Handle Your Business

This is a guest post by Rishi Shah. He is the CEO of Flying Cart, an easy way to create an online store. Over 10,000 successful small businesses use his service.

Photo by 10ch Do you have knowledge that other people need? BOOM! Start an informational product business!

What is an informational product business?

It is where you sell your knowledge through e-books, PDFs, live speaking engagements, webinars, and more. The most recognizable informational product business is The Video Professor where he teaches novices how to use eBay, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Photoshop, and more. So you can be The Video Professor for whatever you know best. Okay this is the hard part. Starting an informational product business is easy. Actually making money on an informational product business is really hard. It is all about consistency and sticking with it. The way you need to approach this is to develop yourself into a brand.

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We recently moved our offices from southern California to southern Oregon, and we have made a few discoveries, most notably that small banks actually like small business. This is revolutionary to us since everything in California is BIG — big business, big buildings, big leases, big investments. California banks can’t afford the luxury of working with truly small businesses because they can’t make enough profit to pay their Big office leases and Bigger salaries.

Oregon is absolutely refreshing. I’ve seen more bank ads directed at small business in one week than I saw for years in California. Several banks, like the local Umpqua Bank, even advertise business loans as low as $10,000. I didn’t think such a thing existed.

There is a real message here for small businesses. Understand what your local bank can, and cannot, do for your business. A small fish in a huge frying pan will get burned time and time again. Read full post…

If you own a law office, a PR company, or a computer design firm and you don’t think your business qualifies as small, think again. A new proposal from the SBA might just mean that your company is one of the many joining the small-business ranks.

If you own a law office, a PR company, or operate a computer design firm and you don’t think your business qualifies as small, think again: It may under a new proposal from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

For the first time in about 30 years, the SBA is proposing a change to the way small businesses are defined in a move that could boost the number of businesses eligible for SBA programs. To define a company as a small business, the SBA primarily looks at two measures: revenues and the number of employees. But

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It is with a heavy heart that I watch the disaster in Japan reveal the devastation that has occurred. Who knows how many small businesses have come to an end as a result? While many of us will never experience a disaster such as that, there are many more potential disasters waiting in the wings for small businesses like ours. And any one of them can put you out of business.

About ninety percent of the small businesses in the US have less than ten employees. And plenty of those only have one or two. So the loss of a single person in your business can tip it right over the edge.

Ive heard of three disasters in the last month that could have put companies out of business but didnt because of action that was taken quickly to move the company forward. Two of those are solopreneurs with outsourced support staff that could have lost their entire business.

Late last year, Michelle MacPhearson had a medical emergency that put her out of commission.

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We are often asked about starting a “Christian business”. (If you are of another religion, just substitute that religion into the quotes. The article that follows applies to you, too.)

A “Christian business” could be something like a religious book store. That is a relatively easy business to set up, with a strong retail business model. A tougher issue are those entrepreneurs who want to exemplify Christian ethics within a business. (or Moslem ethics, or Buddhist ethics, or Jewish ethics, etc.) Many of these people have become disillusioned with working in corporate America, and for good reason: America is pure capitalism, and while that economic model is essentially a good one, it sometimes forces other approaches off the playing field. Those managers who are more in tune with keeping good employees compete daily with managers who are more in tune with a strong bottom line.

The past couple of years have stretched this concept to the limit. Read full post…

It’s a new year and that means small business owners need to think about renewing their commercial insurance. It’s may not be the sexiest thing on the “to do” list, but having the right coverage is often the difference between surviving a calamity and shuttering your doors.

Natural disasters, such as floods, fires and hurricanes are one thing to consider. On average, 25% of companies never re-open after a major disaster. Accidents, thefts and lawsuits also can damage a business. In the past 20 years, employee lawsuits have risen 400%, with the most common lawsuits occurring against businesses with 15 to 100 employees.

Looking ahead, and considering what coverage you need can be a daunting task. Here are just a few things you need to consider:

More money means more insurance

Insurance isn’t only meant to cover your physical assets. If revenue numbers have changed significantly, the level at which your business is covered may need to be revisited. The amoun

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