Should You Use a Credit Card to Finance Your Startup?

Save Up Before Starting Out

Starting a new business involves a lot of decision-making, a lot hard work, and a lot of financing issues. From funding your operation to having enough put aside to make the ends meet, every money decision is crucial to your future and your success. A good rule of thumb is to calculate your living expenses for 3-6 months before you attempt to open the doors of a new business. It takes time to develop a steady stream of work in order to begin making a profit and need to rely on a back up until the income begins to get more consistent.

Business Finances Options

Your next consideration needs to be about financing for your business. There are many avenues to travel when it comes to starting a business.

• Securing funds from family and friends
• Venture capitalists and other investors
• Small business loans
• Financing by yourself

If you have chosen the latter, you need to consider how much money your need to invest to get the business off the ground. Obviously, have a cash savings plan would be ideal but it may not always be easy to save for your daily life, your future, and your business unless you are independently wealthy.

Financing the Business on Credit

Another option for self financing is by utilizing a credit card. Depending on the nature of your business, you may find that your start up expenses are not that high. However, if you are considering using your credit card, you want to weigh the pros and cons of this financing option.

Credit cards are being designed to assist small businesses with rewards and bonus programs that you could use to your advantage. The reality is, however, no matter how great the reward plan is, you may be doing your business more harm than good.

Be Careful With Credit

Due to an uncertain monthly income, it may become difficult at some point to pay off the balance or even make the minimum payments. Not only does this become a strain on your business, it will also take a toll on your own personal credit, unless you have incorporated or formed an LLC with your company. You also need to take into consideration your personal credit score. If you already have a few too many cards that have balances or perhaps you have missed or been late with payments in the past, you may not be approved for a high enough credit limit to meet the needs of your business.

Relying on credit cards to finance your entire business may be the first mistake you make as a business owner. It may be a more wise decision to use a business credit card for an emergency back up, or to buy office supplies that are a crucial part of the business to get you started. A credit card should not be used to buy over-the-top luxury objects for the home office unless you are certain you can pay off the balance at the end of the month.

Lessons from a Speech Gone Wrong

A lot of things have happened in my life as a result of blogging, but one of the most unexpected is the number of people who invite me to speak at their company or conference about generational issues. I have done enough speeches at this point so I have a routine, but the last speech threw me for a loop.

The room was set up for about 90 people, but only 30 people showed up. And just like I used to do in college, the majority sat toward the back of the room. I should have realized this would happen: The speech was at a Disney World resort, and not only did I need to compete with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck but also happy-hour magaritas.

I learned a lot that day — about how to deal with a speech that isn't going as well as planned. Here are three things I'll remember to do next time this happens:

Control the room by winging it

Everyone sat scattered and toward the back of the room. The first thing I should have done was postpone my usual, "Hi, thanks for having me…." opening and politely asked everyone to move up. This would have created a completely different dynamic and I'm sure people would have been more engaged and involved. Instead, I let the audience control my presentation.

Another thing I could have done is stopped the presentation all together and cracked a few jokes about not blaming anyone for skipping my speech because drinking margaritas by the pool, heading over to Pleasure Island or catching the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom sounds like a lot more fun.

Be clever enough to create audience interaction

A little audience participation can turn a boring presentation into a great one. My mother and I gave a presentation to a Human Resource group a month ago about "bridging the generational gap." It was a lot of fun because of the interaction we were able to create. I tend to give a lot of information and crack a few jokes to lighten the mood during my speeches, but my mother is the queen of facilitating. She facilitates meetings, groups, thanksgiving dinners, and whatever else could possibly be facilitated.

She showed me some great ways to create this interaction. One great way to do it is to create some type of handout that the audience can fill out. We gave the group a quick test about what generation are you really in? It was a huge hit, and it loosened everyone up before the presentation began.

Also, we asked a lot of questions. After an interesting point was made, my mother might ask, "So what do you guys think of that?" After a little hesitation and awkward silence, someone would always chime in with a thought. This would lead to another thought, and some great discussion.

I should have used a few of her tricks when my presentation began to get stale. Next time, I will.

Don't leave your game on the practice field

I've practiced my speech for hours, but now I know why people say there is such a thing as too much practice. I nailed the speech in rehearsal that morning: I was speaking to the bed and the lamp, I cracked a couple jokes, and laughed aloud. It was by far the best dry run I had in weeks. But by the time I was in front of the audience, I had already done a great speech, so I probably didn't concentrate enough on making the real one great.

All in all, the presentation wasn't a total bust. People asked a lot of questions, most of the audience was engaged, and multiple people came up to me with business cards and questions afterwards. But I know it could have been much better. And next time, it will be, thanks to my lessons learned.

Thinking Inside the Box: Sweet Freedom

A couple weeks ago, my wife had a very busy day.

She was all set to be interviewed for a job on the East Coast, and had decided to fly out, conduct the interview, and fly back all on the same day. That meant waking up at 2 a.m., flying out at 5 a.m., and getting home at 10 p.m. if everything went perfectly, which it didn't.

Her trip out to the site went fine, with all flights arriving on time and the interview going well. Coming home was another story.

The first leg of her trip went well, but then when she got to Cincinnati to make the last leg of the trip the carrier (whose name rhymes with SMELTA) told her there would be a delay. Long story short after several more delays she finally arrived at the airport by 1 a.m. She promptly fell asleep on me in the car and by the time we got home all she could do was drag herself to bed and collapse.

It was all worth it.

Last week, the company called her and offered her the job. She accepted.

What that means, dear friends, is that it is time for me to leave my current employer in search of bigger and better things.

Now then, if you are the emotional type, you are probably thinking "But, we've grown so close over these past few months, in some strange way I found myself caring about your plight. What will I do with myself now?" The more utilitarian of you will wonder where else you can go to take pleasure in the misery of others on a Wednesday morning. Well to both groups I say fear not! I'm not going anywhere.

Though I may not have many weeks left to discuss my own personal office drudgery, that doesn't mean I've run out of things to say. I mean, in the next month I'm going to be moving into a state I've only visited once (Maryland), living in a city I've never seen, moving into an apartment I've yet to examine (road trip in a couple weeks), and looking for a new job in a culture that is far removed from the slow, relaxed Midwestern culture in which I grew up.

So don't worry dear friends, even though a chapter of my life is closing I won't leave you behind. I still want to give you all a glimpse into my special little mind every week, so as long as you aren't afraid to come in and take a look around. Do take off your shoes though, I don't want footprints all over my insanity. Oh, and by the by, if anyone would happen to know of good places of employment in the greater Washington, DC area, I'd be much obliged.

I'll be back next week; a little thing like quitting a job and moving halfway across the country isn't going to slow me down. You won't be rid of me that easily.

How to Run an Effective Meeting

Everyday of my college career seemed to conclude with a series of long meetings, each one more trivial and ineffective than the next. Water-cooler gossip delayed the start, while side-discussions and tangents drew us away from our goals. Everything eventually dissolved into free-for-all bashings of Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, or Lindsay Lohan. An hour would go by, and we'd have accomplished few, if any, of our objectives.

It got to the point where I purposely saved all my musing and day dreaming for those meetings. This way, at least I was unproductive and fantasizing Natalie Portman as my girlfriend at the same time (the latter helped numb the pain the former created.) I endured these mini-retirements to hell for most of college, because I thought meetings were supposed to suck your soul dry – see Brad H.'s example.

It wasn't until I started running consultations, project discussions, and editorial meetings did I see why those meetings were painful. It wasn't that they were intrinsically agonizing – humans, after all, are social beings. It was the disorganization, the lack of goals, and lack of actionable objectives that made things miserable. Once I identified these specific problems, and focused on eliminating them, I found solutions to running a more effective meeting. Here are five:

1. Create an agenda before the meeting. Cover topics in order from most important to least important. Send the agenda to your group members before the meeting. Ask them to prepare questions beforehand.
2. Have a maximum of 3 mission critical objectives every meeting. When you make a list of 20 objectives, the important items get lost in the noise.
3. Designate a start and end time (the shorter, the better) – and stick to them. Latecomers will quickly learn to arrive promptly, and people will appreciate your respect for their valuable time.
4. Explicitly ask everyone to keep side discussions until after the meeting. Tell your group you'd enjoy talking with them afterwards, but first you have important items to discuss.
5. Assign group members responsibility over meeting objectives. Give them a set amount of time (five to 10 minutes) to explain the problem, lead discussion, or offer solutions. Members will pay more attention if they're invested in the meeting, rather than being talked at. Afterwards, you or your group should make a decision based on their presentation.

In general, I'm not a fan of face-to-face, large group meetings. I believe there are faster, more effective ways of conveying information. But when they are necessary, hopefully you can keep them from consuming the enthusiasm of your group or organization.

Is it Time to Take on New Responsibilities?

On Monday I finally did something I've been thinking about doing for over a year – I bought a puppy. His name is Charlie and he's awesome.

Finally doing something that you've wanted to do for a long time is an amazing feeling. And it makes me realize that putting it off was worth the wait. I couldn't have handled the responsibility until now.

Taking on new responsibilities has never been something I take lightly. If I'm going to do a job, I want to make sure I do it right. Here are a few questions that helped me know I was ready to take on more responsibility.

How will it affect the relationships in my life?

I have a hard time taking on a new responsibility if I know it's going to have a negative impact on the important people in my life. Whether it's friends, family or the people I work with, it's hard to make a decision without thinking about how it will affect them.

When you work as closely as Penelope, Ryan Healy and I do, there's no question that our personal and professional lives get mixed together. So before I picked up Charlie, I asked them what they thought. I'm glad that they both thought it would be a lot of fun to have a Brazen Careerist mascot.

Who's going to support me when things get tough?

It doesn't matter who you are. Everybody needs backup. And if you don't think you need backup, you're just not thinking.

Between Healy, Penelope, and my three awesome neighbors, I knew I'd have enough support to handle Charlie when times get tough. Considering my upcoming travels, my workload and the other important relationships in my life, I'd be lost without a little backup. Right now, Healy is watching the little man so I can sit down, focus, and write this post. Thanks, Healy.

Will I do a good job?

Anything worth doing is worth doing right. So when I know I can't do something to best of my ability, I just won't start at all.

Having a start-up career is what makes my new responsibility possible. If I was still sitting in a cubicle from 9 to 5, there would be no Charlie. It wouldn't be fair to me or him.

What do my parents think?

Alright, in all honesty I didn't even call them until two hours into my drive to pick up Charlie. I was scared that they'd think I wasn't ready. But when I told my Mom and Dad they laughed and said congratulations.

Say what you will about my generation being overly dependent on our parents, because I really don't care. If you're as lucky as I am, you have parents who know you better than anyone. Show me a better place to go for advice and I'll reevaluate my life.

Do I have enough passion to make it work?

Let's face it, life is all about things changing. And when that happens, am I still going to want to take care of Charlie? I know the answer is yes, absolutely. Because the bottom line is that you couldn't take my dog away from me with an army behind you. And if you're that passionate, you know you're ready.