Even though people being in debt is a very common occurrence, it is still a very much taboo subject in everyday conversation. Because of this people can start to feel uncomfortable about speaking about their debt issues, even with their nearest and dearest. However not talking to anybody and burying your head in the sand will make things much worse for you. When you know that you have a problem you should start being proactive to solve it.

* Work out how bad the situation is and whether it will be long term. Calculate your incoming and your outgoings (minus any luxuries) and check the difference. If your outgoings exceed what you bring in, there is an issue. But there is of course a possibility that this will only be a short term issue. Perhaps your hours have been cut this month but will be back to normal next month? On the other hand, in the worst case scenario it might be a long term problem for which you see no immediate resolution.

* If you find that it is not a massively long term problem, you could speak to your creditors yourself and try to sort it out directly. If you are a good customer and make payments on time before now, they will probably help you with some sort of payment break or some other form of assistance, as long as you make it clear that it will not be a long term problem.

* If your calculations tell you that you have a big problem and the problem stretches into the long term, then you should seek advice and speak to a professional. Somebody with experience in these matters will be able to outline your options. There are informal solutions available which they can tell you about, or they could tell you about an IVA or one of the other many solutions. These people are the best people to tell you what your options are and just how bad a situation you are in.

You cannot just ignore your problems, and whether it be an IVA or debt management plan or anything else you have to do something proactive to deal with your debt issues. Even if you can’t pay them back, you should have a chat to your creditors to see if they can help you because it at least gives the impression that you are being proactive. Saying that, if you enter into an IVA somebody else will deal with them, but if you are below this level it is probably best to keep them sweet!

Learn more about IVA and debt management

To be specific, a joint venture is when two or more business owners plan to contribute collectively toward a project that will benefit them all. In English, this means that small business owners have the opportunity to contribute toward a goal that everyone will benefit from. Many joint ventures are as simple as cross promoting each other’s products, but the concept works equally well on a complicated collaboration such as a consolidated weekend event.

Anyone involved in a joint venture will benefit regardless of the complexity. First, is your chance to create more power from your marketing budget. When you are not footing the entire bill, you might be able to afford advertising on radio or TV where in the past you were limited to print. Not to mention that everyone’s sales force is expanded by the other participant’s customers and contacts.

New business owners really benefit from choosing the right strategic business partners because they can establish their credibility very rapidly. If you choose successful joint venture partners, your credibility will grow rapidly as people perceive you to be similar to those you associate with. And the added bonus is that by taking advantage of these successful business owner’s skills and knowledge, you will bypass many of the mistakes a new small business owner might make along the way.

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You can dream as big as you want by taking advantage of joint venture marketing. No goal is out of reach once you have found the right partners to make it happen. Joint venture marketing is creating successful small business owners every day, even though economic times are tough. Yours will too when you seek out the ideal joint venture partners to meet your objectives.

Marty Dickinson has been an small business owner and founder of HereNextYear.com for over a decade, and loves to share small business success strategies with other business owners. Get your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year” and learn about an online accounting program that makes it simple to track the success of your joint venture marketing.

One alternative to bankruptcy is an IVA. Essentially, this is a legal arrangement between a debtor and his or her creditors, whereby the debtor makes a set repayment for an agreed period, often 5 years. This repayment is based on what he or she can realistically afford and the total repaid often amounts to much less than what was originally owed. Nonetheless, at the end of the agreed time period, the debts are considered to be settled in full.

But is there a social stigma attached to an IVA in the same way as bankruptcy?

To a certain extent there is. There are many people who would still see this as a financial failure. Would you really want to be getting IVA advice from your friends in the pub? It still means that somebody taking out an IVA has got themselves into more debt than they can handle. However an IVA is different to a bankruptcy because it will not be printed in the local press. It means that an IVA can be kept private apart from your creditors and yourself, which can be an immense weight lifted.

A lot of the social stigma is surrounding the perception that bankruptcy is “running away from your debts”. Bankruptcy means your debts will not get paid because you have no means with which to pay them. An IVA means that rather than getting swamped in the debt, the debtor pays back the maximum they can afford, and while less will be paid back they are still paying some.

There seems to be an overall taboo around the area of debt. While an IVA is perhaps less of a stigma than bankruptcy, it seems that debt in general is a rather tricky topic for us to openly discuss.

James Robinson is an expert in financial matters and iva help