Melissa joined us with twelve years of human resources experience, working in strategic and tactical roles for organizations across multiple industries.

Melissa is actively involved in a number of organizations and affiliations that support and promote workplace excellence, including serving as Vice President, Education and Vice President, Communications for SD SHRM (San Diego Society for Human Resource Management). She has also been an instructor in the HR certificate programs at several universities including San Diego State University and Chapman University.  She is currently teaching in University of California, San Diego Extension’s HR Certificate Program.

Melissa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from San Diego State University as well as national certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resource Management, (SPHR), from the Human Resource Certification Institute and its California equivalent, SPHR-CA.

We are delighted to welcome Melissa into the Five Point Capital family!

Five Point Capital is best known for leasing business equipment. Instead of wasting capital or burning through credit to buy everyday necessities, you lease what you need and pay a fixed monthly fee. And unlike purchasing, leasing equipment can be “expensed” in many instances. Five Point Capital makes it possible for any business to get off the ground without worrying where their employees will sit and work their magic.

If you know about Five Point Capital, you know that they’re so much more than just traditional office equipment. If you run a medical practice, Five Point Capital can lease diagnostic, treatment, laboratory and medical office equipment. If you’re opening a restaurant, turn to Five Point Capital for ovens, stoves, refrigerators, and computerized ordering systems. For construction sites, choose Five Point Capital to lease dump trucks, excavators, bulldozers and more.

Oftentimes, small businesses need more than just equipment to maintain their efficiency. If you are in need to cash to expand your business, pay off some taxes, or to even tide you over when business is tough, Five Point Capital can help you with their worry-free working capital program. As long as you are able to meet a minimum monthly credit card sales volume, you will be able to get the money you need now, and you can pay it off through your future credit card sales.

Not currently taking credit cards as a payment option in your business? Five Point Capital can help transition you to do so. Credit card payments allow your customers to easily make purchases and allow you to streamline your accounting methods. With next day funding, unlike other credit card processors, and major savings, Five Point Capital can be the best option for electronic payment and processing for your small business.

Learn more about Five Point Capital and all the services they can provide a small business today and start spending your money on the most important thing: growing your business.

The Five Point Capital cash advance program makes it easy for business owners to get the money they need to run efficiently. The retrieval of the percentage of income takes place automatically every day, according to that percentage. You don’t have to constantly crunch numbers. The cash advance won’t be looming over your head. It basically takes care of itself, and your business reaps all the benefits. In addition, the company will send you a monthly statement, so you still have a way to keep track of your records.

The cash advance can be used on anything to further your business - whether it is hiring more personnel, buying a new oven, purchasing new software, moving to a new office, or in the case of an emergency. These things take capital, and it’s great to know that with Five Point Capital’s cash advance program, you have a resource to turn to.

With Five Point Capital’s quick, no-hassle cash advances, we aim to help small companies get the cash they need to run an efficient business. Five Point Capital takes the worry out of repayment since we give small businesses cash upfront in exchange for a fixed dollar amount of your credit card sales until your advance is paid in full; that means we don’t get paid until you get paid! Running a company is no easy task and when you are running low on funds, taking out loans creates an added burden. Let Five Point Capital help relieve some of your stress while helping your business thrive again.

Five Point Capital makes growing and expanding your business easier than ever before. Now with our quick, no-hassle cash advance options, you never need to worry about buying supplies or paying off loans ever again. Request cash when you need it and then pay it back as you go, when you can afford it. For more information on Five Point Capital’s quick, no-hassle cash advances, visit www.fivepointcapital.com today.

Let’s face it—no matter how great your business equipment is, it simply wears down. Computers become out-of-date, faxes jam, and chairs break. No matter what kind of business you run—an accounting firm, a restaurant, a magazine, or anything else—springtime is the perfect time to update all your old equipment. If you have equipment that is broken, out-of-date, or in need of repairs, Five Point Capital can help.

Five Point Capital offers the nation’s best furniture and equipment leasing. We can work out a payment plan for just about anything—from barstools to laptops. Best of all, when your lease is up, you have the option to buy the equipment or furniture at an extremely discounted rate! Equipment leasing has never been easier and never been more affordable. Do not let your business suffer due to out-of-date equipment or old furniture. The recession is finally starting to pass, so make your business shine and call Five Point Capital for all your spring cleaning needs.

If it’s time for a good renewal of your business, go to www.fivepointcapital.tv or give us a call at 800-317-3404. We would be happy to discuss all of our equipment leasing and furniture rental options with you, and can even recommend the most popular products for your industry. Five Point Capital is the clear choice for medical equipment leasing, restaurant equipment leasing, business equipment leasing, and construction equipment leasing, so give us a call today.

This email, which has been circulating widely in the state of Ohio and other places in the Midwest, claims to be from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The email asks for personal information, to see if you are a candidate for receiving a free or discounted H1N1 vaccine. Downloading the email response form can give you a computer virus, and gives this mysterious predator access to all the private information you fill out.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) claims that they would never ask for personal information—and only certified health representatives would only ask questions about one’s health. If you receive an email claiming to be from the CDC, do not open it. Contact the CDC to see if they were actually reaching out to you. Chances are that you are received the H1N1 virus scam email.

We here are Five Point Capital hope you stay safe and disease-free this winter season—both from the flu and from computer viruses! As always, we remind you to beware when opening emails from people you do not know, and to think twice about downloading suspect attachments or releasing any personal information.

The best way to save money is to avoid a rip-off. You need groceries, utilities, gasoline, clothes, transportation, and even the occasional entertainment and splurge. Since you need these things to get by, you cannot avoid spending money on them. Nothing comes for free, especially in a down or recovering economy. As a result, the best thing you can do is make sure you are getting the best price for your money. There is nothing wrong with shopping sales and cutting coupons—these are the little things that help you save money. A few cents here and a few dollars there can really add up. Going out for dinner? Skip the appetizers and drinks. Appetizers can fill you up so that you don’t enjoy your meal, and drinks are often the most over-priced of all menu items. Instead, enjoy your dinner with a glass of water, and then pick up a bottle of wine at the grocery store on the way home to enjoy for up to 60% less in the privacy of your own home.

There is also nothing more frustrating than buying something and then seeing it somewhere else for a better price. To avoid a rip-off, we say to be vocal. Though many companies do not advertise it, a good deal of businesses will refund you the difference if you can prove a competitor is offering a lower price. They want your business and would rather refund you some money than have you return the item all together to instead buy it somewhere else. In the same light, shop around before you purchase. Figure out who has the best deals and do not be afraid to pit competitors against each other. If one store has a lower price, tell the competing store owner or manager—there may be some hidden discounts waiting for you that will get you an even better price.

You don’t want to get ripped-off or scammed. Keep your money safe by doing your research and only buying the best quality and cost-effective goods. When you do that, your savings add up. You can keep these savings for a rainy day, or splurge on something fun.

Five Point Capital Leasing owes its recognition to AutoVirt, whose AutoVirt AutoMove software enables them to consolidate their server and server room on a regular basis. AutoVirt put out a press release this week announcing Five Point Capital’s recognition by Storage Networking World. One pick-up of the original release can be found here.

Josh Klein, the President and CEO of AutoVirt, had nothing but good things to say about his medical equipment leasing and business equipment leasing customer. “Five Point Capital is the true embodiment of a visionary company that knows in order to improve internal processes, seize opportunities and fend-off competitive threats it must deploy innovative technology solutions.”

Five Point Capital, Inc. is no stranger to awards in excellence. In 2006, Five Point Capital Equipment Leasing was named Number 82 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies, and in 2007 was Number 348. In 2006, Five Point Capital was also named Number 9 on the San Diego Business Journal list of San Diego’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies, and was Number 11 in 2007, due their strong presence in the field of restaurant equipment leasing and construction equipment leasing. To be recognized by the Storage Networking World for Five Point Capital’s attention to innovation and technology is a true honor, and Five Point Capital proudly adds it to their list of achievements.

We here at Five Point Capital lease a lot of equipment for restaurants, so we have decided to share tips from our most successful restaurant clients.

Part of the success of a restaurant is how good the food is. The other part, however, is the service. This means not only friendly service, but fast and efficient service as well. While the staff members of your restaurants must be smart, friendly, quick on their feet, and have great memories, if your restaurant is set up in a non-efficient manner, even the most intelligent and attentive servers can seem frazzled and slow.

For a server, the best restaurants to work in are not necessarily the ones with the nicest managers, biggest bucks, or friendliest customers. They are the ones that are easiest to navigate. A restaurant with a good serving station makes any restaurant operate smoothly. A lack of an organized serving station can make any restaurant fall apart.

For example, take a restaurant that has all paper goods stocked next to the computer terminal, next to the silver- and dish-ware shelves. This means that when a server takes an order, he or she can return to this very spot, enter the other, and then grab plates, silverware, and napkins to bring to the patrons all in one trip. If the plates are kept in the kitchen, the silverware in a separate drawer, the glasses by the bar, and the computer elsewhere, every order the server takes means a mad dash about the restaurant.

We recommend designating one specific area in your restaurant as the server station. Make sure this area is a large enough to accommodate all of your servers at one time, to avoid bumping into one another and dropping things. The serving station should consist of the following:

• A paper-goods section, stocked with napkins, paper towels, and beverage napkins
• A silverware tray, filled with clean forks, knives, spoons, and steak knives
• Clean plates, appetizer plates, and bowls
• A trash can
• Three large buckets—one for dirty silverware, one for dirty plates, and one with small sections for depositing dirty glasses. When these are full, they should be brought to the kitchen for washing. This eliminates the need for the servers to hurry back and forth into the kitchen to deposit dirty goods after every bussed table.
• The computer to place orders and run credit cards
• A stack of trays
• Cleaning cloths and spray bottles.
• If servers fill their own drinks, glasses, ice, and straws should all be located near the drink machine, along with a set of trays

The most efficient set-up we have witnessed here at Five Point Capital was a serving station that was set up at the back corner of the bar. At one end of the serving station, plates, straws, and clean glasses stood ready for use, in reach of both the servers and the bartender. Next to that was an empty area, used for the bartenders to pass drinks to the servers. Under the bar area was a dining cart. The top shelf held napkins and a silverware tray. The second shelf held a dirty glass container. The third shelf held a dirty silverware bin. The bottom shelf held a dirty plate bin. Next to the dining cart was the trashcan. On the other side of the empty area, on the bar, was the drink machine. An ice bucket was under the drink machine, while trays were placed on top of the drink machine. Next to the drink machine was the computer. Pens, spare change, and menus were all placed in racks on top of the computer. Cleaning cloths and spray bottles hung on a rack under the bar area, next to the trash can. The only time the servers had to enter the kitchen was to pick up food, to restock paper goods, or to exchange dirty goods for clean ones.

After every order, the servers only needed to return to this area to get everything they needed. There was less forgetfulness, faster service, and less frazzled servers as a result. We recommend to all our clients who are purchasing restaurant equipment to keep in mind the design of their serving station for both the good of their serving staff and the efficiency of their restaurant!

It is a well-known fact that eventually we will not be able to rely on oil to fuel our world any longer. The world must eventually find an alternative fuel source, and sooner rather than later. Burning fossil fuels pollutes the air, depletes a dying source, and the process of finding and collecting the oil to begin with involves a tremendous amount of money, manpower, and devastation to the natural world.

As a people we have been taking small but important steps to replacing fuel as our energy source. Hybrid cars rely only partially on fuel, tapping into electricity as a source of power instead. Windmills that have popped up all over the world are attempting to harvest wind power, and solar panels on homes are a great way to trap energy from the sun. But will this power be enough? Electricity works well when used in conjunction with another source; it cannot be immediately replenished when it runs out and instead must take a charge for several hours. Wind and solar power are great—as long as the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, which we can’t control any more than we can control, well, the weather. As it currently stands, we have been unable to tap into a fuel source that is as quick-to-work and long-lasting as oil.

However, a few little-known candidates for alternative fuel sources have popped up. One idea that has the science industry excited and the tree-huggers nervous it new technology that claims it can add up to 50 years of life to our depleted oil source. Advanced nanoreporters have been developed, which can be transmitted into the ground to let oil companies know when oil has been hit. This means more oil at a faster rate, which gives us a bit more time to locate a new energy source, but also means more digging and more pollution.

As the United States’ “most widely used alternative fuel source,” propane is another consideration to replace oil. Propane is cleaner than oil, reducing pollution, and can add on an additional four or five gallons per mile when used for driving. However, propane is incredibly expensive, and there is that whole potential blowing-up thing.

One of the strangest but coolest innovations we’ve heard of recently here at Five Point Capital is the use of chicken feathers to store hydrogen as an alternative fuel source. It seems that when heated to the appropriate temperature, chicken feathers become a sort of hydrogen-storing filter, with the feathers insulating a phenomenal amount of hydrogen for their size. While animal-rights activist may be against the idea of killing chickens for a fuel source, millions of chickens are killed each year for food, so using their feathers for fuel may actually be less wasteful than it may seem.

While the Earth is still pretty dependent on oil, recently technological innovations combined with our determination as a people to save our planet make us here at 5 Point Capital hopeful. From propane to wind power to chicken feathers, the possibilities seem endless even if not particularly practical. Our personal favorite to win the Best Alternative Fuel Source award is water power. We hear that those tides are pretty regular and incredibly powerful, and any middle school science fair participant can tell you that harvesting the energy from moving water is not very difficult, so hopefully our expanding oceans will one day help to fuel the planet.