Check out Starbucks Initiative to Brew Up U.S. Jobs through small business lending

A Starbuck Initiative to Brew Up U.S. Jobs

Posted by Michelle Goodman
Entrepreneur.com, January 2012

For little more than the price of a latte, the average American can help finance a new business startup. That's the premise behind Create Jobs for USA, the brainchild of Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz. Through the program, every $5 donated at a Starbucks location or through CreateJobsforUSA.org supports $35 worth of small-business lending.

To get these funds directly into the hands of business owners, Starbucks partnered with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), a collection of 180 Community Development Financial Insitutions (CDFIs) that specialize in lending to low-income and disadvantaged indiaviduals and underserved communities throughout the nation.

To read more about this great initiative of Starbucks... click here.

Check out this article with great tips for LinkedIn

7 Things You're Doing Wrong on LinkedIn

By Tom Searcy
EXPLOSIVE GROWTH, INC.COM
Jun. 27, 2012

Today, LinkedIn is the No. 1 social media platform for professionals. Estimates of professional participation in LinkedIn are as high as 83%.

But when I talked to one of my friends -- social media expert Alexandra Gibson from OttoPilot Media -- she told me that she sees too many professionals making a lot of mistakes...

Click here to read the full article and see the seven mistakes and how to rectify them.

Check out Inc.com article: Small Business' Real Problem with the Banking System...

"Increased regulation of bank lending still needs to allow for measured risks that permit sound small businesses to receive funding needed to thrive."

Read the full article at Inc.com., In The Trenches, written by Vanessa Merit Nornberg. Vanessa recounts her experiences with financing for her small business start up, Metal Mafia. Interesting and insightful take on the current climate for credit availability for small business.

Click here to read the article.

Check out: The Three Biggest Myths About the S.B.A.

Check out this great article by Ami Kassar of The New York Times about the S.B.A. ... very informative...

The New York Times, June 19, 2012
The Three Biggest Myths About the S.B.A.
By: Ami Kassar

I want to share with you what I consider to be the three biggest myth about the Small Business Administration. But let me be clear: I am a big supporter of the S.B.A. My company, MultiFunding, brokers loans, and we put about 25 percent of our clients into S.B.A. loans. I think it's a good program with a lot of eceonomic benefits. It's also terribly misunderstood by many of the small-business owners we talk to.

So let's debunk some myths.

1. The S.B.A. Lends Money.
2. When the S.B.A. Guarantees a Loan, There is No Need for Collateral.
3. S.B.A. Loans Are as Easy to Get as Other Commercial Loans.

To read the full article Ms. Kassar's debunks... click here.

Check out Blue Maumau's 2012's Best 10 Franchises to Buy...

2012's Best 10 Franchises to Buy, Least Loan Defaults

By BMM, www.bluemaumau.org
Sat 2012/06/16

Knowing a franchise's bottom line and the ability to get a return on investment is the holy grail for a franchise investor. That's no easy feat. What Blue MauMay has been able to do is to find chains that franchisees are healthy enough with their earnings to at least pay back their loans more than other brands. So here are the ten best franchise brands in which franchisees have enough staying-power to pay back their lender.

To read the full article and see the top 10 best, and a link to the default rates of various franchises, click here.

Check out this WSJ article: Migrants Keep Small-Business Faith

WSJ.com
SMALL BUSINESS
Updated June 13, 2012

Newcomers to U.S. Are Increasingly Opening Firms Beyond Major Cities, Energizing Local Economies

By Miriam Jordan

Immigrants are more inclined to own small businesses than native-born Americans and are increasingly opening shop in areas beyond the major cities in which they have traditionally settled, a trend that is energizing local economies and reshaping communities.

Immigrants accounted for 18% of the country's $4.9 million small-business owners in 2010, a six-percent increase from two decades earlier, according to analysis of census data by the nonpartisan Fiscal Policy Institute. Immigrants, who represent 13% of the population, accounted for a third of the increase in the number of small-business owners between 1990 and 2010.

Check out this great article... When Reducing Barriers Leads to More Failed Businesses.

By Scott Shane
The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute
Wednesday, May 09, 2012

While you get more business formation if you reduce the barriers to starting companies, you don't necessarily get more successful entrepreneurship.

To read this insightful article... and Mr. Shane's great take on the recent comments from Mitt Romney and the Obama reaction... click here.

"Romney's logic is sounder than the president's. Allowing entrepreneurs to keep more of the profits from running their own businesses provides an incentive to overcome obstacles, like a lack of capital. If you tax entrepreneurs heavily, you reduce their incentive to overcome these obstacles and make them more likely to close down their companies."