Tag Archives: startups

SBA Live Web Chat Will Focus on How to Start a New Business

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Advice and Tips on Starting a Business Offered In SBA’s February Web Chat

Thursday, February 16, 2012, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., ET

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration’s February web chat will offer business start-up advice for entrepreneurs.  If you are considering starting a business in 2012, SBA can be valuable resource to help you find a mentor, improve your business skills and get training to help boost your ideas.

WHO:  Janice Washington, state director of the Arizona Small Business Development Center Network, will host the February web chat on “New Year, New Business: How to Start it Right.”  An experienced business consultant and former business owner, Washington will answer questions about the early steps to take when starting a business, and the tools and resources that can help to get a small business idea off the ground.

WHAT: SBA’s web chat series provides small business owners with an opportunity to discuss relevant business issues online with experts, industry leaders and successful entrepreneurs.  Chat participants have direct, real-time access to the web chats via questions they submit online in advance, and during the live session.  Participants will gain valuable information on how to participate in the program to gain increased access to government contracting opportunities.  

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Understanding Gross Margin and How it Can Make or Break your Startup

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(Editor’s Note: This article written by Caron Beesley appears on www.sba.gov. You can see the original article here. She gets complete credit for the article. I’ve reposted it here only to make it easier for you to find it.)

It may sound obvious, but understanding gross margin is often overlooked by startups and new business owners. This can have a direct impact on your ability to effectively manage a growing business, price your products, and most importantly, make a profit.

What is Gross Margin?

Put simply, gross margin is the money left after you have covered all the variable (not fixed) costs associated with the sale of a product or service (such as wages, materials, etc.). But gross margin is so much more than that; it is a measure of your production efficiencies and it determines your break even point. It is a key calculation as you assess your startup business risk and profitability.

To understand the impact gross margin has on profitability, consider this example:

A startup has $100,000 in fixed overhead costs with a projected gross margin of 50 percent of sales. To cover its overhead and break even, the startup would need to reach sales of $200,000.  

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SBA Launches Startup America Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps

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Pilot program to include four business accelerators that will match mentors with 100 clean energy entrepreneurs, startups.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration today launched an initiative to mobilize members of the current generation of successful business owners to mentor and support startups and entrepreneurs to help them become the next generation of great American companies.

As part of the White House’s Startup America initiative, the Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps (EMC) is aiming to support more than 1,000 startup and early-stage firms across the country. SBA is partnering with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in identifying organizations and mentoring best practices for the EMC program.

In line with that, today SBA Administrator Karen Mills announced one of the first initiatives of EMC, a pilot program that will match mentors with 100 startups in the clean energy sector.

“Who better for entrepreneurs and startups to learn from than individuals who have been down a similar path before,” Mills said. “Mentors can provide valuable insights critical to their success; from opportunities for financing, advice on hiring to even walking an entrepreneur through steps for taking a product or idea into the commercial market. The Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps will mobilize some of the best and brightest business leaders to help create the opportunities for success, drive innovation and spur job creation across the country.”  

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Welcome to my Small Business Resource Site!

This website is an educational and reference tool for small business owners to get information on topics like picking the right business structure, planning, marketing, and more. This site is intended for any small business person, including home-office professionals, new start-ups,  or even if you’re just contemplating a new business.

You’ll get breaking news updates here about SBA loans & grants, federal bidding opportunities, legislation affecting small businesses, free online training opportunities, and how-to articles covering everything you need to start or grow your business.You can use the drop-down menus on the top of any page for navigation.  They are self-explanatory.  If this is your first visit here, my Table of Contents is a great place to start. 

I’m a Small Business Marketing and Development Consultant. I help small business owners and home office professionals start or grow their business by differentiating themselves and the way they do business. You can learn more about who I am by clicking here, and more about what I do on my Services page.  I don’t believe the self-employed or home-office professional is served very well by current media or educational outlets.  Hence, this site.   

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