What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

The results of this past election proved once again that the Democrats had a golden opportunity to capitalize on the failings of the Trump Presidency but, fell short of a nation wide mandate. A mandate to seize the gauntlet of the progressive movement that Senator Sanders through down a little over four years ago. The opportunities were there from the very beginning even before this pandemic struck. In their failing to educate the public of the consequences of continued Congressional gridlock, conservatism, and what National Economic Reform’s Ten Articles of Confederation would do led to the results that are playing out today.. More Congressional gridlock, more conservatism and more suffering of millions of Americans are the direct consequences of the Democrats failure to communicate and educate the public. Educate the public that a progressive agenda is necessary to pull the United States out of this Pandemic, and restore this nations health and vitality.

It was the DNC’s intent in this election to only focus on the Trump Administration. They failed to grasp the urgency of the times. They also failed to communicate with the public about the dire conditions millions have been and still are facing even before the Pandemic. The billions of dollars funneled into campaign coffers should have been used to educate the voting public that creating a unified coalition would bring sweeping reforms that are so desperately needed. The reality of what transpired in a year and a half of political campaigning those billions of dollars only created more animosity and division polarizing one extreme over another.

One can remember back in 1992 Ross Perot used his own funds to go on national TV to educate the public on the dire ramifications of not addressing our national debt. That same approach should have been used during this election cycle. By using the medium of television to communicate and educate the public is the most effective way in communicating and educating the public. Had the Biden campaign and the DNC used their resources in this way the results we ae seeing today would have not created the potential for more gridlock in our government. The opportunity was there to educate the public of safety protocols during the siege of this pandemic and how National Economic Reform’s Ten Articles of Confederation provides the necessary progressive reforms that will propel the United States out of the abyss of debt and restore our economy. Restoring our economy so that every American will have the means and the availability of financial and economic security.

The failure of the Democratic party since 2016 has been recruiting a Presidential Candidate who many felt was questionable and more conservative signals that the results of today has not met with the desired results the Democratic party wanted. Then again? By not fully communicating and not educating the public on the merits of a unified progressive platform has left the United States transfixed in our greatest divides since the Civil War. This writers support of Senator Bernie Sanders is well documented. Since 2015 he has laid the groundwork for progressive reforms. He also has the foundations on which these reforms can deliver the goods as they say. But, what did the DNC do, they purposely went out of their way to engineer a candidate who was more in tune with the status-quo of the DNC. They failed to communicate to the public in educating all of us on the ways our lives would be better served with a progressive agenda that was the benchmark of Senators Sanders Presidential campaign and his Our Revolution movement. And this is way there is still really no progress in creating a less toxic environment in Washington and around the country.

Online E-Commerce Websites – A Great Way to Make Money and Pad Your Resume With Work Experience

The worst thing about either being unemployed or without work experience, is trying to explain things to a prospective employer.Well I found the answer and its something that will cost you little to invest and will probably make you some money in the meantime. What I’m talking about is starting e-commerce websites which you can do without really any technical experience and relatively little money spent. I wish the Internet was around when I got out of school!Once you have any kind of presentable e-commerce website running, you can cover your butt and make yourself look good when accounting for time when you were unemployed or even never had a job in the first place by stating to your prospective employer that you owned and operated your own e-commerce business and show him the actual site(s). There is no way your prospective employer will be able to know how much you made with your e-commerce business and the chances are he will overestimate your revenue ten fold. It’s actually fun owning an E-Commerce website and you’ll learn things later later on through trial and error that you can apply to future jobs. You can actually develop good writing and business skills as its like operating your own business with hardly any investment!Here’s the easiest step by step method of owning an E-Commerce Store that I know of that I do myself:1. Decide on a specific product you want to sell.2. Come up with several Domain Names, as close as you can to the products name.3. Go to a Domain registration site and see if the domain name is available. I would recommend using a .COM domain and failing that a .Net or .Org. Almost all one word domain names are going to be taken so I would try to use the shortest three word domain name or possibly two if it was available. You may need to put a “Store” or My” with a 2 word combination to get an available domain name. Once you settle on a Domain name you need to register it, which will cost you roughly $8-$12 a year. Again try to get the shortest possible name that emphasizes the product you are selling.4. The easiest way I know to launch an E-Commerce site is through a program called “The Easy Store” of which I am a customer. This program is put out and installed by Zeus software and you basically don’t have to do much at all as they do almost everything. What Zeus does is put out an E-Commerce Website that sells all Amazon products and which Amazon is responsible for everything and you make a 4-6% commission for each sale from Amazon. Thus you are investing nothing on inventory, don’t process the order and aren’t collecting the money. Amazon does all that. Amazon then pays you for each item sold through your site. The Easy Store provides you with free web hosting for a year under one of their plans. Basically, if you sign up with the Easy Store, they will do all the entry work for you and walk you through things and give technical advice. You can contact them by phone if you have any technical matters. The Easy Store is not very expensive- note I do not have any financial interest in the company and I’m recommending it strictly as a customer who receives no benefit for recommending it. You do have to become an Amazon Associate which is free and takes less then a day to register. Listed below are two of my Easy Stores for example.5. Essentially the only thing you need to do is to come up with good Keyword descriptions that will come up high in search engines like Google which will draw a lot of your traffic for potential customers. You will also need to submit your domains to search Engines.6. The most important thing in an E-Commerce Store is that it looks professional. For another $80 or so, The Easy Store will custom design a logo for you. My Easy Stores which you can find below feature their custom logos.7. I would also join Google’s AdSense program which The Easy Store will put on your site for free once you register for AdSense. AdSense pays you a variable amount of money for each Google Ad on your site that gets clicked. Registration for AdSense is free. Do not click any ads yourself and do not have friends and family click, because if Google finds out, you will be banned from AdSense.8. Another way to get traffic to your website, is to write blogs and have them published online by different sites as well as your own.Keep in mind you won’t get rich quick and the rarer a product is, in all likely hood you’ll get more customers because there are many E-Commerce sites selling the same niche product. I can’t think of a better and cheaper method for gaining work experience for a future employer and making money at the same time.

Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?

There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.

In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.

But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.

Different Types of Financing

One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.

Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.

But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.

Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.

Alternative Financing Solutions

But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:

1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.

2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.

3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.

In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:

It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.

A Precious Commodity

Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).

Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.

Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?