Common Mistakes with Equipment Leasing

Sometimes small business owners and entrepreneurs hastily get equipment leases. Without being well informed, they run into problems. To help you to avoid a headache in the long run, here are the top mistakes business owners tend to do when they sign their equipment lease.

1. Having an absence of lawyers. Although it may seem like a costly endeavor, we highly recommend reviewing the lease contract with a lease attorney. It will help avoid bigger problems in the future if you take the time now to make sure the terms and conditionals are fair and legal.

2. Using short contracts. Although short contracts are quicker to read, long contracts will have the potential to discuss not just terms but other possible issues. If anything comes up, the issue will always go back to what the contract entailed.

3. Not considering long-term goals. Always think through the purpose of your equipment lease. Will you use the equipment when the lease ends? How long do you plan to use it?

4. Lack of communication. This is always a problem in every facet of life. It is very important to have open communication with your leasing company. If something is not clear or does not look correct to you, don't be afraid to ask your leasing company. Make sure that all issues are out in the open and clearly communicated.

5. Incompatibility with software and hardware lease. A software lease and a hardware lease are two different kinds of leases. Sometimes software does not always work on the hardware. It is very important to research this before you purchase your equipment.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

Five Tips on Improving Your Cash Flow

Cash flow is imperative to every business. It is how you are able to conduct your business every day. Cash flow is the flow of your working capital that come in and goes out of your business. It consists of your inventory, accounts receivable, accounts payable, capital expenditures and debt. To maximize your cash flow, try one, if not all, of these tips.

1. Get a good accounting system. Quickbooks and Peachtree, both great accounting programs, offer free trials. See whether they work well with your business and consider purchasing it.
2. Pay attention to accounts receivable.
3. Pay attention to account payable.
4. Consolidate your debt.
5. Lease equipment. Leasing equipment helps to conserve working capital, liquidity, and credit lines. It allows flexibility that can be vital to small businesses.

Paying attention to your business and getting the programs and equipment you need can really help your business to improve its cash flow.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

Using Social Network Sites to Promote Your Business

To help your company continue to grow in the expansive Internet, try social networking web sites. Social networking sites create human connections. They help you to make new relationships with other businesses. You can effectively promote your business. In addition, they allow you to have a strong link back to your website.

Although online communities are thought of as something for just those 25 year and younger, these sites have been pushing the boundaries. They become such a powerful asset that companies who shrug them off are most certainly losing out in the long run.

Online communities basically give you a page to write about yourself and/or your company. You can write about anything you want on your page. Make sure you have a link to your company's web site. This will really strengthen your external links and your PageRank. Depending on the site, you will be able to make friends, join groups, or even have other people become a fan of your company.

Here is a list of some social networking sites that are free:

• LinkedIn - Connects professionals - www.linkedin.com
• Spoke - Connects companies - www.spoke.com
• Facebook - Connects individuals - www.facebook.com
• MySpace - Connects individuals (usually a younger audience) - www.myspace.com

Seeing that the sites are free and the outcome is great, you really have nothing to lose.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

Wise Tips to Sending E-mails

Marketing through E-mail, despite its bad reputation, can be an effective way to promote your business. How and when you send the message will greatly affect whether it gets viewed or not. Consider the following questions when developing your e-mail marketing campaign:

• What type of e-mail are you sending? Are you sending e-coupons, newsletters, customer success stories, or an ad of a new product? Depending on your business, you can implement many different types of approaches. Varying the type of e-mail will keep the viewer interested and intrigued.
• When your customers will look at e-mail positively? Would they be more likely to view the e-mail in the morning during work hours, afternoon at their lunch break, or evening at home? Would they be more willing to view the message on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday?
• How often will you send email? Do you plan on sending it once a week, once a month, etc? Consistency is key here. If you plan to send out an e-mail a week, make sure you send out an e-mail a week.
• Always have holidays and special events in mind. Including them proves that the e-mail has been well thought out and is thus not a generic template.
• If you have an e-mail with a link to your website, provide a special page and, using a website analytical program (Google offers one for free), see how many people visit that page. This will measure the success of your e-mail.
  

Considering these few ideas will strengthen your marketing campaign. Experiment to see what works for your company.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

'Tis The Season

Christmas is the time for giving, and what better way is there to give than of your time and hard work. Volunteering this holiday season is rewarding for every type of worker, whether it be an employee or employer.

To find out where and how you can give, go to www.VolunteerMatch.org. They offer many different opportunities for your and your employees.

VolunteerMatch.com also explains the benefits of giving: (http://www.volunteermatch.org/corporations/resources/businesscase.jsp)

Benefits to the Employee

• Improves performance
• Increases job satisfaction, attitude and morale
• Encourages teamwork
• Promotes leadership and skill development
• Improves communication between employees and their supervisors, and across departments

Benefits to the Corporation

• Builds brand awareness and affinity
• Strengthens trust and loyalty among consumers
• Enhances corporate image and reputation
• Improves employee retention
• Increases employee productivity and loyalty
• Provides an effective vehicle to reach strategic goals

Benefits to the Community

• Provides skilled and talented volunteer pool, as employees devote personal and professional skills to community needs
• Offers direct cost savings for community service organizations in saved recruiting and labor costs
• Creates quantifiable social impact
• Helps bring community needs into focus

Volunteer in your community today!

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

Improve the Customer Experience on Your E-commerce Site

You can lose hundreds, if not thousands of dollars by making a poorly constructed website. Customers will become frustrated and want to take their business elsewhere. To provide the best website experience for your customer, try to implement some of these tips.

• Have contact information easy to navigate to.
• Have thought through navigation. If you have sub navigations, make it obvious and easy.
• Have a search box. This will help customers get to what they want quickly. Most website visitors want to get to what they are looking for in three click or less. Having a searching function can get the visitor to their product in two clicks.
• Having good search results. It is very disappointing to be shopping for a green phone, search, and get a list of text links. If you can, have images come up in the search results.
• Good content that is easy to find.
• Offer a breadcrumb trail. This is a trail at the top of the page that lets the visitor know exactly where they are in relation to the structure of the site. For example, the breadcrumb trail could be "Apparel > Watches > Men's > Sport."
• Have pleasing colors (please, no neon green against neon pink!)
• Strong checkout that spells out where the customer is and what they need to do. Amazon.com spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars to develop their 1-Click shopping method. You can never go too far to have a strong shopping cart system.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

Keep Stress Low

Keeping stress low is very important to your health. Stress can affect you mentally, physically, or emotionally. In the business world, it is hard to completely avoid stress, but you can work hard in keeping it at a minimum.

Stress without relief causes many physical symptoms, like headaches, upset stomachs, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, a lowered immune system, and problems sleeping. Stress can also lead to short tempers, depression, panic attacks, or anxiety. Constant stress has been linked to heart disease, cancer, lung problems, and more.

Recognizing stress can be difficult sometimes. Noticing its symptoms is the first step. The second step is to take action.

Here are a few things that you can do to help reduce stress in your life:

• Don't take on more than you can handle.
• Practice time management.
• When stressed about having a lot of projects, don't look at the big picture. Try to work with "bite-sized pieces."
• Reduce the things that stress you.
• Get enough sleep.
• Listen to relaxing music. Classical and new age music proves to be more calming than rock or rap music.
• Eat well and exercise.
• Practice breathing exercises.
• Take breaks. It is good to stop working, even for 10 minutes, to think about something completely different. Breaks will help refresh your mind.
• Be thankful. This one is always helpful because as you get caught up in all the things that bother you, it can be relieving to look at all the things that are a blessing in your life.

It may be difficult at first to see the stress and act against it. It is well worth the effort though. Reducing your stress will help you to be a happier, healthier person.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

Leasing IT Equipment

Is it time to upgrade your IT equipment? It's very likely that things have changed in your business since you last bought the computers and programs that your business depends on. Your company may be growing faster than you anticipated or it just may be time to boost productivity.

Many companies prefer to lease their computer technology because it keeps their equipment up-to-date. IT equipment is subject to rapid depreciation becoming obsolete quickly. A lease allows the customer to transfer the risk and financial burden of obsolescence. After the lease expires, the customer is able to upgrade to newer and faster equipment. Leasing technology equipment also helps a company to stay on the cutting edge and keep up with its competition.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

E-mail Campaigns

E-mail is one of many ways to promote your business. It can be your strongest asset if handled correctly. Marketing campaigns via email can really help to strengthen a business. You can promote new products/services, give away coupons, or offer words of wisdom. There are a few things that can really help save time, promote your business,and keep your customers interested.

Firstly, remember to ALWAYS put a link to your website in your e-mails. You want your customers to get excited and visit your site for more information. Think how detrimental that could be if you did not include a link to your site.

One thing that will save time and effort is to plan ahead. Write, design, and complete all the e-mails you are sending out that year. If you want to do a twice-a-month e-mail, make 24 designs. To get started, you can set up the campaigns like this:

Month: (use the date which you will send the e-mail)

Subject: (title of the e-mail)

Body: (all the content used in the body of the e-mail. Specify the pictures, colors, and the exact wording.)

Tips for the Subject:

• Keep it short and simple. Never use more than 10 words. Using 5 words is even better. Use strong and direct words, never "fluff" adjectives like "very."
  
• Ask a question. This will entice the viewer to want to see more. Use seasons and holidays in your title. Something like "Lose 10 pounds for the summer" or "Back to school tips" will helped the e-mail to be viewed more.
• Never use the word "free," "limited time offer," "buy now," or other sales terms. These are considered spam keywords and your e-mail will most likely be blocked. Also, don't make the words in all caps or end in multiple exclamation points.

Tips for the Body:

• Show the benefits of your product/service/advice.
• Never make the e-mail apparently generic. Try to make the e-mail personal, like you wrote it just for them.
• Like the season/holiday-related subject, make your body be similar.Use bright yellows and blues for summer. Use fall leaf images in autumn or emerald evergreen trees in December.
• Again, don't use the spam keywords.

When you plan ahead with you e-mail campaigns, you will never run into the "it's the end of the day and I forgot to send out our monthly e-mail." Your e-mails will be more thought through if you take the time to sit down once and write them all out. You will be glad you planned ahead when your day is busy.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.

Great Informational Websites

It seems like no matter what we need these days, we often turn to the internet to help us whether it's to research products, find information, purchase goods and services, hire employees, book travel, arrange shipping, or much more.

The new year is right around the corner and you might be asking yourself what you need to do to generate even more business. So here are a few websites that will help you build and run your business throughout the coming year. These are websites for market and industry research:

• U.S. Census Bureau - www.census.gov - has a vast amount of free information on all aspects of American life. Want to know the percentage of college graduates in Cleveland or how many baby boomers live within a particular zip code? This is where you'll find this information.
• "County Business Patterns" - www.census.gov - is very useful for finding information about businesses.
• American Fact Finder - www.factfinder.census.gov - is aimed more at finding data about people and demographics.
• Experian - www.experian.com - Offers free credit reports in addition to many other services.
• D&B - www.dnb.com - Offers global risk, credit, sales, marketing and supplier management solutions.
• ERsys.com - www.ersys.com - is a quick and easy way to find information about a city where you might be planning to do business.

The beginning of the year is a great time to research new customer opportunities and new markets. Setting goals and staying focused will allow you to realize increasingly better results.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (http://www.firststarcapital.com/). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.