Jumpstart Your Business

Women-owned businesses account for some 30 percent of all businesses in the United States and represent approximately 800,000 new start-ups per year and account for close to 55 percent of new start-ups. There are considerable resources available to help women in business especially in the areas of financing and business planning. These resources are in both the public and private domains.

A good place to start is the Small Business Administration (SBA). They have considerable resources for women owned businesses. They guarantee loans and provide additional services to help in the search for funding. To apply for a loan, you’ll need a business plan, a credit report and some start-up capital.

In these tight economic times, it is critical that the business owner pay attention to the financials of the company. Money is very hard to come by and revenues are falling while expenses are increasing. To stay in business the savvy business owner needs to take these seven steps:
• Keep good records
Every revenue and expense transaction should be recorded and preferably in one place. Do not use the shoe box method but rather, invest in a computerized financial package like Peachtree or QuickBooks.

photo credit: mundo resink
• Keep a Separate Business Bank Account

Starting Friday, April 2nd 2010, as part of the new CARD Act of 2009, companies advertising free credit reports are now required to clearly disclose that what’s being marketed isn’t the free credit report you’re entitled to receive by law.

The Federal Trade Commission provides consumers with one free credit report a year from each of the major reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Consumers can access their free report by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. But other sites that claim to offer free credit reports often come with strings attached.

“Flying by the seat of your pants”, so to speak, is very exciting but is not a recommended way to run your business. Just remember that almost 90% of start ups never see a second year all because their owners never filed a “flight plan”. To prevent a small business from running sluggishly, the owner needs to invest in a business plan. Here are 10 good reasons for that stinking business plan:

photo credit: David Boyle in DC
1. Help you understand who your target market is and what customer problem you are trying to solve.

Most times a small-business owner who is looking for support and financing needs to look no further than the local neighborhood. Here are six local sources of everything from training to help in securing local government contracts and also sources of loans for small companies.

1. Contact your state, county and local development departments. Among them are: statewide programs such as capital access programs; loan guarantee programs; and small business low-interest loan program that helps small companies acquire land, buildings or equipment.. There are also regional or city-based programs, such as economic development loan pools — low-interest loans for land, building acquisition, renovation or machinery and equipment purchases. Such aid is available since cities and regions are interested in promoting the economic health of their region and creating or retaining jobs in their area.

In these tough financial times, small businesses need to try out new ways of cutting back on their expenses. One new trend is to follow certain feeds on Twitter. This very popular social media site contains a wealth of information on using money wisely. Here are 4 helpful feeds for you to follow:
• USATODAYmoney — Keep track of the country’s financial picture and see how you’ll have to adjust to the changing times through USA Today Money’s tweets. Their items will let you learn how to be smart with your small business cash flow.

As a small business owner, you owe it to the business to decide whether your lender is right for your business or not. Banks and lending institutions use five factors to grant credit to you or your business and these are:

Capacity
Your ability to repay the loan. They look at your cash flow and your expected business performance over time to see whether you have the ability now and in the future to be able to keep up with the loan payments.

If you think that you’ll be able to get a grant to start your for-profit small business from the federal government or even from a private foundation, think again. Even with all of the billions of dollars floating around under the American Recovery and Re-investment Act, you still can’t find grants for your small business start-up.

Cut-backs rule the day, but according to Ben Worthen, staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal, not all cuts are equal. Some cuts provide longer terms savings; some, more immediate.

Henry Paulson knows that if you need capital to help start your business, you can’t expect to get it from a bank or other lender without your having to qualify for it. Here are 5 tips he would recommend to help you qualify for that loan: