Over recent years, people from all walks of life have had their entrepreneurial spirit sparked into looking for the easiest business to start. The recessionary climate and increasing unemployment levels mean millions of people are waking up to the fact that they need to take control of their future. To do this, new entrepreneurs want good businesses to start so that they can generate a new and sustainable income stream.So what is the easiest business to start? It’s sensible that the best business to start will have the least expensive set up expenses, they will have services and products that people want to buy and will have the biggest possible client base. Welcome to the world of online business! It’s not a secret that a growing number of people are purchasing products and services online because of convenience, choice, cost and service. Starting up an online business and joining the thriving e-commerce world really is easiest business to start.1. Low set up costs.The beauty of starting an online business is that the start up costs are very low as compared to a conventional bricks and mortar business. Starting conventional business requires substantial investments in human resources, inventory and financial capital. Industry is becoming more information-intensive and less labour and capital-intensive.This means that more and more traditional barriers to success in business are being removed.2. You do not need to have your own products.An online business is the easiest business to start because you don’t even need to have your own products to sell. In fact, you don’t have to stock any products, set up payment systems or worry about distribution or product fulfillment. This is possible with one of the most popular and best home business models called affiliate marketing.This is where you promote and sell other people’s products. It’s like being an online commission-paid sales person. When you make a sale, you get paid a commission.The creator of the product is responsible for the whole development and fulfillment of the product. They will supply the marketing resources, manage the product delivery and follow up customer assistance. Your task is to find the customers and push them to the vendor’s online sales pages. There is an almost unlimited amount of products, services and online business ideas that you can promote this way. You can become an affiliate for services and products available on websites such as Amazon, CJ Affiliate, ClickBank or JVZoo. You can sell any products you want and receive commissions on every sale.3. Your business is open 24/7 to customers all over the world.One of the best advantages of an online business is that you can work from anywhere you want so long as you have a computer and access to the internet. The internet makes it possible for you to have customers from all over the world meaning that your business can quickly grow. You are not restricted to finding customers who live near to you. When you have an online business, your business is open all day long, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You can literally earn money while you’re sleeping.4. Use software to your advantage.The great reasons for starting an onlne business is that a lot of tasks can be automated. For example, it is important to introduce your business to prospective customers, maintain contact and build relationships with customers and send out special offers. This can easily be done with email autoresponder marketing software that works on autopilot. An autoresponder works day and night for you, while you concentrate on other aspects of your business.5. Easy access to training.Although an online business is the easiest business to start, it’s possible that you will need guidance with certain areas at some time or another. To help you, there are a wide variety of high quality online business training programs available on the internet. Your journey to success will be quicker if you make an investment in your online business education. Remember that you can learn as you earn. Learning from a successful person who has gone before you can make a big difference to your business. They can precisely evaluate your efforts, help you make progress with your marketing and profits and explain the way around stumbling blocks.
How Do We Determine Nutritional Need?
Today, we’d like to focus on the amount of nourishment and physical exercise our bodies need and how best to accomplish these objectives. It is very important to study and understand our own bodies’ individual needs, in terms of physical needs, caloric intake, and nutritional health. If you know where to look, you will find libraries, doctors, and fitness centers are stocked with nutritional information and guidance for healthy living choices for people of all ages.A healthy body requires nutrition to nurture our bodies and keep them fit and in working order. Every day, the vitamins and minerals we consume in our foods provides us with nutrition we need to thrive.How can we ascertain our individual nutritional needs? Simply by getting more information about our own individual needs and the needs of our loved ones, we can start to make smarter choices on the foods we purchase, prepare, and present to our families.When it comes to day-to-day life, nutrition is defined as what we consume as it relates to what we need to keep our bodies healthy. Thanks to recent participation of the USDA in our daily food requirements and the FDA keeping up the standards of safe eating, nutrition has become more of a common household word.So what actions should we take with regards to nutrition? How can we find out what our nutritional requirements are, how to fulfill them, and in which foods to find the best nutritional value? Nutrition in its own right hasn’t garnered the amount of attention it probably needs. We hear all sorts of buzzwords regarding milk and cereals fortified with vitamins, our daily vitamin intake, and what nutritional value we get from our food choices. But how does all this actually apply to our daily body functions?Our vitamin and mineral requirements frequently outweigh our caloric needs. Here is where supplemental vitamins and minerals are necessary to fill the gap. All these things are part of our basic nutritional needs.Because everyone has individual needs and because there are so many different facets to nutrition, nutrition is a very complex topic. Men and women have very different needs, and even young women’s needs are different from that of older women. Continual education and reevaluation of our nutritional needs as we age is a necessary part of our bodily health.It stands to reason that an athletic middle-aged hiker would have differing nutritional needs from a person who suffered from heart disease. So many different elements factor into our nutritional health, it’s easy to see how it can become so complex. In a perfect world, everyone would have their own scale they could use to determine their bodies’ physical and nutritional needs on a cellular level to recalibrate every so often for optimum nutrition. People need to realize that everyone is different, and a good nutritional education is the key to having our body run as efficiently as it can. The goal of everyone’s life should be good nutrition.
Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?
There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.
In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.
But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.
Different Types of Financing
One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.
Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.
But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.
Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.
Alternative Financing Solutions
But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:
1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.
2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.
3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.
In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:
It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.
A Precious Commodity
Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).
Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.
Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?