For new business owners, having customers find you can be one of the many challenges in getting your business off the ground. While many believe that the internet is the best way to gain market exposure, if your business is focused on one specific geographic area, going online can be unproductive. You will still want a professional website to serve as an online brochure and for some reason many people have the opinion that an online presence increases the credibility of a business.

While direct mail marketing has fallen out of favor for many businesses, it remains one of the best bargains for the money. A professionally deigned mail piece with a well written message can mean more than thousands of internet ads or emails that might be considered spam. If you are not able to design and write good ad copy, hire someone to do it for you and then follow their suggestions.

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I have $40,000.00 and lets say I want to open up a nightclub/lounge in northern San Diego. What would be the steps from A to Z in making this a reality.. Please no smart a$$ answers, thank you..

I have a small parttime house cleaning business where we provide weekly maids to people. It has been recently hit by the recession but I cannot lose this or my life is over. Not to mentioned the years i’ve spent building this. Any tips or ideas on how to drum up more sales without forking out advertising dollars? Thank you

Copyright (c) 2008 Schauffler Associates LLC

The heart of any useful business plan – and any plan that attracts financing and partners, is the financial projections section. Most important to those projections are the assumptions used.

TIP 1: BE CAREFUL ON ASSUMPTIONS

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We are going to sell autos on eBay motors and off our lot, auto detailing and repairs. We have been to a couple of local banks and just don’t quite seem to fit their criteria. We’ve always been self employed in some form so our tax returns are pathetic. We don’t have any money to put into the business which, well, that’s why we need financing. Am I to believe that a business can’t be started unless you have thousands of your own money to put into it? SBA apparantly requires 25% of the loan amount to be available from us as cash. If I had that money, I probably wouldn’t need much of a loan. Anyway, I’m a bit frustrated because we’re not fitting into the commercial lending ‘box’. We are talented intelligent people with excellent credit but short on cash. Any ideas?

I am asking this for my boyfriend. He is starting this with one other man. They want to do flooring, decks, remodels, etc. They want to incorporate the business. What steps can you recommend to do this properly? All advice is appriciated. Thanks!

Copyright (c) 2009 Charles Boustany

As a small business owner trying to run your business on an everyday basis is a challenge on its own. In these trying months you will need all the help you can get and hopefully it will be free. Now excuse me if I am reminding you how to suck eggs but sometimes business owners are so busy they do tend to forget the fundamental marketing tools they have at their disposal more often than not free or nearly free.

Let’s explore some of the tools available to you so that you can choose those that best suit your circumstances.

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Writing a business plan is not a simple task … nor does it need to be a painful one either.

For starters, if this is your first attempt, you should look for Govt. and Non Govt. resources for small businesses and entrepreneurs ….. like your local chamber of commerce.

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Every business needs cash and loans for small businesses can be one of the ways to get that cash. Here are a five tips to make the process a little easier and less painful.

1. Start thinking about a loan for your small business now, don’t wait until the last minute. Plan ahead. Forecast a cash flow statement for the upcoming six months and revise it at the end of every month. If it looks like you’ll need a cash infusion three months down the road, start applying for the loan now and you won’t run into a cash crunch.

2. Get your financial records for your business in order even if you don’t need a small business loan right now. Lenders of loans for small businesses will want to see your basic financial statements: accounts receivable, accounts payable, revenues and profits and loss statements. If you keep these records organized it won’t be a huge undertaking to get them together for the loan officer.

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