Do you go to Christmas parties with the affluent? Do you hang out at the local arena with sports families? Potential small business owners need to ask questions like this before embarking on a business venture.
If you know what this year's designer colors are, where the nearest symphony or world-class theater is, and the difference between a desert fork and a lobster fork, then you are the right person to open a high-end jewelry store. Maybe you know everything about every sport there is and are frustrated because there is no extreme sports store within five hours of your home.
There are some excellent personality tests to do on the web to find out what type of person you are.
You can make a personal dream come true by investing time and effort into starting the job right.
Questions to ask:
Do you like people? Today's customer service driven society expects managers to leave the office and walk the floor. Teamwork and respect are the foundation of today's work at home success stories.
Are you Flexible?
Are you the type of person who buys trade magazines and loves spending two days at a tradeshow? Do you make emergency plans and file them, waiting until a time when they can be executed? The small business world is an ever-changing one. Not even convenience stores can be stagnant anymore. We must prepare plans for growth and change, staying abreast of trends, and always ready to cater to the consumer's whims.
Do you like people?
A manager who learns their customer's names paves the way for success. This builds customer loyalty faster than the average Public Relations Campaign can.
Entrepreneurship is not the place for managers who want control over their employees.
Respect earned from employees equals customer loyalty.
The most successful people in the business world share some common habits. They can lead several departments without controlling and manipulating everyone. They manage teams by encouraging good communication and rewarding positive results. They learn how to do the job right and then teach by example. If this contradicts what you watch on business reality shows then you are right. The most successful working environments make a lot of profit, but they would not earn high television ratings.
Are you ambitious?
Entrepreneurs have the drive and determination to start a business, but they characteristically lack stamina. A natural small business owner loves what they do. They can imagine doing the same tasks twenty-years down the road.
Testing your ability to run a company successfully is not hard. Natural small business owners do not mind working nights and weekends. They do not consider writing plans and strategies a waste of time. They do not mind researching facts to find ways to strengthen their business and avoid problems.
Are you action oriented?
Delegation is important for any manager, but not at the risk of losing touch with a certain aspect of the business. A true entrepreneur loves solving problems and taking action. They do spend hours researching and analyzing before making a decision, but they can make an instant decision when it is necessary. The most important aspect of a successful manager is their ability to make quick decisions and accept responsibility for the consequences.
Do you have a high Emotional Intelligence level?
EQ, emotional intelligence, is the measure of your ability to accept responsibility and manage effectively without abusing, controlling, or venting on team members or customers. The good news is that EQ, unlike IQ, is relatively easy to change. There are many resources for anyone who wants to test and control their own EQ.
Why is EQ important?
Everything in the store from merchandise to employees to the design is born in your mind. Managers who have a high EQ are typically able to create a store reflects what the customers want. A lower EQ indicates that you will create a store that satisfies your needs.
More important, we attract people who share our characteristics. If we have a lower EQ then we are more likely to attract self-centered employees, not team players. The ability to hire wisely, trust the right people, and choose managers, who act like owners, is an important characteristic of a successful businessperson.
Do not worry if you did not answer yes to all these questions. If you are not people oriented, then maybe an E-business is for you. People who are not self-starters and ambitious might consider franchises. If you are a controlling person who is not good with people then you might do better as a vendor at tradeshows. There is a place for you. There is a small business niche for everyone.
Most Profitable Small Business
There are few accepted errors we make while applying for a business loan or during the processing of the loan which can result in a rejected loan application. I will try to present a some of them which will help you understand what you want to make certain that your upcoming business allowance application will not be sidelined or why yourearlier loan application was denied.
Deficit of planning
Before applying for a business loan you need to do some study and derive methodologies about how you are going to request your financier and how you can ensure that your loan application won't be neglected.
Do some homework -- Foremost of all you will have to decide the sort of loan you need then do a good study on the lending market and find out which bankers are best suitable for you. List them in the form of importance in the market in which you are in. It will help you conclude who is most attracted in your business and is wanting to help you accomplish. After you determine the correct financier or bank, make it sure that the financier understands your business and what you're aiming for.
Documentation Once the plans are finished the next step involved is collecting or arranging the required paper works. This step also needs to be done with a cool headed technique so that you can make sure all the necessary documents are ready.
Keep this in mind that all acknowledgements in the application will need to have approving documents so make sure together them all.
The following are some of the documents which you will find necessary.
Creditreport -- A consumer credit article is a factual document of an single person's credit payment history. Its main purpose is to help a financier shortly and squarely decide whether to accept you loan. If your record shows a blunder, get in touch with the credit reporting agency and demand a correction. An account letter should be constituted with your loan application if your credit record shows legitimate late payments or bankruptcies, this can lower the negative impact of these black marks on you while the processing of your loan application.
A professional looking business proposal
Other than standard loan papers, a lender anticipates to see a written proposal when somebody applies for a business allowance. This is your chance to show the most exciting and promising perspectivesof your business and to show to your financier that you're a prime applicant for a loan. The proposal must contain a description of your business the quantity of funds asked it should also contain why you are seeking for the funds and the quantity that you will donate. The proposal should tell how you are going to repay the money.
This is what is supposed to serve as a basis for your loan application.
Tax returns and other financial papers.
It is required to be ready with your tax papers and other financial documents from the last 2 years - for both yourself and your business so make sure you have them all ready before proceeding further.
Application Form Errors. The next step in the process is preparing the application. Make sure that zero mistakes are there in this important step. Few of the simple mistakes are.
Incomplete, Inaccurate Statements, Incomplete Financial Announcement, Unsigned and Undated Application, Hieroglyphic type of Writing, Handwritten loan papers and Lack of supporting documentation for the statements in the application.
Interview Mistakes
Once your application is ready the next step will be the meeting with the loan officer of the bank. Once the meeting begins get ready for the following questions to be shot at you. These questions are common in most of the loan interviews.
1. Why do you need the funds?
2. How much do you require?
3. How do you plan to repay it?
So be ready to answer them properly and in a manner that will make the bank or the loan officer in the end say "Yes, your loan is granted".
You must be in readiness to clarify to the loan officer about what are your strategies to make the maximum out of the money given, it is also advised to carry all those documentations which will clarify to the bank why it is not risky to approve your application. Try to assure the lender about how persistent your business is and your capacity to pay back the loan.
OK now let us list the common mistakes committed during the interview.
1. Obviously, not being ready enough to answer the above mentioned questions.
2. Not keeping a healthy debt-to-equity ratio -- debt-to-equity ratio refers to the share of money you are borrowing compared to the share you are investing, if you are not in readinessto put in a large part of the funds in your project it can make your project seem skeptical.
3. Not being ready for the objections that the financier may increase-Explain all questions honestly and with enough records to support whatever statement you make. do not have sufficient information about a concerns brought up by the financier just tell him or her that you will submit them the required records soon as it is available to you and the financier back as fast as you feel that you can submit the required records.
4. Giving a pretense of a low confidence level -- Get dressed professionally for the interview, make the financier convinced as if you are an business person who can and will repay the loan if issued. You may increase the image of your business by adding extra details about your business, this can be done in the mode of essentials like handouts, writeups, press releases, appreciations, honors get etc.
5. Not discussing the risk involved in your business -- All business has a particular total of danger involved, and if you do not consult it with the officer there is a great probability for him or her to think that you haven't anticipated about the risks involved with your business. However it is advisable that you channelise more on the factual parts than the uncertain ones while speaking to the financier. Tell the financier about the gambles contained and explain why chances to compromise with the dangers are minimum.
various Reasons for rejection
Improper funds management
Bankers are all the time amazed with business owners that manage their funds very nicely. So if you are somebody with the following qualities it is difficult to get your loan accepted:
- Frequent bounced checks
- Small amount of bank balance
- Frequent overdrafts
- Delayed credit card repayments
- Have defaulted on earlier loans
- Accused for non-payment or late payment by suppliers
Not appealing for acknowledgement from the financier who did not allow your form previously
Whenever you meet with rejections of a loan form, ask the financier or investor to provide you with some acknowledgement or the reasons why he or she denied it. This can help you in correcting those facts before you go to another financier.
So, the succeeding time you think about applying for a business loan make sure you device all the steps in the operation properly and that you are not engaging in any of these blunders. If you do so then your claim will be dealt with no problems and the approval without any delays or oppositions.
Both Mark Walters & Steve Curvey are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Mark Walters has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Modelling and Real Estate. Mark Walters is a third generation entrepreneur and author. He offers free training and investing videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at
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