The Economy This Week - New York Times
Higher prices for fuel and other resources are cutting into small-business spending plans, while consumer optimism continues to decline. Here’s a look at this week’s economic developments and how they might affect your business. Rising energy prices

Strategies: Small businesses sell on the web with PayPal - USA Today
Do you want to sell over the Internet — and actually get paid? Do you sell on the Web now but want to increase the pool of potential buyers? Then you’ll want to know about PayPal, the on the internet payment system celebrating its 10th anniversary this year

Fewer chemicals, more flash in pools - Detroit Free Press
Taking a dip in a backyard pool has never looked so refreshing. Today’s pools aren’t all the energy guzzlers or chemical soups of the past — like cars, new technologies have created efficient systems to treat and clean the pool, as well as light and

USAID Holds Small Business Conference and Procurement Fair - PR Newswire
WASHINGTON , J une 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The U.S. Bureau for International Development (USAID) held a Small Business and Procurement Fair this day in Washington, D.C. “Our key objective is to signal to the small business community that USAID is

Non-performing loans chip away at bank reserves - Chicago Tribune
Shaky loans on lenders’ books are rising at a faster pace than the reserves that banks are setting aside to cover potential losses. In Illinois, 45 percent of banks and thrifts with non-performing loans don’t have enough reserves to cover those

Baghdad restaurant returns to business with hope on the menu - Boston Globe
BAGHDAD - In late 2005, a suicide bomber stepped inside Qadori, a renowned restaurant nestled alongside the Tigris River and detonated his explosives-rigged belt. The blast killed seven employees and 22 customers and shattered a totem of Baghdad life

In any partnership, the issues to take into account are power, money and - Democrat and Chronicle
The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that one-third of new businesses do not survive more than two years and 56 percent won’t last more than four. Of course, no one starts a business planning to fail. Everyone enters into a partnership with

Before tying the knot, speak money - Miami Herald
Before the wedding cake is cut and the car with the ”just married” sign pulls away, couples considering marriage should speak finances. ”You don’t want to be a statistic,” said Elaine King, a certified financial planner for Gibraltar Private Bank

Bush nominates new SBA head - CNN Money
(Fortune Small Business) — President Bush has selected a new leader for the Small Business Administration: Santanu “Sandy” Baruah, who currently heads the Economic Development Administration at the Department of Commerce and has been a member of the

Read all posts by Jennifer Guevin in News Blog - CNET News
Some people might be embarrassed if their friends found an old copy of Mr. Big’s “To be with you” or Paula Abdul’s “Cold hearted (snake)” stashed away in their CD collection. But not EMI. They own those songs, and they want the world to know it. The

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In my last post today, I talked about a new course from the SBA describing the types of loans they have available.  Here’s the second new course from the SBA.

The second one, How to Package a Loan Request,  discusses the stipulations for putting together a loan.

It also includes a list of “realities” about small business loans that is worth noting:

Reality 1:  There’s no such thing as 100% financing.  You will be required to put something into the business, sometimes “sweat equity,” but usually cash.

Reality 2: Your credit history is important.  If you have a great credit history- 650 and above - you have a superior chance of getting a loan than if your credit is poor.

Reality 3: The lender (i.e., bank) will probably require your personal guarantee.  There’s almost no way around it, so if you’re not prepared to do this, don’t get the loan.  In my experience, it doesn’t matter if you set up the business as a corporation or LLC to try to minimize your liability, the personal guarantee will still require you to pay back the loan if the business doesn’t succeed.

Reality 4: There are no government grants available for profit-making businesses.  Don’t let scam artists tell you they have the ability to help you get a government grant; they can’t.  There aren’t any.

Reality 5: The SBA does not lend money.  The SBA provides a guarantee to the lender for a percentage of the loan (75% to 85%, depending on the type of loan and amount), so if you default, the bank gets at least some of its money back.

I am always happy to answer questions (this is what I do for a living), as long as you recognize that I’m not an attorney or CPA, and I don’t give financial, tax, or legal advice.

Tags: baby boomers, business loans, Small Business Administration, small businesses

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Filed under: Estates

It’s not exactly ski season but today’s estate in Vail, Colorado is probably fun in the summer time too. The five-bedroom mountain home has a contemporary style that combines the rustic and the modern to great effect. It is on 1.2 acres of land and includes a massive four-bedroom guest home which brings the total bedrooms on the property to nine. The main house has views of the Gore Range Mountains and surrounding aspen forest from massive floor to ceiling picture windows. In addition to huge living, dining and kitchen spaces there’s also a family and recreation room, Jacuzzi and dry sauna. The home has ski-in access and walking distance to ski slopes and town. The home is zoned duplex so the main house and guest house could be sold off separately, there is also the opportunity to add approximately 4,000 square feet to the home in case 4,360 square feet is too small for you. This home is listed at $10.95 million.

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Continue reading Forest Road, Estate of the Day

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Over the next few days, I’ll be providing information on getting a loan for your small business - you know, the one you want to start after you “retire.”

First,  the Small Business Administration has two new on the web courses (really just PowerPoints) that provide information about the types of loans available and how to package a loan.

The Guide to the SBA Small Business Loan Programs gives you information on the types of loans available from the SBA, including their basic 7(a) loan, specialized loans (for women, minorities, veterans, etc.), and Micro-loans (small loans under $35,000).

Next, how to package a loan request….

Tags: baby boomers, business loans, business owners, sba, Small Business Administration

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Pimp Your Work

If you often find yourself with ruffled feathers when dealing with collaborative works, then you might want to check out SpiceBird.

SpiceBird is an application that combines Instant Messaging, Email, Calendar and Task Management – applications essential for collaborating – under one application. Setting up is a swift, smooth and easy process. Once you’ve it up and running, you’ll be prompted to setup your mail and instant messaging accounts.

The interface is clean and quite simple to grasp. The instant messaging function is quite limiting, allowing only Gmail and Jabber accounts to be used.

The mail function features instant setup for Gmail accounts and, though it doesn’t offer automatic settings for other email services such as Yahoo Mail, you can manually add other email accounts.

The calendar tab offers multiple views: daily, weekly, and monthly and adding tasks and events on it is a easy point-and-click chore. SpiceBird also offers a built-in RSS reader that can manage feeds from your favorite sites.

While the current setup of SpiceBird might seem quite paltry, given its beta stage nature, the software shows a lot of potential to be a great tool for superior collaboration.

SpiceBird is compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista (32-bit) and Intel-based Linux.

Screencapture by Celine Roque from Blue Rabbit Media

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This is a trailer for a new book called “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need”. I know that it’s just a trailer, but already I’m curious about it. First of all it’s a comic book, and being the comic geek that I am I could go on and on about the versatility of the medium (but I won’t). I’m gonna see if I have the ability to pick this up. Has anyone read it? Care to share your thoughts on the book?

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How to make small businesses last - News-Star
Question: I plan to own and work in my own small business for at least 10 more years. But I would like to eventually sell it to my employees. I know that most small businesses do not last past the first owner. What should I be thinking about now to

Visa seeks to ease pain at the pump with new procedures - Atlanta Business Chronicle
Visa plans new procedures to ease pains at the pump [Phoenix] Visa teams up with Facebook on small business network [Atlanta] Visa launches business network on Facebook [Wichita] Visa Inc. is changing the way fuel buys on plastic are processed

Indian-American nominated as Administrator of SBA - Deccan Herald
An Indian-American, Santanu K Baruah, has been nominated for the post of Administrator of the Small Business Administration. Baruah, who is currently serving as Assistant Secretary for Economic Development in the Department of Commerce, was nominated

Attempted loan fraud charged - Times Union
The money was used to purchase P.W. Stephens Residential Inc., a California asbestos-abatement firm, in 1998. Norris is accused of trying to defraud AT&T Small Business Lending/CIT Small Business Lending, which provided the loan.

Bank of America earnings slip - Baltimore Sun
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - If the 77 percent drop in Bank of America ’s first-quarter earnings is any indication, the economy may have a long way to go before it works out the problems that began with the subprime mortgage crisis. Yestertday the nation’s

Initiative also has relief for business owners - Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
In the flurry of confusion as say legislators hammered out a property tax relief bill, a piece of it — which could save small businesses money — got tiny attention. Now, the plan that legislators say would keep a million small-business owners

Dickie Scruggs gets 5 years in prison in bribery scheme - Los Angeles Times
OXFORD, MISS. — There were women in pearls, men in seersucker — enough well-heeled Mississippians to conjure up a charity auction or summer fete. They were crowded Friday into a small wood-paneled federal courtroom behind a long line of sober, dark

Cisco sets major greenhouse target - Network World Fusion
Broadband Ethernet Metro Ethernet MPLS Routers WAN Optimization Clear Choice Tests IT Buyer’s Guides Whitepapers Webcasts Value of WDS Cisco is a member of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Leaders program, involving

What’s new in the business scene - Poughkeepsie Journal
Business adviser receives state honor - Myriam Bouchard, a certified business adviser at the Mid-Hudson Region Small Business Development Center in Kingston, has received the Association of Small Business Development Centers’ top honor for New York

Survey: Small business owners curtail spending - MSN MoneyCentral
Small business owners are saving and spending less, as consumer goods and fuel costs soar to record levels. That’s according to the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey, which found that more than one-third of the 600 surveyed said

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Baby boomers, please congratulate my husband - he’s officially retiring this day. Well, to be exact, he’s leaving the full-time job he’s been in since 1980, leaving behind many friends and a lot of very productive work.

But he’s not going to be sitting around the house - God forbid! He has some part-time opportunities and plenty of projects to do here at home, including finishing the new garage and some hobbies he’s been wanting to pursue. And he wants to spend more time with the grandkids. He’ll be 62 in October, so he’s not really retiring early. Or is he?

He’s uncommon because he is getting an actual PENSION. My retirement expert tells me over 70% of baby boomers will not have a pension to count on, so they will have to manage their 401K’s, IRA, etc.

Does all of this sound familiar? When are you thinking of giving up that full-time job? I’m ready to join him.

Tags: baby boomers, retirement, retirement planning

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My final question for Customer Service Week: Do you talk with customers about your personal life?

In some professions, you’ve little opportunity to talk to customers about yourself. You’re busy doing the work or sending off the product. But in many professions, you interact with customers, and there is plenty of time to speak about yourself. But should you?

Two schools of thought on this one:

School A: You should remain focused on the business, on the customer, giving the ideal service possible.  Chatting about yourself not only reveals information that’s personal and not appropriate, it also distracts from your main purpose of business.

School B: Providing some personal information works to your advantage, because the customer sees you as a “Real Person” rather than a business person.  It feeds into the “know/like/trust” phenomenon:  When people get to know and like you, they trust you.  If you want to establish a long-term relationship with customers, you must give them information about you/your family/your hobbies, etc., so they get to know you, like you, and trust you.

OK, so what do you think?  Vote on my POLL.  Let me know.

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This is an easy one for me.  My epiphany, my moment of realization, came from reading The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. 

The concept is simple:  Work ON your business as if you were going to duplicate it, not IN your business, just “doin’ it, doin’ it, doin’ it.” In other words, figure out the system that will make your business work, so you can rest and do what you do best.

I love this concept.  It makes intuitive sense to me and I love systems (I’m an organizer and planner by nature).  So starting out a business with a plan is simple for me.

My “day job” is teaching people how to begin their businesses, and I always tell them to read The E-Myth, so they can learn how to begin it right.  Some do, some don’t, but at least they get the general idea.

If you’re a baby boomer considering starting a business, this is the only book you’ll need.  Seriously.

Tags: baby boomers, business opportunities, Michael Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited

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