Navigating Change  

The questions keep rolling in and I want to thank all of you who are submitting them about your start up.  We were able to answer several of the questions on the recent Get It, Got It, Go! Teleseminar, on October 28 which was a huge success!  We heard from many of you and the buzz about the Entrepreneurial Edge System 3-Day Intensive in March is taking off! 

To learn more about the 3-Day Intensive and get a ton of information on our next high-content call, register for Get It, Got It, Go! The Entrepreneurial Edge Teleseminar on 11/11 at 11 a.m. Eastern at http://www.freebusinessplanformat.com. 

You’ll also get your free copy of my eBook Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3 Steps to Jump Start Your Start-Up.

Now for some answers to questions that were submitted.  We’re going to take two questions today:

One Entrepreneur asks:  Can I reasonably expect to receive funding to hire a technology company to build the IT engine for my internet business?

According to Business Manager, Deanne Geile of Huntington Bank, “if the expenses associated with the build out are reasonable and well documented as a fundamental part of the business plan, then some or all of those expenses may be eligible for financing.”

Another related financing question also came in: 

How does a new business establish new lines of credit?

Geile also states, “New business owners should understand the basic principles of credit evaluation before trying to engage a lender in establishing a line of credit or any type of loan.” 

These principles include the 5 C’s of credit.  All five principles must be considered, so that issues in any one area can be addressed or mitigated, if necessary.

1. Capacity- refers to how much debt a borrower can comfortably handle. The financing entity will want to understand the current indebtedness of the borrower(s) and the repayment terms of all existing debt to determine if capacity exists to service any additional debt.

2.  Capital- refers to current available assets of the borrower, such as real estate, savings or investment that could be used to repay debt if income should be unavailable.

3.  Collateral- refers to the asset(s) that can be entailed or sold if a borrower fails to repay the loan(s).  Collateral can typically support only one piece of indebtedness.

4. Conditions- This is an overall evaluation of the conditions surrounding the loan, including general economic climate at the time the loan is requested and the general purpose of the loan.

5.  Character- refers to how a person has handled past debt obligations. Financing institutions will rely on the borrower’s personal credit history to determine the borrower(s) ability to repay their debts.

Most companies need working capital and they must decide to either self-fund or obtain a line of credit.  Lines of credit are particularly difficult loans to obtain for start-ups and small businesses primarily because of the lack of a prior credit history as the most important factor. 

Be A Successful Entreprenuer:

To be successful, borrowers should:

Be very clear about the need for a line of credit. 

For example, “we need working capital to fund payroll in advance of the collection of accounts receivables,” is a great explanation for a line of credit. Saying you want the line as a “cushion” or “safety net” is like telling the financing entity that the line is going to be used when things start to decline or go wrong.

Be accurate with your assessment of need. 

Ask for an amount of money that is reasonable for your business.  Asking for $100,000 when $25,000 for weekly payroll is all you need is a good indicator that you, the business owner, may not understand your cash flow.

Consider how much collateral will be needed to secure the line. 

Keep in mind that most lenders do not advance 100% on any single type of collateral.  Equipment and inventory are heavily discounted as collateral.  If you want a $100,000 line of credit, be aware that you probably need about $150,000 to $200,000 in collateral.

Start small. 

Lenders are more likely to start small and then help you grow into a line as your business expands. SBA guaranteed lines of credit are also available through approved lenders.  Any program that takes some of the risk off the lender will be an advantage.  The SBA 7(a) program provides for up to $350,000 for working capital lines.

My next blog will answer the question about micro lending. 

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Lisa Mininni is President of Excellerate Associates, home of The Entrepreneurial Edge System at http://www.excellerateassociates.com.  For funding your small business, contact Deanne Geile, Business Manager at Huntington Bank at deanne.geile@huntington.com.

If you haven’t heard about the free High-Content Teleseminar Get It, Got It, Go! The Entrepreneurial Edge, I hope you will join us where I’m going to share how to jump start your start up. Get your free eBook, free business plan format as well as sign up for the free teleseminar at http://www.freebusinessplanformat.com. You’ll be prompted for your most pressing question about starting or jump-starting a business to new levels. The questions have been fantastic.

Second, one of the questions we received was from an entrepreneur who is just starting her business. She asks,

“How does a new business pay for start up expenses?”

The key to financing a start-up business is to first understand your business start-up expenses and cash flow cycle. Start-up costs include capital expenditures (hard costs) and working capital (soft costs). Determining exactly how much start-up capital you need means preparing realistic projections of the cash flow cycle starting with the ramp-up period when the business may not be generating any outside sales through the stabilization period when you start generating enough income to pay for most of your ongoing expenses.

Be realistic in your estimates.

“Most start-ups underestimate their ramp-up timeframe and consequently underestimate the amount of working capital needed during the ramp-up period.” says one of my source experts, Deanne Geile, Business Baker for Huntington Bank in Michigan.  Geile suggests that instead of planning for the best case scenario, business owners should plan for the “what” scenario:

• What if we don’t generate $X of sales as anticipated?

• What will we need to keep operations going until sales increase?

• What is our contingency plan?

In addition to creating a solid business model, business owners also need to think about the “how” scenario:

• How can I generate income from my business?

• How can I create leveraged income?

• How can I create passive income?

These questions help you to identify start-up costs and should also be included in your business plan.

Once you determine those start-up costs, you need to consider the type of financing you will be using.

Two types of financing are debt and equity financing.

• Debt financing, means a loan from an outside source that will need to be repaid at some point in the future.

• Equity financing is an investment of dollars by an owner or other interested partner in exchange for a portion of ownership.

Many small business start-ups use a combination of using their existing savings, debt or equity financing.  But Geile cautions new business owners to be careful about the expectations regarding the debt to equity ratio of financing, meaning the percent of debt versus the percent of equity financing. “Any financing entity will want to see a similar or proportional level of equity financing by the owner. Lenders want to see that the owner has “skin” in the game.” says Geile.

Remember, if you want someone to invest in you, you must first invest in yourself.

There are a variety of ways to create a demand for your products and services.  Most new entrepreneurs forget the defining elements for creating demand.  Try these elements with their corresponding action steps to increase demand for your products/services.

1.      Be very clear on your preferred client and understand the underlying problems not just the symptoms.

Action Step:  Create a database and ask your clients about their most pressing question they have about….(fill in the blank based on your client.)  If you’re a CPA, “most pressing question about keeping track of your financials.”  Remember this is your preferred client.  Symptoms can reveal underlying problems so you may want to word the question, “What is your greatest challenge about ….”  To entice them to complete the survey, let them know they will receive a white paper of the results once the survey is completed.  Make sure you get their email so you can send it to them.

2.      Identify the critical results:

• Your client has not yet identified
• Your client doesn’t understand
• That is preventing your client from achieving breakthrough results
• That is holding your client back from better results

Action Step:  Your database may reveal this as well by posing a question, such as “What are the critical results you want to achieve but haven’t?  What has gotten in your way?

3.      Focus on results and create value by educating them on the problems.

Action Step:  Make sure your mesmerizing marketing messages focus on results “do you want more…clients, money, time…”  Educate them on the problems in achieving these results by giving content which could be in the form of a free gift or product.

4.      It’s not about you – it’s about them.  Create the relationship and focus on their needs.

Action Step:  Most business owners make the mistake of telling everyone about their services but fail to have a conversation with the customer on what is important to them.  Make sure you're asking them about their greatest issue and what's most important to them.  Be ready to let go of the customer, too.  Your product/solution might not be the best solution for them at that time.  Have a slew of resources you can refer them to.
 

5.      Monetize your solution or services.

Successful business owners realize that they cannot be everything to everyone.  Changing the hours for dollars will only go so far.  You must create systems that monetize your business.  Systems, if created correctly, can work seamlessly.  Consider creating digital products attached to your shopping cart so once a person purchases the item, they receive the digital download instantaneously without you having to do a thing.  Remember to develop low, medium and high end products available for your entire business.  If you only have high end products, you could be missing out on other income sources.  Remember to ask your clients what would be valuable for them before you start creating product.  Got some criticism from your clients?  Sometimes criticism is the best form of figuring out what product you should develop.  Be open to it.

Action Step:  Review your entire business model.  What are the price points?  Is there a low, middle and high end price point?  Can you re-organize packages that require less of your time but can serve more people and price it at a different level?  For example, one consultant had a $7,000 service (this was his highest price point).  He found he also had a $20 product (this was his lowest price point).  What was missing was the medium end price point.  He developed a different level of service that fit in the medium end price point and created additional revenue without significant time on his part in creating and executing that price point.  He created a win-win solution for his business.

To learn more about how to systematize and monetize your business, download your free copy of Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3 Steps to Jump Start Your Start Up and join us for our free high-content teleseminar on October 28, 2009.  Visit http://www.freebusinessplanformat.com/ for details and downloads.

One of the great equalizers for small businesses is that commerce continues to evolve and grow on the internet. According to the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, “e-commerce grew faster than total economic activity…” While many naysayers are hyping the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, others are finding great wealth on the web.

Almost every aspect of daily life is influenced in some way, including the way we communicate and how we network. The web and technology is making it easier for the small business owners to compete. It provides the solopreneur or small business owner access and the ability to leverage their business. In some cases, it allows small businesses to compete with larger businesses as well as bring in big business profits without the overhead. Most business owners think they need to employ many employees to have a $1 million business but the internet is proving that to be an outdated belief.

Yet, many people starting their business don’t understand the essentials of using technology in ways that systematize and monetize their business. To be among those 10 percent of winning entrepreneurs, it’s crucial to systematize and monetize your business. New entrepreneurs make the mistake of setting up their business with a dollars-for-hours model. Unfortunately, the model creates a cycle where the entrepreneur is working hard for a specific period of time and then they look for more work, try to sell more products or seek out another contract. They spend 50 – 80% of their time drumming up new business and the remaining time working the new contract. This causes a vicious cycle, leaving the entrepreneur exhausted, de-energized and frustrated. This model has no leverage and no residual income.

Lack of systems is often the reason why new entrepreneurs decide to call it quits and say “I have no time.” But Systematizing and Monetizing your business means you can work less and make more. It means utilizing all of the resources that are available.

To get started, use these 3 simple steps to start systematizing and monetizing your business:

• Clear the Deck! Or maybe it should be clear the desk. It is difficult to systematize your day with mounds of clutter all around. Old files, clients you haven’t worked with in ages, and stuff. Resist the urge to purge all in one day. Organize over time and it won’t seem so overwhelming. Start with one drawer or one section of your desk. Clean it and make a commitment to keep it clean.

• Delegate. One way to monetize your business is to delegate. I’ll bet there are things you’re doing that an intern or some other assistant can help you with. Make a list of those things that can be delegated so you can focus your attention on those important things that will bring in income to your business. Call your local college and see if there is a student that can assist you with these tasks. The more you can release routine non-revenue generating tasks, the more you can focus on the essential revenue-generating strategies for your business.

• Create a daily system. Have to update your blog, write an article, and meet with clients? Look at how you’re scheduling your days. Try placing all of your client meetings on one day or create a system by using your calendar for the tasks that need to be completed and keep that appointment. Remember, when you’re committed to that appointment (whether it is an appointment to strategize for your business or meet with a client) that’s what you’re focused on. Answer emails or the phone during other scheduled times. Resist the urge to answer the phone when you’re in an appointment and use call forwarding to help you stay on task. When you have a daily system, you can accomplish more and serve your customers efficiently.

Before you know it, you’re creating momentum because you’re creating systems around your day and your week leaving you time to implement more sophisticated systems that continuously bring in your preferred clients. Delegating non-essential tasks whether by utilizing technology or outsourcing the tasks, allows you to focus on monetizing your business.

More on systematizing and monetizing your business in the next blog. Have a system that has worked for you? Let’s hear about it! ______________________________________

Lisa Mininni is creator of The Entrepreneurial Edge SystemTM, the only system that addresses Your Inner Entrepreneur, Systematizing and Monetizing Your Business, and Executing Your Business Blueprint. For more on this system , download your copy of the free eBook: Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3 Steps to Jump Start Your Start Up at www.freebusinessplanformat.com and sign up for one of our upcoming teleseminars.