My Business Logic

Maximizing the value of your business often requires expensive research for about your marketplace and your competition. Much of the information you will need to have is available from one of the many government agencies. Here are some websites:

Market Size

The Census Bureau assigns you a Standard Industrial Code, or the new NorthAmerican Industry Classification System number that describes your service orproduct. By knowing this number, which may be found at www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html, you can tap into:   1. Zip code, metropolitan, statewide and national economic trends for your industry   2.The economic analysis for the country as a whole   3.Detailed content information, such as sectors, programs, or data products, from subject      specialists at local or federal census bureau offices

Patent Information

Patent and competitive product information can be found at www.uspto.gov. Using a very p

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You work hard to maintain and expand your business, and part of that entails keeping up with the latest techniques that will help you stay ahead of the competition. However, when we learn these techniques, we often forget about the fundamental techniques that helped you get your business to where it’s currently at. Here’s a small list of those techniques that can help to remind you of some tried and true techniques that many have used throughout the years to become the successes they are today.

Set and Achieve Your Goals

When you started your business, you likely had some goals in mind. These may have been monetary goals or they may have been related to your business’s expansion, but they were goals just the same. If you hope for your small business to succeed, you must never lose sight of these goals. You must create a map, and then follow that map until you get from point A to point B.

However, sometimes you’re going to find that your goals get sidetracked as you’re first starting out because you’re trying to stay ahead of the competition. This requir

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In this tight economy, keeping costs down is important for your business to survive. From sourcing the products you sell to ensuring that shipping and fulfillment costs are kept to a minimum — all without sacrificing quality – you constantly need to find ways where and how you can reduce your costs and save.

Take the case when I was actively selling vintage postcards (my hobby) on eBay. Given the price of most sold postcards and increasing eBay fees, I knew that I needed to cut on expenses if I wanted to keep a bigger share of the profit. I searched high and low for inexpensive padded mailers to be used for shipping the often-fragile items. The problem was that shipping costs were about a third of the price of a case of padded mailers. Tha

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If you are looking to buy a business the term ‘due diligence’ should be familiar.

Due diligence is the process of thoroughly investigating the business to substantiate the claims made by the vendor (and broker) and ensuring that the business is sound.

Generally, you will need 5-9% of the sale price available for due diligence. For example, if the business has a sale price of $100,000 you will need between $5,000 – $9,000 for due diligence. (Remember to factor this in when figuring out whether you can afford to buy the business).

Who does the due diligence?

Your lawyer will do some due diligence work for you, usually by doing searches to make sure the business has all necessary licences, permits and approvals.

Your accountant will also help in doing due diligence, giving you tips on what information and documents to request from the seller to confirm the financial information already provided.

It is easy for a business to show a profit if they aren’t playing by the rules. For e

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Many of you out there are overwhelmed with running your growing business and the things you never thought you would have to do are piled on top of the things you have to do to as your job. You might be growing at a rapid pace and need help but not in a place where you can hire a full time person. Enter the concept of the Virtual Assistant or VA and they might be the solution you have been looking for all this time.

Because VAs work on an “as needed basis” and only when you have work, hiring a VA can save you money. Most models have you only pay for the work done and it is usually in a block of hours you can utilize each month. The best part in these cash conscious days and don’t have to pay for benefits, equipment, or supplies. What a

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The stimulus plan created for small businesses the America’s Recovery Capital or ARC loan program. With $255 million of funds, it is geared to help businesses who have an existing loan with their loan payments.

1. The business seeking an ARC loan must have outstanding business debt.

The ARC loan program was designed to help “viable” as defined, small businesses who are suffering “immediate financial hardship” also defined. In order to be considered viable, the business must show that at least one of the last two years the company was profitable. It further requires that the outstanding loan(s) from a credit institution may not have any payments more than 60 days past due.

2. The ARC loan is not for start ups or change of ownership scenarios

The requirement of immediate financial hardship would need to be fully documented for these kinds of financial conditions; trouble making personnel payroll, slowdown of sales, bank refuses additional credit on loans, trouble paying debts etc. Evidence

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