Growing Yourself with Your Career

The only way to grow you with your small business or any other career is to keep yourself updated about the latest trends, techniques, and new ways to do things more efficiently. Only with this motive in mind, I lately explored some really useful stuff and here it is:

• How to get better online reviews for your brand https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/12/get-online-reviews.html
• Some key areas to focus on, in order to make a business partnership more workable. https://www.inc.com/paul-sundin/these-5-surprising-rules-are-key-to-a-successful-business-partnership.html
• A life changing story that may motivate many other women https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2017/12/27/when-a-trip-leads-to-career-change-4-women-who-quit-their-jobs-after-a-vacation/#78c746194f91
• 2018 economic trends to watch http://time.com/money/5075669/economic-trends-2018/
• How segmentation can make your email marketing efforts more fruitful http://www.startupsbuzz.com/make-your-email-marketing-more-effective-with-segmentation/
• You may not believe, but an Uber driver can make this much per month http://www.equitybusiness.us/business-service/how-much-can-an-uber-driver-make.html
• Quick steps for students entrepreneurs to be their own boss http://www.smallbusinessclan.com/6-steps-for-students-to-start-their-own-business/

Do check these out and do not forget to share if you liked any of them...

An Overview of UK Government Grants for Startups & Small Business

The StartUp Loans scheme by UK government was originally aimed at young entrepreneurs, but now, there’s no age restrictions. Any entrepreneur with an awesome business idea can apply for loans of up to £25,000 which needs to be repaid over terms of up to five years, with interest payable at 6% a year.

The Startup Loan Scheme is not just about money lending, but successful applicants get free business advice along, which is crucial, especially for first time entrepreneurs.

Enterprise Allowance scheme is another great scheme to mention. This one is aimed at people currently receiving Jobseekers' Allowance, or lone parents on income support. If your idea qualifies, you’re entitled to an allowance payable over 26 weeks and worth up to £1,274. The scheme includes business mentoring as well.

There are many other government and non-government grants and loans on local level as well as industry specific, i.e. science, research, technology etc. Here you can find a big list of small business and startup grants and loans for UK.

All you need is to have an awesome business idea. If you’re not sure, you may want to check this list of 1000 small business ideas.

Have a great idea and you’ll find multiple funding options, like organisations such as The Prince's Trust, offer support to young entrepreneurs, while many local authorities have schemes aimed at start-ups in their area. In some sectors, blue-chip companies will help with finance for small businesses. The website Businessfinanceforyou.co.uk provides a comprehensive listing of these schemes.

Also, check if your start-up is eligible for the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme(SEIS). If so, investors in your business could claim generous tax reliefs on funding of up to £100,000 each, making it easier to attract them. To qualify, your business must have been trading for less than two years.

Do Not Forget to Look into Startup Financials before Investing Your Money

Startups are at very threshold of their business and may not have too much financial details available. But, as an investor, you must look into the financial canvas of the startup in question. Because this is where you can have clear idea about what the team is up to and what’s their next projection.

So, before you actually invest in a startup, you must know that….

Investigating the financials may be a bit tricky in case of early stage startups; calculating projections to 5 years is almost impossible but the founding team should be able to at least showcase the roadmap of how they want to build the story towards becoming a profitable company.

An overview of cash flow can tell an overall picture of what’s happening with the available funds right now. Moreover, check the marketing plan and see how they are allocating resources to achieve what targets!

It is very interesting at this point to review the burn rate of the company and if what they are doing with their money actually makes sense.

You may also want to read how important it is to where the startup will be spending your money!

To Get PR for Your Startup, Offer Yourself up as a Thought Leader

“If you are a local small business, look at local media for PR. Read those publications, forge relationships, find out what types of stories the journalists are covering, and offer yourself up as a thought leader on a topic.” – (Starts at 9:49) Laura Collins, PR at Infusionsoft

PR today is way too different than that of PR five years ago. Now the digital media has expanded its outreach to new levels. The users on the other hand are more aware of all the options they have and in this scenario, doing PR just for the sake unloading the burden won’t work!

Check out some major small business resources, and you will find how the marketing world has been shaped with the changing trends.

You need to stand out in the crowd to get results from the PR. Investigate, how can you stand out among all of them around!

Collection of 10 Awesome Blogs for New Entrepreneurs

So you're enthusiastic about starting your own venture?

Well, that's great, but my one tip to all new entrepreneurs is to be proactive and always have alternatives.

Your motivation doesn't always stay same, at time your lose it drastically and you need to catch it up either by consulting an expert or doing some extra effort.

Just in case, you do not have access to mentors and business advisors, you must know where to look for advice. Here are some awesome blogs to find answers to your queries when you are lost!

1. Eric D. Brown - Technology, Strategy, People, Projects
2. Duct Tape Marketing
3. StartupsBuzz.com
4. Barry Moltz
5. Entrepreneurship Resources | ZDNet
6. SmallBusinessClan.com
7. CareersLinked.com
8. The Analytics Compass
9. Clutton Cox Solicitors
10. The Global Small Business Blog

Small Grocery Store; a Highly Profitable Business Idea for Small Towns

A grocery store is a good business in any setup, because it is focused on selling the basic needs of humans. So, if you live in a small town or a village, running a grocery store would be an ideal business for you!

You might have explored lists of small business ideas for small towns and some options might have lured you to try something out of the box too, but all those options have lot of risks. So, if you want to take calculated risk only, then go for a grocery store!

To start with, you do not need a big capital. All you need is a convenient place, which you can make out of your home too!

Yes, you need money to stock your store initially, but play wise. Get in touch with retailers and wholesalers to get better rates, and also look for the retailers who can stock your store on credit too!

Well, this type of business is simple to set up in any small town or village, but if you work hard and provide all what people in the target area require, you can make it a highly profitable business. 

Here are some links to help you start your grocery store in a successful manner:

Grocery store business plan.

Rural grocery store setup guide.

How to start a mini grocery store.

Hostel Business; a Lucrative Opportunity in Big Cities Like Chicago

Chicago is a travelers’ hub, and they are not just the tourists and businessmen, but there’s a good number of foreign population that is here for job or studies. 

Budget accommodation is something everyone looks for, and so it can be a lucrative market here in Chicago. So, if you are done with exploring the big lists of small business ideas for Chicago, it’s time to get serious about delivering some valuable service to people looking for budget accommodation.

If you own a residential property in the center of the city or it is somehow near to offices and Educational institutes, a hostel business would better suit you. Forget about renting the property and think about making it a valuable place for people looking for budget accommodation.

Even if you do not own such a property and you have happened to stay at a guesthouse or hostel ever, you can certainly have ideas to run such a business in much better way. In that case, you can rent a property to use it as a hostel!

Check out these useful guides on starting a hostel business:

Start with this ultimate guide to open a hostel business, and do check this one for an idea of how much money you can make with hostel business? And yes, this one is a special guide to start a backpacker’s hostel.

Well, Chicago is a big city with enormous business opportunities and you can start some businesses with no money at all too… Here’s one such idea by one of my colleagues, who insists on starting blogging as a business in Chicago.