Business

Here’s How Much Money You Can Make By Getting Involved in the Hemp Industry

Martin J. Stallone

Hemp is one of the most profitable plants in the world. With many states legalizing the use of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes, more entrepreneurs are looking to get involved in the industry. Just as there are many benefits to using hemp, there are also several ways to monetize this plant.

Making Money With Hemp

Founders that can find their way into the hemp industry stand to make a significant amount of money. Read on to learn just how much money you can make from this wonder plant.

About the Hemp Plant

If you’re hoping to make money off of hemp, growing the plant may be your first thought. Knowing how much money you’ll make in the hemp industry starts with understanding the various type of hemp crops. The three primary hemp crops include fiber, seed, and oil.

As hemp crops must have a THC of 0.3% or below, you must monitor this level as you grow the plant. If you plan to get involved in the agricultural side of this industry, it’s essential that you intentionally choose the type of crop you’ll focus on as each part of the plant returns a different value per acre in addition to the varying costs of production. By outsourcing processes like hemp drying, you’ll be able to maximize your return on investment and increase your overall profit.

What is the Price Point of Grain?

Interested in growing grain? Farmers that have the equipment and land to grow grain-producing crops may find the business to be more profitable. Typically, the going price for grain ranges between $0.60 – $0.65 a pound. While this may seem like a small amount, an acre of well-maintained hemp averages about 1,000 pounds. With this in mind, hemp farmers tend to make $300 per acre of grain.

What is the Price Point of Fiber?

Hemp farmers that are growing fiber may make a bit more than selling grain. Moreover, this crop is easy to fit into one’s crop cycles, helping farmers lower the cost of production. The market for hemp fiber averages $260 a ton, with a yield of 4 tons of fiber per acre. After factoring in related expenses, farmers can expect to make $480 per acre.

What is the Price Point of CBD Oil?

When it comes to the profitability of growing hemp, the numbers decline a bit with CBD oil. If you’re set on cultivating and selling CBD oil yourself, it’s important to focus on an effective cultivation method. Agronomic and horticultural are the two cultivation methods used when harvesting CBD oil. While agronomic is more affordable, this process has lower yields per acre.

With a high yielding crop, you can expect as much as $35 per pound with 2,500 plants for every acre, resulting in an estimated $60,000/acre.

How Can I Monetize Hemp-Related Products?

If you’re not interested in farming hemp or hemp drying, there are certainly other ways to make money in this industry. One of the most popular ways to monetize hemp is to sell cannabis-related products. While you can open up a physical dispensary in your area, one of the most affordable ways to start a hemp company is to do so online.

With a connection to a supplier, you can easily start your own brand. The most popular CBD products include sublingual tincture, edibles, vape concentrate, topicals, and capsules. With many products like CBD oil selling for $60 a bottle and hemp-infused lotion at $85, entrepreneurs with hemp brands can turn a huge profit. With an established and consistent customer base and a 50% markup or more, you can easily make several thousand dollars every month.

Thanks to the rise in e-commerce, many hemp rands operate solely online. Using social media and email marketing to advertise your products, you’ll be able to quickly grow a list of dedicated customers.

What Are Other Ways to Make Hemp Profitable?

Even if you’re not physically growing hemp or selling products yourself, you can still make money in the hemp industry. As hemp continues to grow in popularity, many more brands are looking to expand their companies and add new staff. As positions for graphic designers, copywriters, and social media managers become more important in connecting hemp brands with clients, this is another way to make a living with hemp. These positions typically range from entry-level pay to a fixed rate per project depending on your level of experience.

Hemp has the power to turn your small brand into a booming business. Keep this information in mind as you brainstorm the best ways to make this plant profitable.

A Business’s Guide to Deducting Charitable Donation

Martin J. Stallone

According to the IRS, Charitable donations are gifts made to bona fide nonprofit organizations. Giving charitable contributions to qualified organizations can feel great, and even better if you can deduct from your taxes. Here is a guide to keeping in mind when deciding to donate to charity.

Sam Haskell

Qualified Charity

If you are considering donating to a charity and at the same time want to tax benefit, make sure the organization is qualified. Usually, qualified organizations are under 501(c)(3)status, and if you are not sure about the charity’s eligibility, make use of the IRS search tool.

It may not be complicated to get charitable organizations, but you also want to make sure that your donations perform the intended purpose. Many online scammers purport to be a charitable organization. Hence doing a background check would help you avoid them.

Way to Make a Charitable Donation

After identifying the eligibility of the charitable organization, you can write a cheque and mail it to the charity. However, some organizations decide to be creative with donations and offer other forms of gifts. It is essential to keep in mind that not all donations qualify for deductions.

Types of Donation

  • Cash or cheque donations qualify for deductions.
  • Gifts donations such as property or equipment qualify for deductions.
  • Milage and other Expenses incurred while volunteering also benefits.

Cash or cheques

Donating money allows the organization to use it as they please. Some organizations may give donations as price offers, allowing the charity organization to buy the items they need at great discounts. Giving cash donations is perfect when the business does not have goods that the charity organization may need. This form of charity donation qualifies for donations when and only the gift is not meant for a specific person.

Property and Equipment

A business can donate property or equipment that the charitable organization can sell and earn more money. Most items qualify for deductions, but you can only deduct the item’s fair market value under IRS Publication 561 guideline.

How Much You Should Donate

According to the American Express study, many small businesses donate about an average of 6% of profits to charity. The tax benefit to businesses, based on the amount you give and the revenue of your business. The IRS tax code gives the rules governing all tax benefits of charity. One should keep in mind that the new. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has made it more complicated than in previous years.

You have to consider several factors when donating to charity. Donation to the local organization may be a good idea, and you should also consider your business interest. It is also smart to only donate what your business can handle without falling into cash traps.

Sam Haskell believes in the importance of charity to society and puts your business and personal finance in mind. You can decide not to offer money to charity and instead volunteer at charity organizations. The benefits are the same as monetary donations.

Business Type and Charitable Donations

The rules governing charity donations are the same for all types of businesses except for corporations.

Single-member LLCs and Sole Proprietorships

Sole proprietorship files their business taxes on schedule c of the owner’s personal Form 1040. Therefore the business cannot separate charitable donations because individuals’ deductions can only be through schedule A. For single-member LLC, the same applies because they too file taxes like sole proprietors.

Multiple-Member LLCs and Partnerships

In the case of a partnership, the rules are different since they do not pay income tax. This implies that the expenses, income, and deductions for donations to charity are passed down to individual partner Schedule K-1 forms. When a partnership business donates to a charity, each partner shares the deductions on their income tax. Multiple-Member LLCs deductions work the same way as partnerships.

S Corporations

S Corporations can only deduct donations limited to 250 dollars unless they provide a written acknowledgment from the charity organization. The written declaration should indicate the amount of cash or the description of items donated to the organization and an estimated value of the goods and services provided as an exchange for the donation.

Corporations

Corporation’s income tax form (IRS Form 1120) includes all deductions corporations can make. They can make donations and take deductions for them on their behalf.

Bookkeeping For Charitable Donations

Sam Haskell believes that businesses should keep detailed records of all contributions made. These records should include the recipient of the donation, what they donated, the contributions value, and dates. These records come in handy when filing your taxes, and you should keep them for at least seven years.


Since charitable donations involve spending the business money or inventory, you should always include your business accounting books’ contributions.

Can You File a Personal Injury Lawsuit Against an Internet Based Business?

Martin J. Stallone

The arrival of COVID-19 in the first business quarter of 2020 in the U.S. changed the retail sector in a way that may last fr years to come. The onset of the pandemic saw the online retail sector grow far beyond the modest 14 percent growth expected throughout 2020. Instead, EMarketer explains the lockdowns that took place across the U.S. pushed the online retail sector above 26 percent growth from quarter one into the second quarter of the year. When you are injured due to faulty machinery or the fault of an online business, you are allowed to sue the business using a local personal injury attorney.

Difficult Aspects of the Retail Sector

When you are looking for the best ways of handling a personal injury claim against an online retailer, you can often find problems regarding the location where a case can be brought. One of the few ways you can sue an online retailer is when you are injured due to faulty equipment that has been purchased from a retailer in the U.S. One of the most difficult aspects of filing your claim to sue an online business is to make sure you can bring the retailer to court in your part of the world.

Business Across Borders

One of the biggest issues you will face when bringing your case against an online retailer is the issue of where a case will go to court. If you are simply using a retailer for not supplying goods or failing to provide the correct products, you may find problems in completing your court case. In most jurisdictions of the U.S., it has been ruled to be unfair that an online retailer should have to face long journeys to different parts of the U.S. to face their accusers. A case that would usually be tried in the small claims court may not go to court at all if the accused is located in a different part of the U.S. and unable to travel to defend themselves.

Difficulties with Personal Injury Claims

Nolo reports that one of the few areas of the online retail sector that has become clear is that of personal injury claims. If a company knowingly supplies faulty equipment that does not reach the required standards they do not have the recourse to claim they cannot appear in the court of another state. Instead, all claims have to be answered when a personal injury has taken place and the two sides cannot agree on compensation.

When a person is injured due to the faulty equipment that has been sold over the internet the individual has little recourse when fighting their corner but to work with a personal injury attorney. By working with a personal injury attorney, you will have a better chance of moving on with your case in the correct way regardless of where you live. By moving forward with a case and fighting it in court you will have the best chance of achieving the outcome you desire.

Bringing a Case in a different State

The main issue you will face when you file a personal injury claim in the small claims court of your state is knowing when you will get to face your opponent in court. When a defendant is facing a court case in the small claims court they will often use the excuse of not being able to travel to the state to fight their case. This has proven an effective defense in many cases, particularly those where the wrong goods have been delivered or no goods have been supplied following a financial transaction.

Use the Federal Trade Commission

One of the best ways of making sure a case against an online retailer makes its way to court is to publicize it through a complaint made through the Federal Trade Commission. This group is one of the most influential in the retail sector and helps fight cases made against traditional brick and mortar businesses and those operating online. The decision to take a case of online problems causing personal injury should always be completed with the aid of a qualified attorney.

As the personal injury sector continues to grow and the online retail sector follows suit there are bound to be times when the two will cross paths. Fighting for your rights is not something you should be willing to ignore no matter where your personal injury issues stem from.

Why Firing The CEO Of A Company Won’t Always End Sexual Harassment In The Workplace

Martin J. Stallone

When a corporation deals with sexual harassment claims, the CEO might be fired as a sign of good faith to the employees. The CEO is thought to create the culture for the business, but the CEO cannot change the environment in the office on their own. The tips below explain all the other things that need to change when your company has a sexual harassment issue.

The CEO Can Only Do So Much

When you are dealing with sexual harassment claims within your company, the CEO may need to resign because they allowed certain things to happen around the office. However, a Tampa criminal lawyer will ask you about the environment in the office.

The lawyer wants to know if other people participated in sexual harassment. The CEO may have hired people who stared harassing their employees, and those managers might have hired other abusers or offenders.

You Must Audit The Business For All Sexual Harassment Claims

When you fire the CEO, you must audit the business for all sexual harassment claims. You must allow employees to send anonymous reports to the company, and you must review any old claims that were made.

If the company has a culture of sexual harassment, you may need to fire several people who allowed the harassment to continue. Plus, you need to work with all the people on the staff who never got any help. If the company is not audited properly sexual harassment could continue for many years to come.

You Need To Know If HR Is Doing Its Job

You must audit HR, interview all the people in the department, and review all sexual harassment investigations. You might find that the HR department did not respond to sexual harassment claims properly.

The company might not have investigated all offenders, or the accusers may have been shamed into silence. If you do not know what happened, you cannot stop it. Plus, the HR department might not have reported it to the CEO. The CEO does not see everything, and they may not be the cause of the problem.

In some cases, you need to fire managers who allowed the harassment to continue. Plus, you may need to fire people in the HR department who did not do anything. The culture of the company will change when the employees know that the HR department will do the right thing. Plus, you should institute new policies that ensure these claims are handled in accordance with local laws and statutes.

Accusers Can File Suit Against The Company

Accusers can sue the company at any time for negligence. If the claims were not handled properly, the company could lose quite a lot of money settling these claims. Plus, a Tampa criminal lawyer needs to know the truth about all these claims. If the court discovers that you have lied about any of these claims, your business will look worse.

When you fire the CEO, you cannot save enough money to pay for these claims. Plus, someone needs to lead the business through this difficult time. Firing the CEO could make the business weaker, and you might lose the faith of your investors. A quality CEO can help keep nervous investors, and the CEO could become the face of the response to any sexual harassment claims.

Are You Changing Your Image?

When you fire your CEO, that news will become one of the top items that people find when they search for your company. You should devote some time to producing new digital content that makes your business look better. You should try to rehabilitate your image with your CEO if they are innocent.

If your CEO is accused of sexual harassment, you must hire a new CEO who can be the face of the business. Firing an innocent CEO makes your company look like it condones sexual harassment, and the public will trust your business less than it did when the broke.

Conclusion

You should work with a lawyer to defend yourself, but you must audit your business to prevent future problems. Firing your CEO might look good when the news is reported, but that does not mean that your company will improve. You must find and remove all the people who are guilty of harassment, and you must change the culture of the business. When you have completed all these tasks, your company can recover. Plus, you may need your CEO to guide you through this process

Jeffrey English NYC Shares How to Make 6 Figures Annually As a Graphic Designer

Martin J. Stallone

Graphic design is a hobby for some, a side hustle for others, and a long-term career for the rest. If you’re hoping to make the most of your skills as a graphic designer, it’s time to step up your design game. Read on for Jeffrey English NYC’s best tips to make six figures as a graphic designer.

1. Set Specific Income Goals

The first step to making six figures through graphic design is creating a plan to do so. It’s easy to talk about how you hope to make more money from your designing efforts but you’re less likely to achieve this if you don’t have a specific idea of what your goals and how you will achieve them.

Experts like Jeffrey English NYC propose setting daily or weekly targets to help you focus on achieving your goal. By breaking down this six-figure dream into palatable short-term goals, you’ll be able to better monitor your day-to-day progress and make adjustments as needed.

2. Increase Your Productivity

Productivity requires an intense amount of focus. When working in graphic design, it isn’t uncommon for the mind to drift to other distractions. To really make the most money possible from your skillset, you’ll need to improve your productivity. Fight the natural inclination to disengage when working to make sure you work to your fullest potential on all projects.

A great way to increase productivity as a graphic designer is to time yourself when working on projects. Set the timer for 10 or 15 minutes increments to keep yourself focused on completing your tasks in this period of time. This way, you’ll be able to complete the most work during your working hours.

3. Choose Your Niche

Graphic design is a varied field with clients searching for almost any type of design. Though most graphic designers take on a wide variety of clients, this isn’t the best way to be productive. After learning what type of designs you’re best suited for, you’ll be able to put your skills to work. Finding your most profitable niche as a graphic designer will help you to complete your projects in record time, allowing you to focus on your specialty and decline projects that aren’t as cost-effective.

4. Take on More Clients

Making more money as a graphic designer means avoiding complacency at all costs. Whether you work with a design agency or you work for yourself, it’s easy to fall into the same routine, working with the same clients, and working on the same types of projects. Though this may be enough to sustain you at your current income, to earn more money from graphic designing, you need to do more.

To earn six figures this year, you’ll need higher-paying clients. Start making plans to get more work and adjust your schedule accordingly to make sure you can handle this new onslaught of work.

5. Steadily Raise Your Prices

If you’re working as a freelance graphic designer, don’t be afraid to raise your prices over time. While you may need to set the bar pretty low if you’re just starting out and attracting new clients, as you gain more experience and develop better relationships with your clients, you deserve to earn more money. If you hope to make six figures working as a designer, you’ll need to charge higher rates.

Jeff English NYC recommends starting with your loyal clients. If you’ve been consistently supplying them with good work, they’ll be more than happy to meet your new price points. After setting these higher rates, make sure to stick to them when searching for new clients.

6. Expand Your Skillset

Though it’s important to find your niche, don’t take that to mean you should limit your skillset. Graphic designers often have a variety of skills that range from basic design to coding, when development, product design, and more. Though you needn’t be an expert in every design-adjacent field, it helps to keep expanding your knowledge to make yourself a more valuable asset to clients. According to Jeff English NYC, the more skills you have, the more you’ll be able to diversify your clientele. Likewise, you’ll be able to charge more for your above-average graphic design skillset.

Making a living as a graphic designer isn’t as challenging as you think. With the right strategies, consistent clients, and the skills to match, you’re not far from building your dream career with your design skills

What You Need to Know About Data Governance

Martin J. Stallone

Today, we are on the cusp of a new era in which AI is changing the landscape of many businesses. Having high quality, usable data is essential for any business that plans on reaping the benefits of the new technology. It is for this reason that data governance became such a hot topic in the previous year and remains an important goal of many companies.

What is Data Governance?

Governance of data is a comprehensive means of ensuring that data is available and in a usable form for all departments. DG also ensures that data is consistent and secure.

Other Reasons for Governance of Data?

Other than AI and its need for high quality data, there are a few more reasons that all businesses need to create a robust DG system for their firm. For one, Entrepreneur Magazine spoke of the fact that businesses that will succeed now and in the future will need to have data on their customers to ensure that they can upsell and resell as well as provide their client base with new products.

Businesses with the proper data on their customers will find ways to enrich their interactions with their customer base. Companies that do a better job of utilizing the data from their own customer base to increase sales will fare a lot better in the next economic downturn and beyond.

According to Forbes Magazine, when database managers look at data that is clean, they will more likely be able to count upon making projections from the data that can be relied upon as being valid. Also, companies that find data errors end up wasting both time and money in order to clean the data to the chosen format. Forbes warned that the process of data cleansing, absent a unified plan for what data needs to be gathered, can end up with key data being lost in the data cleansing process.

Those same companies that are collecting, cleaning and collating data on existing customers can also collect data on the fence sitters in order to improve their conversion ratio.

Proper governance of data also eliminates the possibility of regulatory compliance issues. In many cases, organizations such as those in finance and insurance need to have a set of formal data management procedures so that they can demonstrate they govern data throughout its entire lifecycle. Otherwise, they are open to fines and lawsuits for not providing adequate security for sensitive customer data.

How to Set Up a DG Management Group

According to Entrepreneur, it is key that the buck for DG has to stop somewhere, but every department needs to have a stake in DG. Thus, every department in your organization needs to have a representative on a group that is in charge of DG management. The representative from each department to the DG team will be able to explain their needs that data be in a certain format and what types of data they utilize. This DG group will also decide upon the best means of keeping data clean through its acquisition phase and the rules for use of the data.

Buy-In Needed From All

Entrepreneur Magazine states that all businesses that utilize a DG model need to garner buy-in from everyone in the organization, not just those in the DG group. Also, they emphasized the need for all employees to be able to do data analysis. Thus, every member of your team needs to be data literate or must receive in-service training until they are data literate. One of the biggest reasons for maintaining all of this data is to use the data to help make business decisions.

Security Measures

Forbes stated that one key in securing the data is to ensure that each user of data gets one advisor from the DG group who can provide information and assistance when users of the data have questions. Also, it is key that users only have access to the data that they need and not to the entire database, unless it is all germaine to their work.

DG is Ongoing

It is important to realize that governance of data is ongoing in any organization. Companies that first begin seriously engaging in DG need to begin on a small scale, with the governance team analyzing current data practices and making the most meaningful changes first.

As your organization grows to mature governance procedures, the DG team will continue to work as the needs for more data and the rules that revolve around that data need to be enacted. Also, this team will be the experts that members of their departments will call upon to answer questions about the data.

Companies that put in place a robust data governance structure and then utilize the data to enrich their customer’s experience and interactions with their company will be blessed with longevity and a high ROI. Those companies will survive in the tough times. Companies that fail to provide a strong governance structure for their data run the risk of not deriving all of the profits they can from interactions with customers. They also run the risk of regulatory fines

Three Reasons Why Your Brand Needs a Public Relations Consultant

Martin J. Stallone

In the world where the vast majority of start-ups fail to make it past the five-year mark, companies should be willing to do anything that maximizes their odds of success. Often, however, the lack of experience leads to problems that gradually force them out of business. Marketing is one of the most common issues that relentlessly consume capital of inexperienced sole-proprietors.

Maintaining a positive image in the media while successfully targeting buyers is arguably the hardest part of promoting any product or service. The fact that the stage of trial and error is practically unavoidable means that entrepreneurs should prepare to invest in simply learning how to run campaigns. Fortunately, as with many other things in the business sector, outsourcing is the key. More specifically, hiring public relations (PR) consultant can help avoid a lot of problems.

More Market Exposure

With over 35 years of working in the industry, Behrman PR experience includes practically everything that one can think of when discussing brand promotions. According to her, PR has an incredibly important role when it comes to building market exposure. So, why should companies care? Because the lack of publicity can quite literally cripple sales. If the brand that produces an amazing product or service has no tangible track record, the buyers will be skeptical. Subsequently, the conversions will plummet. Hence why a PR specialist who can help build exposure by improving the brand’s reputation is invaluable.

Cost-Efficient Promotions

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, marketing expenditures should be capped between seven and eight percent of the overall sales. For most companies that are trying to break through the barriers to entry, however, such figures are quite unrealistic. Even some brands that are successful spend much more than just seven or eight percent of sales on advertising. The problem with that approach is the fact that it can cause long-term issues with budgeting and the lack of reinvestment capital. Once again, however, cost-efficient promotions are one of the things that Nancy Behrman’s PR resume includes. Based on her experience, most companies spend unnecessary amounts of money on ads due to unfamiliarity with targeting and campaign optimization. Hiring a PR consultant helps sidestep such issues while preserving capital.

Bridging Multiple Gaps

Ultimately, businesses that leverage PR consulting will be able to bridge a lot of important gaps. For instance, having somebody who can represent the company in public will help build a better relationship with the media. That way, the odds of getting fair coverage will be much higher. Maintaining a good relationship with the buyers, however, is one of the most important advantages of letting a PR expert do their job. This translates to transparency and open communication, both of which include asking consumers for their feedback.

Although there are many more benefits, these three are the most significant ones when it comes to public relations consulting. The outcomes will also differ depending on the type of industry that one operates in. After all, PR specialists will have a much different role when working with a company that sells clothing versus an accounting firm, per se. Notwithstanding, they will be able to take any type of operation to the next level.

How to Approach Office Romances

Martin J. Stallone

According to Forbes Magazine, 40 percent of all people have dated someone from work. As many as 17 percent have done it more than just once. Thus, saying that workplace romances have become quite common is certainly not a far-reaching statement. It is simply a byproduct of a more tolerable society that no longer frowns upon professional associates engaging in romantic relationships.

And while the rules have certainly gotten much looser, couples who work together still need to meet some minimum requirements. Doing so ensures that the romance will not become detrimental to the workplace at any point in time. So, what is the best way to go about office dating?

Remain Transparent

According to an experienced and certified health and safety consultant from Canada, Robert Butchike, the most important part of workplace dating is transparency. Once the relationships reach a level where friends and family know, it is time for the employer to find out as well. This is especially true when there is a ranking discrepancy.

Just consider, for instance, a situation where someone dates their subordinate for a prolonged time without disclosing it to anyone. If such a predicament comes to light, the person could be held liable for taking advantage of their authority and trying to mislead the company. The worst-case outcome can go as far as the person losing their job and getting financially or legally penalized. So, simply taking the time to speak with the department leader will be enough to ensure how there is an appropriate level of transparency.

Sign the “Love” Agreement

Besides moral reasons, transparency will allow the employer to get both of the involved parties to sign the so-called “love” agreements. Although they are labeled differently across all industries, these contracts guarantee that:

  • The employer will not be sued by the workers in case the romance ends;
  • The workers will notify the employer if the romance ends;
  • The parties promise not to work together on projects when there is a ranking discrepancy;

There are going to be many other provisions that companies want the couple to agree to. These are just some of the most common ones that the vast majority of human resource departments require.

Staying Away From Each Other at Work

After finalizing the administrative side of things, it is time to think about the best way to approach the romance. Robert Butchike strongly suggests that everyone stays away from public displays of affection. Besides the fact that it can make others uncomfortable, it is extremely unprofessional. One of the best strategies is to save the romance for venues that are far outside of the workplace.

Besides the fact that it will ensure that the couple stays in compliance with the employee handbook, doing so will also help the relationship. Being around someone all the time can get quite monotonous and experts suggest that work hours should never get intertwined with dating.

Since each situation is going to be different, it is important to prepare for the stage of trial and error. Robert Butchike reminds that this is completely normal as all workplace romances struggle with professional and personal boundaries at first. Nonetheless, taking the time to figure things and remaining completely up-front with the superiors will improve the odds of success

August Funding Explain the Basics of Credit Scores

Martin J. Stallone

For better or for worse, when it comes to obtaining credit, you are what your credit score says you are. Whether it seems unfair, creditors need a uniform way to judge borrowers before they extend them credit. With that in mind, it is vital for borrowers to understand the basics of their credit score so that they know how this number is reached. Below is some explanation of how the individual elements equal your credit score. 

First, understand that your credit score is an approximation of the risk that you present to lenders. They want an assessment of your past and present credit situation so that they can project your future ability to pay back your debts. With that in mind, the credit score will incorporate various elements of your creditworthiness and aggregate them into one score. If your credit score is low, work with lenders with tools like those offered by August Funding to improve your situation. 

Payment History

This is the most important element of the credit score. Borrowers who have established a track record of paying back their debts have a stronger likelihood of paying their creditors in the future. Those who have at least one instance of either not making good on a promise to pay or doing it late will be viewed with some trepidation by a creditor. Granted, one late payment may have an impact, but will not completely preclude you from getting any sort of loan in the future. Rather, how often you are late and the amount of the debt where you have payment issues will be considered. This counts for over a third of your credit score.

Credit Utilization

Having credit and using it responsibly helps to establish a track record, but you do not want to use too much of it. If you are maxed out on your credit cards or your other revolving accounts, you will be viewed as a risk by lenders. They will hesitate to give you even more credit because the debt that you have is already stretching thin your ability to repay. 

Length of Credit History

This is the track record of how you use your individual credit accounts. If you have certain accounts where you have a long history of using your credit and paying it off, it is looked upon favorably by lenders. For that reason, if you have a main credit card that you have used for many years, it may be a good idea to keep that account open since that is where your credit history is.

New Credit

This factor is a small part of your credit score. New credit can help you or hurt you, depending on the pattern that it reveals. If you are rushing to open up many new accounts all at once, it may be a sign that you are either in financial distress or are simply being irresponsible. Conversely, selectively signing up for and responsibly using new credit may be a sign that you are a creditworthy borrower.

Types of Credit

This final small element of your credit score is almost counterintuitive. While you may think that having no credit cards will show that you are a good risk since you have little debt, creditors actually want to see that you are able to handle different types of debt. For example, if you have a mortgage, auto loan and credit card, you prove that you can handle a diverse debt load.

So What Does This Mean?

If your FICO score ends up above 750, you are thought of as an excellent borrower with little risk. However, even if you have a bad score, it is not the end of the story. Oftentimes, creditors may go behind the numbers to look at the specific factors that are impacting your credit. More recent events may be looked at negatively if they show a trend in your credit. However, if the recent trend is better, you may be viewed more positively than your actual number. There are programs that you can follow to help improve your credit rating. Loan products from August Funding, for example, can help get your debt under control.

Joseph Vessecchia Explains How to Manage a High-Pressure Sales Team

Martin J. Stallone

Motivation is the key to a successful sales team. If you want to learn how to manage them effectively, then you need to study how to motivate them. While managing a sales team is difficult, it can be a breeze if you know what to look out for. You can influence your sales team by focusing on their particular skill set and their motivation. Here are some strategies to increase those motivation levels, as told by Joseph Vessecchia. 

Focus on Results

You need to become a results-driven manager. That includes hiring people who have drive and passion. It’s important to create an organization that’s focused on key sales metrics. When you build a competitive team of people in a transparent environment, it can motivate the entire organization. You want to emphasize the outcomes so you can prevent confusion with activity and productivity. 

Build Trust With Your Sales Team

The core of motivating your sales team is building trust with them. If your team doesn’t trust you, then it’ll be hard for them to feel driven and motivated by their own work. When they’re feeling unmotivated, it’ll be hard to get them going, unless you have an open and honest conversation with them. Don’t be afraid to ask them about their challenges and goals. 

You should establish trust with your sales team by engaging them on a consistent basis. One of the best ways to build trust is to have a transparent conversation about trust. Ask them how you can build trust with them. It shows your team that you’re working on building a relationship with them, rather than managing them. 

Customize Your Management Style

Every member of your sales team has a different personality and will feel motivated in different forms. Some people prefer reinforcement while others prefer a hands-off approach. Engage with your sales team and ask them how they like to be managed. Then you can tailor that approach to each member of your team. Since you don’t treat every customer the same way, why would you manage your entire team the same way? 

Find Out About Their Lifestyle Habits

A salesperson’s motivation decreases the moment they’re not taking care of themselves. It’s important for your team to eat a healthy diet and drink plenty of water. They should also be getting plenty of sleep and exercise. Whenever you notice someone is disconnected from the rest of the team, you can ask them what they need. 

If they suggest food, then take them out to lunch. If it’s more sleep that they need, then allow them to take a nap or perhaps a day off. If it’s exercise, suggest that they take a walk. Some organizations are great about having this in their building. While you don’t have to be this excessive, emphasizing the importance of a work-life balance will certainly help increase your sales team’s motivation levels. 

Build Their Habits 

The reason why most sales teams succeed is that they form effective habits. Since sales is a competitive field, using the right habits is key to their success. Determine which behaviors are needed for your sales team to succeed. 

Do they need help with finding more prospects? Or, do they need help with closing a sale? Work alongside your team to build and strengthen these habits until they become a part of their daily behavior. 

Manage Their Expectations

You want your sales team to be passionate about what they do and the products they sell. You want to offer the best support possible. While it’s important to have an overperforming sales team, you should set goals that are both responsible and realistic. If your entire team is only hitting 60% of their target, the target might not be reasonable. While you want to manage their expectations, you want to set them accordingly so they’re not too high out of their reach.

Understand Their Goals

Again, you can’t motivate your sales team unless you know their personal and professional goals. This not only proves to them that you’re a caring manager, but it also provides insight into what motivates them the most. Once you get to know their goals, find out ways to help motivate them in the short-term and the long-term. 

What it comes down to is finding the thing(s) that motivates your team to go the extra mile. For example, your sales team won’t produce top performers if you cap their commissions. Find the one thing that gives them drive, and those who have the passion and drive will shine.

Joseph Vessecchia is extremely dedicated to his sales career. After building a successful sales career, he decided to grow an online community he could motivate and inspire. When Joseph is not working, he’s leading prayer groups and volunteering at local organizations.