Mom Entrepreneur Mentors

Mom Entrepreneur Mentors: “The Things I Wish I Would Have Known While Working My Business and Raising My Family”
Moms are busy people.  Raising a family makes you busy, but when you throw in the added responsibilities of running a business, you may feel like a professional juggler trying your hardest every day not to “drop the ball”.  Today’s Mom Entrepreneurs are so busy juggling their family and business, some days it may be difficult to find time to breathe.  The Business Mom believes the benefit and good advice of Moms who have already raised their families is priceless and will help you to set our priorities.  A special thank you goes to the following Moms from NAFE’s For You Network for taking the time to share their thoughts and stories.

Reminder #1:  Children grow up quickly…
Meli Van Natta’s son was seven years old and her daughter was four when she got into the real estate business.  Meli of Prudential California Realty says, “I learned that children grow up quickly and you can never recapture the time that you miss.”  If she had it to do over again, she would have arranged her schedule to spend more time with them even if it affected her business.  Now that she is older (and wiser), Meli realizes that she could have delegated some tasks, maybe taken on a partner, and she didn’t have to attend all the social events that went along with the business. But, she was young, having fun, and feeling very powerful and successful with all the money she was making.

Meli’s kids don’t seem to feel that she neglected them.  After all, they had time to go to Disneyland, the Zoo, and other places during the week when all the other mothers were at work.  So, they didn’t mind too much if she worked weekends because of her schedule.  They often helped her by stuffing envelopes, going with her to knock on doors, and sitting with her at Open Houses when she couldn’t get a sitter.

Both of Meli’s children are now happily married, well-adjusted adults with kids of their own.  Her daughter has chosen to be a stay-at-home mom and is expecting her third child.  Her son is the entrepreneur in the family.  After a brief foray into the real estate business himself, he is now the proud owner of two successful businesses.

Meli’s Top Tips:
Learn when to turn off the phone and learn the difference between merely important and urgent.  Take those vacations and make your days off sacrosanct.  It may take you a little longer to reach your business goals, but you’ll be happier for it!

Reminder #2:  Mom entrepreneurs can take advantage of their flexible schedule to share great times with their children…

Robbie Motter of Contacts Unlimited was a single parent who raised her three children (who are now grown).  Robbie loves being an entrepreneur.  Robbie says, “If I had known then what I know now, I would have left the corporate world earlier so I could have had the quality time with my older children that I had with my younger daughter.”  Robbie took a break from work each day when her daughter came home from school for about an hour and a half so that they could spend time together before returning to work and while her daughter completed her homework.

Robbie recalls that it was she had some hard challenges when she first became an entrepreneur.  It took awhile for things to start to move forward and times were tough.  Her two older children were not too supportive at first, as they were use to the big corporate paycheck. Many times they told her to go get a regular job, but she was determined to make it work.  Before long it did, and they truly loved having her work from her home office.  They shared great times together.

Robbie used to have her children help in the business.  They stuffed envelopes or jobs like that, and they loved it. As they got older, Robbie let them answer the phone so they could learn the right way to do that.

Robbie’s son is an entrepreneur.  He and a partner have owned a company for 18 years.  Her two girls are not entrepreneurs–they like having a big paycheck, the perks, and all the benefits that a corporate job provides.  Today all of her children are very successful, own beautiful homes, and make a fantastic salary with lots of benefits.  They do not take their work home with them; they leave it at the office and come home to be totally with the family.

Robbie’s Top Tips:
When you run your business, and if you work from home, make your children feel a part of it. When it is family time, stop worrying about business and give your children quality time.

Rebates – Reward or Rip Off?

Rebates have become increasingly popular in the last few years on a lot of items and certainly on electronic items and computers. Rebates of $20, $50 or $100 are not uncommon.

I’ve even seen items advertised as “free after rebate”. Do these rebates come under the heading of “too good to be true”? Some of them do and there are “catches” to watch out for but if you are careful, rebates can help you get some really good deals.

The way a rebate works is that you pay the listed price for an item then mail in a form and the bar code to the manufacturer and they send you a refund thus reducing the price of what you paid for the item except with a time delay of several weeks.

Rule #1. Rebates from reputable companies are usually just fine.

You can be pretty sure you will get the promised rebate from Best Buy, Amazon or Dell but you should probably not count on getting one from a company you’ve never heard of. If you really want the product and are OK with paying the price listed then buy it but don’t count on actually getting the refund.

Rule #2. Check rebate expiration dates.

Many times products will stay on the shelf of a retailer after the date for sending in the rebate offer has expired so check that date carefully.

Rule #3. Be sure you have all the forms required to file for the rebate before you leave the store.

Rebates will almost always require a form to be filled out, a receipt for the purchase and a bar code.

Rule #4. Back up your rebate claim.

Make copies of everything you send in to get your rebate including the bar code. Stuff gets lost in the mail all the time and if the rebate is for $50 it’s worth the trouble to back up your claim.

Choosing the Best Type of Lease for Your Business

When it comes to leasing equipment, understanding what it can do for your business is only part of the equation. Understanding and choosing the best lease for your business is another matter altogether. The market is primed for the use of equipment leasing to expand, grow and hone a businesses assets, but at the same time there is little material out there to help a business judge what’s a good lease and what isn’t.

What You See Is What You Get

There is an old truism that says you get what you pay for. When it comes to equipment leasing, you want a lease that clearly defines your responsibilities versus the lessor’s responsibilities. You really want it to be what you see is what you get. So how do you go about choosing the best type of lease for your business?

Shop the options is the best way to get started. If you know what type of equipment you need, then comparison-shop the options with different companies. Some key figures to make sure are included in any lease option are:

•    Cost Per Month
•    Maintenance Contract
•    Cost of Maintenance Contract
•    Training Available
•    Customer Service
•    Availability for Software and Hardware Support
•    Obsolescence Upgrades
•    Term of Contract
•    Renewal Terms

When it comes to long-term leases, it’s better to set the terms from the outset to deliver the best possible results to the company overhead. When it comes to maintenance, many leasing companies package that as a separate component. If a piece of equipment fails altogether, it’s likely the leasing company will replace it. But what if the piece of equipment goes down? Will there be a 2-hour, 4-hour or 24-hour response time to getting a service technician on-site and the equipment back into operation?

This information is critical because when a piece of equipment is operable, it’s just a piece of junk taking up room and preventing the business from operating normally. Upgraded maintenance contracts will have to be negotiated. But there’s also the concern about what happens when a newer, better model of equipment becomes available? Does the lease terms support an upgrade to this model of equipment or will it require waiting until the contract is up for renewal?

Beware Hidden Costs

By getting the information up front, a business can avoid hidden expenses. They can plan budgetary requirements and potentially for long-term leases, bring up training requirements for their staff. This is another concern that some companies don’t consider when negotiating a lease. Will the operator of the equipment receive training from the leasing corporation? Do they have representatives that understand the operation of the equipment and provide certified instruction? If not, how is that handled?

While this will not be a concern for every piece of equipment leased, for those businesses that require certified training it’s good to know if it will be available. Also in the case of leasing computer equipment, how is software licensing handled? Is packaged into the hardware lease or do those licenses need to be obtained separately?

Finally, understanding the renewal terms can help circumvent a rise in cost for renewing an equipment lease. Some contracts will allow locking a price for a period of five years. The lease may only last two years, but at the renewal point the cost is locked in for that particular piece of equipment. When it comes to a long-term budgetary forecast, every piece of information can help.

Clearly defining what an individual contract delivers from a leasing company can provide a business with the opportunity to comparison shop. By comparing the different options, price levels and services from one leasing company to the next, a business will be choosing the best equipment lease for their business.

Credit Cards For High School Students

Students in high school that are looking to start building their credit early can get high school student credit cards.  These credits cards can help teach high school students responsibility, and how to manage their credit at an early age.  These types of credit cards are issued to high school students, with a parent or guardian co-signing with the student.  Students who have these credit cards also have a sense of responsibility as well.

Before applying for a high school student credit card, both students and co-signers should always look at their available options.  There are a lot of banks and credit card companies to choose from, which makes it in your best interest to look around.  Some cards will come with high APR and a high annual fee, while some are more reasonable.  With high school students not having any credit, some banks and companies will try to charge unreasonable rates – which is reason enough to do your research and know the best deal.

Co-signers can normally help students to make the best decision.  The co-signer will be going on the application with the student, and will be the individual that the bank or company will come to when the student is unable to pay the bill.  Parents and co-signers will know the best deals for credit cards, which is students should always ask them for help when picking out the ideal credit card.

For some students, prepaid credit cards can be an ideal investment.  These cards hold absolutely no risk for students, while they help to teach financial management as well.  With these high school student credit cards, the prepaid amount you have put on the card is your spending limit.  To ensure that the application for is filled out correctly, students should always have a parent or guardian assist them with filling the information out.

When a student gets their credit card, they should be instructed on how to properly use the credit card.  Although some students will be tempted to run up their high school student credit card, they should save it for emergency situations.  At the end of the month, they should try to pay their whole bill, to avoid getting into debt.  If a student can pay the bill – it will also help boost their credit.

If you are interested in a high school student credit card, you can always apply for one online.  The applications are processed in a timely manner, normally giving you a response in a matter of minutes.  Although credit cards are great to have, prepaid credit cards are sometimes the way to go with students.  If you are unsure – make sure you look into all options available to you and compare what you find out.

Accounting Outsourcing Nitty-Gritty that you need to Know

Are you dreading about clearing the accounting and bookkeeping work which has piled up in your desk in view of the approaching tax season? Simply opt for accounting outsourcing to deal with the issue with ease and perfection. This is the simplest way for accounting firms and CPAs to deal with heavy workload to meet customer demand during the peak tax season. Simply undertaking accounting outsourcing will not serve your purpose, until you have proper knowledge about all the aspects of outsourcing.

Imagine you are going to give out your entire business process to be handled by another organization. I am sure you will want to know all you can about this particular aspect. You will surely not want to be caught unaware; if goes wrong with the entire process. Research and more research is the answer for you to meet such eventualities.

Choose the right outsourcing company to do your accounting outsourcing work. Numerous outsourcing come up with attractive and lucrative offers to do the work for accounting firms like yours. Find out carefully as many things as you can about the company before you actually let them do your work.

The internet is a storehouse of information and utilizing it in the best possible manner is in your hands. Check out the services provided by the various companies. Also try to get testimonials from firms who have already done accounting outsourcing from the particular outsourcing company.

Check out the various security measures put in place by the company to protect your company and customer data. This is an important aspect of with which you must take special care. In this internet age, people have become increasingly skeptical about giving out information about their financial details online. Security measures must be stringent enough to deal with this issue and to also bring back the faith of customers to the entire process of accounting outsourcing.

Your work will be done very quickly and you will be able to meet customer deadlines with plenty of time to spare. Highly qualified professionals are always hired for doing outsourcing work. So this means that you serve your customer’s with the best possible service that you can afford with in your budget. Accounting outsourcing work is done faultlessly by the professionals.

Monetary wise accounting outsourcing works out just perfectly for your accounting firm. You do not need to undertake any additional financial investment for the process. In fact you can earn through accounting outsourcing. Imagine you do not spend an extra cent and yet end up earning profits. This is just incredible; you must not waste time pondering over pros and cons of accounting outsourcing.

Check to see if the outsourcing firm provides any offers for free trails. You can actually take up this opportunity to see for yourself the quality of the work done by the firm. Based on this work done, you can decide whether you actually want to work any further with the company for accounting outsourcing work or not.

Accounting outsourcing can turn out to be beneficial to you in many ways. All of these benefits are subject to your working with the right accounting outsourcing company. So try outsourcing your accounting and experience a faster and more efficient way of doing business today!

Casino gambling review

A bare search for “Online Casino” terms across the internet, you are able to determine there are over thousands and millions of operating casinos in the world. Each of the casinos exacted to give you the best tenders and promotions, in the forms of like free bonuses, free cash, free spin. Researching each of them would be highly confusing and time consuming. For better result, you can read review of online casino by scandinavia. They just can direct you in the correct direction of ascertaining the best online casino on the internet.

All those casinos measured here are established on several requirements such as: types and number of casino games on offer, awards and recognitions, internet security, and bonuses or promotions. Most of the casinos called for players to deposit real money to play. If this isn’t what you’re searching, you might be occupied with the no deposit online casinos alternative. They have assessed a list of no deposit casinos that you’ll be able to play for free.

Internet security and reliableness of an online casino is significant for the players. They acquire every provision to ascertain that their players can depend upon fair game, secure banking transfer and privacy protection. Internet security isn’t rare issue to the gambling industry.

Secured Personal Loans

Personal loans provide borrowers with the opportunity to access funds for those areas in their life that need some assistance or where additional funding would work to their benefit. A secured personal loan is a type of personal loan that involves the borrower having to provide some type of collateral to the lender as assurance that they will repay the loan. This is due to the borrower falling into a high risk category. There are pros and cons to accepting a secured personal loan that we will explore further.

High risk in regard to loan repayment can mean a variety of things. It can mean you have an unsteady income, including self employment where the amount of income you have coming in varies each month. While the lender can see you have an income source, it is not considered to be a reliable as getting a regular paycheck. The decision will depend on the regulations of the lender, length of time you have been self employed, and the loan amount you are requesting.

High risk in terms of a secured personal loan generally imply the borrower has either poor credit or has not established enough of a credit history for a decision to be made. Poor credit can be the result of poor money management or circumstances that took place in your life which you had no control over. Some individuals think it is very unfair to be penalized for not having an established credit history. I agree that it can be frustrating, because you can’t really be expected to establish a credit history if no one will give you credit.

In either situation, use the opportunity of a secured personal loan as a way to prove yourself worthy of lenders working with in the future. Your credit is an area that is going to make or break you down the road, so use your opportunities wisely. A secured personal loan that is repaid as scheduled or sooner can help you on the road to re-establishing your credit worthiness or start your newly documented credit history of to an amazing start. Secured personal loans can offer opportunities to those individuals who would not be eligible for any other types of loans the chance to have the funding they need.

On the flip side, secured personal loans can be risky. It is very crucial that you understand that risk. Since you will be required to provide collateral for the loan, any default could result in you losing your home, other property, vehicle, whatever it was that you used as collateral on the loan. While entering the contract of a secured personal loan, no one really anticipates the loss of their collateral. It can be very damaging to an individual when the lender comes to collect that collateral.

To protect yourself, be realistic with your financial endeavors. You will need to ask yourself some tough questions and be honest with the answers. If you have a pattern of not being able to fully commit to financial obligations, then do not create further financial hardships for yourself or your family by becoming involved with a secured personal loan.

As yourself exactly how much you need to borrow and for what purpose, then stick to those terms. It can be tempting to borrow more when you need $5,000 and the lender tells you that he can approve the loan for $10,000. Don’t let your common sense and judgment be clouded by dollar signs.

Secured personal loans can be a great means of generating necessary revenue for those in need. They offer an opportunity for individuals to establish or re-establish a good credit rating. However, caution should be taken to protect against losing the collateral for this type of loan from being lost to the lender. If you are eligible for an unsecured personal loan, it involves less risk though you will incur a higher interest rate.

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