Like all successful entrepreneurs, Will Smith believes in and practices mind power. For ordinary folks, this may sound like mumbo jumbo or even far fetch however, through the power of his subconscious mind and hard work, Will Smith has achieved the success most people will never attain. Why?

Because most people who want to be successful and make a £1,000,000 or $1,000,000 have a £5 ($5) mindset. The question for small business owners is how can they borrow (or steal) the keys to success practice by Will Smith and apply them in business to replicate the financial success of millionaires.

At the end of 2010, nearly nine in ten small businesses that started three years ago, two years ago and at the start of 2010 will FAIL. This is a fact based on research carried out by the US Small Business Administration. The statistics is probably true for small businesses in the UK as well.

True, there are several factors why 95% of all small businesses fail. But there's a way you can buck the trend. That's right!

Will Smith has a point when he says “being realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity and failure”. One small business owner who has travelled the road of entrepreneurship would agree with Will Smith. Starting from been unemployed and in debt, he started in business and ten years later has generated £50 million ($80 million) is sales.

After you watch the above video of Will Smith, consider the offer being made this millionaire to get the secret he has used to generate £50 mill ($80 mill) in only ten years, starting from being in debt, with poor credit rating and without a job. Click here to get the secret blueprint that has generated £50, 482,637.19

Effective from today, small businesses that would otherwise have difficulty securing private equity or venture capital may find funding easier to get as a result of changes made as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Investment Company program.

SBICs are privately owned and managed venture capital firms which are licensed and regulated by SBA. SBICs use a combination of funds raised from private sources and money raised through the use of SBA guarantees to make equity and mezzanine capital investments in small businesses. There are approximately 338 SBICs with $17.4 billion in capital under management.

The changes made as part of the Recovery Act are:

• The Recovery Act makes SBICs eligible for greater SBA guaranteed funding and requires SBICs to invest 25 percent of their investment dollars into “smaller” businesses. Also, the amount of funding an SBIC may invest in a single small business is set at 10 percent of an SBIC’s total capital rather than the previous limit of 20 percent of an SBIC’s private capital only. This translates to an effective 50 percent increase in funding available to a single
business by an SBIC.

• Maximum SBA funding levels to SBICs will increase up to three times the private capital raised by the SBIC, up to a maximum of $150 million for single SBICs, or up to $225 million for multiple SBICs that are under common control. The cap for all licensees was set at $137.1 million before the Recovery Act.

• These limits are even higher for SBICs that are licensed after October 1, 2009, that certify that at least 50 percent of their investments will be made in small businesses located in low-income areas, up to $175 million for single licensees and up to $250 million for jointly controlled multiple licensees.

• Changes made to the SBIC program under the Recovery Act are
permanent.

Industry associations have commended SBA for these changes and SBA continues to encourage new SBICs to apply for licensing and actively participate in the program.

The SBIC program was created to stimulate the growth of America’s small businesses by supplementing the long-term debt and private-equity capital available to them. Since the SBIC program’s formation in 1958 through April 2009, it has invested approximately $56 billion in more than 106,000 small businesses in the United States. For more information about the SBA’s Investment Division and SBIC program, go to www.sba.gov/INV or call 1-800-
U ASK SBA.

Having made your decision to exit the business, your attention now focuses on executing your succession plan. You'll be faced with many options, these will include:

. Whether to sell the business to the existing employees (if they can raise the capital) or agree to merge the business with a competitor, or

. Whether to sell the business to the highest bidder who meets your asking price.

Succession planning also includes tax considerations. Here you are focused on mitigating not just your personal taxes but also business tax, in the form of capital gains tax.

Succession planning is not just confined to finding an experienced leader to fill your position, selling options and tax planning.

The following video on small business management goes into more detail on the issues to be addressed by owners of family businesses.

So there you have it!

There are four considerations to successfully managing a family business and succession planning:

1. Consult independent outsiders for their honest opinion

2. Create a family atmosphere that involves employees who are not family members: this can give you distinct advantage over competitors when it comes to employee relations, retention and motivation

3. Establish performance standard for all employees, especially family members

4. Don't treat all family members the same. Reward them based on their true contribution.

David
Small Business Resource

If you are looking for money to start or fund a business, one of the options open to you is finding angel investors. The difference between venture capitalists and angel investors is straight forward: a venture capitalist is a professional supplier of business capital, whereas an angel investor is much more likely to be a private individual interested in backing one or more specific business start-ups. Here are some tips to make sure you find yourself in the company of good angels:

You should never allow an angel investor to back your business if you aren't certain that they are rich enough to never get a penny back. This is for both moral and legal reasons. Moral, because so many new start-ups fail and you don't want the investor's losses on your conscience. Legal, because there are laws against persuading little old ladies to give you their savings.

Make sure they are sophisticated investors

What you really want is an angel investor who has knowledge and expertise in your industry. Yes, you want their money... but you also want their experience, contacts and expertise. Also, if you want to raise venture capital later on, it will be much harder if you show up with a long list of unsophisticated investors.

Don't think it will be any easier

Raising money from angel investors is no easier than raising it from venture capitalists. They care as much about liquidity as venture capitalists do – maybe even more because they are investing their personal, after-tax money.

Understand their motivation

Angel investors differ from venture capitalists because, typically, angel investors have a double bottom line. Usually, they are successful entrepreneurs who have made it and now want to pay back society by helping the next generation of business people. Thus, they are often willing to invest in less proven, riskier deals to help entrepreneurs get started.

Help them to live vicariously

One of the rewards of angel investing is the ability to live vicariously through an entrepreneur's efforts. Angels want to relive the thrills of entrepreneurship while avoiding the firing line. They enjoy helping you, so seek their guidance frequently.

Make your pitch is understandable to the angel's spouse

The usual membership of an angel's investment committee consists of one person: a spouse. So, if you've got a complicated product, make sure it's comprehensible to the angel's husband or wife.

Be nice

More often than venture capitalists, angel investors fall in love with entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs may remind the investors of their sons or daughters, or even fill the position of the sons or daughters they never had. If you are seeking angel capital, then you're probably not a proven moneymaker, so you can't get away with acting like an idiot. Be nice until you're proven – although you should really be nice even when you are proven.

See here for more information on small business finance

Small businesses should be delighted at the news that the High Court has ruled that compound interest is payable in principle on overpaid VAT. In many cases this will mean that the interest receivable will far exceed the value of the overpaid VAT.

The Judge ruled that compound interest is appropriate restitution for loss of use of the funds rather than the remedy currently available under UK law.

However, this only applies where the overpayment of VAT arose because UK law or HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) policy contravenes EU law. In all other circumstances, only basic interest is payable.

For more information on VAT, including how to check the validity of vat number visit the following resources:

Check VAT number to make sure it's valid:

How to handle a VAT investigation:

2. Forecast from the bottom up. Many people look at the total market for their product and then assume that they will win a certain percentage of it. For instance, the dog food market in the UK is worth £1 billion. Someone forecasting from the top down might say that they were going to go after 5% of that market. Someone forecasting from the bottom up would say, "I think I can sell my dog food into 100 outlets and that each one will sell £1,000 a month. I think we both know whose forecast is likely to be more accurate."

3. Start out as a service business. Say you want to build a software company. Provide consulting and services based on your work in progress software. This has two advantages. First you get immediate revenue and true customer testing Second, once the software is fiels tested, you can flick the switch and become a product company.

4. Focus on function, not form. Yes, it is wonderful if you can create a product like the Apple iPod or the Rolex. But as a bootstrapper it may be better to focus on a product that provides a very tightly defined function. A stapler that works, instead of one that just looks good, for instance.

5. Understaff. Many entrepreneurs staff up for what could happen, best case. Bootstrappers understaff, knowing that all hell may still break loose.

6. Go direst. The optimum number of mouths between a bootstrapper and his customer is zero. Of course, retailers provide great customer reach and wholesalers provide distribution. But e-commerce was invented so that you could sell direct and reap greater margins

David
Small Business Resource

2. Keep in touch with the people who owe you money. Ideally, call them yourself. When the owner of a business rather than an administrative assistant calls to collect a debt, it almost always gives the matter greater urgency.

3. Pay your own bills on time. Putting off paying your own bills only delays problems. If you haven't got the cash to pay all your bills, then pay part of them to keep your suppliers happy.

4. Lease rather than buy equipment. Even consider selling your building and leasing it back. This could free up sizeable amounts of cash.

5. Factor your invoices. Factoring, in which financial institutions buy receivables for a discount and then take over the collection, is something large companies embrace more readily than small ones. It is just another form of financing. If cash is tight, factoring (sometimes called 'invoice discounting') can be an ideal way to solve the problem.

David
Small Business Resource

You're about to discover a powerful and unique concept called the "Discovery Contract."

This morning I had a conversation with a new member who is a sales consultant. He described the all-too-familiar problem of spending a bunch of time giving someone a business proposal and then, being totally blown off by the person he did it for. The problem was he tried but failed to get access to the real decision maker. He simply wasn't being taken seriously. Plus he felt he was seen as "just another vendor".

So what's the solution?

The solution is a discovery contract: A paid quotation for a small percentage of the final price, in which you give the customer an in-depth investigation instead of just a quotation price. Yes, you can charge for business quotes. So long as the customer clearly understands that he or she is going to get a lot more than just a quote.

This is a normal and customary part of my own fee structure and I don't do business quotes for free anymore. You shouldn't either.

When you go from quotes to discovery contracts, you'll do fewer quotes and close more business.

Now this shouldn't be blindly applied to every possible situation, but anything that involves the delivery of complex services surely deserves consideration of a discovery contract. It's gutsy and you may feel nervous pulling it off the first time, but it's a fantastic tool.

Here's a special audio bonus in MP3, discussing discovery contracts. This mp3 is about 8 minutes long:

You can (and should!) download it here and listen to it. It tells you the following:

How to position it with the customer so it makes sense and doesn't sound like you're just whacking them for a quote;

How much to charge for it;

What to deliver in it and how to present it with respect to your competition.

And more

Perry M

First, let's answer the question what is a credit score and the credit ratings process.

A credit rating or credit score is a measure of the financial risk of a business to providers of finance and credit and the probability of the business defaulting on loan finance. Credit rating agencies take the following main factors into accounts to arrive at the credit rating or credit score for a business:

. The transactional history of the business
. The promptness of the business in meeting payments to suppliers, repaying loans and other financial obligations
. The structure of the company's debt: whether loans are secured (on business assets or assets of the owners of the business) or unsecured, the amount of debt the business is carrying and the repayment profile or history;
. Cash flow, working capital and the net worth of the business;
. The size of the business (number of employees, profit and loss plus balance sheet values including the background of the directors or owners of the business.

To calculate credit score ratings, a UK credit rating agency will enter the data, based on the above factors, into a credit scoring model to produce a credit score or rating.

Former Wall Street banker Alexander Kelly who heads Powerchex, a profitable employment screening start-up business in the UK, has accused Creditsafe UK, a credit rating agency, of unfairly penalising her young business by using her nationality in giving her business a lower than expected credit rating. Kelly claims that Creditsafe UK was unjustified as her business has being doing well in the downturn and it is rated highly by other business information suppliers.

Creditsafe UK told Alexander Kelly that neither she nor her fellow director was of UK origin and this was among the factors affecting her company's rating. Other factors mentioned were the small number of directors (Powerchex has two), that the company is not part of a group and that it is trading in an area with higher than average number of insolvencies among companies of similar size.

Kelly said: "I think this is discriminatory and disadvantages companies by using criteria that have nothing to do with financial performance or, viability of the company". Kelly also notes that the business is ranked in the top 20 per cent of companies by Dun & Bradstreet, the US based rating agency, and Creditsafe UK did not cut the ratings of her competitors that have worse balance sheets.

So, the crux of the matter is that credit rating agencies use different models in calculating credit scores and whether in recession or good times, it's important for a small business to protect its credit rating irrespective of the different models being used to calculate credit ratings. It's a good idea to get testimonials from providers of finance and suppliers to reinforce the credit worthiness and good management of your business.

David
Small Business Resource

It's a fact, the Internet and the world at large has become saturated with information. As a result, people don't have the time or willingness to stop and filter information to make decisions. All of the various decisions are made in an overloaded day.

People need shortcuts and this presents opportunities for clued up marketers and entrepreneurs. As a small business owner, this is where you can adopt the principles of influence to gain assent by prospects. That's not all...

By combining the five principles of influence (by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book “Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion”) with thirty psychological triggers (per Joseph Sugarman in his book "Triggers") small businesses can generate more leads and convert more prospects into customers. This will in turn, generate more sales, profits and cash flow.

Naturally naysayers among the crowd of small business owners will doubt the power to control the mind of prospects to motivate and persuade. However, before rejecting the science it would be wise to study the principles because there's plenty of scientific evidence that supports the power of using psychology to influence behavior. Review the results of empirically conducted and rigorously controlled research into the science of compliance.

Tell those companies that have seen dramatic a increase in sales conversion using psychological triggers and the five principles of influence that they don't work.

The truth is when you integrate psychological triggers and influence principles in your advertising and marketing messages you too will see an increase in leads generation and sales conversion. This may come as a surprise to many...

Watch this short video of Dr. Robert Cialdini:

The principles of influence and psychological triggers are being used by governments and non political organisations to influence people’s behavior and decisions in environmental, social and political and similar causes. That's right!

So what are the five principles of influence?

Dr. Robert Cialdini describes them as:

Reciprocity
Scarcity
Authority
Commitment & Consistency
Consensus & Liking

Without going into to much detail I'll just comment of the first two principles:

Reciprocity is described as: prospects are more likely to take action if it is in return for a previous gift, favor, service or concession that they have received. Put another way, people say yes to those they owe.

Scarcity: people are more likely to seize an opportunity to the extent that it is scarce, rare or dwindling in availability.

You can learn about the five powers of influence in Dr. Robert Cialdini's book. You can get the 30 psychological Triggers or sales tools described in Joseph Sugarman's book "Triggers" and how to integrate them into your marketing and sales messages by clicking here and saving the PDF file to your computer.

Finally, as many small businesses cut back on overheads, bear in mind that this recession will come to and end. History shows that companies that did not cut back on marketing and advertising were better positioned to benefit during recovery compared to their competitors.

If you are not integrating the principles of influence and ethically using psychological triggers in your sales letters, classified ads, pay per click ads, press releases, articles and other sales messages then sadly, you are leaving plenty of cash on the table. That's not all...

These advertising techniques when incorporated into your small business advertising messages can boost profit made from lower cost per customer acquisition from internet marketing campaigns.

David Davis
CEO Small Business Resource

1. Identify goals that are consistent with your values, beliefs, and life philosophies.

2. Commit your goals to paper. Don't rely on your memory. Put them in a place where you will see them often.

3. Determine your goals. Make sure they are SMART, this is:
Specific ("I want to retire with $2 million in the bank by age sixty-five" is preferable to
saying "I want to make tons of money in order to retire");
Memorable;
Agreed upon;
Realistic;
Time-based.

4. Ensure that your goals are in sync with your morals and values. If you're like most people, millions of dollars won't make you happy if you have had to exploit people in the process of making the money.

5. Prioritize your goals. Focus on those that have greater meaning to you in terms of personal beliefs. If community volunteer work is something you place a great value on, for example, find ways of avoiding overtime and give yourself time to do the community work that appeals to you more.

6. Break your goals into short-, medium-, and long-range plans. This will allow you to stay focus and in touch with your final goal.

7. Make people aware of your goals. Tell a friend, advisor, and even your worst enemy. Contract with someone who will meet with you regularly to ensure that you remain on track.

8. Ask yourself if the goal has true value for you. It could just be an excuse to avoid doing something important but unpleasant.

9. Visualize yourself achieving your goal. Your vision will give you a sense of excitement and encourage you to keep on trying. At the same time, your business goals, although important, should not become an obsession. If this happens, you will upset the equilibrium between personal life and work, resulting in physical and mental deterioration.

10. Act on your goals regularly. True success comes from taking small steps. It is unlikely that you will make immediate huge gains without an enormous amount of luck. Therefore, focus on short-term goals that will lead to the longer goal. Try to do something each day that will move you closer to your goal.

11. Review your goals regularly. For example, monthly goals should be reviewed daily to keep you focused.

12. Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small they may be.

Sir Richard, chairman of Virgin Group, said the UK government had to ensure confidence returned to the markets. "This will be tough and requires co-ordinated efforts from government, the Bank of England and high street banks" he said.

Interest rates must also be kept low, Sir Richard added. "People need some breathing space and need to feel confident to spend and invest. We also must ensure the benefits of the low interest rate are passed on fully - or else this will just help the banks recover their lost profits. Small businesses also need help from government to fee up funding and lending and to reduce the regulation that ties up so many entrepreneurs".

Some entrepreneurs want the government to be more radical than the 2.5 per cent cut in VAT (sales tax). James Caan, an entrepreneur and judge on BBC's Dragon's Den, said right now we need to stimulate the economy, reduce national insurance and encourage small businesses to employ people. "If you don't do that your are forcing businesses to lay people off. You are just compounding the problem by adding to the job queues and increasing the numbers claiming unemployment benefit", he said.

To put these proposals into action, Caan calls for a "tax holiday" for start-up firms. "The government should say that start-ups should pay no income tax in their first year. Any business that starts in 2009 should be given a 12 month income tax holiday.” In addition, Caan said any new company should not have to pay national insurance for its first twelve employees. "The government should give a stimulus package to new businesses that will spearhead us back to recovery", he said.

On a positive note, Julie Meyer, chief executive of Ariadne Capital, an investment and advisory firm, said a recession offered many opportunities. She forecast an "army of entrepreneurs" emerging this year. "We will see a mass army of people who have taken their skills to the market, and the government needs to create a culture in which entrepreneurship can flourish", she said. "We will see the surge of individual capitalism. I don't know of anyone who wants to work for a corporation and more; everyone is going freelance."

FT

On the contrary, unless your business continues to drive prospects to your web site and convert them into customers, chances are you'll have no business to speak of should the downturn continue through 2009. Basically, you should focus on getting more bang for your marketing and advertising pounds and dollars.

It's no secret that marketing on the internet or to be more specific, website marketing, gives you more bang for your pounds and dollars. Although many small businesses have a website, are they just brochure ware or traffic generating and converting machines?

See, website marketing is an art and a science. Internet marketing optimization should be part of your small business marketing strategy. Small business owners who have embraced the Internet have seen increase in sales and this is a fact. So how can small businesses boost internet sales?

It boils down to essentially two factors, traffic generation and traffic conversion. Traffic conversion is the methods, tools and techniques used to convert visitors once they arrive at your website into customers, including the process of developing customer relationship to extract maximum long term customer value. Traffic generation is the methods, tools and techniques used to drive visitors to your website.

Let's narrow down traffic generation. It's about optimizing your web site for the search engines (Google because it's the most popular), so it ranks high (on the first page) for the keywords (and key phrases) related to your products and/or services, hence the term, search engine optimization.

Are you still with me?

Don't be confused; internet marketing optimization and search engine optimization is basically the same thing.

Now, how do you optimize your website?

You can by simply by optimizing your website for both "on site" and "off site" factors. On site factors are covered in the answer to "how can a small boost internet sales" reply. The reply failed to discuss "off site" factors which are more important than on site factors. Optimizing your website for "off site" factors determine how much free visitors your website attract from the search engines and this depends on the popularity (as determined by Google) of your website.

How do you increase your website popularity in the eyes of search engines?

By having other websites linked to your website, or having incoming links from other sites, preferably those that are related to your niche market. There are tons of ways of getting links from website. But the quickest ways are to use the tools associated with web 2.0, namely social networks, blogging, bookmarking, video sharing sites, RSS submission or syndication and article directories. When you combine these tools, your website will experience a flood of traffic. The trick is to leverage your time by using time saving tools. For submitting your videos to video sharing sites try this free video distribution tool:

Get valuable information to help your business through the downturn and in good times,,, subscribe to "Business Questions".

I hope you found this article helpful.

David
Small Business Resource

Overall, SME owners said they felt they had achieved a better work/life balance than in previous employment, with more than a third spending more time with family and friends.

Small business health check:

IS owning A Small Business Good For Your Health?
Painless Health Check For Small Business Owners
Increased	Decreased	COMPONENT BEING CHECKED
		Your stress level
		Sleepless nights
		Alcohol consumption
		Time spent on hobbies
		Time With Family and friends

Have a great day!