Posted by Nina Lopez on February 8, 2010 under Small Biz Certifications, Small Biz and Entrepreneurship | 
If you are a small business owner and are considering applying for the SBA 8(a) program, here are some key eligibility requirements and pointers to help you before you invest time into the application process.
First and foremost the SBA 8(a) program only certifies firms that are currently in business. In order to apply you must be the majority owner and also involved full-time in the day-to-day management of the business to meet eligibility requirements. If you meet these requirements the next key point to consider when applying is the two year business operation requirement. The 8(a)certification program requires applicants to be in business for at least two years before their application will be considered for approval. Exceptions to this rule are sometimes granted but are not guaranteed. If you have been in business for less than two years and have successfully generated profits (this does not mean you have to been making huge profits), and have a successful track record with contract completion a waiver can be 
requested.
Only applicants who are members of socially disadvantaged groups and are economically disadvantaged can be considered for approval to the program. Many 8(a) applicants become ineligible for 8(a) certification due to the $250,000 net worth limit. This limit is defined as a personal net worth of $250,000 or less, excluding the equity in a personal residence or business. It is crucial not to make attempts at hiding assets from the SBA. The SBA has an extensive amount of tools and knowledge base regarding determining the size of a business and looking at two years tax returns to know what an individual’s net worth may be.
It is crucial for the SBA that as a small business owner you have enough working capital and business contracts that they deem your business eligible to have a high likelihood of success. Some planning can be done to mitigate this problem if the individual’s net worth is close to $250,000, such as selling securities and investing the money in the primary residence. Unfortunately for individuals with extremely high net worth’s it is difficult or unlikely to work around this clause in the SBA application.
Finally only applicants who are US citizens are eligible to apply for the 8(a) certification. Each year the federal government sets aside millions of contract dollars for certified small businesses to bid and receive contracts relating to the many federal agencies that exist. Many federal contracts are “set aside” for 8(a) firms, meaning that only certified businesses may apply or be considered. The designation of SBA 8(a) is a highly regarded program, if you meet these requirements you should consider pursuing this designation for your small business.
Posted by Jennifer Nelson on February 3, 2010 under Small Biz News, Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center shows that jobs and the economy are Americans’ number one and number two priorities for 2010. President Barack Obama took this to heart in his State of the Union address where he discussed offering tax credits to companies that hire new workers. So like many of you I was curious to see just how much this proposal would affect small businesses.
The proposal would give small business a $5,000 tax credit for each net new worker hired in 2010. Equally important is businesses that increase wages or hours for their existing workers in 2010 would be reimbursed for the extra Social Security payroll taxes they would not have otherwise paid. This would not affect individuals earning over $106,800 as they are not paying additional Social Security. A conservative estimate by the Treasury Department suggests the program could help one million businesses and would cost $33 billion to implement. One of the suggestions on the table is to funding it with money repaid to the government from the 2008-2009 bank bailout programs.
The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan fact finding agency, recently concluded that a payroll tax credit for companies that increase payroll would be an effective way to improve the economy and job creation. One of the biggest critiques of the program is it could be difficult to administer. Congress enacted a similar tax credit in the 1970s and few small businesses took advantage, according to the CBO report.
The government would have several important policies to ensure small businesses don’t cheat the system. No company could earn more than $500,000 from these combined benefits. This is designed to make the program small business focused rather than opening the floodgates to a few large corporations. Existing companies could not close down, reopen under a new name, and receive benefits, according to White House officials. Organizations that fire workers and then “quickly” rehire replacements are not eligible for the tax breaks.
Startup companies would be eligible for up to $250,000 in benefits from this program. The program is still awaiting congressional approval, and expected to cease benefits on Dec. 31. With the government’s recent initiatives to help small businesses, now is a great time to start your business. Businesses that are operational will be in the best position to take advantage of these new up-and-coming initiatives when they go live.
Posted by Nina Lopez on January 28, 2010 under Small Biz Certifications, Small Biz Planning |
In order to do business with the Federal Government, an interested small business should become certified under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) program. The SBA’s mission is to maintain and strengthen the Nation’s economy by aiding, counseling, assisting, and protecting the interests of small businesses and by helping businesses and families recover from disasters. The BD (Business Development) assists firms owned and controlled by economically and socially disadvantaged individuals, enter the economic mainstream. The 8a certification process is complex and takes on average three to four months to get completed. Once you have completed the process and received your wonderful letter saying, “congratulations you have been accepted” you still have to complete a SBA form 1010C.
This is a business plan that includes a detailed marketing plan for your business. Additional required topics included within the 1010C form are as follows: executive summary, business history, business environment, products and services, as well as other crucial topics. As soon as you receive your letter of approval from the SBA you will be asked to contact your local office (these specific details will be listed in your letter) and set up an appointment to review your business plan. This meeting will help to evaluate your small business’ potential for success as a certified 8(a) participant. If you are prepared for that meeting by already having a business plan prepared, it will enable you to complete the process immediately and receive your 8a certification. In other words, you enable your small business to begin bidding and contracting.
This is the final step to the SBA’s 8(a) certification process and it can delay the process if you are not prepared with a 1010c plan. Don’t delay your firm’s ability to receive contracts because you don’t have a business plan. In the words of John L. Beckley, “Most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.”
Posted by Nicole Rivera on January 18, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
Too often you see small business owners and entrepreneurs jump into the
new year with dozens of new goals and strategies to accomplish, but by the end of that year their goals have turned into nothing but a dreadful nightmare. This is not only depressing for the small business owners and entrepreneurs who run these businesses, but also for the thousands of Americans who are counting on small businesses to pull the U.S. out of a slump.
If I could have it my way, I would love to see every new venture taken on by an entrepreneur grow to be successful and profitable. Unfortunately, that is not reality. The reality is however, that those businesses who have failed most likely share many common mistakes. While knowing what these ruinous mistakes are is extremely important, it is even more critical to know how to avoid these endless pitfalls of disaster.
So, your probably asking yourself “How do I avoid my business ending up in the small business graveyard?”. Well, that is exactly what I am going to share with you today! Pay close attention to each point I am about to make, even if some may seem so “typical” or if you think “this is so common, I wouldn’t make that mistake.” Trust me, that is probably what many of the small business owners and entrepreneurs though right before their business went belly-up!
Bad Money Management. Look at the businesses that fail and you’ll find that many of them took on way too much debt. In addition to taking on too much debt many of those small businesses spend their seed money before cash ha begun to flow in at a positive rate. This is just plain irresponsible. As a small business owner you must hone in on your money management skills (if you don’t think you have them, then hire a bookkeeper to help manage financials). If you are gonna go at it alone, here are a few things to remember:
- Prepare for volatile marketing and uncontrollable costs that will sneak up on you.
- Keep strict records of all money going in and out.
- Evaluate your wants vs. needs to avoid over spending. In other words, if you can’t afford it, don’t get it!
Bad Business Location.Yes, it is true. Your location can make or break your small business. Remember, people need to be able to find you and feel welcomed to come on in. Too often you see entrepreneurs who are “raring to go” let a cheap lease tempt them into opening their doors in the wrong location. Keep in mind that common phrase, “if it seems to good to be true it probably is.”
Some simple ways to avoid a failure prone location is to consider your customers, suppliers and competition when deciding on a location. Create a check list for each of those factors to help you weigh all the benefits (demographics, distance to suppliers, financial savings etc.) for each location. Just keep asking yourself, “does this location meet the needs of the business?” Your answer should be yes.
Ineffective Marketing and Self Promotion. Have you ever felt like you were talking to a wall? Well, if you don’t utilize marketing or if it is poorly planned and executed, you may as well have been talking to a wall. You can’t gain customers and clients if they don’t know that you exist. That is why to have to strategically plan to build awareness and conversation about your business. Now, if you have an online business, marketing should truly be a key component of your daily tasks. Rather than a great location, an online business needs marketing to continually promote its site.
Learn how to cost-effectively and time-effectively market your business with tactics that work for you. That statement is important, because many businesses will simply implement too many marketing initiatives; to the point where all their marketing efforts are lackluster and ineffective. It is better to take on only the amount of marketing initiatives that you have time to execute to their fullest potential.
Underestimating the Competition. This statement has probably been beaten down to the ground, but it couldn’t be more true: If you don’t take care of you customers, your competition will. So, how will you keep your customers from straying? There are a few ways to prevent any activity “outside the relationship”:
- Create your unique selling point (USP) and really make it unique and enticing.
- Always remember that you have to earn customer loyalty; it doesn’t just happen. By always reminding yourself of this, you will always play at the top of your game.
- Know everything there is to know about your competition – their special promotions, changes they make to their website, what others are saying about them. It all goes back to keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer.
- Practice outstanding customer service, all day – everyday. Word of mouth can be one of the best and easiest ways to keep current customers and bring in new ones.
Inadequate Business Plan. Your business plan is your blueprint for success. A well-thought-out business plan forces you to think about the future and the challenges you’ll face. It also forces you to consider your financial needs, your marketing and management plans, your competition, and your overall strategy for coming out on top – Basically, it can help to prevent you from making the previous 4 mistakes.
Avoiding this mistake is simple: Get an effective business plan! It can be a simple three-page plan or a huge 40-page plan. The point is that every small business owner needs a business plan to help you to focus on your goals and your vision, as well as setting out plans to accomplish them.
So that is it! These mistakes can lead you to small business failure, but if you paid close attention to the points on how to avoid it, you should be okay!
Have you already made any of these mistakes? If so, what will you do to correct them and how are you going to prevent your small business from failure?
Posted by Nicole Rivera on January 5, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
It’s a new year and new start for small businesses and entrepreneurs! If you already have an established business you probably have made the small business resolution to implement new profitable strategies, to finally launch your website or to engage in additional marketing initiatives to make 2010 a year for the record books! If you haven’t yet started your business, there is no better time than now to jump into the small business startup process by getting your business plan written and legally forming your small business! Which ever category you fall into, there are a few important things to remember: The best success will be achieved through effectively PLANNING and PREPARING for your anticipated initiatives.
Small businesses and entrepreneurs across the U.S. share a similiar goal: to make their dream a success! Those who achieve thier goal have most likely taken the critical steps in properly planning and preparing for their new initiatives or resolutions. Those small businesses who have failed, ask themselves: “where did I go wrong?” or “it was a great idea, why didn’t it work?” The problem here is that they skipped those critical planning and preparation steps.
While there are many things you should be thinking about, we have compiled a list of the Top 5 Things You Should Be Doing to start PLANNING and PREPARING your small business for success in 2010!
The Top 5 Things You Should Be Doing!
- Creating or Re-evaluating you Business Plan – Your business plan is the “game plan” for your small business. It is going to map out previous successes and failures, and guide you through avoiding the same mistakes. Your business plan is your ultimate plan for success!
- Start Preparing for Tax Season - Do you have a bookkeeper? With tax season right around the corner, now is the time to get a professional CPA or Bookkeeper to avoid errors in your tax return, heavy fines, a possible audit and set-back to your goals.
- Create a Quarterly/Monthly Marketing Plan – Many small business owners make the resolution to implement new “cost-effective” marketing strategies in the new year. While this goal is more than possible, it can go extremely wrong and waste a lot of time and energy if a PLANNED marketing strategy is not put in place.
- Cross your T’s and dot your I’s – Make sure you have all the loose ends tied up from 2009, including: customer or employee issues, holiday promotion wrap-ups, reporting, financials and anything else that may insufficiently occupy your time in the new year.
- Keep your Customers Close and your Competitors Closer – i.e. know who your competition is, what moves they make, what promotions they are running and any additional ventures they may be taking on. Knowing what your competitors are up to will help you prepare for a possible “fork in the road” that could cause a change of plans.
I’m not saying that planning and preparation will eliviate every possible problem that may come in the way of your small businesses succeeding. It will tho, significantly add to the effectiveness of each new initiative or goal your small business takes on this year.
Are you a small business owner who has experienced failure due to a lack of planning and prepartion? If so, tell us your story and share a few tips for other small business owners and entrepreneurs!
Posted by Nicole Rivera on December 8, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
To often companies of all sizes fall into a slump during the holiday season. Words echo the halls such as: “Prepare for a slow-down” or “Retail gets all the holiday business”. While these statements are not completely untrue, there is something you can do about it: Use marketing to capitalize on the holiday season and prepare for a booming new year!
There are many ways to use holiday marketing to grow your client list, build reputation and boost sales in a creative way during this season. With mediums such as social networking, blogging and email marketing you can find the perfect channel to deliver your message to exactly who is interested in it – and spread a little holiday cheer along the way!
Not sure how to get started? That is why we have prepared a Holiday Marketing Recipe Book just for you! This free whitepaper will guide you step-by step through a few different holiday marketing recipes. Choose to utilize one or them all; it is up to you!
Have your own Holiday Marketing Recipes? Share them with us!
From our office to yours:
Happy Holidays from the team at BizCentral USA! Click Here to Download
Posted by Nicole Rivera on November 16, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing, Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
No longer is branding only important for the Nike’s and Starbuck’s in the game. Strong branding is necessary for startups, small businesses, large businesses and everything in between! As a small business owner you should
know how important an impressionable brand identity is to the success of your small business. Small businesses have become an integral part of the U.S., representing over 99.7 percent of all employer firms (SBA Office of Advocacy). So, shouldn’t your brand identity represent those large numbers? The answer is yes, most definitely!
To start, your brand is the overall image and perception of your product or service in the eyes of your customers, in comparison to other products or services in your market. Therefore, it is essential to research your target market and the buyer’s persona when developing your brand identity and its usage. What are their likes, dislikes, age, feelings, beliefs, interests and how will they benefit from your brand? Does your branding clearly define your intended message and is it appropriate for your audience?
Next, how will you utilize your brand? You must be consistent with the use of your logo, tagline, and materials and what you say about your small business. You will only be able to establish a strong brand identity by designing impressionable elements (both verbal and visual) and then repeating those elements through all outlets (i.e. Website, stationary, marketing materials, advertising, PR etc.).
Finally, remember “honesty is the best policy”. Current and potential clients will see right through false promises and advertisements your small business commits to. You want to be sure you can commit to all promises and beliefs that your brand promotes. Your current and potential clients will respect your honesty, and look to your company as a brand they can stand by and trust.
Your branding is what will separate you from the sea of competition that you are entering (the 99.7 percent of employer firms in the U.S.). So it makes sense that a quality brand requires much thought, research and integrity. In the end, your branding should strive to meet 5 goals.
5 Goals of a successful brand:
- Relays a clear and precise message directed at a defined buyer persona (this could be more than one buyer persons)
- Establishes a unique presence among your target market
- Identifies your company as the “only” source for your customer’s needs or the solution to their problem
- Leaves a lasting impression in the minds of your buyers
- Gives a message of loyalty and credibility about business
In conclusion, branding is not about competing with your competition for the flashiest logo design or website. Branding is however, about engraving your company’s tagline, web site, logo, beliefs, and credibility into the minds of current and potential buyers. In addition, branding is setting the stage so that they see you as the only solution to their problem-you can’t compete if there is no competition.
What does branding mean to your small business? How do you utilize the elements of your brand? Are you consistent, honest, clear and memorable with your branding efforts?
Posted by Jonathan Cajigas on November 11, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
During the business certification process, small business owners will undoubtedly come across the terms “economically disadvantaged” and “socially disadvantaged”. But what do these terms actually mean? This all depends on the agency responsible for granting the certification your small business wishes to obtain. Some small business certification programs allow for business owners to have a higher net worth than others, and some limit their programs to members of certain racial or ethnic groups. These differences can be significant from program to program, and it is recommended that you work with a competent professional in order to guide you through the business certification process, including which certifications your small business may qualify for. In order to keep things simple, we will focus on defining social and economic disadvantage for the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program, or the SBA 8(a).
The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program was created in order to provide contracting opportunities to minority-owned and other disadvantaged businesses. The SBA considers two factors when certifying a business as disadvantaged -whether or not the qualifying owner has been subject to prejudice resulting in a negative impact on their advancement in the business world, and the net worth of the qualifying owner. To keep matters simple, a socially disadvantaged individual whose net worth is less than $250,000 will be considered economically disadvantaged, but what exactly does “socially” disadvantaged mean? The SBA automatically presumes the following individuals to be socially disadvantaged:
- Black Americans
- Hispanic Americans
- Native Americans
- Asian-Pacific Americans
- Subcontinent Asian-Americans
But what about persons who have experienced social disadvantaged as a result of other factors, such as service-disabled veterans or other Americans with disabilities? These individuals are not presumed to be socially disadvantaged, and as a result, must provide a preponderance of the evidence detailing their personal experiences of substantial and chronic disadvantage in American society. This evidence must be presented in the form of a narrative that is to be included with the 8(a) business certification application. It is important to note that no one can guarantee whether or not a person who is not a member of an above-designated group will be granted disadvantaged status by the SBA, and subsequently, have their business certified under the 8(a) program. However, the SBA does provide general guidelines for factors that are considered when determining whether or not a person is socially disadvantaged, such as access to education, employment, and business credit or capital.
If you are unsure as to whether or not your business meets the criteria for 8(a) certification, work with a competent professional who will be able to determine if you possibly qualify for business certification under this program, and who will also assist you in drafting an effective statement of economic and social disadvantage. By doing so you will greatly increase your business’ chances of being certified under the 8(a) program, and ultimately, being awarded lucrative government contracts under this program.
Posted by Jennifer Nelson on November 4, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
Last time, I discussed the importance of capitalizing on e-mail to reach customers. The next logical question I’m sure most of you asked is, “How do I write e-mails that people will read?” The following nine steps are some important guidelines to remember when constructing your company e-mails.
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9 Guidelines to get your E-mails Opened!
- Include your logo in the same location. This subtle gesture will help your customers identify who sent the e-mail. It will also create a company-branding image that makes your e-mail look more legitimate and less like spam. People will have a sense of familiarity that makes them more likely to read the content, as they trust the source of the information.
- Keep the preview pane in mind. A recent study by Marketing Sherpa found that 70 percent of recipients that have the capability to read e-mail through a preview pane do. Before your e-mail has a chance to be clicked, most individuals will have already made a value judgment of the e-mail. Keeping this content fresh with exciting titles, consistent logo placement, and appropriate white space will make all the difference in getting that all-important click.
- Use color for emphasis. While it is tempting to use lots of color in constructing e-mails, it often ends up creating distractions rather than emphasis. Usually, I recommend starting with your company’s colors as this is important to solidify branding. All of your e-mails should represent your visual brand, and a key component of that is using your colors consistently. Colors outside your brand should be saved for emphasis.
- Limit the number of fonts you use. Too many fonts equal too much distraction. You want to keep your readers focused on the content of the message, not the stark changes in font. A good rule of thumb is to limit yourself to two fonts whenever possible. Make sure your fonts are universal so people can read the e-mail as you intended and not have them substituted by the e-mail provider.
- Make your point clearly and quickly. The top of your e-mail needs to have the most important information. Most individuals will aren’t going to scroll more than once to read the contents of an e-mail. With every moment, a reader is determining if he or she will keep reading or abandon your e-mail.
- Pick photos that support your message. Since a picture is “worth a thousand words,” it’s important that those thousand words be consistent with your content. Having a photo to simply fill up space isn’t a good reason to include one. High quality images are a must when selecting photographs for e-mails because it makes them look professional.
- Don’t embed your text in an image. Many of the programs people use to receive and read e-mail have images turned off by default. So, if your e-mails are pure images the reader will have to select to view contents. To ensure that people with this default setting get your message, include text in your e-mail that is not embedded in an image. Additionally, you can add title tags to the images within your e-mail that you choose to use. This will be a short discription of what the image is, so now the reader will be more likely to view the content because they have more trust in what they are opening.
Posted by Jonathan Cajigas on October 20, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
I’m not talking about contingency plans in the event that the business fails to succeed according to the roadmap outlined in your business plan. Neither am I referring to alternative funding sources or any other form of “Plan B” for financial survival. If your small business does not have these in place, by all means, develop these plans and have them in place before they become a necessity. But an arguably more pressing matter is having a backup plan for one of your most important assets – your business’ data.
This past week, users of T-Mobile’s Sidekick handsets were shocked to hear that personal data including contact information, calendar and appointment entries and photos was lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft-owned Danger’s data centers. To add insult to injury, these same users may never recover their lost data, due to a failure in the backup database. The ensuing attempts to recover this lost data, as well as to compensate affected users, will undoubtedly cost T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger millions of dollars in additional wages and lost revenue, as well as severely damage their reputation with current and potential customers.
This story should serve as a cautionary tale to all small business owners. If you do not have an adequate backup plan in place when your data is lost, you may face significant financial losses in the effort to reclaim that data. In order to do so you will probably have to work with an outside technical support company who will typically charge anywhere from $300-$500 an hour in order to help you recover your lost data, but may not be able to recover all or event part of it! While investing in an adequate backup solution will involve an initial expenditure ranging from $100 for an external backup drive to upwards of $500 for a hosted backup solution, it is well worth the money spent. A loss of your customer or payroll records can deal a fatal blow to your business, but it can be easily prevented.
Work with a competent IT professional to develop a data backup plan for your small business that will adequately serve your needs, and implement that plan immediately. By doing so, you will ensure that intangible yet crucial asset – data – is secure.
