Each week, Nav brings you relevant small business news from across the web that we hope you find interesting!
Pay off your credit cards now. Here’s why
Credit card holders: once the Fed starts increasing interest rates, rates on your existing debts will start to go up. That means anyone with credit card debt could see their debt increase once rates start climbing higher. No need to panic: there’s still time to pay off debts, but as Nav’s head of market education, Gerri Detweiler, reports, now is a great time to get “very honest about your debt.”
Business Credit Scores 101
Like your personal credit scores, your business has credit scores too. Here’s a high level breakdown of how they work from the blog of personal security and ID theft expert Robert Siciliano.
Research: Want More Entrepreneurs? Make College Cheaper
New research from Harvard Business School economist Gareth Olds found that “a 10% increase in the average price of in-state college tuition corresponds with a 13.9% decrease in the number of parents with college-age children who become self-employed.” Instead of focusing on how student debt affects recent graduates, this study looks at the parents of this group, noting that the financial insecurity associated with having to fork over higher amounts of money for their children’s education deters potential entrepreneurs from leaving their secure jobs.
5 Great Places To Invest Your Company’s Excess Cash This Year
Many businesses have the problem of not enough cash in the bank and seek financing in the form of a loan, business credit card, or line of credit. If you have the opposite problem in that you have too much money in the bank (first of all, major props to you, what’s your secret?), here are five places that Gene Marks suggests investing your money to help grow your business. His personal advice? “Avoid the stock market. Invest in yourself.”
How To Price Your Services At The Startup Phase
As a new freelancer, figuring out how to price your services is hard. You need to find the balance between how you perceived the value of your services, your value in the eyes of clients, and where to start to optimize how much your perceived value can increase. Check out these things to consider from The Self Employed.
Restaurants: How to Improve Your Gift Card Program: 2016 Restaurant Gift Card Study
New study by Toast, a restaurant POS system that attempts to answer the question: How can restaurants improve their gift card program year-round? Insights are divided by business-type and include: on average, customers spend 72% more with gift cards, 29% of gift cards are never redeemed, and 45% of guests spend more than the value of the gift card.
Real Estate: How Drones Are Transforming the Real Estate Industry
Drones provide real estate professionals with a low-cost way to take good aerial shots. Here’s an intro to drones as well as how you can use them for your business.
Remodeling and Design: How Two Architects Created a Platform to Share Unused Space for More Sustainability
Here’s an interview with the founders of Splacer, a company that transforms undiscovered and underutilized spaces into event venues. Find out how they financed their growth, how the founders used their architectural background to find the most qualified spaces, and a look at some of the amazing Splacer listings.
This article was originally written on July 8, 2016 and updated on November 2, 2016.
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