At some point of time you might have to apply for a commercial loan. If you think that’s an easy job, you’re wrong. It’s not as easy to get a commercial loan as getting a home mortgage loan. The lender is concerned about collateral and repayment. Mortgages are easy to get. But, commercial loan is a different story altogether. The process itself is very different. Given the current market situation, i.e. after the crisis, banks and financial institutions have become very selective. You need to prove to the lending institution that giving you a commercial loan is not a high-risk affair.Planning, organization, preparation and follow through are a requisite when you want to apply for a commercial loan. It needs a lot of consideration. Before you apply for a commercial loan, you must consider some aspects. Here are some tips for you.Need for LoanYour lender would be interested to know your exact purpose for taking a loan and the repayment structure. Thus, investigate properly as to why you need the loan. Use a loan calculator to calculate the EMIs for different tenures. Tell them the one that you seem is best. Institutes like to deal with knowledgeable customersTime of LoanGenerally the lenders would tell you that the loan could be processed in 30-40 days. This is not true. It generally takes up to 3 months to get the commercial loan approved. Thus, plan your requirement in time and apply early so that funds are available to you when you actually need it.Amount of LoanYou must know the amount you wish to apply for. Ensure that the amount of loan will solve your purpose. Don’t apply for too much as it means more interest, whereas applying for less will not solve the purpose at all. If you wish to buy new equipment for $40,000 and you have no alternate source of funding, then you must apply for the full amount.Visit Different LendersDon’t apply to just one lender, shop different lenders. First go to the lender you know. Discuss the proposal with them, and while they review your file you can check with other lenders in your area. By talking to different lenders you can compare their offerings and select the one that best suits you.Prepare Your Loan RequestBefore you go to the lender, get all your documents ready. If you want to buy new equipment, you will need the purchase invoice. Your recent financial statements would be needed as well. Along with the documents, prepare a letter with the reasons for your commercial loan request. Loan specifics like amount, interest, security, repayment and other conditions that you seek must be included in your request. Tell about yourself, your business, competition, your plans etc. This will help the lender to understand you better. Make sure all the information you give is precise, accurate and verifiable.NegotiateIf you receive multiple approvals, then u can negotiate your loan terms and structure as well as your prepayment penalties and closing costs. Select the lender that gives you the best deal. Contact the other lenders and thank them for their time. You might need them in future!
Candle Safety and Burning Guide For Home Interiors Candles and Wax Melts
Good SenseCandles burn with an open flame and should be treated with the proper respect. This will help prevent the possibility of property damage and/or bodily harm. Always trim the wicks to ¼” before each burn. This keeps the flame smaller which means less flickering and black smoke. Always burn candles on a heat resistant, non-flammable surface. This helps protect your furnishings from exposure to heat or flame. Remember that candles, other than jar types, can drip so be extra careful with pillars and votives. Candles contain fragrances, colors, and oils, so be sure not to lay them on any material that can be stained. For longer life store candles in a cool dry place out of direct sun light when not being used. This helps to preserve the color and fragrance. When you put out a candle, blow across the top of the candle, never downward, as this could cause hot liquid wax to splash. It is best to use a candle snuffer whenever possible. Never burn candles unattended. Remember this is an open flame and can be very dangerous.Jar Candles
Trim wick to ¼” prior to each burn.
Be careful handling when lit the jar may be hot
Do not burn if jar is chipped or cracked
Do not refill with wax
Keep all debris out of candle
Do not use in candle warmers
For best results burn 1 hour for every inch in diameter 0 up to a maximum of 4 hours
Keep out of reach of children and pets
Burn only on heat resistant, non-flammable surface
Do not burn unattended candles
Discontinue use when ½” of the wax remains in the container
If carbon deposits or “soot” appear, they can be cleaned with paper towel once the container is cool to the touch
Jar candles available are;Petite – 48 hours burn timeHurricane – 88 hours burn timeGinger – 110 hours burn timeEarth Blends – 60 hours burn timeFundraiser Homestyle – 40 hours burn timeFundraiser Designer – 70 hours burn time*burn times vary depending upon conditions*Pillar Candles
Trim wicks to ¼” prior to each burn
Burn on only a heat resistant, non-flammable surface
Remove all wrappings except for bottom pad before burning
Keep all debris out of candle
For best results, burn 1 hour for every inch in diameter up to a maximum of 4 hours
Do not burn unattended candles
Pillar candles available;2″ x 2 1/2″ – 25 hours burn time3″ x 4″ – 55 hours burn time3″ x 6″ – 80 hours burn time4″ x 6″ – 100 hours burn time*burn times may vary depending upon conditions*Tea Lights and Votive Candles
Remove all wrapping and labels from votive prior to burning
Votives are designed to liquefy as they burn. Please be sure to use an appropriate container to contain wax.
When you reuse the votive container please be sure to remove all old wax, metal, and wick debris prior to reuse.
Only burn tea lights in the container they arrived in.
Keep all debris out of candle.
Do not burn candles unattended.
Tea Light and Votives;Votive – 18 hours burn timeTea lights – 4 hours burn time*burn times may vary depending upon conditions*Scented Wax Melt Bars
Burn only on a heat resistant, non-flammable surface.
Handle the container with care as it may be hot to touch.
Do not attempt to move the wax warmer when the wax melt has turned to liquid.
Clean container after each use once the container is completely cooled.
Use tea lights only to heat melts in the wax warmer.
A lot of people want to get the best burn times out of their Home Interiors candles to enjoy longer lasting scents. The signature fragrances are available in not only candles but wax melts, room sprays, lotions, and hand wash. It is also important to note that while Home Interiors have great scents, they have all been approved for use in candles by the International Fragrance Association (IFRA). This ensures only the finest ingredients are used to create our unique scents. All wicks are either 100% cotton or zinc core, and both meet all federal government and consumer product safety commission guidelines. There is NO lead in any of our wicks.
Quitting Gambling
Why do you gamble? Most people do it to get ahead financially. I am here to remind you that it will not work for you. Key Point #1 If you slip back into gambling keep precise written records of time spent, wins and losses. The fact is (95-99% of people lose) and the tiny percentage of people who win usually average under minimum wage over the course of the year. But of course you are going to hit the jackpot.But, almost no one really understands their odds of hitting the jackpot. Yeah you are only one in 44 million to win but wouldn’t it be great if you did? To understand what those odds mean is, imagine you are in a high school football stadium with 1000 people. They are going to drop a Nerf ball and whoever catches it gets 30 million dollars. How many football stadiums do they need to fly over to make the odds 1 in 44 million? The answer is 44,000 stadiums all jammed with people.That’s also the odds (one in 44 million) of an ugly guy like me meeting their favorite movie star out of the blue and finding out that they are so excited about meeting me that they drop everything and want to start a relationship. Okay I apologize; I really didn’t mean to crush two of your favorite fantasies in one sitting. She really is going to like you when you meet her.The second reason many gamble is for fun. Most of us like to take a moderate amount of money we can afford to lose and have a fun night at the casino. The question is, once we go over the line of moderation can we increase our pleasure. The answer is you never can increase your pleasure with out of control gambling because even if you win, all you are doing is what I call “selling our pleasure back words”. When you win you get extreme pleasure because you beat the system. However when you lose it all a week later, plus some money you needed to buy necessities, you crash and have extreme pain with the situation you are now in.What happened is you gambled with money you could not afford to lose and won on Friday. This brought you increased pleasure. But when you lose it all the next Friday you have destruction and pain. A person who does not gamble has less pleasure then you on Friday #1. But then they have much more pleasure than you on Friday #2 because you got wiped out. They also do not get the destruction and pain you get on Friday #2 when you go broke. Please see my article Pleasure + Addiction = Pain for more information on how addiction never brings us more pleasure over the course of the month, year, and usually not even over the course of two weeks.If quitting gambling is hard for you it may help to get a photo of the person/persons you love most in life, on the back write how you feel when you have lost all your money and how your gambling would affect them and your relationship with them. Put it by your computer, or in your wallet when out, when you feel the urge coming have a good look and read what you have written.Ex gamblers say that they enjoy life more after quitting gambling. But when you tell yourself that you will be happier after quitting gambling be very specific. You will be happier for the month when you are clean but some days will be tough. I think that avoiding a couple of trips to the casino per month is worth it because I can be happy every day now. My new activities and passions give me less pain and more happiness and more money over the course of the whole month than gambling did. After after quitting gambling we are no longer a slave to being driven always by the addiction (which brings the stress with it). We understand that abstinence is healthier in all ways; financially, spiritually, emotionally and relationally.Gambling ruins your spirituality. Either permanently, or temporarily when you have a big loss. Out of control gambling is sometimes worship. You would have to tell me if you are worshipping greed, excitement, pleasure or something else. But what we do know is that when we are out of control we are not then worshipping God. I recommend you learn new habits about how to worship God who will bring you real joy. Not a manufactured, short term thrill which ends in destruction. You can read about how you can learn to worship God in my article called “addictions real issue.”One of the biggest keys to quitting gambling is to know (and have organized) what mental exercises you need to do to overcome the addiction. The following are examples of some types of exercises you may want to learn.1: Form a habit to say to yourself 5 times a day that “my gambling causes me financial destruction. It has in the past and it will in the future.”2: Have a list of the benefits of quitting gambling. Write down all the benefits then memorize the top 3 and top 6 benefits. This will allow you to say the benefits multiple times each day until you get on more solid footing in your recovery.3: Pray often each day “Lord keep me from temptation” (This is part of the Lord’s Prayer from the Bible). Pray about why you gamble. Is it for greed? Then pray a lot about that because the Bible says that the greedy will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Is it for excitement? Then pray about what alternatives you can do to find excitement.4: Start a journal so that you can include all of the quitting gambling idea’s you find in one place so that you can review them often.I have over 25 articles about quitting addictions at my website.
Contents Of A Business Plan – Key Information Required By Banks
Many small business owners and entrepreneurs produce business plans quickly and without much thought or analysis. While having one is critical when seeking loans from a bank, the actual contents are even more important. This is often over-looked as most business owners are not familiar with what banks are really looking for.The contents of a business plan are critically important to the banks’ lending decision process. It’s not enough just to have all the headings covered off in the table of contents.So what are banks really looking for? In this article, we will discuss the important of market and competition analysis in the contents of a business plan. Both of which are critical to a banks’ decision-making process.Demonstrated understanding of the key target marketThe contents of a business plan include a detailed analysis of the industry and market segment within which the business operates. Beyond merely providing the estimated size of the market, and market share, banks look for analysis on the relevant market.The following list of questions will be asked in one form or another by a potential lender to gain an understanding of the market segment the business operates in:
What is the size of the market – what geographic area does it cover and what is the estimated turnover of the whole market in the relevant area?
Where is it in its growth cycle, ie. Startup, mature, declining?
What is the business’ estimated share of the market?
How much will it cost for the business or competitors to enter that industry, ie. What are the barriers to entry?
How competitive is it?
Is it regulated?
Is their demand?
Who are the business’ direct and indirect competitors?
A potential lender will also focus on a detailed assessment of the business’ ability to:
Attract new customers
Attract and retain good employees
Fully utilize operating capacity
Reach its target customers
Retain existing customers
These attributes are the key success factors for that business to operate successfully in their target market and are usually included in the Industry and Market Analysis section.Understanding and analyzing the competitionBanks will keenly examine and question the contents of a business plan covering competition analysis. The competition analysis section needs to show that the business owner has an understanding of their business strategy and model, and how they might respond to any competitive behavior in the market place.The content needs to identify the strengths and weaknesses of top competitors and identify the needs in the customer base that are not being fully met by the competition.Getting an understanding of how competitors are performing financially will also help support estimates made about the returns a business might make in the market it operates. This feeds into the financial section as one of they key factors that will form the basis of realistic sales projections.This analysis will also identify the opportunities and threats to the business. Opportunities that can be capitalized on and incorporated into a well articulated business strategy, and threats that need to be mitigated or managed.What perspective do banks take when assessing the merits of a business plan?Banks make a fixed return on loans made to small businesses, unlikely equity investors who take the first loss risk, and all the upside profits as recompense for that level of risk. This is why banks will always focus on the downside risks to a business in their assessments of the contents of a business plan.Business owners and entrepreneurs need to highlight and address the existing and potential risks to their business in the contents of a business plan being presented in support of a bank loan application. Addressing and mitigating risks in this document will reassure banks that management is fully aware of the risks involved and have provided reasons why they are acceptable or show how they will be minimized.By ensuring that the contents of a business plan cover off risk mitigation, the business owner will gain some credibility with the bank and thereby increase their chances of a favourable outcome.