Conquering Confidence Killers For Small Business Success

Writen by Peggie Arvidson-Dailey”The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear”. — William Jennings BryanWhether you’re generally a self-confident person, or someone continually plagued by self- doubt, you’ll recognize some of these confidence killers if you:? Are overly dependent on the thoughts or opinions of others;? Avoid meeting new people because you’re afraid you won’t fit in, be liked, or be accepted;? Focus on unrealistic expectations (“I must do each job perfectly”; “If one person is unhappy then I have failed”);?

Click to continue reading

Give Yourself A Raise Get An Assistant

Writen by Sandra MartiniIs your “to do” list longer than your arm? Are you so busy taking care of the urgent that you never get to the important? Do you consider the thought of getting some help but then think “I can’t afford it” or “No one can do it as well as I can”?If so, you’ve got a lot in common with most other small business owners.Owning your own business is a great achievement and requires you to wear a lot of hats: owner, marketer, finance manager, widget maker/service provider, etc.

Click to continue reading

SEC Forum: “Small Business Capital Formation and the Credit Crises,” Nov. 20 — LIVE WEBCAST and Q&A Opportunity

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold its annual forum on small business capital formation on Nov. 20, 2008. SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan will co-moderate the opening roundtable panel: “Small Business Capital Formation and the Credit Crises,” 9:15 a.m. ET. Panel participants will provide an update on access to credit and capital with regards to bank lending, venture capital, alternative forms of financing, the SBA loan program and other issues.You can view the agenda, register for the event, or tune into the webcast live at www.sec.gov.

Click to continue reading

Do You Really Need a Virtual Assistant?

A lot of business owners eventually come to the decision that they could benefit from employing a part time virtual assistant to help manage some of the clerical or administrative work that goes along with business management. Other business owners reach the conclusion that there is really no need to do this since, after all, noboby knows their business better than them, so they are obviously best equipped to handle everything.

Click to continue reading

Lawsuits Jack Up Health Care Costs

Small business owners understand the costs of a runaway legal system. They have experienced, or fear that they will experience, a frivolous, costly lawsuit that damages or even sinks their business.However, lawsuit costs affect small businesses, their employees and the economy in other ways as well. For example, there is the matter of health care costs. Again, small business owners understand the high costs of health care coverage.

Click to continue reading

How to Register a New Business

How to form a business – corporation or LLC
To form a business with the right legal paperwork for city and state, as well as enable your business to accept money through credit cards, there are basically three options.

Pay a lawyer – Spend a couple thousand dollars for a lawyer to file the paperwork, with the cost depending on the scope and nature of your business
File online with a company who wants to help you for a fee – expect to pay around $300 in addition to the state and city fees as they guide you through the process
File yourself through the Secretary of State and Department of Revenue

How to file a business yourself with state authorities
The state is generally not very good at making it clear and easy how to start your own business.

Click to continue reading

Government Grants For Small Business …. Myths And Facts

Following is from a rather insightful exchange between Alan Beckley and Joseph Graben in response to a question from John Madigan at Linked-In.com.There seem to be several on-line services that promise to help you find and secure government grants for small business. Most appear to be less than legitimate. (Actually all of them are … read on).So, just what is myth and what is fact when it comes to government grants for small businesses?To the best of my knowledge, outside of grants awarded under the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs there are no federal “grants” aimed at small businesses.

Click to continue reading

When Your Credit Line Is Pulled

Think you still have that line of credit? You may want to check. Banks have yanked them away with few exceptions and little apology. Those in seasonal businesses where a credit line carried their business into the next cycle are particularly to vulnerable this lack of access to capital. If you use a bank credit card the same way, make sure you don’t miss a payment or you are facing a Tony Soprano-like hike in your interest rate.Here is an article posted by Sam Thacker on the Dun & Bradstreet web site AllBusiness.com. Sam provides some good advice in case you wake up and find you line of credit has disappeared.Read the story here.