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Financial Business
Christmas is Coming, Time For Business Owner To Make Profit
Dec 18th
When I think of Christmas, I think parties, functions and holidays! But for a business owner, Christmas and the opportunities that arise at that time of the year should mean much, much more.
We all know that Christmas is fun, but have you ever thought of using it as an opportunity to improve your business and its many relationships.
Networking Opportunities
One opportunity that you probably have never considered is to attend another company’s Christmas function. This can be a wonderful networking opportunity especially if your business is compatible with either the host company’s team members demographic (as in you sell something they all want to use – in this case spend a lot of time networking and getting to know the team rather than the boss) or if there is the opportunity for a strategic alliance or host beneficiary in the new year (if a strategic alliance or host beneficiary is your goal – make sure you spend plenty of time with all the key decision-makers).
Networking doesn’t have to be a waste of time or even traumatic. If you do it properly and with the right approach, it can make generate a significant amount of business for your company.
And while the benefits to networking are many and varied, almost every business can profit from a strong networker. It can basically be seen as a business time saver. When you’ve got a strong network, you’ll find your calls get returned more quickly and easily. You’ll have quicker and easier access to more information, ideas and contacts. This in turn, can make you more efficient and productive and lead to more opportunities, more business, new business, new contacts, new clients, growing your business and most importantly, more money in your pocket.
Launch your Networking Career
Christmas is the best time to launch your networking career. Take advantage of the Christmas spirit and introduce yourself to lots of potential clients that would normally be harder to get to. By the way, I’m not saying you should launch into a sales pitch at the function – in fact I would strongly advise against it. All you need to do is grab some business cards and follow them up before or after Christmas, after all you will never have a more perfect reason to call.
Remember, the last thing you want to be is overly enthusiastic, or become known as the person who shakes everybody’s hands and thrusts their business cards into an unsuspecting party-goer’s grip. Relax and be yourself, it’s Christmas after all! You never know you may even enjoy yourself.
Some Hints and Tips for Networking:
- Know your focus – When attending an event, don’t try to meet as many people as possible, trust isn’t built from a stack of business cards.
- Have an adequate supply of business cards and make sure you get a business card from every person you meet – This will allow you to not only follow up but will help build your database.
- Listen and ask questions – You have two ears and one mouth so remember to use them proportionately, also don’t assume that your target person already knows your business.
- Give referrals whenever possible – A good networker should believe “givers gain!” So because most successful businesses grow from referrals, be the person that does the referring. Remember the fastest way to get referrals is to give them.
- Don’t try and close any deals – Networking should be used to develop relationships with other professionals and not an event to hit businesspeople to buy your products or services.
- Write notes on the backs of business cards you collect – This will help jog your memory when you make contact with them and will help in building rapport.
- Follow Up – If you’ve discussed catching up with someone, call within 3 days of the meeting that person. Otherwise, just write a brief hand written note (to keep it personable) saying it was great to meet them.
- Keep promises – If you’ve made a promise, keep it! No one like to do business with an unreliable person.
- Think differently – Focus on just meeting people and not finding new customers because that’s what everyone else is probably doing. More >
Loans For Bad Credit People
Dec 15th
A tag of bad credit is capable of making things go bad to worse for a person. Most of the institutions are reluctant to provide any forms of loans to people with poor credit history. But do not lose heart! There are business loans which people with poor credit can acquire of, so as to start afresh to set your finance straight.
However, there are some things you should do before you apply for such a loan. You should part your business credit and bad credit by beginning a LLC. Employ your EIN to set up a company credit report, which stands detached from your personal credit history. Further, make separate financial reports for your personal and business finances.
Once you have taken care of the above mentioned aspects you can proceed to get your loan. The first step you can take is to set up a small venture in order to gain access to SBA. Payday loans online offered by SBA are really useful to persons with bad credit. The very convenient loans of SBA has easy laws which includes long term maturity, significantly low rates of interest, low installments etc. The SBA loans have guarantee from government or security from other sources.
Substitute Loans with Trade Credit is ideal if your finance requirement is small and is for short term. The easier alternatives of trade credit plans are a good choice in such situations. Trade credit enables you to buy raw materials and other requirements for your firm. The easy to get trade credits do not need an individual credit check. At times, they can be got even without any forms of warranty. However, the procedure for this plan is not easy.
Business Cash Advance Alternative too is fashioned for people with bad credit. They are easy to get and has flexible pattern of repayment. The high light of the alternative loan is that they do not demand any forms of collateral. The speedy procedures help to get consumers to receive finance in 72 hours.
The Business Quadran
Nov 30th
Let’s begin by understanding a couple of things here:1. If you’re reading this, then you may be among those looking for a “fix” to life. We see others that seem to have it all, and we can’t seem to get ourselves organized. If only we could find the secret to success. Well – read on.
2. All of our life is spent in the NOW. Yet how much of NOW do we spend being regretful or anguished about the past, or worried about the future? Answer (for most of us) – a lot!
So let’s think a little about what to do in the NOW that’s right now – what to do first.
Stephen Covey’s Quadrants
Let’s look at Stephen Covey’s quadrants from his best seller “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“. As Covey himself admits, this is just common sense – but it sure helps to have it laid out logically. If we classify what we have to do in terms of both Urgency (X-axis) and Importance (Y-axis), then we get four quadrants:
1. Important & Urgent
2. Important & Not Urgent
3. Urgent & Not Important
4. Not Urgent & Not Important. More >
How to Finance your business
Sep 25th
First Things First
Money makes your business go. But don’t try going to a bank to get it when you’ve just started in business. Banks normally make loans only to businesses with operating histories. This section will give you some alternatives, some strategies and some things to think about as you go about finding the money to make your business work.
As pointed out in the first session on picking a business, don’t be discouraged by not having much money to start with. Many businesses can be started with no money at all. You can start small and humbly and grow one order at a time. Here is a sample, partial list of businesses you can start with very little cash
Our first reminder is that personal savings should be considered the primary source of funds for starting a business. If you haven’t started already, start now to begin accumulating cash through personal savings.
Also, don’t overlook the Small Business Administration (SBA) loan guarantee programs available for start-up businesses. With a SBA guarantee program in hand, your bank will be happy to talk with you! Refer to the Resources section to get more information.
Finally, start your search for financing with a good credit rating. Most all sources of financing or credit have come to rely on a four-letter word to score your credit worthiness: FICO. FICO is a numeric method, using just three digits, to predict the likelihood of your paying your credit as agreed. FICO scores range from 365 (not good) to a high of 850 (great). The score evaluates your credit payment history, number of open accounts, overall credit balances and public records such as judgments and liens.
Generally, a FICO score above 680 will produce a positive response while a score below this will cause a lender to be cautious. A good way to obtain your own score is to enter “FICO” into a search engine. Several sources will charge a modest fee to calculate your score.
How Much Money Do You Need?
Or, how much can you reasonably expect to get? Refer back to your business plan. If it still doesn’t answer the question, let’s go step-by-step. In Session 8, Accounting and Cash Flow, you learned how to predict future cash needs by using a cash flow control form.
The cash flow control form will spell out all of your sources of income and expenses. For example, some expense items might include:
- Buying supplies and inventory while waiting to get paid
- Paying payroll and rent
- Buying equipment and fixtures
- Getting a computer
- Buying the business
Prioritize those areas where your options are limited to paying in cash, and review your alternatives where there may be another way. For example, it is not necessary to pay all cash for a delivery truck when you can rent or lease one. Next, review what might serve as collateral for your loans. More >