All Entries in the "Business Startup and Planning" Category
15 Sources for Small Business Funding – Loans, Grants, Angel Investors, Venture Capital
Small business lending in August was up 19% over the same time last year, the highest increase since April 2008, according to Reuters. Many believe this is a positive sign for the economy that will lead to job growth. If your small business is seeking a loan, grant, angel investor, or venture capital, here’s a [...]
How Accepting Credit Cards Can Increase Your Profits
Recently I spoke with a business consultant who mentioned that she did not accept credit cards from clients. When I asked why, she said, “I don’t want to give up a percentage of the transaction.” I can say that without a doubt that my publishing business (Authority Publishing) has landed clients we wouldn’t have otherwise [...]
How to Know When it’s Time to Hire Help for Your Business (Even if You Think You Can’t Afford it)
There comes a time in every small business when it makes sense to hire staff to help with the workload. Hiring allows you to let go of tasks that you don’t enjoy and gives you time to focus on what you do best. It can be essential for growing your business to the next level. [...]
Choosing a Niche for Your Business: Part Two
In Part One of this series, we discussed the importance of establishing a niche. Here we will discuss how to identify your niche and then make the transition to serving that target audience. If you’re a selling to businesses (B2), it will likely be a matter of targeting a specific industry or people within a [...]
Choosing a Niche for Your Business: Part One
I see a lot of business owners throwing spaghetti at the walls to see what sticks. Their marketing tactics lack focus, and so they try a little of everything and get frustrated when they don’t get the results they expect. This is one of the reasons why so many entrepreneurs loathe marketing. Though marketing does [...]
Software Advice’s Guide to Small Retailer Software by Michael Koploy
Many small retailers don’t have a lot of experience with enterprise software, and if they have it’s usually limited to something like Microsoft Outlook or Intuit’s Quickbooks. So when they look to upgrade from the cash register and move up to newer retail software applications, they’re not quite sure where to start. Between point of [...]
Is Active Investing Better Than Passive Investing? by Lee Hull
The concept of actively managed funds and portfolios continues to come under fire from advocates of passive index investing. Most of this criticism is well documented and well deserved. Passive index fund are funds that are very low cost and designed to track a certain market index. Actively managed funds are mutual funds that pay a manager to manage [...]
Free Download: Earnings Calculator – Find Out How Much You Need to Make Each Month to Reach Your Income Goals
Have you given much thought to how much money you want your business to earn this year? Several years ago I developed an Earnings Calculator. This simple tool shows you how much you need to earn hourly, daily, weekly or monthly to meet your income goals. For example, if you have a goal of earning [...]
Why Turning Away Some Business Leads to More Revenues
If I could go back in time to when I was a new entrepreneur, the number one piece of advice I would give myself would be to pick a niche. Trying to be all things to all people doesn’t stick as well as serving a specific audience. This website (BusinessInfoGuide.com) is a prime example. When [...]
What You Can Learn from Studying Other Businesses
When it comes to building your business, there is one powerful strategy that is often overlooked: studying other businesses in your industry. This involves taking time to investigate how others do what you do in order to get inspiration and ideas. Years ago when I owned my first business—a bookstore—I spent hours researching other bookstores [...]
