Work With the Time Given, Not Against

"Without the management of time, you will soon have nothing left to manage." - William D. Reiff

Time is of the essence. It seems these days that there is simply not enough time in the day to do everything we would like to get done. The key is to be more productive in the time that you have. Sure, you can work twice as long and get much more done. However, the secret to true success is making the time you currently invest in your business twice as productive.

Successful people know how to divide their time well. They know when it's time to focus and be productive and when it's time to replenish and rebuild their strength. It's not uncommon to see people who appear to be highly productive burnout quickly. It is important to take time out for yourself and relax. Spend time with friends and family, exercise, sleep, or do whatever else that may help you regain your thoughts and energy.

Successful people are also strict about what types of interruptions they allow during productive business time. It is easy to let trivial interruptions disrupt our working life. For example, don't take inventory or clean out your desk during prime selling hours. Find ways to eliminate busy work.

Identify the most important thing you should be doing right now. Successful businesspeople always tackle the most important things first. The items of top priority are usually not the easiest. That's why we tend to put them off until later. Getting these heavier items out of the way will relieve stress and increase your productivity tremendously. Over time you'll notice that sales have increased and you're enjoying your work a lot more

-Brad Harmon, CLP
President of First Star Capital

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First Star Capital is an established firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. They are an independent commercial lender with a specialty focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between $10,000 and $10,000,000.

Identity Security

"Trickery and treachery are the practices of fools that have not wits enough to be honest" -Benjamin Franklin

As a business owner, it is vital to know what's on your credit report so you can prevent errors that can inadvertently harm your company. One of the biggest threats out there today is identity theft. The ability to grow a business through help from lending institutions depends heavily on the credit profiles of the owners. Protecting your identity from thieves is crucial.

People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years and thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of a good name and credit record. In the meantime, victims of identity theft may lose job opportunities, be refused loans for education, business, housing, or cars, and even get arrested for crimes they didn't commit. Humiliation, anger, and frustration are among the feelings victims experience as they navigate the process of rescuing their identity.

The US Federal Trade Commission recommends taking these precautions to avoid identity theft:

• Shred documents and paperwork that contain personal information before you discard them
• Don't give out personal information unless you know who you are dealing with
• Use firewalls, anti-spyware, and anti-virus software to protect your computers
• Don't use obvious passwords, like your birthday or mother's maiden name
• Be alert for discrepancies in your financial bills and statements and query them immediately
• Report fraud to the police as soon as you detect it and file a complaint with the FTC

If you have lost personal information or identification, place an initial fraud alert on your credit report with any (or all) of the three consumer reporting companies:

Equifax: www.equifax.com

Experian: www.experian.com

TransUnion: www.transunion.com

At First Star Capital, we recognize the importance of protecting our clients. We follow strict procedures to keep all personal information and sensitive data secure. First Star will never sell, rent or provide any customer data to a 3^rd party unless specifically instructed to do so in writing by the customer. Please review our corporate privacy policy to better understand the steps taken to protect our clients.

www.FirstStarCapital.com
www.FirstStarCapital.com/privacypolicy.html

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First Star Capital is an established firm that has financed thousands of different businesses across the country and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital equipment. They are an independent commercial lender with a specialty focus in equipment financing and leasing. First Star Capital is a direct lender with the ability to quickly and efficiently fund new financing requests between $10,000 and $10,000,000.