IncFile.com - Business Incorporation Solutions

Veterans hoping to open their own business will soon get the support they need from the U.S. Small Business Administration thanks to the extension of the Patriot Express Loan Program. The lending program was set to expire at the end of the year, but additional SBA financing will continue the program for another three years, according to the West Lafayette Journal & Courier.

The program allows veterans to borrow for the purpose of startup capital, business expansion, inventory and equipment purchases and other operational costs.

Earlier in the week, the Indianapolis chapter of the SBA held a seminar to announce the extension of the loan program and to interact with hopeful entrepreneurs, the paper detailed.

"Veterans on campus that I'm working with, it gives them some ideas as they're possibly applying for SBA loans. They've had some ideas," Jamie Richards, a veterans affairs coordinator at Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette, Indiana, told the paper.

The lending guidelines allow eligible veterans to borrow up to $500,000 per loan, 90 percent of which is guaranteed by the SBA. Approximately 7,000 veterans nationwide have borrowed nearly $560 million since the program's creation in 2007. 

A team of small business leaders in New Orleans announced the creation of a venture capital fund aimed at drawing new entrepreneurial talent to the city, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The investors will pair up with Greater New Orleans, an economic development association to increase VC funds for the New Orleans metropolitan area.

The New Orleans Startup Fund currently possesses about $4 million in capital from public, private and government investments. The board will solicit projects from "high growth potential" startup firms in the 10 parishes of the New Orleans metro area, the paper reports.

"The timing could not be better because we're at this entrepreneurial inflection point," said Leslie Jacobs, a founding member of the New Orleans Startup Fund board told the paper.

Jacobs detailed a goal to increase the group's capital funds to $7 million through private donations. She added, however, that investors will receive their reimbursements in the form of tax-deductible donations rather than through investment in the companies which gain VC funding.

The evergreen Startup Fund aims to fund five to 10 entrepreneurs with between $25,000 and $50,000 in capital next year. To become eligible, entrepreneurs have to pitch a business model that will generate $20 million over the first five years, Michael Hecht, president and CEO of GNO, told the Times-Picayune.

Businesses in the Orlando, Florida, area are still struggling to attain venture capital funding, according to the Orlando Sentinel. New data revealed that available VC funds dropped by 60 percent to $43.2 million between Q2 and Q3 2010, the paper reports.

Meanwhile, 43 percent of small business owners in the area reported having cash flow issues in the last 90 days, though cash flow concerns have fallen to their lowest point in 17 months.

Problems may continue for area startups though. Currently, no venture capital deals have been announced, leaving entrepreneurs and lenders alike skeptical as to when business may pick up again.

"We certainly see some interesting opportunities in Orlando and the surrounding area," he said. "We'd like to be back actively in the market early next year," Jim Boyle, a partner at Inflexion Partners, a local VC firm, told the paper.

Overall, nationwide venture capital has taken a hit. VC funding fell by 31 percent to $4.8 billion during Q3 2010 – a 20 percent plunge compared to the second quarter, MoneyTree reported. However, one positive was that first-time investing remained steady at $1.2 billion between the second and third quarters of 2010. 

MicroTech president and CEO Tony Jimenez was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Mid-Atlantic Hispanic of Chamber of Commerce last week. Jimenez is the head of a Virginia-based technology company which has not only grown by leaps and bounds, but has also had a significant impact on the community. These factors prompted the MAHCC to tab Jimenez as the winner.

"I'm humbled by the recognition from the Mid-Atlantic Hispanic Chamber and thank them for this special honor," said Jimenez. "Organizations like the chamber offer valuable support and guidance and new opportunities to diversity entrepreneurs."

The MAHCC services and advocates for small businesses in the greater Washington, D.C. region, aiding their economic development, relationships within the community and business leaders, plus networking and educational programs for local entrepreneurs.

According to MicroTech's website, Jimenez's startup has grown by 4000 percent while increasing its reach to 500,000 users who have access to approximately 300,000 different products and services, the company website details.

In 2010, Deloitte rated MicroTech as the fastest growing company in the D.C. region. Jimenez previously earned distinction as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He was also named a finalist for this year's Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The Business Start-Up Institute in Colorado Springs, Colorado,is meeting head-on the challenges of fostering a new generation of entrepreneurs. As the rate of entrepreneurship climbs during unsettling economic times, the Institute has put formulated a program that will offer online courses to aspiring small business owners.

The 21-course program will focus on planning, launching and expanding a business, hosted by Dr. David Duening, a professor who specializes in entrepreneurship and is the author of 12 small business guide books.

"I've been able to reach a lot of entrepreneurs through my books," Duening said, "but this online delivery system is the most exciting thing I've done in my career. Through this system I'm now able to communicate with aspiring entrepreneurs beyond my classroom, and potentially around the world.

The online courses do not have a strict schedule, allowing students to utilize videos when necessary and re-visit information. Additional online resources are provided to help students formulate planning templates for their business ideas.

Currently, Colorado's unemployment rate sits at 8.1 percent while the state is home to more than 500,000 small businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert received a great amount of attention when his team's former superstar LeBron James bolted for the Miami Heat. However, the millionaire should receive greater attention for his venture capital efforts, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The 55-year-old Gilbert is one of three partners in a firm named Detroit Venture Partners, which invests in technology startup firms in and around Detroit, Michigan. Gilbert, who is the chairman and founder of Rock Financial, which later became accounting software Quicken Loans, has two partners, Brian Hermelin, who co-founded Rockbridge Growth Equity with Gilbert, and Josh Linker.

"Our goal is to be the Sequoia (Capital) or Venrock of Detroit," Mr. Linkner tells VentureWire. "There are amazing ideas here, but those ideas are vastly underserved. VCs won't get on a plane to do a seed round."

According to the Wall Street Journal, Detroit Venture Partners has doled out $51.3 million in VC funds to 16 technology companies in the Detroit area. The company intends to add six to eight more startups to its ledger in 2011 with average lending between $250,000 and $750,000 as detailed by VentureWire. 

Small business owners do not allocate much time or financies into protecting their servers or networks, according to a November study by Visa and the National Cyber Security Alliance. The data revealed that 85 percent of respondents from the 1,000 small businesses surveyed do not see themselves at risk to cyber crime. Despite little concern for cyber crime, 54 percent of entrepreneurs believe they are better prepared for such theft than large businesses.

Approximately 500 of the respondents do not devote any additional resources to enhancing their networks, while 84 percent believe their current systems are enough to protect business records and consumer information.

That lack of concern has trickled down to the staff as 75 percent of employees have garnered three hours or fewer of network security training. Forty-seven percent have no training at all, the data revealed.

“The greatest threat to a company’s cybersecurity is complacency,” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the NCSA, in a statement. “We encourage small business owners to take the necessary precautions to protect their customers, employees and their businesses.”

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, U.S. businesses lost $560 million to cybercrime in 2009, approximately double from the $265 million lost in 2008. The IC3 managed 336,655 complaints last year, a 22 percent increase from 2008. 

After a lengthy period of planning, troubleshooting and organizing, small business owners must prepare to attain venture capital investments. Though success rates vary for each case, the path is often similar when it comes to attaining funding. By using these steps, an entrepreneur can increase his or her opportunities at acquiring the desired capital.

A clear breakdown of all risk – both financial and personal – should be presented. Lenders do not want any irregularities when it comes to finances and how the figures project over certain periods of time. The entrepreneur should offer any and all information regarding reimbursement of the initial investment and sound projections of potential revenue, according to Mashable.com.

It is imperative that as a new small business owner, the entrepreneur remains up to date regarding market trends and how those forces will influence a new business. Those seeking lending should have a robust plan for surviving the initial months in the market, writes Michelle Hammond of StartUpSmart.com.

During investment negotiations, the entrepreneur should avoid constricting contract requests which could turn off possible investors. However, they should insure themselves financially, protecting against agreements that unnecessary penalize oneself should the business flounder. Too much aggressiveness during contract talks, should one get that far, can dissuade investors, Hammond writes.

Every investment case is different, however, utilizing these tips will help provide an outline. Following these ideas when being vetted by lenders can be the difference between just an idea and an established business.

The University of Massachusetts-Lowell will construct the new Merrimack Valley Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship thanks to a $5 million donation from Andover, Massachusetts, billionaire Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande.

Desphande, the chairman of A123 Systems and the founder of Sycamore Networks, offered the capital to increase technological leadership, provide education opportunities for entrepreneurs and offer grant support to local organizations, the Andover Eagle-Tribune reports.

The new center will assist local area community colleges, including Merrimack, Middlesex, Northern Essex, the Teach for America program and other local nonprofit organizations, according to the paper.

The new center will serve, "to grow the next generation of entrepreneurs and agents for social change in the Merrimack Valley," the UMass-Lowell media guide details. More than 200 leaders in business, education, government and nonprofits congregated on the Lowell campus to discuss the funds and the future for the programs.

Additionally, the center will help broaden the existing high-tech corridor that exists along Interstate 95 and Interstate 93. The commonwealth is home to hundreds of technology-based companies, a significant piece of the local economy.

Texas has been praised for its ability to withstand the brunt of the recession. However, despite being home to three cities in Forbes magazine's "Top 10 American Cities Best Situated For Recovery," the state still needs greater venture capital dollars, according to the Dallas Morning News.

A survey conducted by Monitor, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm, revealed that Texas lags in access to financing, incentives and education. Yet, the results have not diminished small business optimism in the state. The data indicates that 87 percent of the 841 respondents believe its common for those with failed small businesses to try again.

"Obviously, the world has changed," Monitor partner Pedro Arboleda told the Morning News. "What's interesting is the attitudes toward individuality, risk-taking and the ability to bounce back from failure. They're the optimists among us."

Additional data revealed further mixed messages regarding small business vitality in the state. According to the Ewing Marion Kauffman foundation, Texas ranks 16th in the country in innovation and competitiveness.

Meanwhile, the Beacon Hill Institute in Massachusetts ranks Texas 25th nationally in state competitiveness due to low results in high school graduates, science and engineering degrees, crime and degree-granting schools.

Most entrepreneurs will face a period of lean profits. There will be a time when business will not be as consistent as earlier months or years. However, it is during this period when small business owners should enhance their customer loyalty programs.

With the amount of options available to consumers today, customer loyalty is far from certain. As a result, entrepreneurs should utilize numerous avenues to keep constant communication lines open to customers. Social media, e-newsletters or in-store suggestion boxes all allow small business owners to have open dialogue with customers, writes Jason Teichman of Register.com.

Additionally, marketing campaigns should target both existing and new customers. The former should not receive the majority of targeted advertising, but heightening their brand awareness is key during less profitable times.

AllBusiness.com writes that customer loyalty programs can provide immediate results as entrepreneurs increase the incentive for customers to return.

David Alcorn of Return on Behavior magazine noted that a 2 percent increase in returning customers is congruent to a 10 percent cut in costs. Additionally, Alcorn stated that small businesses lose 10 percent of their customer base annually, driving the need for greater customer loyalty programs.

A pair of former Brown University Medical School students have found a creative way to blend healthcare, corporate programs and social media. Their innovative ideas have landed them $5 million in venture capital investments, Entrepreneur magazine writes.

The duo – Brad Weinberg and Rajiv Kumar – created a platform through which individuals and self-insuring companies that may or may not have been successful improving employee health, can use social media to exchange ideas, share tips and more.

The program, Shape Up the Nation, won numerous contests garnering seed money, but it was the initial acquisition of capital from Cue Ball, a Boston based VC firm, that allowed Weinberg and Kumar's plan to take off.

Since 2007, the business has generated more than 100 partners, including CVS Caremark, the Cleveland Clinic and National Grid. The pair – who have backgrounds in medicine and economics – received $5 million from the Boston-based Excel Venture Management in August 2010.

"Our vision is that we can use this innovative approach to healthcare to unite the entire healthcare ecosystem," Weinberg told Entrepreneur. "It can become the central point where health plans, hospitals, pharmacies, other wellness companies, disease management companies, even consumer products companies are all coming together to reach the end user."

Small businesses are exposing their important data to security risks, according to the most recent survey from Lenovo-AMD.

The small business survey, which reached out to 700 entrepreneurs, identified trends and security measures taken to guard against threats. The data revealed that a high number of small businesses use unsecured networks from neighboring internet connections and save critical data on thumbs drives.

The amount of work completed through mobile devices has also increased exposure to threats, the survey indicates.

Entrepreneurs with few employees reported that their business-on-the-go mentality has forced them to use mobile devices on unprotected networks. Among mobile devices used on such networks, smartphones (31 percent) and laptops (38 percent) were used the most. Additionally, 85 percent of respondents said they do work out of the office and 72 percent work while on vacation.

"What struck me about this survey is that it is very behavioral," said Jay McBain, director of small and medium business for Lenovo.

Business owners are also lapsing in securely backing up data. Forty percent of respondents use external hard drivers to store information, while 50 percent use thumb drives or CD/DVDs. Only 13 percent said they use cloud computing to store data.

While entrepreneurs take pride in creating their own business from scratch, buying a franchise is a profitable alternative, according to Entrepreneur.com. Rather than assume the risks of creating a business where all the risk is assumed by the owner, buying a franchise presents greater financial security and potentially quicker profits.

Franchisees are responsible to pay fees to the parent company, however, they can operate without rigors of creating a business model or original marketing efforts. Rather, franchise owners have the benefit of established campaigns as well as reliable inventory suppliers.

"You pay fees, but in exchange you receive a complete system to operate the business successfully so you don't have to waste time and money guessing about what you should be doing in order to be successful," writes Jeff Elgin, CEO of FranChoice, for Entrepreneur magazine.

Currently, there are approximately 400,000 franchises in 75 different sectors in the United States, with the total value forecast to exceed $868.3 billion dollars, the International Franchise Association reports.

Proper financial records and bookkeeping is vital for every small business. If mismanaged, budgets can become disorganized and lead to future financial issues. Entrepreneurs that practice intelligent bookkeeping are unlikely to experience these issues and enhance their revenue.

Correct bookkeeping offers a clear outline of incoming revenue, but it also allows small business owners to forecast future budgets, determine what areas of the business will grow or contract, analyze inventory and prepare a small business for tax season, according to Bookkeeping.net.

"Bookkeeping is important for all companies; however, solid bookkeeping is especially crucial for small business. This is true for daily operations, annual tax time and everything in between," said Kendra Hamilton, a public relations specialist at Bookkeeping.net, in a press release.

Additionally, the practice has added importance when entrepreneurs seek lending. Poorly managed books will decrease the likelihood of funding and can place a small business on tenuous footing. Keeping these factors in mind should motivate entrepreneurs to correctly handle their financial records.

Branding and name recognition can offer entrepreneurs an advantage when it comes to staying head of the competition. In an economy where consumers are watching their dollars and revenue may be harder to come by, descriptive and informative branding can lead to success.

A lack of branding can lead to poor understanding of one's services and a possible loss in revenue. Conversely, a sharp branding and marketing campaign provides wider reach and a possibly broader customer base, writes AllBusiness.com.

Choosing an eye-catching, memorable logo will help consumers quickly identify a small business. That image alone could be the item that triggers consumer recognition of a company's strengths and services, as well as recall the business as a local leader.

"This isn’t just, 'What kind of web site do we want to be?' This is 'Who are we?'" says Harley Manning, vice president at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts said of picking a logo. "It’s succinct. It’s typically something that will fit on a page easily."

Branding and corresponding marketing efforts such as e-mail campaigns, signage and online exposure, can be the difference between a successful business and a failed one.

Whether enhancing their practices or finding new customers, work-at-home moms will have the chance to increase revenue in the new year if they adhere to the following trends.

The use of social media will play a vital role in moms gaining more exposure for their small business, writes Lisa Druxman for Entrepreneur.com. The low-cost but potentially high reward should be a no-brainer avenue of approach in 2011. Social media can be used at home or on the go, always allowing moms to get their message out.

Green is in, Druxman says. With more mothers open to implementing green and other conservation ideas, moms can gain access to a growing field by using and/or advertising environmentally friendly products.

Moms taking over the bread-winning duties in the home is no longer a rarity. With husbands either out of work, between jobs or earning less, moms can take over the lion's share of the income, writes Danielle Friedman for The Daily Beast.

The work-at-home mom has the opportunity to make significant career and financial gains in 2011. No longer are work-at-home moms merely creating hobbies. They are developing businesses with lasting income potential. Following these trends could take their businesses to the next level.

Small business owners aiming to break into new fields or improve their existing business should explore the following trends in 2011, according to new data from the U.s. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Utilizing employment figures to project significant trends in the upcoming year, the Bureau revealed that consulting firms that specialize in management, scientific and technology fields head entrepreneurial momentum. Growth in demand and financial gains in these three fields led the Bureau to predict an 83 percent growth rate by 2020.

Services for the elderly are expected take a big leap forward in 2011 and beyond, the Bureau indicates. The growing population of baby boomers heading for retirement will put greater demand on healthcare technology and care facilities, spawning a 74 percent growth in the field over the next decade. Home healthcare services are forecast for a 46 growth in coming years.

The rapid pace of computer design and technology will lead to a 45 percent growth in the market over the next 10 years. Small business owners with these skills as well as improvement computer systems performance will have an advantage.

Entrepreneurs should look into these fields, writes ActiveFilings. These trends could significantly increase the earning potential for business owners and shouldn't be overlooked in 2011.
 

Scott Nash began MOM's Organic Market, a six store chain in Washington, D.C., in order to serve a niche group of consumers who seek out organic products. The business has now grown into a 350 employee, $50 million operation.

After 20 years of operation, which had its share of ups and downs, MOM's Organic Market has become an established local presence and can provide executives with six figure salaries, the Washington Post reports.

The story began when Nash dropped out of college his sophomore year and started a job at Organic Farms. After a year, a customer who ran a mail-order business that shipped produce directly to consumers hired him away from his old employer, the news source reports. A few months later, with an investment of $100, Nash and a co-worker started their own company, Organic Foods Express, which delivered organic foods to consumers in Washington, D.C.

Nash eventually began running the company on his own, but growth began to stagnate until he caught the biggest break of his career as a result of a "60 Minutes" episode that discussed the safety of Alar. National Public Radio addressed the story and one of Nash's customers called in on-air and lauded the produce she bought from his company. 

No business owner wants to be audited, and maintaining the proper documentation can both help prevent the Internal Revenue Service from knocking and have the company ready in case they do.

The IRS vigilantly watches for deductions and expenses that do not align with the taxpayer's income. Keeping accurate books will ensure that the IRS can track where all funds originated and ended up, assuring them that no money was pocketed illegitimately, Rosalind Resnick, a CEO of a consulting firm for startups, notes in an article for Entrepreneur magazine.

"Writing off too many business-related expenses can put you in the IRS' line of fire, especially if the income you report is relatively modest. An IRS computer program compares your deductions to others in the same income bracket (the so-called DIF Score) and selects the returns with the highest probability of generating additional audit revenue," writes Resnick.

Entrepreneurs that claim a home office will also attract some extra attention. It is especially important to keep good records, document expenses the moment they are incurred and save receipts.