Business Funding Solutions: First Hand Experience

By Webmaster*SAM
JULY 2005

Readers,

I spent a good part of 2003 and half of 2004 working with a consultant that charged the company I work for about $10,000 to build $500,000 in business credit. The ordeal started the spring of 2003 after researching the process which I had not heard about, but seemed logical. Then I interviewed three of the reference that were given. All of them had to say only great things about the consultant and the success that had been achieved. Less than a month after I got the email offering the “Credit Building Services” we paid the fees and got the process started. The fees included $1,000 for expedited services.

To this point all of the process seemed professional and the communication was adequate. Then our 30-day “expedited” period when the corporation that the credit was going to be built for did not arrive and I started making phone calls. Following the calls and faxes for a month or two, nothing much happened. I finally demanded a refund. Then I was assured that in another month my “Corporate Package” would arrive.

It never did. Then another month passed. I demanded a refund. Finally, I was told that “Next Week *It will be there*” and certainly the corporate package was there. At this moment I thought the entire process had been turned around and some progress was finally being made. Finally.

Now it was a matter of time and the funding would soon be coming. So, I started my expansion plans. To end a long story that ended wasting about 200 hours of my time, about a $1000 in phone bills and several notches in a blood pressure meter, I managed to get a refund along with another business associate. In the end, out of about 30+ individuals who had paid anywhere from $8000 to $22,000 in fees for business credit/capital building, we were the only two who got a full refund.

However, the time during this ordeal was not wasted: What I did was research HOW to BUILD BUSINESS CREDIT and from those efforts over a period of one and half years and a few smaller payments and trail and error the business credit needed was built. The hard lesson that I learned was that the business credit building process can be done easily with the simple business skills, the right information to get started and the help of a few others who are seeking to do the same. I might add at a fraction –very small fraction of the cost!

Soon the Business Credit Building Membership was born, and I hope to help many avoid anything near the disaster I experienced.

Webmaster*SAM
Business Credit Building Editor

Business Funding Solutions: Large Corporate Techniques on a very small budget!

By Webmaster*SAM
August 2005

Readers,

There are some techniques that large corporations have used for a long time to build corporate credit. However, often those techniques have a large corporate budget associated with it.

You on the other hand are an Entrepreneur and being the person you are, you cherish getting (or doing) what the “Big Guys” do at little or no cost.

The big corporations have hundreds of millions of dollars for an advertising campaign. You do it on a shoe string and get even a better ROI (return on investment) than the big guys. The big corporations in the past have used million-dollar investments to build instant credit for a new corporation that they created.

But, being the Entrepreneur you are, you want to do the same with little or no cost. CAN it BE DONE on a shoe string?

The ANSWER is …. NO*

*IF you expect to build millions of credit over night.

There are some places on the Internet that will promise (less the fine print) to do just that for large amounts up-front or with a proper amount of collateral. There are some that will charge fees later, but they collect your information up-front and then sell it off as a lead to a company that will work with you –often that becomes very expensive money.

However, being the Entrepreneur you are, you need to take a different approach: You need to work like a very successful baseball player. You need to be a Ted Williams…

The expensive way touted by many on the Internet for building credit is not advisable, unless you have a lot of money to part with and that will not hurt you. However, by taking the approach that makes for some of the greatest baseball players, you too can build a fantastic amount of capital at your disposal for whatever need.

Here is what I mean: Some of the greatest of the great baseball players hit mostly in the infield –their hits that resulted in a lot of singles and doubles kept their careers going and going. Sure they got some home runs, but what made them great was their consistency. Day in, day out, game after game, they consistently hit and brought in the runners and made for winning games.

When you try to build your corporate credit DON’T try to HIT HOME RUNS! Sure those are great for some, but you are working for the steady and sure flow of capital. You’ll have some credit building “home runs” but those will happen in time. What you need to work on is getting some credit here and more credit there. Then build from that point.

While doing all of this learn a lot about business – Your business. After all, this is about *Growing Your Business* and building success. IF that cannot be done, you are no better off than when you had NO credit.

I wrote the baseball example to show one of the mistakes that many Entrepreneurs often make and that is to go after too much credit at the start. In the Membership area I will get into several special ways to establish several hundred thousand dollars of business credit, quickly, but not overnight. And you can get the credit building done with a minimal cost. There are no other fees that the site will charge you, but there are some costs to get some of the items done. For example, a bank account, some of the permits and corporate papers that you’ll need will cost extra.

Success,

Webmaster*SAM
Business Credit Building Editor

GETTING BUSINESS CREDIT BUILDING STARTED

By Webmaster*SAM
August 2005

Entrepreneurs,

Did you know that as a business owner you have the ability to build business credit that is independent of your personal credit and credit file? This is very important to your growing your business and saving thousands of dollars in financing costs –personally and in your business success.

Often Entrepreneurs in their excitement over starting and managing a business overlook the importance of business credit building. Very few Entrepreneurs will ever start building their business credit profiles at the same time as they start a business. Still fewer understand how a clean and robust credit history will help their success in the long-run.

Let’s look at the way the personal and business credit differ and then greatly help the success of an Entrepreneur.

FIRST a LOOK at PERSONAL CREDIT:
Your personal credit often started with the first debt that you opened. Often that is your first credit card. Perhaps, this was obtained while in college or with your first full-time job. The credit bureaus will use your social security number and the employer’s information to build a credit file based on the stats supplied by the bank or whatever organization supplied
you the credit card.

As you keep making payments on your credit card or any other type of debt, especially something like a car loan, the credit bureaus will keep a profile on what you do, and when you do it, as reported by the credit issuing company.

As time goes on, your credit file becomes a report, a statement that reflects your ability to pay back what you borrowed. Pay well, pay on time and pay everything and your report looks good. Make some mistakes, perhaps, some that are not your own, and they can be corrected. IF you are late all the time, or at times don’t bother to repay what you borrowed, your actions will greatly affect the resulting credit “score” that is generated. Note that personal credit scores can range from 300 to 850 with a score of 680 or higher considered excellent. You may want to have about 700 as a goal for your personal credit score.

NOW a LOOK at BUSINESS CREDIT:
The example given for the personal credit closely matches the business credit example as well. Often a business will issue credit to another business, called TRADE CREDIT, and such business credit constitutes the largest amount of lending in the world.

The information needed to generate trade credit is accumulated by the business credit bureaus to create a credit report for the business. The credit bureaus will use your business’s name, address and Federal Tax Identification (FIN) number, which is an identification number you should have for your business. If you have not started your business yet, get our FREE e-report titled Business Credit Building A to Z and the FIN number is in the first checklist of items to get done.

The business credit bureaus will then use the trade credit that you have been developing to build a business credit history and a score for your profile. Another group of businesses –ones that you want to do business in the future will rely on a report from a bureau to decide IF they will conduct business with you in the future. Furthermore, the same information
will be used to determine the extent of credit that they will grant you when you work with them.

There are several business credit bureaus: The primary two that are referenced often and tend to be the ones that you need to focus your efforts are Dun & Bradstreet and Experian Business.

One of the key tips to building business credit quickly is to make sure to work with other businesses that report to the bureaus on a regular basis. Don’t assume that you friend around the corner running ACME Supplies will report to the bureaus. If you do business with ACME for years and they don’t supply the information, then it does not show up in the credit
bureau’s profile of you company. On the other hands there is a very quick and easy way to make sure that the credit bureau does have that information, and that will greatly help you establish a good business credit score.

BUSINESS CREDIT BUILDING:
While your personal credit score can go up to 850 and any score above 680 is excellent, a business credit score can range on a scale between 0 and 100 with a score of 75 or more considered an excellent rating. In this case target a score of 80 for your business.

While getting your score, keep in mind that keeping a good score for the long-term success is far more important: DO NOT ABUSE your credit privileges. Here are some factors that can affect the output of your credit score:

-Keep the use of credit low as possible. This is where a good business plan comes into focus. Our Business Credit Building A to Z e-report discusses this at length! -Keep good tabs on what you need to pay and when: A good Business Accounting program like Quickbooks(R) will pay great dividends when it comes to accomplishing this task.

-The bureaus will look at existing bank and credit card lines.
-Lastly, keep in mind that the more organizations that inquire about your
business credit score, resulting in a negative affect on your score.

Our Membership resources are has some more great tips to keep your credit score in good shape and high up there!

WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO DO:
The problem with the intermingling of personal and business credit is the same as you using the same checking account to do business and personal transactions. Imagine what you’ll need to do when it comes time to calculating what you have earned, what were business expenses and what were personal expenses? What a mess. On the same vein consider how clean you can keep things when your personal credit is completely separated from your
business credit?

By taking this action and separating your credit from that of your business you’ll lower your personal credit burden, increase your personal credit score, lowering your interest rates on your personal credit. Moreover, having the business lines of credit open and using it only for business reasons allows you to expense that as part of your business expenses, including the finance charges.

The KEY to BUSINESS CREDIT BUILDING:
Make sure that the business that you are dealing with will report to the bureaus your credit status. Make sure *before* you do business that that is the case.

One of the best sources of information for establishing business credit is the business credit building center at www.businesscreditbuilding.com, which present a database of businesses that report to the bureaus your credit score. Once again, if you have not already established a business, there is a way to get your credit score to a flying start and that is discussed in
our free report, Building Business Credit A to Z delivered for free via email when you subscribe to our mailing list.

Business credit building is not a difficult task when you follow a proven plan and execute it in a reasonable manner. Such a plan is available to our members from the subscriber area for a small one-time fee. Take advantage of this offer and you’ll save hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars!

Success building your business credit!

Webmaster*SAM
Business Credit Building Editor