product specialist to guide you with your selection, so you are forced to figure out on your own if it will meet your needs. Often once implemented you may learn that it does not meet needs after all or that certain parts do not work the way you need them to. Time lost in business is money lost.

3. You are on your own - typically freeware does not include any implementation assistance, training or support. At best you may get a ‘guide’, but no one to answer questions or help you with your system environment.

4. No training is provided - how will your employees learn how to use the new software? There are no best practices to follow, and you are left to learn on your own. In addition to time lost, often mistakes are made along the way that are hard to correct because you have done so much already \”the wrong way\”. Again, time lost.

5. Is it cross user friendly? - Some companies may have an employee smart enough to ‘rig’ a freeware to meet their needs. Once this employee leaves or moves on new folks can’t figure out how to make it work the same way.

6. Will it grow with you? - What will you do when you outgrow your application or your needs change. Will you force your business tasks around the app, or be forced to start over? Many hours, weeks, months are spent implementing a \”free\” system, processes are built around it, training is conducted - much man hours and internal costs. Starting over can be very costly. All of the time spent and resources used are now wasted as you look for a solution to replace this \”free one\”.

So be on guard not to get caught up in the \”free\” hype, which in the end can cost much more. Take the time to do the due diligence now and select what you need for both now and for the future. Choose a provider that has a quality reputation, offers assistance, provides support, and a solutions that is scalable and can grow to meet your needs long term.

Solvents are commonly found in many workplaces. They are used so often that workers forget that they can be very dangerous when not handled appropriate.

Loosely defined, a solvent is a substance, usually a liquid, that is used to dissolve another substance. Solvents can pose a number of health risks as a result of skin contact with the solvents or from inhalation of vapors from the solvent. Also, improperly handled or stored solvents can present risks of fire and explosion.

Health Effects

One of the most common health hazards associated with exposure to solvents is dermatitis. Contact dermatitis can develop from a single exposure or from multiple exposures. It can leave the skin susceptible to a short-term infection or to a chronic condition. Exposure can also result in sensitization to the solvent, which is a delayed allergic reaction that often becomes more severe with subsequent exposures (for this reason, it is important that workers wear the appropriate protective equipment, such as chemical protective gloves, each and every time they handle solvents). In order to prevent dermatitis, workers handling solvents need to wear chemical protective gloves such as neoprene gloves or nitrile gloves (remember to always check glove manufacturer information to verify chemical compatibility for chemical protective gloves). Also, if there is a risk of splash, coveralls or an apron and eye protection, such as goggles or safety glasses with face shields, should be used.

Solvents can also present respiratory hazards as the result of the inhalation of vapors. Depending on the type and concentration of the solvent, exposure effects can range from mild respiratory irritation to severe damage to body organs and systems. In extreme cases, overexposure to solvent vapors can cause respiratory failure and death. In order to prevent injury resulting from solvents, respiratory protection should be worn. To determine the correct respiratory protection (generally, air-purifying respirators with the appropriate cartridges will be required), check the material safety data sheet (MSDS) for the solvent. As with dermatitis, because of the possibility of sensitization with some solvents, appropriate respiratory protection should be worn each and every time a worker is exposed to actionable respiratory levels of solvents. (Note: Prior to requiring respiratory protection when using solvents, make sure that you have instituted an appropriate respiratory protection program, including fit testing, medical evaluation, and training in the use of the types of respirator that will be used by the worker.)

Handling And Storage

Because solvents are often petroleum- or alcohol-based, they can pose a risk of fire and explosion. For this reason, it is important to ensure that solvents are stored and handled properly, including:

Read the labels and the material safety data sheets of the solvents. They list the hazards, health effects, and safe handling procedures as well as information on the flashpoint and boiling point of the solvent (which help to determine the risks for fire and explosion).

Take care when pouring solvents from one container to another since fire or explosions can occur from static electricity buildup. Utilize safety cans that incorporate grounding and spill prevention features to help reduce the potential for accidents.

Clean up solvent spills promptly and thoroughly.

Prohibit welding, cutting, soldering, and other sources of ignition in areas where solvents are used.

Store flammable solvents in well-ventilated areas constructed of fire-resistant materials. For smaller quantities of solvents, flammables cabinets are a good storage options (and in many instances are required by local or state building codes). Properly constructed flammable storage cabinets help to prevent solvent spills and, when properly vented, build up of dangerous vapors.

Ground and bond all tanks and equipment used for solvent storage.

Install fire extinguishers in both work and storage areas. For most solvents, ABC fire extinguishers or B fire extinguishers should be available. Water-only fire extinguishers are not appropriate for use on solvent-related fires as they may spread the fire. (And remember that all workers who are expected to utilize a fire extinguisher in the event of a fire must receive appropriate instruction in the use of fire extinguisher!)

Take it from someone who often has to rescue someone from mispronunciation or suffer silently when someone reads my last name out loud for the first time: There is huge value in having a name that people can look at and have no doubt about how to pronounce.

That’s why I shook my head sadly when I saw the following line in a magazine ad:

\”Vovici [vo-vee-see] - the future of online surveys\”

For English speakers, pronouncing the company name \”Vovici\” is totally unintuitive. One uncertainty would be bad enough, but it actually has four trouble spots for someone seeing the name and trying to pronounce it. The \”o\” could be long or short, the first \”i\” could be long or short, the emphasis could belong on either the first or the second syllable, and the \”c\” could be pronounced either like an \”s\” or like \”ch,\” as in Latin.

But if you instruct people how to pronounce it, as in this magazine ad, isn’t that OK? No, not unless you have the budget to make that pronunciation famous through radio or television ads. You’ll constantly be fighting several handicaps.

1. With a name that’s hard to pronounce, fewer people will say it. Most people hate making mistakes, dislike being corrected and therefore would feel embarrassed to be tripping over pronouncing a six-letter company name. So, many will simply avoid saying it. That means fewer people will recommend the company to others in conversation. People might even go so far as to avoid situations in which they need to confront their uncertainty about the name’s pronunciation - like avoiding the company’s sales reps.

2. A name that’s hard to pronounce is also often harder to remember. That means less impact from many of the dollars spent on marketing. It will cost more to get the same results than with a name that’s easy to pronounce.

3. You need to spend considerable time and energy on the issue of pronunciation rather than on what the company does. Very often you also need to explain the derivation or meaning of the name, not just how to say it. For instance, Cuil, the name of the search engine, looks like a nonsensical and unpronounceable combination of letters to most Americans. \”Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge,\” says the company on its About page. Strangely, they do not say there that it should be pronounced \”cool,\” though they do so in their press releases.

4. People won’t know how to spell an unpronounceable name. And on the web, that is disastrous. If someone overhears buzz about a new search engine called \”cool,\” they are going to look it up at cool.com or maybe at kool.com. Not one in a billion would look for it at cuil.com unless they were previously clued in.

Saddling your company with a name that you need to instruct people how to pronounce means putting it at a distinct disadvantage. Spend a little more time and selectivity in naming to give your organization the comfortable boost it deserves.

Two headlines in the \”Home\” section of my local newspaper caught my eye the other day: \”Natural floors can be knotty and nice\” and \”Serving cheese with ease.\” Both headlines involve enjoyable wordplay of the sort that could easily figure in business names or tag lines. I can imagine \”KnottyandNice.com\” as the domain name for a wooden items crafts shop, and \”Cheese with ease\” as the tag line for a cheese lovers’ online community.

So I went looking for some tips on writing news headlines, thinking they might offer valuable insights for naming, too. After all, news editors need to come up with informative, catchy headers numerous times every workday.

Even more challenging, their headers need to fit the available space. They need to be able to condense or stretch an idea’s expression, depending on how many columns an article spreads across.

My Google search didn’t quickly turn up any such tips, though. Maybe headline writing is an art passed on in secret by grizzled, ink-stained veterans during the midnight shift.

Nevertheless, by pondering a couple of dozen headlines, I was able to observe several key points.

1. Newspaper headline writers collect short, vivid verbs, such as \”mines\” (\”Obama mines small, red states\”), \”stirs,\” \”pushes,\” \”clings,\” \”set,\” \”edges,\” \”sparks,\” \”tosses,\” \”sees,\” \”OKs\” and much more. Not only can headlines with verbs tell a complete story, they convey energy.

Because verbs are frequently overlooked as an element in naming, these punchy little words can help you come up with a trademarkable name or a free domain in a competitive industry.

2. Long, vivid words can also come in handy. In the headline \”Super Bowl party can be gastronomical success,\” the word \”gastronomical\” rescues the line from dullness. It’s a wonderful word that could be tweaked in a zillion creative ways for a company name or tag line.

The lesson: long, vivid words can help you convey a complicated idea concisely, as long as your average customer has an inkling of their meaning.

3. Short, vivid words come in useful, too. Take a look at the word \”ire\” in the headline \”Delay in polar bear decision draws ire of Senate.\” This is another kind of word that most people understand yet probably wouldn’t think to use.

4. Combined cleverly, ordinary words can please inordinately. Besides the rhyme in \”cheese with ease\” and the homonym in \”knotty and nice,\” I also found \”Hoops and hollers\” atop a photo of kids cheering at a basketball game, which illustrates alliteration - the repetition of initial letters or sounds.

Another headline, \”Bush comes clean with former addicts,\” used an expression with two meanings that both tie in with the subject matter - George W. Bush talking openly about his former drinking problem.

All in all, your newspaper can serve as a source of instruction and inspiration for naming. Just make sure you screen out bloopers like these, which have actually appeared in newspapers:

Blind Woman Gets New Kidney from Dad she Hasn’t Seen in Years

Grandmother of Eight Makes Hole in One

Quarter of a Million Chinese Live on Water

Stolen Painting Found by Tree

Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Chemical protective gloves come in a variety of materials. Unfortunately, no one material will work for all situations, so it’s important to know what the materials are and their uses and limitations. What follows is a summary of chemical protective glove materials.

Glove Materials

Butyl is a synthetic rubber. Butyl rubber gloves generally have good resistance to a wide variety of chemicals, including aldehydes, ketones, and esters. They also are more wear resistant than other chemical protective gloves. Butyl gloves are generally more expensive than other glove materials.

Rubber (also called latex) is made from liquid obtained from rubber plants. Natural rubber gloves are elastic and resilient. They resist acids, alkalis, salts, and ketones but generally have minimal chemical resistance to other substances; however, when combined with other materials, it is used in a broad range of applications. Natural rubber gloves are often used as exam gloves in the health care industry and find use in food processing, electronics assembly, and laboratory chemical handling. Because of the potential for latex allergy, which can be life threatening, latex gloves are not used as widely as they once were.

Neoprene is a synthetic rubber. Neoprene gloves have chemical- and wear-resistance properties superior to those of latex (natural rubber) gloves. Neoprene gloves are resistant to acids, caustics, alcohols, inks, refrigerants, ketones, oils, fats, grease, fertilizers, cleaners, and detergent. They find use in the petrochemical industry, degreasing, chemical processing, metal finishing, mechanical work, painting, bleaching, and commercial dishwashing.

Nitrile (also referred to as NBR or acrylonitrile) is a copolymer. Nitrile gloves are puncture and abrasion resistant. Nitrile gloves also provide excellent, wide-range chemical protection from a variety of substances, including petroleum solvents, caustics, and animal fats. They find use in chemical and food processing, stripping and degreasing, motor and engine manufacturing, machine operation using cutting oils and coolants, electronics, and acid etching.

Vinyl gloves are gloves made from polymers. The two most common are polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Polyvinyl alcohol is a water soluble polymer that is resistant to organic solvents that can rapidly permeate most rubbers. Because it is water soluble, PVA is often used as a coating or blended with other materials when used in gloves. Polyvinyl chloride is a stiff polymer. In order to make it suitable for use in chemical protective gloves, plasticizers are added. Vinyl gloves resist acids and alcohols but not petroleum solvents. They are less costly than natural rubber latex gloves and so are often used as a substitute for latex gloves. Vinyl gloves are used in industrial and food processing applications, intricate assembly work, laboratory research, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Viton(r) is a registered trademark of DuPont for a synthetic elastomer. Gloves made from Viton are highly chemical-resistant, particularly to chlorinated and aromatic organic solvents. Viton gloves tend to be more expensive than those made from other materials.

Laminate gloves are gloves that are made from a combination of materials. Laminate gloves combine materials in order to increase the usability of the glove either over a wider range of chemicals or for harsher environments (hazardous waste cleanup, for example). Even more so than single material gloves, the performance of laminate gloves are manufacturer-specific, and the manufacturer’s literature on the glove should be consulted to determine the glove’s performance capabilities.

A Word About Disposable Versus Reusable Glove

Some gloves are disposable, and some are reusable. The difference in reusable versus disposable is not necessarily the material it’s made from; it’s more about chemical resistance, wear resistance, and thickness. Disposable gloves are thin, single-use glove that are generally 4 to 8 mils thick (a mil is 0.001 inch) - a good example of a disposable glove is exam gloves used in health care settings. Reusable gloves are thicker - 18 to 28 mils thick. (To determine the thickness of a glove, check the manufacturer’s specifications on the glove. It will either tell you the thickness or indicate whether the glove is disposable or reusable.)

Disposable gloves are not suitable for handling aggressive or highly hazardous chemicals. Disposable gloves do provide barrier protection where contact with chemicals is not likely, for example, in food processing or where the issue is dirt or prevention of human-produced contamination (as is necessary in clean rooms or health care). Disposable gloves do not hold up well to cleaning and should not be washed and reused.

Fellow Vacation Rental Owners:

As a vacation home rental owner and operator of a vacation rentals by owner advertising website, I have been following the situation closely with regards to the recent sharp decline in both real estate prices (commercial and single family homes) and the stock market. Like a lot of investors out there that I have spoken with, I pulled my savings out of the stock market a few months ago (phew…) and have been wondering what to do with my investment capital.

I recently read an article on the RIS Media site. This was an interesting read - their main point was that housing prices in many markets have declined significantly in the last several months, making it a good time to consider investing in real estate. Based on my own experience, this is especially true in real estate markets where one tends to find a lot of vacation rentals. Those markets seem to be driven by speculation as opposed to serious longer term investors.

Based on that, I did some research of my own to verify that was I suspected was true was actually true. I looked at some of the inventory on my vacation rentals advertising website, including the markets I am most familiar with. This included Kissimmee FL, Destin Beach, FL, Lake Tahoe, CA, Breckenridge, CO, and Las Vegas, Nevada. I looked at how many listings we had in each of those markets, and I looked at general real estate data showing foreclosures and overall pricing levels. What I found was that while our number of active listings in each of those markets either stayed about the same or increased in the past several months, those markets were extremely hard hit with the recent decline in overall real estate prices.

Assuming vacation rentals owners are rational, they will not continue to pay to advertise their vacation rentals if there is no demand for their vacation rentals by renters. In my own vacation rentals in Florida and Tennessee, I have seen farily steady demand. I have had to offer some discounts, but that is mostly because everyone that is traveling seems to think that it should be at a greatly reduced price due to the overall economy being where it is.

So, all that said, I have concluded the following:

I am still very nervous about re-investing in the stock market; real estate is looking pretty much like it is at a bottom right now.

The demand from renters for vacation rentals is still pretty strong.

By picking up vacation rentals investment properties for up to 40% less than what they sold for a year ago, my mortgage payment will be lower, which will increase my potential cashflow from the vacation rental.

I am going to look for some really good deals on properties in markets that have been hit pretty hard by sharp price declines due to the speculators getting flushed out of the market.

I am going to get creative on the discounting of my vacation rentals so if I do happen to pick one up in this buyer’s market, I’ll be sure to keep it as utilized as I can so I can cover my costs.

Best of luck to the rest of the owner community out there,

Jon Ludwig


This article originally published here with links.