Tag Archives: small
What's An SBA Loan?
What’s An SBA Loan? If you’re thinking about starting up a home business, then you’ve most likely thought long and hard about what exactly your business enterprise will be about and whom it will serve. Indeed, despite what some may say, the fortune is not in the product, nor even in the service, but it is in the shopper, and in knowing your customer’s wants, needs and issues. In fact, by simply asking your potential clientbase what problems they are having, they will in fact build your product or service for you and that will take sometimes years off of your quest to financial freedom. However, even with the perfect product or service, if you don’t have a proper place of business and the equipment to do the job, you won’t be in business for very long. And this is where financial tools such as the SBA loan come into play.
But what in fact is an SBA loan? And is it something that will help you create a winning business? First off, the SBA loan is a bit of a misnomer. In fact SBA stands for Small Business Association. As well as the group itself doesn’t in actuality hand out loans to tiny organizations. Produced in 1953, the objective on the SBA is always to guide make sure competitiveness inside the marketplace by educating modest enterprise owners concerning the procedure of obtaining business loans as well as will support them in approaching financial institutions along with other lending institutions. The concept right here is the fact that eventually the good results or failure you’ve in acquiring a mortgage comes solely from how ready you might be. But, the SBA can help you get ready and teach you what you have to know so that you can set your greatest foot forward.
So, if an SBA loan is all about education and learning, you might be wondering if it will help you? After all, you just want a short term loan to start your small business, you don’t necessarily want to go back to school to get it right? The problem with this “shortcut” style of thinking is that it will inevitably lead to problems for you down the line. Consider for a moment that with the economic crisis, banks and other loan merchants are tightening up and changing the requirements that must be met to obtain a loan. In order to be successful in this undertaking, you need to know as much as possible about all the processes and procedures that go into an SBA loan, as the more you know, the better impression you will make on the banks.
Considering the above, things like SBA loan are very important to the success of your organization as it will cut down on the time it takes to get the cash flow you may need. If you can show to the bank that you have knowledge of what is going on, they will be more likely to give you the loan.
How to Prepare for Government Grants to Start a Business
The fact is that the US government gives out billions in government grants to start a business each year. Sound like a lot of money? Well would you believe that the federal government gives away a total of $25 billion in domestic business aid, all together each year?
However; the truth of the matter, is that in spite of there being such a large available pool of money, competition is stiff. This of course means that the people who are the most prepared and knowledgeable, generally tend to walk away with the lions share.
The First Thing to Do
The very first thing that you need to do is to come up with a complete and comprehensive business plan. Not just a good plan but rather, an excellent plan. Consider using the Internet to conduct your market demand research.
Your plan should also demonstrate your complete familiarity with all the products involved in the business you are proposing. You should also be able to demonstrate a complete familiarity with employee wage scales for the type of labor performed in the course of your business.
The Second Thing to Do
The second thing you can do, is to begin to work on your presentation skills. You see, you have to understand that aside from all the paperwork you’ll have to submit, there will be personal interviews. People you will have to convince that your plan is viable.
The Third Thing to Do
The third thing that you will need to do is to familiarize yourself with the entire process of getting government grants to start a small business. This is no time to learn on the fly. There’s just too much at stake. Consider paying for the services of a consultant.
1) Before you start applying for grants, make sure that you have your business planned meticulously. Be prepared with an excellent business plan, with the exact amounts and figures that you require in every aspect of your business such as overhead, manpower, facilities and other expenses. Once you have the figures in place, add an extra 25-30% to this amount as a contingency measure to safeguard you against unexpected expenditure. A well-planned business plan could work wonders towards you obtaining a good grant to help you with your business.
2) Engage in the services of a consultant to help you find and obtain a small business grant. Although this may prove to be slightly costly to you, but the experience and knowledge that the consultant brings for your grant application could prove to be priceless, and may be the deciding factor in you obtaining it, or failing in your bid.
3) Use the internet and available website to good effect. Visit relevant sites such as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) where you could find a list of small business grants that you could apply for, as well as the Small Business Administration (SBA) website where you would discover all the information required in regards to grant applications here. Other useful sites especially for women entrepreneurs include usagovernmentgrants.org, and of course grants.gov, a government-linked site where your grant-seeking activities could bear fruit.
4)Do not forget to work on your presentation skill as well, as you would be required to present in front of a grant-awarding committee. Thus be prepared to impress them with your proposal, and all the best in obtaining the small business grant for yourself!