General Business and Finance Blog

Today’s economy and high unemployment rates are pushing most of us to explore the option of putting up our own small businesses. You will get to handle your own money, there is no risk of lay-offs, and it is a great opportunity to explore your skills on handling your own business and company. However, more banks nowadays are enforcing stricter rules and guidelines for giving out business loans.  A bad credit history may be one of your concerns for getting rejected for a loan, and this makes it difficult for us to get the financial help few need to get started. Like every other bank or lending institution, risk factors have to be taken into consideration before they hand you their money. The credit card services you have availed and how you paid these services are very important information for these companies because it will be their basis on the approval (or disapproval) of your request, and the rate of interest they can give you. All in all, it is a tedious and stressful ordeal to go through.

Fortunately, there is now an easier way to get a  small business loan without the fear of your own credit card history. Getting a business cash advance is a faster and less stressful way of getting and paying off a business loan. A business cash advance is a lending service offered to business owners who accept credit cards as payment for their goods or services. It has a shorter processing time and you can even do the transaction online. This is ideal for those time-dependent money problems you naturally experience with your business. It usually only takes a few days to a week to have your request processed and approved, with the money transferred to your own account. All you need to do is fill out their forms (available online) and qualify for their basic requirements.

The requirements are quite similar to those of most lending institutions, but your credit history would not be put under too strict reviews. In fact, unlike business loans from the bank, bad credit history is not that big of a deal for cash advance providers. You only need to be of legal age; have a registered business in the US; have a small business that processes credit cards for payment; and have been in business for at least a year. You can use the money to start or franchise your own business, refinance a business debt, buy new equipment or purchase goods, and pay of f debt or taxes.

The payment terms for a business cash advance is, of course, different from that of a business loan from the bank. But in general, the payment terms for this lending service will greatly depend on the amount of money you will be borrowing. The higher the amount, the longer the term period. For banks and other big lenders, payment terms for business loans can be paid off in long term or short term. Small business loan payment in banks usually does not exceed five years.

Payment terms for business cash advance canbe instant or can be done on a monthly basis, it all depends on your capability to pay, and the amount of money you borrowed. The payment terms will usually require you to pay the cash advance company each month and you will get the payment structure with the amount that they expect you to pay every month. If you can afford to pay it off all at once, then the better.

A business cash advance is a great way to fund your small business because it is convenient and easy to apply for. All you need now is to choose a legitimate cash advance lender to get started.

Franchise operations manuals may seem daunting, especially for a company that has never written an operations manual before. Bewildered by the new business of franchising, with its legal requirements, franchise disclosure documents, operations manuals, training programs, etc., many companies delegate responsibility to a high-priced franchise consultant.

But using someone to write your franchise operations manual who knows literally nothing about your business, never makes any sense when everything is considered objectively. And, besides a hefty price tag of ,000 or more to write the manuals, using franchise consultants brings another, expensive result – legal risk. Here are some drafting tips and strategies from a recognized, international franchise expert.

Why Franchise Consultants Are Risky Business
Paying someone who knows nothing about your business, and having them learn it from scratch at your expense is really just common sense. Using franchise consultants for what is a relatively easy and straightforward task has never made any sense – except to the franchise consultants who charge exorbitant amounts to write an operations manual. It’s one of those little franchise secrets that the consultants don’t ever mention or discuss.

Using a franchise consultant to write a franchise operations manual also carries legal risk. The principal legal risk comes from including inappropriate topics, chapters and policies that are commonly found in company-owned, chain operations manuals.  If these are included, as they often are in franchise operations manuals, very significant franchise liability issues arise. Because the franchise consultants are not franchise attorneys or experts, they are entirely oblivious to this risk. They don’t know where the bullets come from in franchise litigation. As a testifying and consulting franchise expert, I routinely find franchise operations manuals drafted by franchise consultants and do-it-yourself manuals containing inappropriate chapters or topics. And, because they rely on boilerplate manuals used for other clients, where (hopefully) all instances of burgers, for example, are searched and replaced with tax returns, the end result is not only dangerous – it is also very mediocre. Giving a mediocre operations manual to a franchise owner who has invested hundreds of thousands (or in some cases millions) of dollars in your franchise model is definitely not the best way to start or ensure a smooth franchise relationship.

The Best Practice Approach To Drafting Franchise Operations Manuals
Besides the expensive and legally risky approach there is another, best franchise practice approach based on almost three decades of writing, editing and reviewing hundreds of franchise operations manuals. The essence of this approach is also common sense – letting the true expert in your business write the manual. Typically that person is the founder of the business, or a small team of management personnel who know business operations inside and out. While a franchise expert should be involved in the process, the expert’s role should be limited to a planning and editing capacity.

Three Easy Steps For Drafting A Franchise Operations Manual
The drafting process begins with planning and developing the Table of Contents for the franchise operations manual. This includes making sure all the appropriate chapters and topics are included, and the inappropriate ones are not. Knowledge of franchise management best practices is essential here, and that’s why a franchise expert’s input and planning is so important. Because most franchise operations manuals are incorporated by reference in the franchise agreement (which is a franchise industry best practice)  the franchise contract is also  reviewed.  Some operations-specific information may be inadvertently included in the contract by the attorneys, which is not a good thing. This needs to be moved out or appropriately amended.

The second step is giving the person(s) within your company who have drafting responsibility samples of operations manual writing styles, guidelines and instructions. With these, they can begin drafting each chapter of the manual using their extensive operational knowledge of the day-to-day, week-to-week, etc. aspects of your business.

The third and final step is having the franchise expert review each chapter as it is drafted and comment on the professionalism and sufficiency of the chapters from a franchise industry best practices and franchise operator perspective.

Summary
The first couple chapters are typically the hardest to draft, as you or your management personnel learn and apply operations manual drafting techniques under the guidance of a professional editor. But after that, it’s smooth sailing through the balance of the document. This approach produces a professional, easy to use and update franchise operations manual. It also ensures the most efficient use of resources and talent, and eliminates having to pay a franchise consultant ,000 or more for this relatively simple task. Whether or not a company ultimately franchises, the process of planning, documenting and implementing standardized operating procedures and systems via operations manuals, like blue chip franchise and non-franchised companies do, makes any firm operate more efficiently and competitively. In a franchise environment, it ensures consistent and uniform operations, helping personnel with different skills learn to perform tasks in a consistent manner throughout the franchise network. Finally, it’s important to realize the process of writing a franchise operations manual never stops. As the business model evolves, so must the operations manual – the ultimate reason why writing the manual yourself to begin with makes imminent common sense. As one franchise company executive observed “I found that not only was writing my own operations manual a cost savings; it was imperative.”

copyright 2008-2009, Kevin B. Murphy, B.S., M.B.A., J.D. – all rights reserved

For further information, visit the Franchise Foundations website

Many people think they are going to get rich selling online but ad words, affiliate deals etc pay cents and to make money requires a huge investment in time and money. Here we are going to outline one of the best online businesses which anyone can master and make big profits with.

The advantages of this business are:

- No selling.

- Never a recession.

- You only need an internet and a computer.

- You don’t need staff stock or premises.

- You can learn it in about two weeks.

- You can then work just 30 minutes a day.

- You can take holidays when you want.

- You can get 100 times the capital you commit lent to you – on just a few hundred dollars.

So what business gives you all the above advantages?

It’s trading currency markets from your computer

HANG ON!

I couldn’t do that – it’s too complicated and to expensive.

Well you would be dead wrong today, anyone can open an account with just a few hundred dollars, trade for a living and many people who have never traded before have go rich doing so.

There is nothing to stop you learning this online business and nothing to stop you making money.

All you need is a desire to succeed and a willingness to learn.

The best way to learn this business is to study charts, you will then spot currency trends. These trends last for months or years and you can lock into them for profit.

When you open an account with a broker they will let you leverage your money.

Put down $500 and you will get 100 x leverage, you can therefore trade $50,000 – no credit checks required, this leverage is granted as soon as you open your account.

The real key to success is how you deal with leverage you need to be able to have the discipline to cut losses and run profits.

The fact that anyone can learn to trade and anyone can acquire discipline – was graphically proved by legendary trader Richard Dennis back in 1983.

He took a group of people from all walks of, of all ages, both sexes, varying degrees of educational learning and taught them to trade in just 14 days.

The result?

They went on to make $100 million for Dennis and become some of the most famous traders of all time.

Could you do the same?

The answer is the potential is there, sure you may not become as rich as this group – life is not like that but the opportunity exists for anyone, to make a great income from this home business.

The real question is do you have the desire to succeed, a willingness to learn and the mindset to be disciplined?

If you a life changing income could await you in the world’s most lucrative business – trading global forex online.

If you are up for the challenge and can see the potential then:

Welcome to the exciting world of currency trading, a fantastic opportunity awaits you – should you decide to look at this best online business further.

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If you are a small business person then it is very necessary for you that the business does not ever lacks in funds or it may stop functioning any time. Small business finance is carved out specifically for providing timely finance to small business people and the loan is approved at competitive interest rate. This ensures that the loan is not a financial burden on small business. You can meet all business expenses like buying raw material, equipments, paying salaries or clearing past dues etc through the loan. but you should be well versed in the loan to take it in a better way.Small business finance come in secured or unsecured options. Secured business finance is meant for meeting greater loan requirement of your business. You can pledge your home or any commercial property as collateral of the loan. Secured business finance also is preferred for its lower interest rate. The loan also can be conveniently paid back in 25 to30 years or earlier as suits to your circumstances. Secured business finance is also best suited to bad credit business people as their property enables them to take the loan despite credit problems.

Unsecured small business finance are risk free loans for business people as lenders approve it without collateral. But you get only smaller loan and it has to be paid back in shorter duration. Also you would be paying interest at higher rate. Usually good credit business people are made unsecured small business finance. However, bad credit business people are also eligible if they have a convincing repayment plan in place that shows that they run a profitable business.

Whether you take secured or unsecured small business finance, the lender will first of all take a deep look into your type of business and will approve the finance only if he finds your business prospects bright. This necessitates for a convincing the lender about your future business plan and that the loan will be invested in a beneficial way.

Small business finance can be sourced from banks or financial companies. But online lenders are considered as best source of lower rate finance for any business. So better apply to an online lender. Before that, compare all lenders for rates to find a suitable offer.

What we do to earn a living is a very big part of our lives and therefore it is equally important that we should enjoy what we do and look forward to every morning as we get out of bed. If you are one of those persons who have to force themselves to go to work then you should consider becoming your own boss. I know starting a business can be a very expensive and time consuming affair but there are many small business ideas, which are relatively easy and inexpensive to set up.

We are after all living in the twenty first century and the internet has brought many things within very easy reach of the average individual and there are many small business ideas that can be set up over the internet. Many of these small business ideas require very little capitol and time to set up and then it’s up to the individual to work and make the business as big as they want it to be. You don’t have to be a computer nerd or an internet guru to make these businesses a success because many of these small business ideas can also be set up with very little technical knowledge of computers.

Let me give you a few examples of small business ideas that can be easily set up over the internet. You could start your own web business selling custom jewelry, you could become acquainted with the stock market and trade from home, you could offer a resume writing service, you could repair laptops, you could become a web publisher and build websites to earn revenue, and you could even open a dessert catering business out of your home. There’s no end in sight when it comes to small business ideas that you can set up on the internet.

One of the easiest small business ideas to set up on the internet is affiliate marketing. With this business idea you don’t even have to create your own product because you are simply helping to sell other peoples products and getting paid commission to do so. Google Ad sense is another small business idea that is very easy to set up and the best thing about this business is that, once it is up and running then there’s very little you need to do to maintain it. If there is a small business idea that is as simple and effective as this, then I would like to hear about it as quickly as possible.

It is almost impossible to list here all the small business ideas that you can set up on the internet. All you need is the desire to leave the rat race and do something different. You just need to sit down and brainstorm and you will come up with many small business ideas that you can set on the internet. You need to do your research and decide what you will enjoy doing the most, this is the key to making any business a success because the more you enjoy it the more you will work at it and then may be you could also become one of those people whose life has been changed by the internet. 

 

Franchise operations manuals may seem daunting, especially for a company that has never written an operations manual before. Bewildered by the new business of franchising, with its legal requirements, franchise disclosure documents, operations manuals, training programs, etc., many companies delegate responsibility to a high-priced franchise consultant.

But using someone to write your franchise operations manual who knows literally nothing about your business, never makes any sense when everything is considered objectively. And, besides a hefty price tag of $20,000 or more to write the manuals, using franchise consultants brings another, expensive result – legal risk. Here are some drafting tips and strategies from a recognized, international franchise expert.Why Franchise Consultants Are Risky BusinessPaying someone who knows nothing about your business, and having them learn it from scratch at your expense is really just common sense. Using franchise consultants for what is a relatively easy and straightforward task has never made any sense – except to the franchise consultants who charge exorbitant amounts to write an operations manual. It’s one of those little franchise secrets that the consultants don’t ever mention or discuss.Using a franchise consultant to write a franchise operations manual also carries legal risk. The principal legal risk comes from including inappropriate topics, chapters and policies that are commonly found in company-owned, chain operations manuals.  If these are included, as they often are in franchise operations manuals, very significant franchise liability issues arise. Because the franchise consultants are not franchise attorneys or experts, they are entirely oblivious to this risk. They don’t know where the bullets come from in franchise litigation. As a testifying and consulting franchise expert, I routinely find franchise operations manuals drafted by franchise consultants and do-it-yourself manuals containing inappropriate chapters or topics. And, because they rely on boilerplate manuals used for other clients, where (hopefully) all instances of burgers, for example, are searched and replaced with tax returns, the end result is not only dangerous – it is also very mediocre. Giving a mediocre operations manual to a franchise owner who has invested hundreds of thousands (or in some cases millions) of dollars in your franchise model is definitely not the best way to start or ensure a smooth franchise relationship.The Best Practice Approach To Drafting Franchise Operations ManualsBesides the expensive and legally risky approach there is another, best franchise practice approach based on almost three decades of writing, editing and reviewing hundreds of franchise operations manuals. The essence of this approach is also common sense – letting the true expert in your business write the manual. Typically that person is the founder of the business, or a small team of management personnel who know business operations inside and out. While a franchise expert should be involved in the process, the expert’s role should be limited to a planning and editing capacity.Three Easy Steps For Drafting A Franchise Operations ManualThe drafting process begins with planning and developing the Table of Contents for the franchise operations manual. This includes making sure all the appropriate chapters and topics are included, and the inappropriate ones are not. Knowledge of franchise management best practices is essential here, and that’s why a franchise expert’s input and planning is so important. Because most franchise operations manuals are incorporated by reference in the franchise agreement (which is a franchise industry best practice)  the franchise contract is also  reviewed.  Some operations-specific information may be inadvertently included in the contract by the attorneys, which is not a good thing. This needs to be moved out or appropriately amended.The second step is giving the person(s) within your company who have drafting responsibility samples of operations manual writing styles, guidelines and instructions. With these, they can begin drafting each chapter of the manual using their extensive operational knowledge of the day-to-day, week-to-week, etc. aspects of your business.The third and final step is having the franchise expert review each chapter as it is drafted and comment on the professionalism and sufficiency of the chapters from a franchise industry best practices and franchise operator perspective. SummaryThe first couple chapters are typically the hardest to draft, as you or your management personnel learn and apply operations manual drafting techniques under the guidance of a professional editor. But after that, it’s smooth sailing through the balance of the document. This approach produces a professional, easy to use and update franchise operations manual. It also ensures the most efficient use of resources and talent, and eliminates having to pay a franchise consultant $20,000 or more for this relatively simple task. Whether or not a company ultimately franchises, the process of planning, documenting and implementing standardized operating procedures and systems via operations manuals, like blue chip franchise and non-franchised companies do, makes any firm operate more efficiently and competitively. In a franchise environment, it ensures consistent and uniform operations, helping personnel with different skills learn to perform tasks in a consistent manner throughout the franchise network. Finally, it’s important to realize the process of writing a franchise operations manual never stops. As the business model evolves, so must the operations manual – the ultimate reason why writing the manual yourself to begin with makes imminent common sense. As one franchise company executive observed “I found that not only was writing my own operations manual a cost savings; it was imperative.”

copyright 2008-2009, Kevin B. Murphy, B.S., M.B.A., J.D. – all rights reserved

For further information, visit the Franchise Foundations website