Small Business Blog

Archive for April, 2010

Since June 15, 2009, the United States Small Business Administration has been processing deferred payment small business loans of as much as $35,000 to be given out to 10,000 small businesses. This is covered by the SBA’s America’s Recovery Capital (ARC) Loan Program.

To qualify, companies should be private enterprises that are for-profit. They should have up to five hundred employees only and should be at least two years old. Furthermore, they should be able to prove financial need with a twenty percent decrease in sales, revenue or working capital. On the other hand, they should be able to prove that one of their two years in business has been profitable, and that with the infusion of cash they will be able to meet their existing and future debt obligations. This means positive cash flow projections. The ARC small business loans are intended to be used to pay outstanding debt such as payables to vendors.

For this batch of small business loans, there are no fees or costs involved, except if the borrower defaults on the loan later. In that case the SBA-approved lender can charge costs for securing and liquidating collateral.

The ARC small business loans also do not charge interest. Actually, the SBA pays the interest for the borrowers. Disbursement of the loan can take as much as six months but payment of the principal is also deferred for the next 12 months. After that, the borrower has five years to repay the loan principal.

Each small business can only avail of one ARC loan. SBA-approved lenders will offer the loans until September 30, 2010 or until available funds run out, whichever comes first.

There are, however, an estimated 30 million small businesses in the United States and only 10,000 of them can avail of the government’s small business loans. What if you do not happen to be among the 10,000 lucky recipients? How will your small business survive?

There are even doubts being raised on whether as much as 10,000 businesses can indeed avail of the ARC loans. There are fears that there may not be enough lenders willing or able to participate in the program. Lenders will have to advance the full amount of the loan, will not receive payment on principal for a full year, and will not be able to charge any fees, thereby absorbing all administrative costs. This may be too steep for many lenders. They may not be able to afford to participate at all.

This is where you as a small business owner can and should maximize your credit card services. We are not talking about your personal credit card services here. Instead, we are referring to the merchant services that enable your small business to receive credit card  and debit card payments. Surely, any business these days avails of these types of credit card services. After all, more people pay by credit card or debit card rather than cash.

Most credit card services offer small business cash advances that can be as substantial as small business loans. These small business loans do not require any collateral because they are secured by your company’s future credit card receivables. This is even more convenient for your business because repayment is also built into those receivables. Credit card services automatically deduct a percentage from your income to go toward loan repayment. For as long as you have incoming sales, you can support your loan. Interest rates are often quite affordable considering how the loan can help your business.

Small businesses should therefore look into maximizing these credit card services for small business loans. The survival of your business could hinge on this.

One of the greatest thing on your way to the work at home internet business success is to use effective tools and automation, which save your own work and thus grow the productivity of the business. Thus every action will be more and more profitable one.

The effective tools make a work at home internet business more motivating, because the manual workload decreases and you can master a bigger group of actions with a relatively small amount of work.

An ideal aid is an autoresponder, which communicates with your customers and prospects even when you are sleeping. After the set up work, i.e. writing the many ezines, it will run without any work from your side.

Running a work at home internet business is usually interesting and fun but there are some jobs, which will make me grazy. One job is the link building. Without the automated software from my internet marketing center I could never been able to build the number of links, which I now have.

Or another example is the article distribution to thousands of emails and websites. Think about the workload, if I should do it manually. To be nonest, that would be Mission Impossible. Guess how I enjoy, when I use a good software, like building one way links or distributing articles. I really enjoy that. And when we enjoy something, we are eager to to it again and again.

The work at home internet business tools below form a checklist, which you can save for your regular use. It covers the most necessary tools and you can get more detailed information from the Author Box.

1. AdTracking

2. Affiliate Marketing E-Books

3. Affiliate Partner Programs

4. Articles About Home Business

5. Article Distribution Service

6. Autoresponder

7. A Guide For A Beginner

8. Blogs

9. Digiproducts To Sell Or To Buy

10. eBay Marketing

11. E-Book Writing

12. E-Mail Marketing

13. Free Traffic Exchanges

14. Google AdWords Guide

15. Home Business Books and Magazines

16. Hosting

17. Keyword Selector

18. One Way Link Builder

19. Payment Processors

20. Reciprocal Link Builder

22. Search Engine Optimization, SEO

I have tested the list above and seen it very useful. As a matter of facts, it is my own internet marketing center or internet marketing tool shop.

When I decide which tool I use, the first criteria is that it must fit to my work at home internet business strategy. The second one is that the internet marketing tool selected must give a strong, extra push to my business.

The simplest way to earn money on the internet is to invest in a turnkey online business opportunity instead of struggling to build a total system from scratch. Turnkey means that everything is all set up and ready to go; like you would get into a car, start the engine and then drive off. A turnkey online business opportunity is especially attractive for newbie’s and people that have little experience in website design and setting up systems. What is unfortunate though, is the fact that the majority of programs of this nature only have limited openings because of personalized support, updates, and assistance all given by the program owner.

Types of Turnkey Online business Opportunity program.

There are a number of different types of turnkey online business opportunity programs, so it is possible that you will find one that appeals to you. Some of the most popular ones are completely set up online stores that have products and services, and others are specially designed systems that you can follow step by step to generate an income online. For people that have busy schedules and can only allow so much time after work to pursue their extra internet incomes, turnkey online business opportunities is definitely the best possible choice. This will allow you to build up the income to a level when you can eventually quit your job and manage the businesses completely from home which is naturally everyone’s dream after all.

The top 2009 turnkey business opportunity.

One of the most highly rated programs of this nature that has also been acclaimed in the media is a program known as Maverick Money Makers. This program has been implemented by a well known millionaire Mack Michaels. This program allows limited exclusive positions to groups of 3000 people at a time which can be mentored and helped to achieve stunning earnings from $100 per day to thousands of dollars per day. The investment to join this turnkey online business opportunity is well worth it and the small monthly subscription will hardly make a dent in the earnings you achieve.

Invest in a better financial future!

Like most people that get internet access, you will also wish to earn an extra income online that will supplement your already over stretched budgets, and you will come across thousands of offers that make a very frustrating choice. Instead of throwing away money on programs that you are not sure will work or not invest in the best designed turnkey online business opportunity that is there to help opportunity seekers and entrepreneurs globally.  Unfortunately at the time you read this Maverick Money Makers may already be closed but it is worth checking out to see whether this is the case or not.

If you are interesting in collecting motivation and management books, maybe this book must be putted in your next shopping list. This book will be a good valuable collection which can motivate you plus build your business. This book is written by professional experienced entrepreneur. This book is written based on long researches done by the author, so it is accountable.

The books titled Emotionally Charged Learning Competitive Entertainment Based. This book can be your most valuable collection because the contents will never be old fashion. It can be applied along the time in business management. This book can show your talents and if you read and apply the methods suggested inside this book, you business will be developed and automatically it will boost your profit. This book is written by professional celebrated entrepreneur Eric Schiffer. As we know that he is a controversial person, and this book is also controversial among some analysts.

But, even it is controversial the contents of this book truly can help you manage your self and your business at the same time. It will also decorate your book racks and becomes a valuable collection of you. So, what you are waiting for? Order this book now through Amazon, and get the special price.

If you are one of the many people who has planned to get into the Internet freelancing industry, there are some important things you must know. Outlined below are 4 necessary things you must have so that you can start your online freelancing business easier and be more successful when running the business.

1. Website

Even if you are just starting out with your online freelancing business or even if you simply wish to make use of bidding sites for freelancing, never forget the importance of having a website. Your freelancing website should contain information about yourself, what your credentials are, and what you are capable of doing. If you have a good website for your online freelancing business, it would be easier for potential customers to trust you with the work they require.

2. Portfolio

When starting a freelancing business over the internet, you would need to publish your own portfolio. If you already have a website, putting your information there is necessary. Potential clients will first be looking at this portfolio to get to know your skills as well as what your freelancing business has to offer. They would want to see your previous works in order for them to determine if your capabilities fit their needs. For this reason, you must be sure to publish your best works that exemplify exactly what you can offer to your clients.

3. Rates

Your website should contain all the pertinent information regarding what kind of services your online freelancing business can offer. Depending on whether or not you have standard rates for your services, you may choose to publish prices in your online freelancing website or advice your visitors to contact you so you can provide them with a quotation for the work they require. However, you must take into consideration that some people prefer to see rates and prices immediately rather than wait for a quote. If you do not have standard prices for your services, you can simply publish a price range for all the services you offer just to give your visitors an idea of what to expect. If the price range that you publish suits their budget, they will contact you for a more specific quotation.

4. Legitimacy

The World Wide Web is open to everyone and there are thousands of business websites that are not registered. However, it is better to have your business registered at least with your local government. Doing this will help you gain the trust of your potential customers. This will also allow you to advertise your freelancing services in your local newspaper. If you opt to do this for your online freelancing business, you will have more chances of gaining clients since more individuals would rather work with registered businesses especially for legal and accounting purposes. This will also help you develop a better reputation for your freelancing business and it will give your potential customers an impression that it is safe to do business with you.

Introduction

Home improvement businesses face a unique challenge in marketing themselves to potential customers.

Businesses offering services like loft conversions, double glazing, conservatories, landscaping, kitchens and bathrooms face widespread competition, some of it from larger retailers which can offer low prices thanks to greater economies of scale.

At the other end of the market, less reputable businesses can damage the reputation of the home improvement sector through poor workmanship or unethical marketing practices like cold calling.

Marketing channels available to home improvement businesses are often costly and hard to measure, such as local press or phone directory advertising.

Yet the effort in marketing can be worthwhile, with a typically high average spend per successful order. So how can a home improvement business stand out from the crowd, whilst achieving a good return on its marketing investment?

Direct marketing tools and methods can often offer the answer. Because it’s more measurable than other marketing methods, direct marketing is more measurable and it can be targeted more closely to those potential consumers most likely to buy your home improvement services.

Here are some of the ways in which direct marketing can help:

1. Planning

Before any direct marketing campaign you have to carry out some planning. For a home improvement business this can involve analysing your existing customers to see what they have in common. Using tools like Easycheck list profiling software (www.selectabase.co.uk/i-have-a-list/easycheck) you can discover more about your customer’s interests, likes, dislikes and lifestyle just from their postcode. Also look at there they are based and what type of home they live in, to help identify potential markets.

Once you’ve analysed your existing customers you can put them into different groups, or segments, and then prioritise which groups are of most importance to you.

For example, if you are a landscaper, you might want to target properties in local areas that you know have larger sized gardens. Double glazing companies may want to target homeowners in coastal or exposed areas, where their properties are more likely to suffer from the elements. Loft conversion or conservatory companies could target growing families likely to need more living space.

2. Direct Mail

Once you’ve identified your target segment, or segments, you can source lists of more people of the same type.

There are numerous reputable mailing lists available that you can select data from. For example the Consumer Profiles list (www.selectabase.co.uk/lists/consumer/) which allows you to target potential customers by lifestyle, Silver Prospects (www.selectabase.co.uk/ppc/grey-market-silver-prospects-list.aspx) is a specialist list of retired older people, and Recently Moved (www.selectabase.co.uk/recentlymoved/) provides a monthly list of people who’ve just moved into your local area.

Mail these lists with a good quality mailer, personalised to each person, explaining clearly why you are approaching them and the benefits of what you have to offer; price, service, testimonials, knowledge etc. Include a clear call to action and offer a no hassle free quotation.

Mailings can also be used successfully to drive traffic to your website, where people can see more about your business and obtain a quote online.

3. Telemarketing

Unsolicited telemarketing, or cold calling as its also known, has done much to tarnish the reputation of the home improvement industry.

However if you have your own list of leads, enquiries or prospects that you plan to phone, you can do so as long as you check each number first to see if it is registered with the Telephone Preference Service. You can check numbers as you go using an online service like www.selectabase.co.uk/1check/ or you can clean your list each month using software like Easycheck.

Also, it is completely acceptable to follow up a mailing to a rented list with a brief courtesy call asking if the homeowner received the information and if it was of interest. If it’s bought from a reputable source, your list will have been screened against the TPS just before you buy it.

It’s worth spending time briefing the person who makes the call to make sure they have good product knowledge and know how they should represent your business.

Summary

In summary, direct marketing methods provide great opportunities for home improvement businesses to identify and target relevant potential customers on an individual basis, without the interference of competitor’s messages that you find with press advertising.

Results can be measured precisely, and the results used to guide future mailings or campaigns. And if direct marketing is carried out in a high quality and reputable way, consumers will see that your home improvement business is going to provide a high quality service.