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Casual Articles - Financing Your Small Business
So here is the top 10 accessible tips:1.With the deadline for website accessibility is October 2004 when all points of the DDA become part of British law.2.The Disabled Rights Commission (DRC) is a government-funded body empowered by the Disability Rights Commission Act 1999 to instigate formal investigations aimed at eliminating discrimination and encouraging good practice in the treatment of disabled people.3.The DRC conducted accessibility testing on over 1,000 UK public and private sector websites and published their findings. Stopping short of naming and shaming, they stated that "swathes of businesses may not be complying with existing equal access laws" and that it is "only a matter of time" before they face legal
CAUTION: Many friends have been lost and many relatives alienated because of a small business failure.
3. BANKS and CREDIT UNIONS. Many banks and credit unions (check with your own first and with you local chamber of commerce for alternate possibilities) will loan money for starting a small business. This approach will require that you present a formal plan to the bank showing justification for the amount you ar
Splogs, otherwise known as spam blogs are blogs created for the sole purpose of increasing a site owners link popularity and in turn their search engine rankings. Beware of this practice as it's nothing more than another black hat spam technique which the search engines are aware of and quickly finding ways to remedy it.Splogs starting gaining large popularity somewhere around August 2005 and continue to be a huge source of spam today. Although many search engines including Google have been adjusting algorithms and manually deleting splogs to combat the spam.While vertical linking is important in the realm of SEO/SEM one must remember that it is only 1 piece to the puzzle and there are many more pieces that need to be in place t
However, depending on the nature of the business outside funding may be necessary. For example, expensive equipment or initial stock may be required. When determining your financing needs, remember that nearly everyone underestimates what is required, so be careful and do your planning accordingly. And of course, don't forget to factor in contingency - sickness, bad weather, equipment breakdown, etc. Anything that increases the time line to profits! Best you figure on a year before you see a profit. Here are some items to keep in mind when preparing your startup budget:
Office equipment (Fax machine, computer)
Production equipment (for manufacturing)
Office supplies
Legal and CPA fees
Insurance
Business licenses or permits
Lease deposits
Remodeling costs
Utility deposits (this can be quite large!)
Salaries
Shipping
Advertising and promotion
and the big one ... contingency!
What you want to avoid is having to find additional financing during your startup phase. It is generally easier to obtain financing the first time around!
There are two major forms of business financing.
1. DEBT FINANCING. This simply means you get a loan from someone or somewhere and go into debt! You are obligated to repay the money.
2. EQUITY FINANCING. This involves "selling" a portion of your company to an outside investor. You have no obligation to repay the funds. In general, this type of funding is provided by venture capital firms.
The fact is, 99.99% of all small businesses will utilize debt financing since most "equity lenders" (venture capital companies) are interested in lending large amounts of money, generally a million dollars or more. This article will only consider sources for obtaining debt financing for your venture.
SOURCES FOR DEBT FINANCING
1. YOURSELF! (Savings) You are your own best "lender" if you have the savings. This approach can be quick and easy.
CAUTION: Ensure you have adequate savings for both the business and other life contingencies.
2. FRIENDS and RELATIVES. If they believe in you and your idea, friends and relatives are sometimes willing to fund you. Choose this route with care and ensure you execute a formal loan document stating loan terms (interest, terms of repayment).
CAUTION: Many friends have been lost and many relatives alienated because of a small business failure.
3. BANKS and CREDIT UNIONS. Many banks and credit unions (check with your own first and with you local chamber of commerce for alternate possibilities) will loan money for starting a small business. This approach will require that you present a formal plan to the bank showing justification for the amount you are
Frankly, most professionals don't give a damn about how to network, because they try and sell who they are and what they do based on past success - assuming this will open doors and business. However by selling rather than marketing, many people just simply walk away with no benefit or potential outcome. Consequently events become nothing short of boring and a general waste of time. I can see you nodding.On the other hand, some professionals enjoy networking, are good conversationalists, and like finding out different people and their industries rather than telling people about them.And they may even bother to remember a few names, and ask questions with genuine curiosity...but sadly believe that a few new business cards in th
Office equipment (Fax machine, computer)
Production equipment (for manufacturing)
Office supplies
Legal and CPA fees
Insurance
Business licenses or permits
Lease deposits
Remodeling costs
Utility deposits (this can be quite large!)
Salaries
Shipping
Advertising and promotion
and the big one ... contingency!
What you want to avoid is having to find additional financing during your startup phase. It is generally easier to obtain financing the first time around!
There are two major forms of business financing.
1. DEBT FINANCING. This simply means you get a loan from someone or somewhere and go into debt! You are obligated to repay the money.
2. EQUITY FINANCING. This involves "selling" a portion of your company to an outside investor. You have no obligation to repay the funds. In general, this type of funding is provided by venture capital firms.
The fact is, 99.99% of all small businesses will utilize debt financing since most "equity lenders" (venture capital companies) are interested in lending large amounts of money, generally a million dollars or more. This article will only consider sources for obtaining debt financing for your venture.
SOURCES FOR DEBT FINANCING
1. YOURSELF! (Savings) You are your own best "lender" if you have the savings. This approach can be quick and easy.
CAUTION: Ensure you have adequate savings for both the business and other life contingencies.
2. FRIENDS and RELATIVES. If they believe in you and your idea, friends and relatives are sometimes willing to fund you. Choose this route with care and ensure you execute a formal loan document stating loan terms (interest, terms of repayment).
CAUTION: Many friends have been lost and many relatives alienated because of a small business failure.
3. BANKS and CREDIT UNIONS. Many banks and credit unions (check with your own first and with you local chamber of commerce for alternate possibilities) will loan money for starting a small business. This approach will require that you present a formal plan to the bank showing justification for the amount you ar
The day I learned how to make my own website was a big day for me. Huge.That's because long before I ever figured out how, I was still wrestling with whether I needed a website or not. Knowing full well that I not even a computer newbie (hate that word) I knew that online was where I needed to be.But then I had nightmares about having to learn all that HTML code and I lost a lot of sleep.For nothing.There are now hundreds of websites where you can make YOUR own websites without ever having to know the first thing about code. Somewhere, folks along the line realized that there are many of us who want to focus on the content and not on the programming of the content.Like many people before me, I got inv
Salaries
Shipping
Advertising and promotion
and the big one ... contingency!
What you want to avoid is having to find additional financing during your startup phase. It is generally easier to obtain financing the first time around!
There are two major forms of business financing.
1. DEBT FINANCING. This simply means you get a loan from someone or somewhere and go into debt! You are obligated to repay the money.
2. EQUITY FINANCING. This involves "selling" a portion of your company to an outside investor. You have no obligation to repay the funds. In general, this type of funding is provided by venture capital firms.
The fact is, 99.99% of all small businesses will utilize debt financing since most "equity lenders" (venture capital companies) are interested in lending large amounts of money, generally a million dollars or more. This article will only consider sources for obtaining debt financing for your venture.
SOURCES FOR DEBT FINANCING
1. YOURSELF! (Savings) You are your own best "lender" if you have the savings. This approach can be quick and easy.
CAUTION: Ensure you have adequate savings for both the business and other life contingencies.
2. FRIENDS and RELATIVES. If they believe in you and your idea, friends and relatives are sometimes willing to fund you. Choose this route with care and ensure you execute a formal loan document stating loan terms (interest, terms of repayment).
CAUTION: Many friends have been lost and many relatives alienated because of a small business failure.
3. BANKS and CREDIT UNIONS. Many banks and credit unions (check with your own first and with you local chamber of commerce for alternate possibilities) will loan money for starting a small business. This approach will require that you present a formal plan to the bank showing justification for the amount you ar
Publishing for the Web .. why the big fuss? Because a website is a gate to the world, a gate that opens to a not so narrow path. A website cannot be successful and it is useless, if it doesn't satisfy the needs of the Web surfers, or if it fails in terms of usability and accessibility.When you publish a website you think design and content. Both are equal important, both could mean the difference between success and failure. Great content and a poor design or great design and poor content are not a happy marriage, no matter how you look at it. But this article is going to focus on design, specifically on designing for screen resolution.The most frequently used screen resolution nowadays is 1024x768. This shouldn't determi
The fact is, 99.99% of all small businesses will utilize debt financing since most "equity lenders" (venture capital companies) are interested in lending large amounts of money, generally a million dollars or more. This article will only consider sources for obtaining debt financing for your venture.
SOURCES FOR DEBT FINANCING
1. YOURSELF! (Savings) You are your own best "lender" if you have the savings. This approach can be quick and easy.
CAUTION: Ensure you have adequate savings for both the business and other life contingencies.
2. FRIENDS and RELATIVES. If they believe in you and your idea, friends and relatives are sometimes willing to fund you. Choose this route with care and ensure you execute a formal loan document stating loan terms (interest, terms of repayment).
CAUTION: Many friends have been lost and many relatives alienated because of a small business failure.
3. BANKS and CREDIT UNIONS. Many banks and credit unions (check with your own first and with you local chamber of commerce for alternate possibilities) will loan money for starting a small business. This approach will require that you present a formal plan to the bank showing justification for the amount you ar
Keyword research and optimisation you say. Ive just got my website optimised. Now, whats this about keyword optimisation?Dont worry, Im not about to introduce you to a new rocket science. But, it is arguably one of the most important elements of search engine marketing.At its simplest level, keyword research is about studying the phrases that work for your search engine audience. A search engine user wants to find a service or product like yours, so what terms are they most likely to use? If you have reporting tools, you can put them to good use here: Which of your keywords are being used by search engine users? Which keywords are bringing visitors to your site? Which of the keywords are you converting
CAUTION: Many friends have been lost and many relatives alienated because of a small business failure.
3. BANKS and CREDIT UNIONS. Many banks and credit unions (check with your own first and with you local chamber of commerce for alternate possibilities) will loan money for starting a small business. This approach will require that you present a formal plan to the bank showing justification for the amount you are borrowing.
4. THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (SBA). Check out their website (http://www.sba.gov). Contrary to what many believe the SBA does NOT generally loan money directly but rather guarantees a loan (normally up to 90%). This can make it a lot easier to obtain a bank loan since the bank's risk is lowered considerably. The exception is that the SBA does provide direct loans to certain groups including Vietnam-era and disabled veterans and handicapped individuals. In general, the SBA will not offer any assistance until you have been turned down for a loan by a commercial bank.
Most loans guaranteed through the SBA are between $25,000 and $750,000. However, there is a "microloan" program for amounts from a few hundred dollars up to $25,000.
5. VENDOR FINANCING. If your business is one that relies heavily on certain vendors, it may be possible to obtain financing through the vendor. After all, they want you to use their product and therefore have an interest in helping you be successful.
6. STATE. Some states have small business financing authorities that issue tax-exempt development bonds that can be used to finance land, buildings and equipment for manufacturing businesses. Check with your local government office for details.
7. HOME EQUITY LOAN. Interest rates for this kind of loan are generally quite low and the interest is fully deductible for the first $100,000 borrowed.
CAUTION: You are placing your home on the line!
8. LIFE INSURANCE. Some types of life insurance policies (whole life and universal) have cash value which can be borrowed at very low interest rates. You are not obligated to pay this money back but if you don't, your policy payout is reduced by the amount borrowed.
9. RETIREMENT PLANS. Some retirement plans (401K for example) allow you to borrow against vested benefits. Generally, up to 50% may be borrowed as long as this is less than $50,000.
CAUTION: If you quit your employment, the loan must be repaid immediately. If you don't the amount borrowed is treated as an early distribution and is taxable.
10. GRANTS. Many foundations provide funding in the form of grants. Check "The Foundation Directory" at your local library or visit their website at http://fdncenter.org to find out what foundations may have an interest in your specific business idea. The Foundation Center may be reached at (212) 620-4230.
11. CREDIT CARDS. These should be used with care because of the excessively high rates of interest usually charged.
CAUTION. R
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