Just a quick search of Yahoo, Google, or MSN can provide truckers with thousands of lenders who are willing to finance most semi-trucks. In the same search, you can find many articles about how and where to finance that truck, but you might not find a great deal of information about where you should avoid when you’re looking for a loan company.Buying a new semi-truck, whether new or used, is both an exciting and nerve racking for seasoned and new truckers. Because of the emotion and stress involved in the process, you might be ready to jump at the first company who pledges to support your business, but there are still some lenders that you should avoid. Many truckers with many different kinds of businesses and vehicles exist, so these companies might occasionally satisfy the needs of some truckers. But truckers should at least consider them carefully, bearing in mind that they might not be the best decision.1. The physical office of a loan provider who also has an online businessAlthough many people, especially those who are on the road for much of their lives, enjoy taking care of their business online, some think they can get better deals by showing up at the store in person. Because Internet providers have a much lower overhead than companies who have storefronts, they can usually offer better deals. Even if you’re going to go with a large, corporate finance, you can probably get a better deal online because the company spends less money on signing you up online than signing up a customer in the store.2. A loan company that offers high interest ratesIf you have a low credit score, or a history of poor credit decisions, then you might be excited that you can get financing at all, but high interest rate loans can leave you still paying on a truck that has broken down or been sold years ago. High interest rates mean you ultimately pay more for the cost of a loan, and this not only harms your own financial portfolio, but it can also be a poor business decision. In addition, loans that have high interest rates may also have other stipulations that make them difficult to deal with. For instance, certain penalties for paying late or missing payments can cause real financial distress.3. An institution with which you have a bad relationshipThe institution that you choose for your loan can be just as important as its interest rate or whether or not the company can be accessed online. Whether you’re going through a traditional bank, a company that you’ve used in the past, or a company that you have used in some other capacity, make sure you consider your previous interactions with this company. Negative issues between you and this institution can affect your interest rate, or if you’re approved for a truck loan at all. Also, if you haven’t been happy with the company in the past, odds are you won’t be happy in the future, even if it is offering you instant approval.Although some truckers may find that using these methods and institutions can benefit their businesses, these institutions are generally the ones to avoid.

Until the early 1900′s staffing agencies, also known as employment agencies, generally did not exist. Communities were smaller, and because there was no telephone or internet, people communicated face to face. People in small towns knew each other and hiring was based on that personal knowledge. One of the first staffing agencies was created in 1906 in response to the enormous calamity of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. With an entire city of people displaced, there was an urgent need to hire workers on a mass scale to re-establish businesses that had been destroyed by the earthquake and fire, and to rebuild the city. Out of this urgent need to match workers to jobs the staffing agency industry was born.Today the staffing industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are many staffing companies with more than $1 Billion in sales; the number of companies with over $100 Million in sales grew in 2006. According to the American Staffing Association, “America’s staffing companies employed an average of 2.96 million temporary and contract workers per day in 2006…and they added an average of 52,000 jobs per day in 2006″.Why are staffing agencies so popular? In a word, it’s because of flexibility. Staffing agencies help workers to find work when they want, and they help business hire workers when they are needed. Staffing agencies provide workers to fill in when regular workers are absent, to provide extra help during busy times such as Christmas, and to work on special projects. The variety of jobs provided by staffing agencies is enormous.A partial listing of staffing agency jobs include the fields of engineering, aviation, environmental services, architecture, administrative services, automotive services, energy, manufacturing, construction, mortgage banking, contact centers, science, health care, secretarial, manual labor, accounting, finance, executive recruitment, temporary staffing and student employment. One staffing agency specializes in administrative staffing by Microsoft Office Certified Professionals.Most parents encourage their children to go to college and learn something that will help them get a job after they graduate. After four or more years of college, many graduates would prefer to take some time off to see the world, or just find themselves. In the movie, Back to School, Rodney Dangerfield was cast as a parent who goes back to school primarily to get his son to stay in school so his son can get an education and a job. Rodney is invited to give the college commencement address. ”It’s a jungle out there,” he says. ”So my advice is don’t go. Live at home. Let your parents worry about it.” Perhaps this is the sociological reason for the growth of staffing agencies to provide people with jobs.According to MSN Encarta, the word job is a “noun and a verb:noun (plural jobs) Definition: 1. paid occupation: an activity such as a trade or profession that somebody does regularly for pay, or a paid position doing thisShe’s got a new job.2. task: something that remains to be done or dealt withI have a couple jobs to do this afternoon.several jobs around the house3. assignment: an individual piece of work of a particular natureWe managed to complete the job in under a week.4. function: the role that somebody or something fulfillsIt’s her job to look after the finances.5. difficulty: something that is difficult to accomplishI had quite a job getting it to start.6. quality of work done: a completed piece of work of a particular qualityThey did a very good job on the exterior.7. particular kind of object: a particular kind of object, especially a manufactured item ( informal )one of those big four-wheel-drive jobs8. crime: a criminal act, especially a robbery ( informal )a bank job9. computer programming task: a computer programming task run as a single application or unit”All of the nouns, with the exception of crime, relate to what staffing agencies provide. As a verb, with the exception of a jobber who deals in wholesale merchandise, most of the definitions relate to what staffing agencies do:
“verb (past and past participle jobbed, present participle jobobing, 3rd person present singular jobs) Definition:1. intransitive verb work occasionally: to take occasional or casual workHe jobs as a gardener from time to time…2. transitive verb distribute work to others: to subcontract portions of contract work to othersjob out the plumbing work on the house”It would be unusual for most staffing agencies to provide a songwriter or an artist to a business. This is a pity because there are so many songwriters and artists that need jobs. One of the greatest vocal rock and roll songs ever written was called Get A Job by the Silhouettes. It was recorded in the late 1950′s. It was a number one hit on the pop charts and it sold over one million copies. The song was written by Richard Lewis after he completed his military service. When he came home he had no work and his mother told him to “Get A Job” and this inspired him to write the song.The lyrics are:”CHORUSSha na na na, sha na na na na(repeat 4x)Yip dip dip dip dip dip, bum bum bum bum bum bumSha na na na, sha na na na naWell, from about the time every morning when she wakes me up and cries,”Get a job!”Well, after breakfast every day, she throws a polish on my way and never fails to say (bass)Get a jobREPEAT CHORUSOh, oh, and when I get the paperI read it through and throughAnd my girl never fails to seeIf there is any work for meBRIDGEAnd when I go back to my houseI hear my woman’s mouthPreachin’ and a-cryin’, tell me that I’m lying ’bout a job”Whoa-ooh-oh, and when I get the paperI read it through and throughAnd my girl never fails to seeIf there is any work for me”If Mr. Lewis had other marketable skills he might have joined the legions of people working for the staffing agency industry. One of the biggest concerns of a growing staffing agency is cash flow. To grow into a multimillion dollar business, it takes a considerable amount of cash. Payroll obligations must be met every two weeks to pay staffing agency employees, but the actual employers (i.e. the companies that are using the staffing agency people) may take 30 to 60 days to pay their bills. Accounts receivable financing can provide staffing agencies with virtually unlimited cash for growth. The main requirement is to have staffing agency employees working for creditworthy businesses.This financing technique can accelerate cash flow for exponential growth because the cash for the invoices is available immediately every time an employer is billed for services rendered. Commercial finance companies are the primary providers of accounts receivable financing for staffing agencies; some banks are involved in financing larger, multi-million dollar transactions that are low risk. As a general rule, banks will not provide accounts receivable financing for a staffing agency that is a start-up or for one that is growing very rapidly in the early years of their business.The bottom line: if you need to get a job, a staffing agency may be an excellent choice to find work on your terms; if you need cash flow to grow a staffing agency, accounts receivable financing may be an excellent choice for financing growth without bank terms.Copyright © 2007 Gregg Financial Services

Success is not an overnight occurrence for most businesses. Years of hard work and struggle are a common denominator for most enterprises. Success as a concept can be complicated because it may involve more than profits on a balance sheet. The MSN Encarta dictionary defines success as:1. Achievement of intention: the achievement of something planned or attempted;2. Attainment of fame, wealth, or power: impressive achievement, especially the attainment of fame, wealth, or power;3. Something that turns out well: something that turns out as planned or intended;4. Somebody successful: somebody who is wealthy.What is business failure? It may be that most businesses don’t die or fail; the owners close them for reasons unrelated to whether the business is making money. According to David Birch, former head of a research firm specializing in studying small business data, would-be entrepreneurs don’t realize what’s truly involved with running a business. He estimated survival rates:o First year: 85%o Second: 70%o Third: 62%o Fourth: 55%o Fifth: 50%o Sixth: 47%o Seventh: 44%o Eighth: 41%o Ninth: 38%o Tenth: 35%”Once you’ve hit five years, your odds of survival go way up,” Birch said. “Only two to three percent of businesses older than five shut down each year.” Hard statistics on business success vs. failure rates are hard to establish. Mark Twain once said, “The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” The same may be true for many businesses.Accounts receivable financing can help to make the difference between success and failure for many B2B businesses that need capital to grow. The terminology: invoice financing, invoice funding, factoring, factoring receivables and accounts receivable financing are all terms that mean essentially the same thing: the process of selling your invoices, your accounts receivable, to a commercial finance company to accelerate cash flow. You sell the account receivable. The commercial finance company advances you 70% to 90% of face value. Your customer pays the invoice to the commercial finance company. They rebate to you the difference between their fees and the remaining cash. If your business sells products or services to other businesses or to the government, with a gross margin of 25% or more you can grow profitably with accounts receivable financing; and you can give terms to your customers.Asset based financing is a form of accounts receivable financing for larger transactions. The main difference between asset based financing and accounts receivable financing is price: larger transactions may be priced with a spread of 2% to 4% over the prime rate plus an administrative fee compared to factoring fees of 1.5% to 4% per month. The actual amount of charges depends on the contract terms which vary widely. In this author’s article, Financial Myths vs. Financial Facts there is an extensive discussion regarding various pricing methods and outcomes.Imagine if your business were like a flower with the chance to bloom the first time in years. There is a plant known as Agave parryi, also known as the Century Plant. They often take forty to sixty years to flower. Then they die. Few businesses can wait that long to flower.The asset based lending industry is a multi-billion dollar business. Companies large, small, and startups participate in accounts receivable financing and asset based lending. Purchase order financing is available to pay for the cost of goods when purchase orders are too large for the business to self-fund the product. If you need help with capital to grow, these are important financing techniques to consider for your business’ success.In August 1965 The Beatles released a Studio Album called: Help! The song was a number one hit single. The song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. At this point in the career of the Beatles, they had not personally made much money and they may have been on the brink of failure because of artistic differences and financial naivety. John Lennon said that the lyrics to Help! were a cry for help and a clue to the confusion and despondency he felt. He also regretted the commercial pressures to make a successful upbeat record that compromised his artistic sensibilities. The Beatles succeeded in writing many of the most popular songs in music history; they were one of the most successful recording artists of all time. Nevertheless, the Beatles failed to stay together as a live performing group after 1970. There were only ten years of live performances. Decades of royalties and riches followed.Here are the lyrics to The Beatles – Help! by John Lennon and Paul McCartney:Help, I need somebody,Help, not just anybody,Help, you know I need someone, help.When I was younger, so much younger than today,I never needed anybody’s help in any way.But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.Help me if you can, I’m feeling downAnd I do appreciate you being round.Help me, get my feet back on the ground,Won’t you please, please help me?And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,My independence seems to vanish in the haze.But every now and then I feel so insecure,I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.Help me if you can, I’m feeling downAnd I do appreciate you being round.Help me, get my feet back on the ground,Won’t you please, please help me.When I was younger, so much younger than today,I never needed anybody’s help in any way.But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.Help me if you can, I’m feeling downAnd I do appreciate you being round.Help me, get my feet back on the ground,Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.The bottom line: if you need help with your cash flow for your B2B business, accounts receivable financing may be the answer for your success.Copyright © 2007 Gregg Financial Services