There is usually more than one business group in your area. You don’t want to spend all your time going to different business group meetings so you need to choose carefully. When you are looking for a group to join one rule is almost always universal:

The bigger they are the better they are. Big business groups will pull more active members out to networking events. Generally the more people that are in the room, the better the odds are that you are going to connect with the right kind of person who could be a future sweet spot client.

Regardless of the exact business group you join you have to actually attend the meetings. You won’t make contacts through osmosis. When I hear someone say that they tried a business group and it didn’t work for them 9 times out of 10 they went to one meeting; for whatever reason they didn’t like the meeting and never went back.

Business group marketing is no different than any other type. If you are going to do a cold call campaign and the first person is rude and hangs up on you, do you retreat to the woods never to be heard from again? No. Here are some tips to help you find, persist with, and make the most of your business group membership.

Don’t go into a meeting with a negative, intimidated or apprehensive attitude. This will show through to the business group members.

Check out all the business groups within a one-hour radius. Don’t settle on the first one you come across.

Go to at least two business group meetings before you decide it is right for you.

Be patient. Don’t go in expecting to meet your magic client within an hour.

Force yourself to move out of your comfort zone and mingle and schmooze with the best of them. Seek out other people who look awkward and start by talking to them.

Find the accountants, engineers, controllers, operations managers; all those analytical types who aren’t tremendously gregarious or who aren’t born talkers. All these people make fantastic contacts for future referrals and business because a lot of them are the IT decision makers in small companies.

The Bottom Line on Business Groups

Business group membership gives you access to the decision makers in the companies your business is targeting. The most important thing to remember is that you will get out of your business group experience what you put in. Don’t give up at the first sign of disillusionment. Find the right business group to join and make the most of every meeting.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Business Computer Consulting .com. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Business Groups – Make the Most of Your Membership is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

We enjoy new purchases. Sure, we can convince ourselves that we really needed a new one, but if we’re totally honest we’ll have to admit that would could’ve got by without it. What does this mean to your advertising campaign?

1. State The Benefits Of Your Product or Service
Capitalize on the ways a customer will improve his lifestyle by making the purchase. Will he increase his own business profits by 50 percent? Say so in the opening statement of your sales letter, or at the top of your Web page.

Don’t obsess with the features of the product itself or your credibility. Frankly, customers could care less. Let’s face it… they’re a bit selfish when it comes to dishing out their hard earned money. All they want to know is what’s in it for them.

2. Paint Word Picture That Let Them Experience the Benefits
“Wake up tomorrow, with no boss! You can spend the day with your family or on the golf course… there’s nobody to tell you what to do.”

A Multi Level Marketer may want his audience to feel the freedom of having no one to answer to if they become successful in the business. He’ll dramatize that desire, and put the listener in the seat to inspire it to take hold until the listener is ready to sign up and get started.

3. Inspire Immediate Action
Hey, let’s face it… the longer a customer lolly gags, the greater the chances he’ll never take the plunge. Don’t let him off the hook that easily!

Set a deadline. Put on the pressure to buy now, or miss out on the deal. Chances are pretty good that the procrastinator will get with it just to save a few bucks.

What about your sales materials? Have you taken a good look at the things you are advertising? Make sure you are focused on the benefits the consumer will experience from the purchase, and not on the features of the product or service.

3 Elements That Make Your Ad Successful is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

If you fail to meet the customer’s expectations at the Moment of Truth , customers are very likely to tell 11 people about the problem they had with your company.

If you drop the ball with customers at the Moment of Truth , but rebound with a quick customer recovery, research shows that the customer will tell up to 17 people about your service recovery.

Did you get that? Customers will tell 5 people if you WOW them, BUT if there’s a problem and you quickly fix it, they will tell more than 3 times as many people as they would if no problem had occurred at all.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to grow your bottom line is to equip your front line employees with skills to respond to complaints and problems in such a way that they completely regain goodwill and restore the customer’s confidence.

Read on to find out exactly how to do this.

1. Resolve problems as quickly as possible. The faster the resolution, the better the chances for maintaining loyalty. TARP, Inc. found that ninety-five percent of complaining customers would remain loyal if their complaint was resolved on the first contact. That number dropped to seventy percent when the complaint was not immediately resolved. In fact, the speed of resolution has a greater impact on future loyalty than the resolution itself. Strive to resolve complaints on the first contact and when that isn’t possible, final resolution should occur within 5 – 10 business days in order to maintain and build loyalty.

2. Give Them Something. Coupons, product samples, and other freebies have a definite impact on loyalty after a service failure has occurred. Years ago American Airlines gave me 7000 frequent flyer miles after I experienced a gruesome delay. And that gift of miles, was enough to make me come back. But don’t take my word for it: A study conducted for the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP) found that 58% of complaining consumers who received something in the mail following their contact with consumer affairs departments were delighted, versus only 40% of those who did not receive anything. Giving customers token items, such as coupons or product samples, after a service failure both increases the perception of value and serves to maintain loyalty.

3. Only allow the friendliest, most helpful, and diplomatic employees to talk to customers. Employee courtesy and attitude are critical factors in regaining the goodwill of customers who have experienced a problem. Customers contacting a company with a problem want to talk to a person who is courteous, professional sympathetic and understanding. Additionally, employees must be skilled in communicating with diplomacy, expressing empathy, and representing the company credibly and convincingly during times of consumer distress. The attitudes and behaviors of frontline professionals form powerful lasting impressions with customers whether these impressions are positive or negative.

4. Encourage your people to “Be Gumby”. You remember Gumby don’t you—the green rubbery figure that Eddie Murphy portrayed so hilariously on Saturday Night Live? In my seminars I teach employees to “Be Gumby” when it comes to dealing with customers. By being Gumby, I mean do whatever it takes to service customers. This includes being flexible, bending over backwards, making a 180 degree turn when you were heading another direction on a non customer-impacting task. It might even mean standing on your head. The idea is to be completely customer focused. Being Gumby guarantees you’ll always make customers happy.

4 Better Ways to Handle Complaints is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

I truly feel most people want to be in on the winning side. However, we always run into people that remain in the same place in life. Do you feel you are you one of those people? Obviously if youre a person looking and trying to better your life you want to be on the winning side.

Being successful can mean many things. My definition of being successful is accomplishing what you intend to do. For example, I always intended to have a family and I now have a great family. I consider myself very successful.

Success does not mean to look better than the people around you. I believe it comes from within and how you perceive yourself and your life. Success is something that you do not have to show on a daily basis. Success is how you live your life.

Here are three tips on being successful:

Create a Vision of Yourself

Having a vision is the first and most critical step of any successful plan. Create a vision of what you intend to do. Write down how you want to see yourself 1 year from now. Think about how your life will look. Having a vision will help you focus on what you want to achieve.

Take up Good Habits and Break Unproductive Habits

Always read and learn about the world around you. Think an opportunity through and do not be impulsive when an opportunity presents itself. Eat well and exercise. After all everything you do starts from within. Be in good health and dont take your good health for granted. Add fitness to your life. Learn to handle distractions as there will plenty of distractions to address. Dont use distractions as an excuse to fail.

Enjoy the Chase

Enjoy your road to success. The path will be filled with adversity. Keep your sense of humor because you may experience very tough challenges along the way. Be responsible, try and control your time by being as effective as possible.

Remember success is not free and it does take sacrifice. The price you pay is time and effort. Success is hard but rewarding (even during the chase for success). To be successful you have to work hard, educate yourself and maybe have a little luck on your side.

3 Things You Can Do to Help Yourself Be Successful In Life is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

First of all, some numbers:
The total market for cut flowers and house plants in the UK is estimated to be 2.2 Billion and is expected to exceed 3 Billion by 2011. Despite the incursion of mutiple alternatives including gifts, chocolates and wines, people are still saying it with flowers, although the UK lags behind the rest of Europe in annual per capita spend on flowers.

There is a perennial debate regarding industry standards for flowers, as consumers have historically been confronted with confusing symbols of ethical quality. The Kenyan Flower Council which accounts for much of the imports into the UK, is governed by Fair Trade, which regulates the code of conduct for more than 1,000 farms in Kenya, although only about 25 large farms supply over 75% of Kenyas flower exports. Ever since its introduction to the flower industry in 1999, Fair Trade has done an excellent job of supporting more than 10,000 workers in developing nations, by setting ethical standards to improve working environments. However, in the intervening years the industry has grown considerably and the competitive landscape has evolved. In particular, fair trade initiatives tend to work best in highly fragmented industries such as fruits and vegetables, which are crowded with numerous small producers, but less well in more consolidated industries, such as the flower industry. This is because fair trade initiatives can benefit larger organisations disproportionately, thus effectively disadvantaging the development of smaller producers within the competitive environment.

Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) is a European initiative which addresses historic shortcomings by creating a level playing field for all producers by setting uniform, global standards. One of the unique features of FFP is its emphasis on auditing the entire supply chain to regulate the use of pesticides, land, energy and the working environment. Furthermore, it also offers flexibility to florists to source their produce either from flower auctions or directly, through FFP compliant growers. This latter approach guarantees fresher floral produce, reduced wastage and a happier customer (key!). In the longer term, FFPs aim is to unify all existing standards to make it simple for growers, traders and consumers.

As in all free markets, if there is demonstrable consumer demand then that will stimulate growth in supply. If no-one wants FFP-accredited flowers, then they simply wont be grown. It is estimated that 18.1 million Fair Trade stems were sold in the UK in 2005 so there are clearly people willing to buy ethically-sourced flowers. The challenge for FFP is to get into the national consciousness when Fair Trade is already the de facto standard in most peoples minds. One thing that people most love to hear is that FFP-accredited flowers typically cost no more than non FFP flowers; so being a good egg doesnt have to mean a dent in your pocket as well!

Ethically Sourced Flowers is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

Is it okay to set the plan aside for awhile? After all you’ve got enough business to keep you busy. And, you’re not sure you could handle additional clients right now anyway.

While marketing may not seem like a necessary activity when your business is going gang-busters, it’s only a matter of time before your lack of marketing starts to impact your business.

Staying on top of your marketing plan, even when you’re busy, ensures you always have a pipeline full of prospects and clients into your business.

While you may be busy right now, if you stop marketing for the next three months, you may find yourself high and dry when it comes to clients, because you’ve stopped the flow.

As an independent professional myself, I can totally relate to being too busy to market. It seems the days are never long enough to get everything on my to-do list done. But as a marketing professional I know I can’t afford to NOT get my marketing done.

So what’s a busy gal (or guy) to do?!?

Here are 5 suggestions … these are things I do and recommend to all my clients in my 10stepmarketing System.

(1) If you haven’t already, create a marketing calendar. Schedule all of your marketing activities in the calendar according to how frequently you planned to do them in your marketing plan.

If you planned to do something monthly, enter it on the calendar once each month. Weekly? Enter it four times per month. Do this for every planned activity.

(2) Hang your marketing calendar over your desk on a bulletin board or on the wall. Make a habit of looking at it every morning. This way you won’t have the problem of “out of site out of mind.”

I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve had whose marketing plans have ended up in a file folder in a drawer. You’re certainly NOT going to grow your business that way!

(3) Try incorporating your marketing activities into your weekly and daily to-do list. Enter the activities as to-do tasks in your calendar or PDA just like all your appointments and other business activities.

I do this with all my marketing activities. I use Microsoft Outlook and a Pocket PC and it’s the only way I know I’ll keep myself on track. If something is on my calendar, I treat it like any other meeting or appointment and I do it.

For example, every Wednesday, a little notice pops up to remind me to write my weekly ezine. If that didn’t happen I’d either be writing it on Monday’s at midnight, or it wouldn’t get done.

(4) Pick one day per month to review your marketing calendar in detail and to look three months ahead. What is coming up that you need to prepare for now? What do you need to transfer into your to-do list or PDA to make sure you don’t forget to do it?

I usually do this at the end of the month when I’m doing all my month-end work … things like running sales reports, doing billing, and updating my marketing tracking reports.

Make it a habit to review your marketing at the same time you do these tasks. After a few months you won’t even have to think about it anymore, it’ll become a habit.

(5) Consider hiring an assistant or support person to help. If they can take some of the tasks off your plate that really don’t require your expertise, it will free you up to focus on what I call “revenue producing activities.”

These are things like working with clients, creating products and services and marketing. I couldn’t believe the difference it made when I hired some help.

I didn’t think I could afford it, but now I don’t see how I lasted so long without help!

When you find a way to get back on track with your marketing and you do it on regular basis, it really does become a part of the way you do business.

Suddenly it doesn’t seem like marketing anymore. It’s just what you do to run your business. That’s when it becomes effortless.

And, that’s when you know your business will be continue to be busy and profitable for the long-haul.

(C) Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa

5 Tips to Help You Market When You Think You’re Too Busy is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

* Definitions and safe harbor provisions for the routine alterations of electronic files during routine operations such as back ups [Amended Rule 37(f)]

* Information about how to deal with data that is not reasonably accessible [Amended Rule 26(b)(2)(B)]

* How to deal with inadvertently produced privileged material [Amended Rule 26(b)(5)]

* ESI preservation responsibilities and the pre-trial conference. [Amended Rule 26(f)]

* Electronic file production requests [Amended Rules 33(d), 34, 26(f)(3), 34(b)(iii)]

There are many opinions about how ESI should be planned for, managed, organized, stored, and retrieved. Some of the available options are extremely costly in terms of their required financial and time commitments. Constantly changing technologies only add to the confusion. One area of confusion is the distinction between computer forensics and electronic discovery; there is a significant difference. These are described in the sidebar Computer Forensics vs. Electronic Discovery.

Making the Right Choices

Successfully responding to e-discovery within the constraints of the amended FRCP requires organizations to make many critical decisions that will affect the collection and processing of ESI.

Processing Choices

Because of the volume of information available in even the smallest of collections, it becomes necessary to manage the process to control time and budget. The following questions need to be answered:

1. Who are the key people?

The people important to a case should be identified. These key individuals include not only executives, but also assistants and other support personnel from the technology, accounting, sales and marketing, operations, and human resources departments.

2. Where are the files located?

All the potential locations of electronic evidence should be identified. These include home computers and all computers that a key person would use elsewhere (such as a girlfriend or boyfriend?s home), cell phones, PDAs, Blackberries, and any other digital device that might be used. It is important to note that MP3 players, such as iPods, can also be used to store documents or important files.

3. How can the collection be culled?

Methods for limiting the number of files collected may include collecting only those in certain date ranges or only those containing selected key words or terms. This can be done either before or after an entire hard drive is collected forensically. Known file filtering can also reduce the collection by removing standard application files common to all computers (such as the Microsoft Windows? logo file).

4. How should password-protected/encrypted files be handled?

Encrypted files cannot be processed until the encryption is broken. In some instances, files with exact or similar names may be available without using passwords or encryption. File locations may also provide information about the value decryptions provide. Decryption may require significant time. Sometimes a password can be obtained simply by asking for it, so this should be the first step. If that fails, using a subpoena may be successful.

5. How should duplicate and near-duplicate documents be handled?

Electronic file collections almost always include duplicates. Multiple individuals may have the same e-mail, with the same attachments. Two or more people may have reviewed key documents, saving them on their hard drives during the process. In processing electronic collections, it is possible to identify exact duplicate files and limit the number of documents that require review.

Identifying exact duplicates usually occurs during the phase in which the metadata is identified and extracted from the files. De-duping the collection will minimally delay the processing.

Standard de-duping involves identifying files that are exact duplicates and eliminating them. If anything has changed within a document, including formatting such as a change of font, it is no longer an exact duplicate and is not de-duped.

It is imperative that both sides of a case agree on what is meant by ?de-duping.? Many electronic discovery systems literally delete the files so they are gone from the collection. The forensic tools used in law enforcement, however, usually do not delete the duplicates, but merely identify them for future use.

Discussing this definition during the pre-trial conference to ensure that all sides of a case use the same definition is imperative to ensuring that there is not a discrepancy in the number of files that each side later has.

A more significant portion of any collection will be ?near duplicates.? This includes files that have been significantly altered or contain only a portion of the main document. For some projects, the sheer file volume requires that near duplicates be identified and reviewed as a group. This significantly reduces review time and costs when compared to traditional linear review.

Identifying near duplicates requires comparing each document to every other document or using sophisticated software applications that require additional processing time. This technology increases consistency of review categories, reducing the chance of near-duplicate documents being identified as both privileged and non-privileged.

6. What form should the collection take?

The new rules state that the parties will meet and determine the format in which they wish to receive electronic evidence. In the absence of an agreement, the format will be that ?in which it is ordinarily maintained? or in a ?reasonably usable? format.

The choices a legal team has include whether each side prefers to receive the electronic evidence in native file format, converted to TIF or PDF, or in some other form. Often, this will depend upon the team?s standard litigation review system.

Such systems handle both native and converted files, with or without associated metadata and full text. There are pros and cons for both options. Native files with extracted metadata reflect the exact original file; however, they cannot be Bates labeled, which is a technique to mark documents with a unique identification code as they are processed, and are subject to inadvertent change.

Converting native files to TIF or PDF is time-consuming and is the most expensive task in electronic discovery. Because 60 to 80 percent of the files in a collection may be non-responsive or irrelevant, both the time and finances expended in conversion may be counter- productive.

The best compromise involves receiving files in native format, reviewing them for relevancy, and choosing only those that may be produced or used extensively for conversion to image format.

Managing the vast amount of electronic files for litigation requires preparation planning for the production, organization, and retrieval of pertinent and relevant documents and managing both cost and time budgets. Because every case presents unique circumstances, there are no absolute correct answers to the questions above. But a team that understands the choices and their ramifications is prepared to make the informed decisions that will result in the best possible outcomes for the case and the organization.

10 Critical Decisions for Successful E-discovery Part 2 is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

Send Half of Your Resume
Find a company you want to work. Write a great cover letter on why you are a good fit, pointing to the enclosed resume. Dont seal the envelope and dont enclose a resume. Theyll think the resume fell out in the mail. They will call and engage in a conversation. Sell yourself shamelessly.

Write A Prospecting Letter
Make use of the power of direct mail. Locate 5-10companies. Write up a letter to your contact network and ask them if they know anyone who works at any of the companies on your list. When a contact says they know someone on your list, send them your resume and ask them to forward it their contact or ask permission to send it yourself.

E-Mail Chain Letter
Create a list of 20 companies you want to work for and send an email to everyone you know to see if they know anyone who works at these companies. Ask them to contact you if they do, so that you can ask for a referral. Finally, ask them to forward your email to 10 more people. However dont do this if youre currently employed!

Distribute A Booklet
Write a booklet with information relevant to your industry and give it away. Everyone loves free information and this demonstrates your expertise. Give the booklet away electronically and advertise it to newsgroups where hiring managers will see it.

Call Human Resources
Sounds crazy, right? Call the human resources department. Ask them what outside agency or third-party recruiting firm they use. They will ask you why do you want to know. Tell them that their company is not currently looking for someone with your skill set right now the agency may be dealing with other firms, so you are looking for a recommendation. They may very well ask you for an interview. If not at least you do get a lead. They would love to save the agency fees. Also being recommended gives you special attention. Send them a thank you note.

These are guerrilla tactics that can give you better results. Be sure to stay toned for another 5 creative tips.

5 Creative Ways To Find A Job is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

If you would just take your time to know your way around, you could discover a lot of premium products and services being offered for free. What’s best is that there is a seemingly endless number of these wonderful finds, what with the Internet being a vast network of constantly evolving ideas and all!

Among these magnificent benefits is the chance to be able to promote your business, any business, online, free of charge! It doesn’t matter if your enterprise is a purely online or offline venture, the World Wide Web is home to a great number of marketing opportunities that you could avail of, with no damage to your business’ budget whatsoever.

Advertising can be a big problem otherwise. A lot of companies reserve a big chunk of their budgets to cover marketing expenditures. Sometimes, these gambles pay off, but there are occasions when they fail miserably, putting to waste some good money that could have been used in other areas of development for the business involved.

But with the many channels available online, marketing has become a less risky course of action. There so many avenues available online where you could advertise your business for free and attain more exposure for your products or services. Here are some of them.

1. You could advertise through your own website. Ordinarily, you should pay a nominal fee for web hosting and your domain name. A paid web hosting service is more reliable. Your own domain name would impress upon your visitors an immediate sense of professionalism. But if you don’t want to spend for them, there are a lot of free web space providers on the Internet!

2. You could advertise through other people’s websites. And you could do this in a lot of ways too! You could create a banner that would summarize your business’ offers and have it displayed on existing pages. Or if you have your won website for your business, you could use the said banner to link to your pages, or you could even settle for simple links. Additionally, you could have other webmasters rave about your venture and they could talk about it in their own websites.

3. You could create your own affiliate program. By giving commissions as incentive, you could invite a lot of Internet users to become your affiliates. Each affiliate would work to help you make a sale. It’s like having a battalion of sales representatives that you’d only have to pay if they manage to refer a willing customer!

4. You could try viral marketing. Viral marketing is the online equivalent of word o mouth advertising. By giving away something for free, for as long as that something has a link or a simple reference to your business, you’re encouraging the recipient to spread the word about your business to the people he knows. This would result in the exponential expansion of your business message like wildfire.

5. You could advertise in online communities. Forums and mailing lists are popular venues that could likewise convey your business message. Membership to these groups is usually free. Additionally, you could also create your own mailing list and start capturing leads for future sales by doing some helpful follow-ups.

The Internet is a great place for promoting your business. There are five million people online at any given time and the world is, quite literally, your market. It would be best for your business to capitalize on this wonderful opportunity and expand your audience a thousand fold bigger!

And you wouldn’t even have to spend a penny while you’re at it.

5 Free Online Advertising Channels For Your Business is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site

If you start committing these business financing mistakes too often, you will greatly reduce any chance you have for longer term business success.

The key is to understand the causes and significance of each so that you’re in a position to make better decisions.

>>> Business Financing Mistakes (1) – No Monthly Bookkeeping.

Regardless of the size of your business, inaccurate record keeping creates all sorts of issues relating to cash flow, planning, and business decision making.

While everything has a cost, bookkeeping services are dirt cheap compared to most other costs a business will incur.

And once a bookkeeping process gets established, the cost usually goes down or becomes more cost effective as there is no wasted effort in recording all the business activity.

By itself, this one mistake tends to lead to all the others in one way or another and should be avoided at all costs.

>>> Business Financing Mistakes (2) – No Projected Cash Flow.

No meaningful bookkeeping creates a lack of knowing where you’ve been. No projected cash flow creates a lack of knowing where you’re going.

Without keeping score, businesses tend to stray further and further away from their targets and wait for a crisis that forces a change in monthly spending habits.

Even if you have a projected cash flow, it needs to be realistic.

A certain level of conservatism needs to be present, or it will become meaningless in very short order.

>>> Business Financing Mistakes (3) – Inadequate Working Capital

No amount of record keeping will help you if you don’t have enough working capital to properly operate the business.

That’s why its important to accurately create a cash flow forecast before you even start up, acquire, or expand a business.

Too often the working capital component is completely ignored with the primary focus going towards capital asset investments.

When this happens, the cash flow crunch is usually felt quickly as there is insufficient funds to properly manage through the normal sales cycle.

>>> Business Financing Mistakes (4) – Poor Payment Management.

Unless you have meaningful working capital, forecasting, and bookkeeping in place, you’re likely going to have cash management problems.

The result is the need to stretch out and defer payments that have come due.

This can be the very edge of the slippery slope.

I mean, if you don’t find out what’s causing the cash flow problem in the first place, stretching out payments may only help you dig a deeper hole.

The primary targets are government remittances, trade payables, and credit card payments.

>>> Business Financing Mistakes (5) – Poor Credit Management

There can be severe credit consequences to deferring payments for both short periods of time and indefinite periods of time.

First, late payments of credit cards are probably the most common ways in which both businesses and individuals destroy their credit.

Second, NSF checks are also recorded through business credit reports and are another form of black mark.

Third, if you put off a payment too long, a creditor could file a judgement against you further damaging your credit.

Fourth, when you apply for future credit, being behind with government payments can result in an automatic turndown by many lenders.

It gets worse.

Each time you apply for credit, credit inquiries are listed on your credit report.

This can cause two additional problems.

First, multiple inquiries can reduce you overall credit rating or score.

Second, lenders tend to be less willing to grant credit to a business that has a multitude of inquiries on its credit report.

If you do get into situations where you’re short cash for a finite period of time, make sure you proactively discuss the situation with your creditors and negotiate repayment arrangements that you can both live with and that won’t jeopardize your credit.

>>> Business Financing Mistakes (6) – No Recorded Profitability

For startups, the most important thing you can do from a financing point of view is get profitable as fast as possible.

Most lenders must see at least one year of profitable financial statements before they will consider lending funds based on the strength of the business.

Before short term profitability is demonstrated, business financing is based primary on personal credit and net worth.

For existing businesses, historical results need to show profitability to acquire additional capital.

The measurement of this ability to repay is based on the net income recorded for the business by a third party accredited accountant.

In many cases, businesses work with their accountants to reduce business tax as much as possible but also destroy or restrict their ability to borrow in the process when the business net income is insufficient to service any additional debt.

>>> Business Financing Mistakes (7) – No Financing Strategy

A proper financing strategy creates 1) the financing required to support the present and future cash flows of the business, 2) the debt repayment schedule that the cash flow can service, and 3) the contingency funding necessary to address unplanned or unique business needs.

This sounds good in principle, but does not tend to be well practiced.

Why?

Because financing is largely an unplanned and after the fact event.

It seems once everything else is figured out, then a business will try to locate financing.

There are many reasons for this including: entrepreneurs are more marketing oriented, people believe financing is easy to secure when they need it, the short term impact of putting off financial issues are not as immediate as other things, and so on.

Regardless of the reason, the lack of a workable financing strategy is indeed a mistake.

However, a meaningful financing strategy is not likely to exist if one or more of the other 6 mistakes are present.

This reinforces the point that all mistakes listed are intertwined and when more than one is made, the effect of the negative result can become compounded.

7 Critical Business Financing Mistakes is a post from: Cider Stassen Business Site