small

No Picture
Small Business Ideas

Finding Funding for Your Small Business Idea

August 31, 2022 Comments Off on Finding Funding for Your Small Business Idea

One of the main challenges facing aspiring business owners is financing. In most cases, small businesses simply do not have the funds to operate and grow the way the owner envisions or wants. That’s why there is such a high demand for small business funding. The problem is, there are limited options. Few individuals or organizations are willing or able to finance new businesses. In addition, competition is fierce. Lenders have to decide which firm can offer the best return on their investment. In this article, we’ll take a look at the options that are open to you when you have a business idea:
• Venture Capital – while venture capital has a somewhat negative reputation among small businesses, venture capitalists are actually just people who want to invest money. They have a responsibility of ensuring that they will have good returns by minimizing risks. If you are interested in tapping these types of firms, it is important to note that in most cases, they only invest in exceptional start-ups. They tend to prefer companies that focus on new markets and those that develop new products.
• Commercial Lenders – banks are a common source of funding for small businesses. While banks don’t invest in businesses, they lend money to them. But just like venture capitalists, they scrutinize the business to see if it is worth lending to. It can be very difficult for start-ups to secure funding this way unless they have collateral.
• Small Business Administration (SBA) – the SBA was set-up to provide advice and funding for small businesses. SBA loans are typically administered by local banks. One important requirement is that a third of the business capital must come from the owner. The rest can be guaranteed by personal assets. If you can secure funding from an SBA-certified bank, do so. These tend to be more business-friendly than commercial loans.
• Friends and Relatives – people often underestimate how willing their friends and relatives are to helping them. While it can be hard to mix your personal life with business, it can be worth it. The terms of the loan are often lax because they trust in you. Just be certain that the repayment details are ironed out early on to prevent misunderstanding.
There are many other sources of funding you can check out for small business grants. Opportunities depend greatly on your location, industry, and expertise. For example, there may be certain local government agencies may be tasked with helping small businesses with funding.
On the other hand, you can also check out if there are private investors who may be interested in your proposals. If you decide to do this, connections are important. Getting the chance to present your business plan to would-be investors is fifty percent of the task. At the end of the day, it’s all about having the courage to go out there to present your business. You won’t get money for nothing. So it is important to do your work beforehand to find out which individuals, groups, or organizations will be interested in your proposals.

No Picture
Business Ideas

Small Business Idea – Start a Concierge Business

August 7, 2022 Comments Off on Small Business Idea – Start a Concierge Business

Do you know someone who’s so busy that they’re constantly saying things like “I’d pay someone to do this for me” or “I need more hours in my day!” or even “I wish I could clone myself” ? If so, what that person really needs is a personal assistant! Concierge or Errand businesses are a growing trend. Although the economy isn’t in the best shape, people are still leading very busy rat race type lifestyles. From busy working moms to jet setting professional singles – they all have a need for an extra set of hands or person to remind them of important appointments or tasks.
 
Starting a concierge service is going to take some work and creativity on your end. Although most people have a need for this type of service, some have a hard time justifying the expense. Your marketing and client acquisition strategy will require you to effectively demonstrate how easy their life would be with you on their team! Here are a few tips to consider when planning your Concierge (errand service) business:
 
1. Start with a business plan: You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a business plan – in fact, with this type of service business – you can write one yourself. You will want to write out the vision you have for your company, as best as possible – note any start up costs, price points, target demographic and market.
 
2. Discover your start up costs: Start up costs associated with a concierge business are surprisingly minimal. Like with any business, one of the first steps you’ll take is setting up your business legally. This means you will need to check with your state and local commerce offices as well as the IRS for any licensing and tax requirements. The cost of a business license in most states is pretty low ranging from $25 to $100. After you’ve established your business legally you’ll want to create your website and marketing materials. Depending on your level of technical and graphic expertise you may be able to do this on your own for nothing at all. However if you’re like most people, it’s something you’ll end up outsourcing. You can find a reputable website designer at places like GetAFreelancer to do your website for under $500 with matching business card and brochure templates for a little bit extra. It’s also advised to invest in business liability insurance. Depending on the range of services you offer, you’ll likely spend a lot of time driving around – if your current car insurance doesn’t recognize your vehicle as a business/commercial vehicle – you may not be covered if you get in an accident while doing company functions. All in all, the estimated start up costs for a concierge business would be under $1500.
 
3. Develop your legal documents and contracts: Because of the nature of a personal assistant concierge style business – it’s important to have contracts and agreements between you and your client. For example – you may offer a car pooling service shuttling kids to and from soccer practice. You’ll want to have a signed agreement that authorizes your clients children to be in the car with you.
 
4. Decide on your range of service: A concierge can offer a wide range of services. As long as it’s legal – you should remain open to any type of assignment. Typically concierge services are divided into two categories – corporate services and personal/individual services. The types of services you offer a business will vary from what you’ll offer an individual. Corporate services may include things like courier services, event planning, travel planning, and transportation arrangement. Those types of things are often duties handled by executive secretaries, but many businesses choose to save money by hiring a concierge business instead. Personal services include gift shopping, cleaning services, relocation assistance planning, dry cleaning pick up, house sitting, reminder services, appointment making services, grocery shopping and many others.
 
5. Decide your price point: Most concierge businesses charge by the hour, with $25-30 being the going rate. It’s also wise to offer monthly package rates. This will help you secure long term contracts, particularly if you require a minimum number of months to sign up. Your packages should include a guaranteed number of services and/or hours per month – with an extra fee being charged for services or hours over.
 
6. Put your best foot forward: With your business cards and services brochures in hand – you’ll want to hit the ground running with your marketing strategy. Word of mouth is always the best way to grow a business – it’s free also! The first impression will be the lasting impression for potential clients, because of this you should be courteous to a fault! You want clients to know that you are a trustworthy and responsible individual. Your appearance should be well-kept at all times, answer your phones in the most professional manner and always be organized.
 
The sky is the limit when it comes to starting a concierge business, it will be challenging in the beginning – but that’s the case with any new venture. Don’t give up and always keep a smile on your face – you never know, you may be talking to your next client!

No Picture
Small Business Ideas

How to Do Market Research of Small Business Ideas

July 12, 2022 Comments Off on How to Do Market Research of Small Business Ideas

Even though you have a great business idea, you need to make sure there is a market for it. Advisers, like myself, will tell you to do market research but you may wonder how (without hiring a research firm to do sample testing or focus groups for you which can be very expensive). All of these tools allow you, the entrepreneur, the ability to test and research your business idea to see if there is a viable market for it.
Forums. Forums and user groups are far from dead. People are discussing virtually everything on some forum somewhere. You can do a Google search for forums by typing in your topic name (i.e. “business” plus vbulletin plus forums). So, in this instance your search would be business vbulletin forums. Look for forums with lots of activity and then check out some of the most common questions to find what users are looking for.
Twitter search is a phenomenal way to see what’s being discussed in real time. There are a variety of ways and companion sites to do a a search of topics on Twitter. However, I prefer TweetGrid because you can do up to 9 keyword searches at once to monitor conversations on those topics. You can also broadcast questions about a topic to your Twitter followers if you want feedback on a topic.
Do a Facebook search. Facebook now allows a search of topics, though it isn’t as user friendly as Twitter or LinkedIn. You search will bring up people, fan pages, business pages and some status updates. You can search age groups, cities, industries and more.
LinkedIn questions are a great way to see what business people have concerns about. They are divided into topics so you can search more easily. Like forums, if you are scanning for business ideas, check for topics with the most questions. Always be willing to answer a question or two while you are there.
Check out Yahoo Answers. You can expect a hodge podge of questions on Yahoo’s Q&A site, but that can be a good thing depending on your current or potential business. Categories include Arts and Humanities, Computer and Internet, Consumer Electronics and Home and Garden. If you have a product to sell, Yahoo Answers can give you a pretty good cross-section of concerns of the general population.
Create a poll or or survey to investigate ideas. You can add polls/surveys to Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also set up a survey at Survey Monkey and email it to a target group. For small surveys (up to 100 responders, 10 questions on the survey) it is free and goes up from there. Even 10 questions to 100 responders can give you some really solid information to use in developing your business idea.

No Picture
Business Insider

Top 10 Small Business Ideas for 2012

June 19, 2022 Comments Off on Top 10 Small Business Ideas for 2012

Starting a small business takes a lot of planning and the ability to execute your business plans. Though it doesn’t require a big capital for a small business however you cannot lose your capital as this will cause a serious trouble on the financial front at the same time your future expansion plans. If you have knowledge about how to run a business successfully, you won’t be able to take a wrong move that can affect your business plans. Before we go on further to the small business ideas, refer to the tips for running a small business.
• Can it sustain your everyday expenses and can it profit you.
• Can it raise enough funds to get it running for a long time and can become a profitable venture.
• Is it something that is needed everyday and does it has an appeal to sell on a steady basis?
• Is it something that you know how to do and can you do it well?
• Is it something that you like to do and doesn’t mind you at all doing it over and over again?
Now that we know our objective in putting up a small business let’s go forward and see what are the best idea for small business this 2012.
1. Online business – this may include article writing/blogging, virtual assistant, translator, copy writer or bookkeeper, data entry, etc. This is one of the ideal business ideas for beginners would be to take advantage of various online business opportunities. By doing online data entry and online paid survey jobs, you can earn money per hour for your work. The more accuracy and consistency you show in your job, the more work you will get.
2. Mobile apps development – almost all people nowadays possesses a mobile phone and included on the mobile phone is application that people always uses. Calendars, Alarm Clocks, notepads are some example of applications that are commonly downloaded. Whether this is a businessman, a politician, an artist or just an ordinary person has a lot or even tons of mobile application.
3. Make-up artist or hair salons – Providing either makeup artist services or hair salons is yet another interesting small business idea. Makeup artists are in great demand in the fashion and entertainment industry. If you have the required makeup skills and talent, you can start your own company and do the makeup of television and movie stars. By providing good service, you can get long-term contracts which will increase your revenues greatly. The great thing about hair salons is that they are a sure thing. No matter how dismal the economic climate, women will still scrape together the money to get their hair done, even if they have to let their nails go. So hair salons with talented stylists and well-priced services will still be real money makers.
4. Cleaning services (pool, yard, garage etc.) – A cleaning service is a good business proposition for a person who relishes the idea of cleaning apartments, homes and commercial establishments. Housekeeping is an art and people are typically deterred by the prospect of getting grease, tough stains and odors out of carpets, keeping their bathroom clean and eliminating odors from their refrigerator. Hence, a cleaning service can be a steady source of income assuming that there are no immediate competitors. Otherwise, one would have to spend money on advertising and this may eat into one’s profits. Cleaning services can operate round the clock since residential apartments are generally cleaned during the day while commercial buildings are cleaned after office-hours. Considering that cleaning services earn popularity and goodwill through word of mouth, a job that is well done will rarely go unnoticed.
5. Elder assistant or baby sitting – being a babysitter doesn’t require you to have a license, with more parents needing to work and offering a home based child care can be a great way of starting your own business while taking care of your own kids too. The growing numbers of senior baby boomers also provide growing business opportunities for senior care. In-home care and senior residences are the obvious ones, but don’t forget all the related opportunities such as driving, delivery, catering and cleaning services for seniors who want to stay in their homes. You can certainly develop your own business providing care for seniors.
6. Recycler – the best thing of being a recycler is that you’re not just earning your own money and you’re also helping the environment. Average homeowner doesn’t always know where or how to recycle the stuff they’ve got. A pickup truck are all you’d need to start buying or simply offering to remove scrap metal, old computers, electronics, ink cartridges and other recyclable materials.
7. Event management/party planner – Event management or party planning can also be a good option for a small business. Event planners have to organize a particular event by taking into consideration the suggestions given by their clients. This job requires creativity, patience and ability to get work done from people on time. It can help you be a successful event planner if have a good team of creative professional that can help you organize the event under you.
8. Online selling – whether this is a pre-loved or brand-new stuff you can still earn big bucks. This is being popularized by e-bay. There are still some people who have a whole lot of money and are willing to spend it on the name products that matter. Luxury handbags, scarves, and shoes for women are still selling well, for instance.
9. Social media consultants – With the ever rising of the social media era and the giant social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and You tube, businesses have been taking advantage of this to gain more exposure for their brands and products. With more than 800 million active users in Facebook alone, business promotion in this top social networking site is now a priority for business owners and marketers. If you have the social media marketing skills that can outsource likes and follows for your client’s business, then this business can help you earn cold cash on the Internet.
10. Pet related services such as pet sitter, pet cleaning and grooming services – Most Canadians and Americans loves pet especially dogs and feeding, caring for them and pampering their pooches a spending priority. Kennels, doggie daycare, dog treat bakeries and dog resorts are few of the things that you may want to venture in.
These are not necessarily ideas for businesses that anyone can start however you can get some idea on the list above. But in my opinion, these are business opportunities that are going to provide real chances to make money in 2012 and beyond. Business that is done right, in the right place and for the right people may be profitable enterprises for years to come. If you’ve been considering a sale in 2012, take your time and do it right. Plan ahead, research your market and stand out from the competition. Knowing the sales process is half the battle. With proper preparation, you can ensure a stress free transition and a financially successful exit from your business.

No Picture
Business Plan

The 3 “Must Do’s” Before You Start A Small Business

May 18, 2022 Comments Off on The 3 “Must Do’s” Before You Start A Small Business

So you’ve got your small business idea and you want to start a small business. What do you need to do to get your small business off to a flying start?
I am going to share with you what I believe are the 3 most important things to consider when starting a small business, especially a bricks and mortar business.
1. Research
You will need to carry out thorough research on the products or service that you are going to be selling. When I started my first business more than twenty years ago, my original business idea was to open up a pet shop. I wasn’t actually sure whether there would be a demand for that type of shop, so during one of my week’s holidays I actually parked in the main shopping street for 6 hours a day for the whole week and carried out thorough research including:
Counting the number of people who visited the shops each day.
Speaking to shoppers to ask whether they felt that there was demand for a pet shop in that area.
Speaking to other shop owners in the locality to ask for any tips that they could give me on the best ways to start a retail business.
Checking what other competitors were doing in order to offer better.
Checking location i.e. making sure that there was a market for what I was selling within a given area and that I could achieve the desired profit margins within that location. Location is very important when considering a bricks and mortar business as property leases and the prices that you can charge for your goods or services, are largely governed by location.
Needless to say I did not open a pet store but I opened up a chain of convenience stores instead based on using the same research techniques.
2. Create a Good Business Plan
You can have the best small business ideas in the world, but you will seldom get them off the ground without financial backing. In order to gain that all important backing you will first of all need to present your potential lender with a business plan.
Do not be out off by this. All too often you will already have the business plan already in your head and will merely need to put in down on paper. Some things that you need to include when writing a business plan are;
The product or service that you are going to provide.
Who your targeted customers are going to be.
The cost to make or buy the product to sell on or how much it’s going to cost you to provide the service that you are going to be offering.
Your operational costs including rent, staff, fuel, vehicles, equipment, stationary, materials, legal fees, advertising etc, etc. You will need to ensure that you list them all.
The location where you are going to be offering your goods or services.
3. Financial Planning
Financial planning for a new small business is not just about how much money people they spend but more about planning the amount of sales that you hope to make each day, the purchases you will need to make, and the income that you expect to make after deducting the overall costs of trading. Many small businesses fail in the first year of trading because of poor cash flow. Below are some suggestions of how to avoid cash flow problems within your first year of trading:
Create a “small business cash flow forecast. Simply write down all of your expenditure costs for each month for the first year of trading and then add them up. Then write down what you think you will achieve in sales. Deduct one from the other and this will provide you with the targeted amount of sales that you will need to make in order to break even or make a profit.
If you don’t feel confident to create your own cash flow forecast, you could ask an accountant to do it for you. They could also create a profit and loss statement for you at the same time.
It is advisable to have some emergency funds set aside when starting a small business. Every new business needs money to get started, even if is only to buy stock or stationary.
If possible try to allow a sum of money equal to the projected turnover for the first year of business to allow for any cash flow problems.
Get the best deals from your lender. Some banks like Nat West and HSBC now offer free banking for 2 years for all new small businesses. Check out a few banks as they all offer something unique.
Don’t be disheartened if you get a few refusals. Just remain focused on your business idea and remain confident in your approach when discussing your business plans with the business advisor.
I can remember when I started my first business, eighteen lenders turned me down. However I didn’t give up and eventually a bank manager situated 90 miles away believed in my passion and drive to start my own business and decided to lend me the money that I needed.
So there are, what I believe, are three most important things to consider when you start a small business.