Seattle Small Business Blog

Your attitude about life is one of the most important factors for success. A bad attitude gets you nowhere, while a good one can provide you with enough motivation to succeed beyond your dreams.

You may think that you already have a success-mindset, and perhaps you do. However, you can always benefit from strengthening that attitude and therefore increasing your chances for the success you deserve.

Follow these strategies for improving your attitude for success:

1. Find your inspiration. Discover what inspires you the most and use it to jumpstart your motivation whenever you go. Feeling inspired enables you to maintain the drive necessary to find success. Do anything you can within your power to find inspiration.Make a list of your ultimate dreams, and then ask yourself if you’re on the right path. If you are, you’ll know that everything you’re doing will be rewarded.

• If you don’t feel like you’re on the right path, perhaps it’s time for a change. Maybe there’s a deeper reason why you’ve felt a lack of motivation. Reflect on what this reason might be, and then decide on how you can renew your drive. When you’re on the right journey, you’ll feel inspired!

2. Surround yourself with positive people. When you’re around positive and inspiring people, you’re more likely to adopt those traits into your own personality and go for your goals with enthusiasm. Negative people, on the other hand, tend to make you negative also.

• If you must be around people that continually bring you down, do your best to avoid taking what they say to heart. You know that they don’t speak the truth. Keep the peace as best as you can to get through these situations and then move on.

3. Take a leap. The best way to improve your attitude might be to just jump right into life. Don’t be afraid to take initiative and plunge forward towards your goals. People who take action find success. If you take action and start to see the results of your efforts, your attitude will only improve.

• The increased drive and motivation you get from your actions can be the difference between success and failure.

4. Strengthen your focus. Your focus can also play a role in your attitude. When you maintain driven toward success, it’s easier to have an optimistic attitude. If you have a lack of focus and don’t know where you’re going, it leads to being unmotivated and uncaring.

5. Allow for mistakes. You’re only human and you will make mistakes from time to time. Be careful to avoid judging yourself harshly when this happens, as it negatively affects your self-confidence. If you work on more of a “go with the flow” attitude, you’ll find that you’re able to pick yourself back up and continue moving forward when you do make a mistake.

The main things to keep in mind are that the combo of inspiration, positive thoughts, and proper motivation can lead you to a healthy and positive attitude. Follow these strategies daily and you’ll notice a boost in your spirits!

Let’s begin by defining what a small business expense is.  You spend money on your small business simply to carry on your business.  In other words, in order to trade whatever it is you trade, it costs you money.  If your business is designed to make a profit, the cost of operating your business is often deductible in the preparation of your tax return.

According to the IRS, a business expense is deductible if it is “ordinary and necessary.”  If your trade normally has a certain expense, for instance, a quilt maker’s fabric, then the cost of fabric is considered an ordinary expense.  If your business needs to spend money on something that is helpful to your trade, for instance, it helps if you advertise your quilts, then those advertising costs would be considered appropriate and helpful to your business, and necessary.

If you produce goods to be sold, you have expenses involved to produce those products.  Again, if you produce quilts, you have fabric, batting, and thread.  However, along with these raw materials, you may have the freight it costs you to receive your materials, costs to store your materials, factory costs, and possibly even labor costs.

There are complicated rules for determining what costs can be deducted as direct expenses.  Depending on your business, you may have indirect costs to consider such as rents, interests on loans, handling costs, and even administrative services.  Your tax accountant will sit down with you and make these determinations by reviewing the current laws and regulations of the IRS.

Some costs to your business are not considered “expenses” – at least when it comes to a simple deduction on your income taxes.  Capital expenditures fall under three classifications:

• Start up costs
• Assets
• Improvements

These three classifications make sense when you take a look at the items you have to create and maintain your business.  Getting back to the quilting business, you have sewing machines and tables, for instance.  You can see that those items are not going to go out the door to make you money. These items will not be deducted as expenses, but rather as a capital expenditure on an amortization schedule.

Business Expenses v. Personal Expenses

Small business owners often operate a portion of their business in their own home, using their own income, their own time, and their own car.  You cannot deduct your personal or family expenses, but you are allowed deductions for those costs that are exclusive to your business, even if those expenses occurred in your home. Two common examples follow:

• Business Use of Your Home – There is a strict division between personal and business expenses, and you must prove your square footage, utility bills, maintenance, and rent or mortgage, used for business purposes.

• Business Use of Your Car – Many small business owners use their own family car for business. If this is the case, the actual mileage must be tracked in order for the business mileage costs to be deductible.

There are many deductible expenses that fit within these direct expenses categories.  You’ll need to sit down with your tax accountant to work through the differences between business expenses to be deducted directly and those expenditures that should be capitalized.  Follow your accountant’s advice, keep good records, and tax time should go smoothly.

Imagine having this nightmare:  The IRS suddenly audits you for a mistake you made on your tax return ten years ago. It seems you transposed two numbers and now you owe the federal government because you filled in a box with the number 730 instead of 370.

If this happened to you, what would you need to bring to an audit?  Would you still have your documentation?  How long should you actually keep your tax documents? Good question.

Let’s take a look at a few situations and the suggested length of time to hold onto your documents.

If you have been withholding taxes from your paycheck but find that you still owe additional taxes when you file, the rule of thumb is to keep these records for three years. There is one exception to this rule and that is if you do not report income that should have been reported at the time you filed your tax return. If the additional funds are more than 25% of the gross income you reported when you filed, those records should be kept for six years.

There are times when tax information should be kept indefinitely. This procedure needs to be followed if you file an inaccurate return, fraudulent return, or if there is no tax return filed at all. The reason these files should be kept indefinitely is because you will need to show proof of income when the IRS requests it, which could be at any point in time.

Special consideration is required if you have a small business.  Employment tax records are important documents and require special handling. These records should be saved for at least four years from the date the tax is due, if paid on time. If the payment is late, the records need to be kept for four years after that date in order to verify employee incomes if requested.

Filing tax credits after filing your return can also add additional time to your record retention time. In order to determine how long you should keep the files, choose the latest date between when you filed your original return and when you actually paid the tax and keep the records for three years from whichever date is later.

When you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or take a deduction for bad debt, you will need to keep the records for seven years. This allows the IRS ample time to investigate your claim. When filing a bad debt deduction, it’s imperative to hold onto the files and have adequate records to prove your bad debt claim.

The general rule of thumb is to keep your tax documents until the period ends when you are able to file a tax credit or refund, or, until the IRS closes your case file. In most cases, retaining records for about 4 years is adequate. There are some cases, however, that require tax documents be kept anywhere from three years to ‘indefinitely’ so check with your tax accountant before you discard any tax files.

The IRS is all about accuracy and proof, so make sure you keep impeccable records and retain all your records for the appropriate time frame. These steps will keep your finances safe and  make tax time go a little more smoothly year after year.

Whether it involves talking with your teen about sex or drugs, your spouse about finances or housework, or your employee about attendance or performance issues, the prospect of initiating a difficult discussion is daunting to many, if not most, people. Mix in the tendency to procrastinate tackling unpleasant tasks, then feeling guilty about putting something so important off, and you can wind up feeling even more miserable and anxious about the impending conversation. You might even lose sleep over it.

Initiating such a discussion doesn’t have to be nearly so painful. With the proper mindset and some preparation, you can learn to handle even the most difficult topic with ease and confidence. The following tips will enable you to do just that.

1. Realize that by having the discussion, your goal is to benefit others as well as yourself. Whether or not he shows it, your teen will most likely appreciate that you care enough to talk to him about things that concern or matter to you. In the case of the employee with the performance issue, she will have an opportunity to correct or improve on it, or face consequences. In either event, the other members on your team will certainly appreciate that you took steps to address the situation, because they will see the poor performer either stepping up to the plate or terminated.

2. Focus on the possible positive outcomes of having the discussion sooner rather than later. The employee’s performance could most certainly improve. Or you may have the opportunity to replace a poor performer with someone more willing and able to do the work and follow company or departmental policies. Either way, the performance of your team as a whole will benefit, which will be a positive reflection on your own performance.

3. Prepare for any possible reaction to the discussion. Have contingency plans for handling any behavior or response to what you have to say, whether it be anger, denial, silence or disbelief. Knowing in advance exactly how you will deal with any of these will give you the confidence you need to proceed. Understand that you cannot control a person’s reaction, and in many cases you cannot predict it either. But you can always prepare for any possibility.

4. If the topic for discussion is an especially difficult one for you, have a reward planned for yourself when you complete it. Take a half day off to do something you enjoy, or treat yourself to something you ordinarily would not. After all, you just accomplished something that doesn’t come easily for you. You deserve something special.

Following these tips will not make handling difficult discussions any more fun, by any means, but doing so when the necessity arises will make you a better and more competent communicator, manager, parent and/or spouse. And who wouldn’t benefit from that?

Creating a positive work environment is crucial to the success of any organization. In the current challenging times, less people need to do more or the same amount of work for the organization to stay ahead. What are the strategies that an organization can apply to create a positive work environment?

1. Plan Effectively
While it is important to do a lot of research and study reports for planning purposes, effective planning should include the people involved in implementing the plan.

There are things that these people are aware of that can make a difference to the plan. Aside from that, there will be a better understanding of the plan and a sense of ownership when it is time to act on the plan.

2. Change Where Change Is Needed
Change is something that cannot be avoided. Either you change with the times or you get left behind.

It is necessary to be aware of customer needs, changes in the economy and trends in the industry to be aware of the changes. However, make changes where it is needed and not just for the sake of changing.

3. Groom Your People
Your people are crucial to the success of your business.

Groom your people to develop skills as well as attitudes and behavior required to take your business from where it is to where you want it to be.

4. Encourage Dissent
Do not be afraid of dissent. If all your employees agreed with everything, you may not become aware of changes that are happening to your customer base or in the industry. Focus will be narrow and based on conventional ideas.

Allow dissent that will generate new ideas and actions that will enhance your business.

5. Foster Leadership
You need more than management personnel to run the business. Thinking like a leader is a mindset that needs to be developed in every employee.

Every single person be it from sales, support or administration can also contribute creativity and responsibility to the roles they play.

6. Move Quickly
Change is happening so fast that it is necessary to make your move quickly. While it is important to think through your decisions, there are changes to which response has to be fast to stay ahead of competition.

7. Be Customer Oriented
Ultimately, it is your customers who keep you in business.

Be aware of your customers’ needs and wants. When they provide feedback on your products and services or require support, listen and take appropriate action.

If there are complaints, handle them. Be glad that they remain your customers despite the complaint. A complaint well-handled will get you a happier customer.

8. Take Action
While having ideas and strategies are great, a difference is made only when action is taken.

It is necessary to study and research whatever decisions you make. However, remember that often you may not get all the information you would like to have to make the decision.

Make your best judgment call and take the required action to make the decisions work out well.

Creating a positive work environment may be about environment and comfort. More importantly, it is the passion that you create within the organization by bringing people together to deliver a vision.

Imagine yourself enjoying the warm autumn sunlight while listening to Paul Simon’s song, “50 Ways to Leave your Lover”.

Now, stretch your imagination just a bit and think about how many “Ways” you can come up with for saving and/or making more money in business…

“The problem is all inside your head
She said to me
The answer is easy
If you take it logically”

So, let’s look at the problem logically for a minute. Here are four basic ways you can increase your profits:

1. You can charge more for your products or services.
2. You can sell more of your products or services to your existing clients.
3. You can find additional clients.
4. You can find ways to cut back on your business expenses.

“Slip Out the Back, Jack” (Simple ways to save money):

So, if you’re on a shoestring budget (and who isn’t these days?), then obviously you need to do everything you can to save as much money as possible, and make as much money as possible, as quickly and easily as possible. Here are 10 simple ideas you can use:

1. Know your target market. Who are your “ideal” customers?
Where do they shop? What do they read? What solutions are they looking for that your business provides? The more you know about your customers, the better you’ll be able to target your promotions towards them, which will increase your bottom line two ways – it will save you spending money on advertising that doesn’t work, and it will increase your sales, because you’re offering your customers what they really want.

2. Get double duty out of any contact with your customers. If you sell products, put your contact information on everything –products, bags, invoices sales receipts. Make it easy for everyone to find you. Give away something free. If you have a Website (and if you don’t, then get one), give your customers something for giving you their contact information. Free Ebooks, reports, or software are all good choices (just make sure it’s relevant to your customers). Anytime you send your customers anything – a product, a newsletter, an invoice –include a coupon or information about your latest products or services. To save money on postage, if you have a brick and mortar store, put a copy of your latest newsletter or an informational flyer in your customer’s bag after each sale.

3. Reward your customers. Set up a reward program. Offer them a reward for anyone they refer who becomes a customer. Or give your customers a free gift when they spend $50 (or whatever amount makes sense in your business). When they’re eligible for the free gift, offer them an upgrade to something bigger or better for a few dollars more. Start a customer loyalty program. Provide “customer only” sales, or promotions. Let your customers earn points, or “magic money” that they can use to redeem your products or services.

4. Get ready for your close-up. When you’re brainstorming about creating a promotion or advertising campaign, don’t forget about your local cable TV channel. You may be pleasantly surprised by how low their rates actually are. Create your own television commercial or infomercial. Although you may not be ready for prime time, you can still target your ad to reach your customers.

5. Get involved in your community. Find a nonprofit organization that is doing work you believe in, and either publicly support their program, or be one of their sponsors for an upcoming event or fundraiser. Use the advertising spot to let people know about the fundraiser (and, incidentally, your business). You could put together an inexpensive ad campaign that will help those in need, increase your visibility and let your potential customers know that you’re supportive and aware of the needs of the community.

“Make a new plan, Stan” (Business Planning Basics):

6. Beef up your business plan. If you don’t have a business plan, make writing one a priority. Your business plan is more than just a way to interest investors. It’s a road map that will help you get from where you are now to where you want to be. That old saying, “If you fail to plan then you’re planning to fail” really is true when it comes to business.

“No need to be coy, Roy” (Ask your customers):

7. Get testimonials from your satisfied clients. But don’t stop there. What about creating your own television commercial that you can run in your store? (With a video camera and a little ingenuity, you could even create your own infomercial that shows customers how to use or get the most out of your products or services. If you’ve got a Website, put an audio testimonial on there. (And don’t forget to include pictures).

8. Speak up. Again, keeping in mind who your ultimate ideal customers are and what their most pressing problems are, write an article, offer a free seminar, or offer to be a speaker at local chamber of commerce or other organization or community meetings. Being perceived as an “expert” is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to get the word out about your business, and bring in more customers.

“Just hop on the bus, Gus” (Expand your business potential)

9. Create joint ventures. Even if your primary business is a brick and mortar one, you can still create a joint venture that will help you save money by sharing the costs for advertising. What about creating a special “sidewalk sale” with other business owners on your street or in your neighborhood? Or finding businesses with complementary products or services to yours, and creating a “package deal”? If your business is only online, look for ways you can partner with other businesses – maybe you could create solo ads and promote each other’s products or services in your mailing lists. There are a lot of ways you can save money and increase your client base if you’re willing to get creative.

“Just drop off the key, Lee” (Provide the key solutions)

10. Let your customers know you know what their problems are. It’s sad but true that your customers don’t care how good your products or services are. They only want to know two things: do you understand what their problems are; and can you solve them. Give your customers the “key” to their problems, and you’ll have evangelistic customers who come back again and again.

Any business will cringe at the thought of what the banks put them through to use credit cards. If you do not know what I mean, then this article is for you!

The fact is that everyone online wants to use a credit card or debit card to process their order. It is very true in our society that the credit card is a way of life, and if you do not offer that ability to accommodate them, customers will move on to another website that does allow them to use their cards. This society has become driven by instant gratification and expects to receive their products immediately, either by a download or a short shipping duration. Taking credit cards as a form of payment on the internet or offline should be thoroughly understood. Read on to see what I mean and how to protect yourself.

The fact is that any merchant taking in payments is immediately at risk for whatever amount is charged and MORE. The banks will take the charge disputed along with a “charge back” fee right from your merchant account, and you better have enough in there that has cleared to pay your own bills or you will be charged more for “overdraft charges”. Some banks are waking up to the fact that it is not always the merchant at fault and most merchants are more than honest in their dealings. There is so much credit card fraud out there and since the merchants are ALWAYS liable, you need to realize this and take action to prevent as much disaster for your business as possible.

First, if you have your own merchant account, then you have a lot of work to do when you receive a credit card order. You must verify as best you can that the card, the name on the card, the address, the cvv number verification, and the quantities are all in order. You need to verify the IP address of every order and see if it is within the location of the card holder. A person living in Toronto, Canada, probably would not be in Las Cruces, New Mexico, charging products. This is a red flag but not a deal breaker, some people DO travel. Caution needs to be taken to protect your cash flow. As a merchant you must get money safely into your account for any goods or service you provide, so that you can become a larger or more substantial independent business.

Do not just take in cards and believe that everything is going to be just fine now that you have the money in your account, because it can come out just as fast, or faster, than it went in. There is a real need for you to understand a lot more than can be mentioned in this article.

The best way to receive all the tools and services you need to protect yourself and to make your voice heard is to check this website: http://www.merchant911.org This is a group of dedicated individuals who have been working for years to try to change banking and processing company rules and regulations as relative to merchants, both large and small. If you need any more proof of their dedication, just read some of the press releases and look at the tools they have assembled for merchants to use.

Right now is the time to start to protect yourself from credit card fraud. If you have read any of the newspapers or listened to any of the news reports, then you already know you are at risk. There are reports of over 40 million cards in the hands of criminals and thieves and they will sell these cards or will use them in various illegal methods. It’s not hard to imagine that some day soon you will be approached and asked to spend your time and money to ship a product or provide a service with these fraudulent cards.

Sales psychology is an advantage whether you are in a conventional brick and mortar business or an online one. The great thing is that sales psychology is not difficult to learn. Essentially all you need to do is put yourself in the place of the prospective buyer.

One aspect of sales psychology is that people respond to specifics more than generalities. If you sell photocopy machines, saying a particular unit is a high-speed duplicating machine is not impactful. But if you say that your machine produces 10 sheets of A4-sized copies in 12 seconds with the ability to automatically collate documents into correct order, then it seems more impressive. In sales, rounding off figures dilutes its impact so state numbers without rounding off.
This aspect of stating things in specific terms also applies to targeting your prospects. People must know whether your product or service is for them or not. Hence, the term ‘Home Owners’ is not as good as ‘Gardening Enthusiasts’. And ‘Gardening Enthusiasts’ is not as specific as ‘Tropical Plant Lovers’. Get specific. Got it?

Another aspect of sales psychology is that people are interested in how they can benefit from your product or service more than what the product can do. This seems obvious but most business owners and sales people miss the mark on this one. My favorite way to make sure I’m focusing on benefits instead of features is to ask myself “What does it do?” (to uncover a feature) and then “What’s so great about that?” to uncover the benefit to them.

Why on earth would you want to run an event for your business? Events take a lot of organizing and publicity, not to mention the time you might not have and, depending on what you want to do, they can also cost quite a bit of money.

So is it really worth all that effort? In a word, yes!

An event is a fantastic way to get a whole lot of your clients and potential clients together so you can present to them all at once, saving you huge amounts of time and effort trying to reach them all individually – and even better, as the speaker, you come across as an expert in your field. Give your clients valuable information and they will talk about you and recommend you to others. Having an event is also a great way to encourage your clients to network with each other and see how they can help each other – and of course, it’s you they’ll thank for that opportunity.

Having your name on an event can be very good publicity for you and your business. If you pick a hot topic for your industry you could find yourself interviewed by the local press, on the radio, or even on television, all of which increase your chances of being seen as an expert by potential clients.

You may even make money directly from your event – either by charging admission, finding sponsorship or by having products to sell at the event. Regular events could produce a nice stream of new income.

You could generate yet another income stream just from one event by creating one or more products – you could video it, record it, transcribe it, turn the learning materials into an ebook or online course and sell it – the possibilities are endless.

So once you’ve decided to go ahead – how do you pick a good topic? You’ll need to look at what your industry is discussing right now and what they really want to know. There are lots of ways to find this out:

- Run an online survey – www.surveymonkey.com has a free option you can use to create some very useful surveys
- Call several trusted clients and find out what they’d like to learn more about
- Go to online forums on your subject and see what everyone is talking about
- Post on online forums and ask people what they might be interested in
- Look at the bestsellers on Amazon, Barns & Noble and Clickbank
- Look at the most popular keywords using a word tracker tool (www.freekeywords.wordtracker.com is our favorite free tool)
- Go to your trade association and ask what their members are interested in
- Look at competitor’s ezines and see what they are discussing at the moment.

Once you have your topic you’ll need to pick a date and an event format. What kind of event should you offer? Look at where your potential clients are based:

- If most people are in a particular area of the country, you should consider having a face to face meeting – this is always the best option if possible as you have much more chance to impress and to deal on the spot with any objections and questions, as well as providing that all important networking opportunity for your clients.

If your clients are scattered across the country or even across the world, you may want to look at running a telecast or web based event:

- With a web based event using a facility such as www.hotconference.com, you have the option of using the whiteboard, showing a PowerPoint presentation, directing people to view a website and seeing the attendees online via webcam – this is a great way to give a presentation but make sure you are practiced at using all the features of the software first and consider whether your clients are technically-minded enough to be comfortable with this, and likely to have equipment such as webcams and microphones.

- If this is your first time running an event, the easiest option is to run a teleclass, where you set a date and time and participants simply dial in and listen to you. Many companies, such as www.freeconference.com, offer this service and a quick Google search should bring up a long list of companies you could use.

If you choose a live event you’ll need to find a good venue. Look at cost, position – find somewhere central with good transport links and parking. Make sure you see the room you’ll be using before the event so you can see the space you have available and plan your layout. Check maximum numbers the room can hold for fire regulations, find out where the fire exits and fire alarm are and make sure there is disabled access.

You’ll need to market your event very well to get good numbers:

- Use your own ezine, local press and radio, the chamber of commerce and online forums.
- Write articles on your subject and submit them to article directories and other ezines.
- Tell your trade association and use online event listings.
- Go to networking events and take leaflets with you to advertise what you are doing.
- Ask each client to bring one potential client to get a free place
- Offer to speak at other events on the run up to yours with a taste of what people will get on the day.
- Find another non-competing company who are aiming for the same market and do a joint event

Don’t just rely on one way to get publicity – think of as many different ways as you can and use the best ones for your event.

You’ll need to be very organized and plan well ahead. Make sure you order any equipment you might need in plenty of time. Make up an event checklist and buildyourself a kit with plenty of spares – pens, training materials, extension cables, flip chart paper, gaffer tape, scissors, etc. Check with the venue that everything’s ready for you the day before the event.

The more value you provide, the more likely you are to be seen as an expert in your area and the more business you will get from your event and from word of mouth after the event as a result, so don’t deliver a sales pitch – your content has to be high quality, entertaining and informative or people will feel cheated, particularly if they paid to attend.

Once the event is over make sure you follow up and ask for feedback – it’s the best way to find out if the event was what your clients wanted, to get ideas for future events, and also a great to chance to chat to prospective clients to see if they’re interested in working with you. You can also collect testimonials which will help you if you plan to run events on a regular basis, and which you can also use to promote any products you develop from your event content.

In short, pick a great topic, plan everything carefully, publicize what you are doing as much as you can, and check everything is in place the day before the event. On the day, don’t forget to relax and enjoy yourself – if you are having fun, the audience will too. Lastly and by no means least, whatever you do, don’t forget to follow up.

Just by following these guidelines you could find yourself with any amount of new clients, lots of publicity and several new income streams.
Worth it? Definitely!

You have decided it is time to be self-employed and that franchising is the best route for you. Most business start-ups are financed. If you are planning on using financing, it is best to start looking at your finance options right away. Finding the right source, going through the application and approval process usually takes longer than expected.

Home Equity Loan: This is the quickest and usually the least expensive of the commercial-type loan options. If you have owned your home for awhile and have some equity getting a home loan is about a 30-day process. If you choose the line of credit loan, you can write checks as you need to pay for items. One thing you need to remember is to include your loan payment as part of you business expenses when figuring your projected financial statements.

Your Retirement Account: This form of financing is not widely known. There are companies that will legally convert those funds that are locked in a retirement account into an account to use for your new business. This option is not for those who are intolerant to risk since you are using funds allocated for your retirement and there is no guarantee that you will be successful and able to refund your account.

SBA Loan: The Small Business Administration has loans for financing new businesses. The SBA does not actually provide the funds, they provide the guarantee to the banks. They also create the loan programs and the criteria for the loan approval.

Keeping It In The Family: What if you do not own a home but you have great credit? How about using the home of a family member as collateral for your SBA loan? Of course, now you not only need to convince the SBA that you’re a good risk, you also need to convince your family member that you are going to be successful.

Asset-Based Lenders: If your business will include purchasing equipment and fixtures, an asset-based lender is an option. You probably will not be able to finance all your business expenses, like the franchise fee, but this is a way to reduce the amount of cash you have to invest at start-up. The assets of your business are the collateral for the loan. Be aware that the interest rate and costs for this option will be higher than a loan with real estate as collateral.

Sell Stock In Your Corporation: This option takes some extra effort because you need to convince potential investors that your business will be a big success. You will also have to hire an attorney to incorporate your business and make sure you are following the law in your sale of stock. Your business plan and projected financial should be very compelling, yet realistic, so that your potential investors will be excited to invest.

These are many of the common options for financing your franchise. It is important to include your choice of financing in your decision to purchase a franchise or any business.