Friday, January 4, 2013

Lawyers can help you


It’s the start of a new year when many people are looking to make a fresh start in so many areas of their lives. The financial side is no different, and while it’s a good idea to start TODAY – whatever day it is – for many, the start of a new tax year, etc is the time they choose to start fresh. Bankruptcy lawyers at Lincoln Law, or a firm in your area, can be an excellent resource for many financial needs. While they do work mostly with those who need to file bankruptcy, they can also offer guidance in debt management and consolidation among other things. The vast majority of these attorneys offer a free consultation for your first visit so you can make sure they are your best resource before you pay a fee.

The most important thing I can encourage anyone to do is to organize your financial documents. Most files and accessories are on sale at many discount and office supply stores this time of year. Do yourself a favor and invest in some, so you can organize things. Regardless of your financial situation, it is important to be able to locate your important financial documents quickly. It could be for a reason as simple as correcting an error, or as urgent as evacuating during a natural disaster. You need to know where the important papers are and be able to quickly grab them.

If you are enduring financial struggles, you can’t begin to dig your way out until you know where you stand. An attorney or other professional will need your financial papers to be able to help you. They MUST know what income is coming in and all of the bills that you owe. Should you need to go to court, a judge would likely require them.

Once you have all of your papers located, organized, and filed, you can begin to develop a plan of action to get your financial life back on track. You’ll be able to see where you can cut back, if you need additional income, if you have anything you can sell, etc. However, you won’t be able to get a clear picture of the puzzle until all pieces have been located.

This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.

Billing Software


Every company, regardless of size, relies on some type of income in order to meet its expenses. If you don’t have a proper Billing System in place, how can you expect to ensure that you are collecting all monies owed to you in a timely manner, in order to stay in business.

I have several friends who have gone into business for themselves. Some are crafters, others are working with direct sales companies. Some of the direct sales companies handle the transaction side of things, while others are distributors who purchase product in bulk, and make their profit when they sell to others. One of my friends was selling in this manner, not to make money for herself, but to pass on the discount she was getting to her close friends and family. She didn’t think she needed a system, that it was just easy math. Then she started noticing that it seemed like she was losing money.

She hadn’t accounted for needing to pay taxes on the sales, she thought since she was breaking even, that wouldn’t be a factor, but it was. She also did not account for other fees and shipping she was incurring. She searched the internet and found a software system that would work for her needs, at a reasonable price. Once she had it all set up, it allowed her to enter the price she was paying for the product, all fees, taxes, and shipping, and show what her net cost of each item really was.

Now, she is able to still sell at a significant discount to her friends and family, and have all of her costs covered too. While the amount she collects is slightly more than the listed “cost” price, it actually covers all of her costs and she really is breaking even.  It’s also really great for friends selling homemade crafts. They are able to input the cost of each item, how much of it they used (i.e. yards of fabric, buttons, zippers, etc. that may have been purchased in bulk), the time it took to make the item (they can set an hourly rate and it will calculate it), shipping costs, taxes, etc. and they can see how much profit they are really making. Without a system in place, it can be really easy to overlook something here or there, and end up losing money on what is supposed to be a business.

This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.