American Packet

Promoting a business is a crucial part of attaining success in today’s modern world. As much as possible, you need to have a unique edge that will make you stand out in the market. But achieving that is not so easy anymore with many businesses vying for the top spot as you. With that, you need to do everything possible to create a memorable promotional material.

There is one promotional tool you can use to bring out your uniqueness—the business cards. Despite the popularity of Smart phones, Facebook, and other digital media, the business cards have not lost their functionality altogether. Aside from delivering, bumping, and bouncing contact detail from one prospect to another, there are other unique and exciting uses of business cards. Here are some of them:

Business cards game coupons. For businesses seeking to acquire a good customer base, they can always consider sponsoring a game, perhaps a bingo, bowling or golf tournament. In order for people to get a free registration and admission to the tournament, they simply need to present your business card. Now that card has to include all your contact details to easily entice people to keep your card for use in the future.

Business cards as investment. This may sound weird to some, but collecting business cards can be a good investment. Just imagine finding the business cards of the famous and influential people of the century such Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon. Now, that would be something to treasure and invest on. These cards are worth a lot today and can be a great addition to national history. So, collecting business cards is a smart investment that will prove to be financially and historically beneficial over time.

Business cards as dating cards. For people who don’t quite have the courage to ask a gorgeous lady on a date, they can use their business cards to eliminate the awkwardness of the task. By giving out their card to people or a person they are interested in, they are actually increasing their chance of getting in touch with that person. They can consider printing a pick up line in the card such as “Would you be free this weekend?” It may look and sound strange, but something business cards are successful in getting someone to contact you.

Business cards as dessert. Everyone loves a good dessert, so why not give it to your prospects through your business cards. From sumptuous chocolate to fortune cookies and sweet pies, anything edible can be practically made in to a business card today. With the right business card templates, you can easily include all important contact details in your luscious dessert card. Just don’t forget to include a printed material at the back or as addition to your edible treats to give people something to keep with your complete contact details.

A unique and customized business card does have many uses aside from its standard function. There are many other ways you can use your business cards. Just let your imagination run and don’t be afraid to put your ideas into practice. After all, you will be the one to benefit in the end. Anyone who receives your card will surely have a lasting impression of you. And who knows, your business card will be worth millions in the future.

This writing provides information and tips to the readers about the usefulness of business cards.

Creating your own Business Cards with Business Card Templates

There are many budget design options out there for people who are trying to create their own company business cards.  They range from the completely ‘homespun’ method of doing-it-yourself on your inkjet printer, to paying for a freelance designer or budget online logo company to create your business card for you. You may want to consider using the business card template resources that can be easily found online.

As a designer and marketing manager with over a decade of industry experience (working for large corporations, print companies, as well as freelancing for small business clients) I feel qualified enough to offer you my own insight into creating your business card using business card templates that you can find on almost all online print sites.

Your cheapest-of –the-cheap business card template option is to design and print business cards yourself using those perforated Avery business card sheets that you can buy at Staples for $16.00. Don’t do it!!! I mean, there’s doing it yourself, and then there’s trying to feed cardstock through a printer and making a complete inky mess!

Here’s a rundown of the problems you’ll encounter when ‘shoe stringing’ your business cards with an Avery busines card template and an Inkjet Printer:

You’re going to have to create your business card design in Microsoft Word, Open Office, or other such office program that was clearly never meant for designing and printing business cards!

Those Microsoft Word templates are unbelievably frustrating to work with. As an experienced designer, even I find it difficult to try to create a half-decent business card layout.  The biggest problem with Avery templates (hidden somewhere in the bowels of the ‘envelope’ menu in the ‘tools’ header) is that you have to create a whole page of business cards at once. The business card template is populated by two columns of business card ‘cells’ (that roughly match your perforated print sheets) in which you are required to individually ‘cut and paste’ your design elements. During this tedious cut and paste process, hitting the wrong key, or pressing return where you’re not supposed to will result in a jumbled series of business card design cells with all the text, shapes, objects, lines, or images in bizarre alignments. 

Using plain text to create your business card design will probably work out fine, but just try to insert any pictures from an outside file or include shapes or images from your picture menu and you’re asking for trouble – trying to align them inside a cell just doesn’t work!

From a graphic design point-of-view, using the design elements in Word is not advisable. The autoshapes and clip art available from the insert menu have barely changed since the 90’s. They represent a garish and fluorescent mix of random images that I last saw being used to  ‘spruce up’ my schoolteacher’s handouts! It would also be ill advised to use any text effects from the Word Art menu.  The choice of bubblegum-style, gradient-heavy effects on offer will make your business card look like you gave it to a high-school cheerleader to design!

Once you have your design ready to go to print then you will encounter a whole new set of jamming and ink running problems. These are the same inkjet printer problems that that you’ve probably encountered every day, but intensified due to the difficulties of using thicker paper and the need for exact print alignment. You are almost guaranteed to end up with an ink-splattered and poorly aligned set of business cards (text running off-center, and out of square, and you can forget about creating any kind of image bleed!)

If you’ve managed to get to the stage where you have printed sheets of business cards without smashing your printer or throwing your monitor out of the window, then you can begin the fun of bending and tearing the perforated business cards. This is not easy. Not only is it fiddly and time consuming, but you’re certain to ruin a few business cards that won’t tear properly down the perforations!

The quality of your card stock and the ‘inkjet-fuzzy’ look and feel of your cards will be a dead-giveaway that you’ve made them on your office or home printer. Cards created on inkjet printers scream of ‘bad quality’ and tell customers that you don’t really care, or haven’t enough faith in your business to create a worthwhile business card.

If you are lucky enough to have a laser printer, it’s still not worth going down the Avery business card template route.  There may be a slight improvement in quality, but your business cards will nonetheless look like you made them at home (which you probably did)

Without the gloss or matte finishes that print companies can provide nowadays, your business card is not going to look professional. Also, it’s not that much more of an expense to create a business card using the business card templates from the majority of online print companies.  Inkjet cartridges and laser print ink is EXPENSIVE!!! Trying to print out reams of business cards at your home or office will suck up all your ink and end up costing you more than you probably think!

Unless you are prepared to shell out money to get your business card designed and printed by a professional designer, your only other option is to look online to design your business card.  It might be interesting to know that many designers will use budget online print resources to print your product- utilizing the ‘upload your own design’ option that’s provided by the majority of print sites to send your design to print! Pay a freelance designer to create your card and they may well be using the very same online company that you were also thinking of using (even if they say that they’re getting your cards printed at ‘cost-a-lot-fancy-print-boutique’.) Some of the low-cost print sites are pretty good quality. Without expert design or print knowledge, it is hard to tell the difference between a budget printer and a high-end print shop.

It’s not difficult to cut out the middleman and create a really great quality business card. Even if you don’t possess any design skills, there are plenty of online companies (some good, some bad) that provide some really great business card design templates that you can add your business information to. In many cases, the end result won’t be that different to a business card designed by a graphic design professional.

Now I have to admit to being slightly biased in recommending a site for you to design your business card at. I have created quite a few design templates for the online print industry. In particular, I have produced some excellent work for OvernightPrints.com. Of the many budget online print companies, I think they have some of the best business card templates to choose from. They also have two different online design template programs – one for more expert designers and the other for design beginners.

What you’ll often get at sites like Overnight Prints.com is a chance to design something really quickly without having to have any real design expertise. In most cases, all the layout and font choices are all done for you.  Here’s a quick rundown of the process:

Start your design by navigating to one of the sites online design programs and choose a design template. It’s usually just a question of picking a general business card design template, or a business card template that relates to your industry, i.e., Real Estate, Construction, or Health and Beauty.

Once you’ve chosen your template, you will be presented with a series of information boxes in which you can enter your business information, i.e., address, name title, contact.

In most cases, it’s just a question of typing in your details and sending your design off to print. The whole process is usually done in about 3 minutes!

Everything’s done in a virtual onscreen world where you only have to design ONE business card  – as opposed to Avery design templates where you’re required to design a whole ‘print page’ of actual business cards.  It’s certainly a lot less messy, a heck of a lot quicker, and a whole lot less frustrating experience!

Once you have approved your design you can checkout your design online. Costs can vary for business card from site-to-site and you’ll ALWAYS have to pay for shipping – even though some online print companies claim to supply ‘completely FREE business cards’.

Shipping will usually take around 3 days, so if you need your cards for a special event, conference, or meeting, it’s best to order at least a week in advance to ensure that you get your business cards on time.

People have been successfully creating cheap marketing materials using these business card templates as well as templates for postcards and letterheads, etc., for years! If you’re new to the business world and you were wondering how to create low-cost business cards and marketing materials, then it’s merely a question of knowing where the best sites are to create your promotions.

Cost-wise, you’ll probably pay around $40 to $50 for 500 business cards, which is not a lot of money to shell out for a real business card product. It certainly beats all the mess and hassle of trying to create them on-the-cheap with an inkjet printer. It’s a small price to pay to create that essential first impression and most important of all marketing materials- the business card.

Access to credit lines for businesses provides many advantages. Most business owners are aware credit lines are beneficial. The larger the company, the more advantageous a credit line. There are a variety of credit line products available on the market and the selection continues to expand.

For business owners in the startup phase of their company, the choice of financing available can be confusing. It may be difficult to decide which option best suits their circumstances. One popular product is a small business credit card. Another is an unsecured business line of credit. Understanding the practical details of each may be of assistance in determining your preference.

Small Business Credit Cards

The small business credit card is a form of credit line designed for new businesses. It is often obtained without difficulty. Small business cards payments are accepted by most suppliers, which may be attractive to entrepreneurs without a proven business history.

Bonus features are often attached to small business credit cards. Discounts or cost-effective options may be offered. A new business may find these opportunities attractive.

For a business without access to readily available funds, a small business card may be the answer.

There are drawbacks to small business credit cards however. Most credit card issuers compel the business owner to sign a personal liability agreement. This means that, if the business is unable to make payment on business debt incurred on the credit card, the owner will have put their own personal assets at risk to satisfy any arrears.

Another consideration is the business owner’s personal credit rating. An unfavourable business credit score may be included with the business owner’s own personal crediting rating. This may occur even though the owner has not used the business credit card for personal transactions. Obtaining a business credit card that does not oblige the owner to sign a personal liability agreement is recommended.

Unsecured Line of Credit

An unsecured line of credit does not require the business to provide assets, known as collateral, against the amount borrowed. In other words, if the business defaults on payment of the line of credit, the lender may not seize personal assets to recover its losses. To obtain this kind of financing, the business needs to have established an unblemished credit history. New businesses will not likely qualify for an unsecured line of credit. To become eligible, the new business must first build a business credit. As such, this form of financing may not be appropriate in the early stages of a business.

If the business has the requisite credit history and has existed for a period of time, the unsecured line of credit can be advantageous. As a business expands a higher credit line is often useful. This is especially true for businesses which make bulk purchases or have sizable expenses.

The unsecured line of credit charges a lower interest rate than small business credit cards. It also advances an increased credit limit. This may offer greater flexibility with comparable features to the small business credit card.

Important facts to remember are to build an excellent credit score, conduct research into which financing option best meets your business’s requirements, monitor your credit expenditures and make payments on schedule.

Your business’s prosperity and expansion will benefit if a business credit line is chosen and handled with care.

While it’s not impossible to run a small business or obtain small business credit without the aid of a credit card, it is a fact that utilizing a business credit card can come handy throughout your business credit journey, specifically in the initial years of your business. It empowers you to buy important supplies for your business, take advantage of cash back bonuses and frequent flyer miles for travel as well as postage. It is a well known fact that most small business seeks the help of business credit card to some degree in running their business while a select few, depend entirely on them. When used with caution, business credit card is one of the best methods to help building business credit.

Taking the rate of interest of repayment into consideration, credit card money is not cheap, yet it is fast and easy to acquire. This is the reason big credit card companies do all that is in their power to attract the attention of small business owners. It is a common practice for the credit card companies to use cash back bonuses, rewards of airline miles or free trips and free download of your tax record through software like quicken, as a tool of promotion.

Risks in using Business Credit Cards

All this being said, small business credit doesn’t come without risks and obstacles. Like any other field of business, you need to face trouble. If these troubles are not taken care of at the right time, you could face an unnecessary huge loss. But if precautions are taken to know how to handle such hazards, you can make your business credit building process smooth.

Take this for example; many first time users of business credit cards are not aware of the fact that for the first few years, till your business is established, your personal and business credit report will remain united. This is because, as your business has just begun, you would not have a registered credit profile with business credit agencies like Dunn & Bradstreet. If you are experiencing a financial glitch in your business and miss or delay a payment, it will be recorded in your personal credit report.

Risk of High Debt to Income Ratio

Take another instance for a clearer understanding; if you have accumulated some amount of debt in your credit card, it will be reported to your credit profile. While this is not a bad thing in business it will increase the gap between your income and debt making the debt to income ratio higher. This is because while you repay the debt with the profit gained through your company, it will not be recorded in your credit profile. This way you will lose the ability to get instant approval for loans and other financial assistance and benefits from lenders.

If you wish to solve these problems and have a high business credit score, do not hesitate to take the advice of reputed business credit services who can lend a helping hand through their years of experience. This way without any doubt your small business credit will improve.

Small businesses have established themselves as the backbone of the economy in the United States. In fact, it is primarily through the hard work and innovation of small businesses that we have been able to survive through the recent economic turmoil. The struggling economy has not only affected consumers, but also small businesses, and many business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to get the funding that they need to sustain their businesses. In addition, getting a business loan has become extremely difficult and without the proper funding many small businesses will unfortunately have to close their doors.

Credit cards are one of the best ways for you to fund your business in these truly tough times. As a business owner, it is important that you look into which small business credit cards are best for your particular situation  So what are the best small business credit cards?

The best small business credit cards should have all of the following characteristics:

Low or Fixed Annual Percentage Rate – If you are buying a lot with your credit cards transferring large balances from one credit account to another, then you are going to want to make sure that your credit card has the best possible annual percentage rate or APR for purchases and balance transfers.

Access to Balance Transfers – If you are planning to transfer a high interest balance to your new credit card, you should look for a card that waives the balance transfer fee or offers a low APR on the balance transferred.  In any case, do the math and make sure that the fees associated with the transfer are something you can handle.

Introductory Offers – Cards that come with different offers for a period of 12 to 15 months can be extremely useful for small business owners. For example, if your card offers a 0% APR on your purchases for a period of 15 months, then you can buy all of the things that you need without having to worry about paying enormous interest rates before you have a chance to pay off the balance.  No annual fees, low or no interest on balance transfers and free employee cards are other examples of introductory offers that may fill a niche in your business needs.

Grace Period – Some small business credit cards also allow you to defer payments for a period of a few months. This can be extremely helpful when it comes to the cash flow challenges that small businesses common find themselves having to contend with.

The right business credit card can really make a difference in these difficult economic times.  And while finding the best small business credit cards may not be easy, as a business owner it’s important that you do what it takes to get your business the financing that it needs.  The country is counting on it

Financing a business can be a challenge, especially if you only have limited funds in your account.  Most entrepreneurs seek out business loans or bank loans in order to finance their businesses.  Aside from traditional business loans, what other options do you have?  Where can you get additional assistance for your business financing purposes?  In this article, we’ll be talking about business credit cards and how they can help in shouldering your expenses and in building your business credit.

Small Business Credit Cards – Wonderful Financing Tools

You don’t have to be a big company to qualify for business credit cards.  Nowadays, credit card companies have issued cards that are especially designed to meet the needs of small business entrepreneurs or home based enterprisers.  Whether you own a small or big business, you can surely find a business credit card that suits your needs.

Can you apply for a credit card even if you’ve just started your business?  The answer is yes.  Even if you haven’t yet established a separate credit history for your company, credit card companies will still consider your application by taking a look at your personal credit.  If you have a good to excellent credit score, you can have an easier time getting approved for small business credit cards with the best deals.  

Nevertheless, if your personal credit score isn’t as impressive as you hoped it would be, you can still get approved for a secured business credit card.  Secured cards are particularly designed for entrepreneurs who have a problem with bad credit.  This business credit card is secured by submitting a certain amount of deposit to the card holder’s account.  In fact, you can use a secured business credit card to start building your business credit.

How can business credit cards help with your financing demands?  First, it frees up your available cash flow so you can save them for your basic expenses.  Having a business credit card also gives you the assurance that you have a reliable financial resource in case of unexpected or emergency expenses.  For start up businesses, credit cards are a great way to invest on the equipment you need without paying for them in cash.

Another advantage of using business credit cards is you can track your spending more conveniently.  Aside from the monthly statements of account sent by your credit card issuer, you can also use the quarterly and yearly account summaries as references to your bookkeeping and accounting tasks.  Many business credit cards provide downloadable account summaries which you can use along with your accounting software.  These references will prove to be invaluable especially in filing your business taxes.  By checking out the exact items you’ve purchases, you can easily determine which ones can be written off from your taxes.

As we’ve said, one of the most important uses of business credit cards is helping you build credit.  How can you build a strong business credit with the use of your credit card?  By staying within your credit limit, using your credit card exclusively for business purposes, paying off your balances in full each month and by promptly submitting your payments.

The potential benefits and advantages of using credit cards for any small business are too significant and probably too numerous to be easily ignored.

Business credit cards are in fact an excellent tool for managing small business expenses. At first this may seem to be a strange statement in view of the well known fact that it is much easier for spending to spiral out of control when using plastic than when somebody is paying hard cash. Indeed this is one of the key factors in human nature that has helped make the credit card business so successful and prosperous. However the truth of the matter is that impulse spending or reckless expenditure is usually very unlikely in business spending. If anything most small businesses have to count their pennies carefully to survive. So the downside of plastic money or credit cards does not come in play at all.

Purchases Are A Critical Area For Small Business – Credit Cards Can Help

Spending and purchasing is an important part of any business big or small. In fact expenditure and purchases usually have such a major impact on the bottom line that the general financial performance of a business depends on it being run properly. To start with timely information is so important that it has often meant the death or survival of many a small business. It is often important to know where the money is going so that problems can be detected early and action and decisions taken in a timely fashion to avert more serious financial problems for a small business.

This is exactly where one of the key advantages of credit cards for small businesses comes into play. The magic here is in the expense reporting that comes in the form of detailed and itemized monthly statements. Analysis is further made even easier with the inclusion of category breakdowns.

So, if for instance expenses are running overboard in a certain area and which will definitely have an impact on profits, then it can be seen early and dealt with. Quite often runaway costs or expenditure are the symptom and not the disease, so the small business manager gets a chance to identify the “disease” early and deal with it accordingly.

Business Credit Card Reporting System Ideal For Small Business Owner

Anybody with some small business experience will deeply appreciate this advantage because the reality on the ground is that the principal decision maker or decision makers in a small business will usually tend to be very busy and involved in dozens of different critical activities in the business that identifying potential problems is never an easy thing. But with business credit cards and their detailed reporting system through statements, the ball game changes dramatically to the advantage of the small business owner.

What makes things even easier and more convenient is the fact that most business credit card issuers provide statements that are available online and can be downloaded and merged with some popular small business accounting software. This saves on valuable time for the often-understaffed small business operation. In fact with this online option, daily monitoring is made possible.

The result of all this is that just by obtaining a business credit card, a small business turns its’ accounts department into a paperless but extremely efficient reporting unit that is actually run by somebody else who end up footing most of the overhead costs that go with it.

When you add other advantages that go with business credit cards like cash back rewards and frequent flyer airline miles, then the importance of every small business using business credit cards becomes obvious.

In an age of on-line payments and multinational business ventures, many small business owners are finding business credit cards to be a smart choice for simplifying payments, organizing expenses, and expanding the capability and autonomy of employees both locally and abroad. Before diving right in and applying for a small business credit card, however, every responsible business owner should ask himself or herself: is a small business credit card the right choice for my business?

There are several factors that can help determine this, but one of the simplest is how long the company has been in existence. Until a company has been around for at least two years, many banks and credit card companies may be reluctant to draw enough conclusions about the company’s financial responsibility to approve a large line of credit. In cases such as these, whether a business credit card is approved or not will depend on the personal financial and credit history of whatever individual–from business partner to simple employee–actually puts in the application for the card. This may not be a problem in the case of a rock-solid personal finance history, but if there’s any doubt, acquiring a good business credit card may be a trickier proposition.

Another thing to watch out for in the case of a startup small business is the question of personal financial liability. Since Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886, corporations have had the legal status of individuals, except insofar as business credit cards for startup companies are concerned. The first years of any business are the hardest, and in the case of company bankruptcy, any outstanding financial obligations based on a business credit card will be the original applicant’s responsibility to meet. In the case of a large financial obligation, this can be a disaster for personal finance. Of course this is no argument against small business credit cards in all cases–far from it. However, any company interested in setting up a small business credit card would be wise to double-check its business plan and make sure that, in the rare event that the worst occurs, a “Plan B” for paying off the credit balance is firmly in place.

Even established small businesses would do well to examine their financial needs before taking the plunge with a business credit card. In the case of a business which involves a great deal of travel on the part of its employees, a large on-line business component, or a wide variety of expenses that require the business to deal with a number of different suppliers, a small business credit card is virtually essential. However, some small businesses are largely local, largely service-based, or have only a handful of employees authorized to make purchases. In cases like this, the reluctance of a few business credit card providers to allow disputes over billing errors or payments may actually complicate expense reporting and year-end inventories–sometimes a very real problem in the case of small businesses that have expanded far beyond their original business plan or intentions, resulting in a draconian system of purchaser agreements and expense accounts. So the decision to apply for a small business credit card should be made carefully, with defined uses for the card well in place, and a possible light restructuring of the business might even be warranted in order to ensure that payment responsibilities and individual employee purchasing requirements are well-defined in order to avoid possible later problems.

With all of these caveats, are business credit cards ever a good idea? Absolutely: these caveats represent only a few problems, nothing compared to the wealth of tools a good small business credit card can provide for a burgeoning small business. A good business credit card can–and usually does–simplify inventory management and tax reporting, allow employees a greater degree of autonomy on travel, make e-commerce easy, and, depending on “rewards” or travel mileage options, can even directly offset a large share of the expenses for some businesses. So yes, a small business credit card is, in the majority of cases, the smart choice for a small business. But as with all financial matters, care should be taken to determine when that smart choice should be made, or whether the business is structured to take full advantage of it.

Money is not everything. There are travelers’ checks, money orders, and credit cards. When you start your own business, there’s a way for you to obtain much-needed capital, too. This way is called small business financing credit card.

Small business financing credit card, also known as small business starter credit cards, is a great way to keep your personal and business finances separate.

Personal Credit Card Versus Small Business Financing Credit Card
In the past and even at present, lots of entrepreneurs rely on their personal credit to get their business up and running. The problem with this is that they carry the debt from their business into their personal credit cards. Ultimately, they end up hurting their personal credit scores.

This is where small business financing credit cards come in. They offer higher credit limit. Additionally, they keep business and personal expense separate, thereby making it painless to track tax deductions. More importantly, you may write off your small business financing credit card’s finance charges and annual fees.

Why Get a Small Business Financing Credit Card

1. Build Credit
A small business financing credit card is a good way to build a financial history. Your business is a start-up; it’s unknown. This makes it difficult for your business to obtain loans. A small business financing credit card will remedy this. It will provide banks with the spending footprints they need to reassure themselves you’re a responsible borrower.

2. Avoid Intermingling
When it comes to managing your expense, there’s one thing you should always do. Segregate, segregate, segregate. Do not mix business and personal transactions. This might later on create tax and money management problems.

3. Prevent Shoebox Accounting
It is always a nightmare to track business expenditures. With a small business financing credit card, however, you can turn the nightmare into one you can easily snap out of. Your credit card company will provide you with a year-end statement where you can find your transactions summarized, itemized, and categorized. With such a report available, there’s no need to keep a shoebox stacked with receipts.

4. Special Rewards
The credit card industry is so competitive providers fall over themselves to lure borrowers. Accordingly, a reward and discount program for small business credit card users was developed. Every time you use your small business financing credit card, you qualify for discounts and rewards, ranging from office supplies and plane tickets to phone services.

How to Manage Your Small Business Financing Credit Card Effectively
Credit cards, whether personal or corporate, will always be open to potential abuse. Effectively manage your small business financing credit card by:

1. Limiting card hopping
Sure, you qualify for multiple cards, but this does not mean you should sign up. You shouldn’t. This will only tempt you to overspend. It will hurt your credit rating, too.

2. Steering clear of cash advances
Never use this credit card feature unless you need to bail yourself out of jail. It comes with whooping credit card fees and interest costs.

3. Avoiding late payments
The more delinquent your payments are, the higher the fees and interest rates you would be saddled with. Moreover, late payments hurt your credit reputation.

4. Using grace
Many companies offer a 21-day grace period to clients before asking them to pay for purchases. Turn this to your advantage by drawing up a schedule of your purchases and payments.

Use your small business financing credit card prudently. Remember, credit cards should be a financial safety net, not a trap.

So, you say you’ve got a small business and you’re looking for a credit instrument that could tailor itself to your business requirements? Well, your search ends here. Small business credit cards fit right in, helping you separate business and personal expenses.

A study by the Tower Group reports that two out of three small businesses use a small business credit

card for purchasing and financing. So why are small business credit cards so prevalent? Small business credit cards offer small businesses a crucial edge allowing small business owners to expand or limit the growth of their business, as needed, providing the flexibility necessary to match their company’s growth needs.

Small Business Credit Card Edge

Help with Your Cash Flow: The best use of borrowed finances is to assist with month to month cash flow. Small business credit cards help you get the much needed credit to help your business grow while providing a margin of safety for your cash flow needs.

Maintaining Independent Accounts: Mixing your personal and business transaction accounts could lead to poor money management and potential tax problems. With a small business credit card, you’ll be able to maintain separate accounts on your personal card.

Help Balancing Your Books: This one is thrown in for free. With your card company maintaining an ongoing transaction record, you will have a convenient record of all transaction items that can be reconciled at tax time. Simply have the credit card company provide you an itemized list of all purchases made using their credit card and you’ll have some built-in transparency on all of your spending activities and financial accounts.

Build Your Credit Limit: Small businesses looking to expand need capital. You card provides your business with an opportunity to build your credit limit with consistent use and repayment over time. Access to more capital offers financial muscle to help grow the business, providing larger income opportunities for the small business owner.

Pre-Set Employee Spending Limits: For businesses wanting to keep a tight watch over their finances, these cards usually offer preset spending limits for employees, providing an excellent check and balance system for all your company expenditures.

Take Advantage of Special Offers: The competitive market has forced credit card companies to throw in special discounts and rewards programs. By examining the travel and entertainment requirements of your company, you will be able to grab offers that can help reduce your expenses through the use of reward point systems.

Tips for Selecting Small Business Credit Cards

If your existing business partners provide a small business credit card, it is probably a good idea to stick to them as you are more likely to get favorable rates and credit lines with an established credit line. Late payment and other such penalties will have to be borne by the company and not the employee. Therefore, give cards only to employees you absolutely trust and only provide credit limits that are in line with their expenditure requirements. Make sure the card you choose is widely accepted so that it helps meet everyone’s expense item needs.

Small business credit cards are quickly establishing themselves as an efficient way to increase capital and buying power for small businesses. While this calls for responsibility in its management, a small business credit card could go a long way in changing the face of your business for the better.