Finance

How To Make a Buying a Business Checklist

April 28, 2022 Comments Off

Business brokers often encourage business buyers to have a “buying a business checklist”, an important tool if buyers are serious about purchasing a company and not wasting a lot of time looking. Only 20% of all potential business buyers within California actually end up purchasing a small business. In fact, the failure to buy a business often can be chalked up to not following the proven suggestions listed below.
The main items that should go into that checklist are:
1. Getting personally prepared: This includes putting together a buyer profile, including financial statement, description of what you want, and a resume summarizing your work experience. These documents demonstrate you are a “real” buyer, deserving of cooperation from sellers, business brokers, and agents. The information is personal, of course, and should only be shown to sellers who have a business you might want, or brokers whom you believe are honest and professional. Willingness to be upfront about your interests and capabilities will immediately separate you from the majority of people searching for business opportunities but, for one reason or another, will never complete a purchase. Another preparation strategy is to apply for an SBA-backed loan pre-qualification. Buyers who do this find out how much money they will have to work with, and can gain a competitive advantage over buyers who look for a business first, and go searching for money second.
2. Organizing a team: The purchaser who has a lawyer and accountant listed on his or her buying a business checklist will be in a position to move quickly once an interesting business is found. This means of course that the professionals are ready to be of service–the lawyer helping with language in the contracts and protecting you from problems, the accountant to help value a business and conduct due diligence. While other buyers interested in a particular business are trying to find the professional help they’ll need to proceed, the entrepreneur who has taken care of that step will be able to move more quickly than competing purchasers.
3. Cast a wide net. The more businesses you’re aware of, the better the chances of encountering just the right offering in a short period of time. That means working with more than one broker, answering for sale by owner ads, even posting a business wanted to buy request.
4. Respect the sellers’ requests for confidentiality. And be ready to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Showing that you are honest and “above board” will earn the cooperation of sellers. And without that, it’s nearly impossible to buy a business.
5. Try for a win-win in negotiations with someone whose business you’d like to buy. The purchaser who wants to beat a seller in the price and terms aspects of a deal, might find he’s taken “round one” but then when extra help is needed–a bit longer to pay off the note or advice about some confusing aspect of running the company–the seller will be unwilling to accommodate.
6. Pay attention to the details when a transaction is in escrow. After all the work and excitement as you come to the end of the buying a business checklist, it’s a shame to lose a deal over some issue that might have been avoided had you noticed a developing problem and taken action right away. Make certain the escrow holder is competent and is doing everything that was promised.
Buying a small business is not rocket science, but it can be rather complicated and detailed. Make sure to be fully prepared, and that includes making up a buying a business checklist before you answer the first business for sale ad!…

7 Ideas For Your Business Blog

April 13, 2022 Comments Off

Blogging for business is a fabulous way to promote your website, because it keeps the content fresh and that attracts new visitors, keeps people coming back for more AND lets the search engines know your website is active. But inspiration often dries up after the first few posts – so what can you blog about? Here are some ideas to keep you blogging!
Blog about new products: Have you just started offering a new service or product? Blog about it! Write about the benefits to your potential customers, and then tweet about the new post or promote it on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Blog about companies you work with: We all use a variety of services to help us run our business. Why not blog about a good experience you’ve had with another company? Not only will it increase traffic to your own site, but if you let the other business know about your post, they might blog about you in return!
Blog about relevant stories in the news: Keep an eye on relevant industry news stories and blog about them. These are easy posts to make – so long as you link back to the original article, you can copy and paste the most interesting sections and just add a comment to give your own spin to the story.
Blog in pictures or, better still, in video: Videos on YouTube receive over 2 BILLION views A DAY, and more and more businesses are seeing the benefits of promoting through video. Make a video about your business, post it on your blog and add it to YouTube. You can film a process you do online, speak to camera about an area of your business that will help others, or even find a relevant video and comment on that.Failing that, use photos relevant to your business to brighten up a post.
Blog about what you’re up to: If you’ve been working on an interesting project, or with a new client, the story can make an interesting blog article. You’ll probably want to check that your client is happy for you to talk about them, but so long as you give them a link back to their website most people won’t mind!
Blog your knowledge: We all have information about our particular industry that we can share. Give some of it away in a blog post! Try writing a “top tips” list like this one, or sharing a couple of “industry secrets”.
Blog on other people’s blogs: This one is harder to organise but try striking up friendships with other bloggers in complementary industries, offer to write on their blog – and ask them to blog for you too! “Guest blogging” is becoming very common now – it gives your blog a fresh perspective and you’ll get the guest blogger’s fans coming over to your blog to see what’s going on!…

Putting Together a Business Plan Helps Manage Your Time and Business Success

December 9, 2021 Comments Off

Setting goals for your business is important. It gives you a plan and structure to work with to grow a successful business. A person may fail in business because they fail to plan, and they do not have a structure to work with.
When a business owner decides to open a brick and mortar store they know that it can be successful. When that business fails it’s because they have the experience selling their product, but they fail to plan the success of their business.
When planning to open a brick and mortar store, the business owners action steps should be: to first find a good location where his target market lives, to talk to the rental agent who represents the property, write a business plan to secure financing for the store from a bank to cover the overhead, decide what products he wants to sell in the store, and secure contracts to purchase the products from the wholesaler. Once he secures a lease to rent the space, before he can open the doors he has to put out deposits for utilities, remodel the store, and finally hire and train staff, before advertising and opening the doors for customers.
Some business owners fail to plan out their strategy to build a successful business, that is why many fail. The biggest drawback to having a brick and mortar store is having the finances to cover the overhead before getting started. This is why it is important to sit down with a mentor who can help you strategize putting a plan in place to build a successful business.
No matter what business you are in, business owners also need to consider having a strategy for a presence on the Internet. This gives the business owner a storefront or website that is open 24/7. There are many people who buy online today. This gives the business owner an opportunity to establish multiple streams of income for his business. It gives the business owner an opportunity to earn income even when the doors are closed.
When the business owner puts together a strategy for building a successful business, and has a written business plan that lays out each action step they will take when putting the business together, they give themselves an opportunity to increase the success of the business in today’s marketplace.
People will always buy what they need, therefore, a good business strategy is to decide what your niche is, where the holes are, and how you can fill it. A good example is when a chiropractor decides they can run their business home rather than an office. There are people who need chiropractic care but don’t have transportation to get to the office. The chiropractor can work from home and visit those clients in their home to make the adjustments.
This is something that massage therapist have always done in the past to fill a niche. The idea here is to look at what you have a passion for and if there is a niche that you can fill for people who need your services or products, but can’t get out of the home.
This is also why products used to be sold door-to-door. When you were able to go into the home and demonstrate the product, many times it led to a sale for the salesman. What seems to be an old strategy for business, can also work today, as a new strategy. At one time encyclopedias where door-to-door, before companies began selling them through telemarketing. Today, they can also be sold through a website on the Internet.
When the business owner is planning their strategy, they should break it down to its smallest action steps. This gives them the opportunity to set up multiple streams of income just selling one product. The problem is for many business owners they moved towards the new strategy of selling their products and forgot the old strategies that worked before. When the business owner combines all of these strategies together, they are putting together a plan for a successful business. Plan to succeed and succeed to plan!…

Home Based Business Ideas For Women

October 21, 2021 Comments Off

In today’s economic climate of global recession it is tough to find a job and it’s especially tough when you want to go back to work after starting a family. When we see the words ‘Home Based Businesses’ many of us are skeptical, and rightly so- with all of the scams and fly-by-night get rich schemes it can be disheartening to really find something out there that works, that’s similar to jobs you have before starting a family. This can be especially so when you have small children, which is why it’s important to separate true home based business ideas from ones that do not work.
There are several ways to find true home based businesses that work for women, but there are a few that are easy to learn and ones you can implement immediately. Here are 3 simple tips for Home Based Business ideas for women:
1) Mindset. When you find a home based business idea for women, and it looks like a solid business and professional opportunity, go for it. You have to believe you can pursue a professional business from home as well as raise children. So, take action and believe you can. But, once time goes by and the buzz of ‘something new’ wears off, make sure you don’t put it to the side and never do anything with it. Over 90% of people give up on new business ventures, especially online from home. Stick with it, and give it all that you’ve got (within the time and energy you have available for working.) If the home based business idea works, it’ll work for you with the right mindset and effort. If not, don’t be discouraged, there are plenty of more opportunities for women to find business ideas online.
2) Verify and Vet. When you come across a work from home idea, verify the opportunity and vet those involved in it. Google search the company name, and the names of those involved. Google search the company name and the word ‘scam.’ (But don’t forget to verify and vet those who claim ‘scam’ too, they could just be a few sour apples.) Find out if people are actually happy with the company or service. Also, it’s always a good sign if those involved in the opportunity update and communicate often. It doesn’t have to be direct communication; it can be something like a blog, email, tweets, Facebook posts, newsletter, or forum post. Also verify if they have good customer support and your questions and concerns are dealt with in a timely manner. The more legitimate online opportunities will have more positive reviews than bad, and more available contact and support.
3) Resources. Discover all the various resources available to you in your field. Search in your field for business tips and strategies, forums and blogs to connect with others, and listings and directories to advance your goal. You can also find available opportunity for work by searching. The internet is a resource and you have to mine it.
There you have it! Three simple tips that will help you find your opportunity to work from home on the internet. Keep your eyes alert for home based business opportunity, make sure the opportunity checks out and isn’t a scam, get involved and stay focused, and you’ll see success in your endeavors. You can work from home and make a living while raising a family, so get started today.…

The Importance of a Business Plan in Starting a Restaurant

September 14, 2021 Comments Off

The first key to getting a restaurant up and running when you are starting with just a dream is to put together a solid plan. There are certainly some businesses where you can simply “wing it” when you launch the business but a restaurant is definitely not one of them!
There are several reasons you need to put together a written plan along with financial projections in order to get your restaurant funded and started. The first is that you will need to show a lot of people a written plan before you can move forward.
Not only will you need to show it to the bank (particularly an SBA lender) but many times a landlord will also request to see your business plan. You will also definitely need a written plan if you intend to raise money from an investor or if you are going to bring a partner who will contribute cash to the business. In short, your written plan will be requested a dozen or more times at the minimum between when you start and when you launch so having the best plan possible is critically important.
A plan is important to have beyond just the money raising aspect however. Your plan should be able to demonstrate that opening the business is going to make financial sense- that it will produce enough in profit to warrant the investment of time and money you will put into the venture.
A plan is also important for planning purposes, as it turns out. Your plan will tell you how much you can afford to spend on decorations, furniture fixtures, etc. and also how much to set aside to buy inventory, hire workers and cover deposits on leases, utilities and so on. Without a plan new business owners often end up coming up short and put the entire project in jeopardy.
The final consideration in putting a plan together is to make sure the concept and idea actually makes sense. You want to be sure there are enough people in the area who will be interested in the business and able and willing to come in and pay what you are going to ask for the types of things you are going to offer. Make sure the area can support what you want to do and having a well researched plan is your proof to yourself and your financial backers that the business can actually work.
It is much easier to get someone to invest in cold hard data that it is in wishy-washy ideas and vague statements about what “might” work.
While it is true that some businesses will fail even if they have a plan it is also true and much more likely that a business will never even get started if it has no plan at all. Therefore, if you are serious about starting your business the first step is to build a plan that will allow that dream to come true.…

Discover How You Can Excel in Writing Within a Few Minutes

August 22, 2021 Comments Off

The truth is that there are a lot of folks that communicate poorly through their writing. Even if you might have the best internet business concept or product, for those people who are unable to convey in writing the advantages of utilizing their products or services, they simply won’t earn any income.
Exactly what causes people to be poor communicators?
In my opinion, it all relates to one very simple thing. When writing out directions on how to do something most individuals seem to fail to remember that because they are writing about a topic it means that they know more about the subject than the reader does. Said differently this means when you are writing about something you already know all the necessary steps on how to do get something done or the benefits of using a certain product, whereas the receiver of your message doesn’t and if you don’t communicate clearly they never will. Because of this you will generally discover gaps of missing information that the end reader needs to comprehend what you are trying to tell them.
For example which sentence below is much more descriptive?
Bake the cookies in the oven? OR Preheat the oven to 400 degrees for 10 minutes, spray a cookie sheet with canola oil, divide the cookie batter into 12 small balls, place them on a greased cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 25 minutes?
Of course you wouldn’t tell someone to bake cookies without giving them all the necessary steps to successfully bake them. So why wouldn’t you incorporate that level of specificity into all of your communications? Just like with the cookies, the recipients of your communication are relying on you to obtain the necessary information to complete a task or be compelled to try a product.
The next time that you are trying to write, pretend that you don’t know about the subject or the benefits of what you are writing about. Think about everything that you would need to know, or from a business standpoint what would information would compel you to try a product or service for the very first time? Think about your writing in terms of a recipe. This can be helpful because a recipe breaks everything down specifically by what is required to create it as well as the necessary order that it needs to be done to make it turn out great. Whether you are trying to write a compelling sales pitch or communicate with a co-worker on what needs to be done for a project, using this method will help you to write much more quickly and clearly.…

Making Money From Leaflet Distribution

July 6, 2021 Comments Off

Can you really make money from leaflet distribution? and if so, how much can you expect to earn? and why should you even consider leaflet distribution in the first place? After all there are so many other business opportunities out there.
Let me try and answer those questions.
Firstly I feel that many people possess the idea, mistakenly, that leaflet distribution couldn’t possibly make any money, it just looks to simple and uncomplicated. They also consider its probably hard work, (everyone is looking for easy money) so they just disregard it as a business idea.
Due to this viewpoint, leaflet distribution is not only overlooked as a business opportunity, it’s also immensely underrated. The leaflet distribution industry is a thriving, and very profitable one. The fact that so many people fail to see leaflet distribution as a good money making idea, makes it an outstanding one.
Let’s remove this hard work viewpoint regarding leaflet distribution. The truth is that all new businesses are hard work, in some shape or form. They nearly always demand complete hands on in the initial stages, most also require financial outlay, sometimes a significant one; this usually means taking out a loan, or using savings.
When you take out a loan, or use savings to launch a new business, it causes worry and stress, not to mention the fact that most new businesses never make a profit in the early stages, sometimes for several years.
Even worse, many of these new businesses never make a profit, ever! and end up closing down. Many times this leaves there owners emotionally scarred; and, financially worse off with less than happy memories of business life, which is unfortunate.
This makes the simple, and uncomplicated leaflet distribution business, now appear like a good money making opportunity, after all with little or no capital investment required, surely leaflet distribution must now be one of the best new business ideas around.
Yes the leaflets do have to be delivered, but that’s the small price you’re paying for not having to make a large financial investment, and, being comfortable in the knowledge that you’ll be making a profit from day one. This all adds up to no worry, and no emotional stress, which makes a happy business owner.
There’s another plus point to setting up in the leaflet distribution business, well two really, firstly it’s a rock solid business idea, it will still be going strong when many other business concepts are either no longer the latest thing, or have been transcended by changes in technology… and secondly because it’s a very large established industry, it has real potential for expansion.
The pay back with leaflet distribution comes when you start to employ leaflet delivery people; and if you’re ambitious this can happen very quickly. You are then able to relinquish the day to day delivery duties to your employees, leaving you free to concentrate on marketing the business. Life then becomes a whole lot easier, and from then on, you truly start reaping the rewards of your initial work.
Now turning to the question of how much can you expect to earn from leaflet distribution; well, this is all relative to the pricing of leaflet delivery in your locality. I can however estimate the following…
If you start out on a part time basis, you can earn about £150 per week, delivering one leaflet. Still working part time and now delivering two leaflets together, expect £250 to £300 per week.
Moving to full time you can now earn £300 per week, delivering one leaflet, rising to £500, to £600 per week, delivering two leaflets, together, delivering three leaflets together you could be earning £700 to £800 per week.
Once you bring leaflet delivery people on board, each staff member then adds to your profitability, depending on how many leaflets are being delivered at any one time.
An estimate for each leaflet delivery person employed, delivering four separate leaflets at the same time, would be, £60.00 + profit (can be considerably more) per thousand combined leaflets delivered, after wages have been paid.
One person delivering four separate leaflets together can expect to deliver approximately 1,000 leaflets per day on average. I’ll leave you to do your own profitability calculations.
These are only estimated earnings for educational purposes, and there’s no guarantee that you can, or will, earn these amounts of money. However I think you’ll agree that leaflet distribution does show considerable money making potential, especially when you consider that employing twenty and upwards leaflet delivery people can happen quite quickly.…

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