Myth vs. Fact: Myth #2: My State Isn’t Setting Up a Marketplace So The Affordable Care Act Doesn’t Affect Me

Meredith K. Olafson — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:37:32 +0000

As a business owner, it’s important to understand how the Affordable Care Act may affect your business. However, with so many misconceptions about how the Affordable Care Act works, this can be difficult.

As part of our ongoing blog series, “Myth vs. Fact: The Affordable Care Act and Small Business,” this week we’re debunking another common myth: If my business is located in a state that isn’t establishing a state-based Marketplace, the Affordable Care Act doesn’t have any impact on me.

Fact: Every state will have an Affordable Insurance Exchange, or Marketplace, beginning in January 2014. States have the option of running their own Marketplace, partnering with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to partially run the Marketplace, or opting for a Marketplace run by HHS.

More than half of states have decided to run all or part of their Marketplaces in 2014. Specifically, seventeen states and the District of Columbia have chosen to establish their own Marketplace and, seven additional states have opted to partner with the federal government to establish a Marketplace. States have the opportunity to choose to run more of their Marketplaces in each year following 2014.

Will the insurance options be different in a state-based Marketplace versus a federally-facilitated Marketplace?

We don’t expect there to be a difference since the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), which is part of the new Marketplace, will operate in all states. Small employers in all states will be able to compare a range of insurance options for their employees based on price, benefits, quality, and other criteria that may be important to them. This is true whether a business is exploring options for coverage in a state-based Marketplace or a federally-facilitated Marketplace. Also, every health insurance plan in the new Marketplace will offer coverage of “essential health benefits” like hospitalizations, doctor services, prescription drugs, rehabilitation and mental health services, pregnancy, and newborn care. Some employers may even be eligible for tax credits for their premium contributions.

In 2014, employers will be able to choose a plan, from a variety of Marketplace options, to offer their employees. In states like California in 2014 and in all states starting in 2015, employers will be able to choose a variety of plans to offer to their employees—empowering each employee to choose the plan that best suits his or her needs.

Although we have heard some claims that the opening of the SHOP marketplaces will be delayed, this is not the case—these marketplaces will open for enrollment, as planned, on the first of October.

You can learn more about the Marketplaces by visiting www.HealthCare.gov. Business owners should continue to check back between now and October 1, 2013 (when enrollment opens) to see the status of the SHOP Marketplace and coverage options in their state.

To view all state-based Marketplace websites, visit http://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/about/state-marketplace/index.html.

Small businesses can also sign up for email and text alerts at www.signup.healthcare.gov to stay connected with the latest information about the Marketplace in their area.

SBA Has a New Initiative to Help Veterans Access Capital and Become Entrepreneurs or Expand Existing Businesses

Rhett_Jeppson — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:04:19 +0000

Are you a veteran transitioning from active service and want to become an entrepreneur? Or perhaps you’ve been out of the service for some time and want to start a new small business or expand an existing one?

If that’s you or someone you know, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced the SBA Veteran Pledge Initiative, a new commitment by its top national regional and community lenders to collectively increase their lending activity to veterans by five percent per year for the next five years. This initiative has the potential to boost the already $2.1 billion per year in lending support that various SBA programs provide to new and existing vet small business owners.

I’ve heard stories that many veteran entrepreneurs face challenges in raising capital or have trouble receiving a conventional loan. This is why getting out the word about this new initiative is so important. With the support of SBA’s top 20 national lending partners, and approximately 100 additional regional and community lending partners across the United States, SBA expects to assist an additional 2,000 veterans obtain loans to start or expand small businesses by increasing lending by $475 million over the next five years.

This initiative also complements SBA’s existing partnership with the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO's) VetLoan Advantage strategic initiative that offers small business financing discounts and training to veterans who own businesses or are interested in small business ownership.

The combined goal by the top 20 national lending partners’ will provide nearly $249 million of lending, potentially impacting nearly 800 veteran entrepreneurs. The five percent increase in lending by approximately 10 lenders in each of the 10 Regions will account for the remaining $226 million in loans and more than 1,100 additional veteran entrepreneurs assisted.

I know that if we support our veteran entrepreneurs, and provide them with the tools they need, they will have a higher chance of success. Already, veterans make up a large number of successful small business owners. Nearly one in ten of small businesses are veteran-owned. These 2.45 million veteran-owned businesses employ more than 5 million individuals. In the private sector workforce, veterans are more likely than those with no active-duty military experience to be self-employed.

I just have to echo SBA Administrator Karen Mills, speaking recently at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, who said “Our service men and women have made incalculable contributions and sacrifices for our country, and supporting them as they pursue their dreams to start or grow their own business is one of SBA’s highest priorities. Through this partnership with national lending partners and regional lenders across the U.S. we stand ready to serve veteran entrepreneurs with loan- guarantees, entrepreneurial training, and resources that are critical tools to help them start businesses, drive the local economy and create jobs for themselves and their communities.”

So for all of you aspiring and existing entrepreneurs, if you need capital for your small business, please call one of SBA's 68 local district offices, or one of its 15 Veterans Business Outreach Centers nationwide.

SBA’s resources for veterans, and its partnership with 1,000 Small Business Development Centers and some 12,000 SCORE-Counselors to America's Small Businesses volunteers, help more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans and reservists each year.

To learn more about additional opportunities for potential and existing veteran small businesses, visit the website at www.sba.gov/veterans.

5 Fundamental Principles of Good Business Planning

Tim Berry — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:19 +0000

I’ve just finished a two-month period in which I’ve read more than 50 business plans as part of my role as judge of several major national business plan competitions and as managing investor of my local angel investment group. And I like reading business plans, so it wasn’t a sacrifice. But it did remind me that every so often, it’s good to go back to the five important fundamental principles of good business planning.

1. Form follows function

You’d think it would be obvious, but the business plan is supposed to be whatever it needs to be to solve the business purpose. For example, only very few business plans ever have to be documents – well formatted and carefully presented – to back up an investment pitch or loan application. While those uses exist, the vast majority of business plans need to be not pretty documents, but rather specific collections of lists, such as objectives, focus, tactics, specific activities, specific responsibilities, deadlines, performance expectations and so forth. They can exist in different formats and live on a computer, or a network, where multiple people can access, use and contribute to them.

The plan itself is what’s supposed to happen, and why, and how much of this and that and when things are supposed to happen. The document, the pitch, the elevator speech, and the summary memo aren’t the plan; they are outputs, or summaries, of the plan.

So why do we write it down? So we can review it every month, see what went right and what went wrong, and make course corrections. You can’t review the results of your plan if you didn’t write it somewhere. But don’t waste time making it pretty. Business plans are perishable, like food. Their shelf life is just a few weeks.

2. The beauty is in the results, not the plan

What makes a good plan? Not the writing, editing or formatting. Not even the ideas, the details, the strategy, the analysis or research. What distinguishes a good plan from a bad plan are the results. I’m quoting some of my books here, but the quotes apply:

A plan is worth the decisions it causes.
A good plan is nine parts execution for every one part strategy.

3. Accountability = metrics + management

In a business landscape changing rapidly because of new technology, the business planning is more needed than ever before because the traditional means of management and accountability are crumbling. It wasn’t that long ago that we could measure productivity by how warm the chair was, meaning how many hours so-and-so spent in the office. Now, with the world splintering and physical presence not so important, we measure with metrics, numbers – actual performance. And for that, we need planning to establish the expected measurement numbers and then to review the results and see what comes next. Planning is the key to accountability.

4. Planning thrives on change

Why should I plan, people ask? “Things are just going to change,” they say, “there’s no point in planning because things move too rapidly.”

The people who say that are missing the point. Planning is a process that manages change. The plan establishes expectations and the plan review analyzes results and creates revised expectations, in a step-by-step process that is something like steering, lots of small course corrections.

5. Planning is not accounting

The basic numbers included in a business plan – projections of sales, costs, expenses, profits, salaries, assets, liabilities, capital and cash flow – look like the reports we see in bookkeeping and accounting, but they are very different.

Accounting starts today and goes backward in time in ever increasing detail.

Planning, on the other hand, starts today and goes forward in time in ever increasing aggregation. We can’t project the future in detail; it’s a waste of time because the level of uncertainty is too deep. So we project a year in months and then the next two years on an annual basis, and that’s enough.

The good news is that this makes planning easier than a lot of people think. Just make sure, if you work with an accountant on planning, that he or she understands that 1) this is educated guessing; and 2) nobody is going to blame the accountant if it’s wrong.

Conclusion: All five of these basic principles are essential. And each of them makes planning easier, more practical, more important, and better managed.

Starting a High-Tech Business? You May be Eligible for Government Funding

Caron_Beesley — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:40:39 +0000

Looking to start or grow your high-tech entrepreneurial venture? Need financing to help fund research and development (R&D) efforts and realize your business potential? The U.S. federal government can help!

In fact, in 2012, nearly 5,000 small businesses received over $1.8 billion in federal government grants and contracts to help them carry out the R&D necessary to develop and bring high-tech products to market.

So how can your small business get in on the act? Here’s what you need to know:

What Can the Government Do for the High-Tech Small Business Sector?

If you are starting or already operate a high-tech startup, high-growth or high-impact firm, you may be eligible for grants and contracts that help fund R&D and product commercialization under the federal government’s Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR).

The risk and expense of conducting serious R&D efforts are often beyond the means of many small businesses. But, by reserving a percentage of federal R&D funds for small business, SBIR helps small businesses to compete on the same level as larger businesses. In turn, SBIR helps the federal government meet its own R&D needs in areas such as defense, healthcare, environmental protection and more. Eleven federal agencies set aside a portion of their budget each year to fund the SBIR program, with the SBA acting as the coordinating agency of the program.

Companies such as Symantec, Qualcomm and ViaSat all got a kick start from SBIR funds in their early years.

How does the SBIR Program Work?

The federal government has specific scientific and technological R&D goals and priorities, all of which are reflected in these solicitations from participating agencies and federal grants (listed at Grants.gov or on individual agency sites). You can search and explore these solicitations and grant opportunities to see where your R&D efforts may align with the government’s needs. Then follow the application process described below (see “How Do I Get Started?”). Each agency reviews proposals based on technical merit, qualifications and potential benefits to industry and society. Once agencies grant awards to small business, they embark on the R&D process.

The Awards Process

SBIR awards are structure in three phases to reflect the R&D development cycle:

Phase I: These awards are usually below $150,000 and cover a timeframe of less than 6 months. During this initial stage, the small business and sponsoring agency explore the feasibility of the project in order to get a better sense of its commercial potential and technical requirements.
Phase II: These awards are only available to small businesses that already received Phase I awards. Phase II enables a longer-term commitment. Awards can be made for up to $1 million for two years. During this period, R&D is expanded and commercial viability can be assessed.
Phase III: During this stage, innovations transition from the lab to the market, and small businesses begin the search for private sector investment. Keep in mind that the SBIR program does not fund Phase III; funding comes from private sources or other government grants.

Who is Eligible for SBIR?

The eligibility requirements for SBIR are straightforward – your business must be for-profit, have less than 500 employees, be independently owned and operated and located principally in the U.S. It must also be majority-owned (51 percent) by U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens and the principle researcher must be an employee of the company.

As you can imagine, SBIR is a highly competitive program. Check out this interactive directory of SBIR awards for a review of past awards, proposal abstracts and more.

How Do I Get Started?

SBIR.gov includes information for applicants, but, as mentioned above, the application process starts with research:

Check the list of open solicitations at SBIR.gov. Each solicitation explains the areas of R&D that agencies are interested in.
If you have questions, contact the individual agency. Refer to this contact list.
Register your business with SBA’s Company Registry prior to submitting an application.
Get tips and training on applying to the SBIR program.
Search for grant opportunities on Grants.gov.
Submit a proposal. Typically, an SBIR Phase I proposal submission package has the following components: a business plan, executive summary, cost and technical proposal.

Tip: Grants.gov is a good place to start looking for SBIR/STTR program opportunities. Just type "SBIR" in the basic search, and off you go!

Additional Resources

Watch the Winners of the SBA and Visa Export Video Contest

ngoriel — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:24:44 +0000

Did you know that the world’s population already surpasses 7 billion?

Did you know that more than 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside the United States?

U.S. exports of goods and services accounted for 14 percent of the national GDP in 2008 and climbed to 14 percent in 2012. These numbers show the growing role exports are playing in our nation’s economic recovery.

The surprising fact about these numbers is that only less than one percent of the 30 million plus companies in the U.S. are engaged in exporting. Can you imagine the scenario if instead of one percent it were two percent?

Clearly, the potential of exports as a major economic engine cannot be overstated, that’s why, in his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama announced the National Export Initiative as an effort and a challenge to promote American exports. Two years later, there is evidence that those efforts are paying off: In 2012, U.S. exports hit an all-time record of $2.2 trillion and supported 9.8 million jobs.

The core mission of the U.S. Small Business Administration is to help small businesses start, grow and create jobs; the foundation of an economy built to last. Helping small business exporters succeed in the global market is a critical part of that agenda, which SBA carries out through financial assistance, training, counseling and a wide array of export-support services in collaboration with other federal agencies and partners in the private sector.

One example of such collaboration is the annual export video contest that SBA and Visa, Inc., have been co-sponsoring since 2011. It is designed to encourage small business exporters to share, via a short video, their success stories and small practices as an inspiration for other small businesses to explore exporting as a viable, profitable option.

Five video entries are selected as winners based on the following criteria:

Inspirational nature of the message for potential exporters and effectiveness in promoting exporting
Creativity and uniqueness of video concept
Value of lessons learned/communicated
Use of U.S. Government program/service
Innovative means of delivering the message
Audio and visual quality of the video

The awards include monetary incentives that range from $2,000 for fifth place to $10,000 for first place. This year’s winners were:

First place: Bassets Ice Cream of Philadelphia, with an entry titled “Scooping Up International Sales”
Second place: REKLUSE of Boise, ID, with “Exporting Success"
Third place: Premier Choice Inc, DBA Perfect Bite of San Jose, Calif., with “‘Fruits' of Our Labor”
Fourth place: MMIC of Johnsbury, Vermont, with “MMIC What We Do”
Fifth place: CID Bio-Science of Camas, Wash., with “The World and Beyond”

The awards were presented on May 16 by SBA Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade Dario Gomez at the World Trade Day conference in Denver, where SBA Deputy Administrator Marie Johns was a keynote speaker. Also recognized was the winner of SBA 2013 Exporter of the Year award, Zeigler Bros., Inc. (ZBI), like Bassett Ice Cream, another firm from Pennsylvania. ZBI is engaged in the research, development and production of nutritional solutions for the aquaculture, pet/zoo and lab/biomedical industries.

As Johns said, these firms are prime examples that “exporting is a profitable, rewarding path to success.”

As a business owner, you may feel that you’re doing pretty well so far but, let’s face it, if you can substantially increase your bottom line and in the process help the nation’s economy, wouldn’t you say that’s an enticing proposition?

Remember the numbers: 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside the U.S … and that’s a huge market! Getting a piece of that pie doesn’t have to be a dream deferred; it’s as close as a click or phone call away through the SBA. To “borrow” a popular slogan: “Just Do It!”

For more information about SBA programs and services to help small business exporters, visit www.sba.gov/e xporting

Innovative and Outstanding Small Businesses Receive Tibbetts Awards

ngoriel — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:06:45 +0000

NOTE: This blog is by Pravina Raghavan, Director, Innovation and Technology at SBA.

Today, I was pleased to join Roland Tibbetts, the father of the SBIR program, our SBA Administrator Karen Mills and Senator Mary Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, in recognizing eighteen small businesses and three individuals for the critical role they play in research and development and commend their success in driving innovation and creating new jobs. In addition, three past participants in SBIR who represent the very best of the 30-plus-year SBIR program were named to the third annual SBIR Hall of Fame class.

The Tibbetts Awards and Hall of Fame Awards are presented to companies and individuals from all over the United States who are beacons of promise and models of excellence in high technology.

The SBIR program has been an important resource for commercializing promising technologies and spurring innovation. A study by R&D Magazine showed that between 2002 and 2006, 25 percent of the top 100 innovation came from first that received SBIR funding.

As many of you may know, the SBIR program was reauthorized a little over a year ago. Since then, the SBA has been working very hard to make the program better for our most innovative firms. We have updated the eligibility, size rules and policy directives to make the program more effective and streamlined. We’re working with our federal partners on shortening timelines from solicitation to award so that firms can get money faster. We are improving data collection and instituting robust performance benchmarks around commercialization. We will continue to put in place a SBIR infrastructure that will help turn great ideas into successful, thriving businesses.

At SBA, we believe that the SBIR program is a cornerstone of our mission as well an important factor in the President’s high growth and jobs agenda. According to the Department of Commerce, innovation has been responsible for approximately two-thirds of our country’s economic growth since World War II.

If we are going to realize our full economic potential, we need more people across the country to start the types of businesses that make our economy more competitive and more innovative.

I encourage you to take a moment and read through some of our winner’s profiles at challenge.gov. They are great companies and are transforming their industries. Many have graduated from the SBIR program but continue to show strong economic growth, business investment, broader social and economic impact and technical innovation.

This is what the SBIR program is all about and why we’ve come together to celebrate at the Tibbetts and Hall of Fame Awards.

Companies

Accuray, Inc. -- Sunnyvale, CA; Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation – Cambridge, MA; Beacon Interactive Systems, LLC – Cambridge, MA; CPSI Biotech – Owego, NY; Design Interactive, Inc. – Oviedo, FL; Ecovative Design, LLC – Green Island, NY; GS Engineering, Inc. – Houghton, MI; Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC – Blacksburg, VA; Institute of Disabilities Research and Training (IDRT), Inc. – Wheaton, MD; Kutta Radios, Inc. – Phoenix, AZ; MBF Bioscience – Williston, VT; Modular Robotics – Boulder, CO; Ocean Renewable Power Company, LLC – Portland, ME; Orono Spectral Solutions, Inc. – Bangor, ME; Protochips, Inc. – Raleigh, NC; Syntonics, LLC – Columbia, MD; Tier1 Performance Solutions, LLC – Covington, KY; Torrey Hills Technologies, LLC – San Diego, CA

Individuals

Richard Flake, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/XPP) – Wright-Patterson AFB, OH; Joe Hennessey, Ph.D., NSF SBIR/STTR Senior Advisor – Arlington, VA; Tizoc Loza, Northrop Grumman Corporation – Falls Church, VA

Hall of Fame

Aerovironment, Inc. – Monrovia, CA; Autonomous Technologies Corporation – Orlando, FL; Biogen-Idec – Weston, MA

Give Your Small Business a Spring Clean – 8 Tips That May Inspire You

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:44:11 +0000

Did you give your business a spring clean this year? Are you looking for new ways to boost sales, build your brand or get your business plan back on track?

This is the topic of one of SBA’s monthly web chats – Small Business Spring Clean: How to Keep Your Business Ideas Fresh – hosted by Octavia Kuransky, Program Development Manager at Central Alabama Women’s Business Center (and archived on SBA’s Learning Center).

Check out some of these great suggestions from Octavia’s session and be inspired!

Q: When should a small business website be updated?

A: “Great question. An outdated website sends the wrong message to potential clients. Recently, we had an expert in to talk on web development. He recommended a monthly sprucing and the inclusion of a blog in order to make your website more attractive to Google.”

Q: What's one of the best ways to get your press releases picked up by the media?

A: “I notice greater success in generating press coverage when I can connect to a breaking news story or some issue that is of interest already. Cultivate a relationship with a reporter so that you can call them directly and not have to reinvent the wheel each time. Collaborations always seem to be of interest to the press especially if the outcome can be shown to have some real impact. That should be your aim—to show impact. Impact equals news.”

I'd also add another point - try and target reporters who have influence on social media. Check their Klout score (a measure of influence), the kind of stories they write about and share. Look for a match with your product/industry.

Q: As business development specialists, most of our business involves providing a service to our clients (i.e.: consultations, training, etc.). How can we combine our services with technology to better conduct business? How can we take advantage of technology as service providers? And, is it prudent to do so?

A: “Let me share with you a strategy we are currently launching here at The Women's Business Center. The most requested workshops—usually those containing basic building block type information—we’ll be putting online. This frees our rather small staff to do more sophisticated work and workshops because we aren't continually having to do ALL workshops. And the basic ones can be self-tutored. We believe this to be a good strategy because, in effect, we can provide more and more varied workshops to the general public.”

Q: What is the best format to utilize social media to grow your business?

A: “The short answer is, it depends on the business. Some businesses should stay away from certain forms of social media. For example, a Facebook page might not be appropriate for a medical doctor. A review of your target market and a short consultation with a professional can help you determine what kind of social media is appropriate and most effective for you.”

Q: What are some easy ways to spring clean my expenses related to my business?

A: “Great question. I would pick a number, say $200 or so, and any expenditures with an annual outlay of above this amount would have to either show a benefit—meaning the expenditure is directly parlaying into revenue—or absolute necessity. If the expenditure cannot do that, eliminate it or find a less costly way. You might even set some goals for expenditures—like how much you will spend on advertising for the year.”

Q: I own a franchise business. It's been open for 7 years, and I need some capital infused to help me grow. I am a sole proprietor. Any suggestions?

A: “Yes, I have a suggestion. Gather up all your financial reporting, including tax returns, and make an appointment with someone at SCORE or an SBDC. Did you know that it might be possible to get a coach at SCORE who has experience in your industry and can mentor you? You can, of course, also make an appointment for an informal meeting with your original funder. If your cash flow is marginal, ask about a SBA (loan) guarantee.”

Q: How do you get started with marketing in a service-oriented business?

A: “I always recommend to any business, regardless whether it’s a product or service, that it be informed by the target market which has been previously identified in the marketing section of your business plan. This is because we know that certain demographics have certain shopping habits. For example, girls 18-25 tend to shop online. So if you're marketing to that age group for merchandise, I would advertise online. It helps to pay attention to where your competition is marketing; they may have done the research for you.”

Q: How do you fine tune your elevator pitch after you do your spring cleaning?

A: “Here is a general rule of thumb for composing elevator speeches. Name (you'd be surprised how often people forget to say their name in the press of the moment), the name of your company (again, people forget), the purpose of your service or product (this should just be a sentence or two) and last but not least, something that adds a sense of urgency or uniqueness about your firm or product.”

More Information about SBA Web Chats

SBA’s monthly web chats provide small business owners with the opportunity to submit questions live or in advance to experts in fields such as business law, tax, marketing and more. If you’re looking for an opportunity to get your questions answered, find out about upcoming web chats by signing up for SBA email updates or follow SBA on Twitter and Facebook. You can view the web chat archives on the SBA Learning Center.

Mentoring is Key to Small Business Success

bridgetwpollack — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:30:32 +0000

A lot has been written about why having a mentor is a good idea for entrepreneurs. One great article by Peter Cohan of Inc., gives seven reasons you need a mentor and another over on Tech Start Hub provides six. It’s clear that the experts agree: working with a mentor has a positive impact on startups.

But I want to show you evidence – hard numbers – that proves that mentorship really does create greater success for small businesses:

Thanks to a recent survey of our small business clients, we learned that in 2012 alone, SCORE’s clients started 37,054 new businesses and created 82,207 new jobs. Since 2009, 581,039 SCORE clients started enterprises, created employment opportunities or increased their revenues. Those numbers represent a huge impact in not only the success of that individual business, but also the prosperity of the U.S. economy and in local communities. This is all thanks to the hard work of our thousands of mentors across the country who meet one-on-one with hopeful or current small business owners and guide them through the obstacles and questions that they have faced themselves.

In addition to initial startup guidance, 71% of our survey respondents agreed that a long-term relationship with SCORE would be beneficial to them. And 80% agreed that they would recommend SCORE to friends or associates.

Mentoring is so effective because it is about skipping past the time and effort of “reinventing the wheel” of business ownership, and also pushing an entrepreneur’s vision beyond its normal limits. An outside perspective from someone who has been in your shoes can see the footpaths all around – the ones that scale mountains and the ones that avoid treacherous terrain.

So if you’re really ready to take your idea or business to the next level, bring in outside expertise. Connecting with a SCORE mentor is absolutely free and completely confidential. So what’s stopping you? Get in touch with a mentor today.

RFP-EZ Delivers Savings for Taxpayers, New Opportunities for Small Business

Karen Mills — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:09:26 +0000

America’s small information technology firms are some of the most innovative in the world. They are nimble, creative and can get the job done. And thanks to a new online government platform, it is getting easier for them to address some of the Federal Government’s most pressing IT needs. It’s a win-win: Small technology companies get easier access to the Federal Government’s nearly $77 billion information technology supply chain, providing a potentially critical revenue stream as they build their operations. And government agencies get to work with innovative small firms with solutions that can help make government agencies more efficient and streamlined.

The catalyst for these connections is an exciting new pilot project called RFP-EZ. And the results we are seeing from this program highlight what is possible when you unleash the power of American entrepreneurs.

RFP-EZ is a new and easy way for companies to learn about and compete for government contracts – in particular, small companies that lack the experience or administrative support generally needed to take full advantage of the Government’s Request for Proposals (RFP) process, the means by which many government contract offerings are presented to the business community. The RFP-EZ platform was developed jointly by Federal innovators working in the SBA and private-sector entrepreneurs serving temporary stints in the Federal Government through the Presidential Innovation Fellows program, launched by the U.S Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer team last year. Sharing their private- and public-sector insights, the team developed RFP-EZ as a simplified platform aimed at opening up the Government marketplace to a wider range of companies and saving taxpayer money.

Applying agile development principles, the Fellows team designed RFP-EZ over a six-month period, publishing the platform’s code openly on GitHub. The team then launched the pilot by posting five relatively simple website development and database contract offerings, four of which were also announced via the standard government portal, FedBizOps. On a per-project basis, bids received through RFP-EZ were consistently lower than those received through FedBizOps—19% to 41% lower, and over 30% lower on average. Bids made through RFP-EZ also showed less overall variation. In addition, during the pilot period, RFP-EZ attracted more than 270 businesses that until now had never approached the world of Federal contracting.

Average of All Bids Received for RFP-EZ vs FedBizOps (FBO)

According to Office of Management and Budget’s IT Dashboard, the Federal Government will spend more than $1.4 billion on Web Infrastructure and Web Content Management Systems in FY 2014. Based on 2011 and 2012 results, we can expect about half of these projects to be under the $150,000 “Simplified Acquisition Threshold” that would make them eligible for contracting through RFP-EZ. As we refine and expand the use of RFP-EZ, we are confident that its success will grow, delivering better value for taxpayers and opening new opportunities for small businesses.

Leveraging feedback we received from entrepreneurs and Federal contracting officers, the next class of Presidential Innovation Fellows will begin work on version 2.0 of RFP-EZ, which will focus on improving the platform, scaling its initial results across the Federal Government, and adding innovative new capabilities. If your business would like to participate, we encourage you to get started by setting up a profile on RFP-EZ today. To all the businesses that submitted proposals through RFP-EZ and everyone who has given us feedback on the project, thank you for helping to bring this new capability to life – and we very much look forward to the path ahead.

5 Tips for Hiring and Managing a Summer Intern

Caron_Beesley — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:35:42 +0000

Is your small business looking to hire an intern this summer? You’re not alone! According to a December 2012 survey by Internships.com, 53 percent of the 300 companies surveyed plan to hire more interns in 2013 than they did in 2012.

In fact, internships are becoming increasingly important to both students and business owners. The difficult economic climate means that new graduates face unprecedented challenges as they try to enter the job market. Internships give them a vital foot in the door and also provide employers with nurtured and eager talent to help them grow their business.

Just look at the data:

47 percent of employers have a structured internship program
39 percent of small businesses made full time job offers to interns in 2012
85 percent of employers say hiring an intern was a positive experience

If you want new ideas and the opportunity to nurture a potential future employee – at a low cost – read these five tips for hiring and managing an intern (within the law).

Assess your Needs

Interns will be looking for the right kind of experience, so it’s important to evaluate your needs and create a job description that is appealing for both parties. Think about how an intern can help you achieve your business goals? Do you have enough work to support an intern? Who will supervise, train and mentor this individual? What about resources – like office space or a computer?

Think about potential workload that you can hand-off in terms of short and long term assignments and be sure to plan well in advance (hiring takes time)!

Should you Offer a Paid or Un-Paid Internship?

Should you pay your interns? Interestingly, most students state that compensation is the least important factor when considering an internship. And according to Internships.com, one third of businesses surveyed chose not to pay their summer interns (choosing to offer college credits, company perks or travel stipends instead).

If you want to attract right talent and take your investment seriously, then it’s worth compensating your intern(s) appropriately. (The average hourly rate for a bachelor’s degree-level intern is $16.21, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.)

Why not get an un-paid intern? Perhaps the biggest rationale for paying interns is that the U.S. Department of Labor puts limits on the work un-paid interns can perform under the Fair Labor Standards Act. For example, your business can’t be seen to derive any benefit from the intern. Essentially, the following applies:

Unpaid interns cannot do any work that contributes to a company's operations. This includes any tasks that help you run your business, like documenting inventory, filing papers, or answering emails.
Unpaid interns can shadow other employees and perform duties that don't have a business need. For example, a bakery may allow an apprentice/intern to decorate a tray of cookies that will not be sold to customers. Because the task was only a training exercise for the apprentice/intern and the bakery did not receive any benefit from that work, the bakery would not have to pay that student worker for that time.

For more information on what exactly unpaid interns can do, according to the Department of Labor, read The Truth Behind Unpaid Internships.

Clearly, a paid internship program will give both your business and your intern(s) more flexibility.

The Hiring Process

This process isn’t a whole lot different than hiring a regular employee. You’ll need to write a job description – be sure to state whether the internship is paid or un-paid, your objectives for the position, responsibilities and assignments of the job, and specific experience that the intern can expect to gain.

Where should you look for interns? In addition to posting the opportunity to your website and online job boards, approach local colleges and schools and register with their career services office. Many of these candidates are screened and motivated. Another option is the Department of Labor’s Summer Jobs+ Bank, a Presidential initiative designed to connect youth with employment and internship opportunities. Post your listing here.

Managing Interns – Considerations to Remember as an Employer

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that this is a learning experience for your intern, not a traditional “summer job”. Consider the following:

Expose them to Real World Experiences and Tasks - There’s no harm in giving your intern mundane, tactical tasks to complete, but be sure to mix it up and give them real business experience as well. Have your intern sit in on meetings and sales calls. Give them the opportunity to take a first stab at a project, guide and mentor them through it, don’t be afraid to let go of the reins a little, and step in when you need to.
Mentor – An intern is used to feedback (college tutors provide it all the time), so be prepared to coach and provide honest feedback about what they are doing well on a particular project and where there’s room for improvement.
Set Parameters and Guidelines – This may not be something you are used to doing with your regular employees, but expectations need to be set about appearance, business attire, work hours, and acceptable internet/social media use.
Set Expectations Among Other Employees – If you choose to delegate mentoring to another employee, be sure that employee is aware of your expectations. Likewise, set expectations across your staff so that the intern doesn’t find him or herself being taken advantage of or assigned tasks that are not within their job description.

Workplace and Labor Laws

Many of the labor laws that apply to employees, such as workplace discrimination laws, also apply to interns. You must also ensure you comply with workplace health and safety laws. Some states also require that you carry workers’ compensation insurance for interns.

Related Resources

Need Help Exporting? Join SBA’s Google+ Hangout for Tips to Get You Started

Stephen Morris — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:25:43 +0000

Thinking about exporting, but don’t know where to start? As part of World Trade Month, SBA will host a Google+ Hangout on May 22. The hangout will highlight ways that business can use federal government resources to increase exports.

When:

Wednesday, May 22 at 3pm ET

Who:

Dario Gomez, U.S. Small Business Administration, Associate Administrator for International Trade
Antwaun Griffin, U.S. Department of Commerce- International Trade Administration, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Domestic Operations
Dontai Smalls, UPS, Vice President for Public Affairs
Al Youngworth, CEO of Rekluse and SBA’s Exporter of the Year
Brian Kim, BBCN Bank Los Angeles and SBA’s Export Lender of the Year

Watch:

Watch the Hangout live at SBA's Google+ page or SBA's YouTube Channel

Join the Conversation:

Submit your questions via Twitter using the hashtag #TradeChat

How to Market Your Business with Public Speaking

Rieva Lesonsky — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:44:25 +0000

Are you looking for a way to attract new customers, meet potential prospects and partners, and become known as an expert in your industry? Public speaking can do all of the above, and more.

If you feel like public speaking isn’t even an option for you because you’re shy, think again. I’m shy myself, though you wouldn’t know it to see me addressing conferences, crowds and audiences all over the country. Trust me, public speaking gets easier with practice—and it’s worth the effort.

Toastmasters is a great, free organization that can help you get comfortable speaking in front of a group. You can also try simply having a friend record you speaking and play it back so they can give you an honest critique of your speech patterns, body language and delivery. Finally, try breaking into public speaking with a less intimidating situation, like being on a panel discussion (where you’re not the focus of attention).

When you’re starting out in public speaking, it’s best to think small. Fortunately, speaking in front of small groups like the local PTA or business leads club can have huge benefits for your business.

Begin by figuring out what market you want to reach. For example, if you own a landscaping business, you might want to attract residential clients or owners of commercial facilities that need landscaping.

Next, determine where those customers are likely to be found. In the example above, you could speak to homeowners’ associations or gardening clubs if you’re trying to attract residential customers; for the commercial facilities, you could find landlord organizations and speak to those groups.

Figure out what type of subject matter will both be relevant to your target customers and also serve your business. For instance, the landscaper could speak to residential customers about choosing the right kinds of plants for different seasons, how to keep your home fire-safe with landscaping or how to prevent pests. For the commercial facilities you could talk about trends in landscaping or how to increase curb appeal. You want to talk about things that your business is able to provide for them, so there’s a natural tie-in between what you talk about and what you can do.

Promote the event. Use press releases, email marketing, your website and social media to let the local community know about the event. Depending on the venue, you may want to alert local media as well. (Perhaps you can even offer to write an article on the topic you’re speaking about, garnering even more publicity.)

Gather information about attendees. Have attendees sign up with their names, addresses and emails as part of registering for the event, or just make a sign-up sheet available at the event for people who want to get mailings or email newsletters from you. You could also do the classic “business card in a fishbowl” drawing and collect business cards in return for giving away a prize (like a free landscaping consultation).

Give away information. Handouts, brochures, checklists or other free information about both the topic you’re discussing and your business give people something to hang on to and remember you by. This is also perceived as adding value to your speech.

Follow up. Don’t be pushy, but do follow up after the event with attendees who’ve indicated interest in learning more or receiving communications from your business.

Keep it up. The more often you speak in public, the more confident you’ll grow, until eventually you may find public speaking to be one of your most successful methods of getting new business.

Turning Your Tablet into a Point of Sale System – Is it Time to Make the Switch?

Caron_Beesley — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:43:40 +0000

Considering upgrading your business’ point of sale system (POS) to one that runs on a mobile device or tablet?

Mobile payment platforms that turn your tablet into a credit card processing device have become increasingly popular with small businesses, thanks to offerings from companies like Square, Intuit and PayPal. But mobile POS is evolving beyond being a convenient way to swipe credit cards on-the-go. The next generation of POS systems will not only turn your tablet into a cash register, they offer fully-fledged business management tools including CRM services, inventory tracking, loyalty program integration and employee management tools – all made possible thanks to the power of cloud computing.

So what are the advantages of a tablet-based POS system for small business owners and what factors should you consider when making the switch? Here are some benefits and points to consider.

Cost Savings

Traditional POS systems typically involve an up-front fee of around $3,000, with some running as high as $50,000 (according to Street Fight magazine). In addition, you can expect to pay an annual software license fee per register and a yearly maintenance fee of 18-20 percent for upgrades. And, since costs are paid up front, chances are you’re stuck with the system you choose even if you don’t like it.

Cloud-based tablet POS systems, however, can be up and running for as little as $1,000 or less, with no upfront fee. Cost-savings also extend across the lifetime of the service – you pay a low monthly fee (which also includes instant software upgrades, support, back-up and upgrades) and can cancel at any time.

Easy Integration of Sales and Marketing Tools

In this age of ubiquitous information, many of us have come to expect instant, anytime, anywhere access to the data that matters most to us. Cloud-enabled tablet POS systems make this a reality with fingertip access to sales and inventory data – whenever you need it. Some also offer advanced integration with loyalty programs, accounting tools, as well as coupon and gift card generation options. You can even take advantage of marketing outreach features, such as auto-generated thank you emails to new customers and “poke” emails that encourage dormant customers to stop by. Other tools let you track sales volume by employees and manage inventory and restaurant seating. Others also offer integration with mobile card reader platforms such as Square and Intuit GoPayment.

Ease of Management

Not only does cloud-based POS cut the costs involved in managing your systems, it also streamlines their management. All the software upgrades are instant; trouble-shooting is taken care of by the system provider, and your applications and data are securely backed-up and stored within the cloud. No need to invest in additional service contracts or IT headcount.

If you think about the cost and time involved in managing your own POS and any downtime or system issues your run into – the appeal of a mobile POS system starts to catch on.

Things to Watch Out For

Benefits aside, there are some things to look out for when considering a tablet POS:

Migration – Migrating any system can be tricky. Put this on your due diligence list and screen providers to see what migration tools or services they provide. Many will be able to handle a simple inventory and customer data import from a spreadsheet.
Internet Downtime – You’ll need a good internet connection to process transactions and manage your data. If you are worried about outages, then this type of POS may not be for you. The good news is that some providers are offering off-line services that let you sync transactions when you come back online.

To help you in your research, check out Street Fight’s comparative guide – 7 Cloud-Based POS Systems for SMBs.

Related Articles

Image courtesy of Belal Khan, Flickr

7 Inspiring Home Business Ideas for Stay-at-Home Moms (or Dads)

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 09 May 2013 10:57:03 +0000

Are you a stay-at-home mom (or dad)? Hoping to kick start an entrepreneurial dream or simply looking to bring in some extra income?

Starting a home-based business is a great way to do this. In fact, 52 percent of U.S. companies operate as home businesses (source) and many of today’s biggest brand names were established by stay-at-home moms – (Dorothy) Gerber, Mrs. (Debbi) Fields, and Julie Aigner-Clark (Baby Einstein), to name but a few. But what types of businesses can grow and thrive in the home environment?

Here are some business ideas and considerations for stay-at-home moms!

Freelancing

Perhaps the easiest form of business to delve into and operate is freelancing. Whatever your skill – writing, web design, marketing, tax advisor, or photography– freelancing affords an enormous amount of flexibility and freedom, and can be started with little cost or paperwork. Many freelancers get their start by approaching a former employer or customer who could benefit from their services, then branch out as their body of work and reputation grows.

Freelancing does have its challenges and requires discipline—you are running a business after all. Common mistakes freelancers make include not setting the business up properly and legally (getting the right permits, or licenses), forgetting to put money aside to pay estimated taxes, and not planning for peaks and valleys in cash flow.

Check out these blogs for tips and guidance to help you through the process of starting and operating your freelance business:

Become a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants (VAs) provide a wide variety of “virtual” services to other businesses including administrative, marketing and technical support from a home office. My local window cleaner, for example, uses a VA to answer his calls and manage his calendar while he’s busy on-site. VAs are growing in popularity, too, as firms look to cut costs and outsource administrative functions. If you are organized and have an administrative background, this might be for you. Start with your own connections or take advantage of the services of a VA organization or association who can help you get started and connect you with clients.

Make Money from Blogging

Yes, you can make money by blogging. I follow several stay-at-home moms who happen to be fashion and style bloggers – and it’s their business. If you can write and have a passion for a specific topic or hobby that you know will garner some attention, then this might be for you. Income generation opportunities can come in the form of affiliate marketing and advertising on your website or from companies who ask you to review and blog about their products. Look for ways to get traffic to your website through social media, search engine optimization and by getting involved in the wider blogosphere (networking with and commenting on the blogs of others in your niche).

Start a Creative Business

Whether it’s making gift baskets or offering interior design consultation services, if you have a creative streak and the room to store and create, then why not consider making money out of your talents? Get to know the market and do some planning to identify an untapped niche. SBA has several tools that can help including the Build your Business Plan tool and SizeUp a market and business analysis tool that lets you benchmark your business against competitors, map your customers, competitors and suppliers, and locate the best places to advertise.

Start a Home-Based Bakery or Food Business

Food production from a home is heavily regulated but it’s not impossible. Take Martha Stewart, for example—she famously entered the food service business with a basement-based catering company in 1976. Before you start a home-based food business you will need to understand the rules and regulations that govern the production of food for public consumption in an at-home environment. For example do you need a separate kitchen? What about product labeling? And so on. For tips and insight, read: Starting a Home-Based Food Production Business: Making Your Culinary Hobby Your Job.

Child Day Care

Home childcare businesses offer a potentially lucrative and long-lasting business opportunity. A home environment is often appealing to parents and once their kids are settled (and assuming you are doing a great job), then it’s likely you’ll have that business until they are old enough not to need care.

Of course, this is another regulated business and you’ll need to ensure you comply with state and local regulations that govern issues such as the provision of meals, minimum space requirements per child, and the number of licensed care workers per child. For information on starting a child care business including financing options, licensing requirements, and other regulatory matters read: Starting a Child Care Business? Government Tools and Resources that Can Help.

Start an Online Marketplace Store

If you have clutter that you want to get rid of and like the idea of selling products to an established worldwide network of consumers, consider starting a business on eBay, Etsy or Amazon. You can source products to sell from junk/yard sales or charity shops. If you want to get a bit more sophisticated, then consider buying wholesale or adopting a drop-shipping model. The goal is to find products that are in high-demand and not readily available from other sources. Read more about getting started here: More Than Just a Seller – How to Start a Business on an Online Marketplace.

More Ideas

Other business ideas including a dog walking/pet care business, a travel agent, start a home-based franchise business, event planning, architectural design, or tutoring students!

Whatever your idea make sure you start, structure and operate your business according to legal and regulatory requirements. Check out SBA’s 10 Steps to Starting your Business for the facts.

7 Ways to Protect Your Small Business from Fraud and Cybercrime

Caron_Beesley — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:57:08 +0000

How secure are your small business assets from fraud, identity theft and cybercrime?

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), companies with less than 100 employees lose approximately $155,000 as a result of fraud each year. Small businesses also have a higher fraud rate than larger companies and non-business owners. One of the most frequent sources of fraud is credit card abuse – largely due to the fact that few business owners actually take the time to go through every line item on their bill or choose to mingle business and personal accounts.

Other sources of fraud stem from an overall lack of security across the business – such as inadequate network and computer security and a lack of background checks when hiring employees.

Don’t be a victim! Here are some tips you can take to better protect your business from some common forms of fraud and cybercrime.

Protect Your Credit Cards and Bank Accounts

Since this is a common area of fraud for everyone from sole proprietors to employee-based firms, this one goes at the top of the list. Start by separating your personal banking and credit cards from your business accounts – this will ensure fraudsters don’t get their hands on ALL your money. Separating your accounts will also make it easier to track your business expenses and report deductions on your tax return.

Next, make sure you use your card wisely. Don’t hand over your plastic or your card number to employees or companies with which you don’t have a familiar relationship. Switch to online bill pay or make sure you store paper bills securely. Likewise, use a secure mailbox for receiving and sending bills. If you don’t have one, deposit your mail directly at the post office (this goes for any mail that contains sensitive information – you don’t want to leave it lying around in an unsecured mailbox).

Lastly, be sure to check your online banking every day for suspicious activity.

Secure Your IT Infrastructure

Every business owner should invest in a firewall as well as anti-virus, malware and spyware detection software. Backing-up is also a must and will make it a lot easier for you to continue working in the event of a cyber attack. This blog offers more advice on what to look out for and digs deeper into your options: 4 Ways to Safeguard and Protect Your Small Business Data.

Use a Dedicated Computer for Banking

This is a great idea from Forbes magazine’s 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Protect Against Cybercrime. Use a dedicated computer for all your online financial transactions and, ideally, make sure it’s one that isn’t used for other online activity such as social media, email and web-surfing which can open up the machine to vulnerabilities. Avoid mobile banking if you can.

Have a Password Policy

Another easy step you can take to protect your IT systems is to institute a password policy.

Make sure you and your employees change them regularly (every 60 to 90 days is good rule)
Set rules that ensure passwords are complex (i.e. contain one upper case letter, one number and must be a minimum of eight characters)
Use different passwords for different online and system accounts

Educate Your Staff

Employees are perhaps your biggest point of vulnerability when it comes to fraud, but they are also your first line of defense. Hold regular training sessions on basic security threats (online and off) and prevention measures – both for new hires and seasoned staff. Enforce the training by instituting policies that guide employees on the proper use and handling of company confidential information, including financial data, personnel and customer information.

For ideas on what to include in your training, check out the resources offered by small business groups like your local Small Business Development Center or Women’s Business Center (find one near you here), you could also look out for free online webinars from security organizations and businesses.

Consider Employee Background Checks

One of the first steps to preventing fraudulent employee behavior is to make the right hiring decision. Basic pre-employment background checks are a good business practice for any employer, especially for those employees who will be handling cash, high-value merchandise, or have access to sensitive customer or financial data. This blog offers tips on which background checks you can legally pursue and some tips for doing your own detective work: Conducting Employee Background Checks – Why Do It and What the Law Allows.

Insure Your Business

Fraud and cybercrime does happen; however, you can still seek to cover your damages by purchasing an insurance policy that protects you against any losses that you may incur from crime or fraud. Likewise, find out what your bank is willing to do to help you out if your credit card or business account is compromised.

How do you protect your business against fraud and cybercrime? Leave a comment below!

A Simpler Way to Apply for Health Care

ngoriel — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:38:42 +0000

Note: This blog is by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services and first appeared at Healthcare.gov on April 30.

Today, we take one more step toward meeting the promise of helping millions of Americans access quality, affordable health coverage.

We have finalized the application you can complete later this year to learn what health insurance programs you are eligible for and the discounts to help pay for it. Starting in October, it will be the one application you can use to apply for the new Health Insurance Marketplace, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and tax credits that will help pay for premiums.

I’m also pleased to say the application has been simplified and significantly shortened. The application for individuals is three pages, and the application for families is reduced by two-thirds, to seven pages. This is much shorter than industry standards for health insurance applications today.

Whether you choose to use this application to apply for coverage online, by phone, or on paper, the Health Insurance Marketplace will give you better options than they have today – with one destination to apply and many resources to get help. In-person counselors and a toll free phone line will be available to help you through every step of the process.

The online application that will go live on Healthcare.gov when the Health Insurance Marketplace opens for enrollment on October 1, can be found here: http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/other/index.html#hie

You can sign up to learn more and get ready to enroll at signup.healthcare.gov.

How to Restore Your Credit After Hard Times

BusinessCredit — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:44:17 +0000

Getting your financial life and credit back on track after going through tough economic times is not an impossible task by any means, but it does require an effective and proven plan.

Whether you had to file for bankruptcy; went through a foreclosure; dealt with excessive late payments, collections, judgments; a repossession; or the dreaded tax lien, the good news is there is hope in recovering and re-establishing a good credit rating.

First of all, don’t believe for a second that there’s nothing that can be done about past negative credit history — because there is. You can always work on repairing your credit reports; the Fair Credit Reporting Act protects your right to do so.

The first step to credit recovery is to establish new credit. The obvious step is to open up a secured credit card, right?

Well, not exactly.

The key is to establish at least three positive trades actively reporting on each of your reports with Equifax, Transunion and Experian. Actively reporting means you’re making regular payments; a loan that’s paid off does not count.

For example, if you’re currently making timely payments on a car note but have no other positive credit that’s active, then you should obtain two secured credit cards and use them regularly.

Keep your debt-to-credit-limit ratios on those cards at no more than 30%, and whenever possible increase your limits. The higher the limit, the better it is for you in the future when a creditor extends an unsecured credit line to you.

But before you go and open up two or three secured credit cards, you must select the right lenders, too! Did you know some of the high risk lenders offering secured cards can actually end up hurting you rather than helping you?

Think about this for a second: if you obtain a secured card from a high-risk lender, what does this tell other lenders about you?

It shows you are a high risk.

The key is to open a secured card from a mainstream lender — not a high-risk lender. Now keep in mind that opening up a few secured credit cards, making purchases and paying bills on time is a step in the right direction, but it does not address the current problem: your credit reports.

Did you know that by law you are entitled to receive one free credit report from each of the major consumer credit agencies every 12 months? You can obtain your free reports at annualcreditreport.com.

Review your reports and start repairing your reports by either working on them yourself or hiring a reputable credit restoration company.

Remember, it does not have to take a long time to put your credit problems behind you. Once you begin establishing new positive payment history, maintain at least three actively reporting trades and begin repairing your credit reports, you can restore your good credit ratings and scores.

Let Us Know About Innovators and Leaders in Small Business Financing

ngoriel — Fri, 03 May 2013 21:10:11 +0000

This blog is by Don Graves, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Small Business, Housing, and Community Development Policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury and has served as Executive Director of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. This blog first appeared at Treasury.Gov.

President Obama and Secretary Lew are committed to creating an environment where America’s small businesses can grow and prosper. An essential aspect of making sure these engines of job creation succeed is ensuring that entrepreneurs and small business owners have access to the capital and credit needed to turn their ideas into successful enterprises. The Department of the Treasury, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and agencies across the Administration have taken many steps over the last four years to support small business growth and enable innovation and expansion of small business financing.

But there is more work to do. On June 10, 2013, Treasury and SBA will host a Capital Access Innovation Summit. The day-long event will convene innovators in the field of small business financing with the goal of sharing innovative practices in the private sector and learning how the Administration can enable or encourage increased access to capital for small businesses. Building on the success of two previous capital access conferences, we will focus primarily on three areas: (1) Public and Private Capital Markets Access for Small Businesses - including innovative solutions to address any remaining gaps, (2) Small Business Financing: Data and Innovation - how the delivery of small business capital could be enhanced through emerging technology-enabled platforms and other innovations, and (3) Engaging Large Companies to Promote Small Business Growth.

To inform this conversation about small business growth, and help set the agenda for this year’s Capital Access Innovation Summit, we want to hear from you. Do you know leaders and innovators in small business financing? At Treasury.Gov, tell us about (a) leading innovators using technology and data to expand capital access; (b) effective partnerships between large and small businesses, and (c) thought leaders who have identified gaps in small business financing and effective solutions to fill these gaps.

8 Ways Your Business Can Get Ready for the 2013 Tourist Season

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:01:26 +0000

While the U.S. economy continues to see positive signs of growth, consumer spending in one sector is booming – tourism.

Consider the facts – spending by international travelers to and within the U.S. increased 10.5 percent in 2012 (source: U.S Travel Association). Travel also continues to lead export growth, accounting for a 23 percent rise in U.S. exports. Home grown tourism is also experiencing a surge, with more and more Americans opting to take “staycations” – enjoying recreational and entertainment options closer to home – as opposed to hitting the roads and skies.

The forecast is good too. The Department of Commerce predicts that the U.S. can expect a 3.6 to 4.3 percent average annual growth in travel and tourism over the next four years.

To further spur tourism in the U.S., the federal government has set a goal of increasing American jobs by attracting and welcoming 100 million international visitors annually by the end of 2021, bringing an estimated $250 billion per year into the U.S. (read the National Tourism and Travel Strategy for more information).

This all represents a unique opportunity for the U.S. tourist industry and the businesses that underpin it. So what can your small business do to take advantage of this uptick in tourism? Here are eight marketing and management tips to help you get ready for the 2013 tourist season!

1. Make it Easy for Tourists to Come Back to Their Favorite Spots

Start with a plan to reach your low hanging fruit – repeat visitors. The best way to do this is to stay in touch with them all year round with special offers, email marketing and social media updates. Let them know what plans you have for the tourist season this year, any upgrades you’ve made to your business and so on. If the summer is your peak season, then fall, winter and even early spring should be your busiest marketing seasons.

These articles offer some useful tips for staying in touch with customers:

2. Staycationers – How to Attract These Lucrative Tourists

Just as you want to reach out to travelers and tourists from out of town, don’t forget to focus some of your marketing and advertising efforts closer to home. Be persuasive in your benefit statements. For example:

Explain what differentiates you – Are you family/pet friendly? Do you stock/grow local products? How easy is it to get to you? Do repeat visitors receive any special discounts?
Source local – Even if you don’t grow or produce your own products, look for ways to integrate local produce into your business so that customers get a real flavor of what your community offers and the dollars stay local. Ask fellow businesses to reciprocate too.
Team up with complementary businesses to cross-promote and market your businesses – with something for everyone, tourists might be more likely to make the trip to your community and stay for a while! Get some tips for doing this in this blog from Rieva Lesonsky: Forget Competition it’s Time for Co-Opetition.
Cash in on what your region has to offer – Is your region known for its wine or green credentials? Are there certain certifications that you can seek out to help promote your business?
Develop messages and advertising that targets larger groups – Can you handle bus tours or school field trips? Any incentives or package deals for larger groups or families?
Remind visitors that they will save money on gas, lodging, airfare and even time by vacationing near home.
Get Involved in Local Events/Festivals – Community fairs, farmers markets, sponsored sports events and concerts offer great opportunities to reach locals and tourists alike. Read guest blogger Rieva Lesonsky’s: Marketing Your Business with Events and Sponsoring or Hosting an Event – 6 Ways to Maximize your Return.

3. Use Location-Based Services to Attract Passersby

Don’t forget to take advantage of mobile technology. Promoting your small business to tourists who might be passing by using mobile apps isn’t that difficult. Groupon, Living Social, FourSquare and ThinkNear, among others, let you post information about your latest offers and limited-time deals to consumers within a certain distance of your business. You can also schedule deals so they get delivered during key hours. Keep your Google, Yelp, Yellow Pages and other online listings up to date too.

4. Take Your Business on the Road

If the best way to reach tourists is to take your business on the road, a concession stand or a booth at a craft or community fair is a great opportunity to bring in extra dollars and spread the word. These articles offer some advice:

5. Become a National Park Concession Business

Did you know there are opportunities for small businesses in national parks? Food, lodging, tours, whitewater rafting, boating, and many other recreational activities and amenities in more than 100 national parks are managed by private businesses under contract to the National Park Service. The services, provided by more than 600 concessioners, gross more than $1 billion every year and provide jobs for more than 25,000 people peak season. Every year, the Park Service issues prospectuses that detail these business opportunities; it also publishes notices at www.fedbizopps.gov. Many of these opportunities are smaller operations featuring unique recreation activities.

6. Need Short-Term Capital?

Seasonal businesses often have to pour capital into business improvements, marketing, inventory and staff long before they can expect to make a profit. If you don’t have sufficient cash flow or funds to prepare your business for the 2013 tourist season, you may want to consider a short-term loan or line of credit. SBA’s CAPLines Program, for example, provides advances against inventory needs and accounts receivable to help you weather seasonal sales. Read more and talk to your regional SBA Office for more information.

7. Plan Your Seasonal Work Force

If your business counts on the summer season or tourist trade, then start planning your seasonal workforce now. If you’re new to this process or have questions about hiring and compensating seasonal workers (for example, do you need to pay unemployment taxes for seasonal workers?), check out this blog – 5 Things to Know Now about Hiring Temporary or Seasonal Workers – for tips on hiring and working with seasonal workers within the law.

8. Partner with Local Business Groups

Reach out to your local Chamber of Commerce and local tourism associations or sector organizations that promote clusters of businesses in the same business sector such as hotels, restaurants, tour operators, B&B’s, camp grounds and so on. Many of these offer small businesses an opportunity to participate in their targeted and collective approach to seasonal marketing.

What are you going to do to boost your revenues this tourist season? Leave a comment below!

Franchise Businesses Can And Do Impact Local Communities

FranchiseKing — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:30:17 +0000

Are you thinking of purchasing a franchise someday?

If so, you’re going to be focusing on things such as finding a franchise that’s a good fit for you, doing research, scouting out potential business locations and getting a small business loan.*

In other words, you’re going to have certain goals in mind when you start looking for franchise opportunities that could make sense for you. Most of your goals are going to be short-term ones. You’re probably not going to be thinking about some of the long-terms things—like how buying and opening a franchise business can and will impact your local area.

Start A Business

That’s how community impact begins.

It’s simple; open a franchise business somewhere in your local area, hire some employees and start growing it.

If you’re lucky—which means that several things happen in your favor—you may even be able to open up a second franchise location. If you were to do that, you’d be able to hire even more employees.

Adding new jobs to your local economy is only one way that opening a business impacts your area. When a new business opens up, other local area residents get to become involved, too.

If the new business requires a commercial space, you’ll need to hire the following specialists:

· Architects

· Contractors

· Light construction workers

· Sign makers

In addition, all businesses (whether they require a commercial space to operate or not) use attorneys and accountants, and they’ll almost always be local ones.

Impact

If you do become the owner of a franchise business, and your franchisor believes in community-related events and causes, you’ll be given the chance to really impact your local area.

A good number of franchisors do sponsor events and causes; some of them trickle down to the local level.

Here are a few examples:

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Stuffed with Hugs*, a Build-A-Bear Workshop® charitable program, is now in its eighth year of helping kids around the world. This annual event allows guests to visit their local stores and make a teddy bear for free to be donated to children in need of a hug. Year to date, more than 325,000 donations have been made to community organizations around the world.

Taco Bell

The Taco Bell Foundation for Teens has been inspiring and enabling teens to graduate high school and reach their full potential through its programs, partnerships and direct financial assistance. The Foundation’s support has impacted the lives of more than one million teens.

The Foundation offers core programs that motivate teens to stay in school and provide job training to help them identify career opportunities and interests. Go here * to see what the Taco Bell Foundation For Teens has been able to accomplish.

Sport Clips

Since 2007, Sport Clips* has been helping U.S. service members connect with their loved ones through their Help a Hero program, benefitting the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Operation Uplink™ Free Call Days. Through company and client donations, more than 2 million phone calls have been made possible and almost 2 million dollars have been contributed to the program to date. In total, the Operation Uplink program has provided more than 7 million free connections to U.S. service members.

Panera Bread

At the end of each day, Panera Bread donates all unsold bread and baked goods to local area hunger relief agencies and charities as part of its local Day-End Dough-Nation program. Collectively, Panera bakery-cafes donated a retail value of approximately $100 million worth of unsold bread and baked goods in 2010 to help neighbors in need. Check out what else Panera Bread franchisees do.*

The examples above are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to franchise organizations that get involved in various causes.

You can, too.

Just buy a franchise that will enable you to do so as part of your ownership experience.

*Non US Government links

Does Your Website or Online App Target Kids? Stricter COPPA Rules Go into Effect Soon

Caron_Beesley — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:56:46 +0000

Do you target children or a youth demographic online? Perhaps you’ve developed or are marketing a mobile app that appeals to a youth market? If so, you should be aware of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) – a federal ruling enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that gives parents control over what personal information websites can collect from children under the age of 13.

The COPPA Rule recently underwent an important overhaul of which online marketers need to be aware. The revised rule (which goes into effect in July 2013) put additional protections in place and streamlines other procedures that companies covered by the rule must follow.

If you run a website or mobile app designed for children or collect any kind of information from someone you know is under 13, here’s what you need to know about the revisions to COPPA:

Key COPPA principles remain unchanged

Most of the key requirements of COPPA haven’t changed. You must still give notice to parents and get their verifiable consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information from children under 13. You must keep collected data secure and you can’t request that a child disclose more information than is reasonably necessary in exchange for participation in an activity.

Expansion of who is covered by COPPA – Plug-Ins and advertising come under the spotlight

If you operate a child-directed website and you allow outside services—including plug-ins (like YouTube videos) or advertising networks—to collect personal information from visitors, you will be required to comply with COPPA. This means you will need to provide notice and get parental consent for any user that identifies themselves as under 13, before the third party can collect the child’s information. In effect, as the site owner or operator, the FTC will now hold you liable for any personal information requests made by these third parties.

According to the FTC, this “close(s) a loophole that allowed kid-directed apps and websites to permit third parties to collect personal information from children through plug-ins without parental notice and consent.”

In addition, plug-in or ad network operators who have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information through a child-directed website or service must also comply with COPPA.

What constitutes personal information has changed

Under the new Rule, the types of personal information that cannot be collected from children under 13 (without parental consent) has expanded to include geolocation information, as well as photos, video and audio that contain a child’s image.

In addition, persistent identifiers (such as cookies, IP addresses and mobile IDs) that can be used to recognize a user over time and across different websites or online services are also now considered personal information and parental consent must be obtained before collecting this data. If, however, you use persistent identifiers solely to support the internal operations of your site or service, rather than for marketing purposes, parental consent is not required.

Certain information collection is now permitted in “support for internal operations”

COPPA now allows businesses to apply for formal approval to collect certain information if it is used in “support for internal operations.” Permitted activities include contextual advertising, frequency capping, site analysis and more. However, you can’t use the information collected to contact a specific person through behavioral advertising or to amass a profile on that person for any other purpose – without parental consent.

Changes to how businesses get parental consent

COPPA has always required that parental consent must be requested via email or postal mail. The new Rule requires that key information (such as how the information will be used) is displayed up front in that notice so that parents can get the details they need quickly.

The new Rule also offers more ways for businesses to get the “OK” from parents (for more details of what was previously acceptable read the Direct Notice to Parents section of the FTC’s How to Comply with COPPA). These include scans of parental consent forms, videoconferencing, use of a government-issued ID and more.

Stronger provisions to keep kids info secure and confidential

Before releasing information to service providers and third parties, site operators must take reasonable steps to make sure these companies are capable of maintaining the confidentiality, security and integrity of that information – with assurances that they’ll follow through. In addition, you are now only allowed to retain kids’ personal information for as long as is reasonably necessary, and must ensure that it is disposed of securely.

Safe harbor programs to get more oversight

COPPA previously allowed industry groups to create self-regulatory programs that governed member-compliance with COPPA. The new Rule strengthens the FTC’s oversight of these programs with new auditing capabilities.

More Information

For more information about all these changes, read the FTC’s December, 2012 press release and refer to the site’s Child Privacy Guide for more tips and insights.

It is highly recommended that you discuss any concerns you have about COPPA compliance with a lawyer. The new rules are complex and have consequences beyond the content that you create or originate on your business website of online service. In addition, you can also email your questions to CoppaHotLine@ftc.gov.

Check out these related articles too:

Small Businesses Get a Leg Up with Financial Literacy

Michael Chodos — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:59:30 +0000

President Barack Obama recently proclaimed April National Financial Capability Month. Recognizing the importance of smart financial planning in achieving the American Dream, this month calls on individuals to empower themselves by seeking knowledge and tools for strong financial capability.

Nowhere is financial literacy more important than in the small business community. Small businesses are the embodiment of the American dream and the backbone of the American economy, creating 64 percent of the net new jobs created between 1993 and 2011.

Financial literacy for small business owners is imperative to making sound business decisions in an environment where financial services are often handled in-house. The success or failure of a small business in its early stages is often dependent on the financial capability of the enterprise’s leadership.

In this vein, the federal government is doing their part to promote financial capability and literacy for small businesses. Since its founding the U.S. Small Business Administration has helped secure millions of loans, loan guarantees, contracts, counseling sessions and other forms of assistance to small businesses.

Last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and U.S. Small Business Administration partnered to create Money Smart for Small Business, a training curriculum for new and aspiring business owners. The FDIC and SBA have also formed a Training Alliance for organizations that continues to support small businesses through training, technical assistance or mentoring.

The 10 modules in the instructor-led training curriculum provide introductory training for new and aspiring entrepreneurs on the basics of organizing and managing a business. In addition to grounding participants in the basics, the curriculum serves as a foundation for more advanced training and technical assistance. The modules are: Organization Types, Time Management, Financial Management, Record Keeping, Banking Services Available for Small Businesses, Credit Reporting, Risk Management, Insurance, Tax Planning and Reporting, and Selling a Small Business and Succession Planning

To date, over 12,000 copies of the Money Smart for Small Business curriculum have been ordered and more than 10 Training Alliance Members have implemented the curriculum. The program has been an invaluable tool for small business seeking to improve their financial capability and literacy. Small business owners, persons without formal business training, financial institutions, small business development centers, city/county economic development offices, faith-based organizations and others have found the program greatly beneficial.

Another government tool promoting financial literacy is Mymoney.Gov, a Website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education. Whether a person is buying a home, balancing their checkbook, or investing in their 401(k), the resources on MyMoney.gov can help individuals maximize each and every financial decision. In addition, the site contains important information from 20 Federal agencies and Bureaus designed to help them make smart financial choices.

These programs are easily accessible and simple to use with the click of a button.

From more information on Money Smart for Small Business or to order the curriculum visit http://www.sba.gov/moneysmart .

Join the US Government for #TradeChat and Get Your Exporting Questions Answered

Stephen Morris — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:15:44 +0000

Export, trade and finance related agencies across the federal government are teaming up during World Trade Month - May 2013 - to host a series of Twitter Q&A’s for U.S. companies. Businesses can participate by tweeting their questions using the hashtag #TradeChat during the scheduled times.

This Twitter chat series will provide U.S. companies with exporting solutions, including information on the resources available to begin or expand exporting goods and services to overseas markets. The Twitter chats will also provide an opportunity for firms to ask questions and connect directly with the U.S. government agencies that support President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI) and BusinessUSA.gov – a new one-stop resource for small businesses and exporters.

Schedule and topics:

Thursday, May 9^th at 2:00pm EDT: Export Opportunities

Information about export assistance, international business partnership programs, match-making, and market research will be shared. U.S. companies will also learn about the new BusinessUSA.gov website and how this one-stop resource can help businesses begin exporting or increase their exports.

Thursday, May 16^th at 2:00pm EDT: Financing

Export financing is often a key factor in a successful sale. U.S. companies should be aware of the many financing options available from U.S. government agencies to assist them with the export and trade process. This Twitter chat will provide firms with more information about the available financing options, including buyer financing, insuring foreign receivables, and working capital loans and guarantees.

Thursday, May 23^rd at 2:00pm EDT: Training and Travel Opportunities

U.S. government agencies often host training, webinars, workshops, seminars, trade missions and trade fairs for U.S. companies interested in doing business overseas. This Twitter chat will provide firms with the knowledge they need to utilize these resources and events and connect directly with foreign buyers.

Joining the discussion

To participate, at the starting time, sign into your Twitter account and submit a question on the topic using hashtag #TradeChat. Agencies will respond to as many Tweets and questions on the topic as possible. Questions can also be submitted in advance using the online form on http://www.ustda.gov/TradeChat.

For information the Twitter chat series, visit http://www.ustda.gov/TradeChat . A live feed of the chats will be broadcasted and archived on USTDA’s website for individuals who are not connected to Twitter.

Highlights from the Twitter chat series will also be available on Storify at

http://storify.com/USTDA/2013-world-trade-month-twitter-chat-series

Participating Agencies and Organizations

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency
International Trade Administration
Small Business Administration
BusinessUSA
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Export-Import Bank of the United States
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
D epartment of State

More Than Just a Sales Portal – 5 Ways to Jazz up Your Online Store

Caron_Beesley — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:42:19 +0000

What does your online storefront look like? How are you attracting customers to purchase a product they can’t touch, feel or try until it arrives on their doorstep?

This is a common, yet often overlooked, problem for small business owners who sell exclusively online through their own site or a third party site like Etsy or eBay. You might sell the most exquisite artisan product, but if you don’t present it effectively, shifting inventory might be harder than you think.

The lynchpin of small business success, whether online or off, often comes down to your differentiators – things like your core values, customer service and responsiveness, unique products, and community involvement.

But without a physical storefront or face-to-face contact with customers, how do you weave all this into your online marketing strategy? Here are five ways to jazz up your online store.

1) Tell Your Story

One of the easiest ways to connect and appeal to online consumers is to tell your story. If you’ve planned your business and marketing strategy, then you should know enough about your target market to know what resonates and from there develop an online content strategy that they will respond to. For example, say you run an online store that sells organic cupcakes, sourced from locally produced ingredients; you could showcase the inspiration behind the business using the “About Us” section. You could also elaborate from there to showcase the vendors that you work with to source your ingredients.

Don’t forget to introduce yourself and the team behind your business. What’s your story/passion? What did you do before this? How did you get started? What are your goals?

Use plenty of images and videos if you can. For example, post a quick video intro or welcome message to virtually greet your customers.

2) Use Polished and Engaging Images

Images are an essential part of any online store. Consider hiring a professional photographer or even a friend who’s good behind the camera to take good quality photos of the products you sell. Spend some time ensuring the photos are user-friendly from a flow and lay-out perspective; that they can be easily shared on social media; and are truly representative of your brand.

What about your logo? What does it say about your brand? Is it memorable? Again, it’s worth spending time and money getting it right.

Check out this quick video from Google and SBA that shows how Harlem, NY-based small business – Make My Cake – transformed its website and increased sales through the use of stylish imagery.

3) Build Community

Use social media to extend your online presence. Go where your customers are and give them the opportunity to interact directly with you – whether it’s Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn or online forums and message boards. Promote your social media presence on your website, in emails, etc. You can even branch out and extend your online store to Facebook. Read more in these blogs:

4) Ask for Feedback

Another effective way to engage with your customers beyond the transaction itself is to seek feedback. Online surveys, polls, and social media discussions all afford an opportunity to better get to know your consumers. Consider adding product rating or review options to your online store and keep an eye on your third party review listings (Yelp, OpenTable, Google+ Local, etc.).

5) Blog!

Blogs are incredibly important to online businesses – they improve your search engine rankings, personalize your website, give people a reason to keep coming back, and give you an indirect way to promote all that you do.

What should you write about? How do you get started? These blogs have loads of tips and are some of the most popular blogs on SBA.gov:

More Tips

For more tips for creating an engaging online experience, read guest blogger, SmallBizTrends’ Anita Campbell’s article: 8 Ways to Develop Online Content for Your Business – Even if You Hate to Write.

Hurricane Sandy Update-- Six months later, A Steady Recovery

James Rivera — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:07:40 +0000

It’s been six months since Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast and signs of recovery are emerging. Businesses are reopening, homeowners are rebuilding and communities are rebounding. I’m proud to say that the SBA, together with our federal partners, stepped-up to provide assistance to those affected by Sandy. SBA has approved more than 34,000 disaster loan applications for a dollar total of $2.2 billion – making Hurricane Sandy the third largest natural disaster in terms of SBA disaster lending in U.S. history.

One of these loans went to IceStone, LLC, a Brooklyn-based company that makes counter tops from recycled glass and cement. The five feet of salt water that flooded the 55,000 square-foot factory when Hurricane Sandy passed through New York destroyed machinery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. After deciding not to close the business, IceStone CEO Dal LaMagna applied for an SBA disaster loan. Despite the massive volume of applications the SBA was handling during the early recovery phase, “the employees at the SBA were still able and willing to respond rapidly at each of the stages of processing, approving, and funding our application,” LaMagna said.

By April, IceStone’s $988 thousand dollar loan was fully disbursed, and within days LaMagna and his 127 employees were back in the factory building countertops.

The deadline for homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private nonprofit organizations in New Jersey to apply for an SBA disaster loan for physical damages caused by Hurricane Sandy is May 1. Visit SBA’s Hurricane Sandy website for more information.

Our disaster recovery efforts haven’t just included loans to homeowners and businesses. Nineteen million dollars in grants will be delivered to our resource partners to expand counseling and training services for small businesses and SBA has played an integral role in awarding $190 million dollars in government contacts to small businesses involved in the Hurricane Sandy recovery. Through these additional means, we will continue to help those individuals and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy rebuild stronger and provide support for long-term recovery.

SBA Resource Partners Support Small Business Recovery

Small businesses recovering from the physical and economic impact of Hurricane Sandy can get both immediate and long-term help from SBA’s resource partners—the Small Business Development Centers, (SBDCs), SCORE, and Women’s Business Centers (WBC’s), through expanded services provided by a $19 million funding package approved by Congress.

$5.8 million has already been made available to SBA’s resources partners in the areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy to immediately ramp up existing counseling and training services. Our partners play a critical role in fostering economic development in those areas hard-hit, and businesses are encouraged to take advantage of the services.

SBA resource partners can now apply for an additional $13.1 million to provide long-term small business recovery, expansion and rebuilding strategies through innovative collaborative approaches between state and local community-based partnerships. This new process for building local recovery frameworks will help to integrate local economic recovery efforts and improve efficiency of services.

SBA resource partners interested in leading the recovery efforts from the second phase of funding have until June 5, 2013 to respond to the related request for proposal, Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Program Announcement (# OED 2013-002), which is posted to Grants.gov.

Government Contracting

So far $190 million dollars in government contacts have been awarded to small businesses involved in the Hurricane Sandy recovery. That means 28 percent of the federal contacting award dollars have gone to small businesses, with 17 percent of that total going to small businesses in New York and New Jersey.

Getting Stiffed: What Can You Do?

BarbaraWeltman — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:57:45 +0000

In business, it’s inevitable that sooner or later you won’t get paid for the goods you shipped or services you performed. Or you may have lent money to an employee or your business, but won’t be repaid. Being passive about the whole thing doesn’t help. Learn what you can do to get your money!

Collections
If a customer or someone else owes you money, it’s up to you to diligently try to collect. Invoices aren’t like fine wine -- they don’t get better with age. The longer you wait to collect, the less likely it becomes that you will collect all or even some of what you’re owed.

Collection efforts include:

In-house efforts. You or someone in your firm should contact the non-payer. Maybe the invoice was misplaced. Maybe the person just needs more time to settle up. Maybe you can work out terms to help the person pay what’s owed.
Sue in small claims court. If the amount outstanding is below the small claims limit in your area, you can quickly and easily proceed against the non-payer. Usually, you don’t need an attorney and the small claims court process is relatively inexpensive. For example, say you are a photographer who took pictures at a wedding but have not been paid because the couple didn’t like them. As long as you fulfilled your contract to take a certain number of pictures and they aren’t blurry or otherwise “bad,” you’ll likely win your claim when you present your case to the judge.
Attorneys. When your efforts fail to produce results, you can have an attorney help you. The attorney can send a letter to the non-payer, asking for prompt payment and stating that nonpayment can lead to your pursuing the claim to the fullest extent of the law.
Collection agencies. Instead of using an attorney, you might turn to a collection agency. Doing this means you won’t ever see the full amount you’re owed (the agency typically takes a percentage of between 25% and 40% of what it collects). For instance, say you’re owed $1,000 and agree to pay the agency 25% of anything it collects. After some time, it collects $600. You’ll only receive $450 ($600 - 25% fee). But something is better than nothing and leaving collection to professionals frees your time for other business matters. Check with your *Better Business Bureau when engaging a collection agency to see that they are reputable.

Tax write-offs
If you can’t collect what you’re owed, you may be able to at least take a tax deduction for your loss. Business bad debts are deducted on your business return as an ordinary write-off. For example, say you weren’t paid for a shipment of goods. After all collection activities have been used and you know that the funds are uncollectible (e.g., you shipped them to a company that has since gone out of business), you can deduct your loss.

When you lend money and are not repaid, determine whether it’s a business bad debt or a non-business bad debt. Clearly, if your company lends money to an employee who cannot repay the loan (e.g., he’s gone bankrupt), it’s a business bad debt. It gets tricky when you lend money to your corporation that doesn’t repay:

If you lent the money to protect your job, it’s a business bad debt and you can deduct whatever is not repaid as an ordinary business loss.
If you lent the money to protect your investment, it’s a nonbusiness bad debt. This is deductible only if the debt is wholly worthless. It is treated as a short-term capital loss (regardless of how long the debt was outstanding).

Caution: If you are on the cash method of accounting and are not paid for your services, too bad. Unfortunately, you can’t take a tax deduction for your lost time and effect.

Tax rules on deducting bad debts are in IRS Publication 535.

Lessons for the future
If collecting from tardy or delinquent customers has been a painful experience, don’t let it happen again. Change your payment arrangements so you are no longer in the position of having to collect after you’ve completed your job (e.g., shipped the goods; fulfilled the contract for services).

Get paid up front. This can be done by offering customers a wide range of payment options, such as cash, check, credit/debit card, or electronic payment (e.g., PayPal; AmazonPayments). Accept electronic payments on the spot using attachments from Square, Intuit, and others that turn your mobile devices into processors.

If you absolutely, positively must invoice, then adopt smart invoicing policies. Send them electronically and follow up if payment isn’t received promptly.

*denotes a non-government website

8 Things you Can Do to Be Taken Seriously as a Young Entrepreneur

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:11:03 +0000

Are you a teenager or in your early 20s? Do you have a great business idea? Perhaps you’re already making headway towards starting your own business.

But how do you get others to believe in you and your business idea?

Here are eight surefire ways that you can be taken seriously as a young entrepreneur:

1. Have a Plan

Having a plan means knowing where you want to be and what steps you are going to take to get there. If you can’t communicate this to investors, vendors, distributors, employees, and so on, you will never be taken seriously.

Case in point – SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011 – Mollie Breault-Binaghi. Now in her mid-20s, Mollie owns two successful graphic design and printing businesses in Vermont. With input from her boyfriend and her family, she spent considerable time working out the details of a business plan. “When you’re going to be investing not only money but your time, you need to invest an equal amount of energy laying it out on paper before you jump in,” Mollie said. (Read more about Mollie’s story here).

Not sure where to start with your business plan? Check out SBA’s online Build your Business Plan tool—a step-by-step guide to help you get started. Save your plan as a PDF file and update it at any time.

2. Be Serious About Your Passion

While Mollie’s advice for other young entrepreneurs is simple: “Plan!” she also added: “And you have to be passionate about it. Otherwise it’s not worth doing. Owning your own business is not easy and it’s not going to make you rich quick. You’re going to be in it for the long haul, so it’s got to be something you love.”

It’s inevitable that you are going to come across people who are going to try and talk you out of your idea—put your ear muffs on and stand your ground. Be proud of your idea, innovation, or business and be ready to showcase what you’ve done to get this far and what your plans are for the next step.

A few sure fire ways to demonstrate your commitment include:

Work at it – Be prepared to put the hours and weekends into your business.
Educate yourself and take educated risks! – Take advantage of free or low-cost business start-up workshops from your local business incubator, Small Business Development Center, Women’s Business Centers and more. Check out free online courses such as those offered by SBA in the Learning Center on this site. Learn about your industry but also what it takes to be a successful business leader/marketer/planner, and so on.
Stick at it through adversity – Nothing says commitment better than sticking with something even when you feel like throwing in the towel.
Identify what went wrong and learn from it.

3. Find a Mentor

Many young entrepreneurs struggle to succeed because they don’t have a mentor. Whether it’s a former boss, someone in your business network, or family friend, find a mentor who has experience in your field and has walked in your shoes before. Not only can a mentor provide valuable advice, they can also give you access to contacts, resources, and events that you might not otherwise have access to. If you can’t pinpoint a mentor, check out SCORE – a network of over 13,000 volunteer business mentors who have helped over 10,000 Americans start and grow their businesses.

4. Surround Yourself With the Right People

Just as it’s important to have a mentor, it’s also important to work on being around the right people – as much as you can. Surround yourself with the kind of people who are living the life you want to live or exemplify – they will challenge you and probably tell you things you don’t want to hear, but they’ll also tell you the things you have to hear. Look to entrepreneurial groups, experts in your industry, college professors – those who are respected in your industry or community.

5. Put Yourself in Environments That Will Allow You to Grow

Just as surrounding yourself with the right people will challenge your way of thinking, push yourself to seek out new possibilities beyond your comfort zone. As a series of young entrepreneurs explain this “Advice for Young Entrepreneurs” video from PHP Associates: “Putting yourself in an environment that causes you to be against the wall and maybe is a little uncomfortable, but being around it enough times you start to own it and you start to get a little bit more belief, in increments, in yourself and all that adds up to where you’re comfortable in your own shoes…”

6. Don’t Be Flash with Cash!

One of the surest ways to show you are serious about your business idea is to demonstrate that you can manage your cash and keep it flowing. Look for ways to keep costs low. Consider working part-time when you launch your company; this will help you build your business with less risk and provide you with a steady cash flow from another source. Once you’ve established a base, then transition to full-time business ownership.

You should also utilize technology and the resources around you to keep costs low – think of using garage space to store inventory instead of paying for a warehouse, or use social media to make the most of low-cost marketing.

7. Need Financing? – Do Your Homework

Securing financing as a young entrepreneur can be particularly challenging. Without a credit history or career history, finding someone who will entrust their money to you isn’t going to be easy. But with a solid business plan and commitment to success, investors are out there ready to take you seriously. Here are just some of the options that young entrepreneurs can explore:

Also read What Lenders Look For and Tips for Winning them Over.

8. Look Like a Pro

It goes without saying, or does it? Try to look like you are serious about what you are doing. Whether you are meeting customers, potential partners, mentors or investors – clean up your act. No, you don’t need to wear a suit all the time, but dress appropriately. “Remember, you might need to overcome some preconceived ideas about what teenagers are like, so be sure your looks and your language reflect the fact that you're serious about your business,” advises Young Enterpreneur’s, Adam Toren. “When communicating through email, use spell check and keep slang and abbreviations to minimum. If you're polite, professional and knowledgeable, your potential customers are sure to take you seriously.”

More Information

Young entrepreneurs can get more tips and practical guidance about starting a business in SBA’s online course: Young Entrepreneurs - An Essential guide to Starting Your Own Business. Also check out SBA’s Young Entrepreneurs guide for resources and programs to get you started.

Connect Atlanta: Building Robust Small Business Supply Chains

ngoriel — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:25:46 +0000

NOTE: This blog is by Cassius Butts, SBA Regional Administrator

Being a supplier to a large business is a game changer. But, we know that small businesses often lack the capital, skills and access to market opportunities to be effective suppliers. We want to change that!

That’s why the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the American Supplier Initiative, a federal government-wide initiative designed to increase government and commercial supply chain opportunities for small firms. This is important because small businesses who are suppliers to large corporations reported revenue growth of more than 250 percent and employment increased by more than 150 percent on average.

As a part of the American Supplier Initiative, the U.S. Small Business Administration is holding a series of supply chain events, in collaboration with federal agencies and private companies, throughout the country to provide the tools and resources needed for small businesses to become effective suppliers. And we want to make connecting your business to large companies easier and more efficient. The first of these events will be held in Atlanta, GA, on May 20^th. Here are the details. We hope to see you there.

WHAT: Connect Atlanta

WHERE: Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Building

77 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30303

WHEN: Monday, May 20^th, 2013, 10:00am – 5:30pm

For More Information and to RSVP: https://atlanta.mybusinessmatches.com/

Business Planning and the Crystal Ball and Chain

Tim Berry — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:28:36 +0000

I came up with the phrase “crystal ball and chain” years ago to describe one predictable barrier to introducing a useful business planning process into an existing small business.

The phrase is intended to combine the crystal ball with the ball and chain. It happens because normal people, even good performers, and stars on a business team, naturally worry about changes. And when compensation is involved, and management structure, and raises and bonuses, it’s only natural to worry.

Good planning involves setting performance goals and tracking results against the goals. Milestones and metrics, which mean setting numerical goals and then tracking performances, are essential.

It’s obvious how this kind of tracking can help a business perform better. The plan vs. actual analysis gives the whole team an objective way to look back at what they planned – the milestones and metrics, in this case – and analyze what happened.

Still, good people still worry, because that’s a very human reaction. Are they trying to get the goods on me to fire me later?

Those objections almost always come as objections to the idea of predicting the future. People will say:

"But how can I possibly know today what's going to happen six months from now? Isn't that just a waste of time? Can't it actually be counter-productive, because it distracts us, and we spend time trying to figure out things in the future?'

The right answer to this, from the leadership of the business or business team, is about collaboration and cooperation. Projecting future business activities isn't a ball and chain at all, because in the right planning process the existence of the plan helps you manage effectively.

Here's a concrete example: it's September and you are developing your plan for next year, which includes an important trade show in April. You plan on that trade show and set up a budget for expenses related to that trade show. Even though it's September, you have a pretty good idea that this will happen in April.

When January rolls around, though, it turns out that the trade show that normally takes place in April will be in June this year. Does that mean the plan was wasted time? Absolutely not! It is precisely because you have a plan running that you catch the change in January, move the expense to June, and adjust some other activities accordingly.

In this example, the plan isn't a brick wall you run into or a ball and chain that drags you down; no, it's a helpful tool, like a map or even a GPS device, because it helps you keep track of priorities and manage and adjust the details as they roll into view.

We’ve all seen how technology is changing our attention span and sense of time. And we’ve seen how technology allows us to work at all hours, and from any location. These changes make planning and management, working with good planning that focuses on milestones and metrics, more important than ever before.

7 Key Terms in the Affordable Care Act that Small Businesses Should Know

Meredith K. Olafson — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:47:02 +0000

The Affordable Care Act includes new health care reform terms used to describe parts of the law that affect small business. Understanding what these terms mean can help both self-employed individuals and small employers better navigate the law and take advantage of reforms that are helping to lower premium costs and increase access to quality, affordable health insurance.

Here are seven terms in the Affordable Care Act that small businesses should know.

1. Affordable Insurance Exchange

Also known as the health insurance “Marketplace,” the Affordable Insurance Exchange is a new transparent, competitive insurance marketplace where individuals and small businesses can purchase affordable and qualified health benefit plans. The Marketplace for small employers, known as the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), and the Individual Marketplace for consumers and those who are self-employed, will open in all states on January 1, 2014. Enrollment begins on October 1, 2013. To get the latest updates on enrollment, sign up for email and text alerts today.

2. Employer Shared Responsibility

Although employers are not required to provide health coverage to their employees under the Affordable Care Act, employers of a certain size will be subject to the Employer Shared Responsibility provision of the law. Under this provision, beginning in 2014, business owners with at least 50 full-time or full-time equivalent (FTE) employees that do not offer health coverage to their full-time employees may be subject to a shared responsibility payment under the health care law. A full-time employee is generally one who is employed an average of 30 or more hours per week. Businesses with fewer than 50 full-time or FTE employees are generally not affected by these provisions. To assist you, the IRS has developed a helpful set of Q&As.

3. Essential Health Benefits

The Affordable Care Act ensures that health plans offered in the individual and small group markets, both inside and outside of the health insurance Marketplace, offer a comprehensive package of items and services, known as essential health benefits. Essential health benefits must include services within at least ten core categories, among them emergency services; maternity and newborn care; prescription drugs; and preventive and wellness services. For more information on these requirements, visit healthcare.gov.

4. Individual Shared Responsibility

The Individual Shared Responsibility provision of the law applies to the self-employed and requires that each individual, beginning in January 2014, have basic health insurance coverage (known as minimum essential coverage) for each month, qualify for an exemption, or make a payment when filing a federal income tax return starting in 2015. Individuals will not have to make a payment under these rules if coverage is unaffordable, you spend less than three consecutive months without coverage, or you qualify for an exemption for several other reasons, including hardship and religious beliefs. To learn more, refer to this Fact Sheet from the U.S. Department of Treasury, as well as these Q&As, or consult with your tax professional.

5. Premium Tax Credits

When enrollment through the health insurance Marketplace starts in October 2013, consumers and self-employed individuals may be eligible for a new kind of tax credit you can use right away to lower what you pay for your monthly health plan premiums. Individuals who qualify can take the premium tax credit in the form of advance payments to lower their monthly health plan premiums starting in 2014, which can help make insurance more affordable. The value of the tax credit you’re eligible for depends on how much income your or your family expects to earn. Visit healthcare.gov to learn more.

6. Small Business Health Care Tax Credits

Although the Affordable Care Act does not require that businesses provide health insurance, it does offer tax credits for eligible small businesses that choose to provide insurance to their employees for the first time, or maintain the coverage they already have. To qualify for a small business health care tax credit of up to 35%, you must have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees, pay average annual wages below $50,000, and contribute 50% or more toward your employees’ self-only health insurance premiums. In 2014, this tax credit goes up to 50% and is available to qualified small businesses that purchase coverage in the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace.

7. Wellness Programs

A wellness program is defined as a program intended to improve and promote health and fitness that is typically offered through the workplace, although insurance plans can offer them directly to their enrollees. The program allows employers or plans to offer employees premium discounts, cash rewards, gym memberships, and other incentives to participate. The Affordable Care Act creates new incentives to promote employer wellness programs and encourage opportunities to support healthier workplaces. To learn more, visit healthcare.gov.

For more information and an extensive list of key terms under the health care law, consult this glossary provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and visit www.healthcare.gov.