Ready or not 2013 is here! Funding is an integral part of getting your startup off the ground. ?Last year, the rise of crowdfunding and a decline in venture capital investments opened new doors of possibilities for small businesses. ?Here are some trends that will influence the funding environment for 2013: Image Credit: http://www.startups.co…
Does Age Affect the Amount of Money You Raise for Your Startup?
by / ⠀Funding• Startup Advice / January 7, 2013With so many young entrepreneurs bursting into the tech startup scene, it can sometimes seem that age is no longer a factor when gaining investor support for your business. As a young entrepreneur myself, I disagree. Being a young business owner has clear pros and cons. By understanding and being aware of how your age can both help and hurt your chances for attracting investors, you will be…
As a recent college graduate, earning a salary, I had to learn on the fly on how to effectively save money. Fortunately, I was able to listen to the vague advice from my Dad who instructed me to “save my money”. Those who need a little more direction than that can read this article for some useful advice on how to successfully save money in the real world.…
How To Supplement Your Income While You Work On Your Home Business
by / ⠀Funding• Startup Advice / January 3, 2013If you’ve made the leap from nine-to-five to working from home, with enough backup capital to keep your enterprise going during that indefinite start-up period, then congratulations are in order. You’re prepared, you’re grounded, you’re relaxed and, largely, you’re fictional. Most home businesses are, to put it charitably, under-funded. Even if you’ve planned well and saved admirably, in most cases there’s simply no way of knowing how long…
When you are new to the marketplace, pricing your product or service is an important and many-layered process. You don’t want to over-price and scare off customers, but you also don’t want to underprice and send a message that your service is cheap. Your customers are smart enough to know that they usually get what they pay for. Take pricing extremely seriously, and take your time with it.…
In these uncertain economic times, it is tempting to blame your financial situation on the economy, especially when the news continually floods the airways with negativity. Although media pundits and financial experts would like us to believe otherwise, you can’t control the overall economy, and contrary to popular opinion, neither can politicians. What you can control, however, is what I like to call your personal economy – that…
It’s Never Too Early for Young Professionals to Start Building Wealth
by / ⠀Funding / December 26, 2012For many young professionals, building wealth may seem like a topic geared more towards those who are planning for retirement instead of those who are in the early stages of a career. However, it’s never too early to start accumulating wealth. In fact, the earlier you start, the better off you’re going to be. Investors today have a huge array of investment options. Many of these options can…
Despite benefitting from a low cost of capital, your enterprise is still burdened by higher costs to finance its inventory, its capital expenditures and most importantly, its receivables. Why is this happening? Well, in this economy customer demand is down, and customer bankruptcies are up. Both increase your costs of financing, and both impact your cash flow. However, there’s something far more important to be concerned with: whether…
Small Business Loan Refinancing: Is Now The Right Time For You?
by / ⠀Funding• Startup Advice / November 17, 2012It is very common for small business owners to take out small business loans to raise the capital they need to cover all of their start-up costs.? From paying for rents at their commercial building to investing in marketing materials, there are several start-up costs that the average entrepreneur cannot cover without help.? But when you started your business, there is a chance that you were forced to…
Economists love theory –?sometimes, they love theory so much that they forget about the applications. As an entrepreneur and an expert in practicality, you can enjoy the fruits of economic theories. Below: five principles of economics for people of action. People respond to incentives. When you fully understand this principle, the rest of economic theory seems redundant. The casual reader of popular economics (such as the ubiquitous?Freakonomics?by Levitt…