There is a habit to have in business that is arguably in the top three of the most important habits to have when communicating in written form. It is imperative that you re-read your notes, memos, letters, emails, proposals, SBA applications, or else anything written, if you don’t already that is. Ideally this should be while you can still edit and before it leaves your control. It is inconceivable that anyone who has spent any time in business will have not written something that they wish they could snatch back and change, or even destroy. But even with a re-read, you need to know what you are looking for.

Lynn Gaertner-Johnston is the founder of Syntax Training in Seattle, Washington. In her blog, Business Writing, she describes five ways an otherwise excellent company can fail due to careless company writing.

1. What do you think customers will think when your letter to them has muddled writing? Will they continue to trust you with their business?
2. When customers see bad writing in a proposal, they ask, “If they can’t get this right, how will they get what I need right?”
3. If you can’t explain things well in the first email, time, effort, money, and patience will be wasted in the follow-up “to clarify” emails,
4. Mistakes and bad word choices cost time and money to correct. This can include reprints, apologies, and court costs.
5. Think about all of your written attempts to gain new business. Has it been effective? Have there been results? If not, there may be errors that are steering potential customers away.

Business communication is vital. It can be difficult to get that perfect draft made, but all the time and effort is worth it in the beginning stages to ward off future headaches.

There’s a duality in business communications that not only hard to ignore, it’s annoying. Think for a moment about when you go to your mailbox or startup your email. The first few moments – minutes – are spent sifting and discarding junk mail. We’ve all gotten pretty good at spotting the sales pitches, the free offers that aren’t, and the too-good-to-be-true deals. Looking at it from the other side, somewhere there is an entrepreneur that is using mass media to try to better their business. What about when you send out a great offer? How do you think people will react to that?

Most of the time it is a struggle to balance spending money and getting the word out. Advertising is expensive, but if you don’t do it, your business will most likely fail. This is why inexpensive mass marketing techniques such as direct mail pieces and email offers are so attractive. However, as we all know, these methods can be very ineffective if not done properly. In businessknowhow.com, Ernest Nicastro writes how to improve your mass communications by revealing deadly sales letter mistakes.

The first mistake is obvious enough that it is understandable why it is overlooked so frequently. Unlike speaking to an auditorium, a letter is a one-on-one form of communication. Yes you are mailing to thousands of people, but you are addressing them one at a time. Crafting your message to address all of the people on your list is very impersonal and will turn off any interest you might have gained.

Another mistake is to assume long letters are bad letters. As Nicastro points out, "People read long books, take long trips, and watch long movies and plays. And evidence abounds that people read long letters." A long marketing piece is not a bad thing as a concept, but you have to be careful in its execution. Take all of the space you need, but make sure each line is engaging and not self-serving. Also, put all pertinent and most important information at the top. If they want to know more, they will read more. If they have to read a lot to find out they aren’t interested, they could become hostile.

It was drilled into you all through your school years, but grammar is not as crucial as you might think. You aren’t writing a literary treatise here, you’re trying to communicate with a fellow person. How you would talk to the person should be reflected in your letters. That means its okay to start a sentence with "but" or "and." AND if the mood strikes you, a preposition is something you could end a sentence with. Remember, too formal is just as bad as too informal when it comes to tone.

For any business and especially start-ups, you need money. There are many places to get money; the most obvious of course is a bank. For those of you in the market for a small business loan, the SBA is either your first visit or the one right after the bank. There is another source of income often overlooked and finding it could be as easy as looking round the corner.

Marc Compeau writes in Forbes about the lesser known cash source: local community development funds. Communities strive to be great places to live, work, and be. They don’t like abandoned buildings, lots filled with weeds, or run down retail strip-malls. They don’t like them because it pulls down property values, depresses people, and basically, they are an eyesore. What can they do about it? Well, many communities have a development chest, a fund set aside strictly to invest in local businesses that want to make where they live better.

Because you are local, you may find that their guidelines and requirements to give you a loan are less stringent than, say a bank’s. Remember, they want local businesses to thrive; it makes the community more attractive to other businesses, which in turn generates more income. They also like the fact that you are based in the area you want to improve.

Getting in touch with these community funds can be as simple as doing a search on the web. Your local chamber of commerce should also know who to talk to. You can even ask about it in a SBA Small Business Development Center.

This post outlines seven places to find funding for your small business. It also outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each. At the end of the article there is a list of additional resources. A good read.

Equity Financing
Debt Financing
SBA Loans
Private Placement
Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)
Angel Investors
Personal Funds

Credit to

How to Find Good Money

By Fred White

Make sure to go over these great lists for starting up your own small business.  Great to go over even if you have been in business.

 Checklists for starting your first business

Thanks Becky!

Continued from the post on Friday.

Evidence of earning projections need to be provided before considering investing. Have a list of questions for the promoters and interview them in person where the business is in operation. Never conduct business over the internet without the potential of meeting in person. It is important to be face to face in order to spot false statements by fake companies.

Check with your state attorney general’s office and the consumer affairs bureau to see if any complaints or wrongdoings have been reported against a company, prior to handing over any money. If there are licenses required to run this business, check to see that all paperwork has been submitted.

There are twenty six states with business opportunity laws. It is important to know which ones apply to you before you begin the investment process. Most states have laws in place whereas companies cannot sell their business opportunities without providing potential purchasers with a presale disclosure document. These documents must be filed first with a designated state agency. Franchise investment laws are in place in fifteen states. The laws require franchises to provide presale documents to all potential purchasers prior to investing.

Before you raid your college or retirement funds, or take out a home equity loan, or deplete your savings, be sure to do your homework on any new small business endeavor. As the old saying goes, look before you leap.

Ok, so you know you need a business plan for startup business loans.  Well, John over at eventurebiz.net has a great article outlining the steps you need to take for that perfect business plan.

Take a look!

Business Week has a great article on where to find start up business loans in places you may not immediately think of. Worth a read.

With the potential of a full blown recession in the United States, there has been an increase in small business start-ups. Starting up your own business in hopes of generating new found wealth is a good thing, but would-be entrepreneurs need to be careful when searching for that perfect business fit. Don’t get suckered into a deal that will make someone else money and not yourself.

A new trend that has hit the marketplace is prepackaged businesses opportunities, otherwise known as a “business in a box”. Often times these types of businesses are bogus scams. They are easy to fall prey to because those that are pitching the products are very convincing. More times than not, these types of businesses do not yield the money that the promoters say they will. Small business owners need to be enthusiastic, but they must also be realistic.

When considering this type of business, scrutinize each piece of information that is provided by the seller. It is important to go and see the potential business opportunity in person. Talk to people other than the person you are getting the sales pitch from. Get all information in writing no matter how small of an investment they are asking for. If the promoter has to back up his claims in writing, it will be more difficult for him/her to rip you off.

Check back on Monday for the conclusion to this post.

In continuation from Monday’s post.

Grants….Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) is available if your company is a technology business. This is a federally funded program that mandates that certain agencies set aside part of their budgets to fund high-tech companies with interesting inventions that they want to commercialize.

Grants are also available for women and minority-owned businesses. Funding for Grant programs is very competitive, but if you are lucky enough to receive one, you will likely attract other investors who are interested in your company.

Venture Capital….Not the best option for new or early stage businesses. If your company already has a proven track record with promises of high returns, it might be worth investigating.

Angels….Most “angels” are interested in companies that are further along in the development stages as a general rule. If you have a product or service that is currently out on the market and a proven management team, you might want to try this route.

Angels are private, high net-worth individuals, who typically invest between $50K to $2 million in companies. They can also provide expertise and useful contacts in the industry. There are “angel clubs” that have formed nationwide. They meet on a regular basis to hear brief presentations from entrepreneurs seeking money. They often give money jointly to companies as an investment.

You will find that sometimes it pays to be creative when raising money for your business.