Business Credit Cards are Essential

If you are running a business out of your home, then there are many details that you need to keep in mind. You should probably be reading up on as much information that you can get a hold of on having a business at home. One of the most essential pieces of running a business from home that you absolutely need to know from the start is to get a business credit card to use for everything related to your business.

Unfortunately, as a business consultant, I have talked with far too many business owners that come to me after failing at running a home based business. Why? Well, there are a wide range of reasons why people would fail at owning and running a home business, but the surprising number one reason I found for failure was poor management of finances. Far too many people do not invest into a business credit card when they first begin, and that is a very dangerous thing to do.

I thought that the importance of having a business credit card was obvious, but maybe it is not. A business credit card ultimately allows the home based business owner to have the freedom to keep their personal finances and their business finances separate. This is essential throughout the year and obviously when it comes to tax season as well. There is no reason why the finances of a home should be mixed up with the finances of a business. Keeping the two accounts as separate as possible is good in the long run.

There are many ways to apply for a business credit card, but you may want to talk with a business consultant before you make a choice on a card. There are many business credit card offers flying around and it makes it hard to know what is up and what is down when you are sorting through the offers without a good take on what to look for. So make a meeting with a business consultant or talk with a friend who is business savvy before making any decisions about a business credit card.

The bottom line for home based business owners is that they need to look for ways to separate their business even though it is done in the home. This will be impossible without the use of a business credit card. So apply for one today and see what a difference it will make to the organization and success of your business.

Remember that when you are looking to save money, count on your trusted business partner, Business Network Long Distance!

Do-It-Yourself Financial Planning

Tips for DIY Financial Planning from Business Network Long Distance.

The fight for financial freedom isn’t fair. No matter what kind of spin you try to put on it, the path to comfortable living seems either impossible or too long to attempt. Many people these days are spending copious amounts of money going to see professional financial planners for advice on how to get their money situation under control. But let’s be honest, while a financial planner can show you how to prioritize your spending and how to go about consolidating your debt, surely there must be a way to plan your finances that doesn’t cost you visits to a professional?  This article has been written to open some people’s eyes to the fact that it is possible to properly plan your finances from the comfort of your own home.

The main aim when planning your finances is to make everything as simple as possible. There is nothing worse than sinking so far into depression that you can’t see a way out. Whether you are in debt and looking to get out of it of if you are simply looking for a way to keep a little more spending money aside each month, the simpler you make your planning the better the result you will get. From the beginning, you need to be realistic. I’ll start with the example of a single income situation, firstly you need to calculate what your net pay is per month. If you’re self employed or not on a regular pay, always calculate the worst-case-scenario, what is the lowest you might get paid. Then go through your monthly bills and write down the ones that are a fixed amount. Do the same for all other bills but use the worst-case-scenario again, what is your estimation of the most that those bills might be. Add everything up and subtract it from your net income total.

Next onto the incidental expenses you might run into on a monthly basis. These might include petrol, car upkeep, public transport fares, food etc. make a list of all the little expenses you might need money for in a month. Even things that you’re not sure you might need to buy. Don’t add general spending money to the list, be specific. Always add more to the totals if you’re not sure as you can fine tune it later. Again, subtract your total from the money left over from your bills. Don’t worry if you’ve gone into the negative figures here, we can fix it.

Once you’ve got your expenses total in front of you, obviously any money that is left over is your profit for the month. In the event that you have nothing left or have gone into the minus figures, the next step is to minimize your expenses. Pretty straight forward, huh? Any incidental expenses that you might not need, remove them. And any expenses you know you will have, like food and petrol for example, really get down to the lowest spend on them. How much do you really need to spend on them? Your aim should be to save at least $50 per month after spending money. All that extra builds up and gives you a nice petty cash at the end of a few months!

If you are in a multiple-income situation, the same process applies. You need to start building up that petty cash tin. There will always be unexpected expenses, everyone knows that. In truth, the basis of comfortable living is really the knowledge that you can afford to pay for something unexpected.

To finish, all of this can be done on a piece of paper if you want to invest a little time, or you can lay it all out on an Excel spreadsheet. The way that saves the most time is to use a Financial Planning software program, you enter the numbers and the program gives you an automatic monthly planner. Whatever way you choose to go, always remember to keep it as simple as possible. When you’re following a plan, the pressure on you will decrease. What more could there be to comfortable living?

Remember you can always save money on your long distance bill by contacting Business Network Long Distance.

Productivity Loss

A business cannot compete if it does no stay on top of new technology.  If it fails to stay up to date, it will fall behind the pack.  Advancements in telecommunication has revolutionized human existence, because of it many companies have attempted to go wireless.  The idea of course is to gain an edge or at least stay even with the competition, but this has not been the experience for many who have chosen this path. For them, it’s been more like going backward instead of forward.

By going wireless many companies find that the mobile device becomes a constant in meetings, office conversations, etc.  When the cell phone should be put away and used for personal time, it becomes an excuse since it is also their business line.  This opens up games and all other applications to be used on company time on the company phone, however passed off by a walker-by as a business duty. 

Loss of productivity becomes one of the largest issues with a wireless company.  The company also sees a loss of funds because of the expense cell phones charge as well as if the employee has their phone lost or stolen.  Finally, with all the information that is now stored on the cell phone because it is the business phone as well, if anyone does steal the phone, information loss can be a security threat to the entire company.

The aims and objectives of going wireless are to make the company simpler when instead it makes for a more complicated model of communication within the company. 

If you are concerned about the price of you landline contact Business Network Long Distance to save money on your long distance bill. 

Your Credit Report Made Simple

Business Network Long Distance presents 3 ways to get your free annual credit report for the business owner:

Yes, you can now get your credit report without paying a dime. And unlike before, now it is truly free. No longer do you have to sign up for a "free" credit report by signing up for "credit monitoring protection service" for a low annual fee of $79 a year! The days of dodging the annoying charges and service fees for a free credit report are over.

Under the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, you have the right to a free copy of your credit report within a 12 month period from the big three credit report bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion).

The goal of this new government act is to ensure that Americans have the right to stay informed about what these three credit reporting bureaus say about you without having to pay for it. Since identity theft, fraud and errors are quite common today, why should you have to pay for a copy of a report to fight back against these problems?

Here are the 3 ways to get your free annual credit report:

The three credit reporting agencies have created a website to request your annual credit report.

1) Go to www.annualcreditreport.com

2) Call (877) 322-8228 to request your free credit report.

3) Complete a form from the Federal Trade Comission, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

If you go directly to the three agencies or use any other type of service you may end up having to pay or sign up for the subscription services I mentioned above! Make sure you use one of the 3 methods I have listed to get your annual free credit report.

You can get the reports from all 3 agencies at once or stagger the reports from each one during the course of 1 year. The advantage of staggering the reports that you receive is to keep track of how any major changes in your financial picture affect what is on your credit report. For example, if you plan on getting a second mortgage over the coming year, or applying for student loans, ect. it might be wise to get a report before and after these major events!

This new Act does not supplant the other methods you can take advantage of to receive a free credit report. If you are applying for unemployment or been denied a loan, or need a credit report in order to get a job, you still have the right to obtain a free credit report.

Take advantage of this new government regulation and make sure all of the information listed by all three credit reporting agencies are correct. Any errors or omissions can reduce your credit score and end up costing you a lot of money when you apply for any type of credit.

Spend more money on paying off loans and improving your credit report by saving money on other bills.  Contact Business Network Long Distance to save money on your long distance bill today!

The Real Cost of Cellphones

The rage of social media --- texting, Facebook, on-line shopping, on-line banking and bill paying has cost employers millions of dollars in paid out wages to employees playing on the job. Profits are lost due to a decrease in productivity. In addition to paying current wages, employers have been forced to hire specialist to track employee quality and quantity of work, as well as, invest in Spyware to make sure that the time employees spend on-line is for business purposes.

            In analyzing how much employee cell phone usage cost an employer. An example of 10 employees who earn $15 an hour that check their cell phones for 3 minutes every other hour on an 8-hour shift. (3 minutes multiplied by 4 times a day= 12 minutes). Those 10 employees multiplied by 12 minutes daily= 120 minutes total then multiplied by 5 days a week= 600 minutes or 10 hours, which equals $150 dollars a week. Yearly the cumulative cost for those 10 employees checking and responding to email and Facebook for one year is a staggering $7,800 dollars in lost wages and 520 hours in lost productivity. Believe it or not the above example of an employee using only 12 minutes a day used for social media is extremely conservative.

            What do you think your employees are doing on their phones?  Don’t let that be a company expense.  Cell phones in the work place are a major distraction for employees, which create not only losses in payroll and productivity, but also create an unsafe work environment as well. Cell phones are hurting both large and small companies. In order to put money back into your company start by saving money on your business landlines by choosing Business Network Long Distance as an alternative long-distance provider. 

The Landline Investment

Your business needs less hassle and more convenience, do just that with a landline.

Contact Business Network Long Distance to save money on your long distance bill today!

Minute by Minute: What's the better phone?

"Time is Money" and "every minute counts" are old clichés we have to be learned are true. Every day there is a vast amount of minutes, if not hours you spend on the phone, sometimes in a stationary place and sometimes on the go. Regardless the need for the phone is a must. The real question is do we need both a landline and a cell phone? Many would argue that we only need a cell phone, however in most cases the mobile phones turns out to be more of an entertainment device more than a source of communication. Some will argue (especially the senior citizens of our community) that all they need is their house phone.  So let's weigh in on the pros and cons of the dichotomy of telecommunications.

We first must accept that all points of discussion are based on the sole purpose of making a voice call, period. So let's talk quality, there are some great speaker systems in some of the cell phones today and the headsets for them are almost as good as some medium range ear buds. However, the volume still doesn't come close to the audio on a landline; it is thinner and varies in comparison. When we are dealing with the frequencies of the human voice, this can prove to be problematic due to high frequency distortion. The static ratio is much lower in landlines and choppy calls are non- existent.

The price factor is a major point that many would be shocked to discover that a cell phone isn't the better option, even with the free long distance. This is because of per minute usage. Unlimited plans run around $80-$100 per month on average and if you don't do a high volume of long distance, which is killer on the wallet.  If you don't go unlimited and end up using a high amount of minutes that go past your plans allotted minutes, the extra minutes can be up to .20 per minute. And let's not forget about possible roaming charges. Landlines with unlimited long distance run around $60-$70 per month on average and if you don't use long distance, then you could cut that cost in half.  Now if you do a lot of international calling then the cell phone is a hands down loser. Not just on quality but also on price because all the breaks come in the free domestic calling. With landlines international calls are less stress to the budget.

When talking about dependability, landlines depend on nothing but the line itself. Cell phones depend on a tower that could be affected by weather or power. Cell phones also have to be in range of a tower to make (or maintain) the call. There are various things that can cause interference to a wireless call. When a power outage or a bad storm happens in your area, you don't lose your landlines life span because it's not based on a battery.

Since cell phones are so small and portable they are much easier to lose. Also consider that cell phones are high targets for thieves.

If your business is in need of better long distance prices and service, contact Business Network Long Distance for a great deal on your long distance needs.