Business Success for Wednesday

Business Success For You Wednesday July 13, 2011 Tips for Funding a Home-Based Business Chris Lytle Tip -- Two-way meetings Quote of the Day

Tips for Funding a Home-Based Business  Chris Durst and Michael Haaren The vast majority of businesses start at home. According to the SBA, approximately half of the 30 million businesses in the U.S. are home-based. You can fund a home-based business in a number of ways. We'll discuss just a few, including some new options created by the Internet. CREDIT CARD DEBT This old standby, though still useful, was better back in the day. In the '70s and early '80s, state usury laws forced banks to keep credit card interest rates low. When inflation boosted the cost of money in the '80s, the banks were unhappy and maneuvered around the laws to charge double-digit interest. Later, when the cost of money plummeted, banks kept the interest rates high. The result? As they say in movie reviews, "Not for the squeamish." Entrepreneurs skying on the endorphins of birthing a business often go gaga with cards, charging everything from new furniture to trips to China. But if your business isn't scalable -- if it's small by concept as well as design -- you can quickly take on years of high-priced debt. As a rule, handle credit cards as if they were firearms, not Kleenex. ONLINE RESOURCES -- KICKSTARTER.COM, CONTESTS The Internet has opened up new funding options for home-based entrepreneurs. Kickstarter.com, for example, which bills itself as "the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world," lets you post your idea and seek funding from "everybody." If people like your project, they pledge money, and you're good to go. You should also look online for business plan competitions and similar contests. These are often sponsored by colleges or state and local organizations that want to boost commerce or entrepreneurship. For an example, see www.iowabusinessplancompetition.com. BORROWING FROM AUNT SARAH Aunt Sarah may have a few ducats to lend you, but make sure you can pay them back on time. Include the going interest rate, too, along with a little extra for taking a chance on you. Ask her for the minimum rather than the maximum. If you borrow from family and things go south, those reunions will get awfully discomfiting. BOOTSTRAPPING Bootstrapping means funding the business from your profits as you go. It's financing for penny pinchers and other squinty-eyed pragmatists, who often succeed in business where the dreamers fail. Bootstrapping is good because it avoids or minimizes borrowing in the early stage of a business, when "the baby" is vulnerable. This reduces chances of failure due to excessive debt, and it keeps you focused on acquiring and pleasing customers rather than agonizing over IOUs. But bootstrapping is also bad. Because while you're trying to build your website and buy some pencils from the earnest sale of a single widget, Wedgie the Whiz Kid takes over the widget market with the money he got from Kickstarter, Aunt Sarah, a business plan contest, and those 10 credit cards that he'll pay off as soon as he parks his IPO Ferrari. But as they say at the carnival, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Christine Durst and Michael Haaren are leaders in the work-at-home movement and advocates of de-rat-raced living. Their latest book is "Work at Home Now," a guide to finding home-based jobs. They offer additional guidance on finding home-based work at www.RatRaceRebellion.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2011 BY STAFFCENTRIX, DISTRIBUTED BYCREATORS.COM

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Chris Lytle Tip -- Two-way meetings  Chris Lytle Sales Meeting Tip: The very best meetings with prospects are two-way exchanges of information. Getting people involved in a sales conversation is a lot different than making a sales pitch. "Don't spend hours and hours doing a fancy PowerPoint presentation," suggests a buyer. "Come to me with an idea and let's talk about it." Bringing one nugget of information is usually better than inundating prospects with pages of statistics. You'll accomplish more by understanding a prospect's point of view than making the prospect view your PowerPoint. Click here to visit Lytle's site.

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Quote of the Day  Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President "Towering genius disdains a beaten path...It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts for distinction."

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