Is Your Business Financially Naked?

One of the main reasons you incorporated or formed an LLC was to separate your business assets from your personal assets

. This will help you limit your liability and have a better marketing advantage when it comes to joint ventures (the fastest way to grow your business-especially host beneficiary relationships).

The key is to separate for success. The biggest mistake we see is many entrepreneurs invest all their money to separate their personal and business assets but NEVER separate their personal and business credit (at least not properly).

Four Critical Reasons to Separate Business Credit (in your entity) from Your Personal Credit:

1. It is how your business will be evaluated for business and joint ventures. You may be losing clients, bids, vendors and joint ventures without even knowing about it. Why? The best way to check out a company's financials is to invest $60-$150 with Dun and Bradstreet(R) to pull a report. This will tell you everything you need to know about someone's business. Most of you will NOT like what you will see on a report of a joint venture company or key vendor. FYI, an 80 Paydex score will not cut it.

Look at it this way; how does someone check out your company and what you say about it? Does your story add up? Can someone simply call the bank to pull your last three months of bank statements? No, that will not happen. Can someone call the IRS and ask to see your last three years tax returns to see if the numbers add up to the "story" you are painting about your successful company? Absolutely not. The best option that one can do to "check you out" is to invest the $60-$150 at D&B(R) and pull a report on your company. Companys right this very minute are losing millions in revenues because JV partners, clients, vendors, and potential customers are deciding NOT to do business because of a very weak looking D&B(R) report. Actually, now your business should have a strong business credit profile with Corporate Experian(R) and Business Equifax(R) in addition to D&B(R). It is not only about separating your personal and business credit and securing access to more vendor and cash lines of credit, this is vital to any business success.

2. Whether you like it or not, Corporate Experian(R) is NOW creating profiles on companies through the SOS's database on new filings. This means a profile is being created and you do not know what it will say to your potential customers (unless you know how to develop it properly).

3. Develop vendor lines of credit to protect your cash flow AND put your business in a better position to secure CASH LINES of credit to grow your business. As you know the banks have raised the bar dramatically on what is required to secure a bank line of credit. One key component is the amount of vendor credit granted to your business-not just an 80 Paydex score.

4. You will protect your personal credit (whether it is good or bad) from your new business. If your personal credit is strong, you will want to minimize personal guarantees with vendors that may jeopardize your personal credit plus develop cash lines of credit in the name of the entity under the EIN number (yes, it is personally guaranteed but the debt will not show up in your personal credit bureaus-which will help protect your personal credit score.

If you have a bad personal credit score, you MUST develop your business credit profile to put the business in a position to qualify for credit on its own.

The Biggest Mistake? Waiting to develop your business credit profile until you need the vendor or cash lines of credit. If your business is doing well and you feel you do NOT need the credit that is the best time to develop it.

by: Scott Letourneau

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