Posts Tagged ‘entrepreneur’
Pros and Cons of Registering Your Small Business
Monday, May 13th, 2013
There is a lot of advice out there about whether or not you should register a small business with governmental agencies and trade organizations. Whether or not you choose to join organizations is mostly a personal decision that heavily depends on your current circumstances and preferences. Let’s look at some of the pros and cons.
Pros
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal agency that serves as the primary governmental advocate for small business. From the SBA.gov web site, a small business owner can find links to registration requirements. If you are doing business as a sole proprietorship, you will be working in your own name and subject to personal liability related to your business. As a sole proprietor, you will still need to obtain local business licenses, too. If being personally liable for your business activities doesn’t sound appealing, register your business with a state as a corporation or LLC and obtain a federal tax ID. Don’t forget to find out if there are any business licenses required for your business at the county and city level, too.
Agencies and banks for small businesses might offer loans, perks, or training to small businesses. For example, the SBA is currently partnering with the W20 group, which is a group of digital communications companies, to offer a social media webinar series to help small businesses develop their web presence. The SBA also offers special loan programs to veterans, minorities, and women. The loans are actually backed by the SBA and issued by participating banks, so don’t think the SBA directly offers loans, though.
State business organizations provide venues for members to network and share resources. Members can help each other by referring customers, or providing mutually beneficial services. Being registered as a small business increases your chances of being invited to events you might otherwise not know about.
Business organizations also can be an effective political group. As with anything, the louder the voice, the more likely you are to be heard. Therefore, joining a small business organization can be a good way to promote policies that would benefit small business owners. These groups are not necessarily partisan, but rather they can work together to support common business interests.
Although there may be fees associated with joining some business organizations, the dues are usually tax deductible.
Many small business organizations offer group discounts for professional and personal services, which can be a very nice perk.
Cons
While the SBA is set up as the main advocate for small businesses in the US, the definition of “small business” is rather broad. For example, some of the business categories allow businesses with over 1,000 employees to be considered a small business. As you can see, the definition of “small business” is wide and often, a truly small business of less than 20 employees may find some SBA benefits are not useful.
SBA-backed bank loans sound good in concept, but the loan requirements make the loans out of reach for many early stage companies and very small companies. If you don’t have at least two years of operating history and a year’s worth of revenues, then you are unlikely to qualify for any SBA-backed bank loans.
Like everything in business, professional and trade associations cost money. Just about every small business organization has some kind of annual fee and many charge a fee for joining in the first place. Such fees can add up over time, especially for a new business. Additionally, participation in the events requires additional expenditures.
Being an active member of a business organization can be a big time-consumer, especially if you’re involved in more than one or at higher levels of an organization. Most organizations have a monthly meeting, but for members of several organizations, a few monthly meetings can turn into what is essentially a meeting every week. As a business owner, your time is extremely valuable so spending significant amounts of time on professional organizations can turn into a huge distraction.
If you don’t thrive on working with others or mixing business and social events, business organizations may not be for you. These organizations often combine social activities with things like networking or seminars, which is great for a lot of people, but there are many people who do not like to combine those aspects of their lives.
If you decide that registering your business is right for you, check out the US Small Business Administration for information about how to register a name for the business and find state agencies.
This has been a guest post by Angie Picardo, a writer for NerdWallet, a financial literacy website dedicated to helping consumers leverage their own business and set better personal financial goals.
Renting a Space for your Small Business – Six Factors to Consider
Friday, May 10th, 2013
Whether you need to lease commercial office space or retail space, it’s important to take the decision seriously. If you’re like most start-ups, your rental space will be a significant investment – both in up-front deposit costs and in monthly commitments. So before you rent that space, consider these six factors:
1. Location, location, location
Obviously, location is particularly important for retail businesses. The closer you are to your customers, the more business you’re likely to get. But location is important even if you’re renting office space and will rarely see customers in your own office.
Think about your employees or potential employees, for example. A luxurious office in a less-than-desirable part of downtown might turn off otherwise excellent employment candidates. And, of course, your own commute to your office is important to consider, if possible.
2. How much space you really need
Too many small business owners with big dreams end up in an overly-large office or retail space. Take some time to carefully consider how much space your business actually needs, and don’t get any more than that.
Also, think about what you may be able to do to cut down on the space you need. Can you store some files at home or in a small off-site storage unit? Can you use all your vertical space to avoid needing extra storage room?
3. How much you can afford to pay in rent
Obviously this is going to be one of your number one questions, and it’s one that you should really consider extra carefully. If you can’t afford to pay your lease for a month, your business could take a huge financial hit. So look at your current or expected earnings, and lowball the estimate. Don’t forget to factor in the related costs, such as insurance, utilities, and even hidden costs in the lease, such as the landlord’s ability to pass on increases in taxes or other operational costs.
Often, your ability to rent a place can be limited by your creditworthiness. If you’re just beginning, you may want to get some leverage by building credit with a business credit card. In addition, having a credit card or line of credit on hand as an emergency fund can help if account receivables don’t come in on time to pay your rent, as you’ll have some sort of short-term backup plan in place.
4. The nitty-gritty of the lease terms
Unless you’re a lawyer, it’s probably a good idea to hire one to review the lease terms with you. Again, this is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a small business owner, so it’s worth putting the time and money into having an expert check over your lease.
According to the Small Business Administration, some things you should check for on your lease include:
- Expenses you might incur beyond rent
- Maintenance and repair terms
- The ability to sublease
- Flexible lease terms
- The ability to lock in the rental cost for a long period of time
5. Potential extra costs
As noted above, one thing you should look for in your lease terms is potential extra costs. For instance, unlike an apartment building where the landlord is usually responsible for maintenance, you may be responsible for a good portion of the maintenance of your commercial space.
You’ll also want to look into how much you can expect to pay for utilities. If possible, negotiate to have utilities included in your rent payment, which can at least make them a predictable extra cost.
6. Other options besides renting
Finally, before you sign a contract, look into other options that you might have besides renting. It’s a huge commitment, and can be a very expensive mistake if you don’t do it right. Most small business owners are better off working at home, meeting clients at coffee shops, or even selling products through distributors rather than renting their own space.
Another increasingly popular option right now is co-working. A co-working space allows you to rent a small desk space or even an office where you can meet with clients. This gives you the opportunity to work with other entrepreneurs, to get out of the house, and to rent at a minimal cost.
As with every business decision you make, you’ll want to walk into this one with both eyes wide open. Plan for the worst, but expect the best, and your first business space rental will be great.
Run Your Business From Your Smartphone
Monday, May 6th, 2013
Can you run a business out of something that can fit in your back pocket? PC World says yes. Running a small business from your smartphone — virtually — is possible with the many apps available, on iTunes and Google Play, like videoconferencing programs and PowerPoint assistants.
You can sell products, keep track of mileage, calculate the amount of time spent on a project, build spreadsheets and complete other tasks, too, with a variety of apps.
What apps would best serve a small business owner who wants to rely more on a smartphone? Forbes has several suggestions for making a business productive this year.
EchoSign
If you’re a traveling sales representative, you could use EchoSign to manage, send and sign documents from your smartphone. EchoSign alleviates the need to carry large paper contracts because users access documents from the mobile device instead. If you’re a small company of 1 to 5 users, the app is free, otherwise you’re looking at spending $299 to $399 for a global or enterprise license.
The Right Hosting Service
Email is definitely a business necessity. You should get reliable VPS hosting, which allows business partners, employers and customers a fast and secure way to share files and data. VPS hosting at MyHosting.com provides email benefits such as push email, which decreases a user’s reliance on SMS Messaging, a dated technology. Customers’ emails, contacts, tasks and other information also are saved on the server. This data can be automatically synched on a new device.
Evernote
Forbes’ David K. Williams recommends Evernote for Business because it’s a multi-platform app that specializes in note-taking. Improved support, simplified billing and business notebook features all for the small price of $10 per month (premium version), per user. It’s great for capturing and organizing everything from photos to emails to web sites. It’s the ultimate brainstorm tool and you can download for PC, Mac, Android and iOS platforms.
PayPal and Money Center Smartphone Apps
Most major banks and PayPal have advanced smartphone apps. Even some of the smaller regional banks have good apps. As an entrepreneur on the go, make sure you have your bank’s app and understand the features. Many will even give you a free dongle that will allow you to swipe a credit card using your phone.
Speaktoit
Speaktoit is the top-rated virtual assistant for Android or iOS/Windows, according to Forbes. However, the app will target productivity for businesses this year. More features are being added, including calendar/meeting scheduling. Users can schedule meetings via voice through their Assistant. The app will remind users of their daily agendas, also via voice. Reminders can be given so users will know to book an airplane flight or a room in a hotel. Speaktoit also will partner with financial news services to give automatic updates on financial news and stock quotes.
Vandrio
So far, we’ve highlighted apps to help you run your business. Now, we share a company that can create a custom smartphone app for your business. Having your own app enables you to connect with your customers wherever they are. Custom app creator company Vandrio does this well, and the costs are incredibly affordable for a small business to have a custom app.
Long gone are the days when business people were tied to their desks with their traditional land-line phones, large personal computers, paper calendar and a cumbersome file cabinet filled with space-hogging documents. Although office time probably is a necessity for most business people, mobile apps and smartphones make it easier to take on many tasks, while growing their business on the open road.
6 Tips for Creating a Competitive Pricing Strategy
Friday, May 3rd, 2013
One of the best ways for small businesses to stay competitive is through pricing strategies. As part of your overall marketing and business plan, your pricing strategy is quite important. But, it can also be one of the most difficult parts of your plan to put together.
Here are six tips that will help you take advantage of your pricing strategy to stay competitive in an increasingly competitive marketplace:
1. Figure out what you can actually afford to charge
First, you need to understand what you can actually afford to charge. If you’re making absolutely no money keeping your business afloat, you’re not going to be selling products for long.
Understanding what you can afford to charge means carefully looking at the costs of your products or services, including the overhead costs that are often more difficult to spot. Then, you figure out how much money you need to keep your business afloat (preferably while keeping your personal budget going, as well).
A good rule of thumb for managing overhead costs is plan on spending 80 cents of every forecasted dollar. This gives you a 20% buffer and if you hit your forecast, you have a nice profit margin.
2. Focus on introducing new and better products
According to an interesting Entrepreneur article on this topic, the best businesses don’t simply focus on competitive pricing. Eventually, the free market will find the price that consumers will pay for a particular product or service, and you’ll just have to stick close to that to remain in business.
But if you don’t want to be completely controlled by these market forces, innovate. Focus on introducing new and better products. Yes, you’ll need to have a pricing strategy for all these new things, too. But if you can get a leg up on the competition with better or more innovative products, you won’t have to be constrained as much by the going price.
3. Keep careful track of costs
Obviously, as you’re creating your pricing strategy, you need to keep track of your costs. Putting your business expenses on a business credit card (compare here) instead of a personal credit card can help you keep track of your spending. All business owners prefer to have a larger profit margin, but getting your profit margin to grow is all about understanding your costs. Cutting costs while keeping your products and services similarly priced will raise your business’s profits.
If you’re not already familiar with basic bookkeeping for your business, it’s time to get there now. And if you need to run more complicated cost and profit margin calculations, it may be best to hire an accountant.
4. Consider lower introductory prices
When you’re just starting out, you can often break into the market by setting your prices lower than those of your competitors. This works if you just want to get your products into the hands of many people, or if you’re breaking into a new local market.
While your prices are set lower, though, you may not bring home much profit. In this situation, it may be wise to look into credit cards or a business line of credit that can help keep your business afloat until you have the customer loyalty you need to raise your prices. Once your prices are higher and your profit margin is better, you can use some of your extra revenue to pay down those credit card balances.
5. Understand how price affects image
Psychology is probably the most difficult piece of setting a pricing strategy, since the way consumers think has much to do with what they’ll pay for a product. Most of the time, consumers will shop for the best value – the lowest price among very similar products.
However, be careful to not set your prices too low if you want to position yourself as a luxury brand. Too low a price for certain products or services could lead customers to believe that your brand’s offerings are shabby, sub-par, or simply not as luxurious as you’d like them to be.
6. Talk to distributors, if necessary
You can’t actually tell your distributors what they have to price your items at, but you definitely can have conversations with them. Explain to distributors why your pricing strategy is important, and how it will benefit both you and them to follow this strategy. Selling to distributors means lower revenue per unit for you, but it usually means higher volume and greater access into the market, and faster.
If you’re having trouble coming up with your business’s pricing strategy, you may want to call in a professional. Those who are more familiar with marketing could help you find the best prices for your products and services. Otherwise, you may just need to do some market research into your competitors, and try out different prices with consumers to see what sells best.
What are some other tips you can share in addition to these six?
A List of One: Navigate Your Daily Chaos toward Larger Goals
Wednesday, February 20th, 2013Why do so many New Year’s Resolutions fail after the first six weeks? People fail to achieve their goals for lots of reasons, but we’re not focusing on excuses here. We’re focusing on solutions. 
The typical day of an entrepreneur or small business owner is crammed with surprises and distractions, and the long list of longer term, strategic, goal-oriented activities often gets pushed to the following day, then again, until so many days slip by that those big goals become completely ignored. This is akin to treading water instead of swimming and wondering why the shoreline fades in the distance.
One useful tactic to help you get back on track with your goals is to create a List of One.
Each day, amid the minutiae and distractions, focus on completing one goal or one milestone toward a larger goal. You can have a larger list, but each day, just pick one key milestone and make material progress. If you complete your List of One, then create another List of One and apply the same focus and tenacity to completing that task. One step at a time.
Yes, the process is as simple as it sounds, and you’ll find that more gets done when you chew one bite at a time of the metaphorical elephant we call building a small business.
What’s on your List of One today?
SIA Scotch: The Spirit of Entrepreneurship – Literally
Monday, December 3rd, 2012
Being an entrepreneur requires a certain spirit. Sometimes, entrepreneurship includes not only having spirit, but producing spirits, such as a new Scotch Whisky. We invited Carin Castillo to share some of her experiences in creating a new brand of scotch from scratch. We are looking forward to a taste when it hits the store shelves, too!
Q. Describe your “Eureka Moment”. What was the market opportunity that drove your decision to form a company around this product/service?
A. I first realized the stereotype about Scotch when I was in a bar with my girlfriends in New York and we ordered three glasses of Scotch, neat. The bartender came back and then tried to hand them behind us, looking for the men he thought we had ordered them for. When he realized it was for us, he tried to hide a little smile as he walked back to some other customers. After I went down the road of creating my own brand, I hosted many tasting events that were non-typical Scotch tasting events, where I’d pair a regular event with a tasting, so as to attract non-Scotch drinkers. My greatest joy is when someone contacts me after an event just to tell me- “I ordered a Scotch today for the first time, and thought of you!”
Q. How did you fund Whisky Archive and SIA to its current state?
A. I’ve funded my company by bootstrapping (working a second job doing freelance design to pay for all of the research and development going into developing this new brand of Scotch Whisky. It’s been a labor of love and because there is no “guideline” or book about how to do this, it’s been a huge learning curve, and one I’ve enjoyed every step of the way. The product is finally ready for the first batch of production, so I set up a Kickstarter campaign to meet the funding needed for the purchase of the product (liquid), glass, labels, cork, etc. One of the biggest challenges was just getting to the point of asking for help from the community. I’ve been a Creative Director for 16 years working behind-the-scenes to execute other’s projects, so for me to step up from behind the camera and talk about my dream and my vision was huge. Also Kickstarter campaigns typically run on pre-orders of the product. Kickstarter rules prohibit giving alcohol as a reward, so I faced a huge challenge in coming up with rewards that made sense and fit within their guidelines. The campaign is doing well (as of today 85% with 17 days remaining).
Q. ActSeed champions the need for solid planning and preparation from the very beginning. How important is planning and prep to your company’s success?
A. The process I’ve followed to get to this point has been very deliberate. Because I have the luxury of time, and partly because I can only work as far as I have funds for, I’ve had to make wise and well thought decisions about purchasing and spend. Early on, I was introduced to some facts about the energy drink market and how the challenge is not in the conception of the drink, as there are many great ideas and concepts, but that the biggest failure is the lack of a go-to-market strategy before the product hits the shelves. Most brands fail because they put all the time, effort and energy into creating the product and think that the product alone will sell itself. I’ve carried this with me every step of my way and have methodically planned how I will go to market, locally and online at first and plan nationwide distribution carefully.
Q. How long did it take to get your idea into the market from initial concept to first customer?
A. I’ve always had a dream of making my own brand of Scotch but I didn’t decide to push forward with the concept till January 2012. What typically takes 4-5 years I did in less than 12 months.
I started in January with deep customer discovery by holding blind scotch tasting events to discover the perfect flavor profile. I spent the next few months interviewing bartenders, restaurant owners and other brand owners to develop my go to market strategy, pricing and value proposition while at the same time designing the brand, packaging and marketing materials and obtaining all the legal requirements.
All of the knowledge and elements are in place, and once I get the green light to proceed with production in January, my hope is to have the brand in people’s hands in the early spring of 2013.
Q. What influence have the internet and social media had on the way you are marketing, selling and supporting your products and/or services?
A. Over 16 years of working in digital media has come in very useful in bringing this brand to life. SIA is a brand for a new generation of spirit enthusiasts. This modern beverage will be consumed by an audience of people who have grown up or adapted to social media and use it in their daily lives. It’s how we connect, communicate, show and share support for products we like. I used the knowledge I’ve gained in digital marketing to build a following of Scotch enthusiasts via the Whisky Archive brand to promote Scotch tasting events (my own and others) to people via twitter and Facebook, growing a large audience of Scotch enthusiasts, and using this platform to communicate my new brand. The Kickstarter community support has also been outstanding, bringing my brand to a new international audience of people who are asking for the ability to order a product that has not even hit the shelves. I see it as a very real and incredible possibility to sell out of my first batch almost immediately upon launch due to all of the excitement and interest shown by fans online.
Q. Describe the challenges you faced as you built your customer base.
A. Because this was a completely new industry for me, it was hard to know where to begin. I have an idea of what I want my Scotch to taste like, but what happens next? Who do I approach? Do I need to get my importer’s license? My distributor’s license? Can I subcontract with someone to do this? How do I begin to reach out if I do not yet have a product? So many questions and so few answers. I contacted hundreds of people and companies who never even bothered to reply to me. So many closed doors, road that led to nowhere, but at each speed bump, I knew it was just a small test placed in my way to see if I really wanted this, to see how hard I was willing to try. People would ask questions like “Don’t you think there are already too many brands out there?” “How will you compete against these large companies with such deep marketing dollars?” and so many more questions that would be discouraging to someone who was willing to let them stand in her way.
Q. What techniques have you used to establish credibility in the eyes of customers, investors, partners, personnel and the general public?
A. The biggest wins in terms of establishing credibility came from running tasting events, eventually for other big brands, who used my services to help conceive, curate and execute successful events on their behalf. I made a lot of friends this way and built my name and reputation up. On social media, I built a great reputation by sharing tasting events for all brands of Scotch Whisky and a great community around it. In a short amount of time, I made many friends in the industry and built media contacts, so that now as I’m ready to launch my own brand, I’m not coming out of nowhere, people have heard about what I’m creating and are excited for me and my success.
You can learn more about Carin’s venture and support her Kickstarter campaign by clicking here.
Entrepreneurial Vision That Protects Our Children
Monday, November 19th, 2012Like most startup venture stories, Russell Thornton’s story originates from a personal experience. Unlike most, his stemmed from a terrifying few minutes as a parent.
The benefit to other parents is what Russell has accomplished as a response to his parental scare. He is the founder of Amber Alert GPS – a user-friendly service that helps parents know where their kids are and lets them know when they are not where they are supposed to be.
GPS tracking services are not new, and while many startups and even large corporations have attempted to tackle this issue in the past, none have “gotten it just right”. Protecting our children is not just a technology problem. It is a user experience issue that must blend technology with process and make using such a service intuitive, easy, and readily available. We applaud how Russell and his team have achieved a promising start to such a solution, and we encourage you to check out Amber Alert GPS yourself.
Below is a brief Q&A about Russell’s experience in launching and growing his company.
Q. Describe your “Eureka Moment”. What was the market opportunity that drove your decision to form a company around this product and service?
A. After losing my 3 year old son at an amusement park for approximately 45 minutes I thought I was going to have to issue an Amber Alert. This was a terrifying moment for me. After he was safety found, I was determined to find a solution to prevent experiences like this from ever happening again. I thought that it would be great to have something on a child that informed the parent where the child was at all times.
Q. How did you fund Amber Alert GPS to its current state?
A. The company was personally bootstrapped for the first 12 months and then was funded through friends, family and most recently angel investors.
Q. ActSeed champions the need for solid planning and preparation from the very beginning. How important is planning and preparation to your company’s success?
A. From the very beginning we received interest in using our product for markets other than child tracking. We now have a company plan in place to first successfully launch and dominate the child market and then launch in the senior and pet markets. Having a strategic plan to solidify the technology and deploy is crucial.
Q. How long did it take to get your idea into the market from initial concept to first customer?
A. The idea came from the experience of losing my son in June of 2007. The first product was sold to customers in February, 2008 which was an off-the-shelf product from China to test the market. We quickly realized there was an appetite for this type of product and went into developing our own unit. Our new unit was completed at the end of 3rd quarter 2009.
Q. What influence have the internet and new media had on the way you are marketing, selling and supporting your products/services?
A. Our company was essentially built from the ground up through our online SEO efforts. 90% of our sales come from the internet through our website shopping cart. We also use a network of affiliates to help promote our product online. We use Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging to engage our visitors and customers.
Q. Describe the challenges you faced as you built your customer base, including defining the customer target, establishing the right price and pricing strategy and of course, closing the first few deals.
A. Our first efforts were mainly grassroots. We attended local school’s parent/teacher conferences and engaged with parents. We met with law enforcement and other child safety organizations to make sure we were meeting the needs of parents. Autism and special needs groups immediately saw the value of our product because their pain point is highest. Our pricing initially started out very high because we felt like we had to double our margins on the device alone. Since then, our device price has dropped by almost 50%. We have learned that getting the device in the customer’s hands and getting them to use it and like it is the most important factor. Once they like it and rely on it, then they have no problem paying the monthly subscriptions and refer us to family and friends.
Q. What techniques have you used to establish credibility in the eyes of customers, investors, partners, personnel and the general public?
A. The strong and credible Amber Alert brand has provided several media opportunities to introduce our child tracking product. Just a year ago we acquired AmberAlert.com. With this acquisition, we now provide the technology for States to issue Amber Alerts. We provide this technology for free. To date, we have 9 states using our technology which is called LEAP (Law Enforcement Alerting Portal). We are the only GPS company that sells a device to help keep track of kids, plus provides technology to issue Amber Alerts. Proceeds from the sales of our device fund the LEAP program which benefits the general public greatly.
Q. Have government, University, or other community and economic development programs been useful?
A. The Department of Justice, specifically NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) recognized our company early on because of the name Amber Alert GPS. We are invited to the yearly Amber Alert Symposium and looked to as a leader in the child safety community. Recently an MOU has been put in place with NCMEC and IPAWS to exchange Amber Alert information.
Q. What is the most important thing people never tell you about joining or founding an early-stage company?
A. The most important thing with startups in my opinion is persistence. Technology, marketing, finance and product development learning curves can be steep, but daily persistence can often compensate for limited resources.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like to share that we didn’t ask you in the questions above?
A. Communication with a potential customer is invaluable. Early on we offered a free child safety kit from our website. We made sure that we gave away items of value that would help save a child’s life such as defense videos, safety tips, a child ID packet, etc. Since then our list has grown to over 30,000 subscribers. We make sure that our subscribers receive two newsletters a month on the latest safety tips. Even if they don’t buy a GPS device from us, they will have a positive interaction with our company.
Entrepreneur Tips to Afford Health Insurance
Monday, November 12th, 2012
Health care reform has been one of the hot topics of the 2012 Presidential election, at times more fiercely debated than issues surrounding the economy and job market. Health care costs far exceed taxes for many people, and can mount quickly without insurance coverage. Furthermore, coverage may not provide sufficient financial relief if you do not have the right type of policy for your budget and medical needs.
Fortunately, companies that sell private health insurance through partnerships with multiple carriers can provide you with a broad range of coverage options. The result? You truly can customize your plan so that it is both affordable and comprehensive. Here are three strategies to evaluate.
Bridge the Gap with Short-term Coverage
Short-term coverage offers a solution to several different scenarios including finding yourself in between jobs and waiting for employer sponsored coverage to kick in after starting a new job. These policies offer coverage anywhere from 6 to 12 months. The point of short-term plans is to offer protection against unforeseen accidents or illnesses. As a result, services like immunizations, preventive care and screenings are not covered by most short-term insurance policies. It is important to note that this type of plan does not typically cover pre-existing medical conditions.
High Deductible = Low Premium
Provided you do not need ongoing medical care, a health insurance plan that carries a high deductible could be an attractive option because these policies offer low monthly premiums. In exchange for the advantage of extremely low premiums, you must pay all of your medical expenses until you meet the high deductible, which can mean thousands of dollars out of your pocket – except for preventive care, which insurers must cover 100 percent under health care reform. Therefore, high deductible plans are a good route to take for those who are healthy and do not have any pre-existing conditions.
Talk to Mom and Dad
Health care reform provides an especially nice advantage to young adults, who can now remain covered by their parents’ health insurance plan until they turn 26. So if you are fresh out of school and still looking for a job, or your entry level salary is not as robust as you anticipated, just give mom and dad a call.
Keep it Simple but Make Sure You Do Your Homework
Online resources like our partner, GoHealthInsurance, offer you the chance to access information on a variety of plans, and better yet, review quotes based on the criteria you enter. Today’s resources are designed to be time efficient and simple to digest, so there really is no reason to select coverage that is not right for your particular situation.
How a Cultural Pendulum Becomes an Entrepreneur’s Advantage
Friday, November 9th, 2012
When we find ways to level the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs, we share them.
The slowest of the herd get eaten.
The view for the middle of the pack never changes.
But those at the front eat first and best.
The Reality
There is no perfect crystal ball, but information does exist that can give us a competitive advantage. We don’t need perfect foresight, just better information sooner than our competitors. Relying on trends and patterns identified exclusively for a slice of society, such as stock markets or fashion, may provide minor insight into what we should do now and what we should plan to do in the future, but isolating a piece of society to forecast the future may be severely limited in value.
The Challenge
The challenge is to identify patterns so we don’t fight trends we can’t control. We must find ways to harness the natural energy within markets so that our businesses benefit from motions we cannot control but can be leveraged to our advantage.
Waves oscillate. Capital markets oscillate. People, populations and political winds oscillate. Oscillation is a given within both nature and man. When we tune our businesses to the right oscillations, we compete and serve our customers more effectively.
The Approach
If you could identify a pattern that has held up for thousands of years, that oscillates with regularity and integrates broad cultural trends to show how humankind collectively swings like a pendulum back and forth between a “We” mindset and a “Me” mindset, would you have an advantage over your competition?
If you had information that enabled you to target belief systems, worldviews and attitudes instead of simply age groups or other narrow demographics, would you have an advantage over your competition?
Yes.
The Solution
When we find ways to level the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs, we share them.
Pendulum is a program you should seriously consider.
Entrepreneurs need a better way to figure out what people need now and will need in the future, not what they needed yesterday.
Entrepreneurs need to know what marketing angle will be most effective in reaching people.
Entrepreneurs must avoid investing in marketing that may have been previously successful but will likely flop now and in the future.
Patterns have emerged through the oscillation of our culture over time. Pendulum has uncovered a tantalizingly interesting pattern that can benefit us and our customers, which is why we have decided to share this with you while exploring it ourselves.
History, if you will listen to her voice, may stutter sometimes, but she is a brilliant teacher.
The Most Valuable Post-Election Tip for Entrepreneurs
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012On November 7, the House, Senate and White House remain controlled by the same political parties. For all of the cries for change and dissatisfaction with business as usual, the electorate has chosen “More of the Same”.
So what should an entrepreneur do to achieve success now?
The same things they were doing prior to November 6:
Work hard.
Work smart.
Prepare, plan and execute.
Entrepreneurs and small businesses will always be underdogs in the business world. We are blades of grass under a sidewalk. Some of us don’t quit until we pierce the concrete. Most, however, die before seeing daylight.
The election is over. Imperfect and unnecessary regulations are still in our way. Of course, some may be helping. Competitors are still trying to crush us. We continue to return the favor. Customers are still demanding more value for lower prices. Banks and capital providers are still stingy with their checkbooks. We fight on and exercise our right to vote with competence when given the opportunity.
Again, the election is over.
- If you are gloating, stop. It’s distracting you from your goals and annoying others.
- If you are sulking, stop. It’s distracting you from your goals and annoying others.
- If you have already put the election behind you and are back to work, you’ve just put some distance between you and your sulking or gloating competitors – congratulations.
ActSeed serves partisans and non-partisans alike, but our greatest value to you is when you avoid being distracted by things you cannot control, and when you are focused on executing the next step and planning ten more steps.
Abraham Lincoln said (paraphrased), “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” This is true for our country, our businesses and our personal lives. Let’s apply our economic freedom and build something, not sit back and wait for a handout. We are entrepreneurs – part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Now, let’s get to work.
