A business plan is a necessity in any business. If you are trying to figure out how to start your own business, the first place to start is with a business plan. Every business needs some type of direction and focus to help it move forward in the right direction. It doesn’t need to be a perfectly polished document, unless you are looking for some type of financing. If you don’t need any money for your business you can get by with a business plan that looks like chick scratch on the back of a napkin, but I still think you need something. But for the entrepreneur that wants some type of financing, that is a whole different story. Once people find out I invest in business startups they all of a sudden start coming to me with your business ideas asking for money. The first thing I say every time is show me a business plan, this weeds out almost all of them. It is surprising to me that so many people have pretty good ideas, but very few of them take the time to write a business plan for some reason. For those who do come back with a business plan they seem to leave out vital parts. A common characteristic of an entrepreneur is not taking the time to write out a business plan, I am guilty of this for sure. But I can say for sure that a business with a plan will always do better than a business without a business plan.

Writing a business plan is just that, a plan. It isn’t a proposal or a college term paper, it’s a plan. Plans have to be thoughtfully organized, researched and attractively presented. Financiers discard business plans that are sloppily put together with no inherent sense or merit in favor of those well thought out and organized. Here are a few common mistakes in writing business plans you need to avoid.

Not Writing a Business Plan

No financier will grant funding to a new business person without a plan. Some entrepreneurs are frightened to put their thoughts and dreams onto paper. Some put it off, hoping it won’t be necessary. Still others are afraid of refusal. An entrepreneur needs to take copious notes on all aspects of his business then organize the notes into a cohesive business plan.

Do Your Research

Important to those who finance new businesses are facts such as niche, demographics, need to availability ratio, market share, competition and market trends. And that’s before we get to sales and marketing, overhead, employee compensation and a dozen other start-up concerns. Research every distinct facet of your business, then organize the information into charts, graphs and tables. Make sure to label the charts, graphs and tables for clarification to the financier.

Glib Generalizations

One of the pitfalls for entrepreneurs is confidently stating there is no risk or there is little to no competition in the chosen business venture. Financiers are aware that if consumers want something, they know where to get it. Investors know there is risk involved in business. They also know that when you begin doing business, competition will appear, even if there was little before you started. Knowing where the risk and the competition are will strengthen your position, because you will write it into the business plan.

Gauge the Economy

In planning a business, the state of the economy must be considered. If the entrepreneur wants to be in business five years from now, he needs to know what the economic projections are. Will his product or service still be needed five years from now? Will the public still be willing to bear the price? Will the market be saturated with the product or service in five years? No one can accurately predict the economic future, but these are some realistic questions to consider in the business plan.

Know What You Don’t Know

If the entrepreneur is short on sales skills, it should be written into the plan with a solution to the problem. Should the new business person be in need of administrative skills, it needs to be noted along with the answer. Perhaps the new business person needs better computer skills. It should go into the plan in addition to the solution. If the business person is honest in his shortcomings and can show a financier that a solution to the problem can be found, the financier will look more favorably on the enterprise.

Sloppily Written Business Plans

Financiers pass over sloppy, wordy, fawning or hyped work in favor of fewer words with more impact, less superlatives and focused writing. If the business person could use writing skills, hire an editor. The writing needs to be sharp, focused and leave the financier in admiration of the magic of the idea. Presentation is everything, so if you need help with tables, charts and graphs, get it. Spell check the plan and get a grammar checker online to help. The plan needn’t be forty pages when ten pages of well chosen words will do. Make sure it’s done right and tighten up the writing if necessary.
Remember that writing a business plan is about not only selling your idea, but you as well. Financiers want to see the magic in the genius in addition to cold hard facts. It’s just a plan, but make it the best you’ve ever done.

How many of you have a business plan?

Many people have great business ideas, but do not know how to get started. Luckily, starting a business is not as difficult as one might think; most of us just need a little guidance to get started. Here are ten steps on how to start your own business.

1. Business Plan:

Whether an entrepreneur wants to run a local store or build an empire, he or she must write-up a basic business plan. This should include a basic idea on how the business will make money. Though, when writing a basic plan, it is not necessary to include complicated financial figures, unless you plan on going to a bank for financing. With a well-written plan, an entrepreneur will have a roadmap to follow going forward. This will make things much easier as you get going. The business plan will most likely change, sometimes very dramatically as you start growing your business, but the process of getting it down on paper is more valuable than most entrepreneurs realize.

2. Finance the idea:

An entrepreneur must have a financial plan. A new business owner should find a way to get adequate funding; an entrepreneur should get enough funding to build the company and not take a paycheck for at least six months, and sometimes much longer. One must remember, without financing, most people will not get off their ideas off the ground. Keep in mind when I say financing it not always borrowing money from a bank or investor, more often than not it is from funds you already have or money that you are making on the side as you start your business. Most of the time it is best to try and bootstrap your startup business.

3. Legal Structure:

The legal structure of a company is more important than most new entrepreneurs realize. When choosing the right legal structure, one can protect themselves against lawsuits and other problems. But the legal structure is not something that you need to get caught up in worrying about forever. I have seen many businesses go out and incorporate a company on day one when that is something they never needed to do and turned out to be a big waste of money. Majority of businesses are set up as a sole proprietorship, especially starting out. Then on the other side of things I have seen a number of businesses not set up any type of legal structure and pay for it later. So take some time and think about risks involved with your business and what kind of assets you need to protect, but don’t let this be the end all.

4. Register with the government:

When setting up a company, one must deal with the government. For starters, the new business must register their DBA with the state and county governments in most areas. Next, it is often wise for the business owner needs to get a tax identification number from the IRS. As long as one has everything in order, it should not be difficult to register the business with the government.

5. Location:

Now, some people may start their operations out of a spare room or the garage while others may need to rent a commercial building. A business owner should strive to find a site that will work for the company initially and in the future. But keep in mind the less money you spend at the beginning for a location the more money you will have for more important tasks, that is unless your business heavily relies on a location.

6. Permits:

Depending on the location, your business may need to get permits and it is up to the owner, not the local government, to determine if the business needs permits. To get a permit, one must go to their local city hall and speak with someone in the permits or finance department.

7. Hire employees or contractors:

Some new entrepreneurs may not need employees when starting out, but often a company will need to hire outside help. A business owner should decide what he or she needs out of an employee before starting the search. Not only that, some entrepreneurs should explore other options such as finding contractors or interns. This step is crucial; employees truly are the backbone of most small enterprises and not getting the right ones can extremely limit your success.

8. Marketing plan.

When building up a business, one must create a marketing plan. Ideally, one should devise a multi-faceted marketing plan to attract a wide customer base. This would include flyer advertising, radio spots and a solid online presence. A marketing plan can make or break a business. Marketing done right can launch a business to amazing heights, while one done wrong can turn into a money put or worse yet not reach your desired audience.

9. Internet presence:

We have reached a new era, with the exception of a few all businesses should have some type of an internet presence. One must take steps to build their Internet presence. There is a huge range of what your business could do on the web and what will be right for your business. So you need to thoughtfully thing about where your audience is at on the web and how you can get to them, each business will be different and it is up to you to figure out what is right for yours.

10. Accept payments:

You need to get payed, after all isn’t that the whole reason you wanted to start a business. Some business owners neglect to accept multiple forms of payments; this is a mistake. When one can accept payments from multiple sources, the company will not lose out to competition.

Once you know how to start your own business, you have a much better shot of success. It is not difficult to become an entrepreneur, provided takes the time to really go over things and follows these steps. When getting started, it is important to ask questions and get help from multiple sources. In the end, starting a business is not as hard as most people think or are lead to believe, but the success of that business completely depends on how prepared you are going into it and how well you have assessed all aspects of the business you are starting.

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If you’re a small business owner looking to capitalize on the extra publicity gained from Small Business Saturday, here are five tips that will help guide you along the way:

Take advantage of free advertising from American Express – Create a free personalized ad here and the credit card company “will give you free geo-targeted online advertising that drives to your website or Facebook page.”  The offer is only good through November 19^th and terms and conditions do apply.  Refer to American Express’ website for more information.

Download marketing tools and use them to attract customers and drive business this November 24^th – Personalize signage and make use of online banners and logos as well as social media and email templates.  All materials are free.  Visit http://www.shopsmall.com to claim yours.

Get listed in Independent We Stand’s directory of small businesses – The basic package lists your business name, address, and phone number for free and gives you access to “Buy Local” marketing materials.  For $99 a year, you get a website link back from IWS.org, links to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, and a larger, more prominent listing.

Open later to accommodate Black Friday shoppers – Many shoppers like to avoid crowds so they prefer to visit stores that are open later in the evening.  Make sure you let people know that you’ve changed your hours for Small Business Saturday or you’ll have people lining up at the door at the same time you’re usually open.

Make your customers feel welcome and appreciated – Offer them some sort of incentive to shop your business rather than the big box retailers.  Serve refreshments, get a local musician to play a few songs, and hand out goody bags.  Do something to make yourself memorable so that people will want to shop your small business year after year.

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To break the benefits and potential detriments down, here is a list of the pros and cons of putting kids to work in your small business

PRO: No interview process or need to insure against unmet obligations: When hiring part-time labor to help with your home-based business, you’re typically tasked with either performing background checks to the best of your ability or updating your contract management system software every six months. The process of finding quality worker can be a long and tedious one. By putting your kids to work instead, the trust hurdles can be skipped entirely.

CON: You aren’t filtering through a talent pool: When it comes to your kids, what you see is what you get. If you put them to work, it’s imperative you make sure they can get the jobs assigned to them done. By skipping a process where you interview candidates to find the best fit, you have to make sure the family members you employ are just as qualified, or else you are only hurting your business.

PRO: Your tax burden can be lessened: Multiple factors contribute to a better tax rate when you put your kids to work. Deductions exist for this situation, self-employment income is reduced, and if your kids earn less than the standard deduction of $5800, that sum is completely immune from taxation. Essentially you are laundering your taxable income through one of the most legal ways possible.

CON: Documentation is essential: On the other hand, if you plan on reaping the tax benefits of putting your kids to work, be prepared to document them just like any other part-time employee. Pay them with checks, make sure they clock-in and clock-out, and provide them with W-2s at the end of the year. Considering you would need to do this if you hired outside help anyway, it isn’t a huge deal. But people often think that because they are putting their kids to work they can just sort of pay them whatever they want, under the table even, and then collect on the tax breaks. Not so. You still need to treat them like any other employee or else you could be opening the door to a tax audit.

PRO: You get to show your kids the ropes: Whether it’s hopes of passing your enterprise along to your children someday, or by wanting to simply instill a strong work ethic in your progeny, employing your children is a great way to introduce them to the world of earning a living. While it’s important your children get to experience employment under someone not related to them, in order to get a more realistic perspective of the boss-employee dynamic, having their first few years of paid work be under your control and supervision is undoubtedly the best way to ensure they adapt an appropriate attitude in regards to labor.

If your kids are always underfoot in your attempts to grow a home business, employing them is possibly one of the best things you could do for both of you. But don’t make the mistake of blindly entering this situation without first weighing the pros and cons, and don’t simply put them on the books looking for a tax break. You still need to do what’s best for your business and your child.

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Mapping Your Dream

Diana Scharf Hunt said, “Goals are dreams with deadlines.”  Without a clear action plan, many budding entrepreneurs don’t what direction to take their businesses in.  Chapin notes that “Imagining the life of someone you admire is a great way to get your dream juices flowing, but think really carefully about what you’re envisioning.”  There are advantages and disadvantages of being a business owner so you need to be prepared for whatever life throws at you.

Chapin suggests answering the following questions before committing yourself to business ownership:

• How many hours weekly do you want to work on your business?
• Where will you do this work?
• How much money will this business need to get off the ground/grow?
• What makes THIS your dream business?
• If you were applying for a job at your own business, what qualities and qualifications do you possess that make you a good match for what this business needs?
• What motivates you?  What really gets you going?
• If you didn’t make this business happen successfully, how would you feel?

By understanding what inspired you to consider opening a business in the first place, you build a foundation for your dreams to grow and develop.  You are better able to come up with a plan of action which leads us to the next subject Chapin writes about-deciding which direction to take your business ideas.

Choosing a Direction for Your Dream Business to Take

With so many avenues to choose from, it can be very overwhelming to decide what to throw your time and money into when it comes to starting your own business.  If you’re an aspiring chef, you may want to open a small restaurant and teach cooking classes on the weekend for extra income.  You may want to have a column in your local newspaper or write about your experience for magazines and food-related websites.  In your spare time, you’ll surely want to try your hand at writing your own cookbook.  Last but not least, you may want to learn how to photograph your cuisine so that others can see and experience it globally.

Multiple streams of income can help your handmade business grow quickly.  It can be the one thing that sets you apart from other small business owners offering the same type of products and services as you.  Side income can help see you through difficult times.  If one source of revenue fails you, you have others to use as backup.

Chapin also addresses how to write a useful mission statement, keeping track of goals and intentions, creating an effective business plan, managing your time wisely, and taking care of taxes.  Grow Your Handmade Business is easy-to-read and chock full of helpful advice.  If you have ever dreamed of starting your own business but you don’t want to go bust doing it, pick up a copy of this book and read it from cover to cover.  There’s a lot of knowledge to be gained from this gem.

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If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, you should be.  The social media photo sharing site is taking the world by storm.  In fact, it is one the fastest growing social services.  With 3.3 million users, it’s a great place for you to promote your business.

Here’s how it works.  Users are able to “pin” items that interest them.  This includes products from your website, blog entries you’ve written, and photographs that you’ve taken.  This is a great way to increase your exposure, win over new customers, and eliminate costly advertising.

Here are some pointers on how to make the most of Pinterest to further your business’ success:

1. Get to know your demographic.  Try to make your boards and pins grab their attention.  Like any other social network, there are certain people that are influential on Pinterest.  Get them to take notice of your business and others will too.  You’ll have more pins and repins than you’ll know what to do with.
2. Make your photos uniform, sleek, and attractive.  Make sure your descriptions match the products you’re promoting.  Organize your boards so that they’re easy to find and look at.  You want people to be intrigued by what you’re promoting, not frustrated.
3. Use Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr to get others to follow your Pinterest account.  Just like other forms of social networking, you need to promote your Pinterest page.  This is a great way to get more traffic to your website and ultimate more money into your pockets.
4. Promote more than products.  Share tips, advice, and products from other companies.  Make sure that they fit your theme and image.  This will help develop your online persona and make it easier for others to relate to you.
5. Follow your followers.  Take note of who pins your items most.  How many followers do they have?  How often are they pinning or repining your posts?  This information is valuable because it can help fine tune your marketing plan.
6. Keep track of trends.  Incorporate popular words and phrases into your descriptions.  This will help others find you easily.

Jump on the Pinterest bandwagon and take your business from obscurity to superstardom in a short period of time.  Like every other social network, the popular photo sharing site offers plenty of marketing opportunities.  You just have to know where to start and this article gives you an idea where to launch your Pinterest marketing campaign.

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• tips for the unemployed

Unemployment continues to remain high and jobs are hard to come by. The national average is still over 9 percent while many areas are being hit with unemployment rates of about 10 percent. Think about that for a minute. One out of every ten people you know is likely to be without a job. If not now, but possibly in the near future. Of course, if you work in an industry that’s already being hit hard, this may already be the case or even worse.

So how do you make sure that you’re not that one out of ten without a job? Unfortunately, in some positions or with certain companies, nobody is safe. But there are many situations where layoffs are more selective, and by taking the initiative to make a few good decisions you can improve your chances of keeping your job when it comes time to let some people go.

Make Yourself Available

If your company has already let some people go, that means there’s just as much work to be done, only by fewer people. Those who still have a job will need to pick up some of the slack. This means that you should be making yourself available to take on additional tasks or help with projects that you might not have otherwise had to do. While nobody wants to take on more work for no additional pay, in times like these it pays to be someone who offers to help.

When you take the lead and offer your assistance when asked you increase your value to your boss and employer. You become someone that they can count on, and this will likely play a role in determining who they can afford to let go if layoffs are on the way. Of course, this is a double-edged sword.  It is possible that in offering up this additional help your boss may begin to take advantage of you and pile on even more work. You don’t want to be put in that situation either. But in times like these, you need to weigh the options. Get burdened with more work and be thankful you have a job, or refuse to do more work and risk losing your job.

Let Your Boss Know What You’re Doing

Just doing good work alone isn’t enough. Your boss is probably just as stressed out, if not more so, about uncertainty at work and the possibility of cutting workers. They probably aren’t completely in-tune with everything you’re doing, and unless you bring issues up with your boss directly they may go unnoticed. This doesn’t mean you should burden your boss with your every little accomplishment, but you need to let him know you’re out there and getting things done.

It doesn’t take much either. Just shooting a quick email updating your supervisor about the completion of an assignment, or informing them of something that would make them happy since it reduces their workload or stress will go a long way. The bottom line is you want to have regular communication, whether big or small. Again, when it comes down to deciding who needs to stay and go, the more visible you’ve been to your superiors, the more likely the perceived value in keeping you on.

Network With Others

Networking can not only help you keep your job, but it can prove very valuable when it’s time to seek out a new job. Your personal connections matter and if you’re a loner in the office, your chances of retaining your position when others are perceived to be bigger team players, begins to drop. You don’t have to go out for drinks with the entire office every day after work, but you should make an effort to connect with your co-workers. This can improve your relationship with others, and even translate to improved performance in the office.

You should also consider joining any professional organizations that relate to your job or industry and take part in local networking events. Again, this alone might not save your job, but the connections you build will help you find new work through the connections you’ve made. If time is a constraint or you don’t have many local networking opportunities, you might want to check out an online service like LinkedIn where you can search, find, and network with friends, co-workers, and other industry players from the comfort of your home.

Keep Up on Job Skills

When was the last time you did something that increased your value as an employee? Maybe it was some continuing education, getting a new certification, or just attending an optional seminar, but how long has it been since you took the initiative to expand your skill set? If you’re like most, it’s been a while. Especially when you’re in a field that doesn’t require things like this. But outdated job skills can be the difference between keeping your job or getting laid off.

So check with your employer to see if there are any advancement opportunities. They may offer some free online internal courses to brush up on some skills, or maybe even help pay for outside education programs. You won’t know unless you ask. Granted, you don’t want to go out and suddenly decide to start an MBA program just for the sake of looking good, but you should take advantage of any opportunities that can help you stay abreast of what is going on in your field of work.

Be Conservative

I’m not talking about political affiliation here, but your work style. When companies are struggling and doing their best to make ends meet, there isn’t as much room for error. If you’re someone who regularly pushes the envelope and tries new or radical ideas, it might be a good idea to tone things down a bit. It isn’t that thinking outside the box or trying to be innovative is bad, it’s just there is little room for mistakes in this type of environment.

When companies are rapidly growing and healthy, it’s almost encouraged to think this way, but when your job might be on the line it’s time to ratchet down and stick to the core values of the company. You might argue that being innovative and coming up with a great idea could also save your job. And it’s true, if you come up with something or take the company in a direction that saves or makes money, you could be seen as a hero. But if you fail, you’re seen as the employee who went out on a limb and messed up. It’s all about risk and reward. Taking a risk might yield a big reward, but could also accelerate your departure. Being more conservative in times like these could prove to be the better course of action. If you do have some new and great idea you should bring it up with your superiors and discuss it in a team environment. It may still be a great idea, but when more people are involved you aren’t simply sticking your neck out there if things go wrong.

Don’t Complain

Above all, don’t complain. Are you ticked off that Sally was assigned a task that you were expected to do, or mad that someone threw out your leftover cake in the break room? Now is the time to bite your tongue. Don’t make a big deal out of petty stuff. If you are seen as someone who whines or complains, you’ll become part of the office gossip. It doesn’t pay to make a big deal out of things that don’t directly affect your job security. But if word gets around that you’re always the one complaining it won’t help save your job.

Obviously, if something is being done that’s wrong, against policy, or directly affects your performance, that’s one thing. But if a co-worker does something annoying, or your boss assigns you a menial task, it’s probably in your best interest to suck it up and go on with your business. Everyone is stressed out, but don’t be known as the guy or girl at the office who complains about everything. You’ll surely be noticed, but not in a good way.

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Here are five things that help me get the most out of my workday:

1. Cozi is a FREE online calendar.  It helps you organize your appointments, tasks, and favorite memories.  I like it because I can access it from my iPod Touch and Cruz Tablet as well as my laptop.  This makes it easier to keep track of deadlines and pay periods.  It also gives me a place to collect story ideas as well as websites I want to look at in the future.
2. HootSuite has a Basic Plan that allows you to register up to five social media accounts for free.  I use the service to schedule Tweets and update my Facebook Wall.  Having a tool like this at my disposal saves me time because it allows me to pre-schedule messages that direct people back to my blog and to the websites I write for.  I don’t have to dedicate large portions of time updating my social media accounts which allows me to work on other projects.
3. TextFree for Web allows you to text cell phones and other TextFree customers from the comfort of your own computer.  I love being able to do this because the keys on my cell phones are small and typing on them is nearly impossible.  I just open up the application, type the number I want to text, and go about my business after checking for a response.
4. Dropbox is by far my favorite application.  It lets me share photos, videos, and documents with others without having to send them as email attachments.  This allows me to conveniently access my computer from my iPod Touch and I never have to worry about size restrictions because the people I authorize to access my Dropbox can view its contents online.
5. Lifed is a great resource for life and productivity hacks.  I like to keep on top of technology and appreciate reading about new apps and software that make my job easier.  I have the site bookmarked on my computer and I refer to it often.

Working from home is a dream come true for me.  Learning how to be a more efficient, better organized independent contractor is something I strive for each and every day.  Luckily the Internet helps me with this.  With the click of a mouse or a swipe of my fingertip, I can access all the applications that make my job easier.

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“[The] probability of an entrepreneur getting venture capital is the same as getting struck by lightning while standing at the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day. This may be too optimistic.” Guy Kawasaki.

That’s the bad news.  The good news, however, is that many new start-ups are launched with very little money at all.  Michael Dell started his company, Dell Computer, out of his college dorm room for less than $1,000.  In fact, many of the world’s greatest companies were not only started with very little money, they were also started in the midst of very poor economic environments.  Hyatt, Burger King, FedEx, Microsoft, CNN, MTV, Trader Joe’s, Sports Illustrated, General Electric and Hewlett Packard were all companies that started in poor economic conditions.

So You’re Saying I’ve Got A Chance?

When I started my first business, I was as close to flat-broke as anyone could be.  My wife was pregnant with our second child and we didn’t have much money to speak of.  Naturally, starting a new business sounded like a grand idea.  The only realistic possibility for getting my start-up off the ground depended entirely upon my willingness to pull myself up by my bootstraps.  Self-financing with little or no money seems incredibly daunting, but for many of us, there’s really no other option.  The truth of the matter is that bootstrapping a business is an incredibly useful learning experience for young entrepreneurs and one that can pay dividends over the long term, Building a business with a “lean and mean” mindset and fiscal discipline very early on in the company’s development is one of the greatest experiences in business that I’ve ever had. There are a countless number of creative ways that you can finance a start-up.  Here are just a few tips on bootstrapping your new startup that I have found particularly beneficial from my own experience:

Outsourcing

Outsourcing has been demonized in the mainstream press as one of the scapegoats for America’s decline as a leading economic power.  The simple fact of the matter is that many start-ups don’t have the financial means to hire full-time employees early on so business owners are left no choice but to bootstrap their operations.  Outsourcing early in the company’s development is clearly a more affordable option and when done the right way, it’s very effective.  Three primary areas in any business that you can effectively outsource are computer programming, web design and software development.  Here are a few online resources for outsourcing some or all of your needs in those areas:

• Elance
• Freelancer.com
• oDesk

The selection process is the key to making any of these outsourcing resources work for you.  With any freelancing site, you have to thoroughly review the prospective developer’s work portfolio and relevant experience.  The more experience with your specific project requirements the better, but you should also consider the feedback provided from previous buyers of their services.  Look for consistently positive feedback from their previous work and a high percentage of positive reviews for the vendor’s past work.   Above all else, do not base your decision on the supplier who offers the lowest price.From my experience, selecting a vendor based solely upon the lowest bid price has always ended badly and has usually resulted in having to start the project over from scratch, an expensive proposition for an upstart. Eventually, my business grew to the point where I needed to hire several full-time employees, but outsourcing was the keystone that provided that opportunity.

Barter and Trade

Instead of paying cash for products and services, bartering can be an extremely effective bootstrapping tool.  Bartering involves trading products and services between complimentary businesses, which is probably more suitable for service-oriented businesses but if you are selling tangible products, there are still opportunities to barter creatively as well.  You can find people who are willing to exchange services online at craigslist.org.

Partnering with a Complimentary Business

Bartering dovetails nicely with another effective bootstrapping technique – partnering with a complementary business. Any business in a non-competitive but complementary industry would qualify where you can share costs on facilities, equipment, employees, rent, and advertising. If you own a carpet cleaning business, for example, you may be able to find a local furniture store that will let you work out of their store in exchange for a small percentage of your revenue. Partnering in this manner can help to lower your overhead and also help you build immediate clientele with referrals from the furniture store. Other examples of partnering with complementary businesses:

• Small dog-walking service and an established local veterinarian
• Law firm and a local CPA
• Local surf shop and a skateboarding accessories retailer

The possibilities are limitless for potential partnerships that can have a big impact on your cost savings and, ultimately, your bottom line.

Internships

Local colleges in your area are a great place to find internship programs that are loaded with students looking for opportunities to earn school credit and gain experience in their field of choice.  Interns are highly motivated laborers and they’re willing to work for next to nothing but they can do more than just save you money.  Internships can provide a great opportunity for both interns and employers to check each other out, allowing each one to take an extended “test drive” of sorts.  Internships give students a chance at first-hand experience running a business and gives employers the opportunity to build loyalty and develop their most talented employees. Internship programs have started to play a much bigger role in transforming smaller businesses.  In the past, internship programs have been dominated by large corporations but small business has started to effectively tap into this resource, realizing the vast potential that it holds.  Offline, the place to start looking for internship programs is the employment or career services office on your local college campuses. There are online resources available to locate internships for your business as well:

• Internships.com
• InternShipPrograms.com

SCORE Business Counseling

SCORE, also known as “Counselors to America’s Small Business” is a nonprofit association partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) whose mission is to educate entrepreneurs and small business owners, helping them start and grow their companies. SCORE has 350 offices nationwide that are staffed with more than 13,000 mentor volunteers with extensive business experience and a wide range of business skills.  The mentors are retired business owners and corporate leaders who share their experience and lessons they have learned in their careers.  The advice offered by SCORE’s mentors is free and confidential and has provided guidance for more than 8.5 million small businesses.  You can choose your own mentor, attend free online workshops and get advice online or in-person. SCORE is a truly remarkable resource for small business owners but is surprisingly not well known.  In fact, Kiplinger Magazine recently identified SCORE as one of the “33 Fabulous Freebies in 2010”.

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You’re paying good money for the work so you expect whomever you hire to meet those specifications.  Unfortunately, if you don’t follow the three keys below, odds are that you won’t be happy with the work you pay for.

1) Start with Good Candidates

Nobody wants to pay more than they should for home repair but don’t just open up the phone book and pick the cheapest option.  Price is just one part of the equation so basing your decision on that alone is setting yourself up for failure. Instead get referrals from people that have hired contractors for similar projects and were pleased with the work.

It may be easier to just call a few numbers from the yellow pages but its worth the time it takes to call up your friends and family and ask them if they’ve had similar work done and who they used.  If you’re just looking for a list of contractors in your area who have done a good job for others, one option is to become a member of Angies List.

Members of the site leave ratings on local contractors they’ve used and you can just pick the ones that have the most ratings with the highest feedback.  There is a monthly fee to belong but you can save some money with this list of Angies List coupon codes.

2) Get Multiple Estimates

Now that you have a short list of qualified contractors, the next step is to have them check out your specific project and give you an estimate of how much time and money it would take for them to complete it.

Often times we’re eager to get started so if the first bid you get seems reasonable and you like the contractor you may be tempted to just go with the first estimate.  Just remember, it’s in your best interest to take the extra time and get at least two more estimates.  Getting multiple bids allows you to compare prices, plus chances are each person or company that comes out will bring up some point or issue that the others left out.

Every contractor has different levels of experience in different areas so these multiple perspectives can be quite valuable. For example, we had three different companies give us a bid for the same foundation work and each one proposed a different solution with widely ranging costs.

3) Ask a Lot of Questions

When the contractors come out to give you an estimate make sure you are present and prepared to ask questions.  The more questions you ask, the better idea you’ll have about how much it will cost, how long it will take, and how much experience they have.

The thing about kitchen remodeling, bathroom renovations, foundation repair, or any project is that at the beginning you and the contractor probably have a different picture in your head about what the finished product will be.

The more specific you can be, the greater your chances of getting an accurate estimate and something that fits the picture in your head.  Both you and the contractor bring many different assumptions into the project so the more questions you ask the more surprises you can avoid and the more details you can hammer out.

About the Author: Ben is the author of Money Smart Life and it is a site built on the philosophy that we should use money to live our lives, instead of living our lives around money. Be sure to check out some of his latest money saving tips and subscribe to the RSS feed for more updates.

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