Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

We've all heard about the federal stimulus package that has dollars earmarked for helping small businesses. But what about your local community? With the federal government recognizing that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, what is your city doing to help your small business grow and succeed through economic downtimes?

According to a recent New York Times article, many cities and states are stepping up to the plate and offering to help small businesses succeed. What are they doing to help?

San Francisco

To help reduce the unemployment rate, the city of San Francisco is offering a 100% hiring subsidy for small businesses who hire certain new employees. That means the city will pay the wages of new employees, as long as the small business owner pays the regular Social Security and unemployment insurance. The stipulation is that the new employee must have been unemployed for at least 30 days prior to hire. Through the program, San Francisco has helped hire over 1,800 employees.

Cleveland

Cleveland is attempting to encourage consumers to spend money locally. They have set up a website where local small businesses offer special offers and discounts for northeast Ohioans. So far over 300 small businesses have signed up, and about two dozen more sign up each month. The result? Over the last six months, they have recognized a 40% increase in purchasing activity through the website deals.

Connecticut

The state of Connecticut is helping manufacturing businesses through grants. Small manufacturing firms can obtain grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 through the Connecticut Small Business Innovation and Research Office. Companies must be a locally registered manufacturing plant (and plan to keep it in the state) and provide at least three years of financial data.

North Carolina

And if you live in the state of North Carolina, you could get free financial advice for your small business. Since the fall of 2009, the program, called BizBoost, has helped over 158 small businesses with cash flow advice, money management strategies, and even lining up financing. Typical businesses who receive help have about 10 employees or less.

Check with your local government, both city and state, and find out how you can receive help for your small business. All it may take is a phone call or simply filling out an application.

The tough economy has put many companies out of business. However, it has also created a new generation of entrepreneurs: the 'Reluctant Entrepreneur.' An article from the Boston Globe points out that many new entrepreneurs are starting their own business out of necessity as a result of layoffs and being unable to get hired in their chosen field.

The usual paradigm of an entrepreneur is one who wants to work for himself or herself and create a business from scratch. In contrast, the reluctant entrepreneur was once happy working for someone else, as long as he or she received a regular paycheck and health benefits. However, this new class of entrepreneur is forming home-based businesses as a survival response,

They never intended to start a business and are finding the challenges more demanding than they ever imagined. Though they enjoy continuing to do what they love, be it accounting, architecture, or computer programming, they also must manage a business, including all the marketing, cash flow, invoice collecting, etc. These extra duties, though necessary, are what made these entrepreneurs 'reluctant' in the first place.

If you fit into this class of entrepreneur, you are not alone. Here is some advice to help give you encouragement as you grow your new business:

• Grow your network - An entrepreneur's success can be measured by the number of contacts he or she has. You must generate your own business, and simply hanging a shingle is not sufficient. Call your old boss. Call your friends. Call everyone you know to start drumming up business. And get involved with networking events to extend your contact base.

• Be persistent - Did you encounter a potential client who said no? Keep trying. A successful entrepreneur is persistent and doesn't let a single decline stop him from trying again.

• Create a plan - And change it often. Business plans are a great way to keep you on track of what you want to accomplish. However, remember that change is the only constant, so review your plan regularly and update it as needed.

Just because you formed a business out of necessity doesn't mean you will fail or have a tough time succeeding. Remember, you are doing what you love. With that in mind, you will find the way to make your business succeed.

You may be hooked into social networking to stay in touch with friends or promote your business, but did you know your online social activity could impact your chances of a credit approval?

Social networking has seen steep increase in usage over the last few years. In fact, about 67% of all online users have an account with at least one popular social network, such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. With such astronomical numbers, marketers are having a field day using available data to offer credit products to consumers.

The Company You Keep Could Impact Your Credit

Although your social activity has no impact directly on your credit score, your visible activity can clue credit card companies about your likes and dislikes and the type of people you have as friends and acquaintances. Your visible activity, including all your updates, groups, and comments, can be compared to a social graph, which is comprised of large amounts of social networking data. Your position can inform credit card companies whether you are connected to a community of good credit customers or poor risks. Their presumption is that your responsibility with credit is predictable to the company you keep.

The Social Networking Debate

However, is it fair for credit card companies to assume risk based on your social activity? Consumer advocacy groups say no. Linda Sherry, a spokesperson from the consumer group, Consumer Action, states, "they may be gaining information from people who are naive and not understanding how their profiles are set. It verges on privacy violation."

The bottom line is that marketers will use the data that is available to them. With so much social networking data collected, it is possible to spot consumer trends, which makes it a potentially great marketing tool for credit card companies.

Protecting Your Profile - and Credit

Thankfully, there is a way you can avoid being profiled based on your online social activity. Marketers can only pick up data that is public. You can assure that your social activity is not used for consumer profiling by changing your privacy settings on each account.

For instance, Facebook allows you to adjust privacy settings to allow only your acknowledged friends see your activity. Twitter has similar privacy settings.

If you fear that your social activity could be used against you, don't let creditors have a look at it.