Understanding credit scores is the most important way to improve credit scores. Here some tips to protect our credit scores.

-DON’T MISS A PAYMENT
This is the biggest no-brainer, but it’s importance cannot possibly be stressed enough. Make more than one or two missed payments, and it will really start hurting your credit score.

-DON’T OPEN OR CLOSE A LOT OF TRADELINES
Tradelines is a fancy word for credit accounts. If you a lot of accounts at once, it will ding your credit. If you close a lot of accounts at once, it will ding your credit.

-DON’T LOOK AT YOUR CREDIT OFTEN
Don’t let anyone look at your credit. By alowing creditors to “pull” your credit, you are reducing your credit score.

-QUIT USING YOUR CREDIT CARDS
Many people use their credit cards too much and pile up too much debt.

-TAKE OUT A SHORT-TERM INSTALLMENT LOAN
An installment loan is a loan that has a set payment every month. These loans look good on your credit score and can easily be set up for automatic payment, making it almost impossible to miss a payment!

-AVOID CREDIT COUNSELING SERVICES
You might save a few bucks up front with credit counseling, but it will cost you much more down the road.

-CONSOLIDATE YOUR CREDIT CARDS
The best way to consolidate your debt is to wrap it all together with your mortgage. Either refinance the first mortgage or take out a second. Then cut up every credit card but one. People’s credit scores go from 550 to 750 within MONTHS as a result of a refinance combined with payments made on time and credit cards not being used.

Here are what we’ve found works best. Use these tips properly and your results will skyrocket.

1. Your email “from” sender line should be your brand name or company name and stay consistent. Use your own personal name only if that is your brand image.

2. Send emails only when you have something to say that will benefit the reader. No fluff. No filler. You must be relevant. If you can’t be, don’t send an email until you have something beneficial to say.

3. Start your emails with the specific benefit the reader can get from your message. You have no more than 3 seconds to pass the crucial “what’s in it for me?” test.

4. The copywriting tone and language should be personal and conversational, instead of stuffy and “corporate”.

5. Make a specific offer to the reader and, if possible, include a short deadline by which he must respond to get it.

6. Use as much copy as is needed to fully pile on all the benefits the reader will get by ordering, answer objections, create urgency, and close the sale.

7. Test your subject lines and offers on small segments of your list before you send the email to your entire list.

8. Include “Email this to a friend” service in all your communications for pass along and viral marketing.

Whether a business is large or small, the same basic principles and practices of internal control apply. One of the key components of internal control is the accounts payable cycle. Large or Small, the Control Concepts are the Same Whether a business is large or small, whether it is operated from a separate facility or you operate it from your home, the same basic principles and practices of internal control apply.

Staying on Course Direction is key - in what direction are you going, and where does your direction come from. In the case of a sole proprietorship or home-based business, for example, you are the source of your own direction. You decide where you are going and how you want to get there. Maintaining a clear focus on your direction will help you avoid making unnecessary or unproductive expenditures, and veering off the course you have set. Your focus will be on making those disbursements that are necessary and reasonable in order to help you achieve your goals.

The Business Plan as the Starting Point Clarity as to your goals, objectives, and direction comes from going through the process of developing your business plan. It is here where you think through the product or service you will offer on the market, what it will take to produce the product or provide the service, the resources you will need in order to do so, and the efficiencies you hope to utilize in your favor. The business plan could be thought of as a description of the destination (the goals and objectives of the business), and the business strategy as the means to get there.

Budgets, Forecasts and Projections A budget for capital expenditures and start-up costs is generally prepared once, when a business is commencing operations. An operating budget is often prepared on an annual basis. Many changes can occur during the year. While some changes can be foreseen and programmed into the budget, there will undoubtedly be other fluctuations that cannot be easily predicted, such as variations in the prices of materials and supplies, the cost of fuel, and other expenses. And selling prices may need to be adjusted according to fluctuations in market conditions.

Flow of Control The steps involved in an accounts payable control system, or the thought process involved in decision-making, can be seen in terms of a logical flow, that starts with the business plan and ends with the disbursement. This flow is as follows:

1. Business plan
2. Business strategy
3. Budget
4. Forecasts and cash flow projections
5. Requisitions
6. Quotes and bids
7. Competitive comparison
8. Purchase order
9. Proof of delivery
10. Invoice verification
11. Payment

End Results Within the context of overall internal controls, the controls that apply to the accounts payable cycle affect, or form a part of other, more general internal controls, such as variance analyses of budgeted versus actual expenses, or forecasted or projected expenses versus actual expenses.