Small Business Funding – How to Find Funds for Small Businesses.

 Small business funding resources are crucial to the success of many independent ventures. Outside funding can help businesses meet expenses, overcome challenges, or take advantage of new growth opportunities.

However, many entrepreneurs aren’t sure where to begin looking for these funding options.

Small Business Funding Options – Where to Find Funds for Small and Medium Businesses

Exploring the various funds for small businesses is crucial in identifying the right financial support.

How do you start a business with no business financing? Luckily, there are many small business financing options. Here are the 17 best ways to finance your business:

1. Traditional Bank Loan

A traditional bank loan is a lump sum term loan. Usually, no collateral is required, and the payback time is fixed. The term loan’s interest rate is fixed when the business loan is finalized, and the monthly payback amount doesn’t change. A typical term loan is 7 years.

Alternately, the term loan may be calculated for a time period based on 75% of the estimated life of the business equipment.

Best for: business owners who are purchasing fixed assets that will help the company increase revenue.

2. Short Term Loan

A short-term loan is one of the top small business financing options and usually costs less than a traditional business loan. The payback time for this type of financing is usually from 12 to 84 months. The interest rate for short-term loans can be fixed or variable.

A series of short-term loans, cleaned up in timely payments, can help a small business owner with their credit score.

Best for: Those starting a small business who are in need of capital while waiting for alternate funding.

Get the full post on Smallbiztrends.com

Small businesses lead November job losses as tariff uncertainty weighs on hiring.

ADP's November employment report revealed that private sector firms cut 32,000 jobs in November overall. The decline was led by small businesses, which lost 120,000 jobs in November, while medium businesses (defined as between 50 and 499 employees) added 51,000 jobs and large establishments added 39,000 jobs to offset some of the monthly decline.

ADP chief economist Nela Richardson noted that hiring "has been choppy of late as employers weather cautious consumers and an uncertain macroeconomic environment," adding that while "November's slowdown was broad-based, it was led by a pullback among small businesses."

Small businesses are facing uncertainty over the economy, which has shown signs of a cooling labor market and persistent inflation despite economic growth data remaining resilient amid the AI boom. Unlike larger firms, smaller businesses are particularly sensitive to changing economic trends and policy shifts like higher tariffs.

Get the full article on Foxbusiness.com.

Economists run a secret prediction game each year.

 

• Economists, hedge fund investors, and tech executives compete in a forecasting contest each year.
• OpenAI's ChatGPT participated in the 2025 game for the first time.
• The competition tested AI's ability to make predictions without clear online content as a guide.

The ability to forecast the future is a valuable sign of intelligence and a good test of AI's capabilities. How good is ChatGPT at prediction?

An answer to this fascinating question emerged recently when economist David Seif wrapped up an annual forecasting contest he runs for a secret group of economists, hedge fund investors, and tech executives.

In its seventh year, the challenge requires contestants to predict roughly 30 events. The 2025 game kicked off in late 2024, when Seif sent out the list of events to predict in fields such as politics, business, science, economics, pop culture, and sports.

One question asked the contestants to forecast whether Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce would announce their engagement by April 1. Another: Would Bulgaria adopt the euro as its official currency on or before July 1?

Sam Leffell, a director at a hedge fund firm, was filling out his probabilities in December and had an idea.

"When I was answering the questions, I had the ChatGPT screen up. I wondered, what it will say to these questions?" he recalled in a recent interview.

ChatGPT had to learn complex rules

Leffell reached out to Seif to ask if ChatGPT could take part, and Seif said, go for it. So, Leffell got started by pasting the game's rules into ChatGPT.

These are complex rules, covering multiple pages. Contestants must assign a percentage based on the likelihood of each event happening. As the results come in over the year, these predictions are scored a bit like golf. The lowest score wins.

"You get points equal to the square of the difference between what you put and the results," Seif said.

You can get the full post on Businessinsider.com.

How to find the true value of money.

This post is about how to make more money with your business you run. The independent professionals are undercharging for their services. That is what I experience. If you want to make more money then you need to charge the right amount for your service because you offer the true value through your service. There must be changes to be made because you have to charge the right amount for your service or you will be underpaid.

You can not consider your services as a commodity.

If you consider your service as a commodity. The clients will value the fees you charge and they will try to get the lowest rates as possible for your service. The clients will consider that your service is no different from others. You have to think about your service not as a commodity because offering a service not like selling gold, rice or gems. Clients are so curious to find a lower price elswhere that your service will have to suffer from consequences such as generating less profits.

If you are a coach, trainer, financial planner or a consultant your main focus must not be on your fees but about the actual results you offer to your clients.

Consider the results you produced for clients and did it make their life more easier or their businesses? 

This might mean that your clients generate huge profits by buying your service. Once you notice that your clients make money then value your service in the right way to generate money in comparison to your cient's business. 

Once your clients make money you should make money. This means that you are working for a client who depends on you. You must not victumize the client but make them aware that they need your service more than your competitors. Because your service offers the appropriate rate that suits the clients business.

You should also make the clients aware that your business brings rewards like big gains in confidence, a trustworthy relationship and fullfillment. That your service can offer a true change to the lives of your clients. It is not a commodity.


You should think about this in this manner:

If a prospect look for your service's offer to fullfil their need instead considering the fees then figure out what service you would give to help that prospect out to satisfy their need.  Let the clients be aware what the value of your service is for them.

Then charge the amount what your service is worth. There might be cases that your clients turn their back on you. Because of you give true value to satisy the clients need then they will work with you because you produce results. 

Many independent professionals are not making the clients aware that their service offers true value for the money and that their product produce results and satify the clients need.

The independent professionals do not go for offering and making the clients aware of the results and the how satisfying their service is. They find out what the budget is of the client and offer a package that suits their budget. 

It might be the case that not focusing on showing the ultimate results may end up that you have worked hard for short dough and end up making up fool out of your self. 

Be ready to get what you truly worth.

Alan Weiss, better known as the million dollar consultant, calls this "value pricing."

In the appropriate case you make the decision of what the value is and then charge for that value. ( Then offer your service.)

When you master this principle you can generate more money from your prospective clients that contact you to buy your service. 

You can talk and explore the value what your service is truely worth for the client. It would be great that you can make the deal what is good for the both parties. This means once again you need to make aware that the results you are producing are truly worth the money.

Once you have not done this in the past you need to realize that you were leaving money on the table focusing on the fees and not the results. If you show that you offer a service for a price that the client can not get elswhere then you are on the right path.

Original article source: EzineArticles.com

Quick Guide on Being Mentally Tough.

If you are mentally tough you can set chrystal clear expert objectives that gives you essential targets. Keeping these objectives in mind you can reach the targets. You can overcome these barriers and challenges and move forward towards victory.

Here are few tips to being mentally tough.

Do not be a casualty

How you view your self is essential. You must have the vision of your self in your head. If you picture your self steady as a winner. You are eventually going to get a hold of the winners mind state. If you see your self as a casualty. You will be come what you picture your self. So reject at all cost being a casualty. This is a decision that you make. Your choice to set apart from the losers will make you a winner and will overcome objectives. This way you can choose with type of people you are going to associate with. You will be seen as someone with self esteem and importance. People would not dare to underestimate you. So reject the loser mind state. 

Be nice to your self


Nobody is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes and come short on things that should be done right. This is a sign that we are human. Life is to live to the fullest and not to have worries. Be a constant forgiver to your the errors you commit and be nice to your self to pardon your weaknesses. Once it the time to get to know how to empower your self and then you are the one who support your self to become a winner. When you do not do the things to make forward moves then you would not have the capacity to be able to live the life you want. The things such as guilt will be keeping you down. Be nice to your self. Cut your self some slack. 

Try not to put your self in a lower position.


Life is like traveling to a certain destination. Not everybody has their own path to go through. Do not put your self in a lower position through compairing your self with others. Since you do not know where this journey might end then you need to be kind to your self. Putting your self in a minor position will keep you seeing the qualities and abilities what you have in your self. Vision your self being unique. Try not to compare your self with others. Compare your self with the person you were yesterday and think about what you have done better today. Try to get the best out of your self and you are only your objective.

Do not care about what others think about you.

Try not to deny your true self or the person you want to be. Although some people might think that you are crazy or any other thing because you are striving towards a higher goal. You own your own life. You are the one responsible for your acts not others and face this in the right way. If people try to hold you back from what you are striving to be then take distance from those people. You are the ruler of your destiny. What people think about you must not count. It is what you make out of your life and what you think about your self. That is what matters.


Take distance from the 'don't'


The words you use has a great impact in your attitude and behaviour. Take distance from "Don't" from your dictonary. Also  take distance from the negatives and focus more on the positives. For example you should not to use words like "Don't lose,", you should use words like "Let's win." And rather use words "Be courageous" and do not use the words "Don't be afraid."

Original article source: EzineArticles.com

7 laws of getting the right customers.

If you wonder what the perfect method is getting the targeted amount of clients to generate the desired amount of money then setting up goals for the future is the best method. 

But it is not depending on any marketing strategies or techniques. It is important but they are constantly changing targets. It is not depending on any  marketing game plan.

The essential question is what really matters when it comes to getting the right customers regardless of what tactics or strategies you use. You might or not speak and network or have a website or make use of the social media.

When you use these methods you need to keep in your head that you apply these laws or your marketing will fail.

These are the seven laws to attract the ideal clients to generate more profits.

I want to state that marketing a professional service business is not the same as marketing a product or a company.

When it comes to marketing a product or a company is the focus on branding and differentiation. 
If you are going to market a professional service business, you need to focus truly on communicating your value proposition.

Law 1: You must have gained previous skills and maintain skills to do what you do best.
You need to be an expert in what you do to stand out. If you got to do what you do best is to maintain the skill level and keep putting in work until you want to be where you want.

This is not by accident. If you learn to implement the other laws of marketing much better and perform above average then you got the chance to succeed.
To be good at what you do you need to work hard. Keep on learning and dedicate to succeed with your business and offering the best to your clients. Nothing else can come in the first place than business and clients.

Law 2: Do not make a boring impression:

If you might know the great advertising executive, David Ogilvy stated once "What I think to turn people into my advantage in marketing and advertising is that I can not bore someone to get into business with you."

And what can make an interesrting impression and not being boring? Does this mean all the needed excitement, fancy graphics, razzle-dazzle or mind boggeling presentations?

This means completely focusing on the clients and communicating clearly about  what the value of the business service is. And what benefits they get when they work with you. That is a simple fact.

Law 3: Maintain a balance of  logic and of course emotion in your marketing communication.

This also regards to law 2 and is about how you get to communicate the value of what you got to offer to your customers. Throughout any communication method or every communication medium.

So, let me explain this: If you know how to maintain a sense of logic and balance emotion in your marketing work, then many people will get to know about your service and will be interested working with you.

Let's be logical and write this sentence in the logical way. "If you act in the X way you will get Y." Beware that the content is emotional because it gives the impression that it will give you something. Logical communication must be with emotion if not, it falls flat.

Law 4: Be clear to your ideal clients.

To say this in other words you need to get your self and your message out there. This might sound like a simple theory, but this can be a harsh part of marketing your self. 

When you have enough time, energy and money to invest in your marketing efforts. Then you can get the best out of this. Here below I will give you the most effective marketing strategies for professional service businesses. 

Writing ( This can be articles, ebooks, web content to even books). Networking (live and virtual) to build solid connections and relationships. Speaking (from keynotes to webinars). This way you can brand your self as an expert.

Law 5: You must have the skills to communicate like a human being.

This is a known issue. That nobody likes "being marketed to.". This is also a known fact that people have a need and they like to solve their problem by speaking with a professional who sell them the product or service that satisfy their need.

Understanding begins with asking the prospects the right questions. What their needs, targets and challenges are? When you truly get to know what they need you can offer your service.

And when it the time to explain the benefits of your service, remember Law 2 and Law 3. Do not try to explain too much about what you do than the value you have to offer with your service when the clients work with you. 

Law 6: Be ready to tell a story

Story you have to tell should spread through. A good told story can add value to your service and the clients will understand this. Stories speak direct to the emotional mind and bypass the conceptual mind.
A good told story has three essential parts: 1. The true situation of the client, 2. What you undertook to help them out, 3. The benefits the clients got working with you. 

Do not be shy about building a reliable repertoire of good stories when you are speaking to prospects. Talk and show presentations and write articles.

Law 7: Make sure that you believe that you make a difference

I am for sure that money was not the only issue that you set up a business. Because you wanted to help people out you took the route to become a self-employed professional.

As you might know generating  more profits with a business can be challenging. Attracting clients who are willing to work and willing to pay you for your efforts takes consistent application of all these above mentioned laws.

Original article source: EzineArticles.com

7 steps to make your brand get more recognition.

It is essential to make your brand get more recognition than other brands.  You want your brand to have individual and one of a kind quality that separate you from other brands. This means that your customers know what you have put out is of the quality what they pay for.

1. Make sure your brand match.

If you are on facebook make sure that your brand match. This must be the case whether your are online or offline, on LinkedIn, on Facebook, or publishing an article or you publish an e-book. Your branding must be the same no matter what or where you are.  The fonts, colors, feeling and the thoughts about your brand must match when it comes to the thoughts what your audience have about your brand.

2. Become active on social media.

The more attention your brand get on the social media when you share content about your brand more people will engage with your brand. Everytime you share content about your brand or get comments is a chance to show that your brand is not same as other brands.

3. Understand your market.

It might sound weird to focus your attention on your market when branding your self. But the view of your audience about your brand is important. Publishing content about your brand, executing activities and reacting to people in the way your market wants you to, needs you to, and expects you to, is important to show that you market a one of a kind brand.

4. Be familiar about how you solve problems.

There is a problem what your market has. There is a demand for a product that means when you know your market and get familiar with their problem what they have. You can easily solve this problem offering the right product or service. You also know how to solve their problem. You can offer a product or service what the market is demanding.

5. Use the proper language.

Regarding to the voice of the brand you should use the matching language. This should be the language what your audience use as well. If they use certain keywords to find your service or product than optimize your online and offline content for these keywords. Use it in the proper manner. The only way is to use the proper language is to get to know in what way your audience communicate. 

6. Give the proper attention to your voice.

Your product brand should speak a one of a kind language. That voice should speak in the way you like to speak. Pay close attention to that voice. Make sure you get the message through to your market what you try to say with your product and why people should buy your product or service instead of other brands.

7. Speak a consistent message.

Be consistent in every message you send out. If you might contradict your self then explain with a good reason why you did this. For example if your brand has changed the logo than explain why you did that. It might be to attract new market with eye for a new thing. The prospects might get confused.

Original article source: EzineArticles.com