Category: Finance & Capital

Businessknowhow: Why don’t more people start their own business?
If you answered, “lack of funds” you’re right on the money.
In various ways, money – getting enough to start the business and worry about not making enough money to replace the income and benefits from a full-time job – is one of the biggest deterrents to would-be business owners.
Nevertheless hundreds of thousands of individuals start businesses each year. How do they do it? Where do they get the money to get started? Here are ten solutions for startup funding for a micro-sized business. Some are nearly risk-free. Others involve significant financial risk and should be used with caution.
1 – Start part-time.
2 – Start the business from home.
3 – Get advance commitments for work.
4 – Get a part-time job.
5 – Live frugally.
6 – Use a credit card.
7 – Apply for a home equity line of credit.
8 – Apply for business loan.
9 – Ask Your Bank About an SBA-guaranteed loan.
10 – Borrow from family and friends.
Where to Get Money to Start a Business [Businessknowhow]

BusinessKnowHow: Everyone has to decide for themselves what level of sacrifice and risk they’re willing to undertake in order to enjoy the satisfactions of working independently. Knowing some strategies for managing the risk will allow you to make a well-informed decision.
Of the seven strategies included below, the first two suggest ways to gradually transition from salaried to solo, instead of diving off the edge. The second two are ways to stretch the dollar; and the final three are ideas for getting started without stopping.
1. Continue to draw a (reduced) salary.
Asking yourself why and how your company will profit from retaining your skills and experience for a transitional period can provide the basis for approaching your employer. Be sure to do your homework first, however, and be able to back up your request with a solid rationale.
2. Develop another income stream.
If you need to leave your present employment, is there a skill in your toolbag that you can resuscitate and put to work without a significant expenditure of time or energy? Is moonlighting or freelance work an option?
3. Reduce expenses.
Doing a careful analysis of your expenses and choosing what you can forego for awhile can often save thousands per year.
4. Borrow.
It isn’t necessary to wait to borrow for start-up costs until you have a well-documented idea to submit for a business loan. Refinancing a home or taking a line of credit are relatively low-cost ways of generating capital. Depending on your credit rating, you can also get time-limited low-interest loans from credit card companies.
Get started on your new business idea while you’re still employed. Several of the all-important first steps (below) can be started while standing in the grocery line or running on the treadmill. They involve asking yourself some questions and doing some informal research to get crystal clear about your idea. This can take weeks off your actual start-up time.
5. Identify your niche.
Think about the services you’re uniquely qualified to provide, as well as the ones you most enjoy providing.
6. Create your marketing plan.
While what you need from a marketing plan will get more sophisticated as your business develops, for now it simply means answering the question, How is my business going to make money? What is the product or service you’re going to sell? How will you describe it so people quickly recognize the value?
7. Manage fear!
For most people, anything involving money involves some level of fear. It’s important to acknowledge to yourself and to others that you are taking a risk, and you’ve decided it’s a risk you want to take. So consider the fear natural, and find ways to manage it.
7 Financial Strategies for Transitioning from Salaried to Solo [BusinessKnowHow]

StartupJournal: For a young business, it can be alluring: Find an “angel” investor to swoop in and help fund your growing company. With millions of small businesses and only a few hundred organized angel groups, where do you begin?
WSJ.com spoke with Knox Massey, a longtime angel investor, about getting started. Mr. Massey, a former senior salesman at AOL, is executive director of Atlanta Technology Angels, a private angel group that invests up to $4 million each year in young technology-focused companies.
Here is Mr. Massey’s advice on what a small-business owner should – and shouldn’t – do when searching for angel funding.
* Research the investors
* Don’t expect to get funding right away
* Network
* Treat your initial interactions as the first step in a long-term relationship
* Don’t forget about your long-term plan
* Look at your investors as potential mentors.
Wooing Angel Investors: Some Do’s and Don’ts [StartupJournal]

Business Opportunities: Greg Ford, managing director, Sage accountants division comments, “The research confirms what we have believed for quite some time, in that accountants can’t be bracketed into one stereotype. We are seeing the rise of a new breed of accountant, one for whom technology and an entrepreneurial spirit is extremely important in the running of the practice they work for or own. We feel that accountants should always be regarded in this manner, recognising that these new breed are looking for ways to help diversify their business.”
Supporting the theory that accountants are aiming to diversify their business, a healthy proportion considered that technology is an important revenue opportunity. Nearly a third (28%) regard technology as a big source of potential income, whilst 52% acknowledge that it has certain benefits. Indeed 40% of accountants admitted that they regularly use online news sources and blogs for work purposes.
Zoe Walsh of TPH Accountants adds, “The accounting profession is becoming increasingly entrepreneurial, and the stereotype of an accountant is changing fast. Accountants are looking for more ways to diversify their offering, and are increasingly giving general business advice to those wanting to set-up in business as well as the traditional accounting services. As a result the skill-set of an accountant is changing, making them an important part of the business lifecycle.”
There is a New Breed of Accountants [Business Opportunities]

Mind Petals: Plan Heaven is a site focused on linking entrepreneurs with investors. Never used their service, but I think that it has some cool features than may be worth exploring.
For those of you aggressively pursuing investors and trying to raise some capital for your startup, spending the monthly $49 for the capability to share video presentation of your idea, a business plan, and the chance to go one on one with a Angel / VC might not be such a bad deal.
What I really like about this service is the “video” option. You and your team can record a video presentation of what you are doing with your startup and upload the video to the site. Plan Heaven will then update potential investors with your video and see who bites at the opportunity to learn more. Personally, if I shot a video for this, I wouldn’t release any proprietary information — just keep in short, simple, and give ‘em just enough for them to want to learn more.
Plan Heaven: Matching Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Resources [Mind Petals]