The process of factoring refers to selling your accounts receivable invoices to a third party. The third party then assumes obligation of collecting the invoices, taking the weight off of your shoulders. For this “service” however, the third party will charge you a respectable fee by discounting the receivables market value.For instance, if your company sold a product for $50K to a client, and are still waiting to collect the $50K check, you may want to consider factoring. The factor will buy the invoice from you at a discounted price, perhaps for $45K, and will collect the $50K at a later date thus making $5K themselves.
 
The price a factor pays you depends on several things, such as the risk involved and time required until collection. However, the cash provided by these factors can be crucial to your business. If you are short on cash, opting for a factor may be a very appealing option. Likewise, if you operate in an industry with a long receivables turnover ratio, and have a substantial account receivables balance, third party factors may work wonders for your cash flows.
 
One of the best every day examples of third party factors is a credit card company. Although the business model is slightly different, the underlying concept is still that of a third party factor.
 
For example, 15 years ago you would go to the grocery store and pay your $100 grocery bill with a check. The grocery store would then hand the check over to the bank, where the bank processed the check and performed a funds transfer. The entire process could take anywhere from 3 to 7 days, if not more until the grocery store received the funds.
 
Today, you may pay that same bill with a credit card. The credit card company typically fronts the cash to the grocery store. Thus, the grocery store receives the money instantly, and not 7 days later. For this “service,” credit card companies charge an approximate 3% fee to the business. As a result, the grocery store only receives $97 dollars, but it has the funds right away.Many stores don’t mind credit card payments, despite the 3% fee, because it gives them instant cash, and also avoids the problem of bounced checks. Bounced checks are basically accounts receivables that never get collected, and simply cost your business money in the long run.
 
Although the example above is based on credit card companies and not a traditional third party factor, the same principles still apply. Cash is king, and the option of having cash instantly at a fee-based price may be very appealing to business seeking to raise capital in the short term.

Are you really getting ready to go on another diet? Which one is it this time? The no meat, no white foods, all meat, vegetables only, shakes, pills, surgery? Whew, I was starting to feel a pinch in the old fingertips trying to type these different diet fads that many people fall for.Please tell me you are not going down that road again. I don’t want to see you get hurt and quite frankly, you are doing more harm to your body and overall health than good.There is only one way to lose weight and keep it off.It has nothing to do with pills, shakes, greens, knives, or any other diet fad celebrity so and so is touting this week. We all know the secret but we let fast success deceive us into thinking we’ve finally done it. Then, we wonder why we have to search for our fat pants a few months down the road.I’d be willing to bet that clues to this secret reside in several rooms throughout your house. There really is a special secret for losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle. Oops, I may have given it away. Oh boy, I am not sure I can contain the excitement anymore, I just may burst.Back in 2009 I discovered the secret purely by accident. I spent many years in the gym, tracking the latest fad from Body for Life, to the Atkins craze, the cleanse coup, and a host of other books, pamphlets, literature, commercialism and, well, I hope you get the idea by now. In 2009 I weighed the most I have ever weighed in my life. I literally squeezed the life out of a scale we had had since our wedding day.While taking a trip down the driveway to throw away our beloved scale, I reflected on how I had ballooned to a whopping 327 pounds. Sure, I could blame the fact I went from playing ball and delivering furniture to coaching ball and teaching. Dare I blame the constant aching in my joints that makes me so lazy sometimes that I don’t even want to walk to the car to go out for dinner? Could I claim it was because I started my own business and was working more hours? Sure, I could use all of those excuses, but they were just that, blatant excuses that forced me to buy slip on shoes. I got tired of needing a nap after I bent over to tie my shoes.The secret was staring me in the face on a daily basis. When I brushed my teeth, the secret was there. When I shaved, the secret was there. When I washed my hands, put in my contacts, or need to get the not so cool drugs I need to keep me alive. The secret was ME.I had to stop thinking of my healthy weight as the lowest weight I had ever been before in my life. I had to stop comparing myself to others. I had to find my healthy weight for this quarter of the game my life is in. I had to actually do the work to find my body style and my ideal weight. I had to start asking myself things like, “Did my body shape or style play a role in my weight issues? “How much of my weight was fat?” Where was I holding the dreaded extra weight? I had to get my mind right in order to get my body right.I had to know myself inside and out so I could begin to create a LIFESTYLE change. I had to go all in forever, so I would put an end to the dizzying roller coaster ride my body was taking. It wasn’t doing the organs any good as I creep up in age.We’ve all seen some success with weight loss, but we keep putting it on, and doing this over and over again, and again. Does this sound boring and monotonous? Good, I hope it does and I hope it resonates deep within the depths of your soul. Down to the depths of the lighter healthier person inside.Here is HOW you have final success and live a healthier lifestyle. Do the things you do to lose the weight EVERY DAY. Modify when you get to the ideal weight as determined by doing the work describe above. If you need to TRACK your progress daily with the aid of the device that works best for you. (Phone, actual planners, notebook, etc.)Here are Five Common Sense Approaches to Living a Healthier Lifestyle.Go see your doctor. Share your ideas about changing your lifestyle. Have your doctor help you determine your ideal weight. Do not use the internet to find a chart depicting ideal weight. There are too many factors that come into play. For example, as a larger sized man who is 6’1″ tall, I should weight should be from 162-195 pounds roughly. Every doctor I’ve had that knows me, says my ideal weight based on my muscle mass and athletic build should be around 215-225 pounds.Losing weight as about calories in versus calories out. You need to find the amount of calories you have been eating on a regular basis. It is those calories that are keeping you at your current weight. Find a phone app or begin carefully reading labels for serving size and number of calories per serving. Right now your focus is C. out Vs. C. in, we can get into fats and chemicals later. You need to write down every bit of food you eat and know the exact number of calories you have taken in for 3 days in a row.Once you have that number of TOTAL calories consumed, divide it by 3 and that final number is your daily intake of calories that is keeping you at your current rate. Now you simply keep track of the food you eat and lower the number of calories eaten per day until you start losing 1 to 2 pounds a week. When I began tracking my calories in vs. out, I found that I was still eating donuts and turnovers for breakfast and I wasn’t really changing the foods I ate just the amounts.Supplementing is Okay and recommended, but not all supplements are equalYou wouldn’t follow the exact same diet as Suzy down the street does. I heard she blends greens in a blender and doesn’t eat solid food! Gasp, that sounds disgustingly gross. Supplementing should be the same thing, don’t use supplement just because others are finding results, and KNOW what kind of supplements you are taking. Remember, we want nutritional supplements that give us what our bodies need that we can’t get from what or how we eat. And we don’t want supplements that harm us.I remember taking something on a neighbor’s recommendation and didn’t take the time to look at the ingredients. My heart was racing for twelve hours. Just make sure you are taking in natural ingredients and antioxidants as supplements until you learn all of the healthier food options available for later weight control. When I doubt, especially if you take medications, refer to tip number one up top.Eat somewhat correctly on a regular basisStop skipping meals, bingeing, starving or heaven forbid, regurgitating when it comes to your eating habits and goals. Start by taking the amount of food you eat in a day, minus the lower number of calories in, and spread the food out over five to six smaller meals daily. And ALWAYS begin with breakfast within thirty minutes of waking. You need to awaken the body and start the metabolism.Frances M. Berg, author of Afraid to Eat: Children and Teens in Weight Crisis, says it best when she states,”I think the one reason many Americans are overweight is because we eat so chaotically. We’re skipping meals, bingeing, fasting, never feeling satisfied, and always looking for more food. As a nation, we need to rediscover normal eating and eating at regular times”We lead such busy lives that we neglect to fuel our bodies when we need it the most, and when your body is devoid of proper nutrients via food, it begins to go into fat storing mode. The body thinks you are trying to kill it through starvation so it does its best to survive despite you. By feeding the body regularly, we keep the metabolism running a full speed, and we naturally burn off and absorb the majority of the nutrients we bring in. Therefore, no more storing unwanted body fat.Get Frickin MovingIt wasn’t until I began shifting my life towards getting paid for using my mind instead of my body that I became less active. I didn’t realize right away that I was still eating like I was still extremely active. Seriously, when you go from delivering furniture five days week, while playing softball and football, to standing or slowly walking in a 20 by 20 room all day, if you eat the same oh the weight you’ll gain.I grew up without cable TV, cell phones or video games. My mom kicked me out of the house in the morning and told me not to come back until I really, really needed food or she beckoned for me with her own distinct scream from the front porch. We played every sport, every day and were constantly active.You see, once you begin to lower the number of calories in, start getting the proper nutrition, and START MOVING, you will begin to see great results and all you will need to do is modify this when you reach your ideal weight and continue doing the same thing daily. Proper health and nutrition with some easy to understand, common sense approaches to living a healthier lifestyle, will get you a healthier lifestyle.

When it finally comes time to do those difficult home repairs, you need to make sure that you’re qualified to do them. This seems to be a growing problem among homeowners who believe that they can do almost anything.Home Repairs Don’t #1 – Don’t ever try to tackle a home repair job that you don’t feel entirely comfortable with. If you don’t understand basic plumbing or basic electricity, I wouldn’t advise repairing any water pipes or electrical wiring.House Repairs Do #1 – Do make sure that you are using the proper tools for every home repair job that you tackle. This sounds like something that most people would know about, however I have seen people use pliers as hammers and screwdrivers as chisels.Home Repairs Don’t #2 – Don’t call a contractor up and have them come over to your house under false pretenses that they are going to be doing the work, when all you’re trying to do is gather information from them on how to complete the home repair.House Repairs Do #2 – If you don’t have enough information and feel comfortable fixing something that is damaged in your home, you can always go down to your local library or bookstore to find some helpful books on home repairs.Most home repairs aren’t complicated, however I do advise you to think twice before tackling jobs that you don’t have enough experience to perform. If you don’t have enough experience, the home repair might not be done properly and you could find yourself paying twice for this repair.