Securing a Small Business Loan

Insufficient funding is one of the top reasons why 80% of businesses fail within the first year and a half. As a business owner, not only do you have to cover all operating expenses, but the time and effort needed to succeed means you will almost certainly have to bid farewell to your day job and regular pay checks. Unless you’ve saved up enough to pay for everything for at least 18 months, you will probably have to find other sources of funding.

However, here we encounter another problem. A recent survey cited by the Credit Union Times showed that only about one-fifth of small business owners – incidentally about the same rate of successful businesses – rely on a small business loan. The survey showed that 62% were fearful of taking on a loan and almost one-fourth of respondents think they would not be approved for one. A Harvard Business School working paper by Karen Mills (Administrator of the US Small Business Administration until 2013) showed even more discouraging statistics. Banks continue to apply measures that restrict small business lending since the financial crisis hit, since such loans are generally always riskier than those to large businesses. Loans amounting to $1 million or less – the domain of small businesses – have gone down 21% since 2008. These loans made up half of all bank loans in 1995, but only 30% in 2012.

So what can you do to have a better chance at securing a loan?

As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.” Given the stricter requirements of banks, you will need to come up with a very convincing plan that shows your business will truly make a profit. Each number presented has to be supported by hard evidence or at least some realistic projections backed by in-depth research. There must also be a clear plan as to where the money will go and how it will influence your business’s success.

Aside from this, your entire personal finances will also be scrutinized, so make sure your taxes, mortgages, credit cards, assets and liabilities, and even your credentials are all spotless and in order.

The bottom line is, if you believe in your business idea and do the necessary due diligence in coming up with a sound budget and business plan, there should be no reason to be denied a small business loan. Otherwise, you may want to reconsider quitting your day job.

Creating a Home Based Business With Ease

Creating a home based business is not difficult to do when you have the desire, drive, and determination to see it through to the success you desire. However, in order to achieve the success you desire, it requires creating an at home business that fuels your passion. The best home based business opportunities develop out of the transformation of your personal interests and hobbies into a profitable endeavor.Creating a home based business with ease also requires you to follow some simple but practical steps that help you to achieve the success you desire. The steps are mostly common sense; it’s no surprise to learn that achieving the success you desire requires planning, patience, and persistence.
Planning your at home business includes determining both the type of product, service, or information you will offer as well as determining who your primary target market will be. During the planning phase, you should also consider developing a budget to follow that you can live with as well as a list of goals you would like to accomplish in order to achieve the success you desire. Break down each goal into steps you can take that will lead to creating your own home based business with ease. Your goals should be the end results you desire, but it takes specific daily, weekly, and monthly tasks to help you meet those goals.
Patience is as critical to the process of creating an at home business as the planning is. Without patience, you may leap at an opportunity without fully assessing the risk involved, or you may make decisions without having all of the information you need to make sure the decision will bring you the success you desire. Patience is also required because in most cases, creating a home based business does not result in overnight success. It takes time, consistent effort, and comprehensive marketing to reach the level of success you desire.
Persistence may be the differentiator between those who stay in business and those who fail. Most small businesses fail within the first two years, but many of those failures happen within the first few months. Creating an in-home business is exciting, but settling in and staying committed to the ongoing work involved in achieving the success you desire requires a level of persistence and commitment not everyone is willing to make.If you can handle the three Ds – desire, drive and determination – and the three Ps – planning, patience, and persistence – then creating a home based business can be done with ease.

Online Home Based Business Tips

There are some tips you can use to help you have a successful home based business. It is important to find a business opportunity that will allow you to use your talent, skills and hopefully your work and education history. It is also ideal to find a business opportunity in an area of interest to you. Your home based business is likely to become an even bigger part of your life than any job you ever worked. You want to be able to have a home business doing something you enjoy.You need an area to work that is separate from the main living area whenever possible. If you have a house with an extra bedroom or any other type of room, you should set up your work base and office in there. Sometimes it is not possible to dedicate an entire room to an office. In cases such as these, you will want to find a corner of a room where you can keep your work items and computer. Make certain that your family knows that they are not allowed to touch your work papers and computer. You should definitely have a computer that is for business use only.Determine what hours you will work from home. Yes, one of your reason for running a home based business is probably flexible hours. However, you should still have particular days and hours in which you try to work. This will help you to stay organized and to stay on task when you need to complete jobs for a clients. If you have a family, you need to get them on board with your home based business plans. Make certain that they understand the commitment and hard work that you will need to put into running your home based business. You will need your family to be supportive of your plans if your home based business is going to work.Sometimes it is best to start out small and slow when you are launching a new home based business. You might want to tinker with your business ideas a few hours per week in the beginning. You can continue your regular job until you feel it is time to run your home based business full-time. In the beginning, you might want to just take on a few clients so that you can get a feel for interacting with clients and filling orders and completing jobs.Try not to ever give up hope on your home based business. If your business is not doing well, do not give up right away. Try to determine if there are any changes or modifications that you can make to your business to help improve the success of your business. You might find that a few small changes will save your business if you remain motivated and hopeful. Take your time to think through your home based business ideas. When you identify the business you want to start, you will want to write out a marketing and business plan. Put the time in that is needed to carefully get your business off the ground.