Every day 33,000 personal and business loan requests are rejected by the banks (courtesy of SBA report). Small business owner then search for private merchant companies in order to fulfill their financial requirement.

Still, many face rejection. Common and hasty plans create problems in acquiring loans. Every business owner should complete his research before applying for any business loan application. Whether it is government organization, bank or any private company, the first and foremost thing that you should consider is that you should:

Know Your Credit Scores
Before application process begins you need to know where you stand in terms of your credit score. In terms of banks, your credit history makes or breaks your loan application. Hence, keep a check on it, before you move forward with your loan application process.

Read the Terms Carefully
Before signing the approval form or the application form, always read the terms and conditions carefully. Due to misjudgment, many small business owners end up in debt. Before you sign any agreement, it is important to read the term and condition, familiarizing yourself with every point. Questions should also be asked incase anything remains unclear.

Interest Rates
Some financial companies often change their interest rates. Sign on one rate when you acquire loan and make the contract in accordance with one constant interest rate. Do not sign under fluctuating rates as this can cause many problems in your small business’s financial dealings.

Research for Suitable Loan Programs
Even before you enter any private company’s doors, make sure it is the right one. There are many company’s in the market offering different interest rates, make sure you choose the one that suits your requirements and your business.

Essential Business Plan
Make a clear and detailed business plan which should clearly specify your goals. Money lenders always want to know more about the business before they fulfill your financial requirement and before they lend you any cash.

Small Business Experts allow you to surpass every bank with a vast emphasis on fast cash flow, allowing you to increase working capital.

The market is loaded with many Small Business Loan providers. Finding the right one for your business might be a difficult task as there are many companies offering similar hassle free application process. Do you r homework and complete your research before moving forward.

Have you ever thought of reading business blogs for essential business tips? Business blogs are a great resource for running a successful business. Through them you get a chance for connecting with many small business professionals on a daily basis.

These small business (blogs) guides are a great source of tip and tricks on small business trends, marketing techniques and social networking. Not just this business blogs are a great resource providing valuable information on financial support. Where to acquire funds from? Or how to manage and utilize finances etc. You can read a book on small business but there is nothing like getting directly in touch with experienced professionals on such platforms.

Providing in-depth round up on business related tips following are 5 famous blogs which have helped many small business owners

1. Small Business Trends

Small Business Trends is an award-winning online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them.

Small Business Trends is the premier source of information, news and advice covering issues of key importance to the small business market. Small Business Trends appears repeatedly at the top of lists of small business websites.

2. Seth Godin

SETH GODIN is that marketing expert who was the first one to coin the word “permission marketing”. He has written more than dozen books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Each book has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. As an entrepreneur, he has founded dozens of companies, most of which failed. Hence, he can give small business owner advice on topics such as what not to do as a business owner, and what brings failure.

3. Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan runs Human Business Works, where he provides strategic business advice to mostly larger companies about developing business via the digital channel. He’s written a bunch of books. One of them, Trust Agents, was a New York Times bestseller.

4. Copyblogger

Copyblogger was founded in January of 2006 by Brian Clark. Brian is CEO of Copyblogger Media, a serial entrepreneur, and a recovering attorney. This blog provides tips and tricks in expanding business through the usage of online tools, such as blogs, content marketing, and landing page optimization. On the blog they have compiled tutorials and free courses providing free content marketing techniques to its visitors.

5. Techcrunch

TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news. A must read blog with a focus on technology start-ups in the Web 2.0 sector, where small businesst owners connect and find resources for expanding and sustaining their businesses. The blog is considered as a premier source for technology news.

Sometimes it so happens that need arises for expensive equipment. You buy the required product. Later you realize that it demands more money than its actual price. The expense list which you created before buying the required object later exceeds the purchase amount.
It so happens that when you buy something, the purchase amount exceeds its original limit, why? Because when you buy something you become the owner and caretaker of that product. When the product/equipment is used it then requires maintenance, which in turn requires investment.

As a result of these unplanned and unavoidable rising expenses, a small need transforms into a financial snowball. Such financial problems can only be avoided through proper planning and extensive paper work.

Businesses need to avoid financial problems. Only proper planning can help you in avoiding them, but how to know that you are about to face one?

Whenever a need arise, start by asking a few questions that will help you in assessing your current financial situation:
• How much extra working capital do you already have?
• How much cash is required?
• Do you have extra cash for the new requirement?
• Where is working capital getting tied up, and how can I unlock that capital?

The expenses entirely depend on the type of financial need for example,
LED for the Conference Room
You already know the price of that LED which you want for the conference room, and its amount fits your balance book. But you must also factor in the cost of installation, the complementary speakers, monthly cable fees, and maintenance. If the financial plan indicates warning signs then you might want to wait for a couple of months before finalizing the purchase.

Hire New Employees
If you plan on hiring more, than salary is not the only factor to consider. You must also factor in employment taxes, benefits, office space, and equipment, to name a few. Similar to maintenance financial plan, you should plan for every expense and then move ahead in accordance with your spending strength.

Know your finance acquiring options before you even plan to spend any money. Ask the questions that will help you in identifying new ways to finance your business:
• Can you afford to contact financing companies to fund operational investments in the business?
• What activities will help you in reducing extra and unseen expenses?
• How can you leverage customer and vendor relationship in managing your money?

Ask all these questions before you plan to move forward with spending. Build a healthier financial environment through proper planning as this will help you in building better customer-vendor relationship. A risk free business is one that everyone business owner wants.

This Friday we have compiled 5 links from the web for you. Each link contains useful and interesting information for your small business taxes, loans, growth and news. Enjoy the guide and let us know what you think.

1. Is Obama’s Patent Reform Hurting American Small Businesses
Last September, in the midst of yet another instance of typical partisan politics in Washington where there was a complete inability for Congress and the president to get anything productive done, one significant piece of legislation did get passed. It was a bill reforming the patent laws called the America Invents Act and in his nationally televised address to Congress on September 8, President Obama used it as an example of how Washington could accomplish something. In his remarks made at the bill’s signing, President Obama said: (Source: Huffington post)

2. Facts About Government Grants
SBA does NOT provide grants for starting and expanding a business.
Government grants are funded by your tax dollars and, therefore, require very stringent compliance and reporting measures to ensure the money is well spent. As you can imagine, grants are not given away indiscriminately. (Source: SBA)

3. Business Loans and Hand-Holding, Beer Optional
When Jim Koch launched the Boston Beer Co. (SAM) in 1984, he learned that ventures like his shouldn’t waste time trying to get a bank loan. “What one of the bankers said to me was, ‘We’re not in the business of taking risks. We don’t get paid to take risks. Look at our margins.”

4. More Businesses Burdened By Slow-Paying Customers
As a prolonged recession hangover weighs on both small businesses and their customers, tracking down the cash they are owed has become a challenge for an increasing number of business owners. At issue are customers not making payments on time – or at all, according to a survey released today by the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., research organization focused on entrepreneurship. (Source: Entrepreneur)

5. More Farms Vie for the $1 Billion Spent at Farmers Markets
On a recent May morning at the Collingswood (N.J.) farmers market just outside Philadelphia, Jim Daily is neatly switching back and forth between bagging tomato plants and asparagus bunches and talking tomatoes with bleary-eyed customers. It’s about breakfast time on the first weekend of the market, and in the misty coolness, hundreds of people are milling around, eyeing pints of strawberries, heaps of carrots, and other local goodies at dozens of stands. (Source: Businessweek)

Strategic changes are required in order to fix and control working capital needs. Every small business owner is responsible for managing the budgets. CASH being the lifeblood of every business needs to be controlled strategically, because if it is ignored then business failure will be the only possible conclusion.

The first step towards controlling and avoiding a working capital disaster is
1. Forecast Your Capital Needs
By forecasting your yearly working capital needs, you will better understand and manage the possible cash leaks and mistakes which might be draining your business of cash.
Knowing where the cash flow stands currently and where it will be in future, will help you in creating a 12 month plan. This plan will help you in understanding the highs and lows of your cash flow. For example, you will know when to expect surging financial needs and when all payments will be due.

2. Balance Your Terms
Create balanced terms with your suppliers and customers. Set these terms in such a way that they are beneficial for all.

3. Create Your Collection Strategy
Create your collection strategy by asking yourself the following questions
• How long is it taking to get paid?
• What is your collections activity?
• Are you getting the right level of contact with your customers?
• Are you identifying disputes fast enough?
• When you identify disputes, what is your policy for getting them resolved?

By answering these questions, you will remain on top of your businesses outstanding payment problems.

4. Segmentation
Divide all the departments that deal with the cash flow into segments. Whether they are your suppliers, customers or your inventory, make separate lists of external and internal sources of cash. Track where the money is going and where the money is coming in from. You might have spent extra on the inventory. Or your customer’s pending payments might be affecting your cash flow, or on the other hand, you might be paying more than required to the suppliers without even knowing it.

5. Companywide Priority
Employees are motivated by the targets set for them. Cash flow management is every small business’s priority, and you should make sure that your related staff understands that. Hence you should create a list of every area and department that effects and utilizes cash in one form or another.
The success of your business will entirely depend on the way you strategically plan your cash flow.

America’s credit crunch did affect many minority businesses. Its adversity left an indelible mark on many small business owners making it difficult to get started or sustain their minority businesses. With the lessening lending options for small business owners, it became impossible for businesses to get hold of their share of grants.

Minority businesses find it very difficult to attain the right amount of loan or even a loan for their small business. No matter what minority business it is, or which background it belongs to, a strong business plan will always be the most significant factor in acquiring a business loan.

So before you plan to approach any loan providing firm make sure that your details are all aligned and ready to be discussed. Nontraditional financial solutions are available in the market. In a report by National Small Business Association (NSBA) only 59 per cent of small businesses are able to obtain finances for their business. Finances can only be acquired by businesses which have a favorable and profitable business plan and sales record. We have compiled a few options for you where you can acquire loan for your minority business.

1. Merchant Advisor
Merchant Advisors can help you gain the working capital that your minority owned business needs to move forward and stay competitive in the market. Merchant advisors offers business cash advances up to $1 million dollars, flexible payment terms, no upfront costs to apply for a business cash advance, and no closing costs to worry about either.

2. National Minority Supplier Development Council
The National Minority Supplier Development Council matches more than 15,000 minority- owned businesses with 3,500 corporations who want to purchase goods and services from them. The council also offers loans to participating small businesses through its Business Consortium Fund.

3. Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), is the only federal agency fostering growth for minority business owners. Micro-Loan Fund provides short-term loans of $1,500 to $25,000 to its members. Many small business entrepreneurs have already acquired loans from them you can also.

4. Small Business Administration (SBA)
Federal and state government agencies do not provide grants to minorities for starting a business. But Small Business Administration (SBA), a government organization guarantees loans for every type of minority business.

However, there are number of loan programs offered by private companies offering loan on low interest rates. Some non-profit organizations also offer loans for many minority businesses. No matter which organization you turn to, it is important to have a good understanding for your business needs. Borrowing the right amount will determine the pay back amount.

Running and growing your franchise business successfully demands excellent strategy and skills. Some think that acquiring a franchise is an automatic ticket to success, but it’s not. A franchise business running on effective expansion strategy does not require maximum capital, but requires demands careful thinking, and excellent approach. Careful decision making at the very start and setting your fiscal goals and objectives will eventually help every business owner in planning for upcoming years. Our tips will help you in growing your business in a more effective manner.

1. Know how you want to grow

Small business owners want to grow at a very reasonable rate. Franchise business owners often plan to expand their businesses from coast to cost or even at an international level. So you have to decide the limit of your business expansion.

2. Check your financials

Before planning to expand the most essential information which you should posses is operating cash for the business. Every small business owner needs to keep a track record of one year financial plan. Some franchise business owners do not posses enough knowledge about acquiring finance for their business. They do not know how to make proper loan requests for their business loans and lack the ability for developing a true and accurate financial statement.
Change you business strategy, take it a step further and start selling franchises.

3. Sell Franchises

As it is said that franchise business requires expansion strategy, hence it is important for a franchise owner to start selling out. Connect with people who would be willing to buy your concept.
Franchise marketing is important in this respect and cannot be done while sitting all alone. This can be done through word of mouth or through sales representatives.

4. Make Key Hires

Sales experts, excelling in marketing skills will be extremely beneficial for the growth of your franchise business. Hire them and make them contact prospective clients and business partners. Promotional activities may also include attending franchise fairs or hiring independent franchise marketing firms to help locate investors.
For franchisees, franchise business is a high risk plan. Train your salesperson as such that they should create, display and communicate compelling profitable stories to your prospective clients, so that a positive and an effective communication strategy can be built.

5. Prepare for change

After managing your own business and after selling franchise, you will be now responsible for multiple stores. You need to set restrictions, dos and don’ts. But at the same time give your franchisee enough freedom to run business on their own. With more people and partners coming into business, ideas evolve. With different perspectives, various points of view emerge.

But such ideas should not restrict your business’s growth, as at the end of the day, because it is the growth that matters. Growing your business from coast to coast or taking it forward at an international level is for you to decide.

In a survey conducted on restaurant loans, it was concluded that almost 50 per cent American adults have worked in restaurants at some point in their professional career. And out of this percentage about 40 per cent wish to own and get started with their own restaurant business.

This is the point where many face disappointment due to the expensive nature of restaurant business. Many, on the other hand, take advantage of one or more borrowing options when planning their new restaurants.

When planning to get started with restaurant business financing, the first and foremost thing that should be on top of your list is how much funding you require.

Capital Required?
You cannot determine the amount of capital required for your restaurant business unless you determine the reason for financing. Determining why and for which department you require funding is a crucial step for growth and business financing. Whether you need restaurant financing for Construction, Renovation, Marketing or for any other need. You need to mark out your reasons for acquiring finance, before you move forward with funding options.

Explore Your Financing Options
When finalizing your options for acquiring loans, you need to consider Banks, SBA, Merchant Advisors and other small business funding resources. We have created a small guide to help you decide in choosing the best possible option.

Merchant Cash Advance:
• Easy and Fast paperwork. The process of getting a merchant cash advance is quicker and far less tedious than a bank loan with no collateral requirement.
• You do not have to put your assets, such as your home, on the line as collateral for a merchant cash advance.
• Your loan gets approved in 1 hour and you get the cash needed in just 5 days. No usage restrictions. You can use the money any, anywhere and anytime you want to. No fixed repayment schedule.
• You repay the cash advance according to your sales. The advantage of merchant cash advance is that if business is down, your repayment slows down as well. The advantage is merchant advisors offer easy repayment terms

Traditional Bank Loans
• Banks require paperwork, you have to provide collateral and personal guarantee. Do you have a house that could back your bank loan? A car? Or could someone co-sign the bank loan with you? In today’s tightened credit market, commercial bank loans and credit lines are difficult to come by, especially for small retail businesses and restaurants.
• It can take you as long as 30 days to get approved for a loan and you are less likely to get approval anyway.
• If you have a significant amount of debt, then a bank is less likely to approve you for a significant loan. Your most favorable choice of loan at that point is Merchant Advisors for the capital you require.

SBA Loan Programs
Small business is America’s most powerful engine of opportunity and economic growth. That’s where SBA comes in. SBA offers a variety of programs and support services to help you navigate the issues you face with your initial applications, and resources to help after you open for business.

This Friday we have compiled 5 links from the web for you. Each link contains useful and interesting information for your small business taxes, loans, growth and news. Enjoy the guide and let us know what you think.

1. The Best Government Investments in Small Business?
When our elected officials advocate small business policies, they invariably invoke the concept of an economic multiplier. One of the most recent examples: House Democrat Nydia M. Velazquez (D-N.Y.) used the idea at Small Business Committee hearings on the role of American entrepreneurs in economic recovery. “By creating brand new markets and sparking competition,” she said, “these firms often have a multiplier effect on job creation.” (Source: BusinessWeek)

2. Most Retailers Saving Big on Debit Card Processing Fees
Amid a relentless battle between the nation’s biggest banks and the retail industry, a Federal Reserve report shows merchant processing fees for debit cards have been cut nearly in half, thanks to federal legislation that took effect last October. But some small retailers are not seeing the benefit.
(Source: Entrepreneur)
3. End of FDIC program may hurt small firm lending

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Small business lending could take a major hit if a federal program that insures small business accounts ends later this year. (Source: CNN Money)

4. Accounting tools for a growing business

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Question: I recently purchased a small medical supply business. The business is both a retail store and a business-to-business distributor; we are also planning to add e-commerce.

5. 5 ways small biz can attract big clients
Winning business from the Fortune 500 is a great way to put your company on the map. (CNN Money)

Today’s small businesses are tech-savvy and leveraging new ways in order to enhance and expand their seasonal sales. Many businesses are reaching out to their buyers through mobile phones and others are attracting customers through social media marketing. There are many who lag behind in sales due to their inadequate planning. For their help, we have created a list of ‘to-be created-plans’, which will help you in organizing and planning your seasonal sales.

Sales and inventory plans
First thing which needs to be done is creating detailed sales and inventory plan even before the season starts. Use these plans in your inventory buying and merchandize sales promotion.
Before you begin, you require data which will help you in calculating the exact number of profits you earned throughout the previous year, and also about the inventory you bought for producing sales for that year. After collecting this entire information you then require a weekly sales plan.

Weekly Sales plan
This plan will help you in organizing your entire buying and production schedule. It will also divide profits and sales for the previous year. As by now you know about your previous year’s sales, you need to make a crisis situation plan in order to avoid unnecessary fluctuations in profits. Such fluctuations may occur due to economic downturns.
Based on your previous year’s experience, you can then easily forecast the increase and decrease in your small business’s profits and sales. How much you can expect and how much you can afford to increase without applying any possible negative effect on sales.

Inventory Plan
Plan ahead of time for the merchandize you require. It will be extremely unwise to buy inventory more than the required amount because then you will find your inventory overstuffed. Yes, problems do occur due to unexpected increase or decrease in sales, but first create a plan and then pile your inventory so that nothing goes to waste.

Discount Plan
Plan your promotional sales. Even before you begin your sales process you need to create viral plan for your promotional sales. Along with that, your Clearance Sales Plan should also be marked out in advance.
These sales plans should be created in accordance with months. Buying and ending inventories by month. Sales and discount plans by month.

Create month by month plan and follow it in accordance with time. If sales fall behind then inventories also begin to back up. If this happens, then there will be great pressure on prices and eventually on your small business, which if not addressed can decimate margins. At this point you need to clear out inventory as soon as possible, start from 25% discount instead of stocking everything up and waiting for clearance sales.

Your sales should always be in sync with your sales plan. If something is amiss and sales are going down, for example, it is priced too high or is not being marketed effectively then the problem needs to be taken care of immediately. Customers are not always looking for sales, but for good quality products at fair rates from brands they trust.