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Friday, 29 August 2008 |
By David Castro
 If you are a merchant who has been searching for ways to finance your business, you have most likely come across the multitude of business loans, and other financing options that are available for business owners.
Startup loans are intended to fund the development of a business from the ground up and business acquisition loans provide funds for the purchase of an already existing business, especially helpful for those who find that the amount of money they can acquire through a startup loan does not cover the actual startup costs.
Other financing options include business lines of credit, which are like credit cards for businesses, offering a specific credit limit up to which a business may access, equipment financing, which is a loan that is given to finance the purchase of equipment, using the equipment as collateral for the loan, and professional loans, which are designed for business professionals such as doctors, dentists, and lawyers.
But a merchant's needs are different. Merchants need to satisfy customers in order to promote sales, and none of these |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 August 2008 )
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Saturday, 16 August 2008 |
By Edward Savio
 Dollar's down. Gas is up. Market's all over the place. House prices have fallen. People are keeping their wallets in their pockets.
Companies large and small are feeling the effects. Skittish investors notwithstanding, big companies can usually ride out a downturn in the economy.
It's a lot harder for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Most of us don't have rainy day funds. We can't sell off tiny pieces in return for some working capital.
We are what drives most of the growth in the U.S. But we are also the hardest hit when things go south.
For us, "riding it out" could mean running our business into the ground.
However, a sluggish economy can be an opportunity. It's not easy. It's not pretty. But if you use these tough times to find your voice, hone your pitch, and identify your customer, when things turn around, you're not only better prepared, but your business is out in front of the competition.
It's tempting to pull back during times like these, but if you press on while others retreat, you |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 16 August 2008 )
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Saturday, 16 August 2008 |
By David Ogden
 If you have a small business, and are looking for ways to get information about it on the Internet, You should consider social bookmarking. Of course, along with that we have to discuss blogging first of all.
If you do not have a blog set up for your small business, then you are missing out on an excellent opportunity to attract readers and potential customers. The best way to set up a small business blog is to use the WordPress platform and host it yourself.
If you are not comfortable setting this up, you can outsource the initial installation to people such as the Blog Builder or just go to eLance and ask around. You will find that you can get a new blog set up for less than $100 and now you're ready to go to work.
Each blog post group represents a potential opportunity for you to promote your business on the Internet and invest nothing more than your time. One of the plug-ins that comes with the WordPress blog is a social bookmarking plug in.
This makes it |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 16 August 2008 )
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Friday, 15 August 2008 |
By Jennifer Stromsteen
 If you've grown weary of the daily grind at work, perhaps you should try starting your own home business. Tons of entrepreneurs are opening up businesses from their homes. Actually, beginning a home-operated business is among the methods for a prospective entrepreneur to be able to join the business environment.
Starting a home business has a lot of advantages. A very apparent benefit is that it needs a minimum of initial funds particularly for fixed expenditures like rent and office equipment. Since there is no travel involved for a home business owner, there are no gasoline expenses, which is a huge savings! Nevertheless, the home-based entrepreneur will encounter a few obstacles along the way. It takes work to discipline yourself to maintain certain work hours and not to fall into the habit of sleeping late or procrastinating. With home businesses, it is also necessary to balance work time and family time since all your family members are within an arm's reach.
As with other online businesses, you can stay open 24 hours a day. Your online site ought to fill a niche. This |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 15 August 2008 )
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Monday, 11 August 2008 |
By David Ogden
 If you are stumped for ideas on ways to start a small business, maybe you should consider starting a blog. Here are a few reasons why blogging makes a great small business on the Internet today.
Personal blogging is not a new idea anymore. What once started out as a way for people to express their opinions has now turned into an excellent small business idea. People of all ages from teenagers to senior citizens are blogging for profit.
One of the great benefits of blogging is that you can do it for free. If you choose to host your own blog you would have monthly fees for that, but other than that blogging doesn't cost any money. Your only investment is to take time to write blog articles on a consistent basis.
In case you are not familiar a blog is a term that refers to a web blog. It's basically an online journal of your thoughts where you sit down and write about things that you have opinions on and are interested in.
The best blogs do several different |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 August 2008 )
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Monday, 11 August 2008 |
By Melissa Mashtonio
 If you need to market your company, you know that marketing is getting more competitive everyday. It seems each new day brings a different batch of marketing techniques, making it hard to keep up. If you want to make your product stand out in the crowd, it is important to find marketing techniques that will do just that. Get your team together now to start coming up with ways to make your marketing unique. Here are some tips to help get your brain jump started.
One of the best ways to sell a product is to get it into the eye of the media. Try looking up world records and find something related to your product. Make an attempt to break this record in some sort of public arena. This will bring out the media to cover this interesting story. Also, try sponsoring a local event or sports team. The coverage given to the even or team will benefit you as your company name and product will be publicized.
Besides supporting local events, use your business' profits to support a local charity |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 August 2008 )
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Sunday, 10 August 2008 |
By Cash Miller
 Once in awhile a small business comes along that helps to change the way we think and feel about a product. While many small businesses have the potential to do this very few do. Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream started as a small business and while growing big managed to change forever how we think about ice cream. In doing so they built a small business to big business success story that anyone could be proud of and should be inspired by.
So how did it all start? If you can believe it Ben & Jerry's was actually started by a couple of ex-hippie friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in Burlington, Vermont. The two friends had recently taken a correspondence course that they paid $5 for on how to make ice cream from Pennsylvania State University. Their first location was opened in a renovated gas station in 1978 with a $12,000 investment.
Once they were ready for business and they opened the doors their particular way of making ice cream took over. Besides using fresh Vermont milk and cream it was | |
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