Facebook has captured a sizable global audience and many professionals have been using Facebook to reach their audience or broaden their network. One of the ways you can use Facebook is to leverage a personal Facebook profile, connecting to business colleagues and networking contacts.  However, if you are worried about getting sucked into a time-drain, here are some tips to help you leverage Facebook without it taking over your life.

1)Set aside the amount of time you are able to spend on Facebook and stick to it.

One of the secrets of Facebook’s success is that it is addicting. You are instantly in touch with many people you may not have seen or heard from in years. Resist the urge to immediately respond to messages and comments. An easy way is to modify your account settings (under notifications), so you do not get an email each time your friends send you a message, posts on your wall and performs other actions. However, you may want to receive notifications if you are tagged in a post or photo, so you can make sure the post does not compromise your online “brand”.

2) Update your status with positive and engaging comments.

We all know that misery loves company, but if you plan to connect with business associates, keep your status updates positive. If you are having a bad day, stay away from the keyboard. Likewise, don’t post anything your “mom” shouldn’t see. Facebook is a public forum and everything you post reflects upon you and your business, both good and bad. Do share a funny story about your pet or kids. Feel free to share your personal and business successes. Not sure what to post? Try updating your status with an inspiring quote from a famous person you admire. Make an effort to update your status once every two days to keep you in the forefront of your friend’s minds. If you have a Blackberry, Droid or iPhone, you can quickly update your status “on the go”, which will be easier than logging into a computer. You can also update your status through SMS text by activating your mobile phone from your account settings.

3) Share links to informative articles that are relevant to your business.

One easy way to remind your Facebook friends of what you “do” is to share links to informative articles. Many media websites make this easy by providing a “share” button on their content. If the website does not have a “share” function, you can copy and paste the URL link into your status. Roll over the text bar to update your status, below are four icons: photos, video, event and link. Click on the links icon and then paste the website URL you want to share. You can also share events and upload photos of networking events, seminars and trade shows.

By using the three tips above, you start social networking without taking up a lot of extra time. In only 5-15 minutes a day, you can keep you and your business relevant in your friends’ (and associates’) minds without draining your personal and professional time.

Where along the continuum should your policy be? It should be as close to the completely tight end of the continuum as your business conditions will allow. However, reality (and the need to make sales) dictates that, for most of your customers, your approach will be closer to the middle ground. To set up your policy, you'll have to determine what type of credit you want to offer.

Industry customs will go a long way toward helping you to determine this. Lawyers usually send a bill after services are rendered, ice cream vendors want cash, clothing stores usually accept credit cards, and so on. The credit options you offer will also depend upon the type of business you operate and the type of customers you have.

Here are some basic guidelines for deciding which ones to offer:

• A lot of small storefront businesses that sell primarily to individual customers accept only cash. Of those that offer credit, most limit what they accept to checks and credit cards because the risks are fairly low.
• Home businesses, mail order businesses, and any other businesses that deal with customers primarily over the telephone or through the mails need to accept credit cards, and some accept checks.
• Small businesses that sell goods and services to other businesses usually offer credit terms (payment due in 30 days, due in 60 days, etc.) to their customers. In most cases, the terms are determined by industry customs. Such terms are commonly called trade credit and have important implications for your cash flow.
• Professional small businesses, such as doctors, lawyers, consultants, and accountants, usually offer credit terms to both individual and corporate customers.

If you don't fit into any of those categories, and you're having trouble deciding which types of credit to offer, consider these basic guidelines:

Set your credit policy in relation to your cash flow needs. Your policy should be set to ensure that you're able to generate from your billings the level of cash that you need to operate your business.
• Expect to achieve your ideal credit policy only through trial and error. You'll inevitably make some errors about who is a good credit risk and who is not.
• Remember that your credit policy will change over time as your business needs change, the economic conditions in your industry change, and the economic conditions in the country change. You should re-evaluate your policy periodically to determine if it is meeting your needs.
• Realize that the credit terms you offer might differ from one customer to the next. Your best customers might deserve more generous terms than your other customers. Conversely, your worst customers might deserve less generous terms than your other customers.
• Realize that the credit terms you offer to a particular customer might change over time. If a customer begins to be late on payments, you may have to reduce or eliminate the credit terms you offer that customer until he or she re-establishes a good payment record with you.
• Make sure that you coordinate your credit policy changes with your sales people, if you use different people to handle sales and billing/credit. You cannot change your credit terms after the sale, so it's crucial that your sales people are aware of your policy and any changes you may institute.