Small Businesses Videos

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a great article for The New Yorker a while ago. He talks about how David beats Goliath. It s a great read full of stories about underdogs. The main story is about a girl s basketball team that made the national championships when they shouldn t have won a game. The other stories from David to Lawrence of Arabia all support why these girls were able to achieve what they did. ___ ___ He cites a study that showed that small armies beat superior opponents a little over one-fourth of the time (28.5%). However, when these underdogs ignored the conventions of war and fought on their own terms, they won nearly two-thirds of the time (63.6%)! So you re two times more likely to win if you set the rules of the game! Set your terms to get your terms Bigg success is life on your own terms. So it turns out that it s a circle. You set the terms (your strategy) so you get the terms you desire (your mission). You are the entrepreneur of your life. You re in charge. Set the terms for the battles you engage in so you re more likely to win those battles. Small businesses, the Davids of the business world, can trump the Goliaths. Not by trying to compete head on. Not by following the conventions. By crafting strategies that may fly in the face of wisdom and engaging the Goliaths in unfamiliar ways, Davids can be victorious. The price for bigg success If you plan to go head-to-head with the Goliaths, there s a price you must be willing to pay. It takes effort. You have to be willing to work longer. You have to work harder. As Gladwell says, effort trumps ability. He cites the girls basketball team. Their secret? A full court press. Not just when the game was in its final minutes like a lot of teams do. These girls used a full court press for the entire game. It rattled their opponents who hadn t practiced for a full court press. Their standard plays started at half court. By engaging their opponents on the whole court, these girls put them on unfamiliar turf. There are many ways today for small businesses even solopreneurs to trump large competitors. In many cases, they don t involve money. They involve time. But that s okay because you know that effort trumps ability if you focus that effort on unconventional tactics. That s how to make your small business a bigg success! ___ Would you like more tips and tools to live your life on your own terms? Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ Thank you so much for checking in with us today. Next time, we ll chat about why women shouldn t compete with men. Or is it the other way around? Please join us next time to find out. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00523-111809.mp3 Related posts The Coming Age of Small Business Part 1

It s one of the most famous opening lines of any novel. Charles Dickens, in A Tale of Two Cities, wrote, It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Could the same be true for small business owners today? ___ ___ Many small businesses are struggling. According to Discover s Small Business Watch, half of the small business owners surveyed reported cash flow problems over the last three months. The good news is the number is down slightly, but it s still significant. It s been tough to get credit. Vendors are more demanding than ever while, at the same time, customers are paying slowly especially if you do business with certain state governments. But it s also a great time to be a small business owner. In a post awhile back on the Harvard Business blog, Peter Bergman said small companies will win. He talked about a small business that had won large accounts and got prepaid even though they were competing against much bigger, more established companies. He says clients aren t looking for big names flashy offices lots of time in the industry highly-capitalized vendors. So what do they want? Bergman says: Small is the new big. Sustainable is the new growth. Trust is the new competitive advantage. He reports that even senior level managers at many large companies have lost faith in their companies. As go the employees, so goes the company. People want to do business with people they trust. Not companies. Not organizations. Not institutions. People. People want to do business with people. People want to trust again. People want to do business with people they trust. Increasingly, that s small businesses. Trust is one of the reasons small companies have an inherent competitive advantage right now. So to capitalize on this trend, super-serve your customers in your chosen niche. Build relationships by building trust and you ll create a competitive advantage. It s hard for large companies to create a culture of trust. It s much easier for small business owners. If you think about it, we re back where we started. In days gone by, we did business with people we knew. It wasn t about the promises of a faceless brand; it was about the promises of a person. Deliver on your promises and you ll be a bigg success! ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ Thanks so much for reading our post today. We trust you enjoyed it! Please join us next time when we ll look at this topic again by exploring two other ways small businesses can gain a competitive advantage. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00522-111009.mp3 Related posts 2 Important Things to Know About Your Customers If You Want to Increase Your Profit, Don’t Put Your Customers First

Business cash advances have become an increasingly valuable and necessary working capital financing strategy for most small businesses. As with any complex business financing, it is critical to avoid certain common problems that occur when credit card processing is used to obtain needed short-term cash. It is not necessary for business owners to experience any of the credit card financing problems described in this article. We are identifying ten key difficulties that can be avoided with credit card processing and working capital business cash advances. Business owners should not overlook the substantial working capital benefits which will accrue to their business by effectively coordinating credit card factoring and processing. These benefits will increase measurably if a number of common business cash advance problems can be successfully avoided. One of the most important commercial financing needs for any business is ensuring that short-term cash requirements are successfully met. The use of a viable business cash advance strategy has become an increasingly important small business finance tool for many businesses faced with a potential short-term cash shortfall. Most merchants can document their recent credit card processing activity. Short-term cash can typically be obtained via a business cash advance based on future sales volume. Before employing this strategy for business cash advances, businesses should realize that there are several significant problems that they need to anticipate. Ten common credit card receivables problems that business owners should avoid when employing this working capital strategy are highlighted below. First, many lenders for these services charge up-front fees. This is a transaction cost that can and should be avoided, and with the best programs there will not be any up-front fees. Second, many lenders will attempt to charge closing costs. Business owners should realize that this is also an unnecessary transaction cost for business cash advances when dealing with a truly reputable provider of working capital financing based on credit card factoring. Third, a number of business cash advance programs require collateral. This is an unnecessary requirement to be avoided by business owners seeking credit card financing. Fourth, monthly fixed payments to repay merchant cash advances are imposed by some providers. The preferred approach is to avoid such fixed payment requirements. Fifth, some lenders will require financial statements and tax returns for all business cash advances. Such additional documentation requirements should only be necessary for larger working capital advances. Sixth, some providers impose a fixed term for repayment. This requirement to pay off the business cash advance over a fixed term should be avoided. Seventh, most business cash advance providers require credit scores of at least 680. In today s difficult economic climate, this can be a challenging requirement. It is feasible to obtain this kind of working capital financing with scores around 500. Eighth, many programs for working capital business cash advances require that a business have at least two years of operating history to qualify. While many business owners can meet such a requirement, a more practical standard for newer businesses is a minimum of one year in business. Ninth, many providers will require up to 24 months of documented credit card sales of $25,000 or more. A more practical possibility for business owners will involve a transaction history with six months of $5,000 or more. Tenth, for merchants needing larger business cash advances, it is important to know that many programs are limited to a maximum of $25,000 to $50,000. Providers that are better capitalized for this business finance strategy will be able to accommodate an advance of $300,000 and higher. Can all ten credit card finance problems discussed above be avoided? There are indeed viable credit card receivables programs which avoid all of the obstacles described. It is not likely that all ten of the obstacles described above will be pertinent for all small business owners. Business borrowers are likely to experience several of these problems if they are considering a business cash advance that uses credit card factoring and credit card processing. For any business owner considering this approach to working capital financing, please remember that it is not necessary to accept any of the ten problems described in order to obtain business cash advances based on future sales.

A recent MSNBC article says there aren t many shopaholics left due to the recession. Then it explores how retailers are responding to frugal consumers for the upcoming holiday season, which accounts for up to twenty percent of annual sales for many of them. Last year, holiday sales were down 3.4%. This year, even more Americans are dealing with job loss, fear of job loss, wage cuts, a drop in home prices and a rise in credit card interest rates. ___ ___ So what will consumers do? What s a retailer to do? Working twice as hard but not making anymore Let s start with retailers. Dropping prices to push out inventory has become the norm since last year. Offering extreme discounts is a tactic many will use to try to get customers in their doors. Here s what that means: Let s say you have a product that costs you $10. You normally sell it for $20, leaving you with a $10 profit. You decide to cut your price by 25% to $15. So now you make $5 every time you sell a product. You have to sell twice as much of this item just to make the same amount of money! In this example, we used a product sale to keep it simple. However, many small businesses sell a service. So think about it this way: Carrying forward the numbers above if you cut your hourly rate by 25% you would have to work twice as much but you wouldn t make anymore. Is it worth it? Would you be better served pursuing another strategy? Consumers are more price-sensitive, but value is still king Now, let s look at those customers. Experts cited in the article say consumers will shop for good value on items they want and need. Note the term value , not price. Consumers are more price sensitive than ever. However, because they have been bombarded with super-low prices, they are beginning to think that those products are worthless. Furthermore, they will pass up an offer even if the price seems too good to be true if they think they just don t need the item. If you cut prices too much, you may kill your business by killing your customer with kindness! 3 strategies for a tight-belt economy: Divide your product or service offerings into three categories must have, need and want. In this economy, focus on the must haves. Which customers must have your must have product? Focus most of your efforts here. Is there a way to bundle a need with a must have or a want with a need ? Offer a special deal on the bundle rather than the individual product or service. You may find that you can sell more without having to work a lot harder. Think about your customer s bottom line. How can you add value to your product or service and boost your customer s bottom line at the same time? For example, is there some essential knowledge that you could impart to help your customer use your product or service to save money? If so, they ll be much more likely to buy even now. How are you compelling your customers to buy your products or services? Share that with us by leaving a comment, e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com or leaving a voice message at 888.455.BIGG (2444). We think you re too kind for checking in with us today. Thanks so much! ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ There s a popular celebrity who says it took him 26 years to get one mile down the road. Please join us next time and we ll fill you in on his story of bigg success. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00517-110609.mp3 Related posts The Trick to Keeping Customers 3 Reasons Entrepreneurs Fail (Image in today s post by xenxen)

The president pledges to bring down health insurance costs for businesses.

President Barack Obama appeals to banks to lend more money to small businesses.

Under new management. You ve seen the sign in the window of a store or in an ad. It is often thought of as a signal of better things ahead. Under new management. A new owner bought an established firm. Like many small businesses, it wasn t a perfect business. It was, however, a good business. Otherwise, why would he have bought it? ___ ___ Under new management. The new owner wanted to put his stamp on his newly purchased firm. He changed the logo of the business. Under new management. The new owner changed the employees. The employees just didn t do things the way the new owner wanted them done. He put his own people in place. Under new management. The new owner threw out the systems and replaced them with his own. The old systems were out of date or unnecessary. He had his own ideas about how to structure the business. Under new management. The new owner changed the name of the business because he noticed some complaints about the business. He wanted a fresh start. Under new management. Employees left. Under new management. Customers left. Under new management. The business failed. The new owner didn t understand why. He blamed the economy. He blamed the old owner. He blamed circumstances. He blamed everybody but himself. Change creates opportunity If it ain t broke, don t fix it. That s what you may be thinking about our little story here. Sometimes, though, it s hard to determine exactly what s broke and what s not. Entrepreneuring has been described as the science of change. One thing that entrepreneurs recognize, explicitly or implicitly, is that change creates opportunity. Fortunately for entrepreneurs, change these days happens frequently and quickly. Change is good but there s another side to it. The trick to keeping customers and employees Because there is so much change constantly hitting us in the face, customers AND employees crave stability. Create stability in their lives and they will be stick with you. If you change too much too quickly, you ll lose customers and employees. The two step First meet their expectations by consistently delivering upon your promises. Then, and only then, can change enter the picture. Work to exceed their expectations by making changes incrementally. Don t just change for the sake of changing. Lead your customers and employees through productive changes for your bigg success! ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ Here s something that never changes we re grateful every time you read one of our posts. Thanks for doing so today! Next time, we ll discuss a bigg discovery. Please join us. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00499-101309.mp3 Related posts 3 Reasons Entrepreneurs Fail The First Question Entrepreneurs Must Ask Think Like an Entrepreneur (Image in today s post by cobrasoft)

ABC's Bianna Golodryga checks in with struggling small businesses.

We were interviewed by local news giant Utah Pulse about business storytelling, social media and consumer engagement. Take a look I think it s quite interesting, if I can say so myself! ;)

FSB Hertfordshire Small Business Awards 2009.

The final chord was sung. The noise from the crowd became a roar. The lights came on. But there was still hope still a chance that he might appear again. And then there was the voice, saying ___ ___ Elvis has left the building. You re probably familiar with those famous words. It made us think: Elvis always knew how he was leaving the building. If he was an entrepreneur, he would surely know how he was leaving the business. Learning from the pros Bankers and venture capitalists know at least two ways that they re going to get their money back (plus the return they need) before they invest in our business. Shouldn t we know at least one? It s one of the lessons we can learn from these professionals. Why you should know how you ll exit In 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey taught us to begin with the end in mind. We should know how we re getting out of our business before we get into it. Know your exit. Elvis did. Professional investors do. Yet many entrepreneurs never think about it. That may be a reason why studies show that a majority of entrepreneurs don t expect their business to kick in any money for their retirement. It s crucial to consider your exit because small businesses are highly illiquid by nature. Unlike shares in a public company, there is no marketplace where you can go to sell it immediately. Another reason to know your exit perhaps a more important reason is that it your exit should be one of the drivers of your business strategy. How you plan to get out affects everything from how you structure your business, where you get money from as well as a number of other things. 3 common exit strategies Sell your business outright Just like selling a house or any other asset, you exit the business by giving up any claims to ownership in exchange for an agreed-upon price. On your way out, just say, Thank you thank you very much! Redirect cash flows Let s say you invest $25,000 to start a business. Let s also assume that you make $25,000 after-taxes in your first year in business (after fully compensating yourself for your time). Further, let s stipulate that you don t need that money for your existing business. Take that $25,000 out and invest it somewhere else. You invested $25,000 and you took out $25,000. Essentially, you have no money invested in the business. Yet you still own the business! Get your money out and say, Thank you thank you very much! Recapitalize You still own the business with this strategy as well. Let s say that you invested $25,000 to start your business. You got your business started, built it up and are making money. You may be able to go to your banker and borrow against your business. Let s say your banker agrees to a $25,000 loan which you can pay back from the cash flows of your business. It s likely that you ll need a good use for the money to get your banker s okay. For example, maybe you have an opportunity to buy a piece of real estate that will house your company. In essence, you ve cashed out of your business because you now have that original $25,000 invested somewhere else. Repeat this strategy over and over until you have enough money to fund the life of your dreams. That s bigg success! Thank you thank you very much for reading our post today. ___ Would you like more tips and tools to live your life on your own terms? Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ Please join us next time when we ask some questions about work life balance. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00424-062509.mp3 Related posts Lone Wolf or Lead Wolf How to Start a Business 6 Factors to Help You Succeed When Opportunity Knocks (Image in today s post by btafly)

Web site popular in developing countries hits the U.S.

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Had the great pleasure of attending Business over Breakfast Seminar this week in Greenville, SC at the Poinsette Club. I got the chance to catch up with Roadmap Marketing's Jeanne Rossomme. Take a listen and you'll be pleasantly surprised about her thoughts on today's economic situation.