The New Home Based Business Owner: Tips to Success

Starting up a new business can be great. There are the obvious benefits of having no boss to answer to, setting your own work hours to agree with your lifestyle, knowing that your level of success relates to the effort put in, and the pride of being able to tell your family, friends and anyone who will listen that you own and operate a successful home business.

Anyone has the potential to be successful, but even with an idea that you know will change the world, proper strategy must be applied or you will fail. And folks, proper strategy comes in the form of marketing/advertisement. Simply put, the complete process of a business transaction and ways of getting your product seen by the masses. Marketing/Advertisement is the primary source to generate success other than a great quality product or service. Good advertisement requires time and effort, knowledge, talent and money and a plan. Contrary to what we’d like to think, you can’t get something without something in return.

Even with good marketing and advertisement, you shouldn’t be discouraged if success is not obtained immediately thereafter. Two sides of self are usually tapped into when it comes to business owners. Realism and Optimism. This means that you should always hope for the best, but don’t get discouraged and quit if a misfortune comes your way. Setbacks happen with every business and is just part of the ups and downs you will experience.

Knowing your target audience is another key thing to add to the to-do-list titled Success. You need to know the exact range (whether it be generation, age or race, etc.) of people that your product/service will be of interest to and capture sales. Then, tracking your sales and results of your marketing plan comes next. This is a wise thing to do because if some part of your strategy is not working, you have the ability to pin point the mistake and revise it. Revision is a very important part of even having a plan in the first place.

With all of this said, attaining knowledge in the field you wish to pursue is first and foremost. There are many great programs and people out there that will help you learn, you just have to find one that is right for you. Learning the small tips and tricks that help a business run smoothly comes with time. If you are serious about starting your own business, always remember to push through the frustrating bits and don’t give up your dreams. Hardship is what makes success all the more amazing.

Credit Raising - a related website

We have found another useful website on credit and finance, and some of this also covers government grants and loans.

Here is
-> http://CreditRaising.com

They also have an articles category with some useful categories on credit, bad credit repair, loans, mortgages, debt, and many other credit topics. Check it

-> http://CreditRaising.com

Small Business Grants in the States

Small business grants are closer than you think. In fact, the small business grant you need to start or expand your business may be available right in your own home state.

While there are still no direct small business grants available from the federal government, many state development agencies offer direct small business grants and other types of financial assistance designed to encourage and assist entrepreneurs in starting or expand a small business.

Free Business Grants

Several free business grants are provided by the government for the business-minded person. If you think you have a profitable business or that your business needs additional funding for expansion then several free business grants are available to cater to your financial needs.

One of these free business grants is the program of The Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This free business grants program by DHS seeks innovative ideas and inventions on security-related products. The award for those who will successfully hurdle the competition is $100,000 for six months to fund research that will prove the scientific, technical and commercial value of their concept. If DHS approves of their ideas, the companies can expect a two-year $750,000 free business grants to be spent on making functioning stereotype of the product.

The DHS free business grants’ program is funded by the Small Business Innovation Research. To qualify for this free business grants, one must be a U.S.-based company with 500 or fewer employees. Proposals submitted for this free business grants program should focus on the following areas: chemical and biological defense, information technology and marine security.

Other free business grants that you can avail of can probably be found right in your state. The federal government though, does not as a rule, provide for free business grants. But a number of state-run development agencies do provide free business grants among other things to those interested in going into business. These state-run economic development agencies that give free business grants can be found in Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Utah. The rest of the states offer financing, incentives, support and technical training services to budding entrepreneurs and practicing businessmen alike.

The U.S. government’s Small Business Administration (SBA) was established in 1953 to address specific business needs. Free business grants are not available in Small business Administration but they do offer valuable assistance from conceptualizing the business to technical support and training to advices in making the business grow. SBA also extends attractive loan packages to people who want to start or expand business. SBA can be found in every state. And it has worked with several non-profit, lending, educational and training organizations nationwide.

Business is a factor that help spurs the U.S. economy. It provides employment to people. It provides the much-needed taxes to the government. And make economic progress possible. Businesses need all the support the government can give. Free business grants could be valuable tools in making the business grow. With free business grants, a door of opportunities has opened for those who want to try their hand in business.

Would you like to learn how you can get your hands on up to $50,000 or more in cash that you won't have to pay back ever?
Get your share of billions of dollars of yearly grant money with: Government Grants Secrets Exposed.

Business Funding Secrets Newsletter - Business Plans

Business Plans
All business loan and venture capital deals begin with the clear communication of the facts, which influence a Funding Source to consider the transaction. This communication comes in the form of a business plan.
Great insight into the Client's company comes from the business plan. Therefore, a plan needs clear and concise data stating the Client's product, or service, who they are, their track record, the funding request, financial statements, and other informative information. Clients must use the plan to effectively communicate their strategies, and their commitment to the success of the project.

An effective plan will always start with a one page Executive Summary. This one page will be written with facts, no fluff, so that the reader has a clear understanding about the company and what they do. Statements made in the Summary are supported by the documentation within the body of the plan. It is the summary that encourages the reader to spend valuable time digesting the rest of the business plan.

It is advisable for the Client to have a good understanding of all the elements necessary to make a successful plan. There are always Clients who spend too much time trying to market projects to funding sources, when the project has no chance of being funded due to the poor quality of the business plan. The business cannot be funded if no one is willing to read their plan and accept the information as being of sound business and financial reasoning.

There are a number of books and sources available to assist the Client develop a better understanding of writing and presenting a business plan. One source that provides free business information is the web site www.StartingAndExpandingABusiness.com. Along with other information on this site there is a list of books, which focus on the development of business plans.

books were the ones recommended by professionals who participated in a national survey concerning books on business plans.
When approaching a Funding Source, Clients should take into consideration: if a person is job hunting, does a quality resume, or a sloppy one have the greatest possibility of landing the job? The answer, of course is A quality. When seeking capital for projects, the same is true concerning business plans.

Currently, there are a tremendous number of deals already in the marketplace, and there are many more people looking to expand their business. Many of these deals submitted for financing are turned down due to the fact the A Plan is not adequate and will never be successfully accepted by a Funder.

Clients need to understand the chances of successfully funding a project, diminishes greatly when they are unable to present a quality business plan. Submitting an inadequate plan, or completing a plan with partial effort, will not get successful results.

When a Client submits an ineffective business plan to a Consultant who will then in turn submit the plan to multiple funding sources, the Consultant has choices: one, trash the deal and move onto the next deal, two, the Consultant can waste time and money calling other Consultants and Funding Sources in a fruitless attempt to find Funding, or three, determine whether the project is at least viable then discuss with the Client the facts of submitting a quality package.
Until next time,
Brad MacLiver

Copyright Business Funding Secrets 2005
For more information on obtaining funds from the capital marketplace, you can: 1. Receive the monthly newsletter, Business Funding Secrets, which provides tips and information concerning business funding. http://www.businessfundingsecrets.com 2. Review information from The Project Corporation, a professional consulting firm with expertise in business funding. http://www.theprojectcorp.com, & http://www.businessloansandventurecapital.com

Free List of Government Grants

The government through its affiliate of federal agencies has a free list of government grants. Free list of government grants could be found in several federal and state organizations.

The annual federal budget process enables Congress to allocate federal grant to various government agencies for major projects. Projects are suggested by anybody, be it the President, states or constituents but the final decision on which project gets what amount of money rests on Congress.

Catalog for Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) contains a free list of government grants approved by Congress. CFDA’s free list of government grants is a helpful resource for those who want a chunk of the huge Congress-approved funds. But the CDFA’s free list of government grants is a bit confusing for those who have no previous idea on the grant application process. It is best to acquaint yourself with the grant processes first before using CFDA. CFDA’s free list of government grants is open to all individuals and organizations that qualify in a specific project. But using CFDA’s free list of government grants does not ensure one success in grant application. Applying for this free list of government grants is not as easy as its sounds.

The complex application process is meant to weed out the important from the trivial, the deserving from the undeserving. Applying to any of the free list of government grants is highly competitive. And most of those active grant-seekers hire full-time employees to overlook the application process and implement the grant project. Each CFDA’s entry of free list of government grants contain information on the use of grant money, application for the grant money, criteria for reviewing and awarding applications and expectations from the successful grantees.

Aside from CFDA, government agencies also contains free list of government grants. Free list of government grants can be found on government websites such as Department of Education Grants and Contracts Information, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Transportation (DOT), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Stopping Violence Against Women and

Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which provides free list of government grants on over 300 programs. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) contains free list of government grants. FEMA aims to assist victims of natural disasters such as fires, earthquakes, storms and many others.

If you are a victim of any natural disaster, FEMA website could provide you with a free list of government grants. The Department of Agriculture administers Food and Nutrition Services contains free list of government grants especially regarding its Food Stamps program. Free list of government grants could also be found in Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). The Social Security Administration also provides free list of government grants on four categories: retirement benefits, survivor’s benefits, disability benefits and supplemental security income. To avail of educational benefits, you can inquire for free list of government grants at Veteran’s Administration.

students who need money for further studies, free list of government grants can be found on Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSA’s website is http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/.

And finally, various government and non-profit sites could give you free list of government grants such as GovBenefits, Grantsnet, Non-profit Gateway and The Foundation Center. GovBenefits contains free list of government grants which can be accessed at http://www.govbenefits.gov/.

Would you like to learn how you can get your hands on up to $50,000 or more in cash that you won't have to pay back ever?
Get your share of billions of dollars of yearly grant money with: Government Grants Secrets Exposed.

7 Tips for Small Business Success

Do you own a small business and want to make it an absolute success?
Then you’ve come to the right place!
You see, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many fellow small business owners and I’ve been able to help them make millions of dollars in increased revenue in my time with them.
Over that time I’ve found that most small business owners are usually missing some of the most fundamental things in their business.

Here are just 7 fundamental things that will make your offline business an absolute success…

Tip #1 - ‘Indirect’ Marketing – Now before you roll your eyes and scream, “Oh gosh not another one!” Hear me out. First of all your marketing is not just your flyers, ads or sales pieces, but rather things like adding copy to the back of your business cards, the presentation of your products, how your employees speak to your customers, how your business smells (yes I said “how your business smells”), what your office looks like, how you dress and how you reward your customers. There are so many things I can tell you but, all of these things I mentioned will only give you more word-of-mouth and free advertising. Nothing beats having a REAL person say that you are the best thing since sliced bread!

Tip #2 – Sales & Marketing – Okay now here’s the scoop here…You see many entrepreneurs often mistake these two as some interchangeable term and they’re absolutely WRONG! Listen let me make it simple for you so don’t do the same thing. Marketing is the process of generating leads or traffic to your store, phone calls to your office or a list of people interested in your product or service. Sales is the actual act of persuading the customer and collecting the money for your product or service. Your sales force is not your marketing team and the two should not be confused. However, their success or lack of success in treating your prospects and customers with care and respect will resonate throughout your business.

Tip #3 - Website – In this day and age, for a person not to have a fully functional website that helps them to build relationships and drive more sales through their business; completely blows my mind! The potential for people to create loads of increased revenue is tremendous, just by forming an online relationship with their current customers through email. You can literally run a special and send out an email to your current customers notifying them of it and be sold out in a day!

Tip #4 - Systems – Oh boy here’s another one. If you’re in business and intend on staying is business and growing it, then systemizing your processes is an absolute MUST! It may mean buying software or creating a manual system depending on the procedure. Having a systemized and predictable process of doing things is like breathing…Without it you CANNOT survive!

Tip #5 - Accounting – Let’s say a little rhyme I made up okay! “Money in, money out; where does the money go? If you do not book it first, how will you ever know?” Accounting, Finance or Bookkeeping what ever you’d like to call it is simply essential for running your small business as efficiently as possible. Besides if you don’t track your income you may never know where it’s being made. I’ve had the opportunity to meet quite a few people that have had books that my baby girl could have done by banging on my keyboard! Are you guilty of this too? Many business owners find great revelations or insights into their business by getting an in depth analysis of their books.

Tip #6 - Research – Now this may be a little more advanced for many people with an offline business but if you were to spend a little more time in researching the buying habits of your current customers, you may quickly find that there are reasons beyond your understanding that people purchase items from you. You might also be surprised what people will tell you. Additionally, your customers do not generally buy your product or service for the same reasons, so finding out what the main reasons are will not only help you serve the masses more efficiently, but it will help you to create more value for your non-consumers. This way you’re covering all of your major angles and providing greater quality for consumers and converting non-consumers into paying customers. Can you say, “More Sales?”

Tip #7 – Emotions – Now you’re probably thinking, “WHAAA?” Well let’s put it this way, when you go to a store, any store and buy something you need or want what are you doing? Are you using logic or intellect? NO Way! You’re fulfilling some emotional state. Human beings NEVER buy something for logical reasons despite what you think or some know-it-all tells you. SO how do you apply this to your business? Well here’s one thing you can do. When a customer walks in and asks a question, have someone honestly and sincerely answer their question and find out exactly what they need or want. Show them you care and they’ll reward you with their money over and over again!

These are just some of the dozens of different things that can and will make your business small or large more profitable. By applying any one or all of the above tips you are almost guaranteed business success.

Stop, read these tips read them again and then see how you can apply them to your business.
Copyright 2006 Rasheed Ali
Rasheed Ali is the world’s #1 business improvement coach and is known as the world’s 1st Solution Coach™. He has helped thousands of people improve their businesses but most of all their bottom line! He is founder of http://www.Solutioncoach.com a unique new resource that will help you transform your business, become more profitable and make your competition irrelevant!