Government Grants For Women to Start a Home Business

Have you ever thought about a little more money in your spare time by a suitable home business? With the availability of government grants for women, mothers can stay at home to start businesses of their dreams without worrying about coming up with the money.

There are millions of people who have good ideas, the desire and the ability to start a business, but they simply do not know where to start, or a little shy on taking a big financial risk.

ButThe government wants to help you ...

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. It produces income, competition and jobs - and keep America growing strong. By providing people like you give free money to your own business, takes the government now that the financial risk so that it can happen to you.

Provide the greatest benefit for a small business for women is that this is not a loan. You do not need to return the money to pay, andYou do not have good credit or collateral to apply. The resources are simply allocated on your qualifications and interest in building a business are based.

There are a number of women business grant opportunities through a variety of state, local and federal authorities. This is where you provide an online database and resources can really help you. By searching the database to quickly identify the resources that are available, you have to worry aboutContact with each authority separately.

Why You Need a Business Planning System NOT a Business Plan

When someone mentions business planning we have been conditioned to think about writing a business plan to. There are hundreds of books and articles, tons of software, an army of consultants, and help a variety of state programs, write a business plan. There is virtually no resources to help you set up, which calls for the current business environment really is - a continuous, ongoing planning system.

A widely accepted theory is that for a> Company to survive and thrive, they need to be flexible and nimble. It must relate to one cent, as do the conditions to guarantee. Having a written five-year plan is not part of the picture. In fact, trying to follow a long term plan during rampant change is not logical. It is applying linear thinking to a non-linear situation. It does not work.

After a formal written business plan will be recognized as critical to the success of which there are not many studies or surveysTest this premise. If business plans were such a wonderful thing, there was a significant difference between consistent and companies that they have and those who do not. Interviews of 100 founders of companies on 1989s "INC 500" list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. found only 28 percent had "blown" business plans. The 1993 AT & T Small Business Study found that 59 percent of small companies in the past two years grown useda formal business plan. A survey in 1994 found the fastest growing companies in the country, 23 percent lacked a business plan. "The Relationship between Written Business Plans and the failure of small businesses in the U.S.," by Dr. Stephen Perry, surveyed 152 failed and 152 non-failed small businesses in 1997. He found that 64 percent of non-failed firms had no written business plan. He also found that companies had about more than detailed written plansfailed firms, 23 percent compared to 9 percent.

As you can see the results of studies and surveys to be proved on the whole line and nothing. Clearly, a significant part of the successful companies have not written business plans. None of these studies show the nature of the process that created the plan. Was it an annual process with occasional updates or an ongoing, continuous process outcome? As Professor Albert Shapero said: "Companiesthis plan even better than companies that do not, but they never in their plan. "

The focus is not on the process on the plan. When a continuous, ongoing planning is usually a written business plan is not just important. Writing a business plan without a planning system is in place, a massive effort that is done very rarely. Many businesses write three to five year plans and update annually. The plans will be reviewed periodically during each yearanalyze, is the plan-vs. deviations. Little, if any, is given as a strategy of annual updates. Strategy should be the focus every day. Allows the establishment of a planning system, and sometimes forces you to concentrate on the strategy.

A planning system has two functions. One is a setting of objectives and procedures to achieve, and the other is observed trend or environmental scan. The establishment of a planning system is carried out in several steps. The first and most important task is to eliminate ortime for planning on a regular, ongoing basis. It must become a part of your everyday life, not an occasional event that will be easily moved. In the evaluation phase, the owner or management team and the company analyzed. Be identified from the analysis, keys and other critical areas of the company. These areas are filtered down to the most concentrated. Performance measures are identified and established systems for collecting and processing the necessary data when needed. A basiscurrent performance is used to set goals.

Now is the regular starting running order. Strategies formulated, tested, implemented, monitored and reviewed to achieve the objectives. Watch Any planning session between the work on strategies and trends split. As goals are reached, begins the aim and the strategy formulation process again.

If we put the focus back where it belongs on continuous, ongoing planning activities which, instead of writing business plans. As Karl Albrechtwrote in his book Corporate Radar, "The majority is not always right, the conventional wisdom is not always wise, and the recognized doctrine could be faulty. The more fashionable an idea, the more it is likely to be excluded from critical evaluation. Breakthrough thinking sometimes calls contrary to the widespread assumptions and beliefs. "

Copyright 2005 David Coffman

How To Sell Your Distribution Business

10-step plan to end A Mid-Market Distribution Business

"Those who do not plan, plan to fail" - An old proverb

You've worked hard for many years to build your distribution business. It is provided you income, satisfaction, prestige and purpose. Now the time has yet to make a final agreement on the business and quit your business while ensuring that you get what you deserve.

A mid-market distribution business, the nature ofHave> company, is generally characterized by strong customer loyalty, good logistics and material management system, moderate features, and sometimes a large quantity of stocks. This combination of assets creates a unique set of challenges when it is time to sell.

Here is a 10-step plan is to maximize your return on the sale of your mid-market distribution business.

1. Note that for a distribution company with a valuation of $ 3Million to 100 million U.S. dollars range, funds from the Small Business Administration is not feasible and there are very few individual buyers able to finance this kind of deal on personal loans. The most likely buyer is another private company, a corporation or a PEG (see "Private equity is the right one for your) business." These are busy professional buyers who have more experience. Hire a qualified M & A adviser or an investment banker for business transactions Experience to the table. Acquirer think in terms of EBITDA multiples for comparable companies when it comes to the assessment. A good M & A specialist will contribute to the EBITDA multiple ratchet set, and the strategic importance of the company for you get more for your business. M & A Advisor is also sharply aware of the compromises necessary to maximize your after-tax proceeds.

2. Check your corporate structure is the most suitable product for a> Companies sell. Are you a C-Corp? S-Corp? LLC? Do you have multiple organizations with multiple purposes? Regardless of the type of corporation (s) you did when you copied a large amount of sales of assets, depreciation recapture can be a big problem for you. For the distribution companies with a significant amount of assets, with a C-Corporation can make a significant tax disadvantage, as most buyers prefer a sale of assets to sell a stock. In a C Corp sale, you taxed twice - once withthe company level and once at the individual level! For most distribution company owners, it is worth getting your M&A advisor to fight for a stock sale.

3. Make sure your books are in order and your financial statements are compiled, reviewed or audited as may be appropriate for your business. Your current bookkeeping practices and tax structure may be designed to keep your taxes low on an operating basis but they may not be right for exiting your business (see "What Every Busines Owner Needs To Know About Taxes & Valuation "). If your CPA has a lot of companies still do not have experience, consider working with a company that has experience. In the mid-market transactions, good tax advice can be worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.

4. Retain the right to advocate for the business. An attorney with transactional experience, as opposed to litigation experience is more likely to help put together such a successful deal. Many deals collapse due toLawyers who are not familiar with the transaction negotiations.

5. Do you understand how to run your competition and how you measure. How good are your margins? How about inventory turnover? Their equipment is outdated? Do you have a lot of dead inventory on the books? Some of the value in the business comes from the perception of the buyer, how do you evaluate your peer group. Excellent company received excellent reviews and mediocre companies with mediocre ratings. A competent M & A advisorPackage can also help your company get the best deal out of it.

6. Reduce risk by diversifying the customer and supplier base. What percentage of your business is tied to a client? How dependent are you on one supplier? What can you do to ensure that customers and suppliers, will remain with the company after the sale of business? Are your contracts are written so that they can remain with the business regardless of the changes?

7.Understand and have a documented plan for your growth. How do you want to grow? Wider product lines? More services? Increasing the geographical coverage? What part of your business is online? How good is your website? Doing business outside the immediate geographical area? What makes you different in a non-local markets? A good growth plan makes sales projections more credible.

8. Take steps to ensure that your distribution business transitions easily to the transferee.What percentage of your company is under contract? Are they long term? How much is your company again and again? Do you have maintenance contracts? Do one of the contracts provide meaningful exclusivity? Do you have a reliable sales team, or start the client and end with you?

9. Do you have any known latent liabilities? Claims? Workers comp issues? ESOP questions? Do you have adequate insurance or suspended, that a shipmentor warehouse catching fire and taking you down with it? If possible address these and other similar issues before putting the business up for sale. If not, discuss these with your M&A advisor to make sure that they do not become a drag on valuation or deal killers. Addressing these issues is especially important if you are seeking a tax advantageous stock sale.

10. Be cognizant of the fact that business valuations are not written in stone and there is a huge Variability, what you get for your business (see "The Myth of Fair Business Valuation"). The more you want your company to receive, the more predictable, you make a lot of team work to be done and the longer it is likely to take needs. Plan early if you maximize your returns.

Good luck with your company the sale and let us know if we can help you.

Five Big Business Valuation Myths

Myth 1: The value for my company can usually by multiplying the result will be determined by my industry. Dh. 3 times EBITDA

This is the most common myth. The result of the multiplier may be useful to a general overall value based on the industry to get, but it does not apply to all businesses in the same industry. For example, your local supermarket will not have the same income multiplier as the food chain Safeway. Other factors, the valuehow they affect suppliers or technological superiority will also affect the value of the company compared to its counterparts in the industry. In addition, sometimes outside of the 3rd Parties - such as the CRA, IRS, banks, courts, trustees and other parties do not accept - to determine the industry many times in value.

Myth 2: When I carried out an assessment of the value to remain constant from year-to-year period to the previous period.

Companies are not like the CanadianGovernment savings bonds, there is competition, changes in business environment, new suppliers coming into an industry when it profitable enough to choose some suppliers who sell to give to some competitors, except for certain product lines, while others join the market because they think they can make more money than some of its competitors.

Companies which by their nature are dynamic, static, and can easily change the face of these values from year to year.

Mythos 3: production and assessment practices, an absolute value.

The truth is, if you were 5 companies value estimators have the same activity, are all 5 come with a different value. That's because every analyst different methods, approaches, low rates, risk levels and other variables can be used to estimate the value. But if the evaluators and used sound valuation approaches, then you can take over the business > Feedback will be appropriate.

Myth No. 4: We can use our accountant or lawyer have an assessment.

While the pros seem like a good tool for assessing the value of your company, they can not be adequately equipped with the ability, qualifications or experience necessary to conduct the evaluation. Even if they have the correct credentials for the evaluation of your company, you may want to rethink, among them run the> Evaluation. The reason is, there is built an interest in conflict because they have an interest in your company will complete after the evaluation study, it is likely the value they derive is for your company biased either high or low for what you hope the outcome will be.

Myth 5: The financial statements of the company are good enough to determine value.

A member of the Financial Statementsthe basis for a business valuation, but there are many other factors that influence the value. Some of them include: competition, industry, business, organizational structure, management, its business, where along the business / product life cycle and many other factors can affect the value of a company.

So you can see that in the process of valuing a business, there are many factors that can determine the value.Do not use this company valuation myths proven methodologies and best practices in determining value. Taking the wrong approach to the assessment of your enterprise can cost you a lot of time, not used by prolonging the process of selling or financing or money to a 3rd party objective opinion, are to prevent the settling claims or funding over time and conditions is desirable.

These 5 myths basically outline why the long term the value that you maximizegoing to get for your business is best served by hiring the right professional corporate financial advisor. Prevention is better than a pound of cure.

The Cadillac Client Versus the Pinto

Business A has ten clients, and believes it does not need to heavily on the market. It produces an income, and is estimated at $ 1 million. Business B has 200 people working feverishly throughout the year produces a high number of transactions, but only get an assessment of $ 500,000. All things in the operating costs and the infrastructure is equal to what's going on? The nature of a company's customers receive is the difference.

For service-oriented businesses, particularlyQuality of the result is heavily influenced by the quality of the customer. An evaluation will review the risk factors associated with the continued patronage of customers of the company. Frequently asked questions are like:

Are they worthy of credit?
They have issued payment within terms?
Are there reasonable retention of customers as compared to industry standards?
Are they a diverse range of organizations, or are they close kind of customers?

All are importantFactors in the evaluation of risks.

For many companies, the biggest risk factor component of its current business model, a concentrated customer base. Similar to the diversification of the shares, is the ideal client portfolios across multiple industries, so that a decline has not cut one of the whole group, so all your earnings to kill the same time. Non-diversification is where all your customers come from a particular piece of vein or an industry. The assessment of your portfolio Concentration always takes into account the specific organization and industry of the company be evaluated. It is to be applied universally, the more diverse and extensive the clientele, the lower the risk of losing, no one client would be material, a client can not dictate unreasonable terms and conditions, and payments from a customer not materially affect the financial condition of the company.

Of course, any smart entrepreneur is proud to put themselves on-line> Companies in. The idea that business statistics provides almost instant heartburn, an especially if the transaction is a big one. So, the natural operators are unwilling to turn down business - especially from its largest current client. The difficult balance is in the expansion of the company with the widest possible mix of clients / customers, given the realities of the market for the business / industry. There are many successful companies that grew from the Advantages of a small group of customers, conversely, there are many examples of growing businesses through the loss of a major customer destroyed. In assessing the value, the determination of the risk associated with a concentrated client-/customer-base into account the particular circumstances of the market.

Review of the theory is very subjective, but in terms of client concentration, reflects the actual risk with too few people have too much of the revenue of the closely-related adverse> Review impact of this clientele is concentrated. Potential buyers would also assess the risk, and change its value assessment accordingly. Finally, the most important asset of a company's current revenue.

There is no automatic formulas are known worldwide for impairment to determine, each customer's needs in a portfolio of his own analysis. In strategic planning for your business, development of client / customer base is clearly a crucialIssue. If you build your exit strategy, keep in mind and take a look at your client list, as if a potential buyer. If you have an important client, which is represented a large portion of your earnings to extend a special effort now to your customer base your business more attractive to buyers in the future.

Choosing Office Space - Bring a Checklist

So, you're just starting a business and you are finding yourself overwhelmed with the task of localizing an office that will accommodate your needs without blowing your budget. The election office can be tricky, because you expect the amount of business you do to offset the rental of the space and staff with workers. In these uncertain economic times, many new and smaller businesses with few employees opt for virtual officeSpace or executive suites instead of the traditional office space with a long-term lease. No matter what kind of space that you are for your business, there are some considerations that you should always remember to rent on your search for office space.

If you find you office space, it is important that you make a list of the most important aspects of the room before you speak with a leasing agent or even a phone call in response to a classified ad.Essential to this list is that you keep in mind exactly what you need, not what you want to work. These needs are of the actual amount of space you need to work, do not feel like a Corporate Executive to access the communication that you need to stay in touch with your customers at regular intervals, such as Internet telephony and commercial load, and, but not least the realistic level of the sum, spend it on an office.

If you are looking to a leaseOffice, the amount depends on the actual square footage you have to much on the type of business you hope to run. If you're going to run a clothing store and design studio, you will need more space, as someone who is developing and operating a Web site or a consultation.

Once you have all the office space, which covers all aspects of your current lease situation is available, and have found that nothing is very well suited to your needs and your budget, you mightwant to consider an executive office suite instead of. These are usually individual suites, which are in a professional office building available. The advantages of the executive offices include professional reception services, access to conference rooms, Internet and telephone services, and in most cases, spaces that are already equipped with chairs, tables are furnished, and filing cabinets.