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Bizcoach, Small Business Ideas and Resources for Starting a Small Business
Starting a Business? Assistance for Entrepreneurs. Free Help on Business Start-Up, Sales and Marketing, Financing, Legal, Franchises, Internet Assistance. Business facts, guides, and advice. We are here to supply you with everything the small business owner needs to know such as where to get quality Office Supplies and general information to get in business and stay in business as well business accounting. For many businesses the difference between success and failure is their company's reputation.A bad business reputation can be catastophic for a merging company and in the present influence of social media on the internet, rumours can abound quickly.
When starting a business one of the most important considerations is raising capital. there are many ways of acquiring loans. Some take short term loans, but resorting to payday loans is not recommended. For business needs longer term, larger loans are essential. Be sure that you have the proper funding when beginning a business.Check out our advice on preparing a business plan.
Start-up entrepreneurs face the decision on how to finance their business ideas and inventions.Learn about options available to you.
Many opportunities exist to explore and discuss funding opportunities. It is important that these issues are discussed personally face to face, whether it be in your own home, financial advisors office, or one could always rent conference space. I would suggest, however, that potential entrepreneurs first discuss alternatives with their families and then their attorneys and financial advisors. These trusted resources can then suggest funding options of either debt or equity depending on each particular situation. Getting a merchant account for a business, especially for a small business where there can be a high rate of returns, can also be problematical.Our adivce is to find a merchant broker to do the work for you.One like Emerchantbroker comes to mind.
Articles on business start ups, managing a small business, sales and marketing, borrowing money from the bank, planning your business, business tools and much more...
What it Really Takes to Be an Entrepreneur, Qualities for Success.
Entrepreneur-a word that rings with drive and initiative. Encarta Dictionary defines the noun as "a risk-taking person-somebody who sets up and finances new commercial enterprises to make a profit."
Encarta's definition doesn't spell out which qualities make a successful entrepreneur. To wear the badge of successful entrepreneur, one must grow and continually develop a business-making a profit over the long haul. Starting a business is the easy part. Staying power is another story.
What qualities must a successful entrepreneur embrace to navigate the inevitable rough waters of sales, marketing, employees, cash flow, and the many issues surrounding company ownership?
According to Roger O'Brien, a local entrepreneur, whose company, Forex Daily helps companies hedge and protect their foreign exchnage income, there are essential qualities an entrepreneur must have:
1. Clear vision-Entrepreneurs are able to visualize exactly what it's going to look like when it's done. To keep the end in mind is critical in creating the path to get there.
2. Proactivity-Entrepreneurs tend to make things happen and are impatient with indecision. They make decisions and take action to move forward.
3. Tenacity-Entrepreneurs are not easily discouraged and will persist in spite of obstacles. In fact, entrepreneurs enjoy the risks of failure and accept challenges.
4. Ability to Multi-task-A successful entrepreneur enjoys juggling many balls in the air at once-and is usually proud of that quality. Multi-tasking is required to run the various aspects of any successful business.
Several local entrepreneurs recognize those key qualities in themselves and add to Encarta's definition."Be open to new ideas and opportunities, prepare to move quick when you see a new niche." says entrepeneur, David of Cash4Phones a leading company for cell phone recycling "that's helping the planet become greener".
"First, take care of the customer and do it with style."
-Ken Gan
Recognizing a Need
"I know how I like to be treated ...and that's what I want to give in my businesses," says Kenneth Gan, president and owner of Mac's II, Mechanical and Collision Service. "Extraordinary customer service is something any business can give if they truly want to."
Gan has met a huge need with his recent innovation for the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. His assistive device is called Interpretype(tm) or ITY(tm) for short. Gan researched and invented a solution in 2002 for instantaneous face-to-face communication. The device was originally developed on the premise of improving customer service at Mac's II, as a way to better communicate with deaf and hard-of-hearing customers.
"Basically, I focus on two aspects," says Gan. "First, take care of the customer. Nobody wakes up looking forward to having their car repaired...so, first we help the customer get to work or home to meet their kids off the bus...whatever they need. Second, fix their vehicle problem-and do it with style." (You'll find a fresh flower on the driver's seat following a car detail job) Communicating well with all customers is a key factor in excellent customer service, which was the basis for the ITY development.
Since ITY was first implemented at Mac's II customer service counter three years ago, Gan has seen a significant increase in his deaf customers who enjoy doing business simply because they can easily communicate. Gan filled a gap so important that many deaf people have been surprised that the ITY development came from a hearing person, he says.
Today the ITY devices are used by schools across the country, including RIT which has more that 38 ITY devices on campus. Government offices, including the Social Security Administration and the Dept. of Health and Human Services, military and law enforcement agencies, have purchased hundreds of ITY devices. Jet Blue Airlines, car rental companies, and numerous libraries across the country have also implemented ITY in their organizations to improve customer service. Gan said sales are steadily growing worldwide from the Marianas Islands to Scotland.
"We're making the world a little more deaf-friendly," says Gan. "ITY allows organizations to provide better customer service, increasing human value by effectively communicating with their deaf or hard-of-hearing clientele."
since 1986 .
5. Belief in Customer Service-It's simply caring about people and going the extra mile or so says Troy Bacon ceo of The Chrome pros, a dedicated provider of online and retail wheels and tires."TheChromepros goes the extra mile in servicing our customers by extending manufacturers warranty on all our products and offering free shipping. By doing that little bit extra our customers keep returning," says Troy.
6. A Welcome Attitude Toward Change-Change provides opportunities for new direction or refocusing your business. With any thriving business, change is inevitable.Business done online is one example of a huge change.Most companies now have sophisticated websites that allow them to promote their services or goods.Catering for the social media online is also necessary for many entrepreneurial companies.The small busines owner has many more tools now designed to save on time and labor and convenience.
7. Competitiveness-Most entrepreneurs possess some degree of competitiveness. View competition as a way to improve your business.
Determination Personified
An entrepreneur with the previously defined qualities, plus a few more, is Lori B. Scott, owner of L'avant Garbe, a designer clothing boutique for women located on State Street in Pittsford Village, New York. Scott's business began 17 years ago with sheer determination, a little cash, and a clear vision to make her store a reality.
"I believed 100 percent in myself and have achieved levels I never thought possible."
-Lori Scott, L'Avant Garbe
"L'avant Garbe was literally my dream since childhood," says Scott. "It was a vision I was given...I never question it, nor have I had any regrets. I believed 100 percent in myself and have achieved levels I never thought possible."
Scott quickly adds that many sleepless nights and hard work have come with her business success.Scott describes first securing rental space, then going to New York City with only $9000 in her pocket to purchase the inventory to open her doors. Today Scott goes to NYC monthly and shops in Los Angeles and Paris several times a year, staying a season or two ahead of fashion. In addition to designer labels, she carries specialty skin care products by Trish McEvoy and Darphin from Paris.
"My mission is to make every person who walks through the L'avant Garbe door feel good about themselves, whether with clothes, makeup, or simply our conversation," says Scott. "I get great satisfaction from helping people feel good."
Scott's entrepreneurial qualities include:
8. Goal-orientation-Entrepreneurs set and achieve goals on a regular basis. Scott says that she is extremely goal-oriented and that has helped her achieve levels she never thought possible.
9. Belief in self. Scott never had a mentor, only the belief in what she wanted to do from the beginning. Her motto: just make things happen.
"I truly like and love every phase of horticulture," Ted Collins says. "It's something I've done all of my life."
Defining Passion
When you're looking for horticulturist Ted Collins (also know as Doc Lilac), just follow the sweet fragrance of lilacs to the top of Turk Hill Road across from Casa Larga Vineyards in Victor.
"Aren't these absolutely beautiful?" he smiles as he clips a deep purple bloom for a bouquet. "These flowers are part of Rochester history...I wish they'd bloom all year," he says.
Collin grew up on a 270-acre farm in Charlotte. His father was a farmer and following in his steps, Collins took six years of horticulture in school. He remembers selling leftover strawberries from the family farm when he was a teen-the beginnings of his entrepreneurial streak. Less than a year after selling Ted Collins Tree & Landscape business (which still operates under that name), Collins began Lilac Hill Nursery.
"Women, especially, enjoy lilacs and I love to see their reaction to the wonderful fragrance...that's the fun part," says Collins. He explains that the organizers of Rochester's annual Lilac Festival wanted Collins to sell blooms at the event every year. It was a way of marketing his nursery and sharing the lilacs."I truly like and love every phase of horticulture," says Collins. "It's something I've done all of my life." The essential entrepreneurial quality that Collins exudes is simply doing what you truly love to do. That's his addition to the Encarta definition:
10. Passion. An entrepreneur who has the passion and zeal for what they do, are among the long-term successes.
Website entrepeneur Tony Smith has two passions, helping people and making websites so he put all his energy in helping accident victims liase with accident attorneys in the UK on a no win no fee basis.I get enormous satisfaction when I can help people avoid the pitfalls and red tape involved in processing injury claims.
Summary:
Starting a business is not for everyone.It brings a certain level of stress and strained financial resources. The potential entrepreneur must test his business case assumptions with trusted advisors and if they support his plans, he must absolutely have a high degree of passion and commitment in the ability of the business plan to be successful. Finally it is hard work to make a business plan become a reality, but it is also very rewarding and should be a positive and fun experience.If you are not restricted by location , sometimes there can be great advantage to explore a overseas opportunity and get fresh ideas and new experience, not to mention some very high income.Many entrepeneurs have sourced their idea from a trip overseas.