entrepreneurship tips

It is amazing how many new businesses are bought during times of recession and also how many of them do well. It just shows us that it isn’t always a bad idea to invest in your own business, even when times are tough. People that do well in a recession are those who see an opportunity in something that will prosper, and then make an investment. If looking at starting a business now, you have to invest in a company that is likely to continue being successful during times of recession.

Another reason a lot of new businesses start during a recession, is because a lot of people have been made redundant. It is a fact that many new businesses that start up during a recession become very successful.

It is definitely wiser to invest in a business for yourself that already has a proven track record, rather than start one from scratch. Franchising is one option, but be careful not to take too much of a risk. You need to have plenty of money put aside, apart from that which you invest.

Nowadays, online businesses are the rage. It is far easier to market to a world of customers out there, rather than the few that surround you in your daily lives. In most cases the company that you market for will train you and do all the administration for you, leaving you free to do your marketing and not have to worry about the petty stuff.

When looking at an online business to invest in, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are the products things that everyone needs? Are the
products in demand?
2. Are the set up and operating costs low? How much labor will
you need? If starting an online business, you can do away
with labor most of the time.
3. Make sure that the products are patented and are hard to copy
by competitors.
4. Products should not be sold on credit terms. Make sure all
products are paid for there and then with credit cards or
cash transactions.
5. Is the business legal?
6. Is the business portable? You should be able to do business
any place or time of the day with lap top computers. Is the
business International?
7. Are you provided with ongoing training and support 24/7?
Does the company that you invest in keep up to date with all
the latest happenings?
8. Are the company’s websites attractive to new prospects?
9. Does the company assist you with your sales with automated
systems in place, so that you can concentrate on marketing
and other ventures?
10. Does the company pay your salary up front and in full?

It is very important that you take the above into consideration, before investing your hard earned cash. Be very wary of companies that promise to make you a millionaire overnight. Most legitimate businesses will take hard work and dedication to get good results. There are a lot of individuals, who have become rich beyond their wildest dreams using the internet to market, and joining a lucrative company online, but they all have one thing in common, they WORK HARD to achieve their dreams.
http://ashes2riches.com

About the Author

Michel Maling
http://ashes2riches.com
Don’t let your fear of failure be greater than your desire to succeed.

Your Dream Job:Be Your Own Boss

Instead of dreaming about a life they wanted, entrepreneurs worked extremely hard to become their own boss and create their perfect lifestyle. It is simply human nature to want the life less ordinary. It is no wonder that with the perfect lifestyle, all of us want the perfect job.

What We Hate About Working for Others

We will also, inadvertently, come up with deadlines of which we need to find another job by. The frustration usually builds making us desperate for another job.

Figure Out What You Hate About Employment with Others

Bottom line, you need to figure out what you hate about your job or what you hate about being employed by someone else. Another important question you should be addressing is how you felt about your job while you were in the work place environment. Asking yourself specific questions will help give your future business an excellent managerial foundation. Many people will work a job they hate if they love the people or environment they work in. Depending on what your job was, you should tailor your own questions for you to answer.

Writing Your Business Plan

Some will find a quiet room in their home while others will find a coffee shop to be a place where they can gather their thoughts. When compiling the various components of your overall business plan, you should not just consider my questions, but many other questions that will be custom designed questions for your particular type of business. The last section discussed how to look at the job, career, or company you worked for and how to organize your thoughts about it logically so you could learn to come up with a clear plan of what you liked and disliked about your job, career or company.

What is Your Hobby? Figure Out what you want to do for Profit.

When you think of your hobby, what do you love about doing it? What do you enjoy to do with any spare time you can get? Hobbies are fun to do, but unless you can get to the meat of what a hobby is or even how to market it, a hobby will never become profitable. The idea of this section is to help you focus on one specific aspect of a hobby and mold it into a profitable business. Try to incorporate this idea into all of the ideas you have already sketched out for your business model.

Look at similar Businesses Get Ideas

If you are going to create a profitable yet sustainable business, you will need to research your competition initially, but also continuously throughout your new career if you are going to stay fresh and competitive in your hobby’s industry. Researching your competition is a bold yet important step you need to take before turning a hobby into a profit. For example, if you decide you want to do auto repair, the competition you will likely run in to will be competition within the same town or county where you will open your business. Once you have figured out the type of business you are going to have, (for example, refinishing furniture), you need to start researching the competition to get a deeper grasp on your business model, but also to see what others are doing. Many business owners are happy to discuss this, so this very well may prove to be quite valuable to the start of your business. You should reflect on the competition and compile it in your overall business plan figuring out different aspects of how you will market your product and how it will compare with the competition in the industry.

Rinse and Repeat

Through doing this “rinse and repeat” technique, you will be expanding your business continuing to improve your profit margins for your business.

Finalize your Business Plan. What Needs To Happen Next:Legally, Education, and Financially.

Do you need any licenses or education? How about how you register with your town, county or state as a business? What type of equipment will you need to help your business along? This important aspect of research comes with finalizing your business plan and is a crucial step before officially opening your business. Once you have figured out what you need to do legally or what type of licenses or education you need to be able to open your business, you need to incorporate these important aspects into your business plan.

Educate Yourself in Sales. very important

People can be particularly difficult to convince to buy your product so learning the art of sales through example, through occupation or through reading books written by the sales experts will help you get a handle on this important aspect of your business. Another aspect of turning a hobby into a profitable business is learning how to sell a product, any product, to another individual. If you decide this to be a method of your choice, make sure you find a salesman, any salesman, so you can incorporate everything you learned in the book to a realistic situation. Some entrepreneurs will learn sales from a job in sales.

Create. Design. What works with your business model?

Adding different aspects of your hobby into your business will pull revenue from different avenues and will help you expand your business at a faster rate. You should plan to “edit” your business plan after you open your business once you have figured out what will work in your model and what won’t work in your model.

About the Author

Within minutes of signing up for my account I
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#1. Like it or not, you are one year older.

Long hard hours are what built your business and long hard hours have kept it running. How many more years of your life are you willing to invest in your business? Wouldn’t you prefer to reap the rewards of that hard work instead?

#2. This recession was either a shot across the bow or it may have hit the boat.

It is difficult to get a clear picture of how hard this recession has been on small businesses. To get a glimpse, we can look at the increased bankruptcy numbers and the peak unemployment rates. Even if you’ve kept all your employees and managed to keep your business afloat, we can pretty much guarantee your business isn’t what it was four years ago.

#3. The next upswing may be the last one you’ll see before you are in your 70′s.

In real estate, the saying is ‘location, location, location’. With business exits, the saying is ‘timing, timing, timing’. If we then look to the transfer spectrum chart, it indicates that the next exit ‘window’ is fast approaching from 2013 to 2018. If you are in your late 50′s or early 60′s, the window after this one puts you in your 70′s. How long will it take you to assemble your plan, your team, align your business and get prepared, both personally and within the business, for your exit?

#4. More than ever, your kids probably don’t want the business.

Less than one-third of family-owned businesses survive the transition from the first generation of ownership to the second – and only 13 percent of family businesses remain in the family over 60 years. Why such challenging longevity statistics? It could be in part the added challenges that come with running a family owned business or, quite possibly, the many hurdles that can come with succession of that business. Take the time to analyze your exit options to determine which one works best for you as well as for your children. You may be surprised at what you decide.

#5. Recessions make us realize how much is at risk.

Most often, the majority of a business owner’s wealth is tied to their privately held business. In addition, most of these owners depend upon that business for income, perks, and for the overall maintenance of their lifestyle. You are not alone if this recession has made you realize how much of your financial well-being is at stake in your business.

#6. Building it back up is a long road, make sure you know how it ends.

It has been a difficult recession for most business owners. With the glimmer of an economic recovery, now is the time to decide the ultimate direction for your business to make the most of this upturn. Building your company back up is going to take a lot of work, so make sure you are working in the right direction. If you align the growth of your business with your exit option, you’ll have a much smoother and more successful transition.

#7. Banks are back, but maybe not forever.

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 allowed for the creation of a $30 billion fund run by the Treasury Department that is being used to deliver capital to banks with less than $10 billion in assets. The idea is that community banks do the lion’s share of lending to small businesses, and pumping capital into them will get money in the hands of small business.* This financial support is something business owners can take advantage of now, but no one knows how long it will last.

#8. Capital gains tax rates are frozen for 2 more years.

The recently extended tax cuts have maintained the current maximum tax rate for qualified long-term capital gains and topping out at 15% through December 31, 2012. Without the extension, capital gains were slated to rise to a high of 20% – something that may now occur in 2012**.

#9. Life plans have advanced.

Recessions force us to consider our personal priorities. Have you considered your personal goals? What are your conclusions? Is there a life beyond a business? Perhaps you are ready now, more than ever before, to begin enjoying the fruits of your labor in your business by transitioning your focus to your personal life.

#10. Resolve to let business challenges be the other guy’s problem.

Becoming mentally prepared to exit your business may be harder than you’d expect. Exiting a business that has been built by years of hard work and dedication can be a difficult emotional hurdle. How involved are you in the day to day operations of your business? What will you do with your time when you are no longer running the business? Make a resolution to get prepared for the next stage of your life – this will allow you to think clearly throughout the exit process so that the decisions you make are based on objective criteria instead of the subjective way in which you feel about the exit.

Concluding Thoughts
We hope that these ten (10) reasons got you thinking about planning your exit in 2011. And remember that a proactive approach to exit planning is the best approach.
* Cnn money.com, September 16, 2010, Catherine Clifford
**Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2010, JANET HOOK and JOHN MCKINNON

About the Author

Specializing in Business Exit Strategies, John M. Leonetti, Esq., M.S. Finance, CM&AA founded Pinnacle Equity Solutions to provide advisors with the tools they need to incorporate Business Exit Planning into their advisory practices. To learn more about John’s Exit Strategy Services and to receive a FREE copy of his special report, “How To Incorporate Exit Strategies Into Your Advisory Practice”, visit Pinnacle Equity Solutions

You probably won’t achieve every financial goal. But you can go further than you think.
What are your top financial objectives?
Most people, when asked that question, answer with general goals, such as achieving financial security.
The fact is, many of us haven’t thought much about which financial objectives really matter most. Instead, we struggle through our financial lives, spending to meet the day-to-day expenses that dominate our attention.
That approach risks leaving your most important objectives unfulfilled.
That’s what this lesson is all about: helping you identify the financial goals that matter most to you and making sure they happen.
That’s not as easy as it sounds, since financial goals continually collide with one another. Paying for a child’s braces may take money that would normally go into his college fund, for example. And saving effectively for your kids’ college can wipe out any hope of putting aside adequate money for your own retirement.
That’s why to get what you want most you must:
1) Decide which goals will take priority
2) Work toward the lesser goals only after the really important ones are well provided for.
Fortunately, you have at least one ally in meeting your long-range goals: time. That’s an advantage because of the power of compounding – the fact that even a small amount of money can earn interest, and that each year that interest gets applied to a growing sum of money.
Suppose, for example, you put aside only the cost of a single candy bar – about 65 cents – each day. Invested in a tax-deferred account paying 5% a year compounded monthly, that string of savings would grow to $3,073 in just 10 years and to $16,470 in 30 years.
For other examples of the way that money can grow over time, try CNNMoney.com’s Savings Calculator.
To put the power of compounding on your side, you have to start early. Suppose there are two siblings who both invest in Individual Retirement Accounts earning 8% a year.
The sister starts at age 20, and for the next 10 years she stuffs $3,000 a year into her IRA. At age 30, though, she stops and never adds another penny.
Her brother waits until age 30 to get started, but then dutifully puts away $3,000 a year for the rest of his life. Which sibling do you think will be better off?
In this case, the early bird will always be ahead. The sister reaches age 65 with more than $642,000, while her brother will have a little under $518,000 – about 20% less.
Of course, it’s far better to start early AND keep it up. If both siblings started saving $3,000 a year in an IRA at 20, and kept it up until retirement, each would end up with nearly $1.2 million.
The point is that to put time on your side, you need to decide early which of the many possible financial goals are really worth pursuing – and start working toward them.
To get started, make a list of all the things that you’d need to feel secure, happy or fulfilled. These can range from the weighty (getting out of debt) to the luxurious (Lamborghini). You don’t need to prioritize them yet.
But you should try to put down all of the money-related things that will really get your motor started. And if you have a spouse or significant other, do this exercise together! Here are some common goals you may want to consider:
* Accumulating enough savings to handle an emergency situation
* Buying a house
* Getting out of debt – and staying out
* Ensuring that your parents are comfortable and well taken care of in their old age
* Paying for your children’s college education
* Amassing enough wealth to retire comfortably
Once you have your list in hand, get started on to the next section, where you’ll determine which of these goals are most important to you. Start now do not wait until it’s to late.

http://www.411entrepreneurmindset.com

About the Author

Online Entrepreneur

The main and biggest challenge that every internet marketers face is getting organize. I see that almost every beginner in internet marketing has the problem to organize and it starts with choosing the marketing strategies, because you can’t be organize if you not know what to do. You know that there are a lot of strategies out there and we want to use them all, because we want to get the biggest results.

But this is one of the biggest mistakes that you can do in your business, start to apply all these strategies and expect great results. Why is this big mistake? Because you will get results only if you are good in specific strategy. And you can’t be expert in 10 different strategies within 30-60 days.

It takes about 6 months to really master marketing strategy. In one of my previous article Discover the proven marketing strategies for online business I was talking about that. So if you did not read this article go and read it.

The next challenge is to create a step by step (day by day) plan and stick with your plan. What I mean by that? That you create at least week schedule with exact action steps and you follow your plan. One thing is to create action plan, but you have to also follow your plan in order to get some results. So you need choose few strategies that you decide master and stick with these strategies until you have good results. It takes about 3 months.

One of the biggest mistakes is to chose for example article marketing, write 8 articles and if you are not satisfied with results, you pick video marketing and you create 8 videos. After 2 weeks you are again not satisfied with your results and you jump to another strategy. Why people do that? Because they thing that this strategy is not working for them, so they will choose another one. The fact is that they just not learn how to do it properly.

So my advice is to choose 3, 4 strategies and one of them should be paid strategy, create step by step plan and stick with your plan. This is the biggest challenge that every internet marketers face, because it is very easy to be bombarded with different kind of strategies, offers and try to apply all of them.

So for example if you choose content marketing, email marketing, facebook and Google is there a need to watch trainings and read emails on for example banner advertising? The answer is no, because you will be wasting your time and what is the value that you will watch training on banners if you do not have this strategy in your portfolio?

So you choose your strategies and what you need to do is to learn about these strategies and take action. The key to success is persistence. You need to persist in order to get great results, because if you persist you will learn by action and you will get your momentum. Imagine if you write 3 articles per week. After 3 months you will have around 36 articles out there and if you follow what you learned about article marketing you can have a lot of leads for your business.

My conclusion is simple. Choose strategies, create action plan, learn this strategies and take action.

About the Author

For more informations visit http://JiriMajkus.com, download my Free Lead Generation and Traffic Report and discover the Cutting Edge Marketing Strategies which will bring you hundreds of new leads for your business.

Burnell Moliere is a dynamic businessman from Norco, Louisiana and is well known for his humanitarian deeds. He is the founder and CEO of AME Services which is one of the finest facility maintenance firms. He has got excellent communication and management skills which have helped him in driving his facility maintenance firm to success. Burnell Moliere donates his time and money for noble causes and tries to help the needy and downtrodden whenever he gets a chance. He thinks that a small effort by everyone can help in bringing a positive change in the lives of many underprivileged people.

Burnell Moliere had studied Computer Programming from Spenser Business College in LA and General Studies from Southern University in LA. He has more than 25 years of experience in working at senior executive managerial positions. His experience, hard work, dedication and excellent skills have helped him in getting contracts worth nearly $2 million in annual revenues. Burnell Moliere’s firm has served prestigious clients like Louis Armstrong International Airport, City of New Orleans Municipal Court building, and Mississippi River Grain Destrehan in LA.

Burnell Moliere started the facility maintenance business because he wanted to do something that will not only help in generating income but is also helpful in the growth of underprivileged people of the society. He is working whole heartedly to give better lives to the underprivileged people and has also helped many unemployed young people in getting jobs. He also helps children in completing their education. Burnell Moliere thinks that all successful people should help in making the world a better place to live in.

Burnell Moliere believes in empowering the weaker sections and is famous for his humanitarian deeds. He is the founder of Martin Luther King Commemorative Organization for St. Charles Parish. He is also the founder of the Community Based Corrections, LLC, which is an alternative sentencing service and is extremely helpful to the police personnel in keeping a check on the offenders. To know more about Burnell Moliere and AME Services, please browse through http://www.burnellmolierebio.com

About the Author

Chris Mathew is a professional author who has written many articles on various topics & this time writing article on Burnell Moliere, owner of AME Services, Inc. For more information visit http://www.burnellmolierebio.com

I Need Money!

I hate my day job. During the day I work in a hair salon. I don’t cut hair and I don’t even style hair. I’m a hair washer. Everyday people come in with their nasty hair and I clean it for them so that they can get it cut. The thing is, I don’t like my job. In fact, I hate it. I want to pursue my modeling and acting career and I want to make money through online earning so that I can make money on auto-pilot while I pursue my passions in life. Isn’t that the ultimate dream, after all?

Residual Income

To find that residual income formula that enables us to do whatever we want? Well, I’m here to tell you that I have finally found the best passive income generator on the Internet. And the best part is that it’s reduced to a very affordable price to allow beginners to get the most out of it.

Beginners

I am considered a beginner when it comes to making money online. And that’s why I recommend this residual income opportunity so whole-heartedly. Ok, by now you may be wondering what it is. It’s a technique that involves online earning through blogging. Anyone can set up a free blog online and they can fill it with any content they wish. This passive income formula will show you exactly how to set up those blogs, what to fill them with and what to do afterwards that will enable you to earn money online even while you sleep. But how well does it work?

My Personal (Funny) Story

Let me tell you about my first blog. It was a blog for models who want to get started in the business. The thing is, I spent hours and hours making my blog hoping that I would gain readers and make lots of money. Out of everything I did, I made $2.60! And that’s after six months! I was ready to throw in the towel.

The Opportunity

Then I found this residual income opportunity. It had just come out when I heard about it and it’s usually $200 but by the time I saw it the product was reduced drastically. It was well within my budget, so I bought it and thought I’d try it out for the eight weeks I had before I could get a full refund.

It Pays for Itself

From the moment I set up this residual income formula, I knew I was onto something. I had never heard of the techniques I was learning and they were extremely easy to implement. Within one week, I had made $150. By one month, I had made $740! And that’s only working for 30 minutes a day! Now that I see the results, I’ve been hitting it hard. So far, I’ve made a few thousand and I’m about to quit my stupid hair washing job. I’m moving to LA and this passive income generator is going to help me get there.

Earn Online The Easy Way

If you are looking for a way to make money fast while working only a little bit each day, you will want to check out this residual income opportunity. I highly recommend it, especially if you hate your day job and you want to start online earning like I am.

About the Author

If you want to experience online earning like never before, check out this, one of the best residual income opportunities out there!

So you want to work online from your home and make money on internet sales from either your website or a web store or from some web based project right? Cool. We can help you do exactly that. In fact it is the purpose of this article. Of course there are hundreds of opportunities to choose from when it comes to starting a work at home business. Plus the temptation to work from home to make money bites new people every day. So, there is also a lot of competition.

One of the most popular online businesses is to become an affiliate of an existing successful business. This can allow you to make money from home as you sell other company’s products or services on your own website and perhaps also attract other affiliates to help promote the main site as well. The idea behind the best affiliate programs is to send customers to that company’s website. Once the customer buys a product or service from the company’s website then you will earn a commission for the sale. In more and more instances, if you sign an affiliate under you, you can earn ongoing commissions off of their sales. As with all aspects of internet sales and making money online, the more you know and the more research you do, the better decisions you are likely to make.

Should you choose the affiliate route there are many different products that you can promote and most of them are in very profitable markets like the health and wellness market which can be very profitable! So how to make money online is not really the challenge. The real challenge is how to make enough money online that you will be able to quit your day job eventually in order to work from home and make money from your internet sales in an amount that fairly quickly equals or exceeds your regular earnings and even promises the potential for additional income as time goes by. This is the more formidable challenge!

So the best process for getting started on the road to working from home online in order to make your money, is to keep your day job until a major percentage of your regular income is replaced. This can be quite daunting for some people but unless you have the wherewithal to support yourself until your work online goals begin to show progress, you have to invest much of your free time in doing your start-up while keeping the day job.

The good thing is you can usually make the website building process cheap. One option is to do it yourself. On the Internet there are available hundreds of easily understandable tools to make a website. Of course, you will need to learn how to do it in the right way and it will take time to make it just like you want it so if you can find a cheap website designer it might make more sense to pay a few dollars to have it done. While looking for your cheap website look for cheap SEO as well. The most direct route to work online from home and make money from internet sales is to do tireless research and always make good decisions.

About the Author

Gene Schwerman is founder and head marketing consultant for Truly Unique Website Design. Truly Unique works on websites of all varieties, their clients offer services such as information on how to work online from home and make money on internet sales.

Technology is growing faster than you can blink. In just one or two years there will be technological innovations available that we can barely imagine today. In that same one or two years there will be significant advancements in the internet, the speed and efficiency which search engines retrieve information and instantly make it available for us to utilize. More people will be online then and will be spending their money on the net 24 hours per day. Where will YOU be in one or two years?

There is an online marketing revolution occurring right under our noses. People are quitting their jobs, firing their bosses, staying home to work on the internet, and making very good money. They are making five figures a month and even more. We may wonder: how is this possible? Are these individuals super sales people? Are they super entrepreneurs? Not hardly, they are simply good old folks who got sick and tired of being sick and tired and put the unbelievable technology of the internet to good work for themselves.

Can you imagine something that can reach millions of people all over the planet in one second and is open for business 24 hours per day? Well, you are looking at it right now! Technology is the thing that enables the eighteen year old and eighty-something year old to sit in front of their computer making five figures a month and more.

Can you imagine if this technology of the internet were available in 1930 during the Great Depression? Just imagine people standing in long lines waiting for some menial work to do for one day, and you approach one of them and say: Why are you standing here? Why not take out your lap top and click a few buttons and not only make good money now, but give yourself a real business with security and an unlimited future?

Today there is no such thing as job insecurity. Reality is that a new source of income with an unlimited future is only a mouse click away! There are thousands of online businesses available right now to anyone over the age of eighteen. In just one or two years there will be even more available!

Are you interested in joining this online marketing revolution and firing your boss? Are you interested in using the incredible technology of the internet to give yourself financial freedom and the peace of mind that goes along with it? Find yourself a good internet business! All you have to do is enter these phrases into a search space: Make money online now. How to work from home. Online business opportunities.

I know you will find something fast and that is just right for you. Do not wait another second, go for your dreams now!

Dallas Cove is the author. Are you looking for an excellent online, autopilot money making system with an unlimited income potential? You can find one that is top notch by visiting this website: http://DallasWealth1.com

About the Author

Hi, Everyone, I’m Dallas, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m a business owner living in Southern California and enjoy sharing ideas about positive thinking, health, fitness and making money online from home.

These days competition is tight and chances are good you are looking for ways to grow your business profitably. Before you dash off and kick down doors, take a sober look at where you came from and where you are going to, as you re-trace seven half-forgotten paths that lead on to sustainable business growth.

1. Revisit Measurements of Key Factors for Success – Avoid focussing on input factors, and zoom in on critical indicators of successful output. Sure, you need to measure sales closed and hours clocked, but profit per deal keeps you on the playing field. Count the right factors correctly, and you will know where best to squeeze to hit your targets.

2. Invest in Technology – The saying that we live in an information age is hackneyed, but nonetheless it is still very true. A modern business cannot wait until month-end or even year-end for profit updates. You need systems that update your critical business numbers online and real-time too. Only buy the technology that you will actually use. You do not have time to play with crocodiles in the swamp.

3. Invest in Your Customers – Customers are inputs that your business converts to profits, and you should invest in them as well. “Have a nice day” and Christmas Cards are trite. In these challenging days, passionate staff, customer relationship management and rewards for repeat business are what make the difference.

4. Invest in Your Vendors too – If you are supplying though third party vendors then you need to retain their product loyalty as well. They already have their customer base lined up and you are not the only supplier on the block. Cultivate their allegiance through supportive payment terms, volume discounts and accurate information about new products and their availability.

5. Niche Management – If you sit and wait for things to come to you then your business will surely die. Ways to improve your business turnover include stretching the walls of your current niche and creating new ones. This is because all customers eventually fade away, and you need to find new ones continuously to fill the gap they leave.

6. New Marketing Channels – Never say that you have squeezed every drop out of the market place. New vendors and new customers are always out there ready for you to find. Are you using the internet optimally and traditional marketing methods too? Try upgrading your product/service offering and marketing it to a new geographical area – do not be surprised if you pick up a new customer or a new channel to help you grow your business effectively.

7. Lay your Hands on Growth Capital – Firms that do not find the money to expand stay small, and small firms get squeezed out. “Fools Go In” is truer here than in most other places. Single out a few sources of capital investment and build a mutually beneficial relationship first. Then think big. Why not cuddle up to an angel investor or consider an initial public offering. The money you shake loose could help with your own debt, customer credit or vendor financing deals – and these could open up a whole new raft of sales opportunities.

Every one of these seven stages has a role to play in a program to add muscle to an enterprise. A business owner or manager could benefit from an advisory shoulder here – why not engage yourself the sounding board the industry refers to as a business coach to help you profitably grow your business?

About the Author

John Standaloft is a business coach with a lifetime of business experience. He is also a master practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming, hypnotherapy and time-line therapy. Contact him in the event that you would like to explore in confidence what business coaching might do for you.