Be Optimistic And Keep Your Pension Scheme In Business Development

Many entrepreneurs do not bother with paying into a pension scheme for themselves, believing that their business is their pension. Entrepreneurs certainly have the advantage, should they wish, of not having to retire. I will work on new ideas forever, it is what I do and I love it. Therefore the feeling of insecurity during old age does not affect entrepreneurs as much as it does an employee, who is effectively going to be fired one day.

Paying in to a sound pension scheme is a good idea for two reasons.
1 Excellent entrepreneurs work from the assumption that if something could go wrong it will, and plan accordingly. This is good entrepreneurship.

2 Whatever else happens, money in your pension scheme will be secure. (more…)

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Kick Start Your Business With Long Term Business Plan

Nobody plans to fail, but if you fail to plan you probably will. A long-term focus is essential for success. This includes considering every contingency and deciding ahead of time what to do if it happens. It gives you direction and makes decision making along the way easier. The benefits of planning are perhaps best made through an analogy.

Two couples left Southampton harbour for a month’s sailing holiday. They had filled the boat with provisions and decided to just sail where they pleased each day and not be tied down to a rigid timetable. Besides, it saved a lot of boring time planning and added an adventure element.

Was the holiday a success? How could you know? What criteria could you measure it against? Did everyone do what they individually wanted to do? Did the four people work as a team? Were their options restricted by not having the charts and other equipment for certain waters? Did they find that something essential had not been packed? Was provision made for mishap? Were the costs divided equally and fairly? Were there any arguments as to what to do and who would do what each day? (more…)

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Financing Your Business With Regular SBA Loans

Many banks won’t loan money to small businesses without the federal government guarantee under a variety of SBA programs.

Charles Keller was an industrial designer who started making cus­tom furniture in his North Andover, Massachusetts, garage in the early 1970s. Driven by the demand of family and friends, the business grew until Charlie incorporated C.W. Keller & Associates in 1976. The company, which specializes in distinctive wood and custom wood-veneer products for retail, commercial, and residential customers, moved to Plaistow, New Hampshire, in 1989.

The company grew with the help of three different loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Charlie witnessed first­hand the evolution of the loan program that Congress initiated as capital of last resort for small businesses who could not borrow any other way. The program has grown into the source of 30 percent of long-term loans to small businesses today. The SBA’s largest loan program is called 7(a), which encompasses several special-interest loans with various require­ments, such as microloans, employee stock ownership plans, pollution control, and export working capital loans. (more…)

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