Turn your great idea into a great business!
A great idea can be fun, innovative and personally satisfying. A great business requires additional skills and resources to turn your great idea into reality. A great business
- fills a need,
- generates profits for owners and investors,
- provides excellent, consistent service to its customers,
- sets goals and develops action plans to meet them and
- controls the financials.
The engine behind a great business is a mission. It's the well that provides inspiration and gets you through the tough times. It drives your goals and your service philosophy. Your great idea matters because it has a purpose, a mission.
Now for a reality check. Collectively, businesses will post $25 trillion in revenue in 2007. Over 58% earn less than $50,000/year and over 86% earn less than $250,000/year.
Our website provides information and useful ideas for businesses earning less than $250,000/year. Browse for tips, a new perspective and free downloads to solve your problems or grow your business.
We can help you with
- Getting started. Our newsletter, The Small Biz Survivor, provides useful, timely tips to build your business skills. Our start-up services give you a road map for the first six to twelve months. Set your course with The Biz Plan that Works. Your plan includes financial projections for the first year of your business. You can add the Biz Financials appendix to look at the best and worst case. Need a loan? Add Biz Loans to prepare for your investors. We simplify the first year so you can build your business with a focus on the work you love.
Controlling your finances. Our Biz Bookkeeping services include a monthly financial review with you, the business owner. We will also help you manage your business better with a budget. You can look at new ideas and alternatives with Biz Forecasting and cost modeling. Learn more about your finances now by downloading The Biz Income Statement, our free booklet to guide your business to greater profits. - Improving your operations. A great business provides useful, consistent and profitable products and services. Keys to consistency include planning for direction and focus; managing the details with effective processes that make life easier; and adapting to your customers and environment measuring the results of your activities.
- Skill-building seminars. Small business owners wear many hats and some hats fit better than others. Our local and distance seminars put your business into perspective, identify opportunities and explore the risks we all face.
- Fast, practical tips. Find them here! Our site specializes in practical information and strategies to simplify the complexities of running and growing a small business. Sign up for The Small Business Survivor, our bi-monthly newsletter. Watch for our free mini-learnings on business basics!
Up to your neck in alligators? This might not be the right time to drain the swamp. We help you set priorities and take the long view to make your daily business activities more productive by using assessments that tailor business basics to your situation.
In the news: SBA Loans on the rise
SBA loans in 2006 hit $19.1 billion nationwide according to The Fairfield County Business Journal. That's about a 10% increase--there were $18.1 billion during FY 2005.
SBA programs make money available by underwriting small business loans. Critics wonder if the money is going to companies that can be characterized as small businesses. Just how small is a small business? How big? The 'small business' designation is worth real money. Read our new article Small Business? to find out what's going on.
What's new?
Biz 4 the Rest of Us® is now a registered service mark with the US Patent office! You will see the registration symbol ® associated with our name throughout this website.
What's an operating cycle? See the Biz Operating Cycle article for one of the most important small business metrics that summarizes your operations and finances.
Are all those numbers on your financials Greek to you? Do they make your eyes glaze over? Download The Biz Income Statement, our free booklet to guide your business to greater profits.
Thinking about making money from your website with a shopping cart. See Shopping Cart basics for help in making your decision.