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The importance of maintaining credit in good standing must be known by every business owner. With an adequate credit limit, companies have more flexibility in obtaining the necessary funds required. As the company continued to grow, a credit limit of more than required. There are two funding opportunities available that business owners should consider small business credit cards and Unsecured Line of Credit. One of the two ways that can help businesses obtain the financial resources it needs is through credit cards to small businesses, but also one of the most commonly used in corporate finance. Small business credit card can be ideal for new entrepreneurs because they are easier to obtain and some even offer flexible options for businesses. In addition, there are vendors that accept credit card payments through the use of small businesses. This would allow small businesses to align with other companies and hold shares of materials needed for production

When we talk about Small Business Financing, small business loans, which we think is often overlooked option. Today, many non-traditional sources of financing for small businesses, as well, such as financing contract, which is one of the most privileged. In fact, also known as the financing of purchase orders, this option, the financial position of the lender, not a purchase order from the manufacturer. Therefore, the lender agrees to start the process over, the benefits. This is called the companies to finance the purchase of small size.

Thus, the next choice of small business financing, what is it? Many types of small business financing options should be grants for small businesses. However, this option has a negative side, the fact that subsidies are not considered reliable. However, venture capital financing small businesses, it is best defined by the number of people seeking other options. This is especially true since the proposals of funds Business Lines of Credit, small business financing. This small business financing and the only limitation is that they are only a handful of corporate finance.

The core problem that led to the Great Recession was not the issue of sub-prime mortgage failures. At their highest level, sub-prime mortgages were less than 20% of all mortgage originations. Sub-prime mortgages simply did not carry sufficient weight to bring down the American financial system. Credit default swaps on the other hand were a totally different matter. Here is your core problem. To this day, no one knows the exact total of credit default swaps that were in play as we approached the end of 2008. In May of 2009, a group of New York University finance professors indicated in a Forbes article that the notational value of Over the Counter (OTC) credit default swaps exceeded $683 trillion. Keep in mind this is a starting point in assessing the amount of total credit default swaps in the U.S. financial market. With an end of the year U.S. GDP at $14.3 trillion, this would mean that the “shadow financial system” of derivative financial instruments was more than 47 times GDP. This is “financialization” on mega steroids.

So, we want to be clear that laws and regulations can be “tailored” to support and benefit the middle class or the.1% class, depending upon the disposition and vote of our political representatives. When we have economic outcomes that we enjoy and bless us, or when such outcomes devastate and destroy us, the foundation is the same. What were the laws and regulations that were in play, and who initiated those laws and regulations?

During the Golden Age of the middle class, roughly from 1940 until 1980, laws and regulations were tailored to encourage a robust and vibrant middle class. The outgrowth was a tax system that promoted family financial strength, savings and investment for retirement. The Golden Age became a golden age, because there was money from salary earnings left over at the end of the month that could be saved for retirement or invested. Since the early eighties the money at the end of the month was little by little taken away, until our current experience. There is no money left over at the end of the month for almost all people, there is the need to borrow to make ends meet. The story of this transition follows.

For instance, in 1953 the median income was $4,233.00. Personal exemptions were $600.00, so a family of four with exemptions, plus a standard or itemized deductions would see 57% or more of their income escape the burden of income taxes. The social security tax rate was 1.5%, and only reached to the first $3,600.00 of wages.

This resulted in a social security tax burden of $54.00. In 1954 corporations paid seventy-five cents for every dollar in taxes paid by everyday families. In sharp contrast, as we fast forward to 1993, only 25% of everyday family income escapes income taxes. Their annual tax bill has increased $2,000.00. The social security and medicare tax rate is now 7.65% against median income of $38,000.00, indicating a tax burden of $2,907.00. The strain on everyday families continues and aggravates as in 2010, social security taxes now reach to $106,800.00 in wages and the government boasts that they are now able to accurately tax 99% of wages. What is the why behind this severe squeeze on the middle class?

In 1980, President Reagan introduced us to the idea of “trickle down” economics. If we revise our tax laws and regulations and tailor them to enrich and singularly benefit the.1% and classes within the next 15% of income earners, those benefited would invest in new businesses and create jobs to benefit the middle class.

As a result, marginal tax rates on the highest income earners were reduced from about 70% in 1980 to 28% by 1988. The outcome was not what Reagan expected.

First of all the highest income earners did not invest and create new businesses and jobs. What happened was that a substantial federal deficit was generated from the lost tax revenues. A portion of the gap was filled in two ways that continued the squeeze on the middle class.

1) By increasing the maximum income level that social security taxes cover, the income tax burden that had been hitting the.1% crowd now has been shifted to the middle class and lower classes. 2) You borrow from the social security trust fund to reduce the deficit that Reagan created with his trickle down ruse. Just to be clear, there is no evidence that trickle down economics has ever worked other than in the minds of right wing economists.

In 2010, borrowings from the social security trust fund are at about $2 trillion. One of the reasons our government likes these borrowings is that since it is taking from one government pocket to put in another, this debt does not have to be shown as a portion of the federal deficit. Many of you have heard of the social security crisis. This is how it got started.

In 1950, corporations shared 26.5% of the federal tax burden. This share declined progressively to 23.2% in 1960, 17.0% in 1970, 12.5% in 1980, 9.1% in 1990, and up slightly to 10.2% in 2000. In a like manner, the federal tax burden covered by payroll taxes grew from 6.9% in 1950 to 11.8% in 1960, 18.2% in 1970, 24.5% in 1980, 35.5% in 1990, and 31.1% in 2000. This is clear evidence of the effectiveness of the tyranny of the.1%.

Over the last thirty years or so, the income tax code has been tailored to focus on income from salary and wages, rather than income earned from rentals, dividends, business investment, interest, capital gains and foreign investment. With an Internal Revenue Code of 10,000 pages and regulations of many more pages, there is more than abundant opportunity to create sections that exempt from taxes income categories owned by the.1% crowd. There are limited pathways that allow escape for the middle class.

Entrepreneurs generally have a lot in common. We’re passionate about our work. We care deeply about delivering high quality products and services to the people who need us. We have a “never-say-die” spirit.

Another thing we have in common is a bad habit of focusing on what went wrong. We often lose sight of the great things that went RIGHT, especially when it comes to doing a year end review. When you focus on the negative, you can make growing your business much more difficult than it needs to be.

If you don’t appreciate what’s working, you can easily find yourself stuck in a never ending cycle of chasing the next “thing” (an opportunity, a marketing strategy or idea that you think will make you more successful). If you simply focus on what IS working and tweaking that – you’ll get better, faster results with less effort.

As you reflect on your business, I encourage you to STOP and appreciate just how far you’ve come in the previous 12 months. Looking back on your growth helps you make plans for the future AND can encourage you to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. This simple process can inspire you and motivate you to dive into your next set of goals.

Here are a few tips for objectively analyzing your business:

1. Review your 2011 goals - If you’re like most service professionals, you created a list of goals you wanted to accomplish. This could have been at the beginning of the year or any time during the last twelve months. Take a look at your list and check off any goals that you’ve completed. Put them on a new list titled “My 2011 Accomplishments.” With each goal jot down exactly which steps you took to get there and how you feel about the results you created.

2. Take note of any other major accomplishments you made during the year - Sometimes you end up making strides or accomplishing things that you didn’t plan for. Well done! Just because you didn’t plan for them doesn’t make them less important. Write down any of these achievements. By noting what you did to accomplish them, and how the opportunity came about, you can see how you can replicate the results.

3. Don’t beat yourself up or wallow in regret - Even the best laid plans sometimes get put aside or readjusted. Don’t use this exercise as an opportunity to chastise yourself over missed opportunities or plans that didn’t go through. Take note of the plans that didn’t work out, because you may want to work on them again in the coming year. But let your criticism end there. This part of the process is about reflecting on what went right! Forgive yourself for any mistakes in the past and take steps to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

4. Share your successes - If you’re in a mastermind group or part of a power partnership, these are perfect people to tell about your successes. Sharing how far you’ve come in the last year can help reinforce that you’ve completed a job well done. Encourage others in your group to do the same. If you don’t have a team of partners that you work with or a partner that you’re accountable to, now may be the perfect time to find one. In fact, this is something I can help you with. If you’d like to connect with a group of supportive, like-minded entrepreneurs who are actively growing their business, I have just the solution for you.

There’s a lot of talk these days about organizational culture, and more and more companies are beginning to describe their cultures as key differentiators. Is this just a passing fad, or is it really that important? Let me answer that for you from three perspectives – from leadership, from customers, and from workers. But first, we need to agree upon a definition so that we can be sure we’re all referring to the same thing.

What is It?

An organization’s culture can best be described as the “commonly-held set of values and principles that shows up in the everyday behavior of its people.” Notice that I’ve italicized the last part of the definition. The culture is not defined by the framed prints in the boardroom or the statements of values on the website. Rather, the culture is defined by how people actually behave on a day-to-day basis. And every organization does have a distinct culture – whether by design or by accident. You notice it immediately when you walk in the door or even when you deal with them on the phone. So why is this important?

The Leadership Perspective

The reason culture is so important from a leadership perspective is that, believe it or not, it’s the single most significant influencer of organizational performance. Let me show you why. Consider the company where you work and think about all the various job functions that exist there. You may have sales people, finance people, operations folks, clerical staff, shipping and receiving, a receptionist, etc. Now imagine that every single one of those people didn’t care about the quality of their work, they were disengaged, they didn’t like or trust their boss and the company, and they couldn’t wait to go home every day. Now take a moment to imagine the opposite. Imagine that every single one of those people loved what they were doing, were fully engaged, were totally committed to the company and its mission, felt acknowledged and appreciated, and demonstrated a passion for excellence. How do you think the bottom-line performance and results would compare between these two scenarios?

Of course it’s obvious that the second company would outperform the first one every time. And what do you think most accounts for the difference in how those people show up at work? It’s the organizational culture. The culture is what most determines the attitude and style with which people approach their work every day. The two examples I gave you were illustrations of vastly different cultures – and they produce vastly different results. Great organizations and their leaders understand this, and they take very specific steps to intentionally create and sustain the organizational cultures they want to have.

The Customer Perspective

It’s often said that people buy from people they like. Think about your favorite vendors. It’s likely they have great cultures. You probably enjoy working with them or purchasing from them. When we deal with companies that have great organizational cultures, we typically feel more comfortable, we’re more confident that they’re likely to do what they promise, we have more confidence in the quality of their products, and we simply like them more! Think about companies like Zappos, Southwest Airlines, Apple, or Nordstrom. We like doing business with them, and their corporate culture is a big part of it.

The Worker Perspective

We each bring to the workplace our own set of values, heavily influenced by our families, our upbringing, and our prior experiences. When we work in an environment that matches our values, we feel a sense of fit and belonging. It’s easier for us to get engaged, and consequently, to do our best work. Just as great organizations are purposeful about selecting employees who are good culture fits for their unique workplace, smart workers are just as purposeful about selecting employers whose corporate culture matches their own style and set of values. Clarity is a key to doing this successfully. The more clearly an organization has defined and institutionalized its culture, and the more clearly a worker or potential worker has thought about his/her own value system, the easier it is to find a mutually good fit. And the better the fit, the easier success becomes – on all fronts. Incidentally, if you’re a job candidate trying to assess the culture of a potential employer, here are just a few simple suggestions:

• Notice how the receptionist answers the phones
• Notice how strangers/visitors are greeted
• Notice how people relate to each other
• Notice how much/little people smile and seem to be having fun
• Notice the physical aspects of the work environment
• Notice how prominently values are/are not displayed in the workplace, on the website, in the corporate materials
• Notice to what degree the company talks about its culture
• Talk to current employees to get a sense of how they feel about the culture