It's called a 504 loan. Here's what you need to know about it.
By Marshall Eckblad
Wall Street Journal: Small Business Online
June 21, 2010
The government is trying to entice more small businesses to tap one of its loan programs. Before applying for one of these loans, though, there are some fine points borrowers should consider.
The Small Business Administration's 504 loan program lets companies take out fixed-rate financing to buy property, build or expand facilities, or refinance some existing mortgages. The borrower typically needs to put down just 10% of the transaction's total price.
With the weak economy deterring many small businesses from expanding in the past couple of years, demand for these loans plummeted: Last year, the SBA approved $3.8 billion in 504 loans, down 28% from 2008 and 40% from 2007. Hoping to spur expansion among small companies, the SBA is offering inducements like lower rates and no-fee deals.
To read more... click here.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
The Hidden Values in Your Business
Surveys have shown that a majority of business owners have no idea what their business is worth, that they have a majority of their net worth tied up in their business, and that they do not have an exit strategy. A business broker professional is a good person to call on to get an idea of what the business might sell for in the marketplace.
Certainly, the financials carry a lot of weight in figuring what a particular business will bring in the marketplace. However, a professional business broker can also tell you about those hidden values your business most likely possesses. It's these hidden values that often capture the interest of buyers and make a business more valuable than what the numbers suggest. Keep them in mind when placing a price on your business, and make sure that a prospective buyer is made aware of them. They might be called the non-financial value of the business.
To learn more about the specific hidden values read the full article... click here.
Certainly, the financials carry a lot of weight in figuring what a particular business will bring in the marketplace. However, a professional business broker can also tell you about those hidden values your business most likely possesses. It's these hidden values that often capture the interest of buyers and make a business more valuable than what the numbers suggest. Keep them in mind when placing a price on your business, and make sure that a prospective buyer is made aware of them. They might be called the non-financial value of the business.
To learn more about the specific hidden values read the full article... click here.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Sometimes a bailout can actually prevent progress and growth...
I have followed with fascination the debate about whether or not to bailout banks, car companies etc and the long term effects on our economic system.
I was then struck by a recent example of a situation of where there wasn't a bailout for a struggling local business.
A local bar which was in a great location was failing because of poor and inept management--the place was a mess and eventually closed its doors and the owners suffered a significant economic loss. Enter another set of entrepreneurs who picked up the location at a bargain and who went in and did a significant renovation. A new successful and popular establishment emerged--generating lots more revenue and taxes--employing many more people. The question I ask--what would have been gained if the old bar and gotten a "bailout" and had been allowed to stay in business and limp along following its old management ways?
Tell me what you think...
I was then struck by a recent example of a situation of where there wasn't a bailout for a struggling local business.
A local bar which was in a great location was failing because of poor and inept management--the place was a mess and eventually closed its doors and the owners suffered a significant economic loss. Enter another set of entrepreneurs who picked up the location at a bargain and who went in and did a significant renovation. A new successful and popular establishment emerged--generating lots more revenue and taxes--employing many more people. The question I ask--what would have been gained if the old bar and gotten a "bailout" and had been allowed to stay in business and limp along following its old management ways?
Tell me what you think...
Travel Fashion No-Nos
by Sherri Eisenberg S
AOL Travel online
May 25th 2010
Most people would kill for Samantha Brown's job. The Travel Channel host spends 230 days a year covering about 100,000 miles for shows like "Samantha Brown's Great Weekends", now in it's second season. She is also wrapping up "Samantha Brown's Destinations" and "Samantha Brown's Asia". Her last trip? To Indonesia. It took her 36 hours to get home. "The trip began on a horse and cart, then a boat, a car, and 4 plane rides later I was home," she says.
Like any seasoned traveler, Brown has learned a thing or two about cultural differences over the years, especially about what to pack to blend in with the locals. "I know that what works for job interviews also works in travel," says Brown. "First impressions mean a lot and looking good has a lot to do with that." Taking cues from the local style does more than make you more comfortable, she says, it also protects you. "You want to dress as close to as the locals do if only as to not be targeted as a tourist with a nice camera and wallet full of money and credit cards, even if you have neither," says Brown. But what works on one continent doesn't necessarily work on another. Here Brown shares with us her best advice on how to dress for the destination, culled from a decade on the road.
To read the rest of the article... click here.
AOL Travel online
May 25th 2010
Most people would kill for Samantha Brown's job. The Travel Channel host spends 230 days a year covering about 100,000 miles for shows like "Samantha Brown's Great Weekends", now in it's second season. She is also wrapping up "Samantha Brown's Destinations" and "Samantha Brown's Asia". Her last trip? To Indonesia. It took her 36 hours to get home. "The trip began on a horse and cart, then a boat, a car, and 4 plane rides later I was home," she says.
Like any seasoned traveler, Brown has learned a thing or two about cultural differences over the years, especially about what to pack to blend in with the locals. "I know that what works for job interviews also works in travel," says Brown. "First impressions mean a lot and looking good has a lot to do with that." Taking cues from the local style does more than make you more comfortable, she says, it also protects you. "You want to dress as close to as the locals do if only as to not be targeted as a tourist with a nice camera and wallet full of money and credit cards, even if you have neither," says Brown. But what works on one continent doesn't necessarily work on another. Here Brown shares with us her best advice on how to dress for the destination, culled from a decade on the road.
To read the rest of the article... click here.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
US money supply plunges at 1930s pace as Obama eyes fresh stimulus
The M3 money supply in the United States is contracting at an accelerating rate that now matches the average decline seen from 1929 to 1933, despite near zero interest rates and the biggest fiscal blitz in history.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Telegraph.co.uk
The M3 figures - which include broad range of bank accounts and are tracked by British and European monetarists for warning signals about the direction of the US economy a year or so in advance - began shrinking last summer. The pace has since quickened.
The stock of money fell from $14.2 trillion to $13.9 trillion in the three months to April, amounting to an annual rate of contraction of 9.6pc. The assets of insitutional money market funds fell at a 37pc rate, the sharpest drop ever.
"It’s frightening," said Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research. "The plunge in M3 has no precedent since the Great Depression. The dominant reason for this is that regulators across the world are pressing banks to raise capital asset ratios and to shrink their risk assets. This is why the US is not recovering properly," he said.
The US authorities have an entirely different explanation for the failure of stimulus measures to gain full traction. They are opting instead for yet further doses of Keynesian spending, despite warnings from the IMF that the gross public debt of the US will reach 97pc of GDP next year and 110pc by 2015.
To read the full article... click here.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Telegraph.co.uk
The M3 figures - which include broad range of bank accounts and are tracked by British and European monetarists for warning signals about the direction of the US economy a year or so in advance - began shrinking last summer. The pace has since quickened.
The stock of money fell from $14.2 trillion to $13.9 trillion in the three months to April, amounting to an annual rate of contraction of 9.6pc. The assets of insitutional money market funds fell at a 37pc rate, the sharpest drop ever.
"It’s frightening," said Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research. "The plunge in M3 has no precedent since the Great Depression. The dominant reason for this is that regulators across the world are pressing banks to raise capital asset ratios and to shrink their risk assets. This is why the US is not recovering properly," he said.
The US authorities have an entirely different explanation for the failure of stimulus measures to gain full traction. They are opting instead for yet further doses of Keynesian spending, despite warnings from the IMF that the gross public debt of the US will reach 97pc of GDP next year and 110pc by 2015.
To read the full article... click here.
Merchants Push Sales Through Social Media
Early Adopters Add Shopping-Cart Apps to Fan Pages to Sell Items, Services
By: Sarah E. Needleman
The Wall Street Journal: Small Business Online
After learning how to market themselves through tweets and status updates, some small companies are taking the next step: selling directly to consumers via social-networking sites.
Merchants on Facebook and MySpace are adding e-commerce stores to their fan pages, hoping users will scan lists of for-sale items and services—such as floral bouquets, hand-crafted jewelry and spa treatments—and click a button to add them to online shopping carts. (MySpace is owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)
The e-commerce trend, also being adopted by large companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and Brooks Brothers Inc., so far appears limited to Facebook and MySpace, where applications for selling directly to consumers started cropping up in 2008. Other popular social-networking sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, don't offer a direct-sale platform.
Early adopters say they've so far seen only modest results, and generally not until after they've established a loyal-fan following.
To read more… click here.
By: Sarah E. Needleman
The Wall Street Journal: Small Business Online
After learning how to market themselves through tweets and status updates, some small companies are taking the next step: selling directly to consumers via social-networking sites.
Merchants on Facebook and MySpace are adding e-commerce stores to their fan pages, hoping users will scan lists of for-sale items and services—such as floral bouquets, hand-crafted jewelry and spa treatments—and click a button to add them to online shopping carts. (MySpace is owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)
The e-commerce trend, also being adopted by large companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and Brooks Brothers Inc., so far appears limited to Facebook and MySpace, where applications for selling directly to consumers started cropping up in 2008. Other popular social-networking sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, don't offer a direct-sale platform.
Early adopters say they've so far seen only modest results, and generally not until after they've established a loyal-fan following.
To read more… click here.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Check Out "Boutique Hotels Go Mainstream"
By: Matthew Link
AOL Travel
It used to be that the words "chain hotel" conjured up images of beige rooms that are exactly the same from city to city. Not anymore. A new crop of boutique hotel groups is turning the chain concept on its head with smaller properties that incorporate local style and flare with the service and stability that you expect from major chains. "Travelers are increasingly looking for one-off, 'bespoke' experiences and the cookie-cutter people-mover product that was entrenched until the 1990s seems to have had its day," says veteran travel journalist Gretchen Kelly.
The boutique chain trend has been steadily growing and it now seems like every large hotel chain is trying to cash in. In fact, 18 chain-owned boutique hotels are slated to open in the U.S. in 2010.
To read more… click here.
AOL Travel
It used to be that the words "chain hotel" conjured up images of beige rooms that are exactly the same from city to city. Not anymore. A new crop of boutique hotel groups is turning the chain concept on its head with smaller properties that incorporate local style and flare with the service and stability that you expect from major chains. "Travelers are increasingly looking for one-off, 'bespoke' experiences and the cookie-cutter people-mover product that was entrenched until the 1990s seems to have had its day," says veteran travel journalist Gretchen Kelly.
The boutique chain trend has been steadily growing and it now seems like every large hotel chain is trying to cash in. In fact, 18 chain-owned boutique hotels are slated to open in the U.S. in 2010.
To read more… click here.
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Son Isaac on Camel in Tangiers
