Archive for June, 2017

When You Can’t Make Payroll

Only half of new small businesses survive beyond their fifth anniversary. According to research provided by the American Bankruptcy Institute, 43,546 small businesses filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008. When events like this occur, it is not only business owners who are left holding the metaphorical bag.

How to Pay Employees When You Can’t Make Payroll: Notify Your Employees

Most employers know in advance that they will be unable to make a given payroll. However, it’s usually embarrassment or pride that prevents entrepreneurs from being honest with themselves about the situation, and honest with employees in turn. “What I have found in my consulting business is that, more often than not, small business owners are embarrassed and worried about results, so they typically handle [the situation] emotionally,” says Donald Todrin, founder of the Northhampton, MA-based Second Wind Consultants. “This usually means that they don’t tell anybody until 10 minutes before they’re supposed to get their checks.” The best thing that an employer can do is to notify their employees of the potential problem as soon as they’re aware of it themselves.

How to Pay Employees When You Can’t Make Payroll: Find Methods of Financing

Once you are aware that you will be unable to make payroll from the profits of your business, swift, decisive, and possibly desperate action must be taken at once. Not paying your employees may not only result in lawsuits, but also serious federal and state tax liabilities. One of the best – and easiest – ways to find funding is to find a merchant cash advance broker, like FAM. With a merchant cash advance, you can pay your employees, and your bills, (and the tax man), all without huge interest fees and payment deadlines. This not only allows you to keep your business moving, but it keeps your mind on your business, and not on the funding needs.

How to Pay Employees When You Can’t Make Payroll: Avoid Staggering the Payroll

Though you may be tempted to pay employees a fraction of their paychecks in lieu of nothing at all, staggering payments is a tricky process and, in general, is unadvisable. There is a way to broach the process effectively. Todrin recommends asking the highest paid, top-level staff members of your company to electively forgo their paychecks for a few days so that lower level employees can receive on-time payments.

 

 

Most Common Workplace Accidents

When you go to work, you should be able to expect your employer to provide you with a safe working environment. Where dangers are present, these risks should be minimised, or safe practices should be in place to help reduce the risk of accidents and injuries from occurring.

Most businesses do take health and safety seriously, as they understand the potential consequences. Workplace health and safety failures can not only result in injuries to employees, clients and visitors, but they can also result in possible legal and financial penalties.

When a business fails to meet the duty of care they owe to their employees, they can be held liable for any subsequent accidents caused by their failings. An employee injured in this manner has the legal right to make a personal injury claim against their employer. If successful, they would be awarded compensation for their injuries, as well as any financial losses they have experienced, such as loss of wages for example.

With that in mind, being proactive in looking at possible workplace dangers is an essential process that all businesses and employers should undertake. By carrying out regular risk assessments, businesses can eliminate potential risks where possible, and take steps to minimise risks that cannot be avoided. This could be through the use of personal protective equipment, providing training or implementing good housekeeping to keep a tidy working environment.

Common workplace accidents

As you would expect, there are a huge variety of different accidents that can occur at work. Some workplaces and industries will be inherently more dangerous than others. Factories, building sites and warehouses would in most cases pose more risks of injury than an office or shop would for example.

But it is important to remember that all businesses will have the potential for worker accidents, particularly if the correct health and safety procedures are not observed.

Here we will look at some of the most common causes of accidents at work.

Slips and trips

Slips and trips at work are one of the most common types of accidents that result in personal injury. These accidents can happen in any workplace and can be caused by trailing cables, spillages, blocked walkways, damaged floor coverings, wet floors from cleaning and many other causes.

The injuries sustained from slips and trips can range from sprains, cuts and bruises through to broken bones and serious head injuries. Whiplash is also a common injury that is sustained in these type of falls, as the sudden and unexpected movement causes the neck to whip backwards and forwards.

Falls from height

Many job roles will involve some form of working from height. This could include working on scaffolding on a building site or using a ladder to reach items in a warehouse. Whenever a worker is required to carry out work at height, strict health and safety procedures must be observed.

Falls from height can cause significant injuries that can be life-changing. In the most serious cases, these falls can be fatal, which can obviously have a devastating impact on the workers family and friends. It also puts the business in question at risk of legal ramifications from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in addition to being liable for personal injury compensation.

Lifting injuries

Injuries caused by lifting and manual handling tasks are commonplace. Often these are minor strains and twinges that recover completely within a few days. But sometimes the injuries caused by heavy lifting and carrying items can result in significant long-term pain.

Injuries to the back, neck, shoulders and arms are the most common types caused by manual handling. These are injuries that in most cases can be avoided by adopting the correct protocol for lifting items safely. This is why employers are required to provide employees who are engaged in such activities with sufficient training.

Repetitive strain injuries

Although not technically an accident, injuries caused by repetitive tasks and movements can be a significant problem for many businesses. There are many different types of repetitive strain injuries, but the most common ones are carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, vibration white finger and bursitis.

To help prevent workers from suffering from RSI, businesses should conduct risk assessments of workstations and the tasks being performed. Where the risk of repetitive injuries is highlighted, steps should be taken to minimise the chance of injury. This could include alternating repetitive tasks, providing regular breaks from work and making use of personal protective equipment. Additionally, a few health and safety training sessions should raise the awareness of the issue among the employees.

Health and safety should be a careful consideration for all employers. Providing a safe environment for employees to go about their work will not only help to prevent accidents from occurring, but it will also help to ensure businesses meet their legal obligations. Failing to do this may result in the risk of having to pay personal injury compensation for accidents caused by employer negligence, which can be financially crippling for many businesses.

What No One Told You About Business

Business is such a broad term, but everyone gets the gist of it. There are generalizations about business that are familiar to most people. It takes dedication and hard work to advance. You’ll be faced with ups and downs that’ll either make or break you. No matter what you do or how hard you try, there are no guarantees.

There are also those aspects of business that are untold, or not as well-known to the public. It takes guts to make it in the business world and guts to stay in it when the water gets rough. It’s a career that isn’t for everyone, but loved by many. See what no one told you about business.

Customers will get Angry

Although you’ll try, you can’t please everyone. Not all customers are going to like you or want to do business with you. The ones that do, you’re going to have to work hard to keep happy. Your customers, even the most satisfied ones, will get angry with you. You’ll have to promise them that you’re worth doing business with and get them to come back and try again. There’s no telling what your customers will do.

Systems will Fail

You can’t control everything. Your computer systems and technology will fail at the worst possible times. The good news is that there are professionals out there who have the knowledge of a MySQL data recovery system and can recover your files for you. You won’t know the background jargon and all you’ll be able to tell them is that your files are missing or a program crashed. Accept that this happens and let them do the heavy lifting.

You’ll Always be Learning

Expect to continuously be learning. You’ll bring in new information each day. You should also be the one seeking out educational and training opportunities. It’s important to stay ahead of the curve and educate yourself on business trends that’ll soon be hitting your industry. Learn from your employees too. Exchange ideas and hold brainstorming sessions to learn from each other.

Employees will Quit

Employees are going to find new opportunities and leave you. They’re going to quit when you least expect it or you need them the most. This is a part of business, and a reality, you need to accept. Take time in your recruiting efforts and only bring on people who seem truly passionate about the position and will bring energy and enthusiasm to the table.

Expect some Successes

It’s not always going to come, but expect success to happen. Be careful because it can disappear just as quickly as it showed up. Celebrate small success and milestones as a company. Tell employees when they’re doing a good job. Let yourselves feel happy when you win new business or make customers pleased. Expect to be successful and it’ll come to you.

Conclusion

Business is a tricky profession that brings a mix of stability and surprises. It’s a dynamic industry that’s unpredictable and keeps you on your toes. This is what no one told you about business.

Factors currently influencing the cost of motor insurance in the UK

Location, no claims bonus, and type of vehicle, these factors typically influence car insurance prices. However new factors are now integral to insurer’s calculations. These changes will affect businesses and individuals across the UK.

Whether purchasing truck fleet insurance or single vehicle insurance, legislation and economics are impacting premiums right now.

Last year, gender equality laws had a bearing on the cost of insuring vehicles. This demonstrated how a law change could eat into the disposable income of individuals. This impact was also felt in the profit margins of businesses across the UK. More recently consumers have seen how an increase in insurance premium tax has added to their monthly outgoings.

In 2017 we are anticipating further changes to prices. Here are some predictions of the circumstances that may have significant weight on the calculations of insurers for both motor trade insurance and personal cover.

Brexit

The geopolitical climate is increasingly playing a role in the costs of car insurance. Insurers are striving for business as usual, but the possibility of exit from the single market presents new challenges.

The end of passporting is the most significant change underwriters will need to respond to. This has led to concerns being raised by BIBA (The British Insurance Brokers Association). They have highlighted the risk of fewer motor insurance policies available in the UK after Brexit. With less competition the laws of supply and demand could lead to predictions of higher premiums.

Value of the pound

The value of the pound is presently, regularly described as volatile. Various factors including Brexit are resulting in changeable exchange rates. A drop in the value of the pound can increase of imports from abroad.

Even for cars assembled in the UK it is reported as much 59% of car parts are imported. As such is imaginable that a repair of a vehicle will involve an import of at least one part. With the costs of imports increasing, the cost of repairs will reflect this. Unfortunately more expensive repairs correspond with higher payouts from insurers. It is inevitable any increase in costs will be added to premiums.

Ogden Case

In March 2017 there was a change in the way life changing injuries are compensated. Pay outs are calculated based on a government published document titled “Ogden Tables”. Low interest rates for investments, had to be redressed, and resulted in government changing the discount rate.

To summarise, insurers are likely to have to make larger pay-outs in such cases. The cost of this will be passed onto their customers. Both whether individuals and businesses with motor trade insurance policies will feel the impact. Due to this both insurance for individuals and insurance for motor traders are likely to increase at renewal date. It has been predicted that this is most likely to impact the cost of commercial fleet insurances.

Insurance Premium Tax

There was an increase in insurance premium in May 2017. This increased the cost of this tax to 12% and affects all policies including commercial vehicle insurance. So if your personal or business motor insurance will be renewed later this year, this will be a contributing factor to the increasing cost.

With predictions of increasing premiums it is easy to have a gloomy outlook. However it is not all bad news, the UK insurance is more competitive than ever before.

This is driven primarily by consumers focus on getting the lowest cost premiums possible. Purchasing departments for motor trade businesses are savvy when researching how to find the cheapest truck fleet insurance. With increasingly competitive markets meaning they also need to keep a close eye on the bottom line. This also contributes in insurers only succeeding by offering the best value insurance policies.

Meanwhile insurance brokers, and their associations, continue to work to get the best deals for consumers. With so many focused on getting lower cost insurances hopefully there will not be too many hikes when renewal date comes around.  Insurance brokers hope this will ensure a straightforward renewal for individuals and motor trader insurance, with minimal price increases.

 

Protecting Your Equine Investment against Unexpected Losses

Horses cost thousands of dollars, making them one of the biggest livestock investments that farmers and ranchers make. These animals can be used for a variety of farming purposes. They can also be shown or ridden for prize money in rodeos, fairs, and other exhibitions.

When you rely on the income you gain from your horse, you may want to protect that money against unexpected losses. You can protect that source of money even if your horse is lost, stolen, injured, or killed by purchasing farm, ranch, or horse insurance today.

Assuming Disasters that Could Affect Your Horse

You might make every effort to keep your farm or ranch as safe as possible. You grade the gravel roads to keep them level and smooth. You also repair the bridges going over culverts and creeks on your property. Every inch of your property should be safe enough for your horse to travel over without succumbing to an accident.

Still, you cannot predict if or when a disaster may strike your horse. The animal could be struck by lightning while out in the pasture. It could also be bitten by a rattlesnake and die unexpectedly. You never know when you might walk into the barn or out in the field to find your horse gone.

Buying a Policy

Because you cannot control the unexpected, you need some type of protection in place for when disaster does strike your horse. When you go online, you can get a quote for what a new policy would cost you. The horse and its value can be appraised quickly so you can make the best decision for you and your farm or ranch.

If you agree with the value and price of the policy, you can start it today. The website is available 24 hours a day for your convenience. You can also tailor the policy so that it covers therapeutic or rehabilitative services that your horse might need to overcome an injury or illness.

A horse is a major investment that can bring in revenue to your farm or ranch. Whether you hire it out for stud or use it to plow fields, you need the horse to stay strong and healthy. Rather than bank on its health, you can protect your income and guard against the unexpected by purchasing an insurance policy designed to fit your needs today.

4 Tips for Choosing the Right Insurance Company

Insurance is a necessary component for many different personal and professional ventures. But what if you aren’t sure what you need? What if you don’t know how to navigate all of the deals, promises and guarantees made by insurance companies desperately trying to attract your business? If you’re in the market for insurance, here are just a few things to consider as you try to find the company that’s right for you.

1. Know the Different Types

There are many types of insurance that are designed to suit a wide variety of needs. You’ve probably heard of things like home and auto insurance, but what about income protection? Have you ever considered an endowment plan? If you’re starting a business, do you know about business interruption insurance and professional liability insurance?

2. Find the Insurance In Everything

You don’t have to go through an actual insurance company to receive the benefits of an insurance policy. For example, there are private lending institutions that offer things like insurance guarantees, so you can protect your assets with that kind of policy as well. Don’t be limited by the scale of traditional insurance. Think outside of the box when necessary.

3. Consider the Fees

Insurance can run the gamut from affordable to expensive, so it pays to check out costs, rates and average premiums before you sign on the dotted line. How soon will your “introductory offer” wear off? Can you lower your monthly bill by raising your deductible? If you can’t afford the prices that you’re seeing, are there any financial agents that you can talk to about other options?

4. Look for Deals and Discounts

Maybe you’re a veteran. Maybe you’re a senior citizen. There are all kinds of programs out there to help everyday people cover the costs of insurance, so don’t be afraid to ask about them. You never know when you might qualify for advanced benefits or lower monthly premiums if you fit into a special category of individuals. The same goes for businesses; if you have over or under a certain number of employees, you might qualify for a different tier.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when choosing an insurance company. Whether you’re protecting your personal belongings or looking to secure a high-end business loan for your Fortune 500 company, let these guidelines serve you in your search.

Expanding Your Small Business

Every small business owner dreams of the first time their business grows beyond its initial scope, and all of the exciting challenges which that brings. As exciting as it can be though, there are also plenty of issues that can bring more frustration than excitement. In order to help manage your expectations, and give you a clear plan moving forward, this guide will look at just a few of the ways in which you can responsibly expand your small business, and plan for some of the challenges that you’ll be facing.

Educate Your Team

One of the most straightforward issues that can come about from expanding a business too quickly is a lack of communication and experience. If you’re working with a particularly small team, or your business is still just mainly yourself, then you might be wondering what a larger workforce entails. Luckily, there are plenty of companies out there that specialize in helping employees learn the new tools of their trade, as well as how to best implement them. In fact, companies like Insight Human Dynamics specialize in online sales training courses for inexperienced sales teams. By investing in these types of services, you can ensure that your team is fully prepared for whatever you throw at them, without wasting money on any missed opportunities.

Don’t Expand Too Quickly

Although it can be hard to define exactly what too quickly means for each individual business, the general idea is to avoid making big purchases that require a long-term commitment until you absolutely need them. For instance, most small businesses don’t need an actual office or physical location for all of their employees to initially meet at. Instead, thanks to the Internet, you can just have your employees report in over online applications like Skype. By promoting a work-from-home atmosphere, you can ensure that you save money on unnecessary expenses and perhaps even improve productivity by keeping the morale of your team high. People appreciate being given responsibilities, and working from home is certainly one of them.

While these tips won’t tell you the exact moment for your business to leave its humble beginnings and grow into a new spot, they should at least give you an idea of the kind of challenges you’ll experience once you finally make the transition. As always, managing your business is ultimately going to rest on your shoulders, and it will be up to you exactly how you want to go about doing it.

I am discussing all kinds of business and finance topics on this blog and I hope that the information I provide will prove to be useful.