Copyright (c) 2011 Monica Shah

Every week I meet women who are afraid to use credit cards for their businesses or who have business debt for which they carry much shame. I’d like to set the record straight on debt for small business owners. This is simply how I see it and it is a controversial topic. I invite you to make your own decisions around using debt, or what I’d like to call leverage, in your business.

There is not a single large company out there that does not have some sort of debt on the books. And, most companies start with a loan or funding to help them get through the first three years.

Many of you as small business owners who run a client-based business (that’s you as a coach, consultant, designer, speaker, financial planner, accountant, lawyer, acupuncturist, etc) do not start with any money to run your business, no loan, no funding. Since a business needs time to grow, cash flow is slow at the start. This puts you in an incredibly high-pressured situation to make money yesterday. Can you relate?

So what happens when you don’t have cash flow? You end up working super hard, hiring low quality vendors, and trying to learn as you go along. You can’t invest in high-quality business coaching, get the support you need and take the time to think about your businesses from the big picture. The result is a business that is unorganized, not very profitable and colossal time-suck for the owner.

Here’s where credit cards come in handy.

Credit cards (especially interest-free ones) can serve as a short-term loan in your business. You can put things like website redesign, virtual assistants, business coaching and training on your card to make your life easier in the beginning.

Here’s the trick. You have to make smart decisions on your investments and you must create a plan to pay off those investments within 6-12 months.

How do you make a smart spending decision? 1. Ask questions. Do not hire anyone without asking questions and making sure the vendor can help your exact needs. Do not make emotional spending decisions.

2. Compare. Make sure you look at the market and find the person and services that are best suited to you and your business.

3. Write Down Your Thoughts. Put pen to paper and write down why you should spend the money. Do pros and cons. If the pros outweigh the cons, you are making the right decision.

How do you ensure you make a return on your investment for coaching and training programs? 1. Make sure the program has content that you can use in your business where you are right now. That way you can make money fairly quickly and be able to pay off your cards within 12 months. So if you are just starting a business, you want a general foundations program, not one that teaches you social media specifically. You need to learn how to get clients.

If you’ve been in business a while, you need one-on-one coaching to refine your marketing and help you get to the next level.

2. Take advantage of every aspect of the program. Go to every class, do the homework, ask questions. You can’t get the results if you don’t do the work.

3. Take 110% responsibility for your outcomes. Be real with yourself. If you’ve been focusing on your personal life, your business will not grow.

4. Get extra help when you need it. If you are in a group program, sometimes you may need some extra one-on-one attention to get your questions answered. Don’t be afraid to ask for that help (even if it means you have to pay for it). I know that I’ve bought extra hours from every single one of my coaches. And one 30-minute appointment that clears up a limiting belief can lead to thousands of dollars in income.

I hope this helps you to use credit cards in your business in a smart way – as leverage to help you get to the next level. Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.

Rapid Debt Reduction In 3 Simple Steps

Taking control of your finances is not only a great idea but sometimes a necessity. It is never too late to take control of your money and learn better ways of spending it. The first step for many involves finding rapid debt reduction solutions to get out of debt as soon as possible.

If you follow the strategies listed below you can find yourself moving toward debt freedom very quickly, however there is one thing you must to keep in mind. If you use these strategies to get out of debt you have to be disciplined enough to not over-use your credit cards anymore.

That is a vicious cycle many people can’t control. They pay off some debt and then turn right around and make frivolous purchases and are right back to where they started from. In order to live debt free you have to learn to live within your means and for many that is going to be the hardest part.

Here is a list of 3 simple steps you can start using today so that you can start working toward being debt free for the rest of your life:

1) Bring more money into your household or be more efficient with what you have. I know at first this may seem impossible but it’s really not. If you can’t add a part time job you can consider cutting back on some daily expenses such as eating out or buying coffee everyday. Use coupons or shop at cheaper stores.

All of these things can help you free up some extra money. If you apply that extra money to your debt you can pay it down much quicker than you will if you aren’t paying anything on the principle, which you aren’t if you are only making the minimum payments.

Another way to bring in more money into your household is to sell things. Anything you don’t want or need you can have a garage sale or sell it on Ebay. This may not bring in a lot of extra money but every little bit helps and you can apply it to your debt.That will help you get it paid off quicker.

2) Talk to the bank or credit card company. Banks are really taking a hit these days with so many people defaulting on mortgages and credit cards. They are more willing now than ever to work with you.

They might agree to lower your interest rate which would mean that for the same amount of payments you would be applying some to your principle and not just your interest.

3) A debt consolidation loan. This will allow you to get one loan that will cover all your debt. That way you’ll have only one payment which will be lower than the 10 different payments you were making before. You have to be very careful not to go out and use those credit cards you’ve just paid off. If you do that you will be right back where you started.

For a free guide and great tips on debt relief check out http://j.mp/hphtd and get started today.

Any information you get that would enhance your ability to make a good decision on the type of airline miles credit card to use is very important. One of the things we would consider here is the type of card you should choose. Which card would be better for you, one from a bank or one from an airline?

The primary thing to know is the difference between the card that is issued by a bank and one that is issued by an airline.

A bank funded card is one that you get directly from a bank. The bank issued cards give you more options for redeeming your air miles. You also get lower rates from these cards. Generally, you can fly with any airline , with the rewards you get on your card.

The cards you get from an airline limits you to the airline. Often times, you can only redeem your air miles with the air line. This can be very restrictive as that particular airline may not be traveling to the destination you want to go to at that point.

That was a simple clarification. Bearing the above explanation in mind, you can now decide what works best for you.

Airline Funded Credit Cards

These cards are best for people who fly a particular airline. Getting free miles that can be redeemed only on that airline is not a problem at all for such people.

If you want to really benefit from an airline mile credit card, ensure that your balance is paid. Use your credit card only as plastic money and not means for loan. You would only feel the burden of high rates that comes with these cards if you do not pay your balance when they are due.

Banks Funded Credit Cards

If you use these cards, you have more alternatives. You can redeem your air miles with any airline of your choice. It s up to you to decide what you want to use your air miles to get, like payment of hotel bills and other travel expenses .

You may also find that you need less air miles to redeem a reward when using these type of cards. You have many more details that you would have to read about in the terms and conditions.

Usually, airline miles credit cards offer you rewards for using your card just as you would have used any card anyways. If you travel a lot, you can really can benefit from this card because you would use this card just as you would use your other credit card and your frequent traveling would help you get air miles that you can then redeem for other travel expense or free ticket if you want.

One thing that bears repeating is this. These types of cards attract a higher interest rate than other cards, as you plan towards getting the card also arrange for how to pay your balance without fail. You do not want to earn rewards on the one hand and then pay back more that the worth of the rewards in interest rates because you did not pay your balance on time.

If you are very prudent, you would enjoy the airline miles credit cards.