Don’t fear debt, embrace risk, and more advice for women business owners

Sarah Halzack - No matter how solid your idea is, it’s never easy starting–or growing– a small business.

On Friday, administration officials, investors and entrepreneurs gathered at The Washington Post to offer advice on fostering a thriving, woman-owned small business.

Here are some of the tactics they think could help you take your business to the next level.

Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis Berman, sisters and co-founders of Georgetown Cupcake:

When LaMontagne and Berman were looking to open a branch of their booming sweets shop in New York, they encountered a vexing–and typical–small business problem.

Tweet

Tips: 5 Things You Must Do Well When Buying a Business to Not Get Burned

Gregory R. Caruso - Are you not sure what Business to buy? Need to know what is a fair deal?

Martin Smith thought he was buying an established business with good credit and collectable accounts receivable. The day after settlement the surprises began.

Inventory could not be used because expiration dates had past. Money shown as receivable had already been collected. Vendors that were only willing to ship COD. Over $100,000 of real problems that should have been detected during the business purchase process popped up and almost shut Martin down.

Can you afford to be surprised? Of course not.

You have the power to not end up like Martin.

Owning your own business is part of the American Dream. Buying a business has many advantages over starting one from scratch if you know how. Be prepared and get all the benefits of buying an existing business.

Tweet

Are You Ready to Sell Your Business

Gregory R. Caruso - Make Sure You Understand Your Motivation for Selling

Are you thinking about selling your business?

This simple one-question quiz will help you to better understand your motivations behind this thought. A better understanding of your underlying motivations will help you make the right decision.

Select the answer closest to your actual reason for thinking about selling your business.

A. "I'm selling my business because of the money I will make on the sale".
B. "I'm just tired and it's not fun anymore."
C. "I have too many irons in the fire and can't keep up".
D. "I'm ready to retire from owning my business".

A. "I'm selling my business because of the money I will make on the sale".

This is rarely a good answer if it is the primary answer. Most small businesses sell for 1 to 3 times yearly cash flow after adding back all owner salary, benefits, fringes, interest and amortization/ depreciation.

Larger mid-sized businesses generally sell for to 3 to 7 times cash flow after deducting for the cost of executive management. While this sum can be significant, it is usually only a few times what you will make this year.

Tweet

4 Steps to Take Your Local Business Global

Chris Doe Ford - Imagine your business being promoted not only by you and your sales team but by thousands around the world. Can you picture what that would do to your bottom line? With all due respect, can you get outta your own way for a minute and consider the possibilities?

As a business owner or executive, too often we become focused on our local market. We become focused on beating our local competition. We become focused on following up with that local lead. We become focused on trying to motivate our sales team. Don't get me wrong here. Being focused is a great thing. However, let's harness that focus and explode it globally.

You may say, that's great Chris, but what are you talking about. How do I take my local mom & pop business, or my local agency, or my local whatever type business, and expand it worldwide?

Relax. It's not that difficult. Just a few simple steps and we can be receiving inquiries, orders, and sales from sources we didn't even think existed.

Tweet

How to Get Started in Import Export Business

Darren W Chow - Certainly, it is the goal of any country to export products to other countries in the world. Aside from the fact that this endeavor boosts up economy, it is also a way of promoting the country. Some of the most successful economies in the world can be attributed to a successful trading venture, covering both exports and imports. However, being in an import and export business takes a lot of skills and qualities that are essentially important for the success of the business.

Yes, there may be a lot of potential products for export, but knowing this is not enough. For trading to be optimum, it is advisable to involve in import as well. Although starting an export import business may not be that easy, there are a number of tips that could help you in getting started.

Tweet