2019 June

June 27, 2019
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For any business, big or small, there are many important factors that go into it to make sure that it becomes successful. Your products and/or services must be of the highest quality. You’ll need great customer support to keep your consumers happy. And, you’ll need to make sure that your finances are always in order. However, something that might be even more important than these issues, is brand marketing. Even if you are running a tiny company that has only a few employees, marketing your brand well can mean the difference between barely getting off the ground and building an empire. Here are 3 reasons why brand marketing is absolutely vital to your small business.

1. It Makes You Recognizable

Almost anyone on this planet can tell you that the golden arches represent McDonald’s and the green mermaid is for Starbuck’s. If you don’t have a solid, attractive, and recognizable brand, you’ll find that customers will be quick to forget who you are. You need to make sure that your brand image is one that, eventually, people will see and immediately know who you are. Don’t be the random brand that people buy because it was convenient. Instead, be the recognizable brand that people buy because they know you.

You Will Earn More Money

Statistically, it’s shown that customers are willing to pay more for a brand that they know. Basically, having a strong brand will increase your value in the eye of the consumer, and they will feel perfectly fine spending an extra dollar or two to purchase their products and/or services from a brand they know and trust.

You Will Build Relationships With Your Customers

There’s something almost nostalgic about that McDonald’s Happy Meal you used to eat as a kid. Now, imagine your local burger joint sold the same cheeseburger, fries, soda, and even a toy. It does not have the same emotional bond that good old Ronald McDonald has on you. When customers bond with your brand, they feel emotionally connected and invested in your products. This makes them much more likely to stay loyal to your brand, instead of moving to others (even if they offer slightly better prices).

Creating a strong, recognizable brand is extremely important when it comes to creating and running a successful business. Make sure that you have all of the elements there when designing your brand, and make it a good one.

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!

 


June 24, 2019
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Starting a business at any age can seem like a daunting task. Even for people with multiple business degrees and years of working experience, becoming an entrepreneur and building a company from the ground up is no easy feat. So to even attempt starting up a small business when you are young and inexperienced sounds like a pretty useless idea. However, starting a company while you’re young can be one of the best things you can do, for reasons you might not expect. Here are 3 reasons why you should start your business while you’re still young.

1. You Have Time To Fail

When embarking on any type of project, you can pretty much expect that there will be errors mistakes, losses, and all-around failures along the journey. So, if you know that you will fail at some point, you might as well get it out of the way early. When you are young, you have the time and the energy to fail, over and over again, and deal with each failure appropriately. You will have to take a few big losses until you earn a big win, and the ambition and energy of youth can be extremely helpful to not become discouraged and give up completely.

2. You Have Less To Lose

Nobody likes to fail, much less see their entire company go completely under. However, when you are already getting older and you have a family of people who are relying on you, it is a much harder hit when everything comes crashing down. The older you are, the more responsibilities and obligations you most likely have, so there is a lot more resting on your shoulders. While you are still young, there is much less at stake, and a failure’s price isn’t nearly as high as it could be in a few years.

3. You’ll Learn A Lot…Fast

No matter how many books you read and how much business theory you learn, there is nothing better than hands-on, personal experience when it comes to running a business. Whether you like it or not, you will be thrown head-first into the ocean of entrepreneurship and you will have to either sink or swim. This cold-turkey approach may seem extreme, but it is the quickest and most effective way to become a master of running your own company.

Even though it may seem scary to start your own business at a young age, there are huge benefits that you will lose each year that you wait. So, instead of being intimidated, take the leap of faith and try to build your dream company. Who knows? You might even succeed and be set for life by age 30!

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!


June 20, 2019
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When running your own company, there is never a shortage of work to do. However, even though the number of tasks seems to grow as you complete them, there are ways to stay organized and complete your work in the most efficient way possible. Here are three tips to work smarter, instead of harder, by eliminating the busy work and running your business in the most optimal and effective way.

1. Learn Which Tasks Are Necessary

Most business owners have more tasks at hand than they know what to do with. The unfortunate thing is, many of them keep on completing old tasks and habits that have become obsolete or unnecessary just because “that’s how they’ve always done them.” It’s a good idea to start keeping track of which tasks make you more productive and profitable, and which ones you could do without. You will start to see patterns after a few days or weeks, and you can begin eliminating tasks that are no longer serving you.

2. Get Another Opinion

Even though your company might be your baby, and you trust only yourself to get the job done right, it’s a great idea to ask the opinion of someone else. A fresh pair of eyes with a different perspective could easily pick out mistakes or redundancies that you might have missed. Especially if you’ve been working for hours on end on the same task, someone else with a new perspective might be able to come at it with a new, fresh take.

3. Get a Dream Team

No one person can do everything him or herself, because no one person is excellent at everything. While running a company, it’s best to surround yourself with a trusted team of people, all with different strengths that can benefit your business. For example, if you are very creative but not so good at organizing yourself, it’s good to have another reliable team member to make sure you are staying on track. Building yourself a solid team of people who all have impressive skills is a recipe for a very successful company.

Although it’s important to work hard in your business, it’s more profitable and efficient to cut the unnecessary chaos, and be as productive as possible. Work smarter, not harder, and you’ll find yourself running a successful company, in the most efficient way possible.

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!


June 17, 2019
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Taking out a small business loan can be a huge help for any business owner. Whether you want to grow your business, purchase updated equipment, or consolidate past business debts, a loan can take a lot of pressure off and allow you to reach your financial goals, quicker.

However, just because you apply for a loan, does not automatically mean your application will be accepted. There is a process that you must follow, and documentation you must provide in order to qualify for funding. Of course, there is no need to be intimidated or worried that you won’t get the funding you need to grow your business, if you are prepared. Aside from having the correct documentation and information at the ready, there are certain circumstances you’ll want to wait for, to give yourself a better chance of being accepted.

Firstly, when applying for a loan, the lender will look at the status of your business. This means that he will want to know if you are earning enough money to where you will have the means to pay the loan back according to its terms. Unless your business has a steady rate of cash flow all year round (which is, admittedly, very rare) you will want to apply for your loan during your high season. So, if that means that most of your demand is during the summer months, you will want to apply at the peak of your strong season. This will look good to the lender, and he or she will feel more at ease with lending you some of their money, knowing that you have the cash to pay it back eventually.

Second, you’ll want to take a look at your credit score. Even if you’ve just broken into your high season, and you are making money, if your credit score does not reflect a good, steady cash flow, you will most likely be turned away (or at least be giving a higher interest rate to pay). Be sure that your credit score looks good enough to show the lender that you do pay back your debts, to the best of your ability. This is one of the first things that lenders check when deciding if they will accept your loan proposal, so be sure that you have everything in order beforehand.

Although it might seem scary to apply for a small business loan (especially if it’s your first time), it is very doable if you know what to do. By applying for the loan when your business is in its strongest and your credit score is healthy, you will most likely be accepted and in a matter of days, you will receive the funding you need to achieve your financial and business goals.

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!


June 13, 2019
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When running your own company, there is never a shortage of work to do. However, even though the number of tasks seems to grow as you complete them, there are ways to stay organized and complete your work in the most efficient way possible. Here are three tips to work smarter, instead of harder, by eliminating the busy work and running your business in the most optimal and effective way.

1. Learn Which Tasks Are Necessary

Most business owners have more tasks at hand than they know what to do with. The unfortunate thing is, many of them keep on completing old tasks and habits that have become obsolete or unnecessary just because “that’s how they’ve always done them.” It’s a good idea to start keeping track of which tasks make you more productive and profitable, and which ones you could do without. You will start to see patterns after a few days or weeks, and you can begin eliminating tasks that are no longer serving you.

2. Cut Meetings Times

Unless you are working entirely by yourself, and you never have interactions with your clients, you will most likely have to conduct meetings here and there. Depending on the frequency of your meetings, it’s a good idea to try and keep them as efficient as possible by using the “short and sweet” method. Use your time wisely and efficiently by limiting face to face interactions to only the necessary issues. Anything else can simply be sent via email!

3. Take a Breather

Not doing work when you have mountains of it can seem counter-productive, but there comes a point where taking a total break from all of it is necessary to keep up productivity. Avoiding worker’s burnout and mental block is imperative to keeping your productivity flowing. And sometimes, this requires you to step back from your full schedule and do something else for a while. This will help your brain (and your body) recover to its full strength and mental capacity. Allowing for you to have a more productive time when you do return to work.

Although it’s important to work hard in your business, it’s more profitable and efficient to cut the unnecessary chaos, and be as productive as possible. Work smarter, not harder, with these tips, with more to come in the following Part III of our blog post covering Ways To Reduce Busy Work and Be More Productive.

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!


June 10, 2019
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When running your own company, there is never a shortage of work to do. However, even though the number of tasks seems to grow as you complete them, there are ways to stay organized and complete your work in the most efficient way possible. Here are three tips to work smarter, instead of harder, by eliminating the busy work and running your business in the most optimal and effective way.

1. Focus on One Thing at a Time

When you have a thousand and a half things to take care of, it’s only natural to want to have your hands in all of them. Unfortunately, this is not the most efficient way to get through your work. In fact, multitasking effectively is almost impossible for the average human being, and simply results in many tasks getting done, half-assed. The best thing to do here is to tackle one thing at a time, and give all of your focus and energy to it. This will result in a completed task, done correctly the first time, in less time than it would take to try and complete it with only a piece of your brain.

2. Take on Your Biggest Challenge First

It may seem tempting to take on what some would call the “low-hanging fruits” first, and leave the big tasks to the end. However, this can actually cause you to use all of your energy and focus on the smaller, possibly less important tasks, leaving none for the more intimidating, bigger issue. Although it may seem scary, it’s best to buckle down and take on your biggest challenge(s) first and get them out of the way early. This way, when you’ve completed the big guys, you won’t have to use so much of your time to tie up the loose ends, and you’ll get a lot more done in a shorter amount of time.

3. Write a List of Your Tasks

Some might look at this as adding more work to your day, however writing a list of your tasks for the day, week, month, and year will actually save you a lot of grief. Writing a list will help you organize your thoughts, and take what may seem like a mountain of work, and make it more graspable and organized. Also, having everything written down will ensure that no task slips through the cracks when business stress comes calling.

Although it’s important to work hard in your business, it’s more profitable and efficient to cut the unnecessary chaos, and be as productive as possible. Work smarter, not harder, with these tips, with more to come in the following Part II of our blog post covering Ways To Reduce Busy Work and Be More Productive.

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!


June 6, 2019
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Virtually any type of business will, at some point, require you to have some sort of physical equipment in order to maintain it. Whether it be brick ovens for a pizza place, building materials for a construction business, or even a simple laptop for an online e-commerce shop, you will need to have equipment at your beck and call to perform your daily tasks.

The slightly unfortunate thing is, that even if you take meticulous care of your business equipment, eventually, you will need to spend money on things like maintenance & repairs, replacement, updates, and other expenditures that come with having “things” that you work with daily. Keeping up with your equipment can cost a pretty penny, and often times business owners cannot afford to make such big expenditures on their equipment when there are so many other costs involved in maintaining and growing a company.

Luckily, Equipment Financing loans are available to a wide range of business owners. Of course, taking out a loan does not come without its risks, so it’s important to be sure that an Equipment Financing loan is right for you. Here are three signs that it’s time to finance your equipment with a small business loan.

1. You Are Growing

Unless your entire business is conducted online, which is becoming more and more prevalent these days, if you want to grow your company you will more than likely need to purchase more equipment. Maybe you need more pizza ovens because you’ve expanded your restaurant to fit double the amount of people. Or maybe you’re opening up another branch and you need more inventory to stock up on. However you are growing, you will need to scale your equipment to match with your larger demand.

2. Your Equipment Has Broken

This is a fairly obvious one, but nothing in this life lasts forever, and that goes for equipment as well. Sometimes things break from damage or simply from overuse, and must be repaired or replaced altogether. Don’t let a malfunctioning appliance lose you customers. Instead, get funding for the money you need to have your equipment working at its optimum capacity, and keep your business running as usual.

3. It’s Time For an Update

Maybe everything is working “just fine” but the newest pizza oven technology has just been released, and can up your productivity 3X! Even though your equipment is functioning properly, sometimes it’s a better business decision to spend a bit of money to make a lot more of it. If having the newest, most updated equipment will help your business, it’s a good idea to make the purchase.

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!

 


June 3, 2019
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Unless you’ve been in the industry for a while, or you happen to have a lot of experience in taking out loans, it can be very intimidating to know how to choose the right one. Fortunately, there are loan brokers who are there to help get you the right loan with the best rate and most fitting terms for your situation. However, not all loan brokers are equal when it comes to their knowledge and success rates. So how can you know which loan broker to go with? Here are 3 criteria to consider when choosing your loan broker.

Their Experience and Track Record

You wouldn’t want to have surgeon performed by a doctor who has only had his title for a few days, would you? The same should go for the person you trust to get you the best small business loan for your company. You should look into the loan broker’s past, including his education and previous work experience, to see just how much experience he or she has had in their position. Also, you’ll want to check their credentials and make sure that they are legally working in your state, as each state has different levels of requirements in order to broker loans.

Their Payment Model

Of course, you will have to pay for the services of a loan broker, but not all brokers charge the same amount of money in the same way. For example, just like with a loan itself, you might have to pay the broker up front, before any work is started on your behalf. This could mean a no refund policy, even if he or she does not successfully obtain the loan for you. Others will charge their fee only after you’ve signed for the money.

Their Relationship With Lenders

Just because you’ve paid a loan broker to act on your behalf, does not mean that you are his only client. In fact, there is a good chance that your broker is also working for certain specific lenders, which he or she may favor and therefore direct you toward, even if the lender is not the best loan for you. Try to double-check that your loan broker is acting in your best interest, and not in the interest of a big-time lender who will probably give him or her a cut of the money when he gets a signature from you.

Getting a loan can seem scary, but with a trustworthy loan broker, your life will be a lot easier. Just make sure to do your research first, so you don’t find yourself signing for a bad deal.

Ready to take the first step to reaching your financial goals? Click here for a FREE quote from Onebox Funding, and find the best loan with the lowest rates, today!