Business and Finance

Are you starting an online business with a small budget? That’s OK. Online businesses are one of the lowest cost businesses to run – if you know what you need to pay for and where to go.

Follow these suggestions for getting your website set up inexpensively while not sacrificing quality. There are some things you need to pay for (and this will tell you how much) and other things you can do just as well for free.

STEP ONE: GETTING A DOMAIN NAME

There’s no reason to pay more than $10 for a domain name, so feel free to shop around. Domains are important because they give you credibility as a business.

Free websites do not enable you to have your own domain name so instead you end up with mybusiness.freespace.com instead of mybusiness.com. See the difference? Your customers expect you to put some money into your business and this is a clear tip off that you are not doing that – and for $10, why shouldn’t you?

STEP TWO: FIND A HOST

Hosting plans vary considerably. Much of what you pay for will be determined by the features your hosting account provides with its service.

Are you setting up a simple, one page site? You could probably use a low cost host for $5 per month. Do you need some extra help with templates and layout or expect a high amount of traffic or downloads? You may have to pay more but it can be well worth the extra expense to have integrated webpages already set up or to ensure your host is providing you with enough bandwidth to handle the traffic on your site.

Never use a free host, unless perhaps you want to start with a blog or similar format while you get your own website up and running. Free hosting usually means you pay in other ways – lack of a domain name or a lack of quality. Many free hosting accounts are for personal use only and do not allow commercial accounts. Try to get recommendations from others when looking for a good host.

STEP THREE: DESIGN

As previously mentioned you can find professional templates on some hosting services. These can give your website a professional polish without the expense of hiring a designer. You are limited, however, on the look you choose depending on the variety of designs available.

Templates are also available to others so your site may have the same appearance as someone else. If you need custom work done consider hiring a freelance web designer from a site like elance.com or ask a local student studying web design. Freelance sites often put you in touch with new designers who will charge less while building on their experience and adding to their portfolio.

Spending money wisely is important when starting any business, but some free services will cost you in reliability or image. On the other hand there are some cheap deals you may not hear about so don’t give your hard earned money (or worse – your credit) for a service you can pay less for and get the same results.

I was approached by a client the other day with a question I couldn’t immediately answer. He has a small construction business and was looking for a partner so he could win bigger contracts, and he wondered how he should go about doing that. I had to tell him I couldn’t give him advice on structuring a small business because I’m not a lawyer or an accountant, but I knew I could give him information, so I started to research.

I knew from setting up my own company about the various structures Canadian small businesses can use. I thought his choices would be limited to sole proprietorship, partnership and incorporation. There’s also a co-operative, but that doesn’t apply to my client. I guessed that the best way to help him out would be to define and give him the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Sole proprietorships are owned by one individual, and are legally considered an extension of yourself. That means that any liability or obligation your business incurs is also a personal liability or obligation. So, if your sole proprietorship fails, your personal assets can be seized to pay for that liability of obligation. I’d say that’s a pretty big disadvantage. On the plus side though, sole proprietorships are the easiest to set up and, and don’t even have to be registered if its name is exactly the same as your own.

A partnership is an agreement between two or more persons to carry on business together. Partnerships are a separate legal entity from you, and must have at least one general partner. All partners can be general, but there must be at least one general partner. Partnerships are relatively easy to set up, but although not a requirement, the parties should have a contract between themselves outlining responsibilities and obligations.

A general partner is responsible for business decisions, running the company and acting on its behalf. Each general partner is jointly and severally liable for partnership debts. This means one partner can be held responsible for the decisions, debts and obligations of another partner. Strike one against general partnerships, I’d say.

So what about a limited partner then? Limited partners are not involved in decision-making or in the day-to-day running of the business. Usually, a limited partner’s contribution is financial, and their liability is limited to the amount they invested in the firm. What that means is you basically have no say over how the money you invested is used, which means you have zero power. And, the moment a limited partner becomes involved in running the business or acts on behalf of the business, they become a general partner.

A corporation is a separate entity from yourself, which means you don’t have personal liability for debts, obligations or even acts of the company. You’re not personally responsible for any decisions someone else in the corporation makes, and you’re only liable up to the amount of unpaid portion of shares you own. Sounds pretty good so far.

Limited liability is a big advantage over other forms of small business structure. And there are more advantages. Corporations continue to exist after their shareholders die and can be passed on to family or friends. Raising money is easier for a corporation than either sole proprietorship or partnerships. There can also be tax advantages.

So what are the disadvantages? Well, there’s more paperwork because you’re required to keep records and you have to file a separate tax return. It costs more to register a corporation than setting up a sole proprietorship or a partnership. And, if you give a personal guarantee, which banks often ask for, you may be liable for that amount even if your company ceases to exist.

I thought my client’s choice would be limited to those three choices, but further research showed I was wrong. There is another one: joint venture. A joint venture is like a partnership because it’s an agreement between two or more people or small businesses, but there are important differences. In a joint venture, two or more people contribute goods, services or capital to one business enterprise. To date, Canada does not have specific laws governing joint ventures, as it does with all the other small business forms.

A joint venture agreement outlines joint venture terms, contributions of each party, management structure and how the profits will be divided. Joint ventures avoid the partnership disadvantage of joint and several liability, and also allows each joint venturer to regulate their own tax deductions. That’s a big advantage for joint ventures.

However, a joint venture has sometimes been defined by the absence of key partnership elements. This means small businesses intending to enter into a joint venture agreement must thoroughly understand partnership elements and avoid using them in order to avoid being deemed a partnership rather than a joint venture. What might have started out being a joint venture could lose its joint venture advantage by being deemed a partnership, and inherit the disadvantages of a partnership instead.

You can incorporate a joint venture, which would then have the same advantages and disadvantages of any corporation. And it would have the advantages and disadvantages of a joint venture. Could this possibly be the best solution?

So, I showed all this information to my client last week. He was glad to be able to understand all the differences, and wants to make a decision by the end of the month. I wonder what his decision will be. I know what I would do. Do you?

China is one of the leading countries that provide services in the software outsourcing market. Its outsourcing services market became more rational and steady in 2006, reaching 1.43 billion USD and has been growing rapidly in the international market with a year to year growth of 55.4%, which is 10% more than last year.

To grow up with an international market in software outsourcing industries, many capital firms are giving a boost to the development of software outsourcing. On the other hand, cooperation with the multinational market by the domestic software outsourcing service providers is also occurring. Also, human resource, opening customer services and customer resources as well as market environment are playing their part in the future development of the software market. Also Japanese service enterprises are expanding in China at an expedited pace.

In 2006-2007, the annual report on Chinas software outsourcing market by CCID was submitted that helped service providers, investors, capital firms and government agencies to grasp the opportunities in boosting the software outsourcing market. It is also predicted that china software market will increase rapidly with the estimated annual growth rate of 50 percent from 2005 to 2009. Thus the rapid growth of China’s software outsourcing service market is raking profits internationally in the outsourcing market. Currently, the potential with the estimate annual rate of 50% which is 10% more than last year has been maintained in the Chinese software outsourcing industry that nevertheless shares a small proportion globally.

Software business with Japan has grown 30 percent since 1996, where the country is doing business of about a 50 million. Since 2006 China has captured more than 60% of the Japanese software outsourcing market and this has been helping China make its mark globally. Chinas software industry has been growing faster since trading with Japan. In addition, the plus point could also be that the Japanese firms prefer China for the outsourcing market because they are close neighbors and have similar cultural backgrounds.

This has increased the overall demand as well since European and US companies have been enlarging their cooperation and trade with China and this has the same fallout effect of nurturing the image of the Chinese software outsourcing industry.

Analyzing the rapid growth in providing the services in the field of software outsourcing market, Japanese outsourcers are much more co operative in providing or dealing with their Chinese partners, it helps in boosting globally the software service market.

Have you ever considered why SPAM has caused such a public backlash compared to the deafening silence from its unsolicited paper cousins of direct and junk mail? People seem to care a lot more about what enters their Inbox than their letterbox. And for the word “care” think about logical substitutes of “notice”, “read” and “respond”.

All this translates into campaign results that can surpass other forms of direct communication making it an ideal cost effective option for any small business owner.

And what’s more I believe that as a small business owner the odds are stacked in their favour to become budding email marketing superstars.

Let me explain why.

Firstly, it’s about personality. E-mail messages written in a personal style seem to work the best. Writing this way doesn’t seem to faze most small business owners. Usually their business shows more of their personality when dealing with customers than larger competitors so writing this way seems to be a natural option.

Secondly, a small business owner can understand what content that has a good chance of being read. With them working closely with customers they tend to understand what their customers want to know about and can easily translate this into articles and reports that will be read.

Thirdly, the time and cost efficient nature of email marketing ideally suits the busy small business owner. It can take the same amount of effort to create an email newsletter for 500 subscribers as it does 50,000. Plus the costs of an email production are a fraction of the alternative paper option.

For a small business owner a regular e-mail message can have as much personality and content to end up being the next best thing as a phone call from themselves, just more efficient and at a lot less costly to produce.

So there you have it, three reasons why small business owners can make it big in the Inbox. Have fun harnessing this great tool for your company.

If you are looking to open a business of your very own, you are not alone. Every year more and more people make the decision to stop working to make other people rich and to start their own businesses. For most of them, having the start-up capital that is needed is harder than one might think.

Small business grants are often a hot topic with new business people with a small amount of money and little access to other capital. We have all seen the many media claims about “Free Government Grant for Small Business.” It seems all too easy to get these days.

Of course, if it were really that easy, all you would have to do is find a government small business grant to apply for, apply and before you knew it you would have the money to grow your business.

Most U.S. government departments, like the Department of Commerce, do not provide any grants for help in starting a small business. Grant programs are available through state programs and other groups as well. The grant programs are often awarded to people in fields such as medicine or education, and they all have specific eligibility criteria.

The process of finding a small business grant program to apply for and reviewing the requirements to getting is very time consuming. After conducting a two-week search for a medical publisher, I found the requirements to be very specific and difficult to meet.

Eligibility can be based on your location, and your business’ sales revenue to the application date, years in business, sex, race, and even for the purpose of funding. If your business sets out on a small business grant seeking mission there are some questions that you will have to answer which are:

1. Do you have the time and the resources available so that you can search for a small business grant program and apply for it?

2. Can you afford to hire a consultant if you are unsure of how to do it, or can you learn the grant application process by yourself?

3. Does your business need the money right now for expansion or can you wait up to a year?

4. If you do decide to ask for a grant, will it hurt your business because it will be taking away time from selling and marketing?

If you want to take a look at the small business grants available, the best place to start is the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA). The CFDA lists thousands of grants from all government agencies for free. Many business grants will be geared towards minority business development or rural business opportunity grants. Do not overlook the other assistance programs available such as equipment and training.

If you do find a small business grant program that is available for your business, you will need to be ready to go through a lengthy, approval process. With today’s funding cutbacks and the high amount of competition you will want to be prepared for it by following these quick tips:

Small Business Grant Tips

- Provide the grant company with all of your complete and accurate information in the application. An incomplete application will likely not make the review process or it can add delay your grant form getting approved.

- Get to know your grant officer and their constraints, budget and concerns with approving your grant.

- Stand out among the crowd with a well-prepared business plan if required. You will have to demonstrate your understanding of the business. Show how the money will bring the benefit the government agency wants.

- Bring in outside experts or consultants to help you if you need it. An accountant or consultant can add credibility to your application process.

- Keep in touch with the company offering the grant. Make regular contact with the grant office in a professional, but non-intrusive manner.

- The task of locating and applying for a small business grant is not for the people who are not willing to go through hell. Take an honest look at alternative sources first, such as loans, personal credit lines, friends and family.