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Microloan – An Explanation

May 5, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

The economy may be tough, yet that doesn’t stop people like you from having dreams. If you’re looking for a hand in starting your small business, a microloan may be the answer you’ve been looking for. This article explores what a microloan is, who qualifies for microloans and how to get one. Let’s get started!

A microloan is a small loan, usually given to those who are at or below the poverty level and are looking to start a business. Quite often, the people who qualify for and receive a microloan are unable to put up collateral or qualify for a traditional small business loan because they lack a steady employment record and don’t have a verifiable credit history.

Microloans started to gain in popularity when organizations popped up to help aspiring entrepreneurs in impoverished countries. The program works quite well, particularly with female entrepreneurs, and has grown exponentially, spurring what is also known as peer-to-peer lending. Peer-to-peer lending is exactly what it sounds like – organizations collect money from donations and interested contributors, sometimes family and friends, and extends small loans to qualified applicants.

Microloans are available through your local small business association. However, before you apply there are a few things to know.

* Small business loans vary in size. The maximum loan amount is $35,000 and according to the Small Business Association, the average loan is about $13,000.

* You can use a microloan for working capital. You can also use it to buy supplies, furniture and equipment. You cannot use it to pay for debt already incurred, or to buy real estate.

* Interest rates for microloans run between 8 and 13 percent depending on the intermediary and lender costs and other loan terms.

* Loan terms depend largely on the size of the loan and the planned use for it. The maximum term for the loan, the amount of time you have to pay it back, is six years.

* Generally, some sort of collateral is required for microloans. However, this isn’t always necessary and depends largely on the loan application.

If you’re interested in applying for a microloan, the steps are fairly straightforward. Visit the small business administration online and look up microloans. From that page you’ll want to find your local small business microloan intermediary. They’re listed by state. Contact your intermediary and begin the application process. Each process will vary slightly but will operate like a standard loan application process.

When it comes to starting a business, if you believe in yourself and in your business idea, nothing should stop you, not even a lack of funds. Find out if you qualify for a microloan today and get started living your dreams.

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Why Being An Entrepreneur Is Much Better Than a J-O-B

April 21, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

There are several reasons why being an entrepreneur is much better than a J-O-B. With the responsibility of running your own business, you also have the freedom to pursue the most financially and personally rewarding avenues.

Instead of sitting behind a desk and being told what you have to achieve for the day or for the year, you’re free to set your own goals and objectives. No more time spent working on projects that don’t fulfill you.

When you’re an entrepreneur, you get to set the goals, you get to choose the direction your business takes and which projects will be the best fit for your endeavor. Because you will be the one to know your company best, achieving your goals will not only feel financially rewarding but will also be personally rewarding as well.

In addition to getting to decide the direction your business heads, you’ll also be cutting down on the time it takes to get back and forth to work. For many people, their daily commute represents time that could better be spent on other activities like connecting with new clients and working to build their company’s brand – both of which are essential to having a successful business. For entrepreneurs working at home, the longest commute is from the shower to the computer (or laptop) freeing up valuable work time.

One of the most exciting work at home perks is the flexibility it offers you. When you run your own business, you don’t have to worry about being put on the schedule for holidays or on family birthdays. If you don’t feel well yourself, you don’t have to go in to work or beg your boss to stay home or get docked in pay.

When you work at home, you don’t have to clear it with your supervisors if you need to leave work early to pick up your sick child. You don’t have to work hours that someone else specifies.

Your schedule is completely your own. If you’d rather work in the wee hours of the night so you can spend more time with your loved ones while they’re awake, then you’re free to do so. When you work at home, you can be as free as you wish without worrying you’ll lose your job.

Another perk is the stability that comes from working at home. In this economy, even the most dedicated employees sometimes find themselves being let go. But when you work from home, you never have to worry about being fired or downsized because you’re the boss.

Running your own business allows you the freedom to change directions, work your own hours, avoid the frustrating commute and the knowledge that your never have to worry about being laid off again. Plus, it’s so much more exciting building something yourself and seeing it take off than working for someone else to build their business.

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How to Get Over Time Management Procrastination

April 7, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

One of the biggest challenges to being self-employed and owning your own business is getting over time management procrastination. It’s just so easy when you’re the boss to let things slide until it’s an emergency and you must absolutely get the task done. Here are a few tips to get out of this habit and start being productive today, not tomorrow.
 
Challenge yourself to something achievable but challenging. Sometimes we procrastinate because the task seems too large to manage. For example, you have an information product to create and just don’t know where to start. Rather than putting “create information product” on your task list, break the project up into several smaller steps. The first one could be, “Outline information product” or “Choose title for information product.” These smaller, more attainable goals are easier to accomplish and don’t feel as if they’re looming over your head.

Reward yourself (with a day off). Work hard, play hard is the cliché, right? Well take advantage of it. Make a to-do list at the beginning of the week and promise yourself a day off, where you do something fun, when the list is complete.

It’s easier to commit to this reward if you involve other people. For example, if you make an appointment for a massage on Friday, well you had better have your task list done by Thursday night or you’re going to have to cancel on your masseuse and she’ll never book you an appointment again for cancelling at the last minute. You’re making yourself accountable.

Identify distractions. Find out what you procrastinate with. Do you watch television? Run errands? Surf the net? Determine what distracts you. Spend a day or two working, or procrastinating, like you usually do and simply take note of what you do other than work.

Eliminate distractions. Once you know what you’re using to procrastinate then it’s time to get tough. Eliminate the distractions. For example, if you find that you often let household chores deter you from being productive, schedule a time for household chores. Give yourself thirty minutes at lunchtime to get a chore list completed and then go back to work.

Use tools to help you. Time-tracking tools, both online and off, are great for helping you stay on task. You can for example use something as simple as an egg timer. Set it for thirty-five minutes. Work for thirty-five minutes and when the timer dings, give yourself ten minutes or so to stretch, walk around the block, put away the clean dishes or something other than work and then go back and set the timer again.

Get creative with these tools and ideas and use them to help you stay on task and stop procrastinating.

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Tips to Make Your Online Store Successful

February 17, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Selling products online is a satisfying and potentially lucrative way to make a living. And it can certainly be a fun business to own. However, it’s definitely more fun and more lucrative if your online store is successful. Here are seven tips to make your online store successful.

#1 It’s about more than your products. In fact, if your visitors are turned off by your website or cannot quickly and easily find what they’re looking for on your online store, they’re going to click away and will never get close to becoming a customer. So the first and perhaps most important consideration for online success is to make sure your website is user friendly.

This means it’s easy to navigate and visually appealing. Know that visually appealing doesn’t necessarily mean fancy. In fact some of the most successful online stores appear quite simple. Don’t believe it? Visit amazon.com. That is not a fancy storefront and it’s probably the most successful online store ever. Make sure that:

- Your customers can easily search for the items they want
- Items aren’t more than two clicks away
- Placing items in a shopping cart is simple and intuitive
- The page isn’t visually cluttered

#2 Make sure the purchasing process is seamless. Abandoned shopping carts are the bane of an online store owner’s existence. One of the reasons people abandon their shopping cart is because they weren’t able to find information they needed before they clicked “submit”. For example, the shipping fees and taxes aren’t readily available.

Another reason people abandon shopping carts is because they don’t feel their information is safe. Take every precaution to keep your customer’s information safe. Use VeriSign and other encoding tools and confidently publish your customer’s safety on your website.

Make sure the shopping cart is easy to find, easy to use and the checkout process is safe.

#3 Think about the products themselves. Now, every product isn’t necessarily going to be a five-star winner. However, you want to make sure you’re selling products you’re proud to sell and feel comfortable standing behind. Additionally, when it comes to an online store, people want to know what the product is and how it benefits them, and they want to see a picture. High-quality pictures go a long way and so too does an accurate and thorough description.

#4 Shipping and fulfillment - This is a two-sided coin. You want your customers to be completely over-the-moon happy with the shipping and fulfillment process and you want it to be simple and cost-effective for you. If you’re using a drop shipper, this takes much of the burden off of you. However, you still need to make sure your customer is satisfied with the process.

#5 Management - Make sure you have systems, policies and procedures in place that not only make running an online store almost automated, but also that protect you and your customers. The more efficient your business, the easier it is on everyone and the less likely it is that there will be mistakes.

#6 Market your business. Marketing an online store embraces online marketing techniques like PPC and article marketing. However, it can also take advantage of offline marketing tactics like radio, print and even local television. Create goals, a budget and a plan and then execute that plan with an eye toward the data. Find systems and strategies that work and fine-tune them.

#7 Always remember your customers. Your customers are your biggest asset and to that end they should always be at the forefront of your mind. Are they satisfied? Are they thinking of you when they need your product? Are they recommending you? How can you make your business better meet their needs? Follow up, offer them incentives and make your customer feel like they’re the most important person in the world.

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Raising Funding in Difficult Times

February 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Just because the banks aren’t giving out loans as easily as they used to doesn’t mean you have to give up on your dreams to start a business. Raising funding just requires a little bit of creativity and a whole lot of perseverance and determination. Here are a few ideas on how to raise funding in difficult times.

* Sell your stuff. Small business experts from around the world are recommending aspiring business owners stop knocking on the doors of banks and start looking around their homes, garages, closets and attics to find valuables to sell. Ebay, garage sales and consignment stores are all great places to sell your stuff and raise the money you need to see your business dreams become a reality.

* Partner up. Be creative and seek business partners. Forging mutually beneficial business relationships can really help you get where you need to go with little or no funding required. For example, if you’re looking to open a marketing business but need a website up and running before you can begin to market yourself online, offer to do the marketing for a local web designer in exchange for a website. It’s a win/win situation and it doesn’t cost you anything other than your time.

* Negotiate creatively. Negotiation, careful and creative negotiation, can get you what you need to get started with your business or to grow it from its present level. For example, if you need materials to build your product, you can negotiate by offering to pay a little bit more but asking if you can pay 90 days after delivery. That gives you three months of selling your product before you have to pay for the materials. Your vendor wins because they’re making a bigger profit on the sale even though they don’t get paid right away.

* Peer lending. There are lending organizations online that will allow you to apply for small business loans. Your peers, people from around the world who want to help other small business owners out, will put up money to loan to you. You have to apply, you’ll need a good business idea and you’ll need to have decent credit to get the loan. However the rates are usually extremely reasonable and it’s an option worth investigating.

* Re-evaluate. Be honest about what you really need to get started or to keep going. You may not need as much as you think, making raising funds just a little bit easier.

Raising funding to start or grow your business in today’s market simply requires that you be a little creative, a little unconventional and that you hold on to your dream. Perseverance and a can do attitude will go a long way toward making it happen.

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Organization is the key to Working from Home

February 5, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

As long as you are organized a work a home, you can work efficiently with minimal stress. Getting organized is the key to making your life working at home efficient and, relatively, stress free. If you can get and stay organized, your business and your home life will flourish. Without taking some simple organizational steps you’ll be swamped with work and overwhelmed with laundry in no time.

One of the most important parts of getting organized is to establish business hours. Setting up specific working times during each day has many benefits. First, you’ll be more consistent with your work. Once you’ve gotten used to starting and stopping at a specific time each day you’ll work more efficiently. You’ll manage your work time better and reduce distractions like checking your e-mail or watching television. You’ll also be less likely to pick up things to do here and there, like laundry or taking time to errands. If you have set working hours, you’ll schedule those tasks around your work time so you’ll be more focused during your work time. It will help your family and friends understand that you are working while you are at home, and you won’t be available during those hours.

Next, you need to start delegating tasks to other family members. It may seem easier to do everything yourself, but once you have work duties on top of household duties you’ll realize how few hours in the day there actually are. There is nothing wrong with asking your children to fold the laundry, or having your husband cook dinner a few nights a week. By sharing the household duties as a family, you’ll have more time to get your work done and feel more rested. The important thing to remember when you delegate is that things won’t be done the way that you would do them. However, they are getting done.

Planning your work and family activities will make the whole house run smoother. If you don’t have a daily planner, then you need to get one. It doesn’t matter if it is a paper planner or a computer application. When you use a planner to write down everything that needs to be done, and then plan each activity for a specific time then you’ll have the opportunity to manage your time more wisely in and out of your home office.

Organizing your home at large will help make your business more organized. While it may take a while to establish some organizational habits in your house, your efforts will be well worth it. Don’t try to get organized in a weekend or even several days. Work up to a level of organization. Start small with your desk space. Organize the things in your desk and top of your desk. Make sure that everything that you need has a place, and toss or donate things that you don’t need. Then move on to another portion of the house. When something is out of place, it’s easy to put it back in its home once you’ve taken the time to organize your storage spaces around the house. If need be, take a trip to an office supply store or home improvement store and buy items like bins, cabinets and shelves that will help you stay more organized.

Getting organized does take some time and effort. Realize that with time your organizational system will get better. Get your family working together so you can successfully balance working from home with family life.

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Who Is Starting Their Own Online Businesses?

January 24, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Starting an online business is one of the smartest moves you can make to invest in your future. Now more than ever, people are putting their ideas into practice and becoming first time entrepreneurs.

Beginning a new business owner in today’s world is much easier than it was even ten years. Booming online businesses make up a huge percent of products sold. It’s evident that e-commerce is here to stay.

The beauty of running an online business is that the start up costs are very low – you can even start some businesses without having to come up with any money at all. Young or old, people of all ages can create a business they love from whatever they’re passionate about. Whether it’s selling antique pieces of history, gift ideas or selling services, there’s a niche tailor made for your talents.

So who are the people who are breaking free from their ordinary routines, or from their cubicles and taking control of their lives? Many of the people who are first time entrepreneurs are moms. Whether they’re stay at home moms or currently work in an office, mothers make up a large majority of those running Internet businesses.

Putting their years of expertise from both life and business to work for them, many baby boomers are stepping out and taking the plunge into a new endeavor of starting their own online business.

Sometimes in a tough job economy, baby boomers are some of the first people to get laid off. Employers aim to keep the younger, less experienced people on the job because they can pay them less.

No, it’s not fair, but it does happen. If you’re in that category, losing a job can be the springboard that catapults you into an adventure that can bring so much good into your life as you start working for yourself.

In certain jobs, there are government mandates in place for when people must retire from that job, which is unfortunate in many cases because it’s those years of experience on the job that make them better employees than the newly hired.

Thanks to smart financial planning, most retirees aren’t forced to work due to needing the income after retirement, but many choose to in order to keep their minds active and to give themselves something to look forward to.

Changing from a life of active work to being home all day can be quite an adjustment and running an online business can make that adjustment a lot easier on the one retiring and his or her family. Plus, for those wanting to retire but who want to stay busy, there are plenty of opportunities available online to start and run a successful business.

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Ways to Recognize Work from Home Scams

July 25, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Ever heard the phrase, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?” That is how the work from home scams work. As more and more people are attracted to the idea of working from home, more and more scam artists are surfacing to take advantage. In fact, work from home scams are on the National Consumers League’s Top 10 Frauds list.

So how do you protect yourself? Learn to recognize work from home scams. Here’s how:

Ask yourself, “what do they really want?” If a position requires you to purchase products from them in order to perform the job, beware. Craft assembly scams, for example, work by having you pay for the equipment up front, you assemble the crafts and are then told you don’t meet their needs. The truth is you could never meet their needs; they’re making money by selling you the craft supplies. [Read more...]

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The Pros and Cons of Working from Home

July 4, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Many people dream of working from home. Some may imagine working in their PJs or perhaps on a sun-drenched terrace with birds singing around them. But is this the reality of working from home?

Let’s look over the pros and cons of being your own boss and calling home your workplace:

Pros:

Flexibility – The ability to set your own hours and work around your needs is a definite plus for home workers. There’s nothing like being able to take time off when necessary or work to your own rhythm.

Less expenses – Working from home may help you save on fuel, clothing, food and all those other extras that creep in when you work outside the home. At home, you can make your own lunches and your wardrobe can consist of jeans and a t-shirt if you wish. [Read more...]

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How to Get Low-Cost and Free Advertising for Your Small Business

June 22, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

If you want your business to make you money or even just get off the ground, you’re probably going to have to advertise. For many companies, advertising becomes a huge chunk of the overall budget, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of free or inexpensive ways to let people know about your business and get them coming back.

* Email

Email is a great, cost-effective way for get your name out there, contact potential customers, and keep existing customers up to date and coming back. And while developing an email list may take some time and effort, sending out an email once you have a list takes very little time. [Read more...]

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