Regardless of what type of business you are in, you need to get the word out there that your business exists. As such, you need to develop promotional and marketing strategies for your business. The possibilities for promotions can be as varied as your imagination. However, home-based entrepreneurs with shoestring budgets need to identify the strategies that give the most bang for the buck. Whether your target market is based on a limited geographical area, or your business reaches worldwide, here are some low-cost promotional strategies that you can develop for your business. Read full article by Lyve Alexis Pleshette

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If you are looking for a little cash to jump-start or expand your business – and rich Auntie Lorie has already closed her doors on you – then you might want to look into a microloan program. The Small Business Administration (SBA) introduced its Microloan Program in 1992 to provide for startup or growing small businesses. Under the program, qualified borrowers may be approved for loans for use as working capital, inventory purchase, procurement of supply, fixtures, machinery and equipment. The loans are distributed through non-profit community-based lenders or intermediaries, and not at SBA directly.What’s the catch? First, the loan

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Loans are an important source of start-up funding for small and home-based businesses. However, obtaining loans from banks, government programs and other financial institutions is not always easy. Sometimes, the process feels like going through a needle, more so if you have the following characteristics: 1. You have poor personal credit history. Poor credit could make it difficult or temporarily impossible to achieve your dream of getting bank financing for your startup business. Banks and other lending providers look for good personal credit history when reviewing business loans. In fact, it is one of the first things that a bank

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If your business is built on a truly original idea, one of the first steps you need to take is to get a legal protection of that idea. You need to consider the protection of your intellectual property early in the formation of the business. It is heartbreaking to find that the idea you’ve worked so hard to conceptualize and develop is stolen by other people and companies. You end up losing your product, and most importantly, your profits as well! Plus, failure to protect your proprietary information could lead to complex and expensive legal actions later on. The best

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The international markets fuel the growth of many small and home-based businesses. When starting your business, you should not limit your potentials by ignoring international realities. Marketing to a geographic area outside of your hometown will boost your market share and help you keep pace with your competitors. Small businesses throughout the United States and other countries have gained international exposure and increased profits through exporting. In fact, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reports that small businesses represent 96 percent of all exporters of goods. The advent of the Internet has made the daunting task of going global easier. Today’s

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Web site owners have a different reason for creating their sites. You may have created your web site with the goal of making it as your sole or additional revenue source. Or you may have altruistic motives whereby you don’t really aim to make big money (or any money, for that matter) out of it, but simply want to get your message across your target audience. Whatever your objective, you put time, energy, even considerable expense in nurturing the web site and seeing its audience or customers grow. However, for some reasons, there may come a time when you would

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We read and hear about tax changes, some looming, some happening all year long, and there were major changes at the end of this October found in hundreds of pages of a new tax statute. But it’s not always clear: “Does this affect me or not?” As autumn rolls into winter, the drumbeat of worry becomes more insistent – in fact, sometimes a headache. Some of what’s new in 2004 for individuals: Option to deduct state/local sales tax or income tax (this is great for residents of states without income taxes) Automobile donations – 2004 is last year to donate

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Ben Franklin may have been right that “in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes” – still, you can improve your odds on one with healthful living and you can time your hits on the other with J. K. LASSER’S savvy advice on year-end tax planning What should I shoot for? First, figure out whether your tax rate will be higher next year or this year. Could be due to income variations – up from a new job, promotion, bonus or investments, or down from unemployment, going back to school, maternity leave, whatever. Or because of deductions and

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No man is an island — While you may be bravely striding down the path of managing and growing your businesses, there may come a time when you need to form strategic alliances for your business. Given the current state of business today, competitive pressures are forcing companies to come-up with imaginative ways to enhance brand identity, connect with customers and attract top-notch employees. Companies, both big and small, are teaming up more today than ever before to enhance their competitiveness in the marketplace and keep pace with the rapid changes of technological innovation. More than 20,000 corporate alliances have

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Someone once remarked, “Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite so satisfying as an income tax refund.” There’s no question that saving money in taxes is high on everybody’s list of financial priorities, especially self-employed business owners. However, unlike individuals who work as employees for an employer, business owners actually have the “luxury” of choosing how much in taxes they pay each year by picking one form of business entity (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc.) over another. Unfortunately, the majority of business owners choose a business entity once (usually when starting out) then keep the same entity

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