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Finance Your Venture’s Exporting with the Government’s Help
A record $184.4 billion in goods and services were exported by U.S. businesses in March 2012, according to U.S. Commerce Department figures. If you’re ready to join this growing export community, chances are you will need financing resources to take your small business to the international level. Consider the SmallBusiness Administration (SBA) and its partners for loan programs to assist you with the various financial needs involved in beginning your exporting endeavor.
Export Express Loan Program. Financing is available for export transactions including support for standby letters of credit and export development expenses such as product literature translation. The financing can be a term loan or a revolving line of credit.
To find the simplest and quickest financing avenue offered by the SBA, check with your existing lender to see if they participate—if so, you can apply directly with them—or go to the list of participating lenders by state which can be found on the SBA’sExpress Loan site. (more…)
Crowdfunding: The American Dream Reloaded
Ever since the JOBs Act was signed into law there have been lots of stories about how bad it will be next year when it’s finally legal to do so. Some people are afraid it will be like the wild west. I think it’s time we all took a deep breath and look at this for what it was intended to do.
According to the SBA, each year more than 10 million people consider starting a business. Out of this group, only three million take the plunge and actually start a business. It’s one of the most exciting endeavors that any person can undertake and it empowers people to take control of their own destiny and not wait for corporate America or the government to give them a job. Will they succeed? Who knows. But their level of success or failure holds true no matter where they get their funding from.
Let’s not stamp out this new and exciting process of accessing capital for those that will be successful and create the jobs our country needs just because it comes with the same risk that every other investment does -of losing it all. Let’s start off crowdfunding next year by admitting that everything in life is a gamble, including Angel and VC investments, (which also fail to make a return more often than is assumed by the general public) and that at least with crowdfunding you have a direct say so in where your money is being invested. (more…)
6 Quick Tips to Improve Your Survey Response Rate
Let’s face it: people don’t get too excited about the idea of taking an online survey.
They may not have the time, they’re distracted by their to-do list, or they simply don’t see it in their inbox. Whatever the reason, it’s your job to get the customer feedback you need to improve your product or service.
Here are 6 easy-to-implement tips to entice your customers and members to improve your survey response rate.
1. Make your survey as short as possible
Think through your survey carefully. Only include the questions you absolutely must have the answers to—5-10 questions is the sweet spot. One way to do this is to choose a specific survey topic, like a particular event or promotion, and focus on that. (more…)
Keeping Your Inventory Management Up to Snuff
Maintaining inventory might just seem like an annoyance you tend to as supplies run low or customers order something obscure. But effective inventory management isn’t just a matter of knowing what’s in stock. It’s knowing what you have, why you have it and how long you’ll probably hold on to it.
To help you streamline the inventory management process and save money without sacrificing your customer experience, try following these guidelines for optimizing inventory management.
Track Inventory and Sales Daily. If you haven’t yet started taking thorough records, now is the time to start. All of your transactions must include some record of what inventory was required to complete the transaction. This may sound very easy for a retail storefront, but for, say, a restaurant where one transaction requires a few primary components and many others in small amounts, it can get difficult. (more…)