A family business is a commercial project in which members of the family are involved. This can include many possible combinations, such as husbands and wives, parents and children, several generations, and extended families taking the roles of advisers, board members, employees and stockholders.

There are many benefits associated with a family business. However, there are also many disadvantages related to starting a business venture with your family. Let’s take a look at the Pros & Cons of the family business!

Pros

Family-owned businesses are supposedly ideal because family members develop a grounded and loyal foundation for the company. In addition, family members will often show more commitment to their common goals. To help bring about familiarity with the company, it is important to have a certain level of closeness among the owners of a business.

Having family partners around provides a built-in support system that should ensure solidarity and teamwork. Other advantages of a family business include shared values, loyalty trust and long-term stability. Families also tend to make sacrifices for the sake of the business.

When it comes to mistakes, work schedules, as well as work-related decisions and judgments, families are more likely to be lenient and forgiving. In a family business, there may be more freedom to work a flexible or part-time schedule, or to decide your own hours.

Cons

In a family business, the owners may sometimes promote family members automatically. Or, they may tend to give them responsibilities even if they do not have sufficient skills for the position. Being related to the owners does not mean the person will be best suited to a given job. A company that employs only families may end up having some bad apples. Skill and work experience may sometimes be neglected. After all, you cannot expect all family members to love the business.

Family businesses bring up a lot of encounters. They can be a source of struggle when it comes to identity development, sibling relationships and issues on succession. The most difficult challenge that many family businesses face is succession. It is when the older generation does not allow the younger ones the needed room to develop, learn and grow.

On the other hand, there might be times when no one in a subsequent generation wants to undertake the leadership spot in his parent’s business. Sometimes, relationships among siblings or between parents and children tend to worsen due to lack of communication within the family. This dysfunctional conduct can result in criticism, judgments and lack of support.

Tips for starting a business?

Starting a successful business requires a good plan. Nowadays, many people work online by creating a website. Whether you want to sell products or offer services, your site can be successful if you brand yourself well and advertise.

For instance, Lucky Pants Bingo can be taken as a reference point. It is a website where you can play online bingo with slots. Launched in 2013, luckypantsbingo.com started as a small site. It has now established itself well and works in collaboration with many leading software providers.

Plan well, refine your idea and set things rolling!

Admit it: You were that rare kid who, rather than babble on about becoming an astronaut or firefighter or veterinarian, confidently told all who’d listen that you couldn’t wait to work in the banking industry.

Even your teachers raised eyebrows at that one.

But now you’re older, and your dreams are within reach. You’re feeling your way up the lower rungs of the financial industry, ready to make your mark. What should you do to ensure your drive to succeed isn’t waylaid?

Start with these six strategies, each appropriate for early- to mid-career finance professionals.

1. Go Back to School (If You Can Bear It)

No one wants to hear that they must go back to school to advance their career. Fortunately, the prospect isn’t as painful as many assume. Thanks to the online learning renaissance, it’s easier than ever to get a quality online MBA on your own schedule, perhaps in as little as 18 to 24 months.

2. Find a Headhunter Who Knows Your Industry

If that big promotion isn’t forthcoming, consider broadening your aperture and finding a headhunter with connections throughout the industry. C-level executives, like the CFO of NexBank, trod this path often, with great success.

3. Become a Fixture at Industry Conferences

Visibility is the lifeblood of thought leadership, which in turn is the lifeblood of upward mobility. Even if you have to pay your own way occasionally, make time for industry conferences, especially those related to your area of expertise. The more face time you’re able to put in at conferences, the more likely potential employers are to remember your name.

4. Get More Active on LinkedIn

Start by connecting with lateral and higher-ranking peers on LinkedIn. Then, get in the habit of publishing at least one high-quality piece of content each week, ideally treating topics you see frequently in your day-to-day.

5. Contribute to Your Employer’s Blog

Keep the content parade going with regular contributions to your employer’s blog. You may need to volunteer for this gig, and you probably can’t be too overtly self-promotional, but remember — right now, it’s all about visibility.

6. Never Stop Networking

Your network never takes a day off. Why should you?

Every moment you find yourself in a room with another finance professional is a moment made for networking. Don’t let it go to waste.

You Are Client #1

Wherever your finance career takes you, remember one thing well: You are your most important client.

Sure, your training tells you to always put your actual clients first. And that’s great advice to follow if you’re serious about making your way in a competitive industry like banking and finance.

But you’re not going to reach your true potential if you constantly sublimate your own ambitions to the will of others. Mentors and true friends aside, most “others” simply don’t care that much if you succeed or fail. You need to stand up and advocate for yourself, come what may.

You have it within you to reach the top of the financial industry’s heap, as long as you’re willing to do what it takes to get there.

Buying a car is a substantial financial decision. For some people, it takes careful consideration and planning. Apart from choosing how to finance the purchase, you also need to account for running expenses. But, since a car is already considered a basic necessity in modern societies, the best way to buy a vehicle is to consider all financing options and select one that is right for you.

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Often people write a resume and thus end all the preparation process for a job search. However, such an approach can be compared with going into battle with a sword (resume), but without a shield (cover letter).

A cover letter is needed to interest the employer in your candidacy. You must write it, and moreover, you should do it for each vacancy separately. A unique and correctly written cover letter is the first step to work in your dream company. A good cover letter can be a decisive argument when choosing between two similar candidates.

Little Bit of Stats:

• According to various sources, recruiters spend from 6.25 seconds to 30 seconds on viewing one resume. Apparently, they are also not ready to spend a lot of time on a cover letter. So the first paragraph is the most important.
• Paradox, but along with it, 90% of HR consider the cover letter to be the essential format of applying for a job. They respond much more positively to responses with cover letters even if they do not have time to read them.
• According to recent research, recruiters are 15% more likely to prefer emotional stories to constructive writing with plain facts, all else being equal.

Thus, the main aim may be set like “to find a balance between creativity and appropriateness, as well as good writing and brevity.”

…But the Right Attitude First

Do not put yourself in the position of “looking for work.” You should put yourself in the “offer my services” position. You wouldn’t believe it, but this approach is going great. This should read from the first to the last line of your letter – you are a professional, and you have something to offer. You’ll probably think: “Well, what about people who yet not have 5-10 years of experience? Being fresh out of college or university, what can I give the company?” Do not despair, and never underestimate your strengths!

Youth and inexperience may relate to them too if you know how to present it. For instance, you may have fewer skills, but more motivation, a fresh look at a particular industry and more relevant education! Do not forget that these days, any industry is developing very rapidly, and the later a person got an education, the more correct and topical set of knowledge he had obtained.

Many teams wouldn’t mind having a fresh pair of eyes and take young people at least to raise the general team spirit. Take, for example, app creators and builders – here one can find templates on how to present yourself to this position as well as learn the perfect candidate’s qualities. So, the bulk of the professionals involved in the mobile apps market are people in their 30-40s. But they use apps differently than those who are 20-25. Why? Because they learned to use them at a conscious age, and young people were born with them. So everyone has their own trump cards. Just think and find them!

How to Write a Cover Letter: 5 Essential Rules

1. Remember that a cover letter is kind of an announcement of your CV, not a retelling. In the CV, you may dwell on your past and present, but you’d better focus on the future in your cover letter.
2. Write a cover letter for a specific company and vacancy. Companies need to understand why you want to work with them and what you can offer them.
3. Do not use cliches just because they are beautiful and long. Cliches, formalisms, and abstract epithets do not help you interest an HR recruiter. Official and impersonal letters are annoying because they do not provide an answer to the main question – why do you think you will be the best in this position. In addition, employers and HRs are so tired of such careless and unprofessional cover letters that they may put aside your file or even not review it at all.
4. Do not neglect the logic and follow the structure of the text. It should be easy to read.
5. Be sure to check for both factual and spelling mistakes, misprints. An illiterate cover letter reduces your chances of getting an offer.

What to Put in a Cover Letter. Step-by-Step Guide

1. Who are you contacting?

Try to clarify the person’s name and address him or her in person. But if this is not possible, simply write: “Dear Recruiting Manager or Dear Human Resources Professional of such and such a company” or something similar. Such a generic wording would be appropriate – you should not try to show your imagination in a salutation if you want to be courteous and tactful.

1. What do you want?

Immediately indicate which position you are applying for. This will make life easier for the recruiter – they can have a lot of vacancies. It is also good to refer to the source from which you learned that the job is open.

1. Why do you submit a CV to this exact company and this position?

Tell why you are interested in this professional area or niche. And most importantly – why you want to work in this company. To answer this question briefly and clearly but personally, you have to look for the company’s website, study its social network profiles, and create your own sincere opinion.

1. Why should this company hire you?

List all the arguments that prove that your qualifications match this job. Think about what kind of problems this company probably has which they want to solve with the help of this vacancy. Describe how you can be useful. Talk about what exactly you can offer to the employer, instead of writing about “great experience,” “leadership skills,” and “stress tolerance.”

1. Do you meet all the requirements for the job?

Link the information to what you learned from the job description. Prove to the recruiter that you match the requirements. Use information about a vacancy to write a cover letter (items from the sections “Requirements” and “Job Description”). Be sure to show that you have the necessary skills. This is especially important if formally, you do not fully meet the specified requirements.

1. Be sure to thank at the end of the letter

Still, the person paid attention to your cover letter and spent time on it.

Common Cover Letter Mistakes

• Failure to comply with the rules of business communication.
• Cliche, repetitions, superfluous and meaningless epithets (instead of them, it is better to give specific facts, figures, and examples).
• The structure is broken, or the text is written in one piece, without paragraphs and highlights.
• Grammar errors (be sure to check your text – there are enough special online services).

Read your letter several times, do not forget to attach a resume and feel free to send it to your employer!

P.S.

And here is one more tip! P. S. attracts attention in any letter – this is a psychological effect. Even if the reader merely scrolls the text, the postscript catches the eye, since subconsciously we think that there must be something important in this part of the message. Marketers are well aware of this and actively use this fact in email newsletters.

For cover letter writing, this method can be used to provoke feedback.

Did you realize nearly 20 percent of Americans have no money in savings? If you are one of these people, now is the time to take control of your finances. The longer you allow these financial mistakes to linger, the harder you will find it to live comfortably.

Most people don’t have the knowledge or the experience needed to make important financial decisions on their own. This is why working with a financial advisor is a good idea. These professionals will be able to offer you advice on everything from creating a budget to planning for retirement.

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Do you know the significance of promotion and marketing for the cryptocurrency is the same as it is for any other industry? Many cryptocurrency marketing companies have now stepped into the advertising industry – and the sole purpose is to promote the industry. Mostly, such companies are running promotions with blockchain marketing.

As you may know, the cryptocurrency market is getting crowded quickly. To survive in the industry, your cryptocurrency needs an effective and unique marketing strategy. If you don’t know how to do cryptocurrency marketing, here are some of the best strategies to help you get started.

1.   Social Media

A unique and effective social media marketing strategy can allow you to build an engaged audience for your cryptocurrency or coins. The first step is to create a dedicated page for your cryptocurrency on social media sites like Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

The next step is to motivate people to like or join your page so that they get updated information about the cryptocurrency or coins. Many people are using assets as a way to earn cryptocurrency but then don’t know how to do marketing for cryptocurrency. One way to do it accurately is by hiring a professional and qualified social media marketing company for your cryptocurrency promotions.

2.   Bitcoin Communities

There are many online communities where you can promote your cryptocurrency offering. However, the best way to do it is through the official Bitcoin community. So, first and foremost, you are required to identify or find the relevant community sites and join them. It is important to participate in ongoing discussions before you start talking or promoting your own currency. It is because you need to build trust within the community.

3.   Paid Promotions

For people who have a little knowledge of online marketing tactics, it is best to hire a paid marketing service. Online platforms such as Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook provide paid promotional services. Basically, this involves displaying banners, advertisements, and videos, etc. about your cryptocurrency on established sites with the objective to gain more and more traffic from them.

4.   Email Marketing

Email marketing is also known as “Direct Marketing.” When you create a high-quality email campaign, it will help you produce incredible results. The process involves sending targeted emails about your cryptocurrency product to a specific audience. Experts say that this is a great strategy to share information about your cryptocurrency. Nonetheless, it is important that you build an email list and only include those people who are actually interested in your cryptocurrency product.

5.   Website

Last but not least, before you launch your cryptocurrency or coin, it is important to develop and manage a website. First, find a relevant website design and then create an online platform that could be helpful and useful for your potential investors.

Through a website, you can interact with your audience and convince them about investments in your cryptocurrency, the advantages, and the potential future of the currency. Similarly, you can’t expect people to find out about currency and make investments unless and until you give them thorough information through sufficient resources.

When you are in a management position, you can’t guess and estimate the risks and dangers of your business. When the company needs you, you need certainty.

Learning business risk management is not as grueling as it may appear. It can boil down to a 3 step process.

How does this process work? Today we can show you a quick look at how you can master business risk management.

Identify Potential Risks

The first step requires you to identify the potential risks you may face. There can come in a lot of different forms, so we will go over the risk types.

The biggest thing to remember with this step is that risks come in all different sizes and you can’t ignore any of them. Tiny risks may be easy to fix, but if ignored, they can turn into major issues. Complacency does not help you.

Physical Risks

Physical risks are the problems that can come up in the workplace itself. This can items like environmental hazards and employee issues.

1. Location Risks

Your workplace, whether it is a factory or office, needs to meet all the safety standards. Following safety regulations help to cover a lot of these risks.

Things like hazardous materials, the region’s risk of natural disasters, and fire safety are some of the more common ones.

Even a building’s remoteness can affect the emergency service’s ability to arrive on time.

2. Human Risks

Most employee risks come from negligence and illegal activities like embezzlement, theft, and fraud. Most of these you can screen out in thorough interviews and routine performance inspections.

3. Technology Risks

Technology can be fickle. That much electricity can cause hazards and losing power can erase productivity.

The more computers and other devices you have operating in one location, the more you must protect and look them over.

Strategic and Financial Risks

Strategic and financial risks are the most uncertain of risks. The biggest reason why is that not all of these risks are bad and most of them are a natural part of the business.

By definition, all investments are a risk. Research and development is a strategic risk. Banks lending money count as a financial risk. The key here is that without these, these businesses lose out on a lot of potential business.

Assess the Risk

Once you have seen the risks that can come up to your company, you need to move to step 2 and assess these risks.

Even the slimmest of dangers needed assessment, to ensure that the danger is slim and not unmanaged.

Your assessment should lead right into the final step and showcase how much each risk needs your focus. This includes how much danger the risk poses to assets, how much money is on the line if the risk happens, and what you can do.

Find a Solution

Step 3 is what you can do with each risk. This step requires you to find the most efficient and viable solution to each problem. As each risk can be different, you need to go off of the assessment from step 2 to evaluate each solution.

For most physical risks, safety procedures and localized management is the best overall solution. Most of the time there are enough warning signs to catch problems in these areas before they happen.

For strategic and financial risks, the strongest defense can be in risk mitigation. This can come in financial safety nets for when investments do not pan out.

Captive insurance is a great example of good risk mitigation.

Business Risk Management Managed

Mastering business risk management comes easier with this 3 step process. To get the handle on the system, though, requires a lot of experience and trial and error.

For more financial guidance and information, we here at The Free Financial Advisor are eager to help! Check out our other articles today!

Did you know that in the first half of 2018, lenders mailed some 1.26 billion personal loan solicitations?

That’s a lot of solicitation letters!

This may help explain how Americans ended up owing $125.4 billion in personal loans in the second quarter of 2018.

Another possible reason is the increase in credit application rejection rates that year. After getting turned down for credit, many applicants turn to personal loans instead.

If you find yourself in the same boat, or you seriously need money now, you’re likely thinking of applying for a loan. But before you do, make sure that you first understand what a loan entails. This way, you can make an educated decision on which loan is right for you.

Ready to become a responsible and smart borrower? Then read on to learn more about loans and what to do before taking one out!

Know Your Credit Score

An applicant’s credit score is one of the key factors that lenders consider. This is especially true in the case of traditional lenders, like banks and credit unions.

One reason is that a person’s credit score is an indication of repayment ability. It also shows lenders that a consumer pays their debts and credit obligations on time. So, the higher a loan applicant’s credit score is, the lower the risks that lenders take on.

For borrowers, this means that their credit score affects their loan’s approval rate. The higher a person’s credit score, the greater their chances of getting a yes from a lender. Excellent scores also land borrowers more favorable terms, such as lower interest rates.

So, how’s the U.S. doing in terms of credit performance?

The latest reports show that only 21% of Americans have exceptional FICO scores. If these people apply for a loan, they will enjoy the lowest bank prime rates, which is currently at 5%.

Conversely, lower credit scores equate to higher interest rates. People with very poor credit scores may not qualify for any loan at all. In fact, back in 2017, poor credit scores were the reason why 32% of loan applications were denied.

If you’re unsure of where your credit stands, don’t hesitate to request a copy of your credit report. It’s free, and it’ll allow you to check for any discrepancies in your report. You’d want to dispute and get those possible errors fixed before applying for and taking out a loan.

Always Compute the True Cost of a Loan

Let’s say you already know your current credit score or you don’t have time to wait for the copy of your report. Even in cases like this, you should still take time to compute the total cost of each loan offer you get.

Even a 1% difference in interest rates can make a big difference. Getting a 1% lower interest rate can save you hundreds and even thousands if you take out a major loan.

For simplicity’s sake, let’s use a $1,500 loan with a six-month term as an example. Lender A charges a monthly 7% interest rate, while Lender B charges a monthly 8% interest rate.

With Lender A’s offer, your interest payments would be $105 a month, or a total of $630 for six months. Your monthly loan payments will be $355, which means that in total, you’ll pay back the lender $2,130.

If you miss out on Lender A’s offer and go with Lender B, your monthly interest payments will be $120, for a total of $720. Every month, for six months, you’ll make a payment of $370. At the end of your loan term, you would have paid the lender $2,220.

That’s a considerable difference of $90. That’s money that you could’ve otherwise saved if you compared even just two loan offers. Imagine how much more you can save if you compare three or more!

Factor in Your Repayment Ability

Now that you know how the basic loan payment structure works, let’s talk about your ability to pay back a loan.

For this, you’ll need to deduct your monthly expenses from your take-home pay. Let’s say you make $3,000 a month, and your expenses are $2,500. This means you have an “extra” $500 a month.

If you take out a loan with the exact terms we used in the above example, then you would be able to pay it back. Of course, it’s always a good idea to put away whatever you can into your savings account. But if you’re in dire need of cash now, then technically, you can afford to take out a loan similar to our example.

But what if your salary “left-over” is equal to your estimated monthly loan repayment?

In that case, you’d end up stretching your finances too thin, and you’d be at risk of coming up short once your loan due is up. This may force you to take out even more debt to avoid defaulting on your current one.

To avoid this, it’s best to take out a loan that has a smaller principal. A smaller loan amount will translate to smaller monthly payments. You’ll also pay less interest over the life of your loan.

If you can’t afford to get a smaller loan amount, then at least get a longer-term loan. This comes with lower monthly payments, so it’s easier to pay back every month. However, since you’ll stretch your payments over more months, you’ll also be in debt longer.

Prepare Your Financial Documents

Speaking of salary, you’ll need to provide proof of income and employment to lenders. This goes for both traditional and online lenders.

Online lenders usually ask for fewer documents, which may either be a salary letter or pay stubs. Whereas banks require both, plus W-2 forms.

If you have a side job or also take on freelance jobs, be sure to provide proof for these, too. They add to your income, so they can help boost your chances of securing a loan.

If you’re self-employed, prepare at least two years’ worth of tax returns. Gather receipts, invoices, bank statements, and proof of assets. All these can help prove your ability to pay back a loan.

Lenders will also ask you for government-issued IDs, including drivers licenses and passports.

Don’t Lose Hope if One Lender Turns You Down

Just because one lender rejected you doesn’t mean the next one will. Banks and credit unions aren’t your only option, as there are now more than 200 digital lenders in the US.

That said, you may want to give these lenders a go if a bank denied your previous application and you need money ASAP. They have looser lending requirements, so their loans are easier to qualify for. It’s also due to their more relaxed policies that 38% of approved personal loans in 2018 came from them.

Always Verify the Legitimacy of Online Lenders

Before you apply for a loan online, confirm that a legitimate company is behind the website. Looking up a lender’s registration or license is one way to do this.

Note that each state has its own regulations, but they do require lenders to be a registered business.

For example, in Texas, the law requires lenders like tiempoloans.com to hold a license. They also need to register with the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner of Texas. Before a lender can get licensed, it must satisfy everything in the state’s finance code.

Other states follow similar lending regulations, so it’s best you know your state laws. This way, you can avoid shady businesses or paying exorbitant interest rates.

Consider Borrowing Against Your Assets if You Need Money Now

If you have no or low credit score, but you have valuable assets, consider applying for a secured loan. In this case, your asset, say a vehicle in great condition, can serve as collateral. Collateral reduces the risks for lenders, so they’re more inclined to approve a loan.

Before you accept a secured loan, make sure that you can really make the repayments on time. Defaulting on this kind of loan can mean losing your property. The lender will liquidate the collateral so they can recover the money they lost.

Never Borrow More Than What You Can Pay Back on Time

This may seem obvious, but the fact is, loan delinquencies are still very common. Just take the 7 million Americans who have serious delinquencies on their car loans. Forbes reports that 11.4% of the 44.7 million student loan accounts are now also on serious delinquency status.

Loans are no doubt helpful, but they can lead to long-term debts. So, be careful when borrowing money. Even if you get approved for a high amount, make sure you can afford to pay it back. If in doubt, take out a lower amount.

Start Shopping Around for the Best Loan Now

There you have it, your in-depth guide on loans and how to ensure that you can pay them back. Even if you need money now, hold your horses for a bit longer so you have more time to explore your loan options. This way, you can compare interest rates and terms and determine which loan offer is best for your needs.

Need more help figuring out your expenses or how to pay back your debts? Then don’t forget to check out and bookmark our site’s Spending Plan and Debt Management pages!