In today’s business world what are good small business opportunities? The answer is new businesses that can provide products or services to a sizable market of customers who want to buy. One way to move forward is to get involved in a marketplace that is already established and offer products or services in that market in a unique way so that customers want to start buying from you.

Another alternative is to identify unusual small business opportunities in smaller niche markets. These smaller markets are ones suited to the resources of a small business, do not compete with larger businesses and are big enough to make a profit.

The key to success is that your products or services must connect with your target audience. The problem often faced by new entrepreneurs when getting involved in small business opportunities is that they target a market that is too broad or a niche market that is already heavily exploited. .

The Search For Small Business Opportunities.

A lot of successful small home based business opportunities begin with an entrepreneur’s unique area of expertise. They look at what they are good at, things that they enjoy and use their skills and resources to transform an idea into a real business.

In today’s economy, the best new business to start is an online business, as the start-up costs are costs considerably lower than any physical offline business costs.The internet is the most effective marketing tool in today’s digital world and all new small business opportunities need to have some sort of online presence to remain competitive. The internet allows you to easily expand your business beyond the confines of your physical location.

Starting A Small Business Opportunity.

There are many websites online that help people get started with small business opportunities. The internet is a worldwide marketplace where people are buying and selling online constantly. There are physical products bought online that get delivered to the customer’s door and digital products which the customer can download to their computer right after purchase and start using immediately.

There is a boom in small business opportunities within the digital products and services sector. Just think of all the online film, music and information services that are available online. People will pay for information products that they can download online and there may well be a market out there who will pay for your current skills and expertise.

If you want a successful journey in small business growth, there are many ways to go about it. In our hurry up world, where we can confuse activity with accomplishment, the best way to move forward is to slow down and not to go faster. Go too fast and it is easy to make mistakes. Slow down and book your journey to success. Booking your journey is about reading books that will help improve you and subsequently, your business.

Mistakes will cost you time. Think about this. Once you have spent some time on something that time is irreplaceable. It is gone. We can spend more money but we can’t spend more time. Time management work is essential to success. Small business books are a proven way to accelerate your success track. And, they are time well spent. Yes, you can read about systems, accounting, marketing, sales and cash flow. All of this is good and can help. But the best books are the ones that help you create pathways for personal growth.

The little secret of small business running successfully is the personal growth of the owner, founder or one of the principals. If they don’t grow in their thinking and continue with a limited vision, then the business won’t grow. The key is to go to work on yourself. Once you become more, you can attract more in your business. Too often, we go to work on others and want more, yet we don’t have more to offer.

As the owner of a business you can have more business by offering better service, better quality or expand your services to name a few. It all starts with you. If you become a better server and bring more quality into your own life you will attract people who offer more. The same is true for your business. Yes, it all starts with you. As Napoleon Hill said in Think And Grow Rich, “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

Owning your own business can be a tiring effort on a treadmill of never ending work and challenges. Or, it can be an adventure in overcoming challenges that can lead you into a life abundance, freedom and satisfaction. Go to work on yourself and start conceiving and believing in what you can achieve.

The choice is yours. Think about it. If an entrepreneur successful in business has an unfulfilling life what does he have? He has an unhappy life. More business isn’t going to make him any happier.

To have small business successful, the owner must be successful in personal growth. There is no one answer. Yet, books can cause you to slow down and reflect and evaluate are a great way to move you forward to the success, freedom and abundance you desire.

Do you want that successful journey in small business? Take the first step and book it.

Having extraordinary skills and talent in a business area, being hardworking and determined, persistent, having great ideas and full of energy is a fantastic mix for a successful business career. But all those exquisite qualities mean nothing if the end result is not represented in the bottom line.

The financial section of the business plan is where all the operational items included in the rest of the business plan come together. There are three essential elements to a properly thought through and well constructed business plan. Those elements are a forecast profit and loss account stating the income and expenditure, a cash flow statement that determines the liquidity and a sensitivity analysis that indicates the risks and opportunities within the business plan.

The forecast profit and loss account should be prepared on a monthly basis for the first year with an annual projection for the second year. The first year of every new start up business can be difficult due to financing and funding growth from a standing start which is why the first financial year should be detailed.

The forecast profit and loss account is the financial calculation of all the sales, purchases, expenditure and prices contained within the other areas of the business plan. In addition full account should also be taken of the business administration costs. All the figures in the business plan income and expenditure account should be fully supported from the physical projections contained in the other sections and derived from those sections.

From the sales section multiply the sales volume of each product by the considered selling prices. Keep to a minimum sundry additional income that might be expected. The resultant financial calculation produces the expected monthly sales turnover.

Using the information in the production or operations section of the business plan and if included the purchasing section the sales volume should be evaluated at the expected purchase cost of the products and services. This produces a cost of sales figure which when deducted from the sales turnover provides a forecast gross profit figure each month.

The business plan should include notes and comments of all other main cost items including projections of staff requirements. Together with administration and overhead costs a monthly projection of the expected running costs of the business start up can be produced. The business running costs are an important area to forecast in detail as while sales prices and costs may be determined with some accuracy errors in the business running costs could cause a good business to fail.

The monthly forecast profit and loss account is complete by entering the sales turnover, deducting the cost of sales and the business running costs, overheads, to produce a net monthly profit. The bottom line may start in a monthly loss until volumes grow but should indicate a satisfactory profit. If a loss is indicated do not manipulate the numbers to show a profit which would be hiding the truth, instead go back to the sales and costs sections and consider what action is required to justifiably increase gross profit margins or reduce overhead costs.

Cash flow is often critical to a small business plan and a lack of capital or liquidity to carry out the ambitions and projections of the small business owner is a principal cause of small businesses going into liquidation before those business aspirations are achieved. The cash flow statement is based upon the volumes and prices included in the business plan and stated in such a way as to indicate the financial resources required.

Cash flow is different to the profit and loss account as the profit and loss account only states the different between sales sold and costs incurred. The cash flow statement takes account of both the profits made plus volume changes of purchases and stock, one off payments, financing debtor balances offset by creditor balances and shows how liquid and solvent a business is.

Producing cash flow statement tends to come within the province of accountants. A simple cash flow statement can be produced by starting with the net profit or loss each month, deducting the cost of stock which has not been sold yet including both raw materials and finished goods stock and also deducting any one off payments such as bills that have to be prepaid and the cost of paying for fixed asset purchases.

In addition when a new business starts up the amount owed to suppliers, creditors, is zero and the amount owed by customers, debtors, is zero. During the year these balances will change each month in proportion to the financial terms and conditions of the business and the movement of these balances need to be entered on the cash flow statement. An increase in debtors reduces the cash flow liquidity and an increase in creditors increases cash flow liquidity.

The third element of the financial section is an analysis of the whole business plan and the projections in what is called a sensitivity analysis. A technical accounting area for the majority of non accountants but nevertheless an important area as it is the financial sensitivity analysis that should indicate both the increased financial opportunities and the financial risks carried within the business plan.

All major areas within the business start up plan such as sales volume, sales prices, important cost elements and other factors that may have an impact on the business should be evaluated. For each item set an upper limit and lower limit based upon potential market conditions and risks.

Make a financial evaluate of each upper and lower limit for every item and determine the impact each would have on the profit and loss account and the cash flow statement. Also combine the financial effect of several factors to assess the impact of a combination of events on the small business. A lower sales volume may be uncomfortable for a small business but combined with lower sales prices and higher costs the risk could be severe.

The financial section of a business plan should be accurate and reflect the projected financial performance of the start up business. It is also important it is honest and evaluates the risks involved so that should any of those risks become reality urgent management action can be taken to limit the financial effect. In practice some of those risks will happen and being forewarned can be the difference between survival and failure with liquidity being the most dangerous risk of all.

Customer referral program ideas
continue to evolve as business is done in different manners than it was when
our parents were young.  This is
definitely a positive change for business owners in today’s digital age. With
an endless list of new ideas and channels to bring referrals in from, it can
simply be a matter of finding the right program for your business. Sometimes it
can be of huge benefit to combine several program ideas into one
custom-tailored strategy for your company.

10 Creative Customer Referral Program Ideas

Coming up with your own customer
referral program ideas is part of the creativity required to grow your business
and brand. This is an area where the most creative ideas shine.

1. Give
away a display type of item with your business’s name or website URL clearly
visible. Display items include calendars, picture frames and other similar
items that are easily viewed by others in proximity to them.

2. Offer
rebates on your highest priced products or services. Encourage the
understanding of how volume discounts at the top-end are being passed down as
savings to the consumer.

3. Create
your own event from a more obscure holiday. Be prepared to not receive
wide-reaching results in your first year of celebration, but repeated
celebrations and planned events will begin to grow a pool of its own referrals.

4. Offer
a free service relevant to your business occasionally. A car wash should offer
a free wax, a child care center can offer a free week for every 20 paid. Get
creative and find a way to benefit your consumers without taking too much from
your own bottom line.

5. Have
gift cards created with your business or company name and URL on them and hand
them out at conferences or events. Networking with other businesses can often
lead to more customer referral program ideas.

6. Go
green. Create recyclable grocer bags or gift boxes that sport your brand logo
to show you are environmentally friendly. As these items are reused or passed
on, they are still passively advertising for you.

7. Have a commonly used item
packaged with your brand logo on them. Whether you choose soap, sunscreen or
even a car air freshener, giving these out to your preferred customers can help
bring in referrals. Be sure to give your preferred customers more than one so
they can pass them around to their friends as well.

8. Offer discounted products or
services that consumers can use on their next visit. Create a coupon or receipt
that is double-printed so that one copy can be given to a friend or family
member to try at the discounted rate.

9. Celebrate a customer
appreciation day where current customers receive benefits on the spot in the
form of gifts or entertainments and prospective customers can receive discounts
for making their first purchases, thereby becoming a current customer for next
year’s appreciation event.

10. Award consumers for sending
you referrals, for catching typos or errors on your website, or anything that
initiates improvement within your business.

When you need finance for a home improvement project, you have many options at your reach. However, one that is not often considered and can turn out to be a very cheap source of founds is to take a second mortgage on the same property you are planning to improve. Home equity loans or second mortgages are the right tool for financing home improvements.

The fact that these loans are based on equity and that you are planning to improve the property that is guaranteeing them has several implications that need to be taken into account. Both the lender and the borrower will benefit from the fact that the loan will be used to improve the asset that is guaranteeing the loan.

Home Equity Loans (Second Mortgages)

Home equity loans or second mortgages are based on the remaining equity on your home. Basically, equity is the difference between the home value of your property and the outstanding debt guaranteed by that property. Home equity loans use this equity as collateral to guarantee the loan just like home loans use the property as collateral.

This implies that the risk involved for the lender is reduced due to the guarantee and thus, the interest rate charged is low. These loans along with home loans are probably the lowest rate loans of the private financial market. This in turn, implies also low monthly payments which are perfect for financing home improvements so you do not have to pay high lump sums every month.

Also, since these loans are guaranteed, the lender is willing to offer higher loan amounts. However, the loan amount will be limited by the equity left on your home. Higher loan amounts are also very useful for home improvements because generally, home improvements are rather expensive and an important amount of funds are needed to undertake home improvement projects.

An Alternative: Home Equity Lines of Credit for Home Improvements

These lines of credit are revolving sources of funds that are also guaranteed with your home equity. Instead of a fixed loan amount, what you are offered when requesting a home equity line of credit, is a flexible source of funds with certain credit limit. Up to this limit you can request as much money as you need and repay it the way you want. Generally, the minimum payment is the interests charged for the money you withdraw.

Once you repay the principal, you can withdraw it again as many times as you want as long as you do not exceed the credit limit. This tool provides a lot of flexibility that comes in very handy when making home improvements that have costs that you cannot always predict and thus having a fixed amount can seriously limit your project.

The main difference as regards the terms of home equity loans and lines of credit is that home equity lines of credit always carry a variable interest rate that is altered every three months according to market conditions, while home equity loans can carry either a variable rate or a fixed interest rate that will remain the same all through the life of the loan.