Some of the things you can do include protecting yourself from expenditures made on sudden impulse. We’ve all bought merchandise or services we really didn’t need simply because we were in the mood, or perhaps in response to the flamboyancy of the advertising or the persuasiveness of the salesperson. Then we sort of “wake up” a couple of days later and find that we’ve committed hundreds of dollars of business funds for an item or service that’s not essential to the success of our own business, when really pressing items had been waiting for those dollars.

If you are incorporated, you can eliminate these “impulse purchases” by including in your by-laws a clause that states: “All purchasing decisions over (a certain amount) are contingent upon approval by the board of directors.” This will force you to consider any “impulse purchases” of considerable cost, and may even be a reminder in the case of smaller purchases.

If your business is a partnership, you can state, when faced with a buying decision, that all purchases are contingent upon the approval of a third party. In reality, the third party can be your partner, one of your department heads, or even one of your suppliers.

If your business is a sole proprietorship, you don’t have much to worry about really, because as an individual you have three days to think about your purchase, and then to nullify that purchase if you think you don’t really need it or can’t afford it.

While you may think you cannot afford it, be sure that you don’t ‘short-change” yourself on professional services. This would apply especially during a time of emergency. Anytime you commit yourself and move ahead without completely investigating all the angles, and preparing yourself for all the contingencies that may arise, you’re skating on thin ice. Regardless of the costs involved, it always pays off in the long run to seek out the advice of experienced professionals before embarking on a plan that could ruin you.

As an example, an experienced business consultant can fill you in on the 1244 stock advantages. Getting eligibility for the 1244 stock category is a very simple process, but one with tremendous benefits to your business.

The 1244 stock encourages investors to put equity capital into your business because in the event of a loss, amounts up to the entire sum of the investment can be written off in the current year. Without the “1244″ classification, any losses would have to be spread over several years, and this, of course, would greatly lessen the attractiveness of your company’s stock. Any business owner who has not filed the 1244 corporation has in effect cut himself off from 90 percent of his prospective investors.

Particularly when sales are down, you must be “hard-nosed” with people trying to sell you luxuries for your business. When business is booming, you undoubtedly will allow sales people to show you new models of equipment or a new line of supplies; but when your business is down, skip the entertaining frills and concentrate on the basics. Great care must be taken however, to maintain courtesy and allow these sellers to consider you a friend and call back at another time.

Your company’s books should reflect your way of thinking, and whoever maintains them should generate information according to your policies. Thus, you should hire an outside accountant or accounting firm to figure your return on your investment, as well as the turnover on your accounts receivable and inventory. Such an audit or survey should focus in depth on any or every item within the financial statement that merits special attention. In this way, you’ll probably uncover any potential financial problems before they become readily apparent, and certainly before they could get out of hand.

Many small companies set up advisory boards of outside professional people. These are sometimes known as Power Circles, and once in place, the business always benefits, especially in times of short operating capital. Such an advisory board or power circle should include an attorney, a certified public accountant, civic club leaders, owners or managers of businesses similar to yours, and retired executives. Setting up such an advisory board of directors is really quite easy, because most people you ask will be honored to serve.

Once your board is set up, you should meet once a month and present material for review. Each meeting should be a discussion of your business problems and an input from your advisors relative to possible solutions. These members of your board of advisors should offer you advice as well as alternatives, and provide you with objectivity. No formal decisions need to be made either at your board meeting, or as a result of them, but you should be able to gain a great deal from the suggestions you hear.

You will find that most of your customers have the money to pay at least some of what they owe you immediately. To keep them current, and the number of accounts receivable in your files to a minimum, you should call them on the phone and ask for some kind of explanation why they’re falling behind. If you develop such a habit as part of your operating procedure, you’ll find your invoices will magically be drawn to the front of their piles of bills to pay. While you should maintain a courteous attitude, don’t be hesitant, or too much of a “nice guy” when it comes to collecting money.

Something else that’s a very good business practice, but which few business owners do is to methodically build a credit rating with their local banks. Particularly when you have good cash flow, you should borrow $100 to $1,000 from your banks every 90 days or so. Simply borrow the money, and place it in an interest bearing account, and then pay it all back at least a month or so before it’s due. By doing this, you will increase the borrowing power of your signature, and strengthen your ability to obtain needed financing on short notice. This is a kind of business leverage that will be of great value to you if or whenever your cash position becomes less favorable.

By all means, join your industry’s local and national trade associations. Most of these organizations have a wealth of information available on everything from details on your competitors to average industry sales figures, new products, services, and trends.

If you are given a membership certificate or wall plaque, you should display these conspicuously on your office wall. Customers like to see such ‘seals of approval” and feel additional confidence in your business when they see them.

Still another thing often overlooked: If at all possible, you should have your spouse work in the business with you for at least three or four weeks per year. The important thing is that if for any reason you are not available to run the business, your spouse will be familiar with certain people and situations about your business. These people should include your attorney, accountant, any consultants or advisors, creditors and your major suppliers. The long-term advantages of having your spouse work four weeks per year in your business with you will greatly outweigh the short-term inconvenience. Many couples share responsibility and time entirely, which is in most cases even more desirable.

Whenever you can, and as often as you need it, take advantage of whatever free business counseling is available. The Small Business Administration published many excellent booklets, checklist and brochures on quite a large variety of businesses.  These publications are available through the U.S. Government printing office. Most local universities and many private organizations hold seminars at minimal cost, and often without charge. You should also take advantage of the services offered by your bank and local library.

The important thing about running a small business is to know the direction in which you’re heading; to know on a day-to-day basis your progress in that very direction; to be aware of what your competitors are doing and to practice good money management at all times. All this will prepare you to recognize potential problems before they arise.

In order to survive with a small business, regardless of the economic climate, it is essential to surround yourself with smart people, and practice sound business management at all times.

Author: BPaul

You’re invited to a lobster bake at the yacht club by a friend who has four marinas in the area.

A half-hour into the party, you meet a guy who imports boating supplies and sells them to retailers. During your conversation, you find out he’s looking to expand. You ask your new acquaintance if he would be open to paying a small commission for any new business you might generate for him. He eagerly accepts your offer, and you reach an agreement. Over beer and lobsters, mind you!

Then you introduce your marina-owning friend to the boating supplies importer.

They hit it off immediately. Before long, they are discussing prices. In other words, negotiating. Within a few minutes, they have a deal. Your friend will buy some of the importer’s products wholesale and sell them at all four of his marinas.

The best part? You get a cut of the deal for making the introduction.

But that’s not all. Going forward, you get a percentage of each and every sale the importer makes to your friend!

My first year as a “connector” (also known as a “finder’s agent”), I made $22,000. I made it by introducing high-profile advertisers to trade publishers … and by introducing business sellers to business buyers. When they struck their deals, I received my “fee.”

Before long, I was making $50,000 a year … simply by making phone calls and sending e-mails. It took only a couple of hours a week of my time. I was still making nice commissions by introducing business sellers to business buyers and advertisers to publishers. Meanwhile, I had started helping print publishers slash production costs by outsourcing to India.

I stumbled into the “connecting” game. But I found I was perfect for the job because of my background as a successful entrepreneur. I’ve launched, bought, sold, and managed dozens of small businesses over the past 19 years. What’s more, I’m a former commodities futures trader. I learned a great deal about human psychology by monitoring and trading financial markets. (Not to mention how to steward large sums of money.)

Actually, anybody can be a “connector,” even with a very limited business background. It requires almost no capital to get started. You’ll be providing a service that’s in high demand. And you can run the whole thing from your home office.

You’ll have to test the waters to find the best way to structure your compensation. You can charge clients a flat fee, or you can charge a percentage of a transaction made as a result of bringing people together. If ongoing sales are involved (like the deal between my friend and the boat supplies importer), you can receive “residual” payments.

Either way, you can make good money.

Not only that, but sometimes clients will ask you to assist them in other ways — negotiating, setting up escrow accounts, developing sales agreements, and more. If you have the skills, you can, of course, charge additional fees for that extra work.

Basically, here is how the “connector” service works …

Let’s say you hear about someone who is interested in buying a large parcel of land, a business, a commercial building, surplus merchandise … or any of the thousands of other products, services, or properties that are bought and sold every day.

Then let’s say you find someone who has that item or service or property for sale at a reasonable price.

You inform the prospective buyer that you’ve found an eager seller. You tell the prospective buyer that if a deal is made, and both parties are satisfied, you will be entitled to a finder’s fee or commission.

When you and the prospective buyer have an agreement, you introduce him to the prospective seller.

A buyer and seller will sometimes (rarely, in my experience) try to negotiate a deal without your help, even though you introduced them. Not to worry. You can keep this from happening by putting your agreement with the buyer in writing.

Nothing fancy. Don’t get tied in knots over paperwork and contracts. Keep it simple. My first agreements were less than a page long, and were sent by e-mail or fax. Just outline the terms of the deal (including your commission). Then have it signed by the prospective buyer before any introductions, negotiations, or transactions take place.

For the most part, you can trust people to live up to their end of the bargain. After all, you’re making money for them. So they’ll probably want to do business with you again in the future.

Here’s another example of a deal I completed as a “connector”:

I read about a man who was looking to purchase websites. Specifically, he was looking for travel websites with significant traffic that were also fully functional with e-commerce.

I contacted him by e-mail, introduced myself, and gave him a brief rundown of my business background. Then I told him about two travel websites I thought might interest him.

I explained my “connector” service, and presented my fee proposal. He agreed to the terms.

I then introduced the prospective buyer to the principals of both travel websites. One of the websites was a perfect fit, and he made an offer. The final sale price was negotiated in about a week.

When the sale was completed, $2,250 was electronically transferred to my bank account. That was 3 percent of the deal. My “connector” fee.

It’s that easy.

On top of that, this particular deal took less than 60 minutes of my time, from beginning to end.

Where do you find potential deals? The sources are almost unlimited.

• You can find people and companies looking for products, businesses, real estate, surplus inventory, bankrupt companies, capital, etc. in all the national business papers. That includes The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, The New York Times (especially the Sunday Edition), Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, and the Los Angeles Times.
• There are hundreds of websites for finding deals, too. Alibaba.com, in particular, is an excellent source of clients looking for specific products.
• International Wealth Success (IWS) publishes newsletters with an abundance of leads. IWS also publishes a comprehensive course on becoming a “finder’s agent.” Contact them for details.
• Three resources for finding clients and deals overseas are the South China Morning Post, the London Times, and the Gulf Times.
• For smaller-scale deals, you’ll find a boatload of leads on CraigsList (under the Items Wanted category) and Crain.com Classifieds.

Whatever niche you work in, this is a fun sideline business for anyone who enjoys putting deals together and introducing prospective buyers and sellers.

P.S. “Connecting” is just one of the “under-the-radar” opportunities I talk about in my service, Ka-Ching. Mostly, I reveal unheard of deals, HUGE discounts, and how to get free stuff. That includes everything from everyday expenses to vacations to big purchases like cars and homes. Find out more about Ka-Ching here.

More from Masterson…

Watch Out for Stocks Next Month

Research from Georgia Tech: Over a 200-year period, 15 out of 18 stock markets studied posted negative returns in September. From 1970 to 2007, all 18 posted negative returns.

Consider these facts:

• The last bear market for U.S. stocks began in September of 2000.
• That market hit its lows in September of 2002.
• The Lehman Brothers collapse happened in September.
• The crash of 1987 happened in October, but the decline began in September.
• And the worst month of the great depression? September 1931, when the market fell 30 percent.

With stock prices so much higher than they should be, Bob Irish, IDE’s Investment Director, asks, “Do you really want to be fully exposed right now?”

Is Salt the Culprit When It Comes to High Blood Pressure?

My grandfather once told me he saw a chef shoot a man for salting his food before tasting it. That’s not something I worry about nowadays. But I do get shouted at. K doesn’t like me salting my food. Before or after I taste it. She says I should be concerned about my blood pressure. I say my blood pressure is fine.

Damn it, I like salt. So I was pleased to read about a study reported in the January issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. According to the researchers, the amount of salt you take in isn’t nearly as important as your ratio of sodium to potassium. Take in more potassium and you can safely eat more salt.

ETR Health Tsar Melanie Segala wants me to cut down on salt and increase my potassium. I’m thinking I’ll just take in more potassium. In Total Health Breakthroughs, Dr. Joseph McCaffrey suggests some good ways to do that.

read the full article

Flower Themes for florists, gardeners or landscapers.
Equestrian Themes for riding stables, horse shows, and barns.
Dating Themes for online dating or other matchmaking services.
Nature Collection for nature lovers, or scenic personal websites.
Nautical Theme for fishing companies, charter services or marinas.
Sunrise and Sunset Themes for travel companies.

Top 10 Winners Predicted for 2008

1. Video
YouTube has not shown any signs of slowing down. With the increasing popularity of portability and the increase of video-viewing technology, the growth of video is unlikely to slow down.

2. Healthy
Healthy is in. It is not only fashionable, but now cool to be healthy. Maybe this will help counter the rise in obesity in the US. Even those who give in to their cravings and indulge agree that it is cool to be healthy. Organic foods are at an all time high with an increase of roughly 20% per year in the US! This may also be a top New Year Resolution.

3. Long Tail
The Long Tail is still hot. Small businesses and big business are all attempting to capture the famed long tail.

What is Hot and What is Not in Technology for 2008

A federal judge Friday denied a request from a small Virginia company to stop the online auction powerhouse eBay Inc. from using a feature that allows shoppers to purchase items at a fixed price.

U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Friedman denied a motion by MercExchange LLC for a permanent injunction against San Jose, Calif.-based eBay over the Buy It Now feature.