Month: December 2019

How to Find the Best Business Loans for Disabled People

Those with disabilities run businesses every day. While there are not a lot of business funding resources available specifically for those with disabilities, some loans work better for them than others.  Typically, you would have to wade through everything that’s out there to find the best business loans for disabled people. That could take forever. We try to narrow it down a little. 

Where to Start to Find the Best Business Loans for Disabled People

Of course, there are some highly variable factors at play.  Whether you are disabled or not, your credit score will make a difference when looking for business loans. Other factors will come into play as well, such as length of time in business and annual revenue.  For traditional lenders, credit is still king. The best business loans for disable people with a high credit score (650 or over) include the following. 

Best Business Loans for Disabled People: USDA Business Loans

These are loans from the United States Department of Agriculture.  They don’t provide loans directly. Rather, they guarantee loans from lenders and provide funds to agencies that act as intermediaries. Since a large share of disabled Americans are in rural communities, the USDA’s focus on these areas is a bonus.

The most popular of the USDA’s many business loan programs is the Business and Industry Guarantee Program. The USDA helps guarantee loans made to businesses in rural areas through this program.  By USDA definition, a rural area has fewer than 50,000 residents. Therefore, if your business is located in an area that fits this definition, you could qualify. However, you will also need good credit, adequate business revenue, and potentially some collateral. 

Learn business loan secrets and get money for your business. 

Best Business Loans for Disabled People: SBA 7(a) Loans

Another option for disabled people with good credit is an SBA loan.  Like the USDA, the SBA does not issue loans directly.  They guarantee loans made through specific lenders. The 7(a) loan program is the SBA’s most popular.  It offers up to $5 million in funding and repayment terms that go up to 25 years.  

Entrepreneurs can use these funds to buy commercial real estate, expand a business that is already in operation, start a new business, buy equipment, and more.  Not everyone will qualify however. In addition to a credit score of 650 or above, businesses operating for at least two years and already producing revenue are more likely to get approval. Collateral is also a likely requirement.  The process takes several weeks. 

Best Business Loans for Disabled People: SBA Microloans 

The really cool thing about these loans is that you can qualify with credit that is between 550 and 650.  They offer up to $50,000 in funding, so they are a great option for micro or home-based businesses. They can be used for hiring, launching a new location, and even remodeling your office.  Accion, one of the partner lenders, will work with scores as low as 575. They focus more on the expected income during the loan term than current financial position.  

Best Business Loans for Disabled People: SBA Community Advantage Loans

The goal of these loans is to get funds to business owners in underserved groups.  This, of course, includes disabled people. They go up to $250,000, so large investments work well with these funds.  The application process works the same as with other small business loans in that you need to find an SBA partner lender. Use this tool to find a lender. 

Business Loans for Disabled People: Non-Traditional Lender Options

The SBA works with traditional lenders to help get loan funds in the hands of those that may not be able to qualify under traditional requirements.  While the government guarantee helps, sometimes it still isn’t enough. If you find this is the case with your, business consider applying for loans from non-traditional lenders. 

biz loans for disabled entrepreneurs Credit Suite

OnDeck

With OnDeck, applying for financing is quick and easy. Apply online, and you will receive your decision once application processing is complete. Loan funds will go straight to your bank account. The minimum loan amount is $5,000.  The maximum is $500,000.

You must have a personal credit score of 600 or more.  Also, the business has to be in operation for at least one year. There is an annual minimum revenue requirement of  $100,000 as well. In addition, there can be no bankruptcy on file in the past 2 years and no unresolved liens or judgements. 

StreetShares 

StreetShares began as a service to veterans.  These days, they offer term loans, lines of credit, and contract financing. They also offer small business loan investment options. The maximum loan amount is $250,000.  Pre Approval only takes a few minutes. They use a soft pull on your credit so it doesn’t affect your score. 

To be eligible, you have to be in business for at least 12 months with annual revenue of $25,000. Exceptions are possible however.  For example, with loans to companies in business for at least 6 months that have higher earnings, they make decisions on a case by case basis. The borrower’s credit score must be at least 620. For more on StreetShares, see our in-depth review. 

Kabbage 

Kabbage is an online lender. They offer a small business line of credit that can help businesses meet their goals quickly. The minimum loan amount is $500, and they do not exceed $250,000. You must be in business for at least one year and have $50,000 or more in annual revenue, or $4,200 or more in monthly revenue, over the last 3 months. 

Learn business loan secrets and get money for your business. 

Kabbage is  great if you need cash quickly. Also, their non-traditional approach puts less weight on your credit score, so they may work better for some borrowers than other lenders.

Business Loans for Disabled People: Business Credit Cards

Business loans for disabled people are not easy to get.  If your personal credit is totally shot and you are having trouble getting enough funding through business loans, business credit cards can help.  Of course, you’re thinking if your credit isn’t good enough to get loans, how are you going to get credit cards?  

First, credit cards are easier to get regardless.  Those with poor credit scores can still get cards, they just have higher rates and lower limits.  However, if you build credit for your business, known as business credit, you can get great business cards and fund your business quite successfully without bringing your personal credit into the picture at all.

Why Should Disabled Business Owners Build Business Credit?

Not just disabled business owners, but all business owners should build credit for their business that is separate from their own. Here’s why.  If you have strong business credit you can get business credit cards with favorable terms and nice rewards regardless of what your personal credit looks like.  Also, if your business runs into problems, your personal credit will be protected and you will still be able to do things like buy a car or a house. 

Business Loans for Disabled People: How to Build Business Credit to Apply for Business Credit Cards

The first thing you have to do is ensure accounts in your business name report to your business credit report and not your personal credit report.  Do this by setting up your business as a fundable entity apart from yourself. Start by making sure your business has its own phone number and address that is not the same as yours.  Be sure to get these listed in the business 411-directories.

Then, you need to get an EIN.  You can do that at the IRS website for free.  You’ll use it to apply for credit in place of your SSN.   After that you have to incorporate. You can do so as a corporation, S-corp, or LLC.  Do some research to determine which option will work best for your budget and liability protection needs, but you have to choose one. 

There are just a few more things you need to do to make sure your business stands on its own credit wise: 

  • Get a D-U-N-S number
  • Open a separate business bank account
  • Put up a professionally designed and hosted business website.  Make sure you have a business email address with the same URL as the website as well. 

Business Loans for Disabled People: Build Business Credit

You cannot just apply for business credit cards in your business name right away. First, you have to establish tradelines with starter vendors. These are vendors in the vendor credit tier that will issue invoices with Net 30 or longer terms. While you may need to make a few initial purchases with these vendors to establish yourself as a customer before they will extend these terms, there is no personal credit check. They do sometimes want to see a certain amount of time in business however. 

As you pay the invoices consistently and on-time, these vendors will report your payments to the credit reporting agencies, thus establishing your business credit profile. Some of the most common and easiest to start with are Uline, Quill, and Grainger. 

Why Start Here?

These are the easiest to start with simply because they sell products that most any business can use on a daily basis. Items such as paper, toner, pens, pencils, packing supplies, and even janitorial supplies. After you order from them a few times, apply for net 30 terms, pay on time, and watch your business credit score start to build like a snowball rolling downhill.

Once you have 8 to 10 tradelines reporting your on-time payments to the credit agencies, you can start to apply to creditors in the other credit tiers. 

  • Retail Credit Tier– Credit attached to specific stores such as Amazon, Home Depot, and Best Buy. 
  • Fleet Credit Tier– Companies that offer credit for fuel purchases as well as automobile repair and maintenance.
  • Cash Credit– These are the large, well-known credit companies such as Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. 

As you can see, it all starts with building trade lines through the vendor credit tier. Then a whole credit world opens up to you!

Learn business loan secrets and get money for your business. 

Business Loans for Disabled People: Assistive Technology Business Loans

If you have a disability that makes it necessary for you to use assistive technology to run your business, you could benefit from one of these loans.  An example of this would be if you need an automobile that is wheel-chair accessible to make deliveries. Another example would be braille-compatible software, or a hands-free device to make business calls.  

Most often these types of loans come from local lenders, and requirements for eligibility vary.  The National Disability Institute offers assistive technology loans in New Jersey and New York that range up to $30,000. It is important to note that your credit can affect your ability to get these loans, but if you can show you have sufficient income to pay it back that will help a lot. 

Business Loans for Disabled People: Disabilities Don’t Have to Stop You from Funding Your Business

Over the course of a lifetime, a disability can affect a person in a number of ways.  You can feel like you are not able to do the same things others can. While this may be true in some cases, often having a disability doesn’t make a difference in what you can do.  The difference that has to be made is how you do it. The vision impaired can read, just with their fingers instead of their eyes. The hearing impaired can talk, either with their hands or their mouths.  Similarly, those with disabilities can fund a business, they just may have to go about it differently. There are resources for disabled business owners out there, but you have to know where to look.

While it can seem that your disabilities stop you from many things in life, they do not have to stop you from owning and running and successful business.  There aren’t a ton of business loans for disabled people exclusively, but there are plenty of options that work well for all types of business owners. Take the time to do the research you need to and figure out what’s out there, what you qualify for, and what you actually need.  In the meantime, start building your business credit so you can access business funding at any time. You’ll be glad you did. 

The post How to Find the Best Business Loans for Disabled People appeared first on Credit Suite.

Curebase (YC S18) hiring for engineering and sales to reinvent clinical research

Article URL: https://angel.co/company/curebase/jobs

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21766411

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by KurtisL in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2019)"

SigOpt | Research Engineer | Onsite San Francisco, CA | Fulltime

https://jobs.lever.co/sigopt/bdff1bd1-ed90-468b-a1b2-020c803…

SigOpt provides an enterprise, hosted service for model development and black box optimization. We’re looking for brilliant and enthusiastic researchers to learn, grow, and build with us!

Research at SigOpt

SigOpt is a service that helps customers efficiently develop effective models in an efficient and data-secure fashion. As customers report the relationship between our recommended model designs and the associated performance, we implement algorithms internally to interpret this relationship and suggest new model designs that may reach higher performance. Our algorithms must be able to perform under various customer circumstances and computational restrictions, and they must yield robust performance for our customers to trust their model development to SigOpt.

Project Ownership: Research engineers are entrusted to own much of the development process for many of our most important and differentiating features. These critical elements of our product require the passion and rigor which defines a research mentality, and research engineers are expected to design and execute (in conjunction with other engineers) the strategies for designing and executing these key projects.

Working at the Cutting Edge: The tools that we provide for our customers must be based on the latest research developments from throughout the mathematics, statistics and machine learning communities. We invest time in reading articles and participating in conferences to know the current state of the community so that we can bring the best tools to bear on our customer’s problems. Research engineers have the important job of developing and/or adapting these strategies to fit in the constraints of an enterprise SaaS black-box solution.

Teamwork: Everyone on the research team has their own expertise and perspective on the research community: statistics, mathematics, operations research and machine learning all contribute to the core of our product. We want all researcher engineers to be both humble teachers and active learners to build the best and most comprehensive team possible. The research team also regularly hosts interns, and interested team members have the opportunity to mentor the next generation of researchers.

Communicating to the World: One of the key ways the research team contributes at SigOpt is by being effective communicators. This can be by documenting our work internally, developing feature/product documentation which speaks to advanced users, developing educational material to bolster SigOpt’s conference presence, writing blog content to present ideas/methodologies to the broad community, or writing articles for conferences/workshops to the research community. We also regularly collaborate with external partners on projects ranging from materials science to artwork.

User Engagement: An important part of SigOpt’s effectiveness lies in understanding our customer’s needs and values. Research engineers are encouraged to spend time with the customer success team during customer meetings to better empathize with customer goals and devise better strategies for serving their needs. This opportunity is unique to life at a small company, and, when successfully executed, this can be the most important element of product discovery/development.

Get Corporate Credit Cards Using EIN Only

Here’s How to Get Corporate Credit Cards Using EIN Only Is it possible to get corporate credit cards using EIN only? Absolutely! We looked at a ton of company credit cards and did the research for you. So, here are our preferences. Per the SBA, company credit card limits are a whopping 10 – 100 … Continue reading Get Corporate Credit Cards Using EIN Only

How to Get More Organic Traffic Without Doing Any SEO (Seriously)

You
all know SEO is a long-term game… at least when it comes to Google.

And yes, who doesn’t want to be at the top of Google for some of the most competitive terms? But the reality is, we don’t all have the budget or time.

So
then, what should you do?

Well, what if I told you there were simple ways to get more organic traffic and, best of all, you don’t have to do one bit of SEO?

Seriously.

So,
what is it? And how can you get more organic traffic?

Well,
this story will help explain it…

The
old days

When
I first started my journey as an SEO, I got really good at one thing.

Getting
rankings!

Now to be fair, this was back in 2003 when it wasn’t that hard to rank on Google (or any other search engine for that matter).

Stuff some keywords into your page, your meta tags, and build some spammy rich anchor text links and you were good to go.

You
could literally see results in less than a month.

SEO wasn’t too complicated back then. So much so, that I even started an SEO agency and created a handful of sites.

I was starting to rank my sites at the top of Google but they didn’t make a dollar. Literally, not a single dollar.

In fact, I was actually losing money on them because I had to pay for the domain registration expenses and hosting.

So, one day I decided that I was tired of losing money and I was going to do something about it. I took the keywords that I was ranking for and started to type them into Google to see who was paying for ads for those terms.

I hit up each of those sites and tried to get a hold of the owner or the person in charge of marketing.

I asked them how much they were paying for ads and offered them the same exact traffic for a much lower price. I was able to do this because I already had sites that ranked for those keywords.

In other words, I offered to rent out my website for a monthly fee that was a fraction of what they were paying for paid ads.

Next thing you know I was collecting 5 figures in monthly checks and my “renters” were ecstatic because they were generating sales at a fraction of the costs compared to what they were spending on paid ads.

So, what’s the strategy?

Well, it’s simple. Back in the day, I used to rent out my websites… the whole site.

These
days I’ve learned how to monetize my own site, so I don’t rent them out.

But you know what, most of the sites that rank on Google are content-based sites. Over 56% of a website’s organic traffic is typically going to their blog or articles.

So why not rent a page on someone else’s site? From there, modify that page a bit to promote your products or services?

I
know this sounds crazy, but it works. I have one person that just reaches out
to site owners asking if we can rent out a page on their site. We do this for
all industries and verticals… and when I look at how much we are spending
versus how much income we are generating, it’s crazy.

Here are the stats for the last month:

Rental
fees: $24,592

Outreach costs: $3,000

Legal
costs: $580

Copywriting
and monetization costs: $1,500

Total
monthly cost: $29,672 

Now
guess what my monthly income was?

It
was $79,283.58.

Not
too bad.

Now
your cost on this model won’t be as high as mine because you can do your own
outreach, monetize the page you are renting on your own, and you probably don’t
need a lawyer.

And don’t be afraid of how much I am spending in rental fees as you can get away with spending $0 in the first 30 days as I will show you exactly what to do.

Remember, it’s also not what you are spending, it’s about profit and what you are making. If it won’t cost you any money in the first 30 days and you can generate income, your risk is little to none.

Here
are the exact steps you need to follow:

Step
#1: Find the terms you want to rank for

If
you already know the terms you want to rank for, great, you can skip this step.

If you don’t, I want you to head to Ubersuggest and type in a few of your competitors’ URLs.

Head
over to the top pages report and look at their top pages.

Now
click on “view all” under the estimated visits column to see a list of
keywords that each page ranks for.

I want you to create a list of all of the keywords that contain a high search volume and have a high CPC. Keywords with a high CPC usually mean that they convert well.

Keywords
with a low CPC usually mean they don’t convert as well.

When
you are making a list of keywords, you’ll need to make sure that you have a
product or service that is related to each keyword. If you don’t then you won’t
be able to monetize the traffic.

Step
#2: Search for the term

It’s
time to do some Google searches.

Look
for all of the pages that rank in the top 10 for the term you ideally want to
rank for.

Don’t
waste your time with page 2.

What
I want you to look for is:

  • Someone who isn’t your competitor. Your competition isn’t likely to rent out a page on their site to you.
  • A page that isn’t monetized. Not selling a product or service. (If the page has ads, don’t worry.)
  • A site owned by a smaller company… a publicly-traded company isn’t likely to do a deal. A venture-funded company isn’t likely to do a deal either (Crunchbase will tell you if they are venture-funded).

Step
#3: Hit up the website

Typically, through their contact page, they should have their email addresses or phone number listed. If they have a contact form, you can get in touch that way as well.

If
you can’t find their details, you can do a whois
lookup to see if you can find their phone number.

What’ll
you want to do is get them on the phone. DO NOT MAKE YOUR PITCH OVER EMAIL.

It
just doesn’t work well over email.

If
you can’t find their phone number, email them with a message that goes
something like this…

Subject: [their website name]

Hey [insert first name],

Do you have time for a quick call this week?

We’ve been researching your business and we would like to potentially make you an offer.

Let me know what works for you.

Cheers,

[insert your name]

[insert your company]

[insert your phone number]

You
want to keep the email short as I have found that it tends to generate more
calls.

Once you get them on the phone, you can tell them a little bit about yourself. Once you do that, tell them that you noticed they have a page or multiple pages on their website that interest you.

Point
out the URL and tell them how you are interested in giving them money each
month to rent out the page and you wouldn’t change much of it… but you need
some more information before you can make your offer.

At this point, you’ll want to find out how much traffic that page generates and the keywords it ranks for. They should have an idea by just looking at their Google Analytics (you’ll find most of these sites don’t use Google Search Console).

Once
you have that, let them know that you will get in touch with them in the next
few days after you run some numbers.

Go back, try to figure out what each click is worth based on a conservative conversion rate of .5%. In other words, .if 5% of that traffic converted into a customer, what would the traffic be worth to you after all expenses?

You’ll
want to use a conservative number because you can’t modify the page too
heavily or else you may lose rankings.

Once
you have a rough idea of what the page is worth, get back on the phone with
them and say you want to run tests for 30 days to get a more solid number on
what you can pay them as you want to give them a fair offer.

Typically,
most people don’t have an issue because they aren’t making money from the page
in the first place.

Step
#4: Monetize the page

If
you are selling a product, the easiest way to monetize is to add links to the
products you are selling.

For
example, if you are selling a kitchen appliance like a toaster, you can add
links from the article to your site.

Just
like this article.

The easiest way to monetize a blog post is to add links to products or services you are selling.

Don’t delete a lot of the content on the page you are modifying… adding isn’t too much of an issue but when you delete content sometimes you will lose rankings.

As
for a service-based business, linking out to pages on your site where people
can fill out their lead information is great.

Or you can just add lead capturing to the page you are renting out. Kind of like how HubSpot adds lead forms on their site.

I’ve actually found that they convert better than just linking out to your site.

When monetizing the page you are renting, keep in mind that you will need disclaimers to let people know that you are collecting their information for privacy purposes. You also should disclose you are renting out the page and nofollow the links.

Once you are monetizing the page for a bit, you’ll have a rough idea of what it is worth and you can make an offer on what you’ll page.

I recommend doing a 12-month contract in which you can opt-out
with a 30-day notice.

The reason you want a 12-month agreement is that you don’t want to have to keep renegotiating. I also include the 30-day opt-out notice in case they lose their rankings, you can opt-out.

And to clarify on the op-out clause, I have it so only I can opt-out and they are stuck in the agreement for a year.

Conclusion

SEO isn’t the only way you can get more organic traffic.

Being creative, such as renting pages that already rank is an easy solution. Best of all, you can get results instantly and it’s probably cheaper than doing SEO in the long run.

The only issue with this model is that it is really hard to
scale.

If I were you, I would do both. I, of course, do SEO on my own site because it provides a big ROI. And, of course, if you can rent out the pages of everyone else who ranks for the terms you want to rank for, it can provide multiple streams of income from SEO.

The beauty of this is model is that you can take up more than one listing on page 1. In theory, you can take up all 10 if you can convince everyone to let you rent their ranking page.

So, what do you think of the idea? Are you going to try it out?

The post How to Get More Organic Traffic Without Doing Any SEO (Seriously) appeared first on Neil Patel.

Kinds Of Health Insurance

Sorts Of Health Insurance

Medical insurance is developed to safeguard versus loss of revenue and also expenditures for treatment. There are 2 wide classifications of medical insurance plans: special needs earnings plans as well as clinical cost plans.

Special needs revenue plans can additionally be described as loss of earnings, loss of time or substitute earnings. This sort of plan will certainly pay advantages to a guaranteed that is handicapped and also can no more function to make a normal revenue. Repayments can be month-to-month or regular relying on the plan.

Clinical expenditure plans are stood for by a variety of insurance coverage from extremely marginal to extensive plans with several protection. Some consist of both health problems and also crashes, numerous health center costs and also various other expenses referring to treatment such as crash and also illness plans, hospital-stay plans, fundamental clinical cost plans and also significant clinical expenditure plans.

Any one of these plans could cover different mixes of the above and also might be paid in a swelling sum.Some plans cover just crashes and also not ailment. As you may envision, plans such as this are extremely certain regarding what is thought about a crash.

It is very important to comprehend what is specified as a crash as it concerns the medical insurance market: a mishap is an occasion that is unexpected as well as unpredicted.

Any kind of conversation of this kind of plan additionally uses to any kind of kind of plan that consists of unexpected insurance coverage, not simply mishap certain plans.

Mishap advantages are most generally spent for unexpected death (likewise called unexpected fatality), unintended loss of arm or leg or view (dismemberment), loss of time and/or revenue, healthcare facility costs, medical expenditures, and also clinical expenditures like brows through to the medical professional.

Life insurance coverage plans will typically be paid no matter of the reason of fatality. An unintended advantage is paid ONLY if the fatality is unintended as opposed to a fatality by all-natural reasons or health problem.

The individual that obtains the survivor benefit is called the recipient. The plan proprietor has the right and also obligation of calling recipients. Typically there is a key recipient nevertheless he/she can designate a 2nd as well as also a 3rd recipient.

The key recipient is the initial individual in line to obtain the advantage in case of the fatality of the plan owner. The plan proprietor can likewise call a 2nd recipient that would certainly obtain the advantage in case the key recipient passes away prior to the guaranteed. Some plans can consist of a 3rd recipient that would certainly remain in line after the very first 2.

There is one more crucial component in relation to mishap plans: An unintentional fatality might not be instantaneous. An individual can pass away as an outcome of an injury months after the mishap event. Due to the fact that the majority of specify that the unintentional fatality advantage will just be paid if fatality happens within 3 months of the mishap, review your plan very carefully.

Life insurance policy plans will normally be paid no matter of the reason of fatality. The key recipient is the very first individual in line to get the advantage in the occasion of the fatality of the plan owner. The plan proprietor can additionally call a 2nd recipient that would certainly obtain the advantage in the occasion the main recipient passes away prior to the guaranteed. There is an additional essential component in respect to crash plans: An unintended fatality might not be instantaneous. Review your plan meticulously due to the fact that many state that the unintentional fatality advantage will just be paid if fatality happens within 3 months of the mishap.

The post Kinds Of Health Insurance appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

New comment by zach_keiser in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2019)"

Keiser | Software Engineers | Fresno, CA | On-Site Full-Time | https://www.keiser.com

Keiser produces workout equipment that has been influencing the training of athletes and fitness enthusiasts for more than 40 years.

We are searching for software engineers who are looking to test their skills and grow as full-stack developers. We work at every level starting at serial communications with embedded systems all the way up to data analysis and front-end development and we need engineers who are willing to learn and adapt to the challenges that such broad systems bring.

If you prefer to re-skin WordPress site, no need to apply, but if you are looking to challenge yourself as a developer this is the place for you.

Apply here: https://www.keiser.com/about-us/careers

The post New comment by zach_keiser in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2019)" appeared first on Get Funding For Your Business And Ventures.

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How to Get More Organic Traffic Without Doing Any SEO (Seriously)

You all know SEO is a long-term game… at least when it comes to Google. And yes, who doesn’t want to be at the top of Google for some of the most competitive terms? But the reality is, we don’t all have the budget or time. So then, what should you do? Well, what if …

Mighty (YC S19) is hiring its first engineer to make Google Chrome faster

Article URL: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18ff1YrETEf4RRbcR251j9hGLGdKQ52x65OzTGc5DWFI/edit Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21689251 Points: 1 # Comments: 0

Building Business Takes a Lot of Hard Work, but it Isn’t as Hard as You May Think

The key to building business successfully is to set your business up for success in the beginning.  Everyone knows that the key to building anything strong is to have a solid foundation, and the same is true of building a business.

Building Business Means Setting Up a Strong Foundation and Following Through

No one wants to go back to the beginning to build a foundation. It is always best to take the extra time to build a solid foundation on the front end.  That usually takes some extra work and more than a few extra steps. While it’s true that building business is not for the faint of heart, this extra work is always worth it.  Here is how to begin setting up your business for success. 

Building Business: It’s all in the Plan

Not only is a business plan necessary when it comes to getting business loans, but it is necessary to the day to day operations of your business as well.  Virtually all successful entrepreneurs will tell you that a major key to success is to plan to work and work the plan.  

Most traditional lenders are going to need to see a business plan as part of the loan application process.    Truthfully, it’s best to hire a professional business plan writer if possible. They can work with you to get all the necessary information and put it together in the traditional  format.  

If you cannot hire a business plan writer however, there other options. The Small Business Administration offers a template, and your local small business development center may also be able to help.

building business Credit Suite3

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit. 

For a business plan to be taken seriously by a lender, it needs to include the following: 

A Strong Opening 

 An Executive Summary

 This is a complete summary of the business idea. 

Description

The description goes into further detail than the summary, describing the business. This is where you work to build excitement about your business. 

Strategies

Layout your plan for getting started. Do you have a marketing plan, area in mind for location, or idea of how many employees you will start with? What is your ramp up plan? 

Market Research 

Market Analysis

This actually includes two parts. All that market research you did goes here: 

Analysis of audience

What need will your business fill, and for who? Are you a child care facility filling a need for affordable child care for working moms? Are you an eatery filling a need for a lunch spot for those working downtown? How will your business fill the need? All of that information goes in this section. 

Competitive Analysis

Is there already a business working to fill this need? Is there room for more? How do you plan to compete with them? 

If you are not a new business, this will be a market analysis that supports your need for funding, or that shows your business is strong and growing.

The Plan 

Plan for Design and Development

How is all of this going to play out, from start to finish. What steps are you going to take? This is more detailed than your strategies section.

Plan for Operation and Management

Who will own or does own the business and who will run or currently runs it from day to day. This could be as simple as stating that you are the sole owner and operator, or as complicated as laying out a complete partnership plan or board or directors’ format. It just depends on how your business works. 

Financials

Financial Information

This section includes current financials, projections, and a budget plan for the loan funds you are applying for.  Lenders need to see that you know how to handle the funds you get, and that you have a plan to pay them back.

Working the Plan 

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the official business plan is only for lenders to help you get loan approval.  It isn’t. Your business plan should be a useable, practical tool that you can follow and refer back to. That is key to building business.   Are sales down? Refer to your plan. Struggling with cash flow? What does the plan say? Work the plan you worked so hard on and trust the process. Also, remember to revisit the plan occasionally even if things are going well to look for ways to improve it, or adjust it if necessary.

Building Business: Licenses

Do you need a business license?  What type of license do you need?  Ask yourself these questions and find the answers to begin building business on a solid foundation.  

Which Types of Business Licenses Do You Need?

If a federal agency regulates your business activities, you will need a federal license.  The Small Business Administration lists the following industries as needing a federal license.

    • Agriculture
    • Alcoholic beverages
    • Aviation
    • Firearms, ammunition, and explosives
    • Fish and wildlife
    • Commercial fisheries
    • Maritime transportation
    • Mining and drilling
    • Nuclear energy
    • Radio and television broadcasting
    • Transportation and logistics

The SBA also has a wealth of other information you need to know for starting your business, from help writing a business plan to finding funding.

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Building Business: What Funding Options are Available

There are a number of funding options available to help you when building business.  Which one you choose will depend on a number of variables. It’s likely the best option will be some combination of the many possibilities, including how fundable your business is.  We break them down for you below.

Traditional Term Loans 

These are the loans from traditional lenders such as banks and credit unions.  As a business, your business credit score can help you get some types of funding even if your personal score isn’t awesome.  That isn’t necessarily the case with this type of funding however. 

With a traditional lender term loan, you are almost always going to have to give a personal guarantee.  This means they will check your personal credit. You will need a personal credit score of 700 or higher to gain approval usually, with the best terms and rates coming at 750 or higher.  

Of all of the available business funding types, this is the hardest to get, but is also typically the option with the lowest interest rates and most reasonable terms.

SBA Loans

These are traditional bank loans, but they have a guarantee from the federal government. The Small Business Administration works with lenders to offer small business loans  that they may not be able to get otherwise based on their credit history. Because of the government guarantee, lenders are able to relax a little on the personal credit score requirements. 

In fact, it is possible to get an SBA micro-loan with a personal credit score between 620 and 640. These are very small loans, up to $50,000.  Personal collateral is also usually a requirement. 

 The trade-off with SBA loans is that the application process is long and involved. 

Business Line of Credit 

This is basically the traditional lender’s version of a business credit card. The credit is revolving, meaning you only pay back what you use, just like a credit card. However, rates are typically much better than a credit card.  The application and approval process is similar to that of a traditional term loan. 

If you need revolving credit and can qualify for a term loan, this is a good option. It is great for bridging cash gaps and covering short term expenses without the high credit card interest rates. 

There are no cash back rewards or loyalty points.  This makes some business owners prefer business credit cards despite higher interest rates. 

Invoice Factoring 

If you are an established business with accounts receivable, then you might consider invoice factoring. This is where the lender buys your outstanding invoices at a premium, and then collects the full amount themselves. You get cash right away, without waiting for your customers to pay the invoices.

This is a good option if you need cash fast.  It can also work if you do not qualify for other funding types. The interest rate varies based on the age of the receivables.

Non-Traditional Lenders

These are private lenders, not traditional banks and credit unions, that offer terms loans.  Usually they operate online. The difference between these and traditional lenders is that the loans have looser approval requirement and a much faster application process. Most often you can simply apply online, get approval in as little as 24 hours, and the funds are in your account within 24 to 48 hours after approval. 

These are an option if your personal credit isn’t terrible and you need money quickly.

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Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a newer option for finding investors. While the average Joe that wants to start a business needs funding, it is not always possible to find one or two large investors. With crowdfunding, you can literally have a crowd of investors fund your business in $5 and $10 increments. 

There are many crowdfunding sites, but Indiegogo and Kickstarter are the most popular. The platforms are similar but there are some important differences. The most obvious is the timing of when you actually receive the funds that other invest in your company.

Find out more about each option here. 

Grants 

These are typically offered by professional organizations. There are some government grants available also. Competition can be stiff, but they are definitely worth applying for if you think you may qualify. 

While requirements vary from grant to grant, and most are only awarded to a certain number of recipients, this is an option is worth looking into if you fall into one of these basic categories. 

  • Women owned business
  • Minority owned business
  • Businesses run by veterans
  • Businesses in low income areas

 There are also some corporations that offer grants in a contest format that do not require much other than that you meet the corporation’s definition of a small business and win the contest. 

Business Credit Cards 

These get a bad rap, but in lieu of another option, they aren’t a bad option. The draw is that they are available to most, even if their credit score that isn’t awesome. The catch is, the lower the credit score, the higher the interest rate. Also, there are limits on how low they will go with a credit score. 

However, this is one type of funding that most of the general public is eligible for at any given time. They do a credit check, but your credit doesn’t have to be as high as it would be to gain approval for a traditional loan. 

 The downside of business credit cards is that they typically have a high interest rate. The upside is that many of them offer rewards in the form of cash or points that can be helpful. 

Building Business: Marketing

Once you have your foundation set, you have to actually build up the business.  That means getting others to buy whatever you are selling. Marketing is a term used for getting your product and service out there for others to see.  

The number one beginner tip for marketing is to know who you are marketing to.  You need to know what types of people will be buying your product so that you know how to convince them they need it.  This step was probably taken care of in the marketing section of your business plan.  

How you market will vary based on your budget, but these days social media marketing is huge.  It’s a lower cost option than traditional television and news print, yet highly effective. If you can get just one post to go viral, you’ve done something.  Get people talking about your product on social media and your marketing could basically be done for you, depending on what you are selling.

Of course, there is still a place for, and even a need for, traditional marketing when building business.  Generally speaking, the best bet is to hire a professional to handle all aspects of marketing.

Building Business: Networking

This is an aspect of building business that so many do not really think about until after the fact.  It can have a huge impact though. Of course, these days, as with marketing, much networking is done online through social media channels. There is something to be said for face to face connections however. 

While much of your business may be run online, limiting face to face interaction, take some time to consider ways to connect locally.  There could be those that need your services or product right in your area. Try joining your local chamber of commerce. They typically have events like business after hours that support this type of networking. 

Building Business Isn’t Hard, but it Does Take Work

Building a successful business takes a lot of hard work and a lot of luck.  Things can go wrong, even if you do everything right. You have to have a business plan, find funding, nail marketing, and work at networking.  However, if you set yourself up for success in the beginning, work hard, and don’t lose momentum, you may end up with something fabulous.

 

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