Funding Resources for Small Business and Start Ups

November 6, 2009 · Filed under Business Needs, Business Tools, Financials, Starting a Business · Tagged , , , , ,

I found this great video from Fox Business regarding SBA programs,  SBIC programs, angel investors, venture capital, and other programs that can help small existing businesses and even start ups.

Here are a few tips for financing your business:

  1. Explore a number of options. Don’t rely solely on angel investors or put all of your faith into venture capitalists. Try talking to a variety of people from different types of institutions.
  2. Don’t forget the SBA! Talk to your local SBA office, SBIC lender and small business resource centers. They are a great resource for business owners.
  3. Giving up a piece of something is better than keeping all of nothing for yourself. It’s amazing how many people have told me they have investors for “fill-in-the-blank” million dollars, but the investor wants 30% and they don’t want to give it up. Be logical. Don’t work for peanuts, but if none of the other lenders or banks are throwing offers your way – it might be worth giving up a piece of the pie.
  4. Prepare a business plan. It’s more than hiring someone, using a template or buying a software program. No matter how the plan gets written, the owner of the business is expected to be intimately familiar with how they intend to operate and market their business. Practice your elevator pitch, investor presentation and other key business plan points until you feel comfortable speaking about your business.
  5. Don’t be afraid of rejection. While there is a miniscule probability that you will walk through the door of the bank and leave with a check, it is more likely that you will get rejected several times. Keep pushing and trying. Finding funding will likely be a lot of work and take several hours each week. Do it yourself or expect to pay handsomely for it.
  6. If you are so lucky as to get constructive criticism from potential investors, take their comments seriously and act on those comments that are most relevant.
  7. Prepare a simple 3-5 page summary for investors to look through. This is a great way of getting the basics of your business to an investor without distributing confidential and personal information. It is also respectful of investors’ time as it provides enough information for an investor to decide quickly whether he or she may be interested in reading more.
  8. Most investment companies specialize in certain industries, business sizes, loan amounts and growth stages. Try to find out ahead of time which companies your business fits best with.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give (that my team and I learned the hard way) is to avoid paying people to review your plan or consider funding your business. There are a number of great programs and people willing to help you get the funding you need for your business, but commercial lending is not as closely regulated as personal lending. Keep in mind that there are many companies and “brokers” that require upfront fees you may never get back.

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Innovation! Change! Oh My!

October 16, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized

Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow 

–William Pollard

So, your company wants to be more innovative or your industry is changing rapidly. It just may be time to panic.

Or not.

Change and innovation can fuel the growth and development of businesses when the decisions made are backed by strong implementation plans and actions. What becomes dangerous to some people within an organization or industry as they face change is the paralyzing feat that inviting change will render them obsolete.

While I certainly cannot say that change has never rendered jobs, positions and specific tasks obsolete; I can say that those who are willing to learn and adapt are usually not affected negatively by change and innovation.

Put the situation in perspective: If you were a factory worker making widgets, you would not likely want to make widgets for 30 years and retire. It is likely, however, that you would want to eventually become the widget manager and later, the production manager. Your company and industry need the same growth to fulfill consumers changing needs.

Those who pick a career and make no effort to improve their abilities after finding a job are not likely to adapt when the time comes and it is necessary. If you truly want to excel at what you do and stay at the top of your firm or industry, try a couple of these helpful tips:

  1. Stay informed by subscribing to magazines, newsletters and email updates from organizations related to your industry. Attend conferences, symposiums and trade shows to learn more about what the future holds. If you understand the cycles and changes that are taking place in your industry, change and innovation will be much easier.
  2. Don’t be confined by the limits of your industry. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. If you have an idea that everyone in your field says is impossible – don’t let it limit you. Remember, at one point putting a man on the moon or carrying your computer in a bag was science fiction.
  3. Don’t fear new ideas from other people. Adapt to new information and let outside input fuel your own creativity and drive. Resisting change will not save your place in the boardroom – it will simply make you seem petty and jealous. So, the much younger intern has some great ideas, it’s not likely that he is taking your job tomorrow.

Of course, there are many more ways to stay innovative and adapt to the continually changing needs of the consumer. These are just a few. Most importantly, understand that your success is in your hands. Learning more about the field you choose or the industry your business is in can never hurt your career or business. Make time to read industry reports, check out blogs on industry topics and subscribe to great industry resources that will be delivered right to your email inbox. The more you understand your industry, the better you will be at adapting to it and even changing it.

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The Winning Attitude for Start Up Businesses

October 14, 2009 · Filed under Starting a Business · Tagged , , , , ,

So, you’ve made it official. You are starting your business and you’re excited about the prospect of freedom, flexible schedules and potential exit strategies. As many small business owners hear about the success of internet businesses, who after only a few years sold for millions – even billions; they are excited by the incredible potential of the internet as a place of business.

Internet businesses are a lot more than creating a Web site, filing some paperwork, and sending a few tweets a month. Running a business online requires more work in branding, personal branding, internet marketing, and security measures than some brick and mortar retail locations. Why? You are competing internationally versus locally in an environment where there is fierce competition and a great deal of consumer skepticism.

I am not suggesting that you run for the hills screaming, but as a consultant, I have met a number of people who were just not prepared for the trials and tribulations of an internet start up. Here are some things to think about when planning your internet start-up:

  • If you are not familiar with business, accounting or marketing – find someone who is and expect to pay them. There are people that can help you for free, but they won’t be able to hold your hand through the whole process.
  • You will need to learn about internet marketing. Your marketing professional can help you figure out what to write, when to write it and how active you really need to be in your marketing efforts. This doesn’t mean they are going to do all of your implementation, unless you have very deep pockets. Be willing to put some effort into personal branding, branding your new business, reaching out to press contacts and monitoring your public relations.
  • There will be work – and lots of it! Don’t assume that starting a business will be easy. Sure, some people have the luxury of setting up an internet property, sitting back and watching the money pour in. If that happens to you – congratulations. Don’t expect it to be that easy, though. In most cases, it is far from easy.
  • Give yourself time and embrace the word “beta” when developing your new site. If consumers know from the moment they visit your site that you are still working out glitches, bugs and any new problems; they are likely to be more understanding and take a minute to let you know about any problems.
  • Stay positive no matter how much rejection you get. If you are passionate about your business, have done the research, looked at the potential, and determined there is a strong market for your product; your primary goal is to stay positive and keep learning. Staying motivated is essential to your goal and motivation is not just about success, but also your own education about business, marketing and the online environment.
  • Use your down time to educate yourself and build your company. If you’ve never started or used a blog, look through video tutorials. If you have a slow week, focus on creating new content for your site, catching up on social media or creating new proposals. There is always work to be done and in the first year, the occasional day or week without a booked schedule is a great time to build your library of marketing collateral.

I can summarize the attitude you have to have in order to succeed in just a few short words. The best new entrepreneurs are those that can be fearless, strong, determined, reasonable and positive.

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No Time for Social Media Marketing? Try this!

October 13, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized

Social media marketing is not about creating entirely different profiles on a number of Web sites and maintaining each one. Actually, most people will only see one or two of your social media profiles. Make sure you use the most popular profiles – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. If you do business internationally, try using social media popular in other countries as well like Bebo or Orkut. It should be easy to find statistics on your best choices if you search the internet or go to Comscore. Once you have your profiles, try a program like Yoono, atomkeep, twitterfeed or ping.fm. These programs help you stay on top of your friends’ status messages and updates, reply to messages quickly, link new blog posts to your social media profiles and update your status in only seconds.

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Why is social media important to my business?

October 13, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized

As big business shifts away from an era of multi-million dollar TV and traditional media campaigning, one can not underestimate the importance and increasing relevance of social media. This revolution is changing the marketplace, leveling the playing field, and putting the consumer at the forefront, enabling them to be the commandants of the content they see.

It’s only with respect for the consumer and the relationship with the consumer that small and mid-sized businesses can truly succeed in today’s environment.

What changes does your business need to make in order to thrive today?

  • Brand yourself, too! No longer can business owners hide behind a mask and keep their images private. With more and more business done on the internet, many consumers want to know just who they are doing business with. Think about the things that have happened in recent years. Would you trust just anyone with your money? Branding yourself has become as important as branding the business you own.
  • Google yourself! The first thing that many potential new customers will do is Google the name of the person they talked to and/or the business name/ You should do this, too. This will help you understand what your customers are seeing. Don’t sort through 30 pages of results though. Stick to the first 3-5 pages. If there are any negative items in those results, do what you can to remove those items by handling the situation – following up, talking to the person that posted it and trying to make the situation right.
  • Use the blog, don’t just make an account. According to Business Week and Technorati, there are over 120 million blogs in existence today and only about 11% have posted a new entry in the last two months. If blogs are really about sharing information and educating/entertaining people, why would anyone visit a blog that isn’t active?
  • Consumers want education! One of my favorite things about reading books by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki is that these very successful men share an important secret – hire consultants and team members who are willing to share their knowledge with you. I love to educate my clients because it makes their businesses stronger and produces results, which in turn creates word of mouth and good PR, which is good for us. I love to tell people what I know about business and marketing. I’m not a guru, but I know that educated customers are the best – and I will gladly help educate them however I can.
  • Consumers are not stupid. They know when people are advertising. Social media has created an environment where people can learn more about your business in a lot of places. Instead of trying to sell someone something, companies that are on the forefront of social media marketing are connecting with their clients to create real relationships based on the real people within an organization. For a little more detail on this subject, check out a great blog post on Mashable.

I’m sure this is not the last I will write on the importance of social media. More than anything else, social media is about public relations. Not in the sense of hiring someone to butter up your clients, but actually relating to your audience and giving them the things they need – education, customer service and trust in your company. The days of cold impersonal corporations with great advertising companies are coming to an end. For someone as concerned with business ethics as I am – I could not be happier. This “trend” is not going anywhere and that’s a good thing.

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Great Business Tools to Check Out

October 12, 2009 · Filed under Business Needs, Business Tools · Tagged , , ,

Anyone familiar with myself or my business knows – I LOVE efficiency. In fact, I would say that efficiency is one of the few things that can still make me bounce around like a child and smile ear-to-ear. That said, here are some tools that can help you become more efficient (though I don’t guarantee the same effect).

Windows Live Writer

I love this program. It’s free and it makes my blogging very easy to do from my desktop no matter where I am. I can prepare multiple blogs, tags, and categories and post when it is convenient. Live Writer also allows you to manage multiple blog accounts in one place – great for people who do a lot of guest blogging or use multiple systems. There are lots of other programs out there, too. Check out a few and see what you like best. 

 

Avenue Right

I like Avenue Right for a lot of reasons. The first is the cost. It’s really affordable for anyone managing media purchases. There’s so much potential in this site once they build up the database of pricing and placement options from media outlets. The perk is – if they don’t have a media outlet you want, you can send and RFP and the company will update the database.

 

Caretta or iRise

For anyone involved in Web site design, software development, product prototypes and so much more – these are great tools to shave time off your development and be more efficient. Here’s how it goes – before your programmers or designers do ANY coding or back end development, your marketing team or graphic designers can lay out near functional prototypes that showcase the design of each portion of the site and basic functionalities. For instance, you can make the home page links ”work” well enough to take you to the internal pages. You can show how forms work. Once you have the prototype, your team can approve and your programmers can go to town without any lengthy explanations of what you want each piece to do or costly revisions! Sounds like efficiency to me.

 

Hopefully this will help you find some incredible products. I suggest looking at least once a month for products and services that can help you reduce the time you spend on basic business functions. There are tons of new SaaS services out there that can greatly improve efficiency and productivity in your business – don’t miss out!

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Project Management: It’s Not Just for the Big Businesses

October 11, 2009 · Filed under Business Needs, Business Tools · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

When you start a new project, it takes hours to get your staff up to speed with documents, customer information and project timelines. You want running your small business to be easier. You want to see projects, track results and manage your employees. You don’t have thousands of dollars to invest to get it done.

As business consultants, we work with a number of small businesses, mid-sized businesses and entrepreneurs. It is not always easy to keep up with daily tasks  for the 10 or more active projects at any given time. In the past few months, we have spent countless hours trying a number of business tools designed for project management.

In an effort to save you time and money by improving your company efficiency and increasing employee productivity, we’ve provided you with information on just a few of the tools we have found most effective.

Honestly, I really like a lot of things about each of these programs. Most importantly, they truly fit a small business budget with plans starting as low as $9.95 a month and going all the way up to $149 per month. Each program has its strengths and weaknesses. It really is up to you and your team which program you find more fitting for your needs and which program you think would suit your clients better.

There are many great SaaS project management software tools available. It’s just about finding the one for you. We also have a guest blog at http://inspiredbygrowth.blogspot.com with information on project management tools for mid-sized businesses with more functionality and more robust interfaces.

 

SMARTSHEET

QTASK

TORCH PM

TEAMWORK

Monthly Price

$9.95; $29.95 and $149.00

$30.00 per month per user

$9.00 per month first user, $5.00 each for additional users

Free Basic Account, Paid Accounts are $12.95 to $149.00 per month

Users

One Sheet Creator and Unlimited Users

Unlimited with Memberships

Unlimited; External users (outside company) are free

Unlimited Users; External Client Access

Security

SSL

SSL

SSL

SSL

Storage

3 GB to 100 GB

1,000 GB

3 GB to 100 GB

5 MB to 50 GB

Your Brand

Yes with $29.95 pkg and above

Yes

No

Yes with $24 pkg and above

Reporting

Yes with $29.95 pkg and above

Yes, complex and customizable

No

Yes with all membership levels

Training

Video Tutorials and Help/Support Pages

Live training, Video Tutorials and Help/Support Pages

Video Tutorials and Help/Support Pages

Video Tutorials and Help/Support Pages

Tasks

All membership levels

Yes

Yes

All membership levels

Free Trial

All membership levels

Yes

Yes

All membership levels

User Friendly

Very user friendly for immediate use and client use

User friendly- slight learning curve for immediate use

Very user friendly for immediate use and client use

Very user friendly for immediate use and client use

Mobile Access

All membership levels

Yes

All membership levels

Yes

Here are some other options for larger firms with a little more to spend:

Open Air

Daptiv

Workgroups 2010

Workamajig

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Incredible Resource for Businesses of Any Size

September 29, 2009 · Filed under Business Needs · Tagged , , ,

I have subscribed to Dave Lavinsky’s emails for some time now and for those of you who are not familiar with Dave Lavinsky, he is the Co-Founder of Growthink and a successful entrepreneur. What I love most about the little morsels of knowledge delivered regularly into my inbox has more to do with Lavinsky’s writing style and ability to take incredibly complex business concepts and relate them to simple everyday things that anyone can understand. Check out my recent favorite –

“Giving our kids vitamins each day is one of my jobs. I typically remember to do this, and for some reason, the rare day I forget is the day when my wife asks,
"did you give the kids their vitamins?"

Now, my kids (knock on wood) have always been extremely healthy, so the vitamins are probably a good idea. We also eat healthy and get a lot of exercise together as family via playing sports together, riding bicycles, and going for walks.

Now, while the result of being healthy is great, the process isn’t always so pleasant. Sometimes the kids complain about taking their vitamins and sometimes they don’t want to do more exercise (sometimes I don’t want to either). But, we all need to make sacrifices to achieve our goals.

And entrepreneurs are no exception. As an entrepreneur, you need to do those things that prepare and position yourself to succeed. And not all of these things are fun. Just like kids taking their vitamins, successful entrepreneurs must constantly attain new knowledge, get mentors if they don’t already have them, develop and refine their business plans, and raise capital among other things.

One not-so-fun thing that entrepreneurs need to learn about is insurance. In fact, I’d say that buying insurance is as much like taking vitamins or eating broccoli as you’re going to get. But buying insurance for your business is critical, and in many cases, required by the government or your business partners.”

A check up for your business is essential. One thing to keep in mind is that there are multiple kinds of insurance depending on your business size and type. Living in a coastal area in Florida, I cannot stress the importance of insurance for loss of business due to natural disasters. Skilled business consultants and insurance consultants can help you determine the needs that your business has based on your size, location and industry.

Lavinsky and John Moccia, Technology & Venture Capital Practice Leader at
Rollins Insurance share a private webinar on the topic of insurance needs at the four key stages of an emerging company’s lifecycle:
Stage 1 – Formation/R&D
Stage 2 – Growth Phase
Stage 3 – Mature Company/IPO
Stage 4 – Public/Fully Developed Company

You can click here to watch the video or find out more about Dave Lavinsky and Growthink at Growthink and Growthink University or follow Dave on Twitter at http://twitter.com/davelavinsky.

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Writing the RIGHT Financial Projections

September 25, 2009 · Filed under Financials, Starting a Business · Tagged , , , , ,

Your Financial Projections; the real meat-and-potatoes of your business plan. Are they anyone’s best guess, or are they solid projections that are relative to what other people in your marketplace are doing? Are you replicating someone else’s model, or are you proving to creditors how you are going to help innovate the industry?

While you may have a superior business plan that demonstrates passion, devotion, and commitment to your cause, all too often banks and investors want to look straight for the bottom line; and rest assured they will likely cross-reference the information you provide to them in your plan. So how can you make sure that your projections appeal to lenders without being unrealistic to the point of turning them off?

This is a tricky task for sure, but I can’t under-stress the importance of using sound research to project your profits. Don’t shoot from the hip with these numbers! Research past profit performances of other firms in your market, and compare them to your model. Remember to write the plan for your business, and not for investors. It’s easy to put in numbers that the investors are looking for, but you must make sure they are a true measure of your business’ capability.

So can we be realistic and still fall short of pessimism? Hopefully you have already asked yourself these questions when determining business viability, but indeed the answer is yes!

First, always try to avoid large executive salaries in your first year of business. Certainly keep them reasonable to fairly compensate for your time, but not to the point where investors think you are only out for yourself. Instead, add performance based bonuses that give investors a sign of your initiative to drive success.  This will help keep you afloat despite the low annual salary, and show your financers that your goal is business growth and not wasting their money. ROI is their mission, so tell them how you plan to get to the moon. 

Another crucial point is not to underestimate the importance of your revenue model. Develop revenue models based on proven competitor methods, but it’s okay to be creative too! No two business have to be the same. Employees don’t have to work in an office. Sometimes, large expenses for efficiency are more important than labor costs. Investors look for a business model that will consistently demonstrate potential for increasing yearly profits, and can be dissuaded by models that include a huge looming overhead.  Show them that your are willing to think outside of the box, and this will drive the point home that your business is going to do what it takes to succeed.

The main point here is redundant; make sure that every corner of your business plan consistently reiterates your dedication to the business. Even numbers can tell a big story, so use them in an advantageous way that demonstrates this clearly.

 

 

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Quick Tips for Success

September 16, 2009 · Filed under Research, Starting a Business · Tagged , , , , ,

The launch of your business is going to be one of the most important decisions of your life! You will be required to sacrifice your time, your energy and probably your money. You will leverage your credit and sometimes your assets. If your business fails, think of all the wasted time you’ve spent!

It is by no means a requirement to go it alone. I have already touched on the importance of having the right people working on your side, and how having an effective team can make the process smoother and increase your chances of success.

The following important tips will be further helpful to you, and are important no matter what area business you are in.

1. Acquire a Website.

I may sound like a broken record of sorts in this decade, but it’s all too often a greatly underestimated factor. Web sites are absolutely vital to survival in business. More often than not, the first thing someone will do upon learning about your business and feeling remotely interested is look at your Web site. Keep this in mind! This is usually the first impression you make to your clients. Unless you are an expert in html, Joomla, or CSS; I can’t recommend trying to do it yourself! Your website will help to establish your brand name and create a sense of trust between you and your consumers. About 70% of the US population is actively on the internet and ecommerce sales account for $70 billion spent in the US alone.

2. Do Not Expand Before you Analyze

Don’t jump into murky water. Research is vital prior to growing your business and it’s essential to know exactly what you’re getting into and how your competition will change. Professionals in the business consulting industry know important market information. They can help you determine when the proper time for expansion is. If you make a profit in one quarter and see it as a reason to expand, take the time to review your accounting and research your industry, local economy and international economy to determine whether this expansion is actually warranted by your sales numbers. This is where professional consultants can help you dramatically in having an objective opinion on research and data analysis to determine if expansion is the right thing to do or if there is a low cost alternative to help you gradually grow with your revenues.

3. Always Maintain a Firm Plan Throughout.

Whether it’s a new start-up, a new joint venture, an existing business, or an expansion of your current business, it is paramount to keep your team on the same page. Even if you have relatively firm ideas about your growth, having one piece of the puzzle misaligned can work to bring down the house of cards. A carefully crafted business plan will serve to focus your team on the the markets you are catering to, and prepare them for graduated expansion at the right pace. You will be ready for previously unforeseen expenses and allocation of funding needed when you need it. Lack of discretion in this category directly contributes to the 50% of businesses that do not succeed past five years of their inception.

Professional insight will help make the difference in your business’ success. For more information on or assistance with preparation of a concise plan for your growth, visit us at http://www.llsic.com.

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