e3datasolutions company blog

Innovative financing for small businesses

By: Jerry Chautin, SCORE volunteer, business columnist
SCOREing small-business success

Learn how to obtain funds for your small-business
Loan and venture capital are available if you qualify

Workshop: "Crisis or Opportunity --- Financing Your Small Business"

September 1, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

SCORE Atlanta, 233 Peachtree Street, Ste. 1900

Registration and Price: Online at tinyurl.com/cydufq
or call, 404 331 0121

"The purchaser had many years of experience and knowledge in the business and had prepared a detailed and well thought out business plan and had an excellent credit score," writes Steve Bloom on SCORE's "Ask the Expert" blog.

Bloom was profiling a businessperson who sought purchase money financing to buy an existing business. While everything seemed in place there was one ingredient missing: The purchaser was putting very little, if any, of his own cash investment into the acquisition.

"When a borrower has no personal funds at risk, there is no compelling reason to work out problems that will surface and even with personal guarantees in place, recovering a 100 percent of a defaulted loan is very difficult," Bloom says. "Simply put, the purchaser had 'no skin in the game'."

This is the kind of candor that Bloom brings to his workshop called, "Crisis or Opportunity --- Financing Your Small Business." He is a SCORE volunteer, a former commercial and multifamily mortgage banker, business lender, entrepreneur and currently provides angel, venture-capital equity for select business opportunities.

Beth Remmes attended the workshop. But first, she received free mentoring from SCORE, "Counselors to America's Small Business." During the mentoring she was advised to test out the concepts detailed in her business plan. "I realized that the overall message to take action and to test it out, (that) was what I needed to hear," she says. "It allowed me to set my business in motion."

Small-business owners often feel unsure if they are doing things the best way. Free business counseling through organizations like SCORE, small-business development centers and women's business centers, provides the sounding board that entrepreneurs need. Additionally, these SBA resource partners offer workshops that add an additional dimension to what small-business owners receive from one-on-one counseling.

"I attended Steve Bloom's seminar," Remmes says. "I left the seminar feeling like I was on the right track."

Bloom ticks off a checklist of what every small-business owner needs to know in order to be successful. Equally as important, he discusses how to get financing now and prepare yourself for the right kinds of funding as your business expands.

Remmes says, "I was able to check off many - if not all of the keys (Bloom) had listed for being a successful entrepreneur; so it was a very validating experience." She is the owner of Zola --- The Art of Green Living. Learn about her business and see her personal video online at, zolagoods.com.

You will not leave the workshop with assurances of getting a loan or venture capital for your business. But you will become wiser, learn to think like a lender and be better prepared to make an application for funding.

"Truth be known, finding private capital isn't as difficult as it would seem," Bloom says. However, "the investment opportunity must be of a scale where the business can grow significantly, the business plan supports an unmet need in the marketplace, has a significant rate of return, is concentrated in the information technology world, bioscience, or is so unique that an early exit strategy can be obtained."

By comparison, lenders are not in business of taking entrepreneurial risks. If the business succeeds, all they get is return of capital with interest. By contrast, the successful entrepreneur takes a bigger risk to earn significant returns on investment, peer recognition and fulfillment of his or her dreams.

To learn the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, do not miss this workshop.

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About SCORE:

Since 1964, SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" has helped more than 8 million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling and business workshops. It is a nonprofit resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. More than 11,200 volunteer business counselors in 370 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneur education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses. The Atlanta chapter has 100 volunteers in conveniently located branch offices.

Note to media: Photos of the SCORE counselors quoted and interviews are available upon request. For interviews with SCORE business counselors or SCORE small-business clients, contact SCORE's chairman, Jeff Mesquita: e-mail, scoremarketing@joimail.com, cell: (770) 713-1702. You may use this article in part or in its entirety and distribute copies with credit to SCORE Atlanta www.scoreatlanta.org. The columnist's CV is online at: tenonline.org/sref/jc1bio.html

Limited budget? SCORE's August 26 marketing workshop shows you how to blend traditional and online techniques to get customers.

By: Jerry Chautin, SCORE volunteer, business columnist
SCOREing small-business success 
 

A Marketing Plan Assures your Success
Lack of Planning Can Forebode Your Failure
 
 
Development & Implementation of an Effective Marketing Plan

When: August 26, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m
Where: SCORE Atlanta, 233 Peachtree Street, Ste. 1900
Details: Online at tinyurl.com/cydufq or call, 404 331 0121   

      The online photographs blew me away. Ayesha Lakes posted them online at www.phoartgraphy.com. She is the owner of PhoArtgraphy and a professional photographer with sensitivities and skills that started at age 11. "One of my aunts gave me a Vivitar 110 pocket camera for Christmas and I never looked back," she says. "I took pictures of everyone and everything at any event I could, just because I loved it." 

      Pundits say, "Do what you love." But what they do not tell you is that you also have to make a living doing it. That requires understanding who your customers are, how to reach them and knowing how much they are willing to pay for your product or service. Equally as important, you must learn how to get enough customers so that you can pay your bills and enjoy the lifestyle you dreamed about. 

      A marketing plan, with the accompanying research and selling strategy, is the heart of your business plan. Add to that a few financial projections and you will have the necessary framework to succeed. That is what you will learn to do at SCORE's August 26 workshop. Jay Levy and Bill Cooey present it. They are both SCORE volunteers and marketing experts. 

      Levy is currently the marketing chair for SCORE Atlanta. He was formerly a marketing executive in the healthcare industry and also launched his own marketing agency. It gives him direct experience with what start-up and existing small-business owners need to be successful in today's challenging economy. 

      In addition to volunteering for SCORE, Cooey is the principal owner of www.e3datasolutions.com an Internet and web-based marketing firm. Since minimizing cost is always an issue for small-business owners, he will address capturing more business from your Web site. Because of the Internet, he says that, "there is a huge amount of marketing intelligence that companies used to pay millions of dollars for that can now be had for free." More information about e3datasolutions can be found at www.e3datasolutions.com/scoremarketing

      Meanwhile, back at the PhoArtgraphy studio, photographer Lakes says, "My SCORE experience impacted my marketing. It provided me with good ideas; the most important of them is creating a marketing plan." 

      Additionally, she learned about search engine optimization. "I have implemented one of the ideas regarding SEO, and I think that may have increased my visibility," she says. 

      Alan Zell recommends wilsonweb.com and searchengine.com for information on SEO. He is a SCORE volunteer in Portland, Oregon. But he stresses the need to combine traditional sales and marketing techniques with SEO. "The further one gets away from their prospective clients the costs go up with less results."  

      Cooey agrees. "SEO is not the panacea that many are led to believe. The resources spent on SEO in most cases can be better used by attending networking events or replying to posts at relevant industry blogs."  

      SCORE Atlanta's workshop will discuss the various approaches to traditional, and nontraditional marketing. You can decide what is best for your business. 

Contact SCORE for more information at www.scoreatlanta.org

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About SCORE: 

Since 1964, SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" has helped more than 8 million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling and business workshops. It is a nonprofit resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. More than 11,200 volunteer business counselors in 370 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneur education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses. The Atlanta chapter has 100 volunteers in conveniently located branch offices.  

Marketing on the Internet Workshop August 10th

By: Jerry Chautin, SCORE volunteer, business columnist
SCOREing small-business

Online marketing mystic is uncloaked at SCORE workshop

"Marketing on the Internet"

August 10, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m

SCORE Atlanta, 233 Peachtree Street, Ste. 1900

Details: Online at tinyurl.com/cydufq
or call,  404 331 0121

Here is bad advice: Build a Web site and the world will buy your products and services.

Here is good advice: Build a Web site that sells benefits and solves problems. Furthermore, practice the mystical art of search engine optimization and you will substantially increase your sales.

Online marketing is a cost-effective way of reaching customers from coast-to-coast and around the world. But building and online presence and getting your Web site top priority on search engines is not a game for neophytes. SCORE's workshop will help you implement an online strategy to increase your business.

Before you start designing your Web site, Bill Cooey says, "It is crucial that during the initial planning stages the competition be researched for price, for ideas on product development, and for existing market penetration." He is a volunteer business counselor with SCORE, "Counselors to America's small business," and also the principal owner of e3datasolutions, LLC. "There is a huge amount of marketing intelligence that companies used to pay millions of dollars for that can now be had for free."

Cooey's company designs Web sites and software to connect you with your customers, vendors, employees and stakeholders. You can learn more about the company at e3datasolutions.com.

A manual published by Inc Magazine and distributed by SCORE called "How to Really Market on the Internet," outlines five essentials.

■ Your Web site must deliver what it promises or your company will lose credibly.

■ The site should load quickly because shoppers will go elsewhere if they can't quickly find what they want. Avoid using large photos, sound and video clips.

■ Contact information should be easy to find. Include your physical location, phone number and fax to reassure visitors that you exist in more than just cyberspace.

■ Provide customer interaction with contests, games and instant feedback. Allow them to request information and post comments.

■ Update your site frequently if you want visitors to return.
Even if you design the perfect Web site, it is important to get high priority from search engines. Search engine optimization requires additional skills. SEO is the art of using keywords and understanding the algorithms and methodology used by Google, Yahoo and other search engines to place you near the top of page one.

Alan Zell recommends wilsonweb.com and searchengine.com for information on SEO. He is a SCORE volunteer in Portland, Oregon. But he stresses the need to combine traditional sales and marketing techniques with SEO. "The further one gets away from their prospective clients the costs go up with less results."

Cooey agrees. "SEO is not the panacea that many are led to believe," he says. "The resources spent on SEO in most cases can be better used by attending networking events or replying to posts at relevant industry blogs."

SCORE Atlanta's workshop will discuss the various approaches to marketing on the Internet so that you can decide what is best for your business.

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Since 1964, SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" has helped more than 8 million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling and business workshops. It is a nonprofit resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. More than 11,200 volunteer business counselors in 370 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneur education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses. The Atlanta chapter has 100 volunteers in conveniently located branch offices. For interviews with SCORE business counselors or SCORE small-business clients, contact SCORE's chairman, Jeff Mesquita: e-mail, scoremarketing@joimail.com, cell: (770) 713-1702.


The columnist's bio is online at: tenonline.org/sref/jc1bio.html