MANAGING EMPLOYEES (Session 15): Both operating and start-up businesses face daunting challenges when hiring employees, training them, and when necessary, discharging them. http://www.myownbusiness.org/managing_employees/.

HOME BASED BUSINESSES (Session 16): Recession and layoffs are producing a growing interest in home businesses…and there are critically important do's and don'ts entrepreneurs need to know.
http://www.myownbusiness.org/home_based_business/.

"Where can I get the Money to start or expand my business?"

Answer: You must first know how much will be needed. To determine this, summarize all of your starting costs and then add the working capital required for one year. This will require preparing a one-year cash flow projection. A free, easy cash flow format is available at www.myownbusiness.org in Session 8 Accounting and Cash Flow.

Here are some money sources, keeping in mind that banks do not lend to start-up firms:

• Personal savings should be the primary source. If you haven't started to save, start now. Frugality will become your cornerstone.



• Think about starting out with a home based business. You can start very small (one order at a time), with minimum investment, and grow by gradually building sales through retained earnings. For the do's and don'ts about starting at home go to MOBI's session 16 mentioned earlier in this newsletter.



• Friends and family are relatively easy and cheap sources with usually reasonable payback terms.



• While credit cards are getting harder to come by, they still provide available unsecured money.



• Business relationships and vendors can offer inexpensive financing. Ask your vendors to provide extended credit terms and advertising allowances. Lease your furniture and equipment. Ask your landlord to include the cost of tenant improvements in your rent.



• Look for bartering possibilities; exchanging your product or service for someone elses.



• Final suggestion. It's not a good idea to take out a home equity loan, as many have learned the hard way. It's like betting the farm... not a good idea.

Many businesses are utilizing social networking to market their business or for communication. It will depend on the kind of business you have and the time you have to devote to it. Here is an alphabetical run down of some social networking sites being used by businesses:

• Facebook: Businesses can create a Fan page and it's free. Video's and pictures can be added but remember you are using this to promote your business so keep it professional.



• LinkedIn is a networking site used professionally for finding business contacts and even posting job openings. You need to be proactive here.



• MySpace can be very flexible in designing your webpage. Like Facebook, you can upload pictures and videos. You need to build friends to network and get exposure. It's more popular with the younger crowd and has worked well for many businesses especially the entertainment industry.



• Skype is a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP). You can download software to your computer and through the Internet, use it free for Skype to Skype calls, video calls, instant messaging and conference calls including international.



• Twitter is a mini blog that basically tells everyone what you're doing. The act of doing this is called tweeting. There is a limitation of 140 characters and no spaces are allowed. You need to build up a following and be consistent. There has only been some success for larger already highly visible companies.



• YouTube is all videos and you don't need high end equipment to create a video to post on YouTube. This site is free and there are many people searching for entertainment, news and education. Your challenge would be creating the right video and presenting it in a way that attracts the viewers you want.

The key word here is "networking". You need to decide if you have the time to devote, can be consistent and are able to find value for your own business.

The MOBI course content is compiled from a growing team of been-there-done that entrepreneurs and professionals. The content is all "from experience" and includes the important dos and don'ts in each of the important disciplines that business operators need to know. Their wisdom has been generously offered without any compensation and they have also assigned their intellectual property rights to MOBI in order to enable copyrighting of the overall course content.
Our grateful thanks to this growing team.