Unless you’re under 35 or over 65 you might not have noticed that there’s been an explosion in city living. London apartment developments have been popping up all over the capital fed by a growing need for neat single living units and a desire to be where the action is, and at the most within a night bus home.In the UK some 50% of new homes are apartments, a trend that’s found worldwide, and this has led to some unusual trends in garden design and gardening. In particular it has led to gardens on a tiny scale with a new trend in micro gardening including vertical green walls and grow your own. Community gardening in these new neighbourhoods is a big trend that we’re hearing about. But one trend that has gone under the radar is the rise of slick independent male apartment living – old style bachelor pads with a new twist. They want a garden to match their stylish new homes.The rise of these new bachelor pad gardens is led by a few different influences. First of all there is a new sophistication for staying home and if you are entertaining your date then what better than taking them out into your stylish outdoor space, sitting around a fireplace at night time whatever the season. Second climate change in city centres has led to more exotic gardening, if you have a warm micro climate in your London garden then you can grow exotic plants like luxurious tree ferns and sexy jungle plants like canna lilies.The other big influence is technology, serious boys toys for the garden. New LED lighting technology gives a great atmosphere year round and even when it snows what better view than a snow lit landscape. But of course night time garden lighting allows busy city boys to relax in the garden when they get home, have a beer from their slick stainless steel cooling drawer and chill out. Add in a great sound system linked into the internal computerised music feed and an outdoor TV and you’ve got an extension to your small apartment for year round entertainment.A challenge for every small city garden is seclusion, especially if you’re a bachelor entertaining his latest girl or boyfriend. It doesn’t have to be the usual timber fence and the contemporary horizontal trellis that has sprung up in suburban gardens isn’t enough when your home displays your tastes to people you want to impress.And plants are just as important to create that secluded atmosphere. In small gardens every plant counts and it’s important to choose wisely. For the gardener he might sacrifice seating space for planting but for many it’s about low maintenance garden design that means occasional gardening whilst enjoying great simple planting schemes with a peak of interest for the summertime. For the minimalist bachelor pad it might mean a single great Japanese Maple but the clear white branches of multi-stem birches and black bamboo are a popular choice. For the single male interested in emanating Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Oliver there’s also an interest in planting more unusual exotic edibles like Szechuan pepper or Cocktail Kiwis that thrive in the warmth of the city.Whatever their taste for planting and gardening there seems to be a cool modern garden for every bachelor, whether it’s the city banker with his rooftop space for entertaining or the newly independent divorcee retiring into the city rather than out to the country and wanting a city garden to enjoy for gardening and relaxing in. So next time your London garden is looking a bit tired check out the garden of the single male living next door and get a few tips for a fab garden design.

Are you one of the plain insurance agents? Agents often prefer to upgrade their title as an insurance specialist or financial advisor on their business card. Names like life advisor reflect positive experience and knowledge. Which of these different terms distinguishes you from being just one of the insurance agents? Here are 101 top choices to pick from.There is a lot more to a name then may realize. Calling yourself an agent or sales agent makes you sound run of the mill. It also projects the sound of a salesman trying to sell you something. Few people enjoy feeling a person is selling them anything, it stinks of pressure. This is why in this list of different terms you will see how high words like specialist, expert, and professional rank. The prospect gets a completely new perspective, just by the title you give yourself! Prospects closely take notice when an agent jointly works with them in reaching a decision on what is the best plan of action. Prospective clients want to feel like they are part of the decision process.Important internet search tip: to get an accurate count use quote marks around your term, “insurance specialist” will only give you that term in that exact order. Without the quotes you would also get all instances of people searching terms such as specialist insurance, specialist in writing insurance claims, specialist in automobile insurance sales, etc.To give this article value, in front of each of the insurance agents distinctions is the number of current Google listings. This way you can easily see how often internet views “insurance agent ” look-up terms like specialist, planner, representative, and. advisor. Please remember the Google count figures often change daily.1. 10,600,000 = financial advisor2. 6,690,000 = insurance agent3. 4,280,000 = financial planner4. 2,120,000 = investment advisor5. 1,780,000 = insurance agents brokers6. 1,600,000 = investment adviser7. 999,000 = insurance guide8. 735,000 = insurance specialist9. 638,000 = financial expert10. 604,000 = financial professional11. 590,000 = financial specialist12. 513,000 = life pro13. 433,000 = insurance professional14. 431,000 = health insurance agent15. 322,000 = insurance expert16. 271,500 = insurance salesman17. 269,000 = life professional18. 268,000 = life insurance agent19. 253,000 = insurance consultant20. 252,000 = insurance advisor21. 244,000 = insurance sales representative22. 219,000 = insurance manager23. 218,000 = estate advisor24. 217,000 = insurance executive25. 189,000 = estate planner26. 186,000 = independent insurance sale27. 179,000 = insurance sales agent28. 155,000 = insurance seller29. 130,000 = insurance producer30. 126,000 = investment representative29. 120,000 = insurance authority30. 119,000 = insurance representative31. 112,000 = life agent32. 107,000 = life insurance specialist32. 104,000 = life specialist33. 102,000 = insurance adviser34. 89,900 = insurance sales manager35. 86,200 = licensed insurance agent36. 85,200 = insurance manager37. 71,000 = health agent38. 66,600 = insurance pro39. 65,100 = insurance sales rep40. 60,000 = insurance designer41. 59,400 = insurance sales person42. 55,600 = life consultant43. 54,500 = group agent44. 52,200 = ins agent45. 50,100 = estate adviser46. 50,000 = insurance pros47. 46,800 = insurance counselor48. 43,800 = financial pro49. 43,400 = insurance salesperson50. 40,200 = insurance sales specialist51. 37,700 = life producer52. 37,000 = insurance sales executive53. 35,400 = independent insurance brokers54. 34,700 = long term care professional55. 34,500 = financial planning advisor56. 33,900 = medical insurance specialist57. 31,300 = health insurance professional58. 29,300 = life insurance expert59. 29,000 = insurance rep60. 28,900 = financial planning advisor61. 27,500 = health insurance specialist62. 26,000 = health insurance advisor63. 25,500 = independent insurance professional64. 24,700 = employee benefits specialist65. 24,000 = life advisor66. 22,900 = life insurance advisor67. 21,800 = life insurance sales specialist68. 19,900 = life insurance professional69. 19,300 = insurance producer70. 19,200 = licensed financial planner71. 16,200 = health insurance producer72. 14,900 = insurance sales consultant73. 14,000 = term life insurance broker74. 12,800 = long term care specialist75. 12,700 = annuity specialist76. 12,500 = estate planning specialist77. 12,200 = insurance marketer78. 11,950 = life insurance representative79. 11,900 = insurance planner80. 10,600 = insurance sales professional81. 10,400 = life insurance advisor82. 10,200 = insurance writer83. 9,650 = insurance recruiter84. 9,480 = financial planning advisor85. 9,030 = estate planning advisor86. 8,570 = annuity broker87. 7,520 = insurance general manager88. 7,070 = insurance trainee89. 6,800 = long term care insurance specialist90. 6,670 = term life insurance agent91. 6,440 = long term care insurance agent92. 5,870 = licensed life agent93. 5,300 = financial insurance agent94. 5,270 = annuity agent95. 5,080 = ins professional96. 5,030 = medical insurance professional97. 5,010 = disability insurance agent98. 4,990 = employee benefits professional99. 4,430 = mortgage insurance agent100. 4,200 = disability insurance specialist101. 3,900 = long term care agentFor your own sake, never tell prospective clients that you are one of 1,500,000 insurance agents licensed to sell life, health, annuities, and financial policies. The term insurance specialist or insurance professional immediately makes your prospect more confident of your abilities. However, please do not use the overused and abused terms of financial planner or estate planner unless you actually are qualified to be one.If case, you are interested, here are more titles with over 1,000 Google entry occurrences that did not make the top 101 list. They include group health professional, ins specialist, insurance marketing representative, health insurance adviser, ins representative, term life insurance specialist, mortgage life insurance agent, insurance marketing specialist, disability insurance broker, life ins agent, term life agent, senior market specialist, life investment adviser, MDRT insurance agent, and insurance saleswoman.Should you want to get more attention on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Ask, here are some tips. On the front of your website entry page, use the title and first line to put a more descriptive term about the services you provide. Rather than announcing “insurance agent for many products”, try this, “medical insurance professional and disability insurance specialist.” Both these titles only have about 5,000 competing entries, which could include 3,500 to 4,000 weak ones each. Now it depends on following the advice given, and internet search engine skills you possess. An internet searcher might now find you in the top 100 listings for each of the terms! On an “insurance agent” search, with well over 6,000,000 listings, it might take a 24/7 week to find you listed toward the end of the heap.

Business loans and finance for a business just may have gotten good again? The pursuit of credit and funding of cash flow solutions for your business often seems like an eternal challenge, even in the best of times, let alone any industry or economic crisis. Let’s dig in.

Since the 2008 financial crisis there’s been a lot of change in finance options from lenders for corporate loans. Canadian business owners and financial managers have excess from everything from peer-to-peer company loans, varied alternative finance solutions, as well of course as the traditional financing offered by Canadian chartered banks.

Those online business loans referenced above are popular and arose out of the merchant cash advance programs in the United States. Loans are based on a percentage of your annual sales, typically in the 15-20% range. The loans are certainly expensive but are viewed as easy to obtain by many small businesses, including retailers who sell on a cash or credit card basis.

Depending on your firm’s circumstances and your ability to truly understand the different choices available to firms searching for SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE options. Those small to medium sized companies ( the definition of ‘ small business ‘ certainly varies as to what is small – often defined as businesses with less than 500 employees! )

How then do we create our road map for external financing techniques and solutions? A simpler way to look at it is to categorize these different financing options under:

Debt / Loans

Asset Based Financing

Alternative Hybrid type solutions

Many top experts maintain that the alternative financing solutions currently available to your firm, in fact are on par with Canadian chartered bank financing when it comes to a full spectrum of funding. The alternative lender is typically a private commercial finance company with a niche in one of the various asset finance areas

If there is one significant trend that’s ‘ sticking ‘it’s Asset Based Finance. The ability of firms to obtain funding via assets such as accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets with no major emphasis on balance sheet structure and profits and cash flow ( those three elements drive bank financing approval in no small measure ) is the key to success in ABL ( Asset Based Lending ).

Factoring, aka ‘ Receivable Finance ‘ is the other huge driver in trade finance in Canada. In some cases, it’s the only way for firms to be able to sell and finance clients in other geographies/countries.

The rise of ‘ online finance ‘ also can’t be diminished. Whether it’s accessing ‘ crowdfunding’ or sourcing working capital term loans, the technological pace continues at what seems a feverish pace. One only has to read a business daily such as the Globe & Mail or Financial Post to understand the challenge of small business accessing business capital.

Business owners/financial mgrs often find their company at a ‘ turning point ‘ in their history – that time when financing is needed or opportunities and risks can’t be taken. While putting or getting new equity in the business is often impossible, the reality is that the majority of businesses with SME commercial finance needs aren’t, shall we say, ‘ suited’ to this type of funding and capital raising. Business loan interest rates vary with non-traditional financing but offer more flexibility and ease of access to capital.

We’re also the first to remind clients that they should not forget govt solutions in business capital. Two of the best programs are the GovernmentSmall Business Loan Canada (maximum availability = $ 1,000,000.00) as well as the SR&ED program which allows business owners to recapture R&D capital costs. Sred credits can also be financed once they are filed.

Those latter two finance alternatives are often very well suited to business start up loans. We should not forget that asset finance, often called ‘ ABL ‘ by those Bay Street guys, can even be used as a loan to buy a business.

If you’re looking to get the right balance of liquidity and risk coupled with the flexibility to grow your business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor with a track record of business finance success who can assist you with your funding needs.