Successful Blog

Should I Borrow Money from Family or Friends to Start a Business?

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With the national unemployment rate still hovering around 8 percent, many individuals have found themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to wanting to start their own businesses.

Whether they are looking to get out of the daily corporate world or have been laid off and are thinking of trying a new means by which to make money, the idea of starting one’s own business comes with many challenges. The most daunting challenge is oftentimes coming up with the money to set out on for what many is the dream of a lifetime.

As someone that has fallen victim to the layoff bug twice in seven years, the dream of owning my own marketing business has always been biting at me. Do I have the time and patience to go out on my own in the business world? Do I have the necessary financial resources or am I better off looking for a regular job with a steady paycheck? Lastly, can I make a go of it when there are so many other people doing exactly what I want to do and be my own boss?

I’ve had to come to terms with those questions recently in light of a company layoff, so now seemed as good a time as ever to consider these things.

While I have a very supportive set of parents, along with some true friends that are there when I need them, I would never once think of asking for financial assistance to start my own business from any of them. My feeling has always been that I would and could do this on my own should I choose to go that route.

Given that I am likely touching on some thoughts that others have had, I would recommend considering the following should you be thinking about reaching out to others for financial assistance in hopes of starting your own small business:

* Get it in writing – If you do come to an agreement with parents, other family members or friends to assist you in getting a small business off the ground, by all means get it in writing. Too many people work out deals where nothing is in writing, then all hell breaks loose when it comes time to start paying the loans back. Whether it is a parent or your best friend, produce a legal document that shows exactly how much will be loaned, when the money is expected to be paid back, and what the terms are regarding any missed payments;

* Are there alternative sources? – While it is easy to turn to family and friends for funds in hopes of opening a small business, are there other sources for the funds? Although the economy is still struggling along, a good credit record and a good mission plan can get you in the door for a bank loan, etc. While bank loans can be scary because of penalties, interest etc. that can accrue, at least you avoid the potential for a family blow out should you fall behind on payments;

* Will this put family or friends in a bad financial spot? – One reason I have always been hesitant to ask family and/or friends for loans for such a business venture is because I know they have bills just as I do. Knowing this,I find it hard to simply reach out for a loan, feeling like I am taking away needed funds from them when emergencies can crop  up at anytime;

* I can do this on my own – We all have streaks of stubbornness in us, myself especially at times. The last thing I’d want to do is ask someone close to me for a business loan when I know that many people  out there, including family and friends, are having just as tough a time as myself  meeting daily financial needs. One of the great things about doing it on your  own, even if that means a number of struggles along the way, is recognizing  that all your sweat and tears were worth it over time. I’m still weighing my business options now some three weeks after a company layoff.

While I have drafted a business site and begun marketing myself to potential clients, I am not at the point yet where I am in need of financial assistance to get things off and running.

When that time comes, you can bet that going to family and friends will be a last option for me. Not because they would not help me, but because I’m one stubborn person at times.

Then again, being a little stubborn never hurt the best of business owners.

Photo credit: theatlantic.com

Dave Thomas has more than 20 years’ experience as a writer, covering marketing, SEO, press releases, social media and more. Contact Dave at: http://beemoresocial.wordpress.com/





How to Gain the Best Rewards from Reward Credit Cards


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 by

Ann Wilson


    cooltext443809602_strategy 


 Which Reward Card? 


Gaining financial stability using credit card is no joke—especially if you’re using the best reward credit card for you. Unfortunately a lot of people complain that this caused their financial loss and inability to save money for their future. What they don’t realize is they got themselves into such due to their own misuse of credit cards.


Reward credit cards are not enemies but friends if used wisely. You have to, however, find which reward card fits you best. This means you need to analyze your expenditures from the most important to the least important (whether it’s for personal use or professional use). You want to get the best reward credit card that really meets most of your purchasing needs such as travel tickets, hotel reservations, or groceries for your business.


If your work requires you to travel a lot, the best reward credit card to choose is one that features travel mileage advantage such as discounts on plane fare or hotel accommodation. There are even instances where in if you travel a lot you get reward points which you may exchange for a certain privilege such as free grocery items or free trip for the whole family.


Another example is if you love to shop around for home appliances or items for your family’s needs. The best reward credit card in this situation is one that features cash rebates. You can check on which credit card offers rebates on items which you most likely buy as a need.


 How to Gain the Best Rewards from Reward Credit Cards 


While these reward credit cards are indeed helpful in your buying needs, you need to discipline your spending ways. Here are a few tips on how to use your credit card wisely and control your purchasing power with it.


1.    Set your goals. You need to have a long term goal such as your child’s college educational fund or a new house or car. After setting a long term goal, better cut it down into smaller ones by listing down how you can have it. This will help you control your spending on least important items which in turn will lead you to use your credit card on more important items.


2.    Talk to your family about your plans. This way they too can help you save especially if you’re helping out with expenses. With spouses doing this will give both an understanding on what expenditures can be paid with a credit card and those that can be met by paying cash.



3.    Strategize your splurging. Of course there are times you need to reward yourself. However this doesn’t mean you can splurge away. You still need to consider if you can meet it. Have a separate budget for this splurging activity (sort of a limit). After you’ve spent it then spend no more.  You can even go to shops which can help you earn reward points or use your existing credit reward points to help you save more.


4.    Check your expenditure list at the end of every month. Meet with your family or your spouse about it and see if you need to cut something out of the list.


You can really save more with the best reward credit card. All you need to do is prioritize on the important things and see which purchases can help you gain more financial benefits in the future.


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   Author’s Bio:

Ann Wilson writes about reward credit cards and other credit card information at RewardCreditCardSite.com. she is also the author of ”Which of the Best Credit Card Offers Will Fit Your Lifestyle?” 




Thank you, Ann! Thanks for the straight story. 


–ME “Liz” Strauss


 



5 Must-Attend Events to Understand Online Business Growth


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 by

Ann Smarty


Understanding Online Business  


If guiding your business startup to the point that you’re breaking even is your first major hurdle, the second is focusing on sustaining that growth in order to turn your business into the profitable machine that you’ve always known it would be.


Just like the first leg of your entrepreneurial journey, the general idea of growing an online business covers many complicated fields and endeavors, often leaving you in the dark as to the best possible step to take in a given situation.


If getting bigger is what you’re about then you’ll need all the help you can get; check out these five must-attend events to understand online business growth:


1. SOBCon NW 2012


 




Business owners of all kinds are invited to attend this year’s SOBCon event, a conference that offers education and inspiration to startups, entrepreneurs and small business owners. Starting off with its theme of Starting Up Strategically, SOBCon NW 2012 will offer six unique “Mastermind Models” that focus on the key elements of a successful startup alongside interviews and talks with those in the know and panel discussions to allow you to benefit from others in your niche.


For those focused on entrepreneurial non-profit efforts, Give Back Sunday is set aside to provide you with the kind of information and insight that you need in order to achieve the best possible results with your charitable efforts.


When & Where: SOBCon NW 2012 is set to be held at the Urban Studio in Portland, Oregon, from September 28-30, 2012. Live chat with Liz if you have any venue and location questions.


2. The Conference Board – The New/Next CMO: What it Takes to Win in Marketing 


 




Startup success and business growth depend, in the end, on marketing and marketing alone; buyers rule. With this fact in mind, it’s easy to understand exactly why a strong mind for advertising is a necessity, especially in today’s crowded business landscape, and The New/Next CMO conference offers marketing professionals big and small the tools and ideas they need to help their business to excel.


This event will help you to better spot and leverage marketing opportunities in your business, focusing on how to achieve real world results while giving you the take-home ideas and inspiration you need sell your brand to the world.


When & Where: The Conference Board Conference Center in NewYorkCity will play host to The New/Next CMO conference on November 8, 2012. There’s no official venue information at the event site but you can book a hotel using NewYorkHotels.org


 3. Pivot Conference 2012


 



Speaking of marketing, Pivot Conference 2012 is another great event for brand builders and marketers, helping online entrepreneurs to gracefully tackle the many challenges and risks to be found in the rapidly evolving world of social media. Attended by some of the biggest and most successful names in social marketing and engineering, you’ll learn how to take advantage of emerging platforms in effective ways while never losing focus on the good old-fashioned art of connecting on a meaningful level with your customers.


When & Where: NewYork, NewYork is the city that Pivot Conference 2012, to be held on October 15-16, 2012, calls home, offerings attendees an exciting travel opportunity in itself! Here’s the official hotel and travel information.


4. Ignition: Future of Digital


 




In a world quickly moving towards paperless money, digitized business and technology-fuelled everything, digital media professionals need to stay educated in order to stay on top of their game! Ignition: Future of Digital promises to give attendees the information they need to stay ahead of the competition, no the matter the niche in question.


When & Where: New York City continues to hold the spotlight as it hosts the Ignite conference on November 27, 2012 at the Time Warner Center. More location information and registration is available here.


5. Business Growth Conference


 




Visit a city on the cutting edge of technology and digital media and rub shoulders with the best and brightest minds available by visiting the Business Growth Conference, a full day of professional development activities designed to help any business owner to grow surely and steadily.


When & Where: A visit to beautiful San Francisco, California on October 17, 2012 will be in order if you’d like to attend the Business Growth Conference. More info on the event location is available here. Union Square also boasts many other hotels. 


Are you visiting any of the above? Please let us know in the comments!


   Author’s Bio: Ann Smarty is a blogger and guest blogger with 6 years experience. She is a control freak and she loves when she is busy, so her hands are always full. One of her largest projects is My Blog Guest, the free community of guest authors and blog owners who preach the “high-quality” approach to guest blogging. Follow Ann on Twitter at @seosmarty and Google Plus 


 


Thank you, Ann! Great information, Great guest post! Great birthday present to include SOBCon among them! 🙂


–ME “Liz” Strauss


 



3 Steps to Start a Successful-Online Business


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 by

Danielle Rodabaugh 


    cooltext443809602_strategy 


Take Charge  


If you have a tech-savvy entrepreneurial spirit paired with an old-fashioned hard work ethic, starting a web-based business might be a great option for you. By managing web-based businesses, innovative entrepreneurs can work from home, set their own schedules and take charge of how much they earn each week. But what does it take to start, and then manage, a web-based business that’s profitable?


1. Choose a product or service in a profitable niche.


The first step to starting and running a successful web-based business is determining the products or services you should sell. As with traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, you’ll have to do a great deal of market research before you even think about starting an online business. If you want to make a profit for the long-term, you need to choose a market in which people consistently spend money. Then you need to find a niche audience within that market to specifically target online.


For example, my boss was interested in starting an online insurance company. He soon realized how difficult it would be to build one from scratch when so many national brands had already claimed substantial ownership of the market. So, he zeroed in on a very specific segment of the industry: bond insurance (http://www.suretybonds.com). This allowed him to market his company to a specific online audience that insurance providers had largely been ignoring.


You can determine whether a niche is profitable by researching keywords related to that market. A variety of free and paid SEO research tools can help you determine what your potential clients are looking for online. These tools can also give you an idea of what the competition looks like within the industry as a whole or one of its specific niches. Once you’ve gathered a comprehensive understanding of how your market works and what it’s missing, you’ll be able to develop a brand.


2. Launch a professional website.<.h3>


Once you’ve selected a niche that has the potential to turn a profit, you’ll need to launch a website that features your products or services. Although you could hire a professional web developer to create a fully customized website for your company, you might not want to invest a significant amount of your start-up capital on web design right away. If you want to keep start-up costs down, consider using a template for your website.


Free templates usually don’t offer many ways to customize the look, feel and navigation of a website; however, you can usually purchase a $100 template that offers a great deal of customization. These templates are simple for beginners to install, and many provide user dashboards that will simplify the way you manage your site’s layout, colors and other features.


3. Implement a commanding online marketing strategy.


Simply setting up a website doesn’t guarantee that customers will find your online business (http://www.sba.gov/content/setting-online-business); you’ll have to heavily market your company to garner traffic that generates sales. Paid placement advertising can drive traffic to your site immediately; however, doing so requires a substantial investment upfront. If you choose to use paid placement ads, start with a small budget and test your options before spending a ton of money.


Setting up free profiles on social media sites such as Google+, Facebook and Twitter is one cost-effective way for you to build interest in your business and attract potential customers. When you work with these sites, though, keep in mind that most of your interactions should build trusting relationships rather than promote products or services. You should focus on promoting your company though on-site content development and other SEO marketing strategies.


As a professional who works with entrepreneurs every day, I’m aware that many more factors go into managing a successful web-based business. However, I firmly believe that developing strategies to achieve these three goals from the beginning will give any new business owner a solid starting point.


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   Author’s Bio:

Danielle Rodabaugh writes about surety bonds, business licensing and entrepreneurship at SuretyBonds.com. You can find her on Google+ or Twitter @darodabaugh (https://twitter.com/#!/DaRodabaugh).


 


Thank you, Danielle, for getting us started!!


–ME “Liz” Strauss


 



Do You Like the People You Work With?


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For most full-time employees, they spend 40 hours or more a week with their co-workers.


Given there are 168 hours in a week, that means that employees in that scenario are with those they work with approximately one-fourth of the week. When you sit back and think about it for a moment that is a fair amount of time.


In the event you find yourself in that situation, what do you think of your co-workers? Do you enjoy your time with them? Do you tolerate time spent together? Do you wish they would give their two weeks’ notice tomorrow?


Having worked in a handful of jobs over a 23-year career to date, I can honestly say that I could count on two hands the people I really did not enjoy working with.


The reasoning in most of those cases was that I felt they did not like me and had a beef with me for one reason or another. One or two even went as far as to try and make life difficult for me inside the office. As it turns out, one of them got fired for their efforts, something that I did not exactly lose much sleep over.


Meantime, there have been many co-workers that I had absolutely nothing in common with, the same folks that I would never have anything to do with outside of the workplace. That isn’t because I did not like them, simply it has been that we had no similar interests and it would be rather moot to hang out.


So that brings me to the original question…. Do you like the people you work with?


If your answer is no, don’t feel like you are to blame or that your employer doesn’t think highly of you.


Does Your Employer Sidestep Results for Company Culture?


I have always been a big proponent of results in the workplace. You can be the least friendly individual in the office, but if your results speak for themselves and you are surpassing what was expected of you in terms of goals, you are okay in my book. Having said that, that does not mean you should walk around the office with looks that could kill.


I once worked with an individual that would come in and spend half of her day on the phone with her pre-teen daughter. Making matters worse, the woman sat right next to me.


Although I did not stay with the company for years, I was there long enough to acquire a sizable headache a couple times a week from listening to her tell her daughter to clean up her room, walk the dog, and do her homework and more. While being subjected to the trivial banter while trying to focus and get my writing done, I would at times want to grab the phone out of her hand and….


I also have had the non-pleasure of working with someone that treated everyone around her like they were in junior high and she was the teacher.


Treat Your Elders with Respect


One of the quickest ways as a departmental manager to turn people under you off is to be condescending towards them. Whether you have 20 years in the workplace or are the newest intern at work, people need to be treated with respect, not talked down to. At the end of the day, a manager needs to bring people together for the common goal of the company being successful, not dividing the office into individuals that are not excited about team success.


Lastly, I always have a little disdain for the young worker that comes into a company and thinks they know everything. Trust me; I was that same individual some 25 years ago that did not look up to or at times respect authority. Over time, I saw how immature I must have looked to those more experienced employees. Many young people that come to a company bring fresh ideas, enthusiasm, and a feeling like nothing can’t be achieved. While those are all great traits to have, nothing replaces experience.


Given my present age and my financial needs, I see myself working at least another 20 years, maybe longer.


In those years to come, I would like to think that I will enjoy working with my still unknown co-workers.


Heck, it can’t be that hard to like those you work with, yes?


Whether you have been in the workforce for decades or just a handful of years, have you enjoyed the folks you’ve worked with?


Photo credit: glassdoor.com


Dave Thomas, who discusses subjects such as HR outsourcing companies and payroll services, writes extensively for San Diego-based Business.com.


Should a Business Owner Seek a Prenuptial from Soon-to-be Spouse?


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Nothing says love like having your soon-to-be spouse sign off on a prenuptial agreement prior to walking down the aisle, yes?


While it may sound rather crude to ask for such a concession with the one you’re looking to share your life with, it does make business sense for many people that have worked for years to see their business plan template come to fruition.


Still, there is oftentimes apprehension on the part of the man or woman running a business to ask their loved one to essentially sign off on the fact that you are not 100 percent sure this is a union made for life.


The bottom line is a prenuptial deal protects the business owner from gold diggers, those individuals that see a walk down the aisle as the way to make some good cash, albeit while pretending to be in love with the person they said “I Do” to.


Precise numbers for the divorce rate in the U.S. differ, given that not all states gather marital data, and along with the fact the numbers can vary quite dramatically due to the methods and sources in place to gather them.


That being said, if a wedding is in your offing, there are some things to consider as you review the pros and cons of a prenuptial deal with your significant other:


    

  • A prenuptial is not hard to put together – The prenuptial arrangement can be written out by an attorney for a nominal fee. Keep in mind that a number of pre-nuptials will permit the spouse to get a portion of assets earning during the period of marriage, others will make it so that all of the business assets are strictly for the business owner and not regarded as community property;
    • 

  • A prenuptial can involve business partners – In the event you are partners with one or more people, a prenuptial is possible in order to provide your partner/s with control over decision making for the business in the event you become divorced or die;
    • 

  • Perhaps you prefer a post-nuptial deal – In the event you and/or your soon-to-be spouse are hesitating on a prenuptial, a post-nuptial deal is also an option. The post-nuptial is simply an agreement that two people enter into and sign after the marriage. Keep in mind, however, that a post-nuptial stands a better chance of being challenged in the courts than a prenuptial;
    • 

  • Spouses working for the business can lead to payments – If your new spouse begins working for your business and you two part company down the road, you could find them entitled to a substantial portion of the business when you divorce. There are ways to pay off the spouse if it comes to a divorce, including via shares of cash, stocks and retirement funds to name a few. There is also the option of a property settlement note, a long-term payout (including interest) that involves the figure you owe your former spouse for the value of their share of the company;
    • 

  • Sell the business and split the profits – Some couples end up going this route since they could not agree to a prenuptial deal. If your former spouse essentially had no involvement in forming and running your business during your time together, this can be a financially difficult way to say goodbye to them.
    • 



So, still interested in considering asking your future husband or bride to put their John Hancock on such paperwork?


Yes, it can be a very tense discussion to have prior to a wedding, but it could also be one that you will look back on and appreciate in the event Mr. or Mrs. Right turns out to be wrong.


Photo credit: novylaw.com


Dave Thomas, who discusses subjects such as business incorporation services, writes extensively for San Diego-based Business.com.