Raising Money Through the Small Business Administration SBA

7 Tips for Landing an SBA Loan
By Rachel Zippwald

While SBA loans are available, it may take a bit more work to obtain one and banks are requiring more information than they have in the past. Rachel Zippwald, Vice President of California Bank & Trust, a major SBA lender, recommends following a few tips to facilitate getting your SBA loan approved.
1. Provide details on exactly how much financing you need and how you will use it. Banks like specifics, so be prepared to provide a precise dollar amount and give details of how you will use the funds. Banks are impressed with research, so provide a written quote for the equipment. If you’re planning to consolidate debts and refinance for a longer term, provide copies of your promissory notes and state how much you think you can save with the refinance. Detailed loan amounts with copies of bids, promissory notes or proposals can help strengthen your loan package, because your lender can understand the

Take the time to thoroughly explain the nature of your business, your vision, and your background to your lender.

facts backing up the request.
2. Provide information about company management. When banks lend money, they like to understand who runs the company and to be familiar with their backgrounds. This is a key factor in presenting your loan for approval. Help your lender by providing a resume for each owner or key employee, and describe their functions and responsibilities. If certain key positions have not yet been filled, include a thorough job description of the type of person you are seeking. This will confirm for the lender that you have analyzed your needs and have determined the requirements of the position.
3. Be prepared to offer collateral. The SBA requires collateral to fully secure your loan, to the extent that it is available. If you own a home, you will likely be asked to pledge it. The SBA may also request a lien on your business assets and may require life insurance on sole owners of a business. Most loans made by banks are secured loans, and therefore approval may be contingent on a guarantor who is willing to offer collateral.  
4. Detail your credit history and credit score. Your credit score is an integral part of the loan process, because it illustrates the ways in which you handle your other obligations. Your bank will eventually run its own credit report, but if you can provide information prior to them doing so, you can discuss any issues ahead of time. If you don't know your credit score, take the time to research it on the Internet, where low-cost reports are available. If you've had problems such as identity theft, bankruptcy, or divorce, you’ll want to discuss it with your lender up front and provide proof that issues have been resolved or discharged.

5. Provide complete copies of tax returns, financial statements and bank statements. Your bank will want to know everything about you and your business if they are to become, in essence, your financial partner. One way to streamline the process is to scan your financial documents and provide them to your lender in the form of a disk or a flash drive. Your lender may even be willing to accept your documents via email.

6. Explain how you’ll achieve your projections. Sell your lender on your vision and forecasted success. If customers have expressed a desire to do business with you, give your lender a copy of their correspondence. Prove to the lender that a market for your product or service exists and demonstrate the validity of your sales and expense figures. If your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) has historically been 65% and you can lower them to 55%, provide details of your calculations. If the loan for which you are applying is intended for a new piece of equipment that will allow you to reduce your staff needs, describe how this will occur and show the math.
7. Expect questions and be patient. Your lender needs to connect with your story and business and will appreciate your assistance in doing so. Take the time to thoroughly explain the nature of your business, your vision, and your background. Your banker will likely be presenting your loan approval to other parties, so he or she will need your help in making your case. The process may be time consuming, so it helps to be patient. Feel free to request an estimated time frame for approval and respect that the projected date may slip a bit. It’s best not to call or email your lender frequently — remember that in lending, no news is often good news. HBM
Rachel Zippwald is a Vice President and SBA Business Development Officer for California Bank & Trust. On a nationwide basis, California Bank & Trust and its parent, Zions Bank, are among the largest SBA 504 lenders in the nation. Rachel’s responsibilities have included loan origination, processing, underwriting, documentation, closing and servicing. 

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The Winning Game Plan for Your Home-Based Business

By Greg Crabtree, CPA

Whether your home-based business is by choice or necessity, you need to focus on three keys to have a winning game plan:

1.    Define what success looks like
2.    Choose simplicity for organization structure
3.    Count the cost by paying vendors and taxes before you take money out of the business

The IRS defines tax implications, and “business physics” will define your economic outcome, so choose your course wisely!

As the owner, you get to make the initial decisions on how things will work.  However, you have to understand the IRS defines tax implications and “business physics” will define your economic outcome so choose your course wisely!

Defining Success (3 types of home businesses):

Passion over profit – This is the entrepreneur that loves the idea of a product or service they have personally experienced and they want to share it with all the people they know.  It is great to have passion, but you will need profits to make the business sustainable unless you like working for free and have other sources of funds to keep plowing into the business.  The IRS may have something to say about whether losses will be deductible if you fail to meet the general rule of profits 2 out of 5 years.  It is expensive to argue your point with the IRS if you do not meet the guidelines so your argument had better be valid and worth it!

Profit to support family – With current unemployment rates, there are record numbers of home businesses being formed.  While it does provide a great opportunity to be your own boss, you still need to treat it like any business startup and follow sound business principles.  The early stage will be to make a profit to replace your wages. As we will cover later, the profits you hope to live on will sometimes be in conflict with other expenses that the business needs to pay.  This will add to the complexity of managing cash flows as you and the business compete for use of the same dollar.  As you gain stability and success, you can make your market wage plus make a profit on top of that.

Tax write-off business – This is the business I recommend staying away from.  You probably heard someone on the radio telling you how you could deduct these expenses to not pay taxes.  Repeat after me, “to spend a dollar to save 15 to 35 cents in tax is dumb!”  Deduct the legitimate business expenses you spend to produce your income, but you will never build wealth (without cheating) unless you have taxable income AND spend less than your after tax income to live on.  I know this is not what you want to hear, but this is how my wealthy clients did it and they can sleep well at night not fearing an audit.

Choose Simplicity for Organization Structure:

Complex is many times the code word for expensive!  Here are the guidelines for home-based businesses to use when you are consulting with your tax advisor:

1.    Sole proprietorship – this is by far the simplest form of doing business.  The activity is reported on your personal tax return and does not require a separate tax return to be filed.  Since “you” are the business, it does not afford you legal liability protection that a corporation or limited liability company (LLC) does, but many of those liability fears can either be insured against or are so remote, it is not worth the additional cost.

2.    Limited Liability Company – Should you need some liability protection or you have more than one owner, this should be your next option to consider.  Most home businesses do not have employees or may use contractors for spot help.  An LLC taxes you just like a sole proprietorship by having you pay income tax and self-employment tax on your profits from the business (whether you take the money out or not).  As long as your profits are less than a market-based wage for you, it helps you not have to deal with the cost of payroll tax returns.  The downside is many LLC owners and Sole Proprietors build up taxes due before they realize it.  Since nothing is being withheld from draws they take out to live on, they often have a bad surprise come tax day.  See the next section for how to avoid this problem.  The legal documents for an LLC are simple if you have one owner, but they get much more complex once you add an owner that is not a spouse.

3.    S Corporation – The main complexity with an S corporation is the requirement by the IRS for the owners who work in the business to make a market based wage.  The IRS does not make you take a wage if there are no profits, but they do not want you to avoid payroll taxes by taking low to no wages and take your profits out as distributions.  The data the IRS needs to find if you are doing this is all in the S Corporation tax return, the only reason they have not found you yet is their resources are limited to how many companies they can track down on this each year.  Rest assured, they are adding resources and more will be paying back taxes and penalties for doing this wrong (including the tax preparers who told you to do it!).

There are many other issues to consider in choosing your entity, but these are usually at the top of our list and you need to be proactive in explaining your goals to your tax advisor.

Count the Cost!

Most home-based business owners hate accounting but this is especially the kind of business you need to keep your hand on the cash.  The smaller you are, the less likely you have any room in your costs to pay an outside bookkeeper.  QuickBooks has made many entrepreneurs functional (i.e. “good enough”) in accounting.  Take a class in QuickBooks and take charge of your numbers to avoid surprises.  As you get bigger, then you can transition the role to a part-time outside bookkeeper when it makes financial sense.
You need to know the “Four Forces of Cash Flow” to stay out of trouble managing your cash.  If you are not profitable, cash flow is just a calculation of “days until death”.  Fix profitability first and now we deal with the “4 Forces”:

1.    Taxes – Set aside your tax liability as you go.  If you are taking draws as a sole proprietor or an LLC partner, you are setting aside self-employment taxes each time you take a draw.  Once a quarter, you are setting aside income taxes and paying in based on IRS rules.

2.    Get Out of Debt – If you borrowed money to start your business, pay it off as soon as you can.

3.    Core Capital Target – You need to have at least 2 months of operating expenses in cash with nothing in debt to be a fully capitalized business.

4.    Profit Distribution – Once I have paid my taxes, paid off my debt and built my core capital target, I can now take a profit distribution as the reward of my business success.

These principles apply to all businesses, big or small and they will help you run a successful business! HBM

GREG CRABTREE has worked in the financial industry for more than 30 years. He founded Crabtree, Rowe & Berger, PC, a CPA firm dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build the economic engine of their business.  Crabtree leads the business consulting team, helping clients align their financial goals with their profit model and their core business values. He is the author of Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! For more information, please visit: www.seeingbeyondnumbers.com.    View the original article here

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Forget the Bad Economy in Buidling a Home-Based Business

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3 Ways to Boost Profits NOW!

By Nathan Jamail    

Many companies are not choosing to participate in the “recession.” They are choosing to take control of their company’s economy. There are three areas to focus on in order to make your own economy:

Three areas to focus on in order to make your own economy:

1. Fight the “Power of New”: Company leaders who are willing to do what they know and fight the “power of new” will truly win by increasing profits. The “power of new” is the event when the leaders implement a new program and after 60 days the newness of it has worn off and it starts to look like a lot of work. Fighting the “power of new” takes a strong leader and commitment to keeping the team excited and motivated.
2. Go Back to the Basics: In this recession, it’s going to take great leaders to get down to the basics: commitment to practicing; coaching the team; holding team members accountable to getting to the next level; and team building.

3. Focus: While other organizations worry about how to hold out until this “economic downturn” is over, the winning companies will focus on how to take advantage of the current economy and will implement their own “economic stimulus package.
The economy can be the greatest excuse for failure or the greatest motivator to succeed.  The choice is yours! HBM

Nathan Jamail, president of the Jamail Development Group and author of "The Sales Leaders Playbook," is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach. As a former Executive Director for Sprint, and business owner of several small businesses, Nathan travels the country helping individuals and organizations achieve maximum success. His clients include Radio Shack, Nationwide Insurance, Metro PCS, and Century 21. To book Nathan, visit www.NathanJamail.com or contact 972-377-0030.   View the original article here

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Ten Ways to Keep Cash Flow Problems from Putting You Out of Business

Staying in the Money in Your Home-Based Business

By Tage Tracy and John A. Tracy

Every small business owner knows the trouble that comes with managing the ins and outs (pun intended!) of cash flow. You can have tons of loyal customers and be an expert at getting new business and still be kept awake at night with cash flow worries. Cash flow is an issue that can send good businesses to their graves.

When you have the proper systems in place and know what to look for, you can keep cash flowing, helping you to grow a successful business.

     Cash flow problems have a habit of sneaking up on a business, especially in a rocky economy. If a business is earning a profit, many business managers simply assume that cash flow is satisfactory. But even if profit is good, cash flow can be bad.
Cash flows pose an unending challenge to business owners and managers because they have to be carefully managed. Read on to learn what you can do to make 2012 the year of the cash flow reboot for your business.

Respect and understand financial statements. According to some surveys, 25 percent of businesses don’t even maintain accounting records (let alone produce financial statements). The bottom line for small business owners is simple.  If you don’t make an effort to prepare, review, and completely understand your financial statements, then you need to ask yourself why you’re in business in the first place. And this especially holds true for the statement of cash flows, because an abundance of invaluable information is available from this most commonly overlooked and mismanaged financial statement.
Plan, do projections, and plan some more. Proper planning is essential to the launch, growth, management, and ultimate success of your business as measured by the ability to generate profits and, just as important, to avoid running out of cash. Having access to sound financial plans structured for different operating scenarios is an absolute must.  

Focus on capital and cash—the lifeblood of your business. One of the most common reasons small businesses fail is that they lack adequate cash or capital, not only to survive difficult times, but also to prosper during growth opportunities.
Remember, one of the greatest losses a small business can realize is that of lost opportunity, which has its roots in not being prepared to properly capitalize on market opportunities.  The harsh reality is that this great loss is never accounted for or presented in any way, shape, or form on the business’s financial statements. Rather, missed market and business opportunities lurk in the torturous thought, “Imagine what I could have achieved! “

Understand your selling cycle. The length of the complete selling cycle is often much longer than the aspiring entrepreneur projects and/or wants to believe.
The selling cycle in its entirety spans the time from the very start of the process when a product or service is first visualized and developed to supporting customers after the sale and developing additional products or services that may be in demand.  And if not properly managed, the selling cycle generally becomes one of the largest consumers of cash in a business. Without fail, almost every aspiring business owner, at one point or another, will experience delays in the selling cycle.  

Manage your disbursements cycle. To counteract the selling cycle cash consumption machine, businesses need to understand that the disbursement cycle (managing expenditures and cash payments to vendors, employees, and other creditors) can be leveraged and managed to be a primary source of cash for your business. Invoke what’s called the matching principle.  That is, similar to properly matching revenue and expenses to ensure that an accurate measurement of a business’s profit or loss is obtained, you should be able to match cash inflows and outflows.
Be creative to generate cash. The following three areas offer significant opportunities for creativity when looking to improve cash flows:
1. Turn your assets over more quickly. The more quickly you can turn over assets, the more quickly they turn into cash. It’s as simple as that.
2. Leverage your vendors, suppliers, and financing sources. They don’t want to lose your business, so placing just the right amount of leverage on these groups can result in enhanced cash flows because liabilities offer a source of cash.
3. Manage external sources of cash proactively. Proactively manage your relationships with banks, leasing companies, and even the federal government to ensure that cash is made available when needed.

Balance the balance sheet. Many businesses overlook the concept of properly managing the financial structure of their balance sheet, which has gotten more than a few businesses in trouble. Your business needs to strike a proper balance between making sure that current assets are financed or supported with current liabilities,  and making sure that long-term assets are financed or supported with long-term sources of capital such as a five-year note payable or equity. Every business should strive to achieve a financial condition that ensures constant maintenance of adequate levels of both solvency — the ability to pay all just debts — and liquidity — the ability to quickly access cash to support business operations.  

Understand external capital markets. When it comes to external capital markets, think well ahead. In today’s economic climate, it takes a long time to identify external sources of capital and to secure them. So plan well ahead to make sure that you’ll have cash available when needed, because it’s not a process you can rush.

Protect cash at all times. Cash has a unique characteristic unlike other assets that makes it highly susceptible to additional risk of loss: Cash is an extremely liquid and marketable asset.

Always think of CART. CART equals complete, accurate, reliable, and timely. Your company’s financial and accounting information system needs to produce complete, accurate, reliable, and timely financial information, reports, data, and so on, which management can use to make informed business decisions. 

When you have the proper systems in place and know what to look for, you can keep cash flowing, helping you to grow a successful business.  Let 2012 be the year you place a renewed focus on properly managing your cash flows.  HBM

Tage C. Tracy is principal owner of TMK & Associates, an accounting, financial, and strategic business planning consulting firm. John A. Tracy is professor of accounting at the University of Colorado in Boulder and the author of Accounting For Dummies®. Cash Flow For Dummies® (Wiley, 2011, ISBN: 978-1-1180-1850-7, $26.99) is available at bookstores nationwide, major online booksellers, or directly from the publisher by calling (877) 762-2974. 

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Additional Tax Assistance Options for Your Business

Additional Tax Assistance Options for Your Business

If you would like to get the advantages of having a professional do your taxes, but you feel you cannot afford it, there are still options.

    You may be able to hire an accounting student to prepare your taxes as a much less rate than an actual accountant. You will still be receiving professional preparation, and a knowledgeable preparer, but you will not have to pay as much for the service. Many accounting college students are willing to assist you with answering questions and helping you find the answers you need.

    You may even want to expand your own accounting knowledge. The field of accounting is a solid choice for those who would like a strong career choice, good earnings potential, and plenty of opportunity to work for themselves. Stratford University offers a variety of degree and non-degree programs in the areas of business and accounting, including a diploma, certificate, associate degree, and master’s degree. The programs in business and accounting are offered both on campus and completely online. Those interested in studying accounting can contact Stratford University to take a tour, meet with staff, and learn more about their accounting programs. HBM

Visit www.stratford.edu

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Results and Attitude for Clients Builds Her Home-Based Business

Entrepreneur Helps Companies Increase Their Visibility

Doreen Clark has always been an entrepreneur; however, the understanding did not become a reality until November, 2011. This is when she took her well-structured ideas from paper to practice; forming her home-based business, Doreen Clark Public Relations.

Doreen Clark took her well-structured ideas from paper to practice and founded Doreen Clark Public Relations.

    Previously, Doreen worked behind the scenes and in the front line of her field for over 10 years when she was laid off in early 2009 following the merger between Northwest and Delta Air Lines. This is a time she calls “no mercy” because much of America was also in her shoes — leaving two choices: stand out or blend in. The latter of the two was not an option.

    In late 2010 Doreen was hired, but the relief was short-lived. She found out that life “on the inside” was different. Many companies had wage freezes and hiring freezes, and more was expected (for less). She believed that many employees were overworked, overqualified, underpaid, and greatly lacking in most companies’ favorite buzz phrase — “work-life-balance.” This inspired her to work on her own.

    Doreen’s, company is still a work-in-progress but she believes her home-based business can compete effectively within her industry while rising above in cost-effectiveness because as she stated, “Clients come to me for results, not to pay for my office space. The times have changed, and businesses have to change their strategies with it and that is what I have done. I believe that the independent worker will become as necessary and as common-place as the little black dress.”

    Doreen Clark Public Relations promotion is basic — people. “Sometimes you have to unplug and just remember that face-to-face can’t be deleted in some inbox. Talking to someone is a real ‘connection,’ and shaking someone’s hand is the first step in authentic ‘liking.’ This is your real network, and I think it has been forgotten in business.”

    Doreen’s primary clients are companies looking to increase their visibility. If you ask her about what she likes best, she says, “Watching something grow that was only a shadow of itself. I never felt this sense of pride until I worked for myself and this is evident, through results and attitude, for my clients. They are well taken care of, and now there is real balance.” She believes that three years from now she will still be small, just how she likes it. Visit http://www.doreenclarkpr.com. HBM  V19-4 Add: 8/29/12 HP: ?? Car: 9/5/12

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Office Depot's Small Business Index Findings

Small Businesses Trying To "Go Greener"

According to the Office Depot Small Business Index, 61 percent of small businesses are actively trying to go greener and 70 percent of small businesses anticipate becoming more environmentally conscious over the next two years.

The index revealed that the most popular way small businesses are becoming more eco-friendly is by recycling more (cited by 82 percent of respondents). Other ways that small businesses are reducing their ecological footprint include: reducing waste (72 percent); buying energy-efficient products (61 percent); buying recycled products (60 percent); seeking non-toxic products (43 percent); and reducing water use (39 percent).

Cost was mentioned most often when small businesses discussed the challenges of trying to go green; with 39 percent worried about the money it will cost to be more environmentally friendly. Small businesses are also concerned with: lack of options (21 percent); quality (13 percent); lack of clarity (13 percent), and lack of time (11 percent).

As small businesses look at their offices, the products they most want to "green" are ink and toner cartridges (60 percent); paper products (55 percent); cleaning chemicals (53 percent); lighting (41 percent), and electronics (35 percent). HBM

Visit www.officedepot.com, www.facebook.com/officedepot, and www.twitter.com/officedepot.

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Blind Drop Shipping to Grow a Home-Based Business

A Business Secret Seldom Discussed

By Brad Beiermann Ph.D., Hienote Inc.

The concept of drop shipping is not new, but has found itself in the midst of a growth curve fueled by Internet commerce.

As a retailer, you will put the product pictures on your site at retail pricing and wait for an order.

Drop shipping is a process used by a manufacturer, or authorized wholesale distributor to ship your single item orders directly to your customers. As a retailer, you will put the product pictures on your site at retail pricing and wait for an order. Once you receive an order, you will email or call the drop ship supplier with the customer's order information and they will in turn ship the product directly to your customer. Consider two things: Tracking and Returns.

Tracking

Most customers want to get parcel tracking information about the products they order. If you are a new retailer, eBayer, or you are thinking about doing online retailing, you will have a customer who will ask for tracking information. If you give the tracking information, it will have your supplier's address information on it. What will you do if you are using a blind drop shipper for the order? The first option would be to give the tracking information, thus letting the customer know the identity of the supplier. If it is a no-repeat customer, this might work in your favor. The second option is to implement a policy of not giving out tracking information. It simplifies things and sets boundaries with your customers. A third option is offering the tracking information and describing the shipping origin differently when asked. You might describe the shipping origin as your "remote warehouse" or "distribution center" reserved for returns.

Returns

What happens when you get a customer who wants to return something for an exchange? If your policy is to not give out tracking information, then as far as they know, the package came from your location. Unlike a return address, the main label address will need a valid recipient name when they send the package back for exchange. In short, if you want to keep your supplier concealed, then you will need to have the packaged returned back to your location. Later on, you can return this back to your supplier. In this scenario, you will have paid twice for shipping, but it keeps your wholesale source concealed. HBM

Brad Beiermann Ph.D., is President of Hienote Inc., which specializes in product sourcing, exhibition marketing, and assisting small businesses locate wholesale drop shipping companies. Visit http://www.hienote.com. Get a FREE copy of "Starting Your Online Retail Niche With Drop Shipping"  at http://www.hienotedirectory.com/drop_shipping_ebook.htmhttp://www.hienot... V19-3 Add: 7/12 Car: 7/19/12 HP:

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How to Start Your Own Online Used Book Store

A Fun, Profitable, and Low-Risk Home Business

By Steve Johnson

Running your own home book store is fun and profitable, and it is an ideal choice for many people who want to start a low-risk home business. You can start part-time, avoiding the high cost of storefront rent, yet at the same time you can sell used books, music CDs, and educational videos to anyone, anywhere across the country or around the world if you choose.

You can sell used books, music CDs, and educational videos to anyone, anywhere across the country or around the world if you choose.

    The actual number of books you need to get started with your own home-based book store varies by how fast you want to get going. You could start with 100 books — you'll probably sell 10%–15% of the books you list within the first month — so if you want to sell more and grow your business quicker, then it will be better to have 1,000 or more used books on hand before you start. Don't be afraid to start with the books you already own, but stay on the lookout for more quick sellers to expand your business.

Funding A Home-Based Used Bookstore

    Start-up funding will likely be a bootstrap venture in most cases. Two-thirds of all business start-ups like a home book store get funded by credit card cash advances, tapping into savings accounts, or borrowing from a rich uncle in the family.

Tip: Sell things you don't need any longer — furniture that's in the way, clothes you don't wear any longer, or maybe hold a garage sale one weekend and clear the clutter around your house — and reinvest the proceeds into building your home book store. You don't need much money to get started.

If you're starting out on a shoestring, start with whatever you have. List your books, CDs, or DVDs on the Amazon Marketplace, and begin learning what sells and what doesn't. You'll learn valuable experience in how this business works. You can then parlay that experience and profit into a larger business as you add more used book stock to your inventory.

Getting started selling is easy. Just log onto the Amazon website and get your seller account up and running in a matter of minutes.

Stock Up On Merchandise That Sells

    Next: Give yourself a goal. For instance, plan on spending two hours every weekend for the next three months, scouring yard sales and thrift stores to locate at least 25 books, while paying no more than 50 cents each. By month four, you will then have found 300 or more good books, and you'll only have invested about $150, some gas for driving around, and $50 for a couple sturdy bookshelves to hold your new inventory.

Tip: Use your cell phone with Internet access to pull up Amazon used book pricing when you are scouting out books for resale. If the pricing for like books is good — $7 or more — buy the book. You'll very often be able to list it and sell it for more than $10–$15.

    If you do come home with books that you want to get rid of that you can't use in your home bookstore, take them to a local used bookstore and ask the owner if they'll trade for books you can add to your inventory. Sometimes if you're lucky, the owner will buy your unwanted books by offering store credit for books he or she doesn't want to carry any longer.

Another goal: Show up for work! Get out your calendar. Write in daily goals. Set aside time early each morning or late at night when you get home from your job, log into your account to check orders and e-mail messages, and go to work listing or revising your listings.

Where to Start?

    Right now, start with the books you already own, and add to them by attending library book sales and fund-raisers, estate sales, and thrift stores, and even search for them online or through newspaper classified ads. You'll be surprised to find good used books are all around you.

Post your own free classified ad stating that you buy used books, and list the subjects you are most interested in, but don't be surprised if the people who contact you have an inflated value of their books' worth. Be in control. State that you can pay a flat fee for their entire lot of books — example, $25 for a lot of 50 books. Make sure those 50 books contain at least $500 in retail value.

Concentrate on buying trade paperbacks in the non-fiction arena. These sell well in almost all condition. If you specialize in certain fields like architecture, history, how-to, UFO's or the like, keep adding new titles to your stock at all times. Write newspaper and magazine articles related to your expertise. Publish press releases for local media about your new venture.

Post your finds to your Facebook friends or your Twitter followers. One cool feature of posting books in the Amazon Marketplace is that with one simple click of a button, it allows you to automatically post your new listing to Facebook or Twitter, saving you lots of time.

If you do wind up concentrating on buying and selling First Editions, do your homework first. Become an expert in the field. There's a lot to know and you should know that on Amazon, the typical used book seller is not even permitted to list collectible books, so that avenue is closed to you until you prove some authority or certification.

Learn These Basics of Bookselling

    To get started in your new venture, here are six simple tips to keep in mind:

1. Learn the book trade and terminology. Study everything you can and add to your knowledge each day.

2. Do make sure you have a sufficient number of titles. The more books you have to sell, the better. People want to buy now. They won't wait around until you find the title. They'll just move on to the next Internet seller.

3. Be thorough and accurate in your descriptions, revealing any and all flaws in the condition of the book. Don't be afraid to list your book one step down in condition to stay on the safe side (example: if you have a book in "Very Good" condition, consider listing it in "Good" condition so as to delight the average book buyer, and not disappoint the discriminating book buyer.

4. Do your homework. If you describe a book as a First Edition, be sure that it is one. If you don't know how to tell for certain, then don't add this detail.

5. Learn the basics of how publishers insert the bibliographical descriptions in the front section of books. These identify to collectors the year of copyright, the print edition, the publisher, the ISBN (10-digit ID number for books that you will use often to search up values and availability of books), and more.

6. Determine where to purchase used books. Negotiate for the best pricing.

    These are your keys to making maximum profits in your own home book store. With time and effort, you can learn how to make money in this simple home business. HBM

Steve Johnson's newest e-book "How To Make Easy Money Selling Your Old Used Books On Amazon" is now available in the Kindle E-Book Store at Amazon. You can read a free sample chapter here:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H3JEKA V19-4 Add:10/12 HP:  Car: 10/11/12

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When it's a True Network Marketing Company...

In regard to network marketing, people will sometimes ask, "Isn't this a pyramid scheme?" The answer is "no."
Here's the difference:
Pyramid Scheme:
- The company  does not have a legitimate product or service that people would buy if they weren't in the business.
- The company will pay people to recruit others into the deal.
True Network Marketing Company:
- People are paid strictly based on the sale of products/services.
Sue and Rod are network marketers with Yoli. To learn more about Rod or Yoli, visit his web sites

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12 Home-Based Business Ideas for the Summer

Originally promoted as "Spring" home business ideas, these 12 can also apply to "Summer."
Professional Organizing – Work with business owners, homeowners, and professionals to “spring clean” and organize their living and work spaces.

1. Balloon Decorator – Use balloons to decorate clients’ homes, offices, wedding reception halls, retirement dinners, trade show events, and other venues for birthdays and other special events. www.BalloonHQ.com/
2. Catering – Offer general or specialized cuisine for graduation celebrations, picnics, weddings, and other celebratory events. National Assn. of Catering Executives: www.nace.net/
3. Cleaning, Specialty – Rent or invest in specialized equipment, using environment-friendly methods to clean windows, dryers, carpets, gutters, antiques; or clean-up after fire, water, or wind events. www.cleaningconsultants.com
4. Educational Tutoring – Set up a tutoring office space to help remedial students; those preparing for college; or adults returning to school. National Tutoring Assn. - www.ntatutor.com/.
5. Food Truck – With a food-prep-equipped vehicle and license, sell meals or ethnic foods or snacks on popular streets and at local sporting events and fairs. “How To Start a Home-based Food Truck Business” by Eric Thomas (ebook).
6. Handy-Person – Use your “fix-it” skills to do small and larger repairs, installations, or painting jobs for homeowners, the elderly, or landlords. Obtain required permits and licenses. The Association of Certified Handyman Professionals - www.achpnet.org/
7. House-Sitting– While homeowners are away, bonded and insured professionals care, maintain, and secure clients’ houses, pets, and plants. Endless Holidays - A Guide to House and Pet Sitting Around the World by Lynne & Mike Edmonds
8. Pet Training – Using your experience and expertise, instruct owners how to care and train their cats, dogs, horses, and other domestic animals for appropriate behavior or for competition. World Animal Trainers’ Assn. www.wataweb.it/
9. Pool Maintenance – Clean and repair (or subcontract work) the pools, fountains, and ornamental ponds of homeowners, apartments, condos, and community pools.
The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual: Spas, Pools, Hot Tubs, Rockscapes and Other Water Features, 2nd ed. by Terry Tamminen
10. Professional Organizing – Work with business owners, homeowners, and professionals to “spring clean” and organize their living and work spaces for better efficiency and improve workflow systems. National Association of Professional Organizers - www.napo.net
11. Sports Instruction – Skilled instructors use combinations of lectures and demonstrations to teach specific sports’ skills to individuals or groups for leisure or for competitive participation. *Teaching Lifetime Sports by Lawrence F. Butler
12. Taxi, Special – With a good driving record and a dependable, safe vehicle (could have a wheelchair lift), obtain a license to transport children, pets, and other passengers to appointments and activities. “Starting a Driving Service for Pleasure and Profit” by Dana Carter (Kindle e-book). HBM
Priscilla Y. Huff is a home-based, freelance writer and author of business idea and marketing articles, books, and blogs.

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