My business needs money, should I get it from my home equity line if credit?

That is a tough question. First off, can you accelerate some of your accounts receivable accounts to get more cash flowing? If not, you can also try to send out your invoices faster and try reducing the timeframe for paying them to 15 days from 30.

Also, if you have some jobs pending out there you might tell the prospects you have an opening now and you may be able to reduce your bid to start a little sooner.

If all these suggestions still leave you tight on cash and you need a loan, taking it from your homes line of credit is certainly the easiest way to go but be careful…. If you’re planning on selling your house any time soon make sure the market hasn’t changed in your area and be sure you could sell the house with your current equity position, especially after you take the loan.

If you’re not sure on this one it might be a good idea to get a loan from your banker or a credit union. Credit unions usually have more less strict qualification guidelines and they may also have a lower interest rate than your bank.

If all else fails and you need the dough, your credit line may be the only alternative. Be careful and don’t take more than you need. Turn up your marketing efforts and try to get more business in the door!

© 2009 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

How do I know when its time to sell my company?

If you start spending a lot of time thinking about doing things other than running your business, if you’re oversleeping a lot and you dread the thought of having to keep going to work every day and if you’re day dreaming about what you would do if you didn’t go to work anymore….it might be getting time to sell.

Keep in mind there are lots of people who could never see themselves starting a new business but they can see themselves buying a business that’s already up and running and making money.

There are plenty of people that really enjoy the excitement and passion of starting a company and growing it but they get bored with the day to day of running of it. If you are the type of person who has built a successful business but you don’t enjoy managing and running a company on a day to day basis, it may be time for you to sell your company.

© 2008 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

Should I exhibit at a trade show or just attend?

This is a question that every business owner asks themselves at one time or another. If you have never been to the type of trade show you thinking about exhibiting, then take the time to attend the show you find out the real value in showing. Why? Tradeshows can be an expensive means to advertise and you may be able to attend a show, spend minimal costs to obtain the same amount of exposure. Also, it may be tough to determine your return on investment at first glance.

If the trade show is not local you can safely assume your company will incur these costs:
Travel costs (i.e. Airfare, Car Rental, Gasoline, etc.)
Hotel Expenses
Meals
Parking
Tips
Exhibiting fees including but not limited to:
Booth costs (average 10 x 10 $1,000 or more)
Internet fees
Shipping and freight fees
Electricity
Higher food costs at the event and
Personnel cost because you will need more than one person to staff the booth for breaks, etc.

By attending an event you will meet other attendees who would have been potential visitors to your booth and can interact with them by exchanging business cards and telling them about your business all the while, test the waters in terms of interest.

Typically, there is a designated area to for breaks, take several coffee or soda breaks and sit at tables where people are congregating. Talk with them; ask them how they like the event and what they do. They will undoubtedly ask you what you do and you can test out your product’s offering by discussing it with the groups. Take their input and generate from there solutions to best reach your target audience. Spend as much time as you can meeting and talking to people at this show and stay at a hotel where attendees or exhibitors are and network with as many people as possible.

Lastly, while at the show, talk to exhibitors with similar type products/ services that you offer. Before you tell them that you are contemplating getting a booth next time, casually ask if they are having good luck at the show and if it is prompting sales.

By taking all these steps you can decide if you want to exhibit the next time around with “eyes wide open” to all of the costs and the potential benefits.

Tell us how your visit to the next show goes!

© 2008 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

What is a PEO?

A PEO is a Professional Employer Organization. Companies who do not want to manage all of the employee related human resource aspects of running a company, often align themselves with one of these types of companies. A PEO provides a cost-effective alternative to outsource the management of HR, employee benefits, payroll and workers compensation which allows the business owner to focus on their core competencies of running and building their company.

By aligning yourself with a PEO you become a Co-Employer with them. For the most part everything stays the same with this arrangement, you still run the day-to-day management of the company and your people, but your PEO Company makes sure you do it within all of the State and Federal guidelines. They in essence become your in-house consulting firm to consult with to make sure you do everything right with your compliance, administration, procedures and interaction as it relates to your employees.

Another big benefit to aligning yourself with one of these PEO’s is that you can typically offer big Company benefits even though you are a smaller company. How? Because PEO’s usually have hundreds if not thousands of people in their Co-Employment relationships you are able to leverage these big numbers of employees to provide your employees more comprehensive benefits at what are usually lower prices than you could get on your own.

The fees for a PEO are usually a percentage of your payroll. The fees you pay them can sometimes be offset by the savings you might have with workers compensation, payroll administration and benefits cost reductions. Often times companies can compete better for new recruits with more comprehensive benefits and a more coordinated HR process.

© 2008 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

What is the difference between an email address and a domain name?

A domain name is the address where a web site typically resides. For example: http://blog.em4b.com is our domain name. If we want to have an email address associated with our domain name we could use questions@blog.em4b.com.

It’s kind of like your physical home address where you live. Your home address is 123 Main Street (Domain name) and your address for mail at your home is John Doe @ 123 Main Street (email address).

Hopefully this is making sense to you. If someone gives you their email address and its: billsmith@smallenginerepair.com most people that want to know about your company will go to their web browser and put in your domain name of www.smallenginerepair.com to see more information about your company. If they want to contact you directly they will use your email address at: billsmith@smallenginerepair.com.

Hopefully all this is starting to make sense to you now. The other most commonly used terms for domain names are: URL, Web Address or Web site address.

It’s best to try and keep your domain name as short as you can and as easy to remember as possible.

© 2008 eMarketing 4 Business LLC