Category: Insurance

Categories
Business Industry Insights Insurance Insurance Tips

Building Business Credit Fast: A Friendly Guide to Financial Success

Let’s dive in to the exciting world of building your business credit. It’s like giving your business a financial high-five and opening doors to new opportunities. Here’s the nitty-gritty of how you can build a stellar business credit score!

How To Build Business Credit

Register Your Business: like planting a seed, you need to have a solid foundation. Make it official – register your business. Get the necessary licenses. And create a separate business bank account. This step is like setting up the roots for your financial tree.

Get An EIN (Employee Identification Number): think of this as your business’s social security number. It’s unique to your business. It is crucial for separating your personal and business finances. It’s your business’s way of saying, “I’m independent!”

Open A Business Bank Account: this is where the magic happens. Having a dedicated business bank account makes you look professional. It helps keep your business finances organized. It’s like having a tidy room – everything is in its place.

Buy Business Insurance: Credited by Gild Insurance helps build your business credit score with on-time business insurance premium payments.

Pay Your Bills On Time: this one’s a golden rule. Just like meeting deadlines, paying your bills on time boosts your business credit score. It shows that you’re reliable and trustworthy – qualities everyone loves in a business partner.

Apply For A Business Credit Card: a business credit card is your financial sidekick! It can help make necessary purchases and establish credit for your business. Remember, responsible credit card use is the key here – it’s like having a trusty sidekick who always has your back.

Building A Business Credit Score Fast

Building your business credit is a journey, not a sprint. Stay consistent, be responsible, and watch your business credit score soar. Remember, it’s not just about the numbers; it’s about creating a financial legacy.

To learn more about business credit, check out:

“Credited by Gild Insurance”

“Exploring the World of Business Credit and Your Business Credit Score”!

If you need help with your business, your friends at Gild Insurance are only a click away! We combine the latest technology with experience to provide business options that fit your business!

Categories
Business Insurance Insurance Tips News

How to Build Business Credit Without Using Personal Credit

Let’s chat about something essential in the business realm: business credit and the often confusing business credit score. Additionally, you may be wondering, how can I build business credit without using personal credit? It’s a question many small business owners ask as they seek to keep their business and personal finances separate.

What Is A Credit Score?

A personal credit score helps lenders determine what products to offer you and on what terms. Personal credit scores consider factors like credit card balances, timely payments, and length of credit history. Therefore, the higher your score, the better credit opportunities you’ll have—on a personal level.

But when it comes to your business, think of your business credit score as your company’s financial reputation. Unlike personal credit, your business credit score shows how reliably your business makes payments and manages credit. This score gives lenders a quick snapshot of your business’s financial health.

How to Build Business Credit Without Using Personal Credit

The good news is, you can establish and grow your business credit without relying on your personal credit. Here’s how:

  1. Incorporate Your Business: The first step is to legally separate your business from yourself. Subsequently, incorporating your business or forming an LLC can help you create a distinct credit profile for your business.
  2. Get an EIN (Employer Identification Number): This is essentially a Social Security number for your business. It’s used for tax filings and to establish business credit accounts without using your personal SSN.
  3. Open a Business Bank Account: Separate your personal and business finances. Start by opening a business bank account and using it for all business-related transactions.
  4. Apply for a Business Credit Card: Once your business is set up, apply for a business credit card. Make sure the card is only tied to your business and not to your personal credit. Use it regularly and pay it off on time to build a strong business credit score.
  5. Establish Trade Credit: Many suppliers will offer your business trade credit, allowing you to purchase products or services on credit and pay later. Make sure these accounts report to business credit bureaus, which helps grow your business credit profile.

What Affects Your Business Credit Score?

To grow your business credit without using personal credit, it’s important to understand what factors affect your score:

  • Your Bills: Timely payments build a strong business credit profile.
  • Credit Utilization: Keep your business credit card balances low compared to your credit limits.
  • Credit History: The more financial transactions on your credit profile, the more reliable you appear to lenders.
  • Public Records: Legal issues, liens, or bankruptcies related to your business can negatively impact your business credit score.

Where Can You Check Your Business Credit Score?

Just like with personal credit, there are business credit bureaus that track your business’s financial health. Comparatively, these bureaus aggregate data about businesses to determine their creditworthiness. Here are the main business credit bureaus:

Why is Business Credit Important?

Your business credit score allows your business to secure loans, lines of credit, or trade accounts. Creditors or trade partners may check your business credit to determine if you are creditworthy. A higher business credit score can lead to lower interest rates and better terms, helping your business save money in the long run.

How Gild Insurance Can Help You Build Business Credit

One unique way to build business credit without using personal credit is through Gild Insurance. Gild Insurance is the first insurance agency to use business insurance premiums to help build your business credit score! With Credited by Gild Insurance, your business can use on-time insurance premium payments to help improve its credit profile.

To learn more about business credit, check out our guide: Building Business Credit Fast: A Friendly Guide to Financial Success.

If you need help with your business, your friends at Gild Insurance are only a click away! We combine the latest technology with experience to provide business insurance options that fit your business.

Categories
Business Insurance Insurance Tips

The Most Common Liability Claims for Clothing Boutiques

clothing boutique owner

What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself, Your Staff and Your Clothing Boutique Business

The new winter line is here! Just in time for that falling snow outside. But with that snow comes customers with wet shoes that create puddles. Did you get those mopped up as soon as you saw them? Did you have a sign to warn customers of the potential danger? In the ever-changing retail industry, it is critical that you remain up to date on your top hazards and risks for your clothing boutique.

The Most Common Liability Claims

A liability claim occurs when a customer is harmed physically or otherwise due to the fault of the boutique. Did a customer fall and hit their head when they slipped on one of those puddles from earlier? According to NIOSH , retailers’ must begin to think about correlating their sales and the cost of an injury to other aspects of their business together.

  • Slips, Trips and Falls – This is one of the most common injuries that occurs in a clothing boutique. While slips and falls can undoubtedly happen during training inclement weather, they can be just as common while people are simply walking around the store. Don’t forget to dry your feet on the rug!
  • Falling Objects – Your new display of bags just arrived! Did you secure the display correctly? Unsecured displays or incorrectly installed fixtures can cause injuries. Watch out below!
  • Employment Practices – If you have employees, this exposure is ever present. Should a current or former employee accuse you of wrongful termination, discrimination, or workplace harassment and retaliation, it can prove to be very costly.

Business Insurance is Your Friend

If the scenarios we mentioned above made you more than a little concerned about all your potential risks, don’t fret. Everything we listed above was simply meant to outline the most common claims we see in the retail industry so that you can do your best to prepare yourself for them.  

To learn more about the risks of operating a small business, check out “The Gild Guide: Most Common Small Business Insurance Questions”
 
Remember, if you need help preparing yourself, your friends at Gild Insurance are never more than a click away. We combine the latest technology with experience to provide business insurance options that fit your business. We help clothing boutique owners like you find the business insurance coverages they need!

Categories
Business Featured Small Business Insurance Insurance Tips

The Most Common Liability Claims for Coffee Shop Owners

Running a coffee shop demands a fast pace, as owners must balance crafting quality beverages with providing excellent customer service. Evolving coffee trends and varying preferences across generations, it can be challenging to keep up. This is whether you’re sourcing ethically produced beans or considering investing in a nitro machine to meet the growing demand for cold brews and nitro coffee. Research shows that while these beverages were almost nonexistent in 2015. Today, 1 in 5 Americans under 40 enjoy them weekly. These shifts in consumer preferences can introduce new operational risks, making it essential to understand how to protect yourself, your staff, and your business from common liability claims for coffee shop owners.

The Most Common Liability Claims for Coffee Shop Owners

A liability claim occurs when a customer is harmed physically or otherwise due to the fault of your coffee shop. What happens if a customer accidentally spills their fresh beverage and someone else slips on it before you get a chance to clean it up? Ouch! It sounds like she may have twisted her ankle.

  • Slips, Trips and Falls – This is one of the most common injuries that occurs in a coffee shop. Remember that slip from earlier?
  • Falling Objects – The new merchandise you ordered has arrived! You think you carefully stack all those new coffee cups and beans nicely for your customers. Crash! The display falls over on top of one of your customers.
  • Employment Practices – If you have employees, this exposure is ever present. Should a current or former employee accuse you of wrongful termination, discrimination, or workplace harassment and retaliation, it can prove to be very costly.

Business Insurance is Your Friend

If the scenarios we mentioned above made you more than a little concerned about all your potential losses, don’t fret. Everything we listed above was simply meant to outline the most common claims we see in the coffee industry so that you can do your best to prepare yourself for them.  

To learn more about the risks of running a coffee shop, check out the Gild Team’s article “Sip with Confidence: Navigating The World Of Coffee Shop Insurance“. 

Remember, if you need help preparing yourself, your friends at Gild Insurance are never more than a click away. We combine the latest technology with experience to provide business insurance options that fit your business. We help coffee shop owners like you find the insurance coverages they need!

Sources

“NCA Releases Atlas of American Coffee.” NCA We Serve Coffee. Accessed 19 Nov 2023. https://www.ncausa.org/newsroom/nca-releases-atlas-of-american-coffee

Categories
Business Featured Small Business Insurance Insurance Tips

The Most Common Liability Claims for Bakery Owners

What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself, Your Staff and Your Business

Yum! Who doesn’t love baked goods? According to bakemag.com, the most popular items sold in bakeries are cakes at 24%. For full line retail bakeries, these cake products can be found in their traditional form, by the slice and as cake pops. With new bakery innovations comes new equipment and training which can present new risks and exposures. Running bakeries can be demanding enough, so we at Gild Insurance decided to take researching the most common types of liabilities you do face off your plate.

The Most Common Liability Claims for Bakery Owners

A liability claim occurs when a customer is harmed physically or otherwise due to the fault of the bakery. A part of owning a bakery is experimenting with new tastes and textures but what you shouldn’t experiment with is protecting your business interests and assets. It starts with being informed about what could happen. Below are some examples we’ve prepared for you:

  • Slips, Trips and Falls – This is one of the most common injuries that occurs in a bakery. What a beautiful, freshly mopped floor. Jill, your employee, did an amazing job getting it done right before open and the morning rush. Who needs an old “Slippery When Wet” sign? The doors burst open with customers flooding in and one takes a tumble due to the wet floors. What now?
  • Falling Objects – With no shortage of shelving in your bakery to show your beautiful pastries off nothing could go wrong, right? Especially since you’ve leaned into the open shelving trend! As a customer reaches for the top shelf piece, they sturdy themselves on another and all comes tumbling down on top of the customer causing an injury. Was this your fault? Either way this is heading to trail, cost of defense can be crushing even if you win.
  • Employment Practices – If you have employees, this exposure is ever present. Should a current or former employee accuse you of wrongful termination, discrimination, or workplace harassment and retaliation, it can prove to be very costly.

Business Insurance is Your Friend

If the scenarios we mentioned above made you more than a little concerned about all your potential losses, don’t fret. Everything we listed above was simply meant to outline the most common claims we see in the baked goods industry so that you can do your best to prepare yourself for them.  

To learn more about business insurance risks for small business owners, check out “The Gild Guide: Most Common Small Business Insurance Questions”.
 
Remember, if you need help preparing yourself, your friends at Gild Insurance are never more than a click away. We combine the latest technology with experience to provide business insurance options that fit your business. We help bakery owners like you find the insurance coverages they need!