Money Money Money

That's the stuff that seems to vanish into thin air when starting a business. From talking to thousands of small business owners over the years, that's the one thing that's in short supply. Every time you turn around, somebody wants money for something.

A little tip – when hiring a company for certain services, ask if they offer payment plans. Any service company that caters to the small business owner should understand the financial burden starting a business entails & well, it never hurts to ask. TradeMark Express started a payment plan option years ago and while it requires a bit more effort in the bookkeeping department, the benefit it provides to our clients is more than worth it.

Business loans are a viable option for many folks and, like anything I talk about here, research this process fully before you embroil yourself into something like this.

To get started, I suggest contacting the Small Business Administration (SBA). Entrepreneur also offers a great site dedicated to money & finance.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the process. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* How to Get a Small Business Loan: A Banker Shows You Exactly What to Do to Get a Loan (Small Business Series, No 1) by Bryan E. Milling
* The SBA Loan Book: Get A Small Business Loan--even With Poor Credit, Weak Collateral, And No Experience by Charles H. Green
* Secrets Lenders Never Told You: Get Your Business Loan Approved by Patricia H. Wesson

There are plenty of free informational resources out there:

• Get Yourself Started with Small Business Loans by Tim Kelly
• Small Business Lenders by Matt Bacak
• Small Business Loans for Small Business Owners by David Gass
• Small Business Loan Basics by Joseph Kenny

TradeMark Express Blog Schedule

A VIS (Very Important Step) for your New Business

Piecing Together the Business Plan

Using last week's post as inspiration, I thought it'd be a good idea to delve a bit deeper into the different components of a business plan.

Another inspiration point is Lance Winslow's article Sample Business Plan Outline, which I also recommended last week.

Using Lance's extensive outline, I found further reading for each of his main headings

1) Executive Summary:

• e-Business plan tutorial
• Business Basics…by Mike Volker

2) Objectives:

• AllBusiness - Business plans include vision, mission statement, and objectives, don't they? What's the difference?

3) Company & Industry Analysis

• Company Analysis section of Growthink's Business Plan Development Guide
• Rutger's page on Industry Analysis

4) Marketing Analysis

• INC's Write a Marketing Analysis that Will Simply Dazzle
• MarketingProfs.com marketing FAQs

5) Management

• INC's Making the Most of Your Management Team

6) Operations

• e-Business plan tutorial

7) Legal Strategies

• Prentice Hall's Key Points page

8) Financial Strategies

• HowStuffWorks

TradeMark Express Blog Schedule

A VIS (Very Important Step) for your New Business

How to Choose a Business Name:

Part Four – Know if the Name is Available

Welcome to part 4 of a 4 part series about how to choose a business name.

Here's the schedule:

• 3/12: Know Your Industry
• 3/19: Know Your Customers
• 3/26: Know Your Message/Personality
• Today: Know if the Name is Available

This subject is, obviously, near and dear to me as this is my bread & butter.

A common mistake many new business owners make is assuming that their business name is available simply because:

* the domain name was available
* the fictitious name was available
* the corporate name was available
* internet research showed the name was available
* yellow page research showed the name was available

The above are merely preliminary indications of what business names, service names, and product names are out there. Only comprehensive research will tell you if a name is truly available for use.

Ok, so what is comprehensive research?

Comprehensive research entails searching a variety of files. The first step is a comprehensive search of the pending and registered Federal and State trademark files. Similar names matter too! The search should look for similarities in Sound, Appearance and Meaning, which means looking at synonyms, spelling variations, word placement, translations (if necessary), etc.

The second step is a comprehensive search of US National Common-Law files. This entails searching all incorporation records, all fictitious name/DBA records, Dun & Bradstreet  records, product announcements, newspapers, company directories, etc.

If the research proves clear on both steps, you can then decide if you'd like to file for a State or Federal trademark.

This concludes our 4-part series in choosing a business name. The 4 topics I chose are those that are the ones I think most important. Are there other steps you think should be considered?

TradeMark Express Blog Schedule

The Importance of Creative Naming
Trademark Information

choosing a business name * business name * choosing a company name * company name

Business Plans: A Quick Guide

Scenario: You've decided to start a small business. You've researched your industry, your customers and your business' message/personality. There seems to be so many 'first steps' when it comes to starting a business but one that's always way, way up there is creating a business plan.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

• Writing a Convincing Business Plan by Arthur R. DeThomas Ph.D., Lin Grensing-Pophal
• The Definitive Business Plan: The Fast Track to Intelligent Business Planning for Executives and Entrepreneurs (2nd Edition) by Richard Stutely
• The Complete Book of Business Plans: Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Business Plan (Small Business Sourcebooks) by Joseph A. Covello
• The One Page Business Plan with CD-ROM by James T., Jr. Horan

There are plenty of free informational resources out there.

* Five Crucial Components of a Business Plan by Cavyl Stewart

* Sample Business Plan Outline by Lance Winslow

* 8 Business Plan Mistakes to Avoid by Jo Ann Joy

* How to Prepare a Business Plan that Guarantees Big Profits by Julia Tang

* Writing a Business Plan and Check List by Thomas Choo

TradeMark Express Blog Schedule

A VIS (Very Important Step) for your New Business

Starting a Business: Must Visit Sites

Time is rather elusive today so I'm going to keep this short but sweet. Here is a listing of must visit sites if you're thinking of starting a business, if you're in the throes of starting a business or are going a little mad about starting a business.




• SBA, Small Business Administration
Whether you're interested in planning, starting, managing or even getting out of business, the SBA is the place to check.

• Entrepreneur's ® Starting a Business
Business plans, how-to guides, and success stories – it's all here

• AllBusiness
"The one-stop resource for growing businesses"

• The IRS Checklist for Starting a Business
The basic steps

• PowerHomeBiz
Specific to "starting, managing and growing a home business"

TradeMark Express Blog Schedule

A VIS (Very Important Step) for your New Business

starting a business * business startup * small business * home business * business links

How to Choose a Business Name:

Part Two – Know Your Customers

Welcome to part 2 of a 4 part series about how to choose a business name.

Here's the schedule:

• 3/12: Know Your Industry
• Today: Know Your Customers
• 3/26: Know Your Message/Personality
• 4/2: Know if the Name is Available

In a perfect world, your customer would be John Q. Public & Susie Everywoman. Well, we know the world's not perfect. Every business, no matter how large or small, has their Customer or Customers.

Now I don't mean lower-case customers – all businesses have customers or clients (and hopefully lots & lots of them).

What I'm talking about is the upper-case Customer, i.e. the people who are at the focus of your marketing and sales campaigns. Once you know who they are, choosing a business name will be that much easier.

Finding Your Customer

A few key questions:

• What are you selling?
o Easy enough, right?

• Who needs this product? Who needs this service?
o Ah, okay, here's one that's a bit harder. Who are the types of folks out there in our commercial world that you know would benefit from your product or service? Small business owners? Single mothers? College students? And so on & so forth. Make a list of any & every type of customer you can think of that you know needs what you have to sell.

• How will your Customer find out about you?
o This will be answered within your marketing plans but should also be considered when choosing a business name. Where do you plan to advertise? Internet? Yellow pages? Fliers? And so on & so forth. Again, make a list of any & every type of advertising route you know you're going to explore.

One note about the above: If you're just starting out, your scope for the last 2 questions may be a bit small (or very large, if you're the ambitious type). Either way, it's best to be honest with yourself. Make two lists if need be – one for the immediate & one for the future. For example, if you're just starting out, you may want to rely simply on word of mouth and some fliers for advertising. But as your business grows, you know you'll add Internet advertising.

What Does My Customer Have to do with My Name?

Well, everything really. Your name is going to be the one and only thing that is going to identify your business in the marketplace. It's how Customers will come to know your business and its personality. The name is how Customers are going to find you when they want to buy from you again (and again and again). When your Customers refer you to their friends, the name's the golden ticket.

That being said, always keep your Customer in mind when choosing a business name. Here are some examples to illustrate this key point:

• Product: do-it-yourself accounting software – the self employed are going to be a major Customer for this type of product. Those that are working for themselves aren't going to have a lot of time to research hundreds of different products. They need to know your product is reliable, easy and cost-efficient. Is there a component to your product that's going to be especially relevant to this type of Customer?

• Service: bed and breakfast - the main Customers are tourists that want those 'extra touches' not available at motels or hotels but can be narrowed even further to honeymooners, retired couples or business travelers. What is the one thing, to you, that stands out about your bed and breakfast? What are those 'extra touches' that set you apart from hotel, motels and other B&Bs?

So you can see by the simple examples above by brainstorming about your Customer(s), a picture starts emerging. This should be a conjoined image of (1) what they want and (2) what you plan to offer to them.

TradeMark Express Blog Schedule

The Importance of Creative Naming
Trademark Information

choosing a business name * business name * choosing a company name * company name

Starting a Business:
Researching Your Industry

Using this post as inspiration, I want to dig a bit deeper into the concept of researching your intended industry.

Brad Sugars' article How to Research Your Market is a must read. Brad lists a number of ideas, including contacting business groups and universities.

One of the ideas I touched upon yesterday was researching your competition. But how does one even go about doing this? And how do you keep it all organized in such a way that you can actually analyze your results? I'm a big fan of tables – I use them constantly for TradeMark Express, be it for client bids or summarizing the week. They're easy to create, manage & alter.

I've created a template that can be viewed & printed here. I filled in the first table with TradeMark Express' information so you can get an idea of how to use this table. Here's a blank form. If you'd like me to send you this table via email, please contact me at Shannon at tmexpress dot com.

Find the holder of a domain address
Free digital library of Internet sites
Using the Web to Research Your Market – PowerHomeBiz

research your industry * research your market * research * competition * market research * industry research

How to Choose a Business Name
A 4-Part Series

Eek, one day into the schedule and I'm already a day behind. 'It's good to be so busy,' is the mantra I've been repeating to myself.

At any rate, here's the first part of a 4 part series about how to choose a business name. There are, I feel, 4 key objectives to keep in mind when choosing a business name:

• Today: Know Your Industry
• 3/19: Know Your Customers
• 3/26: Know Your Message/Personality
• 4/2: Know if the Name is Available

How to Choose a Business Name:
Part One – Know Your Industry

Regardless of your industry or specialty, it's key to know your industry inside & out, at least as much as humanely possible. Customers come to you AND buy from you because they've decided that you're an expert in your field. It's up to you to ensure that you truly are.

Knowing your industry also allows you to make a more informed decision about the name or type of name you should be considering. Let's look at some examples to provide some insight:

• Industry: Clothing, specifically a name for a Clothing Line
o Are you selling sports apparel? Swim wear? Evening wear? The type of clothing you're creating and selling will determine the name. Let's say you have a sports apparel line…calling it Lucky Tux is only going to confuse customers.

• Industry: Web Design Services
o What are you offering? HTML? Flash? CSS? Animation? And what about hosting? Or search engine submission? The type of services is going to determine the
name.

As you can see by the very simplistic examples above, the type of name is going to be largely determined by your plans for the business. If you've got a particular niche in your industry, keep that in mind. If you know you want to expand, keep that in mind.

Now, how do you get to know your industry? A few suggestions:

• Who's your competition?
o Look at your direct competitors, of course, but also pay attention to the big players in your industry.
o What do you like about their name? What do you not like?

• Associations
o Industry specific associations are a treasure trove of information & should be researched.
o Because of the work I do on Yahoo! Answers, I've got listings upon listings of associations for all types of industries. Let me know if you'd like further information on any industry's association.

• Books:
o There are books upon books for any number of subjects, whether it be about starting a business or information specific to your industry.
o Because of the work I do on Yahoo! Answers, I've got listings upon listings of books for all types of industries. Let me know if you'd like further information on any book titles.

The Importance of Creative Naming
Trademark Information

choosing a business name * business name * choosing a company name * company name

Thank you to Isabel Isidro from PowerHomeBiz for interviewing me about trademarks and business names! Check out the Home Business Guide to Understanding Trademarks and Protecting Business Names!