One Habit Harming Your Business

I’m going to share the most vital of business tip I can – you have a bad habit. In fact, most entrepreneurs do. I had to become aware of this bad habit, which is why I am passing it on to you. Once you become aware of this habit then you can start to work on breaking it.

So, what’s the habit? Living in the past. Yes, the past. You see, dwelling in the past keeps you from moving forward. It is important that you do whatever it takes to bury the past so you can come into the now. You can’t think about mistakes or should’ves. You really have to focus on planning to move forward and think about possibilities.

People who live in the past or judge the present based on how they have experienced the past tend to be dreamers, not do’ers. It is important that you are both. I use to live in the past. I thought about all the money and time wasted learning lessons and thought how impossible it seemed for me to move forward. Then, one day, after realizing that I was frozen by my past , I decided to dive right into my future. I worked on shrugging off irrational fears of what could happen again and made a plan to move forward and prevent these things from happening again. I didn’t become glued to past results, I worked on moving forward because of the past results.

If you can learn to move forward from the past, you will be successful. There is no question in my mind about this strategy. So, I ask you today, what about your past is making you fearful about moving forward today? Whatever it is, address it and then figure out a plan to move beyond it.

Until tomorrow,

Twyla N. Garrett

How to Get a Business Loan.

Obtaining a business loan in today's economic culture is challenging. You might have perfect credit, but that doesn't mean you will get a great rate- if a loan at all. I've complied some tips to improve our chances for getting a business loan.

Start off by knowing your debt ratio. One of the most basic measures of a company’s creditworthiness is the Debt Service Coverage ratio, which shows a firm’s ongoing ability to keep in control both debt and interest. The Debt Service Coverage Ratio, defined as EBITDA divided by a firm’s current portion of long-term debt and interest expense, is an extremely important metric for predicting default.

Review your net sales. If sales are low you have to consider one of two options. First, increasing profitable sales and lowering production costs – take time to identify and implement. "Lowering production costs often involves finding ways to get raw materials or key services more cheaply or to use less of them. Or it can mean identifying new, more efficient methods of producing a good or providing a service," according to Karen Berman and Joe Knight.

Finally, If you can show less debt and less spending, you have a better chance for getting a business loan versus a person with perfect credit but a high amount of debt.

Twyla

Venture Capital - Do you believe in your dream?

So often I hear people say they can't find capital for their business concepts. Why is this? Why are so many other businesses able to find funding yet some people never obtain it? Is it because their business ideas are bad? Probably not. Is it because they are not great at making a solid presentation? Possibly. But, most often people don't obtain funding because they think they can't obtain it. It is true.  If you don't believe in your business idea then no one else will.

When approaching a venture capitalist make sure you are flexible. Even though he or she (or they) may not like your entire concept, they may like one part of it. That one part could turn into your funding. Don't be a all or nothing type of person. Be flexible and have faith in your entire concept and also have faith in your ability to adapt that concept to obtain funding. You can always grown your business and change course later!

Twyla