While you may miss opportunities that require a financial investment, your rivals race ahead growing their slice of market share. Unfortunately, simply keeping a healthy expense account isn’t enough to retain an edge. Your company’s credit profile is one of your greatest assets: It lets you access better lease terms and loans while ensuring that resources are at arm’s length.

Crises simply cannot be weathered without money, but debt can create its own catastrophe. The goal of credit should thus not be to create static debt, but to manage it responsibly enough to build a squeaky-clean profile. To achieve this, payments need to be made on time or 30 days ahead of their due date.

A comprehensive credit profile will give clients and investors core information when researching your company’s reputation.

Working for a Better Score

Entrepreneurs often use credit cards to get beyond startup status, but they’re only a useful tool if used with discipline. Your business is a separate entity, and it needs to be nurtured as such. Personal credit lines are tempting to use, but building your business’s score requires credit in its name. You can improve your profile by:

• Asking your suppliers to report your credit history to major credit bureaus.
• Checking your profile for accuracy regularly. Sometimes stuff goes unseen — for example, small bills or even bills that do not belong to you. By taking time each month to monitor your credit, you can save a lot of time and money by catching something early.
• Working on improving weak areas of your profile.
• Taking advantage of growth opportunities. Your business’s growth is reflected in your score.
• Signing up for alerts so that fraudulent activity is caught immediately.

Missed opportunities can be catastrophic in a cutthroat marketplace. The inability to promote yourself during your most profitable season can cost you thousands — and a significant chunk of your demographic. Similarly, not having the power to leap at a supplier’s offers can cause your revenue to dwindle. Disasters are unpredictable by nature, so emergency funds are critical too. All of these situations can be handled with credit.

Loyalty Programs

Credit card reward points can reduce your expenses dramatically. As with cash, there are smart — and wasteful — ways to spend them. Points are often transferable to alternative loyalty programs, which helps you to allocate them in a way that suits your needs.

Typical credit card interest rates are between 13 and 20 percent. If you’re working on the basis of return on investment rather than expenses, credit cards’ speed of access to funds frequently raises your profits far higher than you would otherwise manage, making those interest rates well worthwhile. If it is short-term debt (under one month), I recommend using credit cards. Just be sure to pay off the card at the end of each month.

Reducing Tax Costs

At the end of the year, you can actually negotiate next year’s marketing budgets. Find out how much you need to spend from your CPA to significantly reduce your tax liability for the current year. See who you can prepay for the year for 20% or more special pricing, and pay by Dec. 31. This helps reduce costs and cuts your marketing costs: If you have to pay 6% on the loan, you still are ahead by 14% and have far fewer taxes to pay – it’s a win-win.

Overall, your credit cards can change a business for better or worse, depending on how it is played. Having access to credit and loans is important to grow at a sustainable speed. Remember, always get loans lined up when you don’t need them, not when you do.

The event is designed to give women practical advice and counsel in career, estate planning, finance, health and wellness and more. One thing that was covered that really stood out to me was how negation, in any field or context, is something women just don’t learn enough about. If we are going to have equality in the workplace and beyond, negotiation skills are extremely important.

Know Who You Are Dealing With

Whether it is a Fortune 500 executive or the car dealership down the block, knowing who you are dealing with is the first step toward negotiation success. Understanding their background and familiarizing yourself with the logistics of their rank and career can help you maneuver a negotiation. Doing your research on who you are negotiating with can make or break a deal, as I have seen time and again with my own clients and experiences.

Speak Up

As women, many of us are hard on ourselves and are afraid to negotiate firmly. My friend Bryn Freedman, one of the leading speaker coaches at TED, shared with me recently, “Being authentic and standing up for ourselves starts by quieting our inner critic. This critic is in all of us but it’s not your true self no matter how much it feels that way. Your true inner voice is kind, it advocates for you and, without being strident, knows that you deserve to reach your goals. The more you speak to yourself with love, the louder and clearer your authentic voice becomes.”

Be Fair

Before demanding an unrealistic or perhaps undeserved ask in a negotiation, be sure to do your research. Look into what others with your level of expertise are asking for or making. Also, “Never pull the gender card when discussing qualifications, or really in any environment,” stated Beverly Hills Chief of Police Sandra Spagnoli at the conference. Seeking equality is the heart of feminism, and using gender as a reason for a raise doesn’t aid anyone in both a negotiation situation and the greater movement for equality.

Leave Emotion At The Door

As with purchasing a car or home, don’t show even a glimmer of anger, annoyance, excitement or anything other than calm professionalism. Your emotions and microexpressions are likely being analyzed and assessed during every moment of the negotiation.

Practice

Hire a coach, talk in the mirror, or get a friend or colleague to run through scenarios and sample questions that could come up in your negotiation — any sort of preparation is beneficial for a successful negotiation. As my friend and successful entrepreneur, Ashley Sumner shared in my interview with her, “Don’t let the first time you ask for what you want, be said to the person you need it from the most. It’s important to think it through and practice saying it, out loud, to a trusted friend.”

Make A List

It’s a mistake going into negotiations without writing down exactly what your goals are ahead of time and knowing exactly what you will accept and not accept.

Don’t wait for a boss to say, “Here are your benefits.” Ask for what you want instead. You are making yourself more powerful by writing down a proposal of your requirements and never being too afraid to bring it to the table.

Get Everything In Writing

In any negotiation, you can be promised the moon but unless you get it in writing you are not guaranteed a thing! This is something I learned the hard way over the years. It’s worth it to push for paperwork to back up everything that is said.

Use Silence

Put your offer on the table and then stay silent. Human nature will tempt you into filling the quiet, but don’t! Spagnoli insisted to “use your silence as a benefit.” 

Act For What You Want

Talk, think and dress for what you want — not what you have. You don’t need to spend an enormous amount on designer clothes. It is possible to look the part – whatever that might be for your profession and come across very polished on a reasonable budget.

Be Willing To Walk Away

Know it is okay to walk away; if they truly want you, they will always come back. Despite what it may feel like at the time, there is always another opportunity, and if the offer was not ideal, it is all right to leave the situation empty-handed. Don’t allow this setback to destroy your confidence, productivity or happiness.

Put in The Extra Hours 

One of the most valuable things I did during my undergrad and postgraduate education was attend office hours. Professors will post their office hours in the syllabus at the beginning of the semester. Take advantage of it. Why? Because most professors are willing to be more than a lecturer on their soapbox if you take the time (and they see your effort) in meeting with them outside of the classroom lecture hall. Showing effort and enthusiasm for the subject and a willingness to learn goes a long way.

In the business world, show effort and willingness to visit with anyone from your business’s regulatory agency before they have to call you in. For example, when we started Sin City Cupcakes, we made sure to visit the Southern Nevada Health Department in person and get to meet our food/bakery inspector face to face. Many people communicate with them via mail, phone or email. We made it a point to go to the office, meet in person, chat and build a rapport. It’s made our lives easier in the long run.

Take a Test Run

If your professors allow it, ask for a practice test. The key to getting an “A” is answering exam questions the way that your professor likes them written, so figure out his/her style. By asking for and taking practice tests, not only do you get a feel for how that professor will grade on the real thing, but you also get major points by showing initiative in this area.

Similar to the first point, we were able to ask our health department inspector for sample grading criteria and were even shown the sheets of how they score a processing facility. Sure, the guidelines are publicly posted. but it was so helpful to basically conduct a mini mock-inspection verbally in order to learn exactly what they look for — after all, some inspectors are more particular than others with minuscule things. Learning those nuances has helped us in preparing and conducting ourselves with food safety in mind. Our most recent inspection scored us a perfect 100/100.

Participate in Your Community

When I was in graduate school, one of my professors was also a wine expert. Outside of school, unrelated to the program, he and his wife taught a local wine class in the community. It ended up being the perfect way for me to not only gain knowledge I didn’t even know I really wanted, but ended up enjoying immensely. It also gave me an excellent opportunity to cultivate a relationship with that professor that undoubtedly benefited me.

Much of business is relationship-driven. As a result, the activities you participate in outside of business can have a large influence on your success. I volunteer often and do so with several nonprofits regularly. I have met incredible people in the community through volunteer opportunities, and some have directly resulted in new clients, sales and opportunities for my companies.

Make Your Life Easier When Possible

I went to the University of Arizona for undergrad, which is a massive campus. Instead of huffing it back and forth from parking to buildings to other buildings and back to parking, I kept a golf cart on campus. Not only did it allow me to wear heels to class every day, more importantly it was the catalyst to meet so many different people around campus. It was an immediate conversation-starter, I would befriend people on my way to class, they would hop in my golf cart if we were going in the same direction, and off we’d go. I made countless friends and even met a graduate student who ended up becoming a mentor of mine, who I still keep in touch with to this day. It was a great vehicle (pun intended) for networking.

In business, think about an item that may be unconventional, but would make your life easier. For example, we often cater alcohol-infused cupcakes for golf tournaments: It was unconventional, but a no-brainer for us to have our own Sin City Cupcakes golf cart. I found a used utility cart and transformed it into what we need. Why a utility cart? The suspension will hold 2,000 pounds…that’s a lot of cupcakes! We got it wrapped, switched out the rims, tricked it out a bit, loaded it up with cupcakes and promo models, and voila. An immediate conversation starter and it made our lives immensely easier in getting the cupcakes out to certain holes (golf courses are just massive) and keeps our girls looking cute and fresh. Plus, it’s a great up-sell for corporate clients who want to rent it as part of their catering experience.

If you have already attended college, think back on what tactics worked for you and realize that you directly apply those same techniques to your life and job today. If you have yet to attend college, get excited! It’s definitely a place where you’ll learn more than just what’s required of your major.

As a business founder and mother, I’ve found myself in this position many times, trying to balance my entrepreneurial ventures with my efforts to create a warm and loving environment for my son. I won’t lie, I’ve struggled to find harmony between these two roles and more than once has one part of my life been momentarily overshadowed by the demands of the other.

With practice, however, I’ve learned some lessons that make it easier to create symmetry in my life between these two roles. Whether you are thinking of starting your own company (or becoming a mother!) or you’re already deep in the trenches, these seven tips to balance entrepreneurship and motherhood can help you make the most of both roles — and maintain your own sanity in the process.

Enlist Deputies at Work and at Home

One of the first notions that you have to rid yourself of as an entrepreneur and a mother is the idea that you have to do everything yourself. The belief that you have to have a hand in everything is often seen as embedded in the concept of being an entrepreneur, but attempting to tackle everything on the job and at home guarantees that things will fall through the cracks. I fell victim to this misguided theory when I first launched my business. However, I quickly found that relying on my talented team at work and extended support network at home produced better results across the board.

Create a Routine for Yourself (But Allow for Flexibility)

Between my company and my son, every second of my day is filled. Without an established routine, it’s too easy to lose track of what I’m doing in the middle of doing it, wasting time and leaving me feeling unnecessarily stressed. Even worse, without a plan, one role can easily overwhelm the other. Establishing a weekly routine with time set aside solely for my business and my family alike helps me stay on top of things and be more effective. That said, flexibility is key. Otherwise, that unexpected doctor’s appointment can throw a wrench in your whole week.

Set Goals on a Daily Basis

I’ve found that outlining my life’s big aspirations is easy. I have a clear vision for my company’s long-term growth and I know the important principles and values that I want to instill in my son. The smaller, day-to-day goals that will lead me toward fulfilling these ambitions, however, can be harder to set. Putting aside time each morning for a quick daily goal-setting session has helped me enormously. First, it allows me to see more clearly if I’m forgetting something important. Second, the action of checking off a completed daily goal — no matter how small — gives me a sense of satisfaction that helps nurture my own mental well-being.

Be Able to Roll With Life’s Punches

The key caveat to the practice of daily goal-setting, of course, is that you have to be OK with failing to meet those goals from time to time. Start by making sure that your goals are realistic. I personally found that my intention to go to the gym every day was too ambitious. Even the best-laid plans are going to fall apart every now and then. Every entrepreneurial mother will face baby spit-up on their dry-cleaned suit at some point. Accept that this is going to happen, recalibrate and move on. Dwelling on these setbacks will only mess up your routine even more.

Be Mindful

Multitasking seems like it was designed for those of us balancing a company and a child, but trying to do both roles at once can easily result in doing neither role well. Before I figured this out, I definitely had times when I short-changed my son by attempting to answer a work email while playing with him. And I didn’t do my colleagues any favors, either, by missing an important question while trying to soothe my son. Whether you’re doing something for work or something for your family, dedicate all of your attention to that task. Being mindful can actually end up saving you time.

Make Family Meals a Priority

Carving out time dedicated solely to your family can be tough, and it’s easy to let the lovely idea of a family meal at the dinner table together fall to the side in favor of eating a sandwich in the kitchen while typing on your phone one-handed. If you’re able to fit just one daily activity into your life that revolves around your role as mother, however, family dinner is the way to go. Researchers have found that dinner-time conversations improve literacy and behavior.

Don’t Forget Self-Care

In balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship, forgetting to take care of yourself is easy. But you’re the glue that holds everything together! I learned the hard way that neglecting my own health, physical and mental, can lead to worse performance as a boss and as a caregiver. Between sleep, exercise and unplugging mentally, finding time to fulfill my own needs and recharge makes me more effective in everything I do. Sometimes this requires a little creativity; maybe gym time has to be slotted in at 5:00 a.m. But remember, building harmony between your role as entrepreneur and your role as mother starts by finding balance in yourself.

Healthcare is hard — but many startups are now successfully navigating the healthcare space with us. In this article, I explore how to approach the beast that is the healthcare industry.

Know Thy Stakeholder(s)

Most healthcare organizations are deeply layered and extremely complex. When entering a working relationship in the healthcare industry, it’s imperative to understand the different layers of stakeholders in order to have a successful engagement. To build a mutually beneficial relationship, you must understand who each stakeholder is, where their priorities lie, where they see risk and what success looks like to them. You’ll find, as with all large organizations, that stakeholder priorities are not always aligned, meaning that you need to be willing to take the lead and help them align with one another.

When it comes to financial stakeholders, the key objective will (obviously) always be focused on cost to the company and ROI. However, it is important to remember that each finance department, for each healthcare entity, has a different structure. Therefore, it’s necessary to understand which KPI’s are important to them before engaging. IT stakeholders, on the other hand, may be motivated by implementation requirements or security vulnerabilities. Often times, technical architecture is specific to an organization. And as most health organizations tend to be more complicated, a successful partnership relies heavily on open lines of communication and a full understanding of their existing systems. Satisfying those driving the business case along with those who will actually use the product can also have conflicting goals. Stakeholders can also be silent or non-obvious. Even if a CIO makes the final call on decisions, she may heavily defer to her IT team, whom she trusts. If all of these factors align, the relationship stands a strong chance of being successful.

Map the Ripple Effect

Ups, downs and roller coaster metaphors aside, business is anything but a linear journey. Many businesses are built on momentum, which can be an incredible force for growth. But how do you deal with the down cycle: the part of the journey that few articles or books discuss? The less glamorous, “down-and-almost-out” part of the entrepreneur’s quest is a guarantee if you stay in the game long enough. The down cycles are perhaps even more important than the up cycles, because they are what define the character and ambition of an entrepreneur. Having been through a few of these times myself, here are my top four recommendations on how to use your down cycle to grow.

Start a New Venture

Really? Yes. Start something new. It could be something small and insignificant (like replanting all of your flower beds at home) or it could be big and audacious (like launching an entirely new business). This isn’t an exercise in distraction. Rather, the respite from your normal routine will jumpstart both your passion and your desire to learn. Putting your mind to work in another capacity will give you new, creative insights into your down cycle that you can use to dig yourself out of your trench.

The down cycle can be a dark place for entrepreneurs; you may choose to abandon your dream or do something regrettable (like fire everyone in a fit of despair). Staying stimulated and positive during this time can be critical to keeping your original dream alive.

Learn Something New

Pick up every interesting book you can find— business-related or otherwise — and dedicate time every day to reading. You never know where inspiration might strike. One thoughtful phrase could be exactly what you need to reach a turning point and get to a breakthrough in your business cycle. Plus, you’ll learn a few things that you can use once you’re back on top.

Get Away

Take a vacation, spend more time working from home, and get physically distant from your workplace. Perspective can only be achieved if you put yourself in a position to see the problem from a different point of origin. Although your gut will tell you to stick around the office, work longer hours and fret over your keyboard, I typically do the opposite. I try to put everything down and give myself physical and emotional space from the issues. That distance always helps me gain the right insights.

Do Some Soul-Searching

Your down cycle is the perfect time to assess your own happiness and spiritual well-being. Ask yourself, “Even when I feel down-and-out, like my business is hitting rock bottom, am I still happy and passionate about what I do?” If the answer is yes, you know you’re on the right path. If the answer is no, it’s time to reassess what makes you happy. Yes, we all start businesses to make money, but we must also love the journey. Every entrepreneur I’ve met who has sold a business has told me that the length of the journey is far better than the moment at which you receive a piece of paper with a number on it in return for years of passionate work.

I’ve been through my fair share of downs, and I’ve used all of these tactics to keep myself motivated. Giving yourself the feeling of forward momentum at all times is key to staying engaged in the entrepreneurial dream. In business and in life, it’s true that what goes up must come down. But if you pursue your goals with passion and persevere through your down cycle, you’ll also see that what goes down will always come back up!

Because any business can benefit from knowing how to remove barriers for users, here are some tips on how to improve your own service offerings:

Be Specific About the Action You Want Users to Take

What exactly are you trying to get them to do? Not what goal are you trying to reach, but what specific behavior or action do you want users to take?

For example, a specific action for the users of these fintech companies might be to pay off $100 of their credit card debt balance each month on payday and not the more generic goal of improving their credit score.

When you’re answering this for your own business, bypass vague outcomes in favor of specific and measurable ones.

Don’t say that you want users to: 

• “Improve users’ credit scores.”
• “Eat healthier.”
• “Have greater retention on our app.”

Why? These goals are too vague.

Do say you want users to: 

• “Pay off $100 of users’ credit card debt every payday.”
• “Eat salad for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
• “Like photos, upload photos and comment on photos in your app.”

Why? These goals are specific.

Take a Walk in Their Shoes

Look at what the user has to go through along his or her journey. Can you see any places where they might drop off? What can you do to either remove or reduce that barrier, or showcase the benefits of overcoming it when the user gets there?

Some ways you can remove common barriers:

• Pre-populate. Pre-populate the enrollment form with data you already have so it’s easier for users to finish.
• Reduce the number of options. When there’s an overload of choices, people give up. Keeping it simple keeps the momentum.
• Implement transparency of process. When you just can’t avoid having a lengthier process, let users see how far they’ve come and what percentage is left. This can feed into a sense of commitment and consistency.

Ease the Way

Unfortunately, as companies in the world of finance are discovering, some barriers take more effort to remove. For many of these users, the biggest barriers around money are the perpetual struggle between “current me” and “future me.” That is, users know they have debts to pay off and may even have good intentions to do so. But with so many other temptations around, it’s not always easy to stay the course. One technique considered with my mentee, Debitize, a company that helps people use their credit card more responsibly, was to ask users to pre-commit to automatically using their tax returns for paying off credit card debt. By shifting how we think about a sudden windfall, we can make healthier choices about finances. The key to helping users avoid backpedaling and giving into the demands of “current me” is to set it up so that as soon as their refund money hits the bank, it’s automatically applied toward paying off their credit card debt. In this case, no pain translates to more gain.

One of the biggest takeaways from the fintech conference that I’d like to share with you is also an obvious one: These behavioral science interventions are not static, set-it-and-forget-it measures. Since it is a science, it does require testing. To know which interventions are yielding results and which ones need adjusting, you need to run experiments and do some A/B testing. But whatever your field or your level of commitment to scientific testing, it’s critical to understand what it’s like for your users along their journey. What steps can you take to remove barriers? The more you can ease their way, the likelier it is they’ll stay.

Let’s be honest. The word “investment” does not strike many of us as an interesting topic. We think of investments and hear stocks, bonds, real estate and other ways to increase our net worth. I mean, the definition of the term ROI is “the measure of gain or loss generated on an investment relative to the amount of money.”

But a return on investment really should be defined as the benefit to an investor resulting from an investment of some resource.

Why Should It Have a Broad Definition?

A resource could be looked at as simply money but there are other resources used from an investment perspective that can benefit an investor. There are two other forms of resources that are not included in the original definition that are important to entrepreneurs and business owners: time and energy. Without ROI, we have no clue on whether our efforts are even worth our time – or if our energy could be better utilized elsewhere.

Time

They say time is money, right? Calculating what your time is worth can be debatable, but everyone would agree that their time is worth something. Doing an ROI analysis on time-based subjects such as chores, tasks and other to-do items will dramatically change your life for the better.

I sat down to figure out what my time is worth and came up with a value of $100/hour. That means that whatever I am doing better be worth $100/hour. If it’s not your strength and you don’t enjoy doing it, then you have to find a way to hire/outsource that task or to-do item to someone else.

Not too long ago, I was mowing the lawn and fed up with the work. It was taking up a ton of my time – and at what cost? Hunched over, drenched in sweat and out of pure frustration I pulled out my phone and started to search for lawn care companies. Why was I wasting hours when I could be doing other things?

I was seeing prices from $30-$50 a month to take care of my lawn. The ROI analysis was a no-brainer. I could spend $30-$50 a month on lawn care and save 4-5 hours a month in time at a value of $100/hr. That’s a significant amount!

My lawn needs mowing twice a month and it takes an average of two hours each time. My ROI analysis was pretty simple. I could waste four hours a month or pay a lawn company $60 a month to take care of my lawn. I personally value my time at $100 an hour and so lawn care would cost me $400 per month. By paying $60, I save four hours to work on my business or to spend time with family.

Your return on investment in regards to your time can also be calculated. As entrepreneurs, business owners, employees, students, etc. we all have some type of value for our time. But it’s not just time. Energy can be another factor for determining ROI.

Energy

When eating, for example, there is a big correlation between the food that you choose to eat and the type of ROI it will return when measured as energy. If you choose to eat a large lunch at McDonald’s, you will most likely return a negative ROI on your energy level. You will feel lethargic, slow and not focused to accomplish the rest of the day. Typically large greasy meals that have more carbohydrates will return a negative ROI on your energy. If you choose to eat a kale salad, though, you will actually notice that your body is producing more energy. Let me give you some examples of real-life ROI scenarios that I use:

• Choosing What to Eat for Breakfast
• Choosing What to Wear in the Morning: I calculated that I could spend 15 minutes every morning picking out what to wear to work that day or I could lay out my options the night before.
• What Time to Leave for Work Every Day Based on the Commute: How long will I have to spend in traffic?

Think about it. Investment is a great topic – especially if there is everything to gain in your everyday life.

What is your ROI?