The DHS or the Department of  Homeland Security offers free small business grants to entrepreneurs who would like to start something related to security. Through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), DHS has an award for which US companies with less than 500 people can compete. At first, $100,000 is given to the small businesses in order to do research to validate the technical, commercial and scientific value of their concepts. If their ideas are approved, they get grants for the next two years to develop prototypes. The free small business grants are given in the areas of information technology and marine security and chemical and biological defense.. For federal grants check out the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. Small Business Loans provides detailed information on How To Get A Small Business Loans Minority Small Business Loans Small Business Bad Credit Loans Small Business Government Loans and more. The only way to know if there are grants available to you in your area is to check. Lands are evaluated according to the quality of the soil and the status of the irrigation.  Read more...

Tammy, a skilled and gifted horticulturist, called me to discuss what she needed to know to start her own florist and landscaping business. She had been in the horticulture industry for 10 years and was incredibly skilled at working with flowers and plants � one of the best. She also had great design skills, as well as good customer service skills. But she had little business management experience and less self-employment experience.

Discovering why small businesses fail was a smart research project for her, as it helped her uncover her own weaknesses and begin to build up some strengths before she invested in becoming self-employed. It’s no secret that a large majority of small businesses fail in the first five years. The question is: Why do they fail and what can I do to prevent problems in my own business?

As we talked, we reviewed some of the common reasons why small businesses fail. Here are 14 top reasons, which might help you to determine why your business isn’t growing and thriving. Some of them are related to learnable business skills; others relate to personal attitudes, habits, or self-sabotaging belief, which are not so easy to change, except through coaching or other self-development work.  Read more...

Finding A Cool Business Name  may be much easier than you think! If you are looking for business name suggestions, you have probably already searched the web for ideas, only to find that most of the suggestions do not apply to your particular business, or you have to pay some guy an arm and a leg for the privelidge of trying to come up with one for you!

You can do it yourself! You just need a few tips to get you going. Brainstorming is a great way to start. Firstly, you’ll want to find related keywords for your cool business name. Don’t panic, there are tools on the internet that can help you with this.

The keyword selector tool allows you to type in a keyword, and it will return a list of related keywords for that word. From this list, you will get keywords that you would never have thought of in a month of sundays.

Copy and paste these words into a notepad or word document and then go back to the selector tool and search for another related word. Keep repeating this process until you have a long list of keywords with which to brainstorm.  Read more...

Do you have a great idea? Are you an entrepreneur at heart? Then what are you waiting for, now is the time to start your small business. The best way to get started is to secure the financing you will need to fund your small business. Fortunately, the government has a small business loan program that will help you get your business off the ground.

The Small Business Administration was officially established in 1953 to help small businesses receive the funding they need to be successful. This government backed institution was established to grant financial support to companies that cannot receive financing through the typical commercial lending channels. By lending to small businesses the government is able to encourage innovation and competition in the capital market, thereby offering a valuable service to both the benefactors of the loans as well as to end consumers. Thanks to the business loans served through the SBA loan process, more then 20 million small businesses have taken advantage of the opportunity to compete with their respective market leaders since the SBA’s inception.  Read more...

I am a great believer in the keeping to the basics ? the totally obvious things that we all learn in “Small Business Marketing
101″, and then promptly forget. I often have people come up to me after a speech and say, “This is all blindingly obvious, just common sense.” And they are right, but my immediate response is always the say, “So are you doing it?”

This question is usually followed by a moment of silence before they explain they have moved on to other approaches now. You cannot forget the basics, because if you do you stop marketing. So if you find yourself by the end of this article saying “this is just common sense,” do a reality check, and see if you have stopped using your common sense. I know I often do.

The most important basic to remember is that Marketing is an attitude to business that puts the customer first. If you and everyone in your business understands this then everything else about marketing falls into place. You have to make your entire business marketing oriented. It’s seems not to be a popular concept in the west, but we are here to serve our customers. If we don’t they will go elsewhere. Let me relate a story.  Read more...

The Chinese business practice is vastly different from the Western method that most of us may be used to. Of course, with the Chinese economy opening up, China’s joining of WTO and the Olympics in 2008, many Chinese business practice are now beginning to align with more conventional methods.

However, China will always have their own unique business culture and etiquette, given their unique history and background.

The initial approach
Chinese business are mostly referrals; essentially a business relationship is struck based on another business associate recommendation. The best prices and deals often comes from a strong recommendation.

However, it is common today for cold calls and direct contacts, given the availability of the internet and the competitive nature of Chinese businesses. You may source from the internet, trade fairs, catalogues and brochures, advertisements and approach the Chinese companies directly through a call or email.

Alternatively, if you are seeking to invest in a factory in China, you can approach a investment committee or a business advisory directly. They will be able to advise you on your best location based on your industry, raw material and manpower needs. Please contact us directly if you have such a need and we’ll be glad to advise accordingly.  Read more...