Posts Tagged ‘Small Biz’

Women Home Business:

Is your business in the doldrums? Are sales slow? Reinvigorate your small business
with these tips:

1. Learn from the past experiences, including your mistakes.

2. Look at everything with a fresh new perspective.

3. Set your goals.

4. Create your calendar of activities.

5. Do the work!

6. Pump up your networking.

7. Try to learn something new.

8. Keep your momentum going.

Photo by imagebank.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

CNNMoney:

Recent efforts to help small businesses haven’t mirrored those implemented in the aftermath of 9/11, but new measures from the stimulus have been productive.

Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan includes incentives for banks to make more loans backed by the Small Business Administration. The program temporarily reduces fees associated with those loans and ups the loan guarantees to 90%.

The plan also calls for a new initiative known as “America’s Recovery Capital,” which allows viable small businesses to receive interest-free loans of up to $35,000 to pay down existing debts.

But lending activity remains down, primarily because banks still see small business loans as a huge risk.

(According to one analyst’s report, their 2008 failure rate hit almost 12%, compared to 2.4% in 2004.) Banks also hesitate before making SBA-guaranteed loans because they cost a great deal to administer — regardless of the loan amount — and because the agency can back out of these guarantees even after banks make the loans.

Photo by edopter.com.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

photo credit: How can I recycle this

I recently came across an article posted on Small Biz Survival suggesting that the yellow pages really don’t serve as much of a purpose for small businesses as they used to. The days of people relying on the yellow pages to find a company or service are coming to an end. This I would have to agree with. While every now and then I will open up the phone book to search for something, more times than not I remember from memory, call information, or look on the Internet because it’s faster and easier.

The yellow pages are becoming more of a way for the yellow book to make money off of small businesses advertising with them rather than a way for companies to bring in more customers. It’s a small expense to advertise in the yellow book which is why most companies still do, they figure it’s no big deal to spend that little of money.

There is also the guilt of knowing that your competitors are listed in the yellow book, so you almost feel obligated to do the same in order to meet the competition. But, when you think about it, how often do you go get that yellow book yourself and look something up? Mine are crammed in a cupboard somewhere collecting dust and usually only get moved when the new one comes in and I throw out the old one.

You’ll get next to nothing for your money, if you bite. The directory may or may not even be printed! These are so common, you can read about them at the Federal Trade Commission. You have to catch and eliminate them, and be sure they don’t make it into your regular bill-paying process.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.