Question: Have you ever wished that you knew ahead of time how to avoid mistakes that will cost you money? Question: Do you realize that when it comes to your business, these mistakes can cost you thousands of dollars? Answer: I can tell you how to avoid some of the most costly mistakes so that you stay on the right track to making money, instead of losing money.
1. Not setting up your business in the correct Business Structure. Many individual business owners dont think they need to set up their company as a legal business entity, since it’s only them working. They have no employees and no co-workers, so they combine their business accounts with their personal accounts. This combining of funds and expenses can cause a huge crisis for the business owner. By keeping your business activity separate from your personal activity, you are presenting to the tax collectors a clear picture that you are acting as a business and not a hobby. This will help prevent proper business expenses from being disallowed because of confusion caused by the co-mingling of business and personal expenditures.
Keep in mind that when banks lend to individuals they consider it a personal loan and its reported to the personal credit bureaus. If an individual, or group, sets up their business as a corporation, partnership or LLC, lending institutions will report their business creditworthiness to the business credit bureaus ” if they use their EIN on their application. Their FICO scores are therefore not affected. A business will look more professional in the eyes of a bank if they are set up as a business entity. This is critical in the business world.
2. Not presenting your business as an established business. This means your business has its own address and own phone number. That doesnt mean you cant work out of your home, it means that to the business credit world you must show your business as having its own address. Your business absolutely must be listed in the national 411 directory. Small business owners sometimes use their cell phone number as their business phone number. Unfortunately, a cell phone number is not acceptable for most financial institutions. A lender calls 411 to verify a business and expects to find a specific address and matching business phone number. They dont want to see P.O. boxes or UPS addresses. If you run your business out of your home, it must be a separate phone line that appears in the 411 directory as belonging to the address listed in the 411 directory. It must match the address listed with the State in which the business is registered because the financial institutions will also go onto the States website and verify the business information.
3. Not checking your credit report. You know how important it is to regularly check your personal credit reports to make sure there are no mistakes on them, but it is also important that you check your business credit report as well. When you are a new business and try to apply for business lines of credit, or trade credit (i.e. Home Depot card), vendors and financial institutions generally ask for a personal guarantee before extending business credit to your company. If you have not checked on your personal credit reports, and there are mistakes, you may lose your ability to get business credit because of possible negative data. This also holds true for business credit reports. Dun & Bradstreet is the most well known of the business credit agencies and if false, or negative information is reported to D&B, you will also be denied credit. Financial institutions are looking to lend money to a business that is being reported as a good credit risk. It is critical that your personal and business creditworthiness are reported accurately with the credit agencies, and it is up to you to verify on a regular basis that all your financial activity is being reported accurately.
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