SBA Small Business Loans – A Huge Benefit to Start-Up Businesses
Setting up a new business is never easy. There are innumerable details that need to be taken care of. Start-up businesses are mainly dependent on loans for almost all their business requirements. It is therefore extremely important to find an appropriate and reliable lending source to cater to their financial needs. However, since most conventional lenders and banks are not keen on providing loans to new business owners due to various security reasons, opting for SBA small business loans can be an excellent idea.Small businesses can contribute immensely in developing and enhancing the nation’s economy. The Small Business Administration (SBA), which is a United States government agency that provides loans to small businesses with the aim of improving the country’s financial condition. These loans are meant to support the establishment of small businesses by providing through adequate financial assistance. These loans cannot be obtained directly from SBA, but through a number of their lending partners working in accordance with the SBA rules and regulations.The SBA offers a wide variety of loans that demand different qualifications of the borrowers. The various financial programs offered by SBA such as surety bonds, debt financing and equity financing are designed to cater to the different financial requirements of borrowers. In order to avail a loan from them, it is extremely important to understand how the SBA works. Let us discuss some basic rules and regulations of the SBA:
The SBA loans are provided to business owners at a lower interest rate than banks and other conventional lending sources owing to the fact that start-up business owners do not have adequate capital to opt for loans with high interest rates.
SBA does not provide loans to small business owners directly. Instead, they merely set certain rules and regulations that are strictly followed by their partners, including private-sector lenders, micro-lending institutions and community development organizations, who are authorized by the SBA to provide loans to start-up businesses.
The loans are provided to the business owners under an SBA guarantee to ensure that the loan is repaid on time to the lending partners. Business owners cannot avail SBA small business loans in case they have the eligibility to obtain loans from other lending sources on affordable and reasonable terms.
You can obtain SBA loans fast and without any kind of hassles. They can be acquired on an immediate basis as soon as they are applied for. This can be immensely beneficial for start-up businesses that need financial assistance for all their business needs. Delay in acquiring loans can create problems for them in setting up the business.
One of the most beneficial aspects of SBA loans is that they can be availed even if you have a poor credit record including bankruptcy, insolvency, IVA etc. It can be an excellent way to improve your credit records.
SBA offers various kinds of loans, including 504 for purchasing real estate and equipment, 7 (a) for common small business loans, disaster loans and microloans. Not all banks issuing SBA loans offer the same loan programs. Moreover, in accordance with individual bank policies, the loan requirements for a particular program can differ from bank to bank.
The SBA rules and regulations for small business loans are designed to help start-up business owners and can be extremely beneficial for them.
4 Online Business Ideas With Low Start-Up Cost
Are you interested in starting your own business, but you have a very small budget to start with? The idea of starting a business has long been viewed as a very expensive venture and is only a common practice among a small group of people. Thankfully, the technology era has leveled the playing field for starting a business. It is now possible to get started with very little cash. And by gaining the right knowledge and skills, you can own a very lucrative business. In this article, I have compiled a list of 4 profitable online business ideas that you can start, with just a laptop and internet access.1. Become A Website Developer.Website development has created many business opportunities over the past couple of decades. Now that there are open source platforms like WordPress, it is quite possible for anyone with a computer/laptop and an internet connection can become a website developer, even if you have basic technical skills. If you are uncertain of whether or not you are able to start a business, creating websites for clients, then a short, informal online course in WordPress can fill in the blanks and give you the confidence to offer your service to potential clients.In addition to, website development, you can offer hosting services to your clients. And no, you don’t have to own a server. You can get hosting services for very little money. You can then offer the service as part of your package for website development. This price is usually set a bit higher than what you pay for the hosting.Online business ideas like website development, don’t require that you have a business space, so if you are strapped for cash and don’t want to incur the monthly cost of an internet bill, then this is the kind of business for you. You can take your laptop to your favorite cafe shop, and make use of their free internet service. Make sure you buy something from the shop, as this will keep you and the business owner happy.2. Start An Online Store.This is one of the most lucrative online business ideas I know of. You can start a business online, selling your own products, or selling other people’s products. The clear advantage of this business model is that you are not restricted by creativity, or location. If you do not have a product, and don’t have the slightest idea how to come up with one, then you can earn huge commissions from selling other people’s product. This is one of the few online business ideas that you can start with no money.If you don’t have an online store, it would cost very little for you to set one up for yourself, or have someone set one up for you. As mentioned before, open source platforms like WordPress and Joomla makes it possible for anyone to create a website. WordPress has great support along with free plugins that can make it very easy for you to create an online store with a shopping cart and an automated checkout system.However, if the monthly cost of hosting is still above your budget, then you can make use of free e-Commerce platforms like eBay, Etsy and Amazon. There is no monthly fee to sell your products, and you only pay a small fee for listing your product.3. Become a Social Media Manager.New social media platforms are springing up all over the internet. These social media platforms have huge audiences at any given time of the day. This makes it important for businesses to create and maintain a social presence on these social media platforms if they want to be visible to potential customers.This need for a social media presence has created a new and unique business opportunity. It is very tedious to spend time creating content to add to the social media platforms. And with so many platforms to have to keep track of, it can be a full-time job.Many companies are in need of a social media manager, and you can help. This is one of the online business ideas that will not become saturated. New companies are emerging every day and need to maintain a social media presence. So you will never run short of a potential client list.It is very easy to create content and maintain a several social media accounts. You can use platforms like Hootsuite to manage several social media accounts simultaneously.You can schedule posts and content for several weeks in advance. You can then charge clients a monthly fee for managing these accounts, which will be a lot less than having to hire an employee to provide this service full-time.4. Become a Mobile App Developer.Before you decide that mobile app development is only for those individuals who have spent years or more pursuing a formal education in coding, you might want to read this.It is possible for non-techs to create mobile apps for clients with no coding skills. You can use mobile content management platforms like MAPS – Mobile Apps Productions Software.These platforms allow you to create mobile apps and publish them to the Google Play and Apple app stores. In addition to publishing the apps on the app stores, the content management platforms allow you to provide back-end access to clients so that they can manage and update their mobile apps. You can also maintain the apps on the client’s behalf and charge an additional monthly fee for management and hosting of the mobile app.More than 91% of the world’s population have a cell phone or mobile device. And as consumers become more attached to their mobile devices and more demanding of what it can provide and provide quickly, the demand for mobile apps will be even greater. More than 95% of businesses do not have a mobile app for their business. You can create a mobile app for these businesses at a price that they can afford. This is one of the online business ideas that has very little competition and huge earning potentials.Looking for More Online Business Ideas?While you may find lots of online business ideas on the internet, it is important to note that being successful in any business requires that you acquire the skills and knowledge of creating the business or service.
6 Questions To Be Answered By Every Online Business
Every successful online business has a plan of where they are going and how they are going to get there. Where will your business be when it’s most successful? How can you ensure that you get there? Can you answer these 6 questions?1. Who Are You And What is Your Business?Is your online business as just a hobby? Or is it a serious business that you’ll stick with even if the going gets tough? The internet can be impersonal business environment. Your website visitors will want to know who you are. Your ‘About Me’ page can become one of the top read pages on your website. Tell people who are, why you’ve built your online business and how it can help them.2. What Do You Offer?What solutions does your online business provide? Is it freedom? Maybe more time? Or is it something else? What problem can your product or service fix for your customers? If you can answer that, your journey towards having a successful business will be quicker.3. Who Is Your Customer?Knowing your ideal customer is an important part of running a successful online business. Create a customer avatar so that you can look at it and know exactly who you’re doing it for. To find that “perfect” prospect do your research to discover their desires, emotions, demographics and other physical and mental personality traits.4. What Makes Your Business Different?Generally, another online business will be offering something like yours or close to it. You have to make your offer for a product or service more attractive to buy from you than it is to buy from one of your competitors. What makes you and your business stand out so that it’s better, different, or special?5. How Will You Deliver It?It’s important to know how you’ll deliver your product or service to your audience. Will you sell a physical product that’s delivered to the customer’s front door? Or a digital product that’ downloaded instantly to the customer’s computer once they have bought it? Perhaps it will be both? But without knowing how you’ll deliver what you’re selling, it will be difficult to succeed in your online business.6. How Will You Determine Success?A successful online business can mean different things to different people. Do you want to sell a specific number of products, get more website traffic, enhance your online reputation, broaden your brand or something else? If you don’t know what you want to achieve, how will you know if have ever achieved it?