7 Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail - And What To Do About It

According to a study by the Small Business Administration, most startups fail within the first five years. They have identified seven reasons:

1.Starting your business for the wrong reason. If you start a business so you have more time for yourself, or if you start a business because you want to concentrate on being a great 'whatever,' you probably should not go forward. You will be working many more than 40 hours to succeed; you will have to learn to be an accountant, a marketing person, an IT expert, etc until you can afford to hire someone to do all these jobs.

2.Poor management. You need to know how to manage your time. You need to learn how to manage your business. You need to know how to manage your employees.

3.Insufficient capital. If you think you will be a millionaire by the end of your first year in business, you should probably have a serious conversation with other people who have started their own businesses. It will probably take about five years before you will be able to consider yourself a sure thing.

4.Wrong location. While I'm sure you can point to an exception to the rule, if you open a business in the wrong location, you have lost the game. One thing I'd say is this: if you are looking to rent/buy a place in which no business has succeeded in the past 5 years, you had better have a real good reason why you are going to succeed.

5.Lack of planning. I'm actually surprised that this is #5. I expected this to be #1. You must spend the time to plan your business: what do you want your business to look in 5 years, what are your business values, who is your competition (and please don't answer that you have no competition), and what are your goals for each of those 5 years? Then...you must follow and revise your plan as you go along.

6.Overexpansion. You have a great product, everyone wants your service. It's a dream come true. But, how do you continue marketing your business? How do you meet the need for so many more widgets? How do you get out the invoices, or deposit the checks that come in? If you have not planned for this tremendous growth, you will be in trouble.

7.No website. This was another surprise. In this age of the internet, I cannot imagine that anyone in business would not have a website. I can imagine that the websites are not good websites. One tip: spend the money and get a good, usable website, learn what you need to know to make sure you have a website that will work for you.

One final piece of advice: read "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber. He understands what we small business owners have gone through and how to avoid these seven pitfalls.

Kathy Emond is an Executive Coach and co-founder Strategic Directions LLC, a Leadership Development Company, located in Nashua. Their tagline says it all: Guiding YOU to professional and personal Growth. For more information about their programs and services, contact her at 603-880-8191, kemond@StrategicDirectionsLLC.com , or visit their website http://www.StrategicDirectionsLLC.com

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Are Politicians Killing Small Businesses Today?

Running a small business is hard enough; dont let politicians make it even harder. As small business owners, we need to band together and elect officials that are pro-small business.

Nationally, and in your home state, there are political issues affecting small business owners. These issues have the ability to grow our companies and protect our wealth or the exact opposite. Some of the current issues affecting us today include:

Health Care
Labor Issues
Government and Regulatory Reform
Legal Reform
Tax Relief
Technology Issues
Social Security Reform

It is important for small business leaders to inform employees, associates, family and friends about the importance of small business in America. With over 80% of all jobs created by small businesses and the impact small business has on our nation, correct information is critical.

There are several issues discussed when deciding to elect representatives to congress and the next President, such as The War on Terror, Iraq, Foreign Policy , Social Programs, Local Issues, Abortion, and so much more, that we may forget to focus on the issues that affect our business and livelihood directly. Do you know where your candidates stand on issues supporting small business?

I urge you to learn what the 2008 Presidential and Congressional candidate records are when it comes to supporting small business, not just the topics of the day on the local news. Most news agencies focus on the most controversial issues but we also need to know who supports our business, our way of life and isnt looking to hurt our ability to make a living and grow our companies.

Find out:
~ Where does your candidate stand on issues supporting small business?
~ Has your candidate voted on any previous legislation that has supported or hindered small business?
~ Has your candidate owned their own small business?

To learn more about the 2008 Presidential candidates and how they have supported small business in the past, visit http://capwiz.com/nfib/e4/ . This is the website for NFIB, a small business lobbying group that monitors the issues important to small business. I recommend joining this organization, if you want to keep informed of the latest trends in small business politics. After becoming a member, you can download a report that shows the voting record for all politicians and how they have or have not support the small business initiatives.

Be informed and share your knowledge with other small business owners!

Receive the booklet How to Build Business Credit by David Gass President and Founder of Business Credit Services. It will share with you how more than 10,000 businesses across the nation have achieved over $175 million in combined financing in their business name only, all using his patent-pending system to build corporate credit separate from your personal credit.

You will also learn the first steps required to getting a business loan, lease, and other lines of credit without the use of a personal credit check or guarantee.

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How to Start a Carpet Cleaning Company

Opening a carpet cleaning business is a great way to earn money as your own boss. This is a relatively simple business to start, with low overhead, and little experience required. Start up costs can be minimal, if you shop around. Additionally, there is a steady market for quality work.

Most carpet cleaning equipment can be purchased for around two thousand dollars. If you already own a vehicle that will carry your equipment, then you are on your way. Researching shampoo machines and other equipment can be done easily on the Internet, as there are many web sites dedicated to carpet cleaning supplies.

Carpet cleaning equipment is getting revolutionized, much like other industries. Newer and more powerful shampooing machines are available online. There are also better shampoos and better drying systems that will leave the carpet cleaner longer. Customers will pay for quality, not for someone to have to come back two or three weeks later. You can even get machines that mount to a truck and are more powerful than the portable kind.

As with any small business, you will need to research licenses for your area for your carpet cleaning business. Check state and local governments to make sure you will not need permits or licenses. Some areas require that companies who do interior work be bonded as well. You will need to make sure you have all of your legal requirements met when you start your business.

Now you will need to choose which type of carpet cleaning services you are going to offer. Typically, households will not have their carpets cleaned more than three or four times a year, if that often. You will have to grow a large residential clientele list if this is the sole direction you wish to go.

Also there are the retail and commercial businesses that require cleaning more frequently. The equipment needed to clean both residential and commercial locations are not much different and most carpet cleaning services will routinely take care of both types of clients.

Advertising will be an expense worth spending some money on. Word of mouth can be counted on locally, but if you want to cover a wider area than your own neighborhood, you will need to invest in some advertising. Yellow pages business prints and local billboards will be a great place to start. Both of these options will let you be known to a great many people and will not be initially expensive.

Going to businesses with carpets and inquiring the manager about the carpet cleaning service he employs is also a good start. Remember not to undersell yourself. Always dress professionally on these occasions and conduct yourself in a professional manner. Most managers are continually looking for ways to decrease their expenses and if your services are less expensive than someone else's, you may indeed get the job.

While researching the web for supplies and equipment, do a little research on Internet advertising too. More and more people are looking local services and businesses up on the Internet and it is beneficial to be listed in local directories. There are also the yellow pages online, which is a useful resource to be listed in as well.

One thing about starting a carpet cleaning business that you will have to remember is that it is not a glamorous one. Anytime you clean something; you usually end up getting dirty. However, if you don't mind the dirt, you will see a career of fulfillment. Rooms will literally transform just by cleaning the carpet. That fact in it self is a selling point to gleam over.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

Randy has dozens of home based business articles such as Start a Mattress Cleaning Service, Unusual Home Based Businesses and Start a Catering Business.

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Easy Guide To Laser Engraving

Early in the 1960's scientists discovered, that they could create a light source, focus the energy and have a tool powerful enough to affect a variety of materials. Laser marking is the preferred marking method when aesthetics or permanency is desired. Sometimes laser marking is referred to as laser etching; unlike conventional etching, it needs no masks or chemicals. Etching provides a permanent message on an in-process or finished component

Like many inventions of recent times, lasers were conceived in a laboratory. Virtually all materials can be laser engraved or laser marked. With advanced software you can laser engrave practically anything including Bar Codes, 2D codes, photographs and company logos and laser engraving of graphite is a clean operation. Think of a laser as a light source that is similar to a light bulb; a light bulb will emit energy all around it.

The ability to laser cut complex profiles can eliminate the need for additional operations, making this type of cutting highly economical. The laser metal cutting option can be added to some of the laser cutting machines. This cutting adds high precision, reduced contamination or warping, and a quality finish to industrial cutting applications.

You can mark most plastics from cattle tags to backlit day and night key switches. Typical industries that use laser marking include promotional, engineering and medical industries. Because no inks are used it is both permanent and the process is kind to the environment.

Some of the items that Co2 lasers and Co2 laser systems can be used include: marking and etching glass or quartz, in the manufacturing of glass doors and windows, for in permanent serial numbering, ANSI safety information, for customer logos, in some decorative or specialty glass manufacturing, in manufacturing data related to plant, production date and line, and/or in part numbers. Laser marking services can be used for many thousands of applications from computer keyboards to promotional gifts. It's flexible, programmable and environmentally clean.

Laser engraving can be used for most of the jobs currently being carried out by industrial engravers. It's also available in most engraving specialty stores because it's now the most common type of engraving.

Laser engraving, cutting and marking is a versatile technology that's being used by many engravers to improve productivity, add more services to their customers and increase profits. Engraving metal uses the most power especially if the metal is a hard metal. There are no consumables to contend with so operating costs are minimal, and the laser machine and system, if properly exhausted, runs clean, so that costly cleanup or by product disposal is unnecessary.

For more information on laser engraving and laser engraving machines, laser marking, laser etching and laser cutting go to http://www.EngravingLaser.net for tips, help, facts, free resources, including information on all types of laser engraving

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