Way to Grow

Can Small Businesses Receive Government Grants?

The answer is, "It depends." Rarely is grant money available to help get new businesses off the ground. By and large, government grants are reserved for nonprofit organizations, but there are exceptions as pointed out by Rich Whittle in The Houston Chronicle.

The Small Business Innovation Research. or SBIR program, awards grants to very specialized businesses that are involved in unique and innovative research projects. If you think your business might qualify, search the site for your specific industry to see what is available.

Other special cases where businesses may qualify for a grant are if you are:

• A veteran or disabled - You may be eligible for assistance to learn new skills or perhaps buy needed equipment for your business.
• In a distressed area - Your economic development organization may have aid to give you if your business will bring jobs to the area.

(Via Business Opportunities Weblog)

Surprising Entrepreneurial Demographics

If you're considering going into business for yourself and you happen to be over 55, you might be surprised to find that you are part of a groundswell! A recent study by Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University, and published by The Kauffman Foundation, found that, contrary to popularly held assumptions:

Over the past decade or so, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-64 age group. The 20-34 age bracket, meanwhile, which is usually identified with swashbuckling and risk-taking youth (think Facebook and Google), has the lowest. Perhaps most surprising, this disparity occurred in the 11 years around the dot-com boom—when the young entrepreneurial upstart became a cultural icon.

These results are being attributed to several factors, including:

• With longer life expectancies and greater health in later life, older generations may continue to start new firms—or mentor young entrepreneurs.
• Since the first Internet-era recession, transaction costs and barriers to entry have fallen for entrepreneurs of every age.

Building an Effective Company Culture

When there's just one of you in the business, you're it -- brand, culture, deliverer of the customer experience. But as you hire employees and start to build out the organization, other personalities come to affect customer experience. That in turn affects your business brand. So it is important to set the right tone from the very start: Create a productive, effective company culture.

Some good suggestions come from Greg Gottesman in John Cook's Venture Blog. He advocates 13 rules to building a great startup culture:

1. No politics
2. It's not a job, it's a mission
3. Intolerance for mediocrity
4. Watching pennies
5. Equity-driven
6. Perfect alignment
7. Good communication even in bad times
8. Strong leadership
9. Mutual respect
10. Customer-obsessed
11. High energy level
12. Fun
13. Integrity

Do you think your ego can live with these rules, even #7 and #9?  How about #5, equity-driven? Would you be willing to grant a share of the business to people who really believe #2?  If so, and you have a great product for the current market, hire the right team and make it happen

10 Ways to Rebuild During Slow Times

Continuing the theme of my last few posts, I'm finding good material on how to counter the economic slump. Through a Twitter friend, @jenberkley, I found 10 things you can do for your business that won't cost you a cent (except some of your time, which in this case is a good investment). I paraphrase and abbreviate here, but you can read the post in full with the above link.

1. Ensure every customer touch-point is the best it can be
2. Ask customers if there are any new products or services they would welcome from you
3. Make it easy for customers to communicate with you, especially when there are problems
4. Measure to learn what marketing efforts are working -- or not
5. Look for further ways to differentiate yourself from your competition
6. Brainstorm with your staff on how to create buzz in your market
7. Do memorable things that will generate positive word-of-mouth
8. Look for ways to add value to everything you do
9. Explore how technology can save you money
10. Train your staff and measure their progress.

Although the piece only suggested brainstorming with your staff on #6, it could be very helpful to get your employees' suggestions on many of the other points, as well. If you're a solopreneuer and don't have employees, arrange a brainstorming session or two with colleagues whose businesses complement (or at least don't compete) with yours.

Making It Through to the Other Side of the Recession

Let's face it, numerous small businesses are having a tough time right now. While the optimist in me wants to remain upbeat, I do understand that a lot of you are wondering if your business will make it through this economy. A New York Times article calls it "the self-employed depression" and quotes one individual as saying, “We talk about it as middle-class poverty,” and describes "the vertigo of falling out of the middle class" when you can no longer afford to pay the bills.

It's worth taking a look at what Pam Slim said in "What to do when your work dries up, key client disappears or industry grinds to a halt." She wrote this post several years ago, and it's especially relevant today. She offers three suggestions about what to do when one or more of those situations occurs, and then follows up with how to protect yourself in the future. (Much as we'd all like to think this is a once-in-a-lifetime downturn, don't kid yourself. It could happen again.)  First, what to do now:

        Don’t panic - surrender. (Read what she says so this makes some sense.)
        Work your network of trusted allies and supporters
        Ask yourself “of all the things I could do, what is the quickest path to money?”

And several ounces of prevention against the future "nail-biting situation":

• Be extremely generous with your time, resources and referrals to your professional network.
• Secure financing and line of credit before you need them.
• Never get in a rut in your business.
• Diversify your client base [Avoid having just one big customer at a time.]
• Keep your fixed expenses to a minimum.
• Save for a rainy day.
• Cultivate a mindset of "disaster = opportunity".

Notice that she stresses your network in both sets of tips. Whatever you do now, keep your network alive and well. And believe that helping others in your network now will come back to you some day. It will!

When the going gets tough...

"One of the first casualties of tough times and adversity is self-confidence. It’s hard to believe in yourself when you have lost much of what achieved over the years and attempts to start again are met with rejection," says Carmine Coyote.

The tips for dealing with adversity that Coyote offers are mostly in the "stiff upper lip" category, but the closing point in the post is one worth pondering:

When things are going well, we have little incentive to change anything. We are too comfortable. But when they go badly, it’s worth reflecting that maybe they weren’t so great in the first place.

If you can see your present troubles as the crucible in which a new life is being formed, you can focus on how that should turn out and stop worrying about what went before. Just deciding what you want out of life, then focusing on trying to make that happen, will give your self-confidence a boost.