My Best Job Candidate just Turned Down My Employment Offer – How can I Prevent that from Happening Again?

Do businesses actually have a credit score? The short answer is — yes. And, these measures of financial responsibility are calculated much in the same way individual credit worthiness is determined. Although it’s not something that’s widely discussed or known about in the consumer world, businesses do have credit histories, and therefore detailed reports which give them scores. Read on to learn the basics about business credit scores and what you need to know. How Business Credit Scores are Calculated As mentioned above, a business credit score is measured very similar to the way individual scores are calculated. Meaning, the length of credit history, types of credit used, payment history, debts owed, and other factors. Unsurprisingly, the better a business handles its financials, the better score it earns. Businesses of all sizes may need credit. A carpenter with no employees may want to borrow money to buy equipment. A marketing professional with a few employees may be ready to purchase furniture and computers for a new office. A salon owner with subcontractors but no employees may want to buy, rather than rent, commercial property. Any type of business could benefit from a business credit card. —US News and World Report Of course, there are some differences, one of the most minor being the scores themselves. While individual credit scores range from a low of 300 to a high of 850, business scores range from 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest. Additionally, business credit scoring services use different models in order to determine the creditworthiness of companies. Also, instead of there being three main credit reporting bureaus for individuals, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, there are two principal business credit scoring entities: Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. How to Improve a Business’ Credit Score Since business credit scores rely on many of the same elements as individual consumers, nearly the same factors are used to assign a credit worthiness score. So, in order to maintain or improve a business’s credit score, companies must do the following: Keep debts manageable. Opening too many accounts and taking on large amounts of debt will only increase your financial risk. This not only hurts your business’s credit worthiness, it also puts a lot of strain on you as the owner. This is why it’s best to keep your credit accounts to a minimum and pay off as much debt as possible. Utilize different types of credit. Credit mix is also a consideration, meaning businesses having different types of credit accounts. While it’s advantageous to have various types of credit, it is equally advantageous to keep these to a minimum so you’re able to pay what’s owed in a timely manner. For instance, you might finance or lease vehicles through your business, have a business credit card, and maintain vendor credit accounts. All of these will go into determining your business’s creditworthiness. Be vigilant with your personal credit. One misnomer that entrepreneurs have about business credit is that it’s somehow separate from their personal credit and/or financial responsibilities. However, this is completely false. Business credit accounts almost always require an individual or personal guarantee. This of course means that if the business defaults on a line of credit, you are personally responsible for that particular debt. Moreover, business credit is partially scored on your personal credit, so it’s best to maintain a good personal score for the benefit of your company’s creditworthiness. What other suggestions do you have about maintaining a business’ credit score? Please take a moment to share your thoughts and experiences so others can benefit from your perspective! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

You’ve just found out that your business partner has been hiding clients from you. Of course, this has a number of important implications including, but not limited to: revenue, reputation, day-to-day operation, and a variety of other issues. All of these, not to mention the breach of trust and value of the interpersonal relationship. It’s a very difficult set of circumstances to deal with, but obviously, you can’t just ignore it. You must take action, not only for your own sake but for the sake of your career and the business at large. Dealing with a Bad Business Partner Emotions Anger. Disbelief. Disappointment. Resentment. Shock. Sorrow. You could easily cite any one of these negative emotions because you’ll experience at least one or more of them. Before you do anything at all, it is essential that you understand your gut reaction and the long-term feelings you’ll probably encounter as time goes on. While you will get past this situation, you’ll probably never completely get over it. And, that’s okay. Not all partnerships or deals work out well. Some just can’t formalize because of extraneous factors affecting the agreement, while others can be impacted by poor communication skills or a lack of flexibility on goals or approaches. This means that it is essential for leaders to stay aware of the state of a pending deal or partnership, especially if there are quiet signs that things aren’t going as well as they’d like. —Small Business Trends You’ve no doubt experienced difficult circumstances in the past, and this is really no different. While it may be new, it most certainly won’t be the last time. The point being, do not allow pure, raw emotion to dictate your actions. If you give in to your negative feelings, you will make rash, poor decisions that will only make things worse. You need to approach this from a calm and rational perspective. So, give yourself a little time to vent and get those negative emotions out of the way. How to Deal with a Dishonest Business Partner Who is Hiding Secret Clients Once you feel calm and collected, you’ll need to methodically approach how you will deal with the situation. Here is a brief but effective guide for the steps you can take to deal with a business partner who has been hiding clients from you: Learn as much as possible about these clients. This probably won’t be easy or pleasant. If you are able, learn as much about these secret clients as possible. You might even go so far as to contact them yourself under the guise of following up with regular business. The whole idea is to try to get the best picture you can about these secret clients. Thoroughly examine all the business’ finances. The very next thing to do is look through your business’s financial documents. While these might not reveal anything at all — if your business partner was clever and deceitful enough — it could reveal an unseen pattern that you never detected before. At the very least, you might find some discrepancies, or this revelation will reveal past discrepancies you could not explain before. Formulate a couple or few separation scenarios. After you’ve done your detective work, it’s time to concentrate on how to best move forward. Since this is such a big betrayal of trust, it’s probably unrealistic to think that you can just patch things up and go on as if nothing has happened. So, you need to formulate at least a couple of ways that you can break up the relationship and do as little damage while causing as little disruption as possible. Talk to your business partner about ending your arrangement. This will most likely be the hardest part of resolving the situation. If you are able, don’t simply cut off communication and walk away. Instead, talk to your business partner in order to gain an understanding of his or her motivations. Although this certainly doesn’t excuse his or her behavior, it might help you in the future to detect when something’s awry when you otherwise wouldn’t. What other suggestions do you have for dealing with a dishonest business partner who is hiding something important? Please take a moment to share your thoughts and experiences so others can benefit from your unique perspective! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

Disney has a strategy to increase its bottom line and squeeze more revenue out of its most iconic assets – price people out of its theme parks. This definitely seems counterintuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense when explained. On its face, this sounds ridiculous, except it does seem to have a lot of potential and that’s why the executives are making some very bold moves. Why Disney is Purposely Pricing People Out of its Parks Disney has a serious problem with its parks – they are just too popular and that means they’re overcrowded. Anyone who’s been to its theme parks, particularly over the last several years, has most definitely noticed this. The predicament is most pervasive in Orlando, where ride wait times have gone up to as much as 420 minutes or 7 hours. You read that correctly. Just last week, its newest and most anticipated attraction, Rise of the Resistance, recorded a wait time of seven hours. This, despite the fact the experience opened in December 2019, nearly three years ago. Be mindful of competitors. If they are raising prices, it’s easier for you to do so too. Don’t forget to evaluate how your customers will react (fully accept the increase, stop, or lower purchases) as well as the possibility of maintaining price to generate higher volume (stealing customers from rivals). If the competition holds steady on prices, there is less opportunity for a hike. —Harvard Business Review And, it’s not just the latest and greatest rides and attractions either. Some of its oldest staples routinely experience wait times in excess of an hour, even two or more. What’s more, wait times for sit-down restaurants can easily be two or more hours for anyone without reservations. (By the way, those reservations must be made three to six months in advance.) Just these anecdotal figures should tell you something – the parks have way too many people visiting. In fact, exiting Main Street in the Magic Kingdom after the fireworks show can take up to two hours to get from the park exit to the parking lot on busy days (a twenty-minute trek when crowds are super light). Of course, anyone who looks at these figures would think that Disney would be very happy with its premium capacity. But, as executives have explained on various earning calls, their per capita spending in the parks is somewhat paltry – particularly among annual passholders. Annual passholders are a problem for Disney because they present a conundrum. While they pay a premium for their privileges, they spend relatively little money in the parks. Conversely, families and couples traveling from out of state or from international destinations spend quite a bit of money in the parks on top of the pricey admission. In other words, annual passholders come in through the gate, spend a few hours enjoying rides and attractions, and then leave. Meanwhile, couples and families making dedicated trips plunk down a lot of money on things like hotels, souvenirs, snacks and dining, and Genie Plus (a paid skip-the-line service), as well as special experiences. Should Your Small Business Raise its Prices Too? For the foreseeable future, Disney will continue to raise its prices on everything: admission, food, merchandise, and services and experiences. The company plans to earn more money from fewer visitors. This brings up an interesting question – should your small business follow the same strategy? If you haven’t raised prices in quite some time and/or offer discounted rates to be out pricier competition, it’s probably a good idea to consider. Plus, if your business needs substantially more customers than your competitors to turn the same profit, it’s definitely worth exploring. To answer these questions and more, speak with an experienced business consultant who can assess your situation and help you determine a new pricing strategy. You just may be losing out on revenue that could be going to your bottom line. Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.