Creating your own fashion blog can be the easiest and at the same time, the toughest of all writing assignments. The task can be both intimidating at times and exciting too. There is probably no other subject on earth that makes you as jittery as the subject of fashion when you start creating a blog dedicated solely to the aspects of looking great.Do Not Focus Solely on Earning Money: Like most of the other bloggers, fashion bloggers are also allowed to make money through proper marketing of their blogs. But, earning money should not be the sole purpose of the blog. A number of fashion blogs these days are interested in generating revenue through advertisements of different fashion brands. This makes it way too difficult to build a heart to heart connection with the readers.Invite The Reader to Your Fashion World: People do not visit a fashion blog just to check out what clothes the bloggers are wearing. They want to have a complete fashionable experience by receiving knowledge about what they should wear and why. Moreover, the visitors would like to get into the complete runway fashion experience or would love to imagine themselves to be in the part of the world that a particular trend of fashion belongs to. This is the best way to gift the ordinary blog readers with a nice “almost” fashion show like experience without intimidating their taste for fashion. In fact, that is what most of them turn to a fashion blog for.Engage The Readers with Excellent Write-ups: It is true that the nice and catchy photographs are prerequisite to bringing more traffic to your fashion blog. That does not mean you can forget keeping an eye on the quality of posts on your blog. Remarks interwoven with witty and intelligent fun keeps the readers hooked and makes most of them coming back, again and again. No matter how beautiful the images are and how much your knowledge and sense of fashion helps the visitors, you cannot expect them to wait for a few minutes before leaving, until the information in black and white does not seem to be enlightening and appealing enough.Reach Out to Readers by Imparting Confidence: Fashion blogs are a tad different from the usual fashion magazines and the lifestyle channels on television. Writing for fashion blogs is beyond mere advising about what to wear and what not to. But, the readers love to see in the fashion blogs how ordinary people actually dress. Unlike, popular fashion magazines and TV channels, such blogs tell its target readers how to wear whatever they want to, confidently. Some widely popular fashion magazines cannot impart the same confidence that the wearer needs to carry along with the dress.Do Not Suggest Buying Expensive Products: The dream of buying expensive clothes, accessories, bags and shoes from big fashion labels often pursue people to end up adding them to their stock. Still, a large number of people cannot afford such brands. Does that mean, those people cannot really reach out for what is called fashion in true sense? Fashion bloggers can bridge the gap by relying equally on low-budget products as they do on expensive brands.Image is The Heart of Fashion Blogs: High quality photographs are a must for the success of a fashion blog. Fashion is one subject, blogs on which requires to cater to the ocular sensory nerves a lot. So, it becomes very important for the blogger to look for the right kind of pictures to validate the subjects of blog-posts. The readers will definitely like to have a look at what they are being suggested to wear. It is very important to put up very clear and professionally taken photographs that will also help them visualizing themselves in such clothes. It is very important for the blogs to become fashion inspirations for the readers. Otherwise, they will not come back to the blog again.Creating a fashion blog involves loads of diligent efforts to make people believe that they can look fashionable even in the most low-priced and ordinary clothes already present in their closets. So, make them understand that there is no need to burn a huge hole in their pocket to look fashionable. It is their confidence and attitude that can make all the difference.
Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?
There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.
In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.
But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.
Different Types of Financing
One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.
Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.
But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.
Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.
Alternative Financing Solutions
But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:
1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.
2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.
3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.
In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:
It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.
A Precious Commodity
Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).
Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.
Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?
What Kinds of Investment Options Available in India
However the last few decades witnessed a complete change in the nature of functioning of the financial market. An array of new products was introduced by both financial institutes and banks that simply lured the many investors to invest in them because of the numerous advantages that each product offered. Be it life insurance policies, Exchange Traded Funds infrastructure bonds, fixed deposits, mutual funds etc each product or scheme is unique and meets the needs of either your long term or short term goals.Below is a list of the different investment options offered in India.Bank Fixed Deposits, [Term Deposit]Bank fixed deposits are one of the most popular investment options in India. This type of investment is one of the oldest and safest in the country. Usually in the case of a bank Fixed Deposit Scheme a certain amount of money is deposited in a particular bank for a specific duration on which the depositor receives a fixed rate of interest. Fixed deposits are ideal for long term investments. Mostly young people deposit in such schemes till the age of retirement so that they are eligible for a regular income when they need it most. The best thing about this investment option is that it is extremely safe, liquid and also yields high returns.Recurring Bank Deposit Saving SchemeRecurring Bank Deposit Schemes are also another good investment option in India. In order to invest in a Recurring Bank Deposit Saving Scheme you will have to invest a specific sum of money in a bank on a monthly basis. On this investment you will be receiving a fixed rate of interest from the bank every month. These types of investments have a fixed tenure and at the end of the tenure you receive the principle amount plus the interest earned.ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund)Among the latest investment options in the country Exchange Traded Fund or ETFs are known for their high returns yielding nature. Since the product is relatively new people are still a little apprehensive about investing in these types of funds however investing in Exchange Traded Funds are extremely beneficial in the long run.ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Scheme) Over the years Equity Linked Savings Schemes have gained immense popularity in the Indian financial market. Equity Linked Savings Scheme is a mutual fund investment option that invests in stocks and equity related stocks. Most Equity Linked Savings Schemes have a lock in period of three years which only benefits investors from yielding benefits and also getting tax exemptions.Life Insurance PlansInvesting in life insurance policies is one of the major investment options in India. LIC in India has almost synonymous with life insurance for its many life insurance policies. There are different types of life insurance plans like whole-life insurance, joint-life-insurance, pension-life-insurance etc that you can select from. It is believed that life insurance policies are best suited for people with families. The returns yielded from a life insurance policy depending on the type of plan can be used for numerous reasons like child’s education, business expansion or children’s’ marriage. Some of the companies offering life insurance plans include; Life Insurance Corporation of India, Kotak Life Insurance Reliance Life Insurance Company, Tata AIG Life Insurance etc.Post Office SavingsOne of the most important investment options in India is investing in the numerous products introduced by the post office. The many different post offices in India offer a gamut of investment products that meet the needs and requirements of one and all. Even the lower income groups can invest in the many post office schemes. Some of the popular post office savings options include;
Post Office Recurring Deposits
National Savings Scheme [NSS]
Public Provident Funds [PPF ]
Post Office Monthly Income Scheme [Post office MIS ]
National Savings Certificates [NSC ]
Post Office Time Deposits
Kisan Vikas Patra – [KVP ]
Investing in Gold Investing gold is nothing new to India. People in this part of the sub continent have been investing in gold since decades now. Gold is one of the safest investments options and can really prove beneficial in times of economic crisis. Gold can be considered to be a long term investment. Investing in gold can be used for several purposes like your child’s marriage etc. The price of gold from the last few years has been rising continuously even during recession the price seemed to have increased at a rate of 19.30 percent.Mutual FundsMutual Funds are another popular investment option that have gained immense foothold in the Indian financial market over the last few years. ‘You can invest on both short and long term mutual funds. The one thing that is really good about investing in mutual funds is that you can invest small sums at a time. Mutual funds do not necessarily require lump sum investments. Most of the financial companies and banks today offer a diversified portfolio of mutual fund investment products. Investing in mutual funds is also less risky as compared to investing in stocks. This kind of investment option also has the tendency of fetching extremely high returns. However the amount that the investor will get as returns is unpredictable and depends totally on the situation of the market.StocksInvesting in stocks is one of the most beneficial Investment options in India. According to market trends it is seen that investing in equity shares fetch as much as 26.5 percent higher returns in a period of 5 years when compared to fixed deposits of the same tenure. Even when the investment is made for the longer period it still reaps higher returns. Investing in stocks is also a better option as compared to investing in real estate or gold.The Indian financial market is flooded with a host of investment options that not only fetch returns but also save you from paying huge amounts as taxes.