September 2022 - Page 3 of 9

How to Start a Diaper Cake Business – And Make Money Doing It

The great thing about starting a diaper cake business is the fact that you will always have customers and low cost word of mouth is your best advertising medium.

There are, on average, 10,657 babies born each day in the United States. That’s nearly four million births annually and if anything, those numbers will continue to increase each year.

Diapers and formula are the two largest material expenses when raising a child for the first three years of that child’s life. A mother will go through more than 3,500 diapers a year at a cost of nearly $2000 by the time your little one is potty trained. Diapers are a welcome gift to most mothers.

As long as there are babies, there will be the need for diapers. Our diaper cake business model certainly has a demand that is expecting to continue to increase and that is an important thing to consider when starting any business.

There is no accurate estimate on the money Americans spend on baby showers but it is A LOT!! This is a monumental time in a woman’s life and she wants this to be a memory that will last a lifetime. So, we now add emotion to our business model which is another positive.

There is a start up cost to this business in the form of materials, but you can work out of your home, use low cost word of mouth advertising methods, buy in bulk and take advantage of the many tax deductions available for a home based business.

Word of mouth advertising is basically all I use to sell my diaper cakes. I donated ten cakes to friends I knew who were either having a baby shower themselves or were attending one in the near future. You cannot believe the response these unique gifts get and everyone wants to either know where to get one or how they can make one.

A simple website with pictures of your cakes and how they can be purchased is really all the advertising you may ever need to earn a lot of extra income. Combine this with other unique baby gifts and needs and you can earn a very good living where the sky truly is the limit!

A Home Based Business-Who, Why, When and Where To Start?

Everyone loves a Home Based Business Opportunity. I love

mine and you cannot be an exception I guess! So let us

start from the beginning and explore as to Who ,Why, When

and Where you could start this Business Opportunity using

the Internet.

Who?

Anyone with a desire or urge to start a Home Based Business

can venture into this field. All you need is a computer and

who has not got one or access to one these days? An

elementary knowledge of the working of a computer and the

Internet is sufficient to get started. Many things can be

picked up as you progress. This is what most of the people

do.

The beauty of this Internet Home Business is that Age and

Sex , Race and Religion are no barriers. It is sans borders.

Entrepreneurs living in any part of the world can

participate in thousands of Affiliate programs that are

either Regional or Global in nature.

There are many programs that are Free to join! In fact there

are several Affiliate programs that provide Entrepreneurs

with Free Websites and Tools too. You could have your own

personal website if you are prepared to spend a few dollars.

Why?

This is a pertinent question indeed! Some of the reasons for

starting a Home Based Business are:

1. A desire to earn an Additional income to supplement the monthly income.

2. A desire to run your own home business and not depend on your Boss’s pay packet

3. Dissatisfaction with your present Boss or your employment.

4. Being out of work or laid off.

5. Circumstances forcing you to be with the family or ageing parents.

6. A Childhood ambition to have your own business.

When?

You can start a Home Based Business at any age, It can be at

twenty, fifty or even at seventy. What matters most is that

you have to be sufficiently motivated and have the urge and

desire to do it.

Allocating two hours a day for your cherished dream should

not be difficult to start with. In fact about twenty hours a

week would be useful and advantageous. I am aware of people

who have retired from active work but are keeping themselves

gainfully occupied by doing an Internet Home Based Business.

To be successful in life you should have a Plan, more so for

your Internet Business Opportunity. Draw up a short term and

a long term plan for what you intend to achieve. Initially

draw up a Plan for the first three months to start with and

try to stick with it, come what may.

While you are at the computer, Pop ups and other

advertisements can and will divert your attention from your

objective. Do not run after the goose that is going to lay

the golden egg for you and waste your valuable time.

Top Marketers are brilliant people who spend much time and

money in researching how to divert your attention and I can

tell you, they are not going to fail! I should know! I have

been in the marketing business for several years though not

in the internet field . Hence you should remain completely

focused on your work.

Where?

Unlike in a brick and mortar business, to operate a Business

from home, the Home Based Business Entrepreneur needs no

separate building. Your physical place of business will be

your very home and no high start up fees is necessary. The

computer can be set up wherever you like so that it is

convenient to work with and free from noises and

distraction.

Your success will to some extent depend on the support you

receive from the members of your family. The spouse can be

of great assistance by reading and researching resources and

articles and doing a lot of other preliminary work, which

can substantially reduce the number of hours you have to

spend on the computer. In other words your spouse can be

your partner in your Home Based Business.

The greatest benefit of this Internet Business Opportunity

is that it works twenty-four hours(24/7) a day and is

Portable. Wherever you travel, within the country or to any

part of the world your Business travels with you. You have

to carry your lap top along, that’s it. Otherwise find

access to a computer. It is as simple as that.

Why wait? Start working on your Home Based Business seriously.

Work at Home, Work from Home or Work away from Home and reap

the benefits the Internet Revolution has showered on you, the

Internet Entrepreneur.

New Web-Based Business Ideas For People Who Work From Home

If you’re operating your own web-based business from home, you’ve probably already learned how difficult it can be. Whatever your area of expertise, there’s a good chance that the competition is stiff. The internet puts the whole world on a level playing field, and you have to offer something truly special if you want to get ahead of your global competition.

That’s why new ideas are always in high demand. Do you have a new and innovative idea to bring to the web-based business world? If so, act as soon as possible, before your competition beats you to it.

What Do People Need?

The most successful business ideas are combinations of two things: recognition, and innovation. First, you have to recognize a hole that needs to be filled. When it comes to the internet, you have to get out there, look around, try things, and experience things; basically, you have to be an everyday web user.

This will give you the opportunity to see the internet from the consumer’s perspective. What isn’t working? What’s not on the internet that should be there? Are there any types of websites that you would love to have in your bookmarks folder, but which simply don’t exist?

Second, brainstorm ideas for how to meet those unfulfilled needs. If you’re a web-savvy businessperson with design and web copy skills, you may even be able to fulfill several needs at once to create multiple streams of income. If not, find collaborators to help you make each of your ideas a reality.

Then, once your websites are up, you need to harness all of the latest online marketing strategies to bring in repeat customers. This is the difficult part, but if your idea is truly useful and not just a gimmick, people will come back.

Don’t Waste Time

The most important thing to keep in mind is that there is no shortage of new ideas in the web-based business world. There are millions of people just like you who are at this very moment sitting in their home offices contemplating new ideas. That’s why you need to create your websites as soon as possible.

Think about all the biggest internet success stories-Amazon, Google, eBay, etc. Would these services have been so successful if their makers had waited around and let others beat them to the punch? No. So get started as soon as possible.

The Top Qualities of a Good Home Business Entrepreneur

At all times, people look up these entrepreneurs with all admiration. That is why the idea of becoming an entrepreneur has triggered more and more individuals. To them, such thing is very pleasant and delicious. Do you also dream of becoming one home business entrepreneur? Honestly, becoming a home business entrepreneur can give you so many advantages. Apart from being your own boss, you get full control of everything. Now isn’t that such an advantage on your part?

Take things realistically. A home business entrepreneur is not a piece of cake that can be baked overnight. One has to get a good start before he becomes a home business entrepreneur himself. So how do you mold yourself to become a home business entrepreneur?

As a starting point, learn to evaluate yourself in terms of your strengths and weaknesses. If your traits prove that you can become a potential home business entrepreneur then you are lucky enough. The next thing with which you must dwell on is the line of business that you must take. If you’ve gauged all these concerns, start things off with the other considerations.

Are you willing to take risks? Are you up for challenges? You may have all the brains but you may not have the guts to fight off the challenges that may come your way. Then your venture can turn useless. As a home business entrepreneur, you must be a self starter.

Starting from scratch is one of the best ways to stabilize your reputation. It is always good to look back at how difficult things had started for you and after some time, you have occupied the topmost part. Such feeling is rewarding on your part.

If you closely intend to become one home business entrepreneur, then stick to your detailed plans. Learn to organize your own time. You don’t have to run slowly. Just maintain a fast pace so that no one will outrun you.

You are your own boss in this matter but it does not follow that everyone will be under your shadow. Proper client and staff management means learning to deal with varied personalities. You cannot get a hold of these personas. The least you can do is to play along efficiently. There are clients who are typically moody. It does not mean that because you own the business you may turn them down if you get pissed off with their attitudes.

Take note that they provide you your income so there is no point arguing with them. The main goal in here is to be able to build good relationship with those in the market. You will likewise be needing assistants so you will again have to deal with their numerous quirks.

Another important trait of a good home business entrepreneur is having the ability to give out firm decisions. Quick yet effective decisions are needed in several instances. Mental blocking is the least factor to be entertained. A sound mind and a reliable decision make up the entirety of a businessman. Most of the times, no one is available to give you pieces of advice so you have to render your own judgment. If you can’t be good at it, you can be digging up your own pitfall.

Other things that you must put into consideration are the time and effort which are required of you. Brace yourself as well with the work ethics because you will need them all in facing the challenges that lie ahead of you.

Starting Your Own Small Business

Starting your own small business as a new entrepreneur is an exciting time but the experience is also fraught with complexities. Although this process of leaving no stone unturned can be lengthy, it is also made much easier if you know what you are doing and you plan ahead accordingly. Here are several tips based on my own experience of starting small businesses.

What Type Of Business Will Suit You?

Some of you may already have an idea of what kind of business to run but others will not. They will know only that they want to run their own business so that they can escape the rat race, be their own boss, work their own hours and control their own destiny.

If you don’t know what type of business will suit you then you need to start brainstorming. The ideal place to start is with a passion of yours. Given that you know so much about specific subjects, it makes sense to leverage on your talents and build a brand and a business around them.

You don’t have to have a huge passion for your business niche but you definitely do need to have some.

Separate Your Logic From Your Emotions – Be Critical

At this stage you may have several ideas swimming around in your head. Now is the time to be critical and to analyse each idea to see if at least one of them is worth pursuing.

If you are offering a popular product or service, how are you going to differentiate yourself from the competition? On price? On something else? Be very wary of competing against the big companies. Small companies should not fight on price because it is usually a battle that will eventually be lost.

If you are offering something that is very specific then ask yourself if there is enough of a market for it. Is your target market local or can you also sell via the internet to a global market. Remember, the internet allows businesses to be profitable from selling even the rarest goods and services because on a global scale, even a tiny market becomes huge.

Create A Business Plan

By now you should have some idea of what you want to do and you should have done some preliminary research to make sure that it is a viable concept. Now you need to come up with a plan.

A business plan is not a fancy, complicated document. It is the product of your research and should give detail on your target market, what you will be offering, turnover/profit projections and goals.

Entrepreneur Tests – A Tool For Successful Enterprise Ownership

Introduction

You think you might be an entrepreneur. And you want to take a screening test to find out. Testing is a valuable tool which he support your focus on entrepreneurial strengths and weakness. However, this is not the complete picture. Your skills, education, and experience also provide additional tools that will help you, should you decide to start your own business. The initial step in starting ones’ own enterprise is to sincerely analyze if you’ve got the right stuff to pull it off.

The Procedure

As a first step, decide if you are suited for entrepreneurship by taking a career preference test called the Combined Strong/MBTI Entrepreneur Test. The test is self-administered online. People who are self-motivated will find this action appealing irrespective of receiving help in interpreting the results. Taking a self-administered test is evidence in of itself that you are a self-starter.

Entrepreneurial Traits

Numerous studies have established the traits of small enterprise operators over time. Studies examine traits and attributes that appear to target characteristics that typically manifest in effective owner-managers. Testing takes into consideration those qualities that appear to differentiate the business owner that starts up an enterprise from the one that works for other people.

There are many key attributes of effective entrepreneurs. Although every successful entrepreneur would not necessarily possess all the attributes, it’s likely that most of them are intrinsic in the successful business owner.

In business, the dedicated entrepreneur typically presents a sophisticated skill-set of abilities that sets him apart from ordinary managers. These one-of-a-kind attributes lead him to accomplish more than non- management personnel, and he is therefore able to find a way to do the things that must be done to keep the enterprise afloat.

Can the entrepreneur make judgments swiftly and routinely? Can he make rational choices as well as intuitive judgments in accordance with the circumstances at hand? A ‘yes’ to these questions means the individual possesses the essential entrepreneur attribute of decisiveness.

Is the business owner trustworthy? Can he effortlessly relate to others? If the reply to these questions is ‘yes’, then another essential entrepreneurial quality exists for the reason that each business transaction requires genuine interest in the needs of potential customers as a prerequisite to persuading them to buy.

How exactly does the individual respond to problems? An entrepreneur needs to have the capacity to identify difficulties early on, then to fully investigate them and apply remedies.

The Business Enterprise Plan

A strategic business plan is the vehicle through which one conducts market research. Decide which personnel to involve in the sale of your product, and validate your revenue and expense financial forecasts. It is the means by which you will lay a durable foundation to build a profitable enterprise.

Candid Talk

Start your enterprise by retaining only those personnel that are absolutely necessary to maintain basic operations. Later, you can recruit additional qualified people when the budget allows. Setting up an enterprise is superficially easy, often driven by the vision and enthusiasm of the founder. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details”. A the details extend indefinitely into the future.

The formative years of business launch is often hard on loved ones life. The stress of resistance from a significant other is always challenging when balancing against the requirements of establishing a business. There may also be financial hardships during the formative years to profitability, which often can take months or even years to achieve. You may need to adapt to a reduced standard of living or put family resources in jeopardy.

If you do not take pleasure in promoting your product or service, failure is a definite unwelcome option. I say this because starting a business takes determination, more determination than perhaps anything else in life. You must have a burning need to succeed and make the business enterprise work regardless of unforseen circumstances.

Count on facing hurdles. Friends and family may advise you that your plan won’t work. But don’t let negativity get in your way. Surround yourself with positive people who will support you in your efforts.

Most small enterprise failures are caused by insufficient preparation. It’s impossible to get rid of all of the risks associated with starting a small business. However, it is possible to enhance your chances of success with good planning and preparation.

Tips

The enterprise owner is usually first on the scene in the morning and last out the door at night. Operating a business can wear you down. Be ready to log extended time on the job to achieve the rewards of entrepreneurship. Some business owners feel burned out by having to shoulder the many obligations. Strong commitment to make the business enterprise be successful will assist you to make it through slow-downs, in addition to times of burnout.

You need faith along with a desire to achieve success against all odds. Becoming a successful entrepreneur is so much more than simply waxing euphoric over lots of plans or projecting a sharp business acumen. It’s about determination, ego strength and just plain tenacity. You will need self-confidence as well as a burning desire to make it no matter what obstacles present themselves. It’s essential to work tirelessly in order to nurture start-up organization and have the stamina to keep working until the business takes on a life of its own. Then, it’s essential to stay connected to daily operations.

When you have identified your individual skills and education, concentrate on your enterprise know-how. Focus on specific business information instead of general life experience. Then, judge your decision-making abilities.

After you open your doors, you’re in charge. Decisions need to be made according to what you believe. Not every one of these choices must be made immediately, but many will require immediate attention. If your standard response to problems is to give problem resolving duties to another individual, then you will likely have difficulties with operating a business.

Values and Balance

In a sense, a true entrepreneur is living a balanced life because he is living his passion.

Perhaps you’ve decided it’s time for you to make that jump. Prior to doing so, it’s a smart idea to determine if your persona and pursuits are similar to current business owners.

What various levels of commitment do we put on our business, financial, family, social and spiritual lives? This is a value decision all entrepreneurially-minded individuals should make. The first step in your assessment is to make an honest appraisal of your personal skills and education.

Reflect on your life experiences. Write down two situations where you solved a problem. Then take note of two situations where the decisions you made didn’t work so well. You’ll want to record everything you discovered from these scenarios. Use these examples of positive and negative outcomes to craft a philosophic statement about your pending business start-up.

The academic community promotes the validity of acquiring entrepreneurial skills through book learning.

Others say that you simply can’t train a person to effectively function in the real world; that interpersonal skills, marketing, advertising and basic management techniques can be cultivated. Some believe that entrepreneurs start life with a skills-set potential. Others say that people are molded by early life experiences as well as interaction with mentors.

The Truth about Business Failure

At one time, all an aspiring entrepreneur needed to make a reputation for himself was investment capital along with a unique concept or invention. Times have changed. Entrepreneurs must have the right stuff to tackle the already bloated corporate environment, and it also requires a greater charismatic voice to drown out the competition.

With that said, the failure rate of start-ups is not as conventional wisdom says it is. We have all heard that the majority of enterprises fail in the first five years. But an in-depth study in 1993 by the New Jersey Institute of Technology suggests those figures are a myth.

The analysis shows that 18% of new organizations fail in the first 8 years of business, while54% make it through more than 8 years with their original proprietors or with a change in ownership. The 28% remaining businesses voluntarily end operations without loss to owners or investors.

Conclusion

After completing the Entrepreneur Test, it is likely you will get a far better understanding of how you match up against other entrepreneurs. But testing isn’t the whole picture. Your talent, education, and expertise also assist you.

For many individuals, starting an enterprise is the fulfillment of achieving a lifetime aspiration. But disregarding small details in the formative stages can derail successful implementation of that dream.

Last, but unquestionably not least, effective entrepreneurs need to be ready to work very hard and invest many long months and years building up reputation and good will. At the end of the day, customers conduct business with an owner who is honest and trustworthy.

Must See Resources for Maryland Small Business Law Issues

As any business owner can tell you, there’s a huge range of potential small business law issues which you can run into, starting from the business’s inception, and continuing practically each and every day from there. However, the good news is that there is a great deal of free information available online to help you sort through the mess. Here, you’ll find a list and overview of recommended, high quality resources for Maryland small business law issues.

The first place you may want to visit will be ChooseMaryland.org. This is Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development website, and it has many fantastic resources, including its step by step guide to starting a business.

You’ll also find a huge range of documentation and resources for Maryland business law, business-to-government issues, certifications, contracts and permits, and more. If you’re ready to jump right into it, you can download their 88-page “Guide to Legal Aspects of Doing Business in Maryland” to see for yourself what you’re dealing with.

Another destination should be Maryland.Gov. When you visit that website and navigate to “working” you’ll see a series of resources and links about business. This will take you to other official state websites and documentation on everything from labor laws to taxation and more.

The Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation website is available at DAT.state.MD.US, and has a great deal of helpful information for Maryland small business law issues, including the appropriate filing and registration of a new business entity, the tax levels and financial-legal concerns of small businesses and on down the line from there.

The next website doesn’t deal with Maryland law issues specifically, but it’s all about the successful operation of a small business, and dealing with common legal matters. The site is Nolo.com, and within that, its “Running Your Small Business” guide. It has in-depth guides on issues such as contractors, eCommerce, business litigation, buying and selling businesses, and more.

Of course, there are also official federal government websites, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Business.Gov. These will deal with federal issues, but will also provide information for state-level concerns, while providing access to the appropriate state-run departments.

Hopefully you now know about a few more places where you can go to learn more about Maryland business law issues. There’s a lot to consider, and whenever you’re in doubt, you should always seek professional legal assistance. The cost of hiring a lawyer is small when compared to the costs of not doing so, and in many cases, free consultations will be available.

Starting Up a Successful Home Business

How easy is it to make money online and set up a home business?

Most people advertise home businesses to us, but the problem is, this is a big market full of scams, so how do we go about starting up a home business that only requires a few hours work a week, with little investment and a good return rate, it’s possible with the amount of people on the internet, but how do we go about it the correct way?

I looked into the home business market, I had been researching for a long time on how to make money online with home businesses, however my results were usually the same, I met individuals who lacked honesty, didn’t help me enough, and really only seemed to care about receiving my money, not if I actually succeeded at this.

My goal was to find an experienced individual who could help me set up a home business.

I managed to come across a few individuals who did actually help me, and deliver the goods they advertised, they proposed honest home business opportunities that did make money, I found this out after researching online for a long time and talking to other people who were also starting up home businesses.

One Honest Home Business Opportunity [http://www.ultimatewealthtoday.info] I found was a system run by an individual of the name of Mark Warren. Mark Warren was an experienced internet marketer and entrepreneur who was offering a service that set up a website for you to market products and receive commissions. This was a home based business opportunity he set up for you, that made money, and there were actually a lot of customers saying this system worked well for them, this was pleasing as I had struggled so long to find an opportunity that did actually work.

My conclusion is: The key to starting up a successful home business is knowing where to start, and being strict about how much time you wish to put into it every day. Most home business opportunities will take a few hours a day in order to work to the best of their ability, if you follow the steps of someone who is experienced and you are determined, it is possible to succeed.

Good Luck

How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur – Making Decisions, Part 1 of 6

Be Kind! New Clutch Driver at the Wheel!

I saw this hand written message on the cab window of a pickup truck the other day. I flashed back instantly to stalling on a hill, in an intersection, on Martha’s Vineyard, with some guy screaming out the window at me, “Why don’t you learn how to drive!” and thinking that is exactly what I was trying to do!

Getting your entrepreneurial feet under you is kind of like learning to drive a standard when you’ve always driven an automatic. Jamie, how do I start a business? What do I do? I’m new to this and it all seems too much! Can you walk me through it step by step?

Yes! Just like learning to drive a standard, there are certain tricks to getting the hang of it as well as some very definite things not to do. But once you know how, you’ll get kind of attached to your new skill and you’ll never look back!

Let’s break down the steps to get started. Employ common sense. Approach the process rationally with your endpoint in mind. It’s almost like a 6th grade English writing assignment – can you answer Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How? Once you can, you’re on your way! See how simple that is?

Here’s an outline of what we’re going to go through. To start a business, take the following steps:

Make Decisions
Take Action
Fail Frequently
Listen Intently

If this is not a list you were expecting, let me tell you how to use these steps to get from where you are now to where you want to be – in a situation where you have a “business”.

Let’s dissect Making Decisions. First, don’t skip the obvious first few steps. I get that you can’t find a job or maybe you’re sick of your boss or maybe you’re ready to find meaning and have what you do make a difference. But what exactly is an entrepreneur?

Are you an entrepreneur?

What are the attributes of an entrepreneur? You are an entrepreneur if you are someone who is

comfortable working independently, alone, creating your own parameters, defining your own goals, working without someone watching over your shoulder, driving towards self-imposed deadlines

comfortable networking, asking for help, sharing your questions and concerns with others, receptive to feedback, able to set work down and celebrate creativity and people

doggedly determined, able to push in the face of setbacks, energetic and optimistic, rigid in devotion to high standards and high expectations

willing to let go, walk away, redirect, respond objectively to information that tells you you’re on the wrong path, flexible and comfortable with constant flux

a numbers person, constantly watching metrics

a people person, in tune with your market, capable of creating a great team

In summary, an entrepreneur is a complicated person with totally conflicting attributes! Is that you? Do you really want to be an entrepreneur? Before you get intimidated, not sure if you’re crazy enough to go down this route, think about things you have done before that you’ve really loved…

Have you ever lost yourself in a project or activity, whether it’s gardening, cooking or baking, playing sports, reading about a new subject, volunteering on a project, traveling to a new place? If yes, you know that when you’re in that zone you are not thinking that you might not have what it takes.

Have you had a party, helped in a child’s classroom, been on a committee, organized a reunion or family get together or church social or golf outing, or in some other fashion, rounded up people around a common theme? If yes, you’ve got the people part down.

If you haven’t pushed for yourself, have you been stubborn on behalf of someone else? Maybe a child having a hard time on a team or in a class, a spouse that was having trouble with family or at work, a buddy going through a rough time, an elderly parent that needed some care or assistance? If you have been involved in any of these situations, you have demonstrated perseverance and determination!

By now, you’ve got the idea. Entrepreneurial skills are ones we use every day in regular life. In fact, I believe the more you can use these skills with conscious awareness, the more you can develop them, the more successful you can be in any endeavor, whether you’re generating revenue from these behaviors or not!

Do’s and Don’ts!

It’s not an all or nothing label. There’s no such thing as you are or aren’t an entrepreneur. You can get quite creative at home or within your department at work and employ entrepreneurial attributes. Do this intentionally and you’ll grow your entrepreneurial muscles to the point you might be curious to try them on larger projects.

Do keep learning, reading, studying, talking to people, asking questions

Do understand that ONE key behavior separates entrepreneurs from want to be’s; entrepreneurs TAKE ACTION, they EXECUTE, they IMPLEMENT. At some point, sooner rather than later, they stop talking, studying, and planning and they DO SOMETHING!

Making money as an entrepreneur is 100% dependent on the urgent needs and desires of THE MARKET! There are plenty of ideas, plenty of gadgets, apps, and software, and it doesn’t matter how much in love you are with your technology or service. If you are not solving a problem the market wants solved, nobody will buy what you are trying to sell. And if nobody buys it, well – I think you can figure out what results in that situation.

Make sure you don’t quit your day job until you have sales. Make sure you don’t spend all your retirement savings without first having solid proof (sales, contracts, orders) the market wants what you’ve got. Hint: don’t get confused – hunches and good feelings are not proof that your business concept is viable!

ACTION ITEMS:

Review the list of attributes of an entrepreneur and write down things about yourself and your activities that intersect with these attributes.

Start thinking about things you want to do and what entrepreneurial muscles you are going to work on developing.

Small Business Venture Capital Strategies

When launching a new small business, often the entrepreneur will consider venture capital as a source of funding. Here are 3 tips to ensure that venture capital funding can be secured when sending out your business plan:

Send your business plan to the right people

Venture capitalists tend to specialize in certain kinds of businesses. Some will specialize by industry, only investing in new energy companies, for instance, while others look for a certain size of company to invest in. It is worth doing the research to determine who the venture capital backers are for your industry, before you start sending out your business plan. Venture capitalists who are not specific to your industry can provide recommendations to make your plan more appealing to other venture capitalists. However, it would naturally be a mistake to send your plan to potential investors who will not even consider it.

Make sure your business has the potential to be profitable enough

Most venture capitalists look for a return of about 5-10 times their initial investment. For example, an investment in a company of $2 million should yield a return of $14-20 million after about five years. To satisfy these requirements, it is generally necessary to have a business which has the potential for a high rate of return on the amount invested. If the rate of return can reasonably be expected to be lower, such as for a clothing retailer, then it is probably better to look for an alternate source of funding, such as an investment or commercial bank.

Remember to include an exit strategy for your investor

Venture capitalists generally do not want to be involved with a new venture for an indefinite period of time. Most will plan to leave the new venture after about five years, so you should offer a clear explanation of how this may be achieved. There can be a variety of reasons for this; some venture capital managers require that the holdings periodically be sold off to acquire other offerings. Nonetheless, by demonstrating that you understand the limited time frame for many venture capitalists, you automatically make your plan more appealing than those which do not.

In summary, by sending your business plan to the right people, by recognizing what rate of return is necessary for venture capitalist involvement, and by including an exit strategy, you can improve your odds of securing venture capital funding for a new and growing business.