MBE Capital Call Conference Propels Minority Business Creation, Development, and Funding

On September 15-17, 2011, the Virginia Housing and Community Development Corporation (VHCDC) will host its annual 2011 MBE Capital Call Conference and Venture Forum in Hampton, Virginia at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Hampton Marina.

Over 100 small, women, and minority business owners will convene to design, create, and launch several innovative, game-changing ventures - in slightly less than 3 days!

Reformatted from previous events, the 2011 MBE Capital Call is an intense, 53 hour long event designed to put entrepreneurs on the fast-track to developing their idea for a new product or service - which could form the basis of a credible business.

Business Owners: Pay Attention To President Obama's New Law

In September 2010, President Obama approved the Small Business Jobs Act - a new law that has become a very significant piece of small business legislation. The law extends the successful SBA enhanced loan provisions while offering billions more in lending support, tax cuts, and other opportunities for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Now in 2011, those provisions have become to manifest themselves. Just recently, the U.S. Treasury Department approved more than $50 million to support lending to small businesses in the states of Connecticut, Missouri and Vermont. This might sound small, but that translates into $534 million in loans.

How To Get Business Credit Cards, Loans, and Lines

I've blogged about this organization before, but I've decided to mention them again as their free service can be very helpful to entrepreneurs in a down economy.

The National Institute of Business Credit is a non-profit organization and virtual educational resource that is using their web site at BusinessCredit.org to educate entrepreneurs about business credit. The web site offers free valuable guidance on how to qualify and apply for business loans, business credit cards, and business lines of credit. The first of its kind, the web site acts as an indispensable guide to both aspiring and established business owners.

Facebook Investor Giving Away Small Business Grants To Teenage Entrepreneurs

Peter Thiel, an early investor in Facebook, has launched the Thiel Fellowship to foster the next generation of tech visionaries. The new program will support 20 teenage entrepreneurs under 20 years old with grants of up to $100,000. The cash grants will be used to further their innovative scientific and technical ideas.

In addition, over a two year period, Thiel's network of tech entrepreneurs and philanthropists—drawn from PayPal, Facebook, Palantir Technologies, Founders Fund, the Singularity Institute, and others—will teach the recipients about creating disruptive technologies and offer mentorship, employment opportunities, support, and training.

The Small Business Owner's Guide to Alternative Funding

At a time when banks are saying "no, no, no" to small business owners loan requests, one funding expert is teaching entrepreneurs how to find lenders who will say "yes, yes, yes".

Her name is Karlene Sinclair-Robinson, and she's the managing member of KPR Funding Solutions, LLC - a company based in Northern Virginia that provides a wide array of business and financing consulting services. She's also the author of a book entitled The Small Business Owner's Guide to Alternative Funding: What The Small Business Owner MUST Know To Get Through These Financial Times.

Now Is The Time To Apply For A Business Loan

If you recently applied for a small business loan and were denied, don't be discouraged. According to Carol Tice of Entrepreneur.com, things have changed quite a bit in the past year.

In a recent blog post, she talks about how the Federal Reserve is reporting that big banks have finally began easing their credit standards for small business loan applicants because...well, they need the business.

New Web App Connects Minority Entrepreneurs To Capital

In response to an outcry in recent years from minority business owners for improved access and greater diversity of resources for capital and credit, MBE Capital Connect has responded with an online platform that connects entrepreneurs and capital.

The online application was specifically designed to aide Accredited Investors (angel investors, venture capital firms, banks, credit unions, insurance companies, etc.), Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and SBA Certified Community Development Corporations (CDCs) to source funding requests and investment opportunities with qualified minority-owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses operating within their markets.

Open A Mr. Clean Car Wash Franchise

What began as America’s favorite name in household cleaning has grown into a gold standard in car care, and there are some franchising opportunities available.

Owned by P&G, a Mr. Clean Car Wash franchise is a proven business model and has a powerful support system. The franchise has tremendous brand awareness, and a very well established base of consumers who have trusted Mr. Clean products for decades.

Do You Need Business Insurance?

Many think that business insurance is only for major corporations with thousands of employees, but this is not true. Even a small company with no employees should consider buying a policy.

Business insurance can be very affordable, and can protect you if your company's assets (equipment, property, etc) are ever damaged or stolen or if your company itself is ever sued. It can also come in handy if you ever need to defend yourself from trademark infringements or copyright violations.

2010 MillerCoors Business Plan Competition For Minority Entrepreneurs

The MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneurs Series (MUES) and Business Plan Competition is giving minority entrepreneurs another opportunity to compete for one (1) $100,000 business grant and four (4) $25,000 business grants.

The competition is open to all current and aspiring entrepreneurs until the deadline at noon on October 1, 2010. Submissions are only accepted online.

Sam's Club Now Offering Small Business Loans

There are over 600 Sam's Club locations in the United States, and all of them are now lending centers for small business owners. The chain, owned by Wal-Mart, has teamed up with Superior Financial Group to offer loans of up to $25,000 to its small business members.

And guess what? The program will focus entirely on businesses owned by minorities, women, and veterans - underserved borrowers.

The program is one of several moves the retail giant has made to offer bank-like financial services to it's extensive base of customers. It also comes as the retailer tries to improve profitability at its warehouse-club chain.

Urban Financial Services Announces Its Small Business Track At The 36th Annual Conference

Urban Financial Services Coalition (UFSC) has announced their Small Business Track to be held at the 36th Annual International Conference is set for Friday, June 11, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency - Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The conference themed, "Charting Your Course for the New Economy", has been designed to give hundreds of entrepreneurs an opportunity to convene and discuss the ongoing changes in the financial services industry that affect their personal and professional lives.

The Small Business Track targeted at new and seasoned business owners will feature workshops, speakers, and events carefully selected to create an environment conducive for networking, knowledge transfer and opportunities for business growth. This powerful program will equip, inspire and motivate business owners to take their company to the next level. A full day of workshops will kick-off with a plenary session at 8:00 am and wrap-up at 5:00 pm.

Topics include:
* Positioning Yourself for the Loan (Small Business Underwriting)
* Bonding fundamentals - How Bonds Work and How To Get Them
* Preparing To Do Business With Large Corporations
* Never Laid Off - Become Self-Employed
* Minority Certification and Procurement Opportunities, including "Doing Business with the FDIC"
* How to Get Access to Capital
* Government Stimulus Opportunities

UFSC, formerly known as the National Association of Urban Bankers, is an international organization of diverse professionals in the financial services industry and related fields with 23 chapters throughout the United States and Canada. The organization promotes the personal and professional development of its members and improvement in the financial condition of ethnically and culturally diverse communities through education, home ownership and local economic development. More information about UFSC and the 2010 conference is located at www.ufscnet.org/Conference.

New Web Site Educates Entrepreneurs About Business Credit

Business owners and entrepreneurs looking to better understand how to obtain business credit can now log on to www.BusinessCredit.org. The web site is a free comprehensive resource that features the best tips and guidelines on how to get access to business loans, business credit cards, and business lines of credit. Visitors are also educated about business credit reports.

Launched by the National Institute of Business Credit (NIBC), a virtual organization made up of global contributors and researchers, the site is very helpful for both aspiring and established business owners. It features well-written informative articles, descriptive how-to videos, exclusive listings of useful resources, and detailed comparison charts of options offered by different banks.

In a down economy, millions of entrepreneurs face roadblocks and challenges when opening new lines of credit and/or maintaining their existing ones. More than ever before, banks and credit card companies are closing accounts, minimizing their spending limits, and/or denying applications. Despite this, with the proper education, a business owner can survive and still have active revolving credit.

Visitors to the site will learn exactly what to do and what to avoid when applying for new credit, and how to effectively plead a case when credit is being taken away. There is no other resource online like this, and most of all - it's 100% free to use.

For more details, interested ones should visit the site directly at www.BusinessCredit.org

Are Your Prices Too High?

I work with a lot of authors, and it always surprises me when first-time authors are selling their books for $25. In my opinion, $25 for a book is very expensive - especially when people have never heard of you. Even $20 is just too much.

I've also seen people selling their independent DVDs, CDs, etc for just way too much money. Sadly, these people lose so much on sales because people just don't feel the item is worth that much.

What about the prices for your services and products? Are they too high? Are you losing customers because they feel you are too expensive?

The best way to price whatever it is that you're selling is to look at your competition, and go lower. If your competition is selling books for $15, sell your book for $12. If your competition is selling DVDs for $20, sell yours for $15.

Don't get so hung up on the idea of only making a tiny profit per sale. Which would you prefer - to make a $1 profit on thousands of individual sales, or to make a $0 profit on no sales?

Go with the Walmart method. Underprice your item, and take the lower profit. You'll make up for it in volume.

Make sure to do this the first time around - before you launch your promotional campaign. If people visit your web site and feel your prices are too high, they won't be coming back after you realize your mistake and decide to lower the price. You have to capitalize on their initial inquiry.

Web Site Publishes 2010 Annual Listing of Real Business Grant Opportunities

The National Institute of Small Business Grants, a leading global resource for business funding, has published their annual 2010 listing of business grant opportunities. The extensive listing is available online at www.BusinessGrants.org, and is free to the public.

Nike, Microsoft, Intuit, Pepsi, MillerCoors, and IBM are just a few of the companies listed who have programs that are designed to give business grants away this year. Organizations include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dayton Foundation, IFA Educational Foundation and the PepsiCo Foundation. Government agencies include the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), FTA (Federal Transit Administration), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and more.

A business grant is a unique form of funding whereas cash awards are given to entrepreneurs and business owners when they qualify for the specified guidelines. There is typically no expectation of repayment. Such grants are given away by major corporations for charity and public relations purposes, but are also given away by non-profits and government agencies to help rebuild or strengthen small business communities.

Because the Internet is saturated with so much fraudulent information pertaining to business grants, BusinessGrants.org was launched in 2008 as the official online resource for real and legit funding opportunities. The site reports on all avenues of business funding, and features exclusive and original news, tips, videos, and a daily blog.

The site also has a Twitter account (@BizGrants) and a YouTube channel to support their social media outreach.

For more details, visit:
www.BusinessGrants.org

Free Small Business Tax Workshops, Phone Forums and Webinars

The IRS' small business workshops are designed to help the small business owner understand and fulfill their Federal Tax responsibilities. The workshops are sponsored and presented by IRS partners who are Federal Tax specialists.

Topics vary from a general overview of taxes to more specific topics such as record-keeping and retirement plans.

Although most are free, some workshops have fees associated with them. Any fees charged for a workshop are paid to the sponsoring organization, not the IRS.

If you are unable to attend a workshop in person, they are available on CD and online as webinars.

You can also take advantage of their phone forums, which are free of charge, and can be held either at the local or national level.

For more information and a listing of upcoming workshops in your area, visit:
www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99202,00.html

A Small Profit Margin Can Be Huge

Many entrepreneurs will turn down a business opportunity because the profit margin may seem to be too small. Sometimes, this may be a good reason to walk away. Other times, it may be a reason to jump on board. In many scenarios, a small profit margin can be huge.

Believe it or not, but many Fortune 500 companies have very small profit margins. It's quite common for a major corporation to generate a billion dollars in revenue and net only 20% or 200 million.

Many would say that 20% is too low, but they are focusing more on the fact that 80% of their revenue is lost. First off, the 80% is not lost. It takes money to make money, and the 20% that is left over is still substantial.

Even if a company generated a 10% profit margin, this can still be a lot. For instance, if your company generated $1 million in revenue at a 10% margin rate - you still walk away with $100,000 in profits.

That may sound significantly less, but it's a whole lot more profits than most companies ever see.

Remember too that what you pay yourself on payroll can be included amongst your expenses. So your personal income is a surplus to what the company nets, which technically raises a 10% profit margin into 15% or 20% - depending on your personal salary.

Were Minority-Owned Businesses Shut Out of Stimulus Loans?

According to recent SBA data, the answer is yes. New America Media (NAM) reports that African Americans and Hispanics did not benefit much from Obama's $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act via the ARC (America's Recovery Capital) program.

NAM found that of the 4,000+ ARC loans where the race of the borrower was reported, over 91% went to white-owned firms. Only 3% went to Hispanic-owned businesses, and another 3% went to Asian- or Pacific Islander-owned businesses. A mere 1.5% went to Black-owned firms.

Overall, white-owned businesses received over $130 million in loans through the program, while Hispanic-owned businesses got $4 million and black-owned businesses less than $2 million.

In the states of Alabama and Arkansas (where there are tons of Black businesses), every single firm that received an ARC loan was white-owned. In eight other states, including Louisiana and Nevada, all but one loan went to a white-owned firm.

For more details, visit:
www.targetmarketnews.com/storyid12210901.htm

The Big Michael Jackson Payday

Sony Pictures paid $60 million for film rights to Michael Jackson's final rehearsal footage - an amount I originally thought was ridiculous. Their goal was to create a film that honored him, showcased his last few moments, and generate $100 million dollars in ticket sales.

Shockingly, it worked - and they'll likely be able to quadruple that.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan, and I fully understand that he's an international icon. I just couldn't imagine a documentary-style movie about a dead entertainer making that much money.

Well, I was dead wrong.

In it's first five days, the film pulled in $101 million worldwide. $68 million was from overseas alone - including $10.4 million in Japan, $6.3 million in Germany, $5.8 million in France, and $3.2 million in China.

Of course, now Sony is extending the farewell performance film beyond its planned two-week run.

It's even being rumored that this film may gross more than the tour ever would have. Sounds like the big Michael Jackson payday has arrived.

How To Get Government Contracts

The New York Times recently published the following extremely well-written article on what exactly to do get a government contract:

There are many federal contracting opportunities for small businesses, but to take advantage of them you have to know the ins and outs of the government’s contracting rules and regulations.

Of the more than 20 million small businesses in the United States, only about 500,000 are currently in a position to do business with the federal government. That’s not because they are the only ones capable of doing the work; it’s because they know how to get the work.

Here’s how big the opportunity is: small companies are eligible to bid on any size contract, but the government is required to reserve all federal purchases between $3,000 and $100,000 for small businesses — unless the contracting officer can’t get offers from two or more small businesses that are competitive on price, quality and delivery.

To read the full article, visit:
www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/business/smallbusiness/08contracts.html