Small Business Resource
Small Business Resource
Small Business Resource
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- SBDC get their funding…
- SBA loan activity in North Florida is UP
- An interview with Lauren Little: Edible Arrangements
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Posted: 26 Jan 2010 10:32 AM PST The Small Business Administration will provide more assistance and capital to small businesses. The FY 2010 Appropriations Bill shows the SBA will receive $824 million which is $212 million above 2009 and $45 million above the request. Highlights include:  Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource
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SBA loan activity in North Florida is UP Posted: 26 Jan 2010 06:56 AM PST According to our SBA North Florida District office, SBA loan activity is up 28% in the first fiscal quarter! Read about it here.
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An interview with Lauren Little: Edible Arrangements Posted: 26 Jan 2010 06:04 AM PST
Lauren Little is the owner of two Edible Arrangements stores located in Avondale and Bartram Park (Mandarin). Edible Arrangements is a franchise concept which specializes in creating delicious fruit designs filled with fresh strawberries, pineapple, grapes, oranges, cantaloupe, honeydew, bananas and pears. Arrangements are guaranteed fresh and are available in a variety of styles and sizes. Lauren took time out to answer a few questions about her business… Who is your customer? My customer is anyone who has an appreciation for a sweet, unique, healthy gift option. What motivated you to open a franchise as opposed to creating a business from scratch? I chose a franchise because of it’s support system. Our franchise provides guidance, structure, policies and procedures. It saved me from having to start from scratch. Edible Arrangements already has a website, national advertising (which I do pay for), but it also provides management assistance…basically a “go to team.” What would you say is the most challenging part of running your own business? When you are passionate about your business and love to seek opportunities, it’s a challenge for me to turn business off. I am always thinking and planning. My challenge is learning to take time off for myself and that’s because I love what I do. Do you use social networking to market your message? How? Yes, I use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Although Edible Arrangements International forbids me from creating my own fanpage, I do have a profile. I focus more on informing my friends and customers on what I’m doing as business owner, whether is new product announcements to offer specials or just sharing how my stores are giving back to the community….I definitely use social networking. And when you’re extremely busy, having a social network presence will enable you to keep in touch with other business owners, friends, family and customers. And when you have competitors (and we all have them), I find that people will support the people they know. Lauren Little Edible Arrangements Avondale and Mandarin  Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource
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Ten Things to Consider When Reviewing Your Business Plan Posted: 26 Jan 2010 05:40 PM PST  Once your Business Strategic Planning”>Business Strategic Planning have been completed, it’s time to review your work. Remember, writing your business plan is a significant step in making your small business concept a reality. Therefore, you should review your plan carefully and ask others who you feel can provide sound advice to also critique your document. Your business plan should include:
Remember, a business plan is typically designed to attract investors and also to provide a blueprint for your business. It should illustrate the goals, objectives, strategies, and means of operations for your business. You should, therefore, present the information in a professional manner. Neatness and attention to detail indicate that you are serious about this business endeavor.
If the business plan is for your own purposes only, such as to guide you as an entrepreneur, review the plan as though you were reading it six months into the life of your business. Does it present a full quantifiable picture of the business at a given time? If you can see exactly where the business is at a designated time, you will be able to monitor your progress and make changes accordingly.  |
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Small Business Resource
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Keys To Finding A Great Business! Posted: 27 Jan 2010 02:51 PM PST Business Strategic Planning” alt=”Finding a Great Business | Business Strategic Planning”>
 With many home business opportunities available today, how do you find a truly great business? Rather than take a gamble with your future financial security, read on to find out exactly what to look for when choosing a home business.
1. How big is the market? 2. What is the industry trend? 3. The nature of the product or service itself 4. How is the product delivered to the customer? Look for a business where the products can be delivered electronically over the internet, or are delivered directly to the consumers by the parent company – without you having to be involved, other than placing the order. 5. Is there a proven business system? 6. Is there a support system? 7. Is the company credible? Once you start looking, you will see there are many different types of home business opportunities. Armed with these success factors you are well equipped to sort out those work at home business opportunities that have the best potential of providing you with true financial freedom. Check out Future Africa offering Strategy Consulting Services. About the Author: Kim Beardsmore is part of an international network of home business owners operating across 60 countries. We urgently require people to join our expanding international team. If you are interested in earning extra income around your current schedule, we would like to hear from you. We provide full training and ongoing support to ensure your success. Visit now: http://free2liv.com/?refid=sevenkeys-567887383  |
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Outperform the Economy: New Strategies for a New Decade Posted: 27 Jan 2010 02:15 PM PST
The SBDC at UNF invites you to attend “Outperform the Economy: New Strategies for a New Decade” on February 11th from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the UNF University Center.
Can’t make the all-day program on the 11th? The morning session will be presented again at the St. Johns County Growth Management Building on Wednesday,Februray 10 from 1 – 4 p.m. and the afternoon session at the Clay County Chamber on Friday February 12 from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
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Small Business Resource
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Home Business – Start Organized, Stay Organized, Save Time Posted: 28 Jan 2010 03:30 PM PST Business – Strategic Planning Ideas”>
 When you start a new home based business, it is easy to overlook or put off some of the boring mundane chores while you concentrate on building up your business. One such chore is creating a proper home office filing system for your business documents. In all the excitement and hard work of the first weeks and months of running a new home business, it will be hard to find time for everything you need to do. Good time management strategies will pay off but, even if you have worked out a schedule for yourself, this will almost certainlyly need some fine tuning to get your days running smoothly and you will probably find you have too many chores to get through each day. Putting things off is never a good idea and filing is no exception. If you procrastinate, the task will not go away and you will, in fact, find it has grown bigger and more difficult to manage. The amount of documents you generate will depend on the type of business you have started. Even an Internet based home business, which seems pretty much paper-free, will have certain documents that need to be filed for future reference. Obviously, one aspect of keeping paperwork neat and tidy is that you won’t be wasting time unnecessarily if, instead of searching through piles of documents, you can put your hand straight on the piece of paper you need at any moment. The other reason an efficient filing system is necessary is because, as a self employed person, you are responsible for your own taxes. Tax time is as regular as Christmas (albeit not so welcome) but, for most people, it inevitably seems to arrive too soon and create a flurry of last minute calculations and frenzied searches for missing documents. A simple filing system can take the pain and anxiety out of tax time. With documents filed in a logical manner, it is easy to collate all the information needed to fill in your tax returns. Don’t forget that, when you work at home, you are allowed to claim tax exemption on a proportion of some of your normal household bills such as heating, phone, broadband connection etc. So, as well as keeping proof of purchase for business items such as stationery or travel expenses, you need to have evidence of your everyday domestic outgoings to back up your claim for tax exemption for those items. You can have an efficient filing system even if you don’t have space for a filing cabinet. A filing cabinet is useful but not essential; as long as you keep all your folders and ring binders together, you can create a system that will work for you . The basic things you need are some ordinary cardboard folder files, a couple of ring binders, and a highlighter pen. Make sure the folders are clearly labelled as to contents and make sure to separate documents into logical groups. Place all lighting and heating bills in one folder, phone bills in another, vehicle and travel expenses in another, stationary bills in another and so on. You will probably want to have a miscellaneous folder to file the odd bits and pieces that don’t really fit in any obvious category but don’t overuse the miscellaneous folder, if a piece of paper can be allocated to a “proper” category, put it where it belongs. Use the ring binders to hold bank and credit card statements, with the most recent statement on top. The marker pen will save you a great deal of time provided you use it consistently. Keep the highlighter pen wherever you normally read your mail. As soon as you open a bill use the highlighter pen to mark the bill total. Then, when you are doing the figures for your tax return, you won’t need to look down a column of figures in search of the total: the figure you need will leap right out at you. If you use your personal credit card or bank account for your home business purposes, you will need to distinguish the business expenses from personal spending. When you open a bank statement or credit card, highlight all expenses and income relating to your business as you check the statement. If you pay for things for business use online, keep a highlighter pen by your computer. As soon as you download an invoice for goods or services bought online, highlight the total before you file the document. It is not hard to highlight figures on documents as soon as they are received and doing so will save you timeScience Articles, it is just a matter of getting into the habit. Filing bills and statements in separate folders and binders only takes seconds longer than throwing them all into one folder but doing this will save you hours in the long run and those hours can be used productively in building up your home business. See more Business Management Articles. About the Author: Do you realise how little time and effort it takes to have your home business paperwork efficiently organised so that it will work for you instead of against you? Visit us for more work at home tips.  |
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Small Business Resource
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Small Business Finance Survival Guide Posted: 31 Jan 2010 05:15 PM PST Business Consulting Services” alt=”Small Business Guide – Business Consulting Services”>  High on the wish list for most business owners is likely to be finding effective guidance for obtaining small business finance help. This article is designed to provide a practical starting point for a commercial finance survival guide. Due to the rapidly increasing failure of banks to provide a normal level of commercial funding, the suggestions described in this article should be considered by most business borrowers in the initial stages of their commercial financing efforts rather than as a last resort. The recent failure of banks to provide adequate business financing options has created the necessity for small business owners to adopt aggressive tactics. Surviving the current business finance crisis is clearly an important goal for any small business owner. This article will illustrate the importance for small business owners doing whatever it takes to survive in a tough commercial lending climate. For many commercial borrowers, the option of firing their lender has not yet become apparent. But with an aggressive business loan perspective that is increasingly appropriate for small business owners impacted by widespread banking chaos, commercial borrowers should be prepared to look out for their own financial interests because it is unlikely that their banker is up to the task anymore. One of the most predictive signs that a commercial borrower might need to fire their lender is when their commercial banker is unable to finalize the business financing which was initially discussed or offered. For businesses to survive in an erratic lending climate, the use of innovative financing tactics means that some small business loan options which borrowers previously ruled out because they were too complicated or costly might merit a second look. A business cash advance program (also referred to as credit card financing and merchant financing) is a key example of a commercial financing strategy which has probably been a Plan B for many small businesses but not their eventual choice for acquiring more working capital. With a sudden reduction in business lines of credit and an increased requirement for collateral by many commercial lenders, the use of credit card processing to obtain working capital now has more practical appeal for the typical small business owner who needs more cash for their daily operations. Separating the good banks from the bad banks should be a high priority for any commercial borrower. The most practical gauge for defining whether a bank is good or bad from a small business owner perspective should normally be guided by whether the required commercial financing options can be provided or not. Although banks have been broadly stating that they are offering a normal level of business funding, there are multiple reports indicating otherwise. It is reasonable to conclude that if a bank is not providing commercial loans as usual, it certainly might be because they do not have sufficient financial resources for small business lending. On the only scorecard that matters to most business owners, the few good banks will gradually become obvious based on their documented small business lending activities. In the meantime, business owners should expect to need some professional help in finding these few remaining good banks. As in many activities which are guided by technical aspects, a lack of sufficient information can lead to devastating consequences. One practical way for business owners to overcome a substantial information gap is to use a business consultant who is a small business loan expert. When evaluating banks which are not functioning normally and more complicated small business financing programs, the current business lending climate is likely to be discouraging for inexperienced borrowers. A business consultant experienced in the ways of overcoming commercial lending problems can be helpful in finding pragmatic solutions. In all probability locating new and reliable business lending sources will be an essential element in surviving the commercial financing crisis. But it is important to consider new small business finance strategies as well as new lending sources. In addition to the aggressive financing strategies already discussed, there are several other business finance choices which should be evaluated by business borrowers before arranging their commercial loans. One key example is factoring of receivables. Many successful businesses routinely experience difficulty in matching the timing of their income with expenses. Previously this kind of situation was handled adequately by arranging a business line of credit with a bank. Because this particular option (commercial lines of credit) is rapidly disappearing as a realistic alternative, receivables financing has emerged as a primary commercial finance tool for many businesses. Like most of the promising business financing options which can effectively replace current bank financing, small business owners will need to take the initiative to explore and analyze such choices. |
See more Business Management Articles. |
Stephen Bush is a small business financing expert who has worked with business owners for 30 years. AEX Commercial Financing Group provides business cash advances and small business finance programs  |
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