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Working Capital Loans - Lifeline for the Success of Small Businesses

Working capital refers to the cash requirements of a business for its day-to-day operations, or more specifically the investment required for the conversion of raw materials to finished products, which the company sells out. In academic terms, working capital is defined as the current assets minus the current liabilities of a business. It is that amount of cash flow the business requires for its daily operations. It is a measure of both a company's efficiency and its short-term financial health.

Large businesses have always had a number of alternatives to raise or maintain a positive working capital such as inventory maintenance, stock selling, issuing of bonds and accounts receivables financing among others. The lack of working capital and continuous cash flow leads to cash crunches for many new and small business firms. Small businesses often tend to find their current liabilities exceeding their current assets. Lack of proper working capital management often leads to trouble in paying back their creditors in short term and eventually into bankruptcy. Working capital loans are an ideal solution for small businesses, providing them a scope for rapid growth by meeting their short-term financial needs. Working capital loans are not usually for buying fixed assets and investments; instead they are used to clear up accounts payable, wages, short-term credits, advertising and other business obligations.

The lack of working capital and its proper management increases the risk of failure for many small businesses. It prevents them from growing and materializing on many available opportunities. Shortage of necessary working capital is one of the destabilizing factors for a small business. It can substantially jeopardize the regular operations due to the unavailability of essential resources in due course. Working capital loans complement the existing line of credit for the business and provide a continuous cash flow to fuel its growth. It assists the business when it needs to pay its bills and make short-term investments. Working capital loans, unlike the long-term loans, usually reach maturity within a range of one year.

Traditionally a collateral was essential to acquire a working capital loan, but innovative companies have come up now with loan programs that do not require any security. There are few basic factors that these lenders look at before they will agree to lend you money for your business. Credit history is one of the primary factors that lenders look into for settling a working capital loan for a business. The business owner's vested interests and ability to repay are other factors taken into consideration by the lenders and clarified on the basis of previous financial statements. These reflect the hard work and personal financial investments along with the cash flow trends of the business.

Broadly speaking, though working capital loans are popular among small business owners unsecured business cash advance [http://1rstfunds.com/] is probably a better alternative. Unlike working capital loans, the borrowers are not liable to repay any unsecured cash advance and those payments are settled against the borrower's monthly credit card sales receipts. Business cash advance has also come up big way and is definitely a better finance option for small business.

5 Keys To Success For Small Business Owners

Many small business owners are facing the same business issues day in and day out. I am astonished at how many small businesses do not have a written business plan. It is still on the "to do" list after several years. Dream businesses are turning into jobs for these folks and they find themselves working harder and harder for less and less. There is a way to change the situation favorably and turn it around.

You may have been thinking about some issues in your business and a strategy to deal with them but just haven't gotten it off the ground yet. To be sure, until you are focused on a solution things will not happen. Below are five universal keys that will bring you a measure of success no matter how large or small your business is or may become.

Have A Vision

Did you ever ask yourself, where will your business be when it's done? The best way to map your business strategy is to decide now what that looks like. It helps to be very specific with a focus on the end date and or time frame. Write it down, will it be a corporate structure and if so what type? Will it be local or national, perhaps international? Documenting your dream will help you know when you arrive. Writing it down provides us the map of how to get to where we want to be. It defines the work the business will do.

Document

Do you know how the work will get done? Changing a tire may sound simple but if things are done out of order, there can be serious complications. If you document the process you can hand almost any task to another person when necessary. You can break up the over all task structure into smaller segments with an outline of how each fits together. Create the order and a system for quality control. This allows for process improvement as your business changes and grows.

Be Process Dependent

Every company has an employee turnover rate. If your work is process dependent people can come and go without long term effect on your business. With key elements of the input and output documented your processes will continue effectively. If you teach employees how to run the system, you become less vulnerable to people changes that will occur from time to time. Transitions with new personnel also become less of a hassle. When things do go wrong, it is usually easier to change a process rather than people. Go all the way, identify every function in your company from telephone greeter to bathroom cleaner. Develop the procedures for each action and how it will be done.

Success Must Be Measured

Put together some key performance indicators (KPI) for each process. These will help quantify how the process is doing and give you insights on where the process may need improvements. Waiting for financial reports is too slow for today's world. The KPI metrics should be simple and you will only need two or three per process to effectively measure. The importance of measurement is that it allows for change and process improvement. Share the KPI information with your people, they spend a major part of their life with you and can give you valuable feedback. The more involved they are the lower the turnover rate. You can share through a company newsletter, bulletin boards or lessons learned sessions. The old saying, "manage by walking around" has a meaning. Employees know what is happening and what is not working well, help them help you.

Improvements

Successful companies are continuously improving the way they get things done. That does not mean that you are always changing something just to be changing. Evaluating the metrics established in your measurement process will be your guide to needed improvements. Some actions could be costing money or time which is nearly the same. If you save just 15 minutes a day by shaving a minute off of 15 processes, in a year you have gained over a week and a half of work time. That is direct to your bottom line.

There are a lot of things one can do to make a business successful but the five above are universal in nature. Here they are again.

• Establish written Goals.
• Document how you are going to do it.
• Define processes for doing it
• Establish a measurement for each process.
• Look for constant improvements.

How to Be Successful in Small Business

Successful small businesses are those which are small in size, but big in productivity and quality of its services or products. No matter what your business goal is or in which field you are working in, one company is worth as much as the people who run it, work and create within it. For a good and powerful business, the most important factor is the person that runs the job.

Good entrepreneur must have a clear vision of what are the business goals and its chances. A clear vision is precious for keeping you on the right way-working towards a definite goal, sidestepping diversions that are tempting but which do not contribute to the master plan. You must be able to communicate the vision to other people in the company, that way it becomes a shared objective.

However, as well as keeping in mind the bigger picture, a good entrepreneur should exhibit great attention to details. That is the way to ensure that your product is as good as it can be, that the service you provide is second to none.

Even though you mustn't forget your basic small business plan and dreams (this is where inspiration comes from) working in a real, complicated world, commits you to be realistic and honest to yourself and your company. Theory can only achieve so much; at some stage an entrepreneur needs to get practical and simply get things done, even if that is different of what you believe it should be.

Don't be afraid to swim upstream-if everybody goes one way but you believe there is another, better direction, do it. Be prepared for many folks to wave you down telling you how wrong you are. It's ok. Successful people are quite often considered stubborn and unreasonable, but while other people tell them they are wrong, they rack up one victory after another.

It's nothing new that one must put enough effort and work hard if want to achieve something. What we often forget is that only with passion for what we are doing we can completely commit ourselves to our objectives. Owner of the small business must be enthusiastic about his/her work and able to sweep other people along on that wave of enthusiasm.

Most of the entrepreneur's work involves communication. That is the point in which you should use all your charisma and persuasiveness. This will help you turn prospects into sales or putting the case to potential investors. Charming is useless without intelligence. One small business leader perhaps doesn't have to be "book smart" but knowing human's nature and real life is necessary.

Being good in communication with your prospects, clients and business partners can't help your business if your inside communication doesn't work. Fortunately that depends on you. The ideal employee is the one who works for your company as it is his own. It is a positive feedback. If you treat your employees as partners, sharing with them all important ideas, profits, success and failure, they will treat you as a partner themselves. Any person works better if feels that is respected and trusted. Of course, the right evaluation of people who are going to be a part of your team is the first and the most important thing you have to do.

Starting a small business can be a beautiful and challenging. Among advantages of running this kind of company we can mention flexibility and personalized services. You don't need a huge amount of money to start working, and these companies enjoy greater accountability and greater responsiveness since they generally maintain a close relationship with customers and clients.

As a leader of one small business you are the one who creates the basic idea, who chooses the employees creating a productive team, who defines a relations with customers, clients, competition and society your firms is working in.

As a manager of a small business this topic might seem odd to you. Well, in fact it is a common perception of many small business operators that there is not much need to specifically cater to organizing needs, especially when it comes to strategic planning decisions. And the basic reason behind this notion is a belief that there is too little to manage and that this is a small task that can be handled easily at a latter stage. In most cases, this latter stage never comes and you have this important realization that organization plays a vital role only when you can't locate an important file on time or you've just forgotten to file an important paper within the deadline, because obviously you've simply forgotten it among other important chores.

The idea that organizing should be left to the bigger businesses is no longer practical. Small or big, a business needs to be highly organized in every aspect to win. Don't let success fade away from you because you've been shying away from such an easy task as organizing. Just follow these rules of good organization at your workplace and see the difference for yourself:

o Clear Job Definitions - Just because there are only a few people and everybody seems to be doing everything, it does not mean that nobody is responsible for an error. Have a clear profile in your plans as to who is supposed to do what and while delegating tasks be specific about the roles and authorities, to avoid any negligence in the operations at a latter stage.

o Internal Communication - It cannot be like a family. You can live like one, but still follow some basic principles while at work. Establish a hierarchy and accordingly a communication plan for your office to avoid any havoc or ego-related issues.

o Add reminders - Whether on your computer or on a separate planner, write down every important date. Don't think that you can remember everything. You just cannot afford to miss things.

o Finances - Be organized about how you spend and where you spend. Being a small business, you might not be answerable to many, but this pattern of managing is certainly not the way to success. Keep accurate accounts separately for your personal expenses. This not only helps the two patterns of spending separate but also acts as an important performance indicator.

o Filling and Maintaining Business Cards - These two are the most common things that you and your staff would be constantly look out for if you don't pay enough attention to being organized. Have different color codes, different drawers for different services, separate folders with name tags, every file with its own number, different card holders as per client differentiation, and use all other means to locate these items easily. Make a one-minute rule: It should not take you more than one minute to locate a file or a card.

The Secrets of Online Success for Small Businesses

Most small businesses think that once they start their internet business and launch their website and open some email ids and social media accounts they will immediately start getting leads and when their dream doesn't come true they start losing heart. The internet is not a short cut to your corporate success but it is a medium that once used perfectly opens the gateways to make your journey to success easier and faster. The internet is the medium that paves the way between you and your customers and helps to develop a continuous contact and stronger bond between you both. Like any traditional marketing, internet marketing also requires customers' trust to generate more business.

It is true that the internet is the easiest medium to grow your business and enhance your market reach to wider boundaries. It brings more people in your network and establishes your direct contact with your customers killing the middlemen and increasing your revenue. The better your business planning is, the more chances you have to make your growth faster.

Goal setting: An old maxim says, "In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia." Goal setting is the first act of foremost business importance. Decide why you are starting your internet marketing operations and what you want to achieve from them and in how much time. Divide the journey towards you goal into small steps. Smaller targets are easier to achieve.

Develop confidence: Confidence makes impossible possible. Learn the art to grow your confidence and use it for your business growth. Dividing your goal into smaller target sets and achieving those targets easily helps to build your confidence and fills you with self-determination to achieve your goal. You work aggressively towards making your success bigger and gain better results every time you make an effort.

Visualize your small business marketing plan: Your visualization makes you different from your nearest competitor. It is an essential part of your business success. As aptly remarked by Robert L. Schwartz, "The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and actualizer... He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen." The acts of your business approach become possible only if you visualize them much before they are executed. Your visualization helps to execute every operation on time and reduces the chances of last-minute manipulations or failures. Use your visualization skill to make a perfect internet marketing plan.

Implement your internet marketing strategy aggressively: Without proper and accurate implementation, your marketing efforts will end in zero or produce very scarce results. Work hard to make every step perfect. Every successful business person has one thing in common. He will say that he worked very hard in the starting of his business. If you leave any loophole in the beginning of implementation of your internet marketing, it will only get bigger with the passing time. A bad implementation of a good plan leaves you in limbo and hurts your business adversely, so ensure the perfect and on time implementation of your marketing strategies.

Track your small business marketing operations: Tracking of your internet marketing operations ensures your online success. It is not necessary that your every effort has the same degree of success. Find out which efforts are proving more successful for your business and where you are doing mistakes. Try to learn from your mistakes and correct them. Concentrate on the efforts that are more productive and minimize the errors in your business. Productivity increases with time. No businesses in past had been 100 percent productive the very first day. Every successful business learned from its mistakes and became perfect gradually.

To achieve online success, develop faith in you and start your operations with confidence. Come out of your doubt and wait for the results with patience. As "Rome was not built in a day", so your business will also take its time to establish, however internet marketing will surely make your growth faster.

What's Holding You Back From Success In Small Business?

All of us want success, especially if we own a small business. But nobody teaches us how to get there from here.

We are taught though to look at our present situation or state of affairs and see this is not what we want!

We might have a spouse who will not be cooperative (or maybe no partner in any respect), kids who aren't appreciative, a home that is not sufficiently big, an automotive that is not impressive enough, friends that aren't cool, etc. We're jealous of the all of the nice toys our neighbor has. We blame our situation, the weather, the financial system, our boss and many others for our failure. Why can't we get everything we want? Do you ever find yourself saying these things?

Often we need a support, motivation and inspiration and accountability to help us move from here to there. Sometimes we quite simply need a small business coach - but we don't realize it until it's too late.

The first mistake we are making if we are in the frame of mind we talked about above is we are focusing on the things that we don't want!

If we're always noticing how our children aren't appreciative of us, our children will know that we count on them to be unappreciative and can dwell as much on these expectations, simply becoming increasingly unappreciative.

This precept applies to everything. The world generally will provide something equal to our expectations. If we are at all times noticing how small our home is, it'll seem to become smaller and smaller in our minds. If we're jealous that another person has something we would like, then we are specializing in the truth that we do not have it, and we'll proceed to not have it. If we blame the economic system for our lack of success, then not solely are we specializing in the truth that we're failing, we're giving up control of that situation. We are letting the economic system control whether or not we get what we want. We are becoming a powerless victim. That is not where we want to be.

The first step in creating small business success is taking responsibility for what happens in our lives. We must also notice all things good in our lives and be thankful for them. Planning for success is vital, as it takes you from a place of lack and being a victim and puts you in a place of control.

The second, very common drawback, is our opinion of ourselves. The primary thing that prevents most people from succeeding is fear. We are afraid that we will fail, or we're afraid that if we're profitable then we won't be capable of handling it.

What it boils down to is a scarcity of self confidence. We don't trust in our abilities. We do not have faith that we will succeed and that we are able to handle it success when it happens. We do not have faith that we will handle any issues that will come up. Because of this, individuals procrastinate and check out, using excuses like "I am working out the right way". If we wait to solve every attainable factor that might go wrong before we start, we will never get started - and most certainly miss any window of opportunity.

Profitable individuals place confidence in themselves and have self-confidence to know that they may be capable to deal with problems as they arise. They seek guidance, support and surround themselves with people who are achieving success.

Who is supporting you?

Secrets To Email Marketing Success For Small Business

As a business owner, you need to think about how you are using email in your business. You are probably using email for communication, however, we are going to discuss how to successfully use email as an integral part of your marketing.

Jimmy D. Brown, a very successful marketing professional states "Email marketing is the most powerful tool for creating wealth both online and offline. Really, nothing comes close to it." Note he said offline as well as online. You may have had the misconception that email marketing only applies to online businesses. However, as an offline business owner, you need to wrap your mind around this powerful tool.

Since the bottom fell out of our economy in 2008, we have had to take a close look at new and innovative ways to promote our businesses. Email marketing could be the best tool to create our own economic stimulus package and bail us out financially in trying times. Learn as much as you can about email marketing and use it wisely.

Why aren't more small businesses using email?

• Many don't know where to start
• You may be afraid of being perceived as a spammer
• You aren't sure how to write and format a marketing email
• You may not be sure how often or when to send your email
• What are the legal issues involved with email marketing?

After all the most important thing is to get the email opened and read. You need to step out and start mining your gold. Bill Gates says "If your business is not on the Internet, they your business will be out of business." And this includes the effective use of email marketing.

Mining gold does not mean that you are going to start sending to a list of people who may not even know who you are. It means, creating something from every opportunity or contact. Nurture the relationships with your prospects, leads and customers that you are already interacting with. You will see an increase in your business simply by "mining" these contacts.

Take a look at your customer list. Contact each one and tell them what you are planning for your email campaigns. Make sure you are giving something of value back to your customers and ask them to "opt-into" your list. In other words, ask their permission to receive emails from you. Follow this same process with your referral sources, networking contacts, etc. This is referred to as permission marketing.

Don't forget about the relationships you are building via social media. As you start communicating with friends, connections and followers you can ask their permission to be added to your list. Remember that people are inundated with emails, so make sure that you are giving something of value.

What are some examples of giving value? One of our target niches is businesses that use Microsoft Office. I have trained on this product for years and am certified in several office products. Once a week, I send tips that are often not found anywhere else that will increase efficiency with this software suite. What tips or advice could you offer to your email list?

There is a local restaurant that was emailing weekly specials to their email list. Over time, they noticed that their open rate was starting to drop. They starting adding a weekly recipe email and the open rates soared. They have some unique southern dishes and people were excited to get these recipes that could not be found anywhere else. They also started emailing about local events in the area. They went from emailing once per week to four and five times per week and their open rates went up and so did the customers coming to the restaurant!

Bottom line is you need to start small with a list of a few customers or existing contacts. Create an email campaign that gives value to your list and start the process. There is no time like today.

Being Agile, Adaptable and Flexible Are the Keys to Success For Small Businesses

So how does riding a scooter have anything to do with your business success? Let me make the following analogy:

We have all been stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. There we sit in our big cars and trucks not moving at all or moving forward in fits and starts. Everybody is in the same situation. No one is making any substantial progress. Does this sound like how you feel with your business?

Suddenly, you get a glimpse of something moving in your rear view mirror. How can this be? No one else is going anywhere? Here comes this dude on his scooter (or motorcycle or bike) weaving in and out of the bigger vehicles. He is zigging and zagging and squeezing through the spaces that the rest of us can't utilize. I am always envious of that guy when he passes my car and keeps right on moving.

He is making progress for many reasons. His size...he's small, nimble, and flexible. He sees opportunity where the rest of us see gridlock. And he is willing to take a little risk for the reward of moving ahead of everyone else. This is the essence of today's successful small business.

So how can you embrace your small business flexibility and use it to your advantage? In looking at this analogy, you need to use some strategies that others in your field are NOT doing. Let me use Social Media as just one example (and Bria and I have many, many more).

Do you fully utilize Social Media? Are you Tweeting to your list of clients about a new product or upcoming event? Do you know the tricks and tips for a successful Facebook campaign? Do you even have a Facebook account? When was the last time you posted a video to YouTube to promote your business? I am betting that a lot of you are not doing this at all or are doing it too infrequently. Guess what? So is your competition!

It is not hard to do and we can show you just how simple and cost effective it is. These are the type of success strategies that we teach on our talk, "What IS and is NOT working in today's economy - 7 success strategies you need to know to grow your business today".

Success For Small Business Owners Means Investing in Themselves

Small companies, entrepreneurs, and solo-preneurs all have something in common. These businesses are responsible for the majority of economic growth world-wide. We may be small, but we are nimble, creative, and usually passionate about our work. We consistently offer unique solutions to our customers. Being a small company or a micro-business is where the action is!

The funding base for small businesses and entrepreneurs is vastly different, too. Most of us began our businesses with our own money, credit card debt, or family investors. And this is where the problem often begins. To compete successfully, your small business has to look, feel, and smell every bit as competent and good as the bigger guys. If you are a coach, for instance, your business must have the look and feel of a small, successful consulting shop. If you are a home-based home loan officer, you must be able to come off as professional and competent as the bigger dogs.

One big mistake I see smaller businesses do over and over again is refusing to invest in themselves. You can have a wonderful, creative, fun, and financially lucrative business. But you cannot do it with no investment base. There is no such thing as starting a business that will be successful and refusing to consistently invest in it! Give yourself this quick quiz and see how you score: o My basic business materials (cards, brochures) are professionally designed and produced. o I have a thought-out marketing plan (on paper) that focuses on finding my target market on a regular basis and I follow through. o I am willing to invest in technology (a good computer, a customer relationship contact system). o I have a website and I have studied the best ways to make my website interesting and interactive to customers. o I give my website a slightly different look at least once a month. o I invest in myself, going off to retreats and to learn new skills that I can then offer my customers or clients. o I invest my time consistently, knowing that my small business will not grow if it is always "last on the list." o The money to run my business is set aside and cannot be "lost" to household issues.

The bottom line is that the way you hold yourself, believe in yourself, and invest in yourself says a lot about how serious you are about your business. Ask yourself "Why would I expect a customer to invest in me when I won't invest in myself?" If you feel unworthy to indulge in something new and different then you can hardly expect your customers to indulge in something new and different - like doing business with you!

Investing in you doesn't just improve your confidence and skills. Your investment also creates a forward, positive energy that others will see, feel, and respond to. If you've stepped outside of your comfort zone and tried something new, you will be a model to the very people you are marketing to. You become memorable. You become admirable. You become investable! Your customers will WANT that energy, and be more likely to spend money with you.

Invest in yourself, believe in yourself, and be willing to learn, grow, and change. These are the key components to success. You can "shoestring" a small business - but you can't do it with nothing but thin air and wishful thinking. Use your money and time wisely, and show your customers how to do the same. That is a key to business success.

© Sue Painter

Success Map - Small Business Entrepreneur

A business needs many things to be successful. The crazy thing is that you can ask 25 successful people what they do that makes their business thrive and you may very well get 25 different answers. Sure there will be some cross over and a connection, but no two maps would be the same. The differences can be very subtle and don't forget they each add their own unique twist and personality into the mix.

What if someone asked you to create a map of your success, they offered to pay you a great deal if you would provide a step by step guide to reach success in your market or in your niche? What would that look like? This is a fun and productive idea because it would cause you to focus much more intently on what you do and how you do it so that you could share this map. Most people don't even know exactly what and how they do most things because they are on auto pilot.

The other part of this ploy is that you may well be aware that you are not on a clear path to success and the idea of creating a map for others would hold you accountable to living and working by a higher standard then you typically do. If you were responsible for creating a map of success and you did not yet think of yourself as successful then you might take your job and your role much more seriously then you do right now.

What do you think? If you were going to write and design a map for someone to follow in your footsteps of great success what would that look like? Where would you start? Success is a choice, it is your choice. What action can you take today to get a step closer to your biggest goal?

The 5 Most Important Things to Remember to Achieve Success in Small Business

Most people think that success in small businesses is the most achievable goal there is today, especially when it comes to the online money making industry. This, of course, is a highly plausible possibility, because if you have a good idea what to do and where to start, you'll definitely find yourself at the top easily.

However, you first need a starting point. This is where this resource comes in. The following are the top five things you should remember if you want to see your success in small business handling.

1. Find a primary focus or niche. This will help you concentrate your efforts better, reaching an easier goal easier, which is a great way to earn. If you want to land a good niche that will help you earn big, find something that doesn't have multitudes of competition but shows promising demand. This can help you earn bigger profits.

2. Think big. You always have a better advantage against your big competitors and those are your flexibility and ability to provide personalized service. Take advantage of that, and you'll surely find yourself climbing the top quicker.

3. Avoid being a copycat. Although imitation is still the best form of flattery, copying others won't get you a long way in this biz. Make everything about you unique, this can help you attract more potential clients and customers.

4. Strive to have a good reputation. Success in small businesses relies largely on their good reputation. Especially online, where word travels extremely fast, you will have to keep your name clean no matter what. You'll also need to impress to get people more interested.

5. Plan your way through. A good plan can really get you places. So make sure to always get your moves well thought out. This will really build your business for the better.

Aside from these, tons of other ways can help you achieve success in small businesses. Just keep them in mind and you'll surely find yourself in good stature in time.

Success in Small Business Requires Vision

Success in small business is something most business owners are striving for. But so many make such hard work of it. It is no longer exciting or enjoyable. If being in business is not exciting, enjoyable, and rewarding, then why be in it?

It is exciting and rewarding for the few who are really successful. The difference is that they have a vision, a clear idea of where they are going, and each day they can see their business making progress towards achieving their clearly defined goals.

This vision stems from your purpose, or what it is that drives you to do something. Your purpose as a person translates into your vision for the business. The vision is what you see the business becoming. The more clearly you see how the business will be, the more likely you are to create it that way. Putting your business together is a bit like constructing a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece of the puzzle falls into place to form a perfect picture. Imagine how difficult it is to put a jigsaw puzzle together if you don't have a picture of what it should look like when it is finished. You have to guess where each piece should go with nothing to guide you. How would you expect your business to turn out if you operated like this? Incredibly, this is exactly how most business owners try to construct their businesses. Is this how you work in your business?

If you do not start out with a clear vision, or lose sight of it at some point, the business continues aimlessly. Without a vision there is no real meaning. Having a vision allows the owner to define the business's purpose and what the business will look like when it is fully developed. Without a compelling vision, success in small business is a pipe dream.

The successful business is the physical realization of the concept that was created in the mind of the ambitious, daring entrepreneur.

Key Factors in the Success of Small Business

Many people dream of owning and running a business that can be taken to greater heights. But not everyone is successful in realising this dream. Often, business owners end up making a number of blunders that result in the failure of a business set up. Improper planning, lack of capital and a lackadaisical approach towards marketing the products are some of the factors that lead to the failure of the any business. By taking these factors into account business owners can avert financial losses quite effectively.

Some of the chief factors that have to be taken into consideration to make the small and mid sized companies work are as follows:

• Focus on pricing

If you operate in the B2B space, it is important for you to keep in mind that your client will revert to you provided you offer value at a lower price point. You should not price your products at a higher price point, as that will turn your prospective clients away. However, the pricing should be competitive to make sure that you can avoid negative sales and increase demand for your products.

• Market products properly

Effective marketing initiatives can help you to carve a niche in the market within a short span of time. For this, you should be able to access the right marketing channels. This will help you to cater to the demand in the market.

• Offer value to clients of all kinds

Although you are required to sell all your products at a lower price point it is important for you to remember that you cannot offer poor quality product. Whether you are an auto parts supplier or a business consultant your services should be of the best standard. Through this you can ascertain your reliability in the market.

4 Proven Steps to Internet Marketing Success For Small Business

The most important secret to becoming successful on the internet is, YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE A PLAN!

Your internet marketing efforts must be created as a purposefully thought out part of your overall business strategy. But you've got to have an honest marketing approach based on common sense and your specific business needs.

Here is my 4-Step Internet Business Success Program.

I've developed an Internet Success Program that is a proven process that shows you in clear decisive steps how to create your internet strategy and radically increase your business success.

The core of my program consists of these 4 steps:

Dream. Design. Develop. Deliver.

So how can you use them to chart your online success?

Step #1 Dream.

You must first outline the end result of share you want to be. Your destination must be well defined in order to achieve it.

So before you start looking at blogging, social networking, or building a website, you need to determine what end result you are expecting.

Ask yourself, "What does success look like to me?"

Remember, your dream can change and evolve. Make a point to periodically re-evaluate your dream and adjust your plans accordingly. Ask yourself repeatedly if each activity will get you closer to where you want to be.

Step #2. Design.

Once you have a well defined dream you must design your internet marketing plan around that.

Start where you are. And determine what you can offer that people are searching and will gladly pay for. You have to evaluate if you are working smarter and not just harder.

Stay true to your chartered path and then effectively choose the choices that best suit your needs.

- Online Commerce

-Articles and Press Releases

-Blogging

- Social Networking

-Membership Sites

-Corporate/Company Website

-Affiliate Programs/Sales

Instead of planning all of this by yourself, I highly recommend that you work closely with trusted business advisors and peers to help with feedback and input to assure you are staying in line with your true desires.

Step #3 Develop.

Once you've accomplished establishing a plan it's time to put those plans into action.

Remember to apply the Law of Action. Don't fall victim to over-planning. No amount of research can lay out everything you're going to need to know. Take action. You can always adjust as you go.

It is also helpful to not begin working on too many things at once. This leads to many half-started and undone efforts.

Step #4 Deliver.

As each of your marketing tactics are designed and developed you will then reap the benefits of all your hard work. One by one you will see your plans manifest into successful business goals as you finally have the financial success you have always dreamed of.

Congratulate yourself on your diligence, attention to detail, and staying on your path to success.

Remember the 4-steps for Internet Success:

Dream - Where you really want to go.

Design - How are you going to get there?

Develop - Put your plan into action.

Deliver - Announce it to the world and reap the rewards.

5 Steps To Success for Small Business Owners

Everyone wants to succeed in life. Most people want to succeed in business. And no one starts a business of any sort wanting to fail.

Yet the sad fact is that 80% of businesses will fail in the first 3 years of operation.

So what can you do to ensure your success?

Luckily these five simple (never confuse simple with easy), tried and tested steps dramatically increase your chances.

1. Vision

It might seem like management techno-speak or newage psycho-babble but all the evidence is that developing and articulating a vision for your business and life is a major key to success.

Take time out. Really think about what you want from your business and life.

Write it down.

A vision statement should not be long - it doesn't even have to be in words. If you think graphically then capturing your vision in a picture or diagram could be just what you need. You are striving for a short, to the point description of where you want to be in 1, 2 and 5 years time.

In addition to your financial vision you need to ask yourself some questions:

What will our major products and services be?

What will be our target market?

Will we be market leaders, followers or niche players?

What will our unique competitive position be?

How will we 'know' our ideal customer?

How will we be perceived by our customers?

How will we promote your services to our customers?

An old Japanese Proverb says,

"If you aim at a tree and fall short, you may only hit the ground.

If you aim at the sky you may hit a tree."

Make sure you don't set your targets too low.

Just before leaving the subject of 'Vision' - the number one key to achieving your vision is to communicate it widely. Make sure you tell your family and friends. Make it a central pillar in corporate literature. Include it in job descriptions.

The more you communicate your vision the more you demonstrate your commitment and the more likely you are to succeed.

2. Set Out Your Goals

Success means something different to us all. A self-made businessman worth millions of dollars would be thought successful by most. But if that businessman only rarely sees his family, never gets to play golf and spends all of his time on airplanes or in some exotic sounding (but usually antiseptic) hotel, is that really a success? Would that businessman think his life a success?

Possibly, possibly not.

But if that man had set himself goals for his business, private and social lives he at least has some way of measuring his achievements.

Your vision is all about 'what' you are going to achieve. Goals are about the stepping stones to achieving that vision.

Before starting on any endeavour - set your goals.

Make sure your goals are specific enough that you know when you have achieved them. "I want to make lots of money" is weak. "I am going to make $100,000 next year and $200,000 the year after" is much stronger.

The more specific and well articulated your goals the greater your chance of achieving them.

Don't forget to include your private and social goals. Many rich people complain that they have all the freedom that money can buy - but money can't buy the time to enjoy what they have earned.

An old boss of mine from my days in corporate consultancy once observed, "You can't buy back the years of your children's lives". He's right.

Make sure you know what real success would mean to you.

3. Plan, Plan, Plan

If the number one key to success in retailing is location, location and location, the number one key to success in business is plan, plan, plan.

Remember the 5 Ps success model - Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. (When I was taught this in the military there was a 6th P - for the sake of a mixed audience I have left this out. Use your imagination - you'll guess what it was :-))

If you've done your goal setting you know what you are going to achieve. The point of planning is how you are going to do it. Break each goal down into constituent steps needed for its achievement. For each step decide what, who, where and when it is to be done.

Be realistic and make sure that every step is achievable in the time set. Be prepared - when you plan-out all that you need to do, the amount of work can be daunting. Better to know this up-front than sale merrily into a venture only to find it is a huge monster that is going to take you a lifetime to kill.

4. Action Counts

I've seen some beautiful plans. Highly researched, well thought out and presented. I'll talk to a business owner and they'll say, "We've got a plan" and pull it out of the bottom draw of a filing cabinet somewhere.

"So, why aren't you using it", I'll ask. Nine times out of 10 the plan was produced to obtain funding. Lot's of really good work is done but once the money is obtained the plan is put to one side and ignored.

Big mistake. Taking action is the only thing that counts.

Every successful business I have looked at has clear, current business, operational and marketing plans. It doesn't matter whether your business is offline or online. It's taking action that delivers the results.

5. Another 5 'P's to Success

Passion - You have to believe in what you are doing. No where is this more obvious than on the internet. You can spot the 'me-too' advertisers in a second. The people who succeed are the ones in have passion, who truly believe in what they are doing. Do something that you love.

Push - No matter how good your plan you have to provide a big push to get it moving. Your plan inevitably involves change. Achieving change takes effort. Think of it as if you were trying to move a boulder. To get that boulder up and moving takes a lot of muscle and effort. Once it is moving though it becomes much easier.

Persistence - Getting started is relatively easy. Afterall, you are all fired up with energy and enthusiasm at that time. Few things worth achieving happen over night. Instead, there will be problems, hold-ups and frustrations. Don't allow yourself to become disillusioned or demotivated. You need persistence.

Patience - Results don't happen instantly. Allied to persistence you will need some patience.

Profit - OK, OK it's trite. But follow the steps here, gear yourself to provide these 5 Ps and you will succeed. In business, profit is a measure of your success.

No one can guarantee your success whether in life or in business. But you can dramatically increase your chances of success through these five simple, very well established principles.

The question is, "WILL YOU"?

Tips for Sales Success for Small Businesses

Write down your personal goals daily. Write down sales goals as well as profitability goals. It is just something about writing down your goals which should lead to a written plan of action to accomplish those goals.

Think positive. There is nothing worse than talking yourself out of success. The bible says "So a man thinketh so is he." Decide today to let go of any negative thoughts and take complete control of your mind.

Always be closing. This has to be a mindset. You want to close the sale. You don't want to waste your time nor do you want to waste your customer's time. And while your customer is waiting to be closed you are offering something that they have already been sold on or just talking unnecessarily. Always move the sale along with each contact. Set a goal for meeting.

Ask for the sale. You never know until you ask-so always ask for the sale. "Nothing happens until you close the sale."

Listen to encouraging/self help sales audio while in the car. This goes without saying-Garbage in Garbage out. We have to put the right things in so at the right times the right things will come out.

Attend a seminar at least twice a year on sales (4 times a year if you really want to see growth). The only thing that will make you better is learning from others and taking action. This can save you years of time and tons of money.

Read 1 hour a day on some part of the sales process. This is the same as above. The sales process includes so many areas including questioning, qualifying, overcoming objections and on and on. You will constantly have to learn new things in order to stay above the competition.

Be prepared. There is nothing worse than showing up to see a client and you don't have what is necessary to close the sale. This destroys your credibility. Prepare a system that will take a little tweaking for each client. Write out the sales process from start to finish from the initial contact to closing the sale.

Arrive on time. Leave a little early. Prepare for the unexpected whether it is a train, traffic detours or whatever may happen that would make you late.

Know your Product/Service features and benefits. You should know your product inside out. There shouldn't be any hesitation on what your competitive advantage, Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and your brand.

Listen for buying signs. Hit the hot buttons. What makes your customer respond? Speak in their language. Listen closely to customers. Rephrase what customer says.

Know your target market. Who are your customers really? What is their buying process? What problem are you solving?

Have responses prepared for objections. Know the top 10 objections for each product or service you offer. Listen for what your customer isn't saying. Sometimes your customer is unaware of what they need or want. Determine what keeps them up at night. Become a problem solver or solutions provider. Give them the answers they desire in the simplest form.

Test what you are doing. Try new things. Take some risks. Keep what works and test and try new things for what doesn't.

Know your company's sales history. What has worked in the past? What hasn't worked? While sales is a numbers game you can improve your numbers. Know your numbers.

Don't give up. Keep trying testing different ways of doing things. Stay positive. Learn from your mistakes.

Find out what your competition is doing. It is important to know your competition. How can you be different and better if you don't? Knowing your competition and studying trends can catapult your business.

SEO: Facilitating the Success of Small Business

First Tip: Know your Target Audience. When it comes to SEO marketing, the first thing that you should do is to recognize and determine who you is your target customer. Who would you want to buy your products? Or better yet, who are those people whom your product will appeal to? Most people would use their business as the basis of all their SEO operations. Yet, it would be a lot better if you would have a more specific approach. Try to choose one of your products as the core keyword of all your operations and you will see how much traffic you can get.

Second Tip: Look For Other Keyword Options. Even if you have that one specific keyword, chances are Google may not look for the keyword the same way you typed it. Because of this, you will need to have a back up keyword. Try to utilize some keyword research tools to be able to determine how other web surfers would look for your product or services.

Third Tip: Redesign your website. When we say great web design, we mean that the readers should be able to navigate from one page to the other without any problems. If you want to increase traffic to various pages of your site, it is best that you interlink your relevant pages to the other pages in your site. By doing so, your site will have better domain authority and higher rankings.

Fourth Tip: Have dynamic keywords. Regardless of how useful a keyword has been, you should never let it prevent you from remembering that you should cycle your keyword focus. Be reminded that search terms as well as social ones change from time to time so one keyword may be effective right now but it wouldn't have the same effect as times go by.

Fifth Tip: Make Your Business Be Visible On Social Media Sites. These days, many websites and business owners have made use of social media in order to generate long term traffic. When it comes to followers, there is no such thing as too many. You should not limit your business account to just one target group. Remember that the more followers you have, there will be greater chances for a sale or purchase.

Sixth Tip: Reach The Place Where The Competition Did Not Dare Go. We all know how important it is to claim a spot on the more popular websites yet there is nothing wrong in invading less popular websites too. In fact, you can use this to your advantage. As we all know, more and more up and coming websites are now entering the social scene so it is better that you try to penetrate it right away.

With these tips, you can surely go up the search engine rankings. These days, Internet has become a commonly used tool when it comes to searching for or marketing a product. This is why you should capitalize on your SEO regardless of how small your business is.

Budget-Friendly Tips to Success for Small Businesses

Plenty of small businesses follow tips that cost less and are technology savvy. These multimedia tools to manage, promote and market their business, reduce expenses and increase their revenues. These tools can be easily accessed, user friendly and cheap or even free.

Google it

Google offers so many free services that can help small businesses. Google has a tool called Google Places that lets business owners register the services and products of their business in their database of your specific business. Once someone searches for these services and products locally, your business shows on the list. This service is a big hit with businesses that are after a local crowd.

Flyers

Many sites online have templates and designs for flyers. Try going to sites like Microsoft and use the many different free templates that people made. Look for a design that fits your business. These templates have been preformatted so that they have a professional feel and look. This means that you don't need to get a professional graphic artist that might cost a lot to make your flyers. Once you have a flyer, you can distribute these or even place them in bulletins.

Free hosting services

Save money and time by using Google Docs. This free service is made for small businesses and has tips on how to succeed. This service lets small business owners upload different kinds of notes and documents where people collaborate and share them. You don't need to get hosting services to share important documents. The service is great since it tracks shearing which means it's easier to manage.

Groups

If you are looking for people who have the same interest as you do, but do not know where you can find them, look for or make a group. Thanks to social networking sites, you can find people easier by making communities and groups in LinkedIn and Facebook. These social networking sites were made to get people connected with people who share the same traits, ideas, personalities, goals, etc... members of these groups are most likely interested in your business.

Virtual phone systems

You can set up virtual phone systems and make your very own advertising channel while saving money. So many virtual phone systems available today are affordable, flexible and user-friendly. With the correct leverage, a virtual phone system can take you very far. You can minimize the need of answering services, setting up multiple extensions and even provide better support for your customers and clients.

Marketing Success for Small Business - From Local to Global to Local

Small business marketing success has gone full circle. Several decades ago people did business only with other businesses in their town or nearby city. Word of mouth marketing was prevalent and most helpful. But small businesses longed for a way to have a larger reach.

By mid-1995 or so, it looked like small businesses had been handed the best present they could ever receive and that was the emergence of the internet. I write from the heart about this as my destination/business was one of the early adopters of the internet and suddenly we were able to successfully compete with other destinations. Compete not just in our state but globally as well. We were able to "market to the masses" and we made the most of the opportunities the internet presented us with. The internet truly has been a gift to small business - it leveled the playing field and for those who embraced it, the rewards were fantastic.

But everything in life is cyclical. After years of marketing to everyone suddenly "local marketing" is back front and center. Through social media marketing small businesses can now narrow their focus; they can target their specific niche. When done properly, social media marketing can provide a fantastic option to spending large amounts of money via traditional marketing methods. And, it can provide a wonderful increase in business too! (Again, I know this as this is exactly what happened with my social media marketing experience).

Have you spent time learning about local online marketing? Are you connecting with your customers the way they want to connect with you? Are you connecting via search engines and directories? Are you ready for the shift back to local marketing with the new "word of mouth" being social media outlets?

Are you ready for more business? Because that's exactly what will happen if you embrace social media and local online marketing.

Take Your Business to the Pinnacle of Success With Small Business Grant Money

You dream of making it big in the world of small business but back off from the idea, thinking about your financial status. But now with small business grant money you can turn this dream of yours into a reality. Small business grant money can be availed readily in recent times. Obama's government awards billions of dollars in the form of grant money. Check out the following steps to receive small business loan money in easy steps:

o Select a business that best suits you. Every superb projects starts off with a dream which later turns out to be something tangible. If you dream of starting your personal business but lack the needed funds then make sure to apply for a business loan.

o After choosing your desired business type, you need to prepare a business plan. Make sure to set an accurate budget as well. After establishing your start up requirements, you need to start shopping for the needed grant.

o There are different kinds of business grants which provide different benefits. However, you need to be a bit careful when it comes to choosing the right kind of grant. Keep in mind that each grant has certain requirements and you need to meet their criteria's for qualifying for the grant.

o Make sure to go through the application guidelines carefully when it comes to applying for the grants to start off with your business.

o After making the decision to apply for these grants, make sure to fill up the application accurately and completely. If you write an improper grant then chances is quite likely that it will get rejected.

o Make sure to write a grant that is an edge above your competitors. This maximizes your chances of getting the grant.