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Believe Solutions

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Believe Solutions team

Walking the talk

Almost everyone has experienced the frustration of being overcharged for products or services. Unlike most everyone, however, Joseph Rogers decided to take a stand. Here’s the story: After his home’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system went on the fritz, Rogers called a technician to get things fixed. As it turned out, the system was fine—the technician just needed to flip a switch to get it running again. The issue? He charged Rogers a few hundred bucks for the privilege.

As a man driven by ethical behavior, Rogers determined to save others from a similar experience. So he started up Believe Solutions LLC, a general contracting company in New Jersey that provides residential and commercial customers with construction, remodeling and—of course—HVAC installation and repair services.

Leveraging his business experience, Rogers was able to quickly attract a solid base of loyal customers. Oddly enough, however, this very success started hampering his ability to grow. Fairly early on, Believe Solutions encountered two key challenges.

First, as a young company, it could not attract the funding it needed to scale. Although it qualified for $75,000 of bank financing, it was spending that much in material costs alone every two weeks, leaving no surplus to expand. Second, as the volume of its commercial business increased, the company simply couldn’t float its material and labor costs.

“Aside from the labor we needed to complete our commercial jobs, our vendors expected payment on delivery. On the flip side, we had to wait at least 30 days, and sometimes longer, before collecting our commercial receivables. Although I began by personally covering the difference, that stopped being feasible pretty quickly.”

~ Joseph Rogers, CEO, Believe Solutions LLC

Recognizing it needed a solution more flexible than bank financing, Believe Solutions turned to factoring.

Finding the right fit

During his previous work experience, Rogers had seen other companies using factoring, so he understood its benefits and opportunities. Despite this, the company still struggled to find the right fit.

Initially, Believe Solutions decided to work with a factoring company in another state, but when Rogers received that company’s terms, he became concerned. “The company we were negotiating with required minimum factoring amounts and wanted to lock us into a contract,” Rogers recalls. “That left me feeling like they had no confidence in us. It was like they wanted to protect their ability to make money, but didn’t really care if we would succeed as well.”

In search of other partnerships, a colleague introduced Rogers to Liquid Capital—and he noticed the contrast in working styles immediately. Aside from the flexibility of Liquid Capital’s terms, the company was impressed by Liquid Capital’s commitment to help Believe Solutions improve its internal processes so it could accelerate the collection of its receivables and avoid entering contracts with customers who might not be able to pay.

“With Liquid Capital, I feel like we’re in business together, like they have a genuine interest in helping us adopt the protections and measures we need to grow. Even though we love making money, we don’t love risk, so having a partner committed to protecting us is really helpful.”

~ Joseph Rogers, CEO, Believe Solutions LLC

From frail to scale

By the time Believe Solutions began working with Liquid Capital, it was already experiencing a cash flow crunch. Every spare dollar it had was going to pay for materials and labor, it was depleting cash from another division just to keep operating and its collections were lagging—with one customer alone owing the company $40,000. Rogers recalls that, had three more commercial HVAC units failed, Believe Solutions couldn’t have afforded to buy replacements, let alone make payroll.

That all changed once the company began factoring its invoices. After obtaining funding for over $150,000 in receivables, Believe Solutions began to grow aggressively. Within 90 days alone, it had scaled up by 60%—growing revenues to more than $1.5 million and obtaining funding for over $250,000 in the process. At the same time, the company has been innovating to ensure it can maintain its pace of growth during off-peak months after the busy summer season ends.

“Without Liquid Capital, we would not be in business today,” Rogers admits. “Our ability to access the cash we need, as often as we need it, has given us a solid platform for expansion.”

“If I had a magic ball, I probably would have begun factoring with Liquid Capital before ever going to the bank. Although we obtained a bank line of credit, it’s not nearly as efficient as getting Liquid Capital involved.”

~ Joseph Rogers, CEO, Believe Solutions LLC

Faith in the future

Looking forward, Believe Solutions plans to continue working with Liquid Capital as it sets its sights on reaching its next $1.5 million to $2 million in revenue. “I’ve dealt with at least 10 other factoring companies in my career in other industries, and Liquid Capital is truly the anomaly,” Rogers says. Our Liquid Capital Principal has streamlined our accounting systems just to bring them up to his standards. He’s been instrumental in strengthening our customers’ processes as well by helping us implement a new tracking system that prevents us from missing entries. We’re truly looking forward to standing our future together as we grow.”

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Streamline your HR to put your people first

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Every business is a people business. Here are common HR mistakes that can cost you time and money, but that you can fix quickly.

Streamline your HR to put your people first

It’s impossible to do business without people.

Even if you don’t have an autonomous HR department, organizing, managing, hiring and monitoring those people are essential parts of any company’s process. That means, of course, that the more people you employ, the more work you’ll have to sink into those functions.

Something many businesses struggle with, however, is balancing effective HR practices with their bottom line. With so much involved, it’s easy to let HR become a major time sink, but it can be avoided with some careful planning.

Here’s how you can begin to streamline your HR function and make sure your efforts are working for you and not against you.

Step One: Digitize 

It might go without saying, but these days there’s no excuse for not having a digital records system. It’s not just important to store HR records digitally — such as pay details, employee histories and contracts. It’s also important to be able to see them at-a-glance.

Step Two: Develop a filing system

Make sure all of your records are stored in the same way. You can waste hours over the course of a year if all of your folders are organized differently, and if you’re tracking employee information in different ways.

Step Three: Keep track

HR admin and tracking

No matter who is in charge of the HR function, that person has to be constantly aware of information including benefits, vacation time and pay schedules. Most importantly, though, that person has to communicate with the accounting department to ensure that everything meshes.

If you need to pay your employees (or contractors) on a certain day, you’ll need to know that you have the funds available to do it. That also includes managing your cash flow cycle, which you can learn more about in this handy resource.

Step Four: Get Help

There are numerous new software solutions on the market today for businesses looking for a top-of-the-line HR management portal. Look for one that suits your size of business and your income, and you’ll be able to supervise all of your HR tasks in one easy platform.

 

Up Next: Making sure you safely store your business contracts

Streamline your HR to put your people first

Optimice sus recursos humanos para poner a su gente al frente

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Toda empresa es una empresa de personas. A continuación, le presentamos los errores frecuentes de recursos humanos que pueden costarle tiempo y dinero, pero que pueden repararse rápidamente.

Streamline your HR to put your people first

Es imposible hacer negocios sin personas.

Aun si no se tiene un departamento autónomo que organice, maneje, contrate y vigile los recursos humanos, estas personas son una parte esencial de cualquier proceso de una empresa. Eso significa, por su puesto, que mientras más personas usted emplee, más trabajo tendrá que dejar reposar en esas funciones.

No obstante, algo con lo que muchas empresas luchan es el balance efectivo entre las prácticas de recursos humanos y los beneficios. Con tantos elementos en juego, es fácil dejar que los recursos humanos se conviertan en un gasto de tiempo, pero esto puede evitarse gracias a una cuidadosa planificación.

Aquí le presentamos cómo puede empezar a optimizar su función de recursos humanos y asegurarse de que sus esfuerzos trabajen por usted y no contra usted.

Primer paso: Digitalizar

Puede sonar obvio, pero hoy por hoy no hay excusa para no tener un sistema de archivos digitales. No es solamente importante almacenar en archivos digitales la información de recursos humanos, como los detalles de pago, el historial del empleado y los contratos, sino que también es importante poder consultarlos con un solo un vistazo.

Segundo paso: Crear un sistema de archivado

Asegúrese de que sus archivos son almacenados de la misma forma. Si todas las carpetas están organizadas de forma diferente y si se lleva la información de los empleados de diferentes maneras, se pueden desperdiciar horas en el transcurso de un año.

Tercer paso: Haga un seguimiento

HR admin and tracking

No importa quien esté a cargo de los recursos humanos, esa persona debe estar pendiente constantemente de información como los beneficios, el tiempo de vacaciones y los calendarios de pago. Sin embargo, es aún más importante que dicha persona esté en comunicación con el departamento de contabilidad para asegurarse de que todo se harmonice.

Si usted necesita pagarles a sus empleados (o contratistas) determinado día, debe saber si tiene los fondos disponibles para hacerlo. Esto incluye manejar su ciclo de flujo de caja, acerca del cual puede aprender más consultando este práctico documento.

Cuarto paso: Consiga ayuda

Hoy en día, existen nuevas y numerosas soluciones de software en el mercado para las empresas que buscan un portal de gestión de recursos humanos de primera fila. Busque una que se adapte a la talla e ingresos de su empresa, y así podrá supervisar todas las tareas de sus recursos humanos en una plataforma sencilla.

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5 ways technology can help your small business grow

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Many people assume that only big, international companies can gain something from new technologies. But in reality, even a small business can find the right solution to grow and expand into new markets. It could even be easier than you might think.

After all, most of us use the internet all the time in our daily lives, and a little extra online promotion in the right areas can go a long way to increasing your revenue. With a good marketing strategy, you might even be surprised how much you can achieve.

1. Tell your clients who you are

In your daily life, when you’re looking for a great place to visit on your next vacation or for a reliable mechanic to fix your car, your first step is most likely trying to find them online. It’s no different in business and for your clients, so it’s important to use online tools to attract new customers. The first step is creating a professional website for your business. Make sure to include all your contact information, but also a detailed description of your products and services. Another good idea is to start a blog where you’ll be able to share interesting news about your industry and new solutions that you offer.

2. Use social media to get your message across

Think about how many people use social media and how many of them could be new clients. There’s a lot of potential on different social networks, but first you’ll first need to connect with people and gain a following. To do that, start by posting relevant and interesting content to engage with your audience in a natural way. Find ways to stand out by offering a unique perspective on topics that showcase your expertise, and offer solutions to problems that your customers may face.

You don’t necessarily have to create accounts on all available platforms, as it can be difficult to manage all of that content and potential responses. At the end of the day, it may be more beneficial to have just one profile but with regular updates.

3. Find the best solutions for your company

There are many apps and programs you can use to improve the way your business operates. From calendars to invoicing systems, you’ll find a solution to every problem you may encounter. And even if you won’t be able to find something that will meet your specific requirements, you can look for bespoke options. But remember that even a software company located internationally can have better solutions for your business than a similar one in your area. To find the best one for your company, you should focus more on their portfolio than on their location.

4. Improve communication

With new technology, you’ll be able to communicate without any trouble. And you could even save on your communication bills at the same time, as contacting your international clients won’t be a problem. Plus, by enabling your employees to talk to one another online, you’ll see their productivity rising. That’s because they’ll be able to access all the necessary information in the fastest possible way, without having to walk across the office to find an answer. In modern business, everything is about being efficient, and using the internet can help you achieve this goal.

5. Keep your data secure

You need to make sure your business network and your website are secured with strong passwords. It’s also a good idea to keep backup storage for all your data. The most convenient way is probably storing your files in the cloud, which will also allow you to access all the necessary information easily no matter where you are. Plus, giving access to specific documents to people who need them will be a matter of seconds.

 

Technology is constantly changing our lives, and it’s affecting how we run our companies as well. There’s no reason to ignore the opportunities offered by the internet. You have a lot to gain, so look for solutions that will work best for you and be ready to take your business to the next level.

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Cinco maneras en las que la tecnología puede ayudar a su pequeña empresa a crecer

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Working on tablet

Muchas personas asumen que solamente las grandes empresas internacionales pueden beneficiarse de las nuevas tecnologías. Pero en realidad, incluso una pequeña empresa puede encontrar la solución adecuada para crecer y expandirse a nuevos mercados. Y esto puede incluso ser más fácil de lo que usted piensa.

Después de todo, la mayoría de nosotros utiliza el Internet todo el tiempo en nuestra vida cotidiana, y un poco de promoción en línea extra en áreas claves pueden hacer muchísimo por sus ingresos. Quedará sorprendido con todo lo que puede lograr gracias una buena estrategia de mercadeo.

1. Cuénteles a sus clientes quién es usted

En su día a día, cuando usted busca un lugar genial para pasar sus próximas vacaciones o un mecánico de confianza para que repare su auto, la primera etapa es muy probablemente tratar de encontrarlos en línea. Como en los negocios y con sus clientes no es nada diferente, es importante utilizar las herramientas en línea para atraer nuevos clientes. El primer paso consiste en crea una página Web profesional para su empresa. Asegúrese de incluir todos sus datos de contacto, pero también una descripción detallada de sus productos y servicios. Otra buena idea es crear un blog en el que usted pueda compartir noticias interesantes sobre su industria y las nuevas soluciones que usted ofrece.

2. Utilice las redes sociales para transmitir su mensaje

Piense en la cantidad de personas que utilizan las redes sociales y en cuántas de ellas podrían convertirse en nuevos clientes. Las diferentes redes sociales tienen un gran potencial, pero usted primero debe conectarse con las personas y ser seguido. Para ello, empiece por publicar contenido pertinente e interesante que atraiga a su audiencia de forma natural. Encuentre maneras de destacarse ofreciendo una perspectiva única sobre temas que le den visibilidad a su experiencia, y ofrezca soluciones a problemas que sus clientes puedan tener.

Usted no tiene que crear necesariamente cuentas en todas las plataformas existentes, ya que puede resultar difícil manejar todo ese contenido y las posibles respuestas. A fin de cuentas, puede que sea más provechoso tener un solo perfil, pero actualizaciones frecuentes.

3. Encuentre las mejores soluciones para su empresa

Existen muchas aplicaciones y programas que usted puede utilizar para mejorar la manera en que su empresa opera. Desde calendarios hasta sistemas de facturación, usted encontrará la solución a cada problema que pueda presentarse. E incluso si no logra encontrar algo que cumpla con sus criterios específicos, es posible buscar opciones a su medida. Pero recuerde que una compañía de software situada en territorio internacional puede tener mejores soluciones para su negocio que una empresa similar de su región. Para encontrar la compañía que más le conviene a su empresa, usted debe enfocarse más en el portafolio que en la ubicación de dicha compañía.

4. Mejore la comunicación

Con la nueva tecnología, usted podrá comunicarse sin ningún problema, e incluso podrá ahorrar en sus facturas de comunicación al mismo tiempo, ya que contactar a sus clientes internacionales no será un problema. Además, al permitir que sus empleados conversen entre ellos en línea, usted verá aumentar su productividad. Esto es debido a que ellos tendrán acceso a toda la información necesaria lo más rápido posible sin tener que atravesar la oficina para encontrar la respuesta. En las empresas modernas, todo se resume a ser eficiente, y el uso de Internet puede ayudar a lograr ese objetivo.

5. Proteja sus datos

Usted debe asegurarse de que su red empresarial y su página Web están protegidas con contraseñas seguras. También es una buena idea tener un medio de almacenamiento de respaldo para todos sus datos. El método más práctico es probablemente conservar sus archivos en la nube, lo cual le permite también acceder fácilmente a toda la información necesaria sin importar en donde se encuentre. Además, autorizar el acceso a ciertos documentos a personas que los necesitan será posible en segundos.

 

La tecnología está constantemente modificando nuestras vidas y también está afectando la manera en la que manejamos nuestras empresas. De modo que no hay ninguna razón por la que se deban ignorar las oportunidades que ofrece Internet. Usted tiene mucho que ganar, así que busque las soluciones que mejor le convengan y esté listo para llevar su empresa a un nivel superior.

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Spend money wisely & cut costs with these 5 business tips

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Get this small business budgeting advice to make sure you don’t break your budget as you plan for future growth. Spend money wisely, cut costs and tap into more business success.

Spend money wisely

One of the greatest challenges of running a business is managing money. If you aren’t smart about your spending, it will be impossible for your small business to grow. Follow these budgeting tips to save your business from future financial trouble.

1. Set a realistic budget

A realistic, detailed budget will help you stay on track of your business spending. When creating your plan, don’t inflate your projected sales, as that could cause an array of avoidable financial problems for your business. It’s also important to be tally any and all business expenses, while also trying to forecast or leave room for unexpected costs that may arise.

Remember, your business will continue to evolve over time and both expenses and revenues will fluctuate. Because of these ups and downs, your budget will need constant updating and re-evaluating. Make it a priority to monitor your plan regularly, keep a very close eye on what you are spending, and adjust your budget where necessary.

2. Enlist a professional

Every business owner knows how stressful it is to run a business, and if you get certain things wrong, you run the risk of losing money and wasting valuable time. No matter how big or small your business is, you can’t possibly do the job all on your own.

For example, there may be areas that you are unfamiliar with, such as tax management, where you’ll need extra help. In particular, taxes can be complicated and require a lot of attention to detail — making it easy to misunderstand, especially as a new business owner.

To save you time and stress, enlist a professional to help you with your business finances. This will give you more time to focus on other important tasks. An expert will help you avoid crucial mistakes, and give you peace of mind that everything will go smoothly.

3. Cut out the unnecessary items

earnings and expenses

There are many creative ways to minimize your business costs, and if you’re a small business owner, you don’t need a lot of full-time staff. Outsourcing to contractors is a great way to reduce costs and save office space.

You can also save a ton of money by introducing sustainable business practices. Energy-efficient businesses have lower electricity bills, leaving more money for things that matter. If you want to find out where you’re using the most electricity in your office, conduct an energy audit. This will allow you to introduce “green” alternatives and make big savings on your energy bill.

4. Save for emergencies

Put any extra money you save into an emergency fund. Use this emergency fund to pay for unanticipated business expenses in the future. Having an extra set of funds for emergencies will save you a tonne of money and stress.

5. Get insurance

There are different types of insurance you can get, and having the right insurance will help you manage all the financial risks of your business. Without a good plan, you’ll be forced to pay for various businesses losses yourself.

When researching insurance plans, consider which areas of your business need the most protection. This may depend on what industry you’re in, your business size and the type of work you do. Consult with an insurance broker to find a plan that’s right for your business.

Managing money in any business venture requires a lot of discipline and meticulous planning. A good budget, some professional assistance and a great financial support system will be key to your success.

Cloe Matheson is a creative writer based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Check out her written work on her personal blog.

Up Next: 12 Hidden Costs Of Running Your Small Business 

Diagram of recent business funding Aug 2019

Recent Fundings – September 2019

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Financiamientos Recientes – Septiembre 2019

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