This article series will give you all of the tools and knowledge you will need to go out and get your own financing for your own small business.
Secondly, I am NOT a lawyer or an accountant.
The advice I give you is based upon 25+ years of being in business for myself.
Always check things out with an accountant or lawyer if you have ANY doubts.
Thirdly, and most importantly, this article series was written to enable you to get "MONEY TO MARKET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS"
from the United States Small Business Administration, if you are a U.S. citizen OR, if your are a citizen of another country,
a program similar to the SBA. There are many programs throughout the world that are set up along the guidelines of the SBA;
some of them are even sponsored by the United States Government. This article series will probably not help you if you intend to walk into
a typical bank and come out with a loan for your business. This article will help you get started, but you will need
a more sophisticated business plan than this book can cover. If this is what you want to do,
I recommend "Business Plan Pro" by Palo Alto Software.
The program turns out an excellent business plan, but requires a lot more work from you.
You can check their software out by going to: http://www.palo-alto.com/index.cfm
Specifically, the whole strategy behind this article is to give you the best chance of getting a small business loan through the SBA.
Why the SBA? Well, for one thing, lower interest rates. With the SBA guaranteeing your small business loan, banks look at you as less of a risk…
therefore, lower rates. For another, the SBA has a TON of resources that will help you become a better businessperson; a more profitable
businessperson. The agency has many dedicated employees who are eager to help you. By going through the process outlined in this article
series, you will allow them to process your application more quickly.
This gets you YOUR money quicker…and allows the SBA personnel to spend more time helping you develop and prosper your small business.
Home-based businesses are finally being recognized as an integral part of the world's economy.
Financial institutions, corporations and even governments have slowly come to offer a degree of help for home entrepreneurs, like us.
Admittedly, this help is sparse and not very easy to get, but it is getting better out there.
The SBA is your most important doorway to receiving help in growing your business.
If you are a citizen of a country other than the United States, don't despair!
Your country probably has a program like this. The fact is, almost every country does and they are woefully underused.
The same procedures asked of someone planning to apply to the SBA also apply to you. You actually have some advantages.
Most likely, the programs in your country are just setting there waiting for applicants.
Even more likely is the fact that they are not used to seeing business plans as well thought out and
well structured as you will develop using this article series.
In a general sense, this book will make you take a good close look at your small business;
at what it costs to run it and at what you can reasonably expect to profit from it.
It will lead you into making a marketing plan, with measurable, results-oriented goals.
It will require that you know which marketing methods are the most cost-effective for YOUR small business,
and how they fit into your marketing plan and more importantly, your marketing budget.
Most importantly, these articles will help you put a value to your business…not only in dollars and cents,
but in your mental value of how important it is to you.
The greatest by-product of these articles for you, gentle reader, is that it will make you view your small business
as just that…a business…with written plans, budgets and, hopefully, profits.
That does not mean that: it still can't be fun; it still can't be run in your spare time;
it has to be a burden to you. By taking these few, painless, fun steps, you will view your small business differently…as just that,
a business, putting money in your pocket each month…a small business that you know all about because you planned it all out.
YOUR small business will be YOURS indeed!
This is gonna be fun! You'll see!
