UGG-ly business #startup. Even a million dollar idea can cost years.

I’m going to start an amazing business and become a millionaire!

So many have had this dream.

Let me introduce you to someone who did it and what it really took to pull off…

Brian Smith is an Australian who moved to California to surf and meet girls.

He found his fortunes in importing sheep skin boots from Australia, but the path of that journey should make any excited entrepreneur stop and think.

Especially if you’ve got responsibilities like a mortgage, children, small pets, etc.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/cZbm0LO6lsM

Learn how to buy an already-successful and profitable business: https://www.BusinessBuyerAdvantage.com   

Book a call with me at https://www.clarity.fm/davidbarnett  

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#entrepreneurship #smallbiz #startup #ugg 

I bet my retirement that this business will succeed!

Is it better to borrow money when buying or starting a business or is it best just to use your retirement funds?

I’m surprised at how often people ask me this.

Maybe there are a lot of people out there with entrepreneurial dreams and fat retirement plans.

I’ve got news for all of them though.  Whether you borrow from a bank or your retirement plan, you’re still borrowing.

If you don’t believe that, maybe this week’s video can help show you the folly of your ways.

I answer the question, ‘does it make sense to use retirement funds to fund your small business?’

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/37t2lK1lZ_w

Learn how to buy a small business at https://www.BusinessBuyerAdvantage.com

Get an Audible subscription and listen to my book 21 Stupid Things People do When Trying to buy a Business: Learn how to Avoid These Awful Novice Mistakes.

Book a call with me at www.clarity.fm/davidbarnett

Stop missing my videos and other news. Join my email list here: www.DavidCBarnettList.com

#entrepreneurship #smallbiz #business #businessbroker #retirement

Sohit the college student seeks advice about getting into business quickly

Are you sitting in Economics 101 and just itching to begin your entrepreneurial journey?

This week, one of my college  viewers, Sohit, writes to ask me what he can do to get started right away to get into business.

It’s an interesting case.  Sohit needs to focus on his studies but is there an opportunity for him?

What kind of opportunity?

Watch as I give Sohit advice that I don’t often share.

Also—an important piece of advice for young people who are part of today’s college crowd.

Watch the amazingly awesome video presented here in Beard-o-Vision HD. The latest in video technology.: https://youtu.be/IgGKAT7BFUw

Learn how to buy a successful business at https://www.BusinessBuyerAdvantage.com

Get an Audible subscription and listen to my book Franchise Warnings: What you Really Need to Know Before you Buy for FREE.

Book a call with me at https://www.clarity.fm/davidbarnett  

Stop missing my videos and other news. Join my email list here: https://www.DavidCBarnettList.com   

#entrepreneurship #smallbiz #business #college #business

How can 3 partners treat the one who has to quit his job fairly? -Startup with 3 founders, one salary.

Partnerships; it makes one think of comraderie, solidarity, marriage even.

So often people get a great idea and decide to form a partnership (or become shareholders in a corporation together) in order to make the great startup story happen once again.

Here’s the problem though, what if the different founders are being asked to contribute at different levels? 

What if someone is being asked to put their personal income on the line by quitting a job and going to work full-time in this new venture?

How do we reconcile the different contributions?

It all has to do with the hats we wear.

Watch as I answer this week’s question from someone on Quora.com who is in the middle of this very dilemma: https://youtu.be/4IJE6GsAkys

Join the legions of small business buyers who are learning what they need to know so they can avoid a bad deal.  They’re taking my online course at www.BusinessBuyerAdvantage.com Some are learning how to get ahead of brokers with my Prepare to Buy a Business: The Next Step.  Also on the same site.

Do you have a business to sell?  Visit www.HowToSellMyOwnBusiness.com and learn how I can help you sell.

FREE- Download a copy of my e-book; 12 Things to do Before You Consider Selling Your Business. (No, I will not put you on an e-mail marketing list)

I’m coming to Halifax, NS December 4 to teach my Succession Planning Workshop and my How to Buy an Existing Business Workshop.  It would be great to see you there.

Thank you and I’ll see you next time.

No Sales? No Problem, Right?!? The issue of 'pre-revenue' startups.

How much is your new SAAS worth before you sign up any customers?

Don’t know what a SAAS is? Don’t worry.

Quick on the heels of last week’s article and recording about valuing online businesses, I feel that I need to clear the air on how to put a price on a pre-revenue startup.

I hesitate to use the term ‘business’ for these speculative ventures since I like my businesses to have cash flows attached to them.

Learn more about my ornery, old-man type opinions that would likely be considered quite ignorant and rude in Silicon Valley circles.

You can see/listen on YouTube right here: https://youtu.be/8oZGp1ejo6E

Learn how to buy a business successfully with my Business Buyer Advantage Program.  You can access the course at www.BusinessBuyerAdvantage.com and learn more about how it works from this video I made a few weeks ago: https://youtu.be/ooixMSaFf6Y

Please remember to like and share this article, it’s the only way the people who run the internet have of knowing if the content is any good or not. The more you share, the more likely someone who needs this information will be able to find it.

Look to the left and sign up for my weekly e-mail. Easy unsubscribe at any time as I use MailChimp and I’m not interested in harassing people who don’t want to hear from me.

If you’re into podcasts, you can now easily subscribe to the audio of all my new videos on iTunes.

This summer & fall I’ll be in St. John’s, Halifax (www.ceed.ca), Moncton, NYC, Orlando & Toronto.  Find out more and sign up at http://davidbarnett.eventbrite.com

Thank you and I’ll see you next time.

What’s better? An Original Startup or a Franchise? How About an Existing Franchise Location? How To Buy a Business

Bruce and Sara want to know about whether I think its smarter to buy a new franchise or an old one and how this compares to a startup.

Wow, there is so much to cover on this topic that I wrote a book about it in 2015.  Franchise Warnings is available as a .pdf at www.FranchiseWarnings.com or from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.

The big message I try to get across to people is that starting a new franchise is just as risky as a new startup because you’re still relying on being able to draw customers away from established competitors.

Some franchisors like to say that the success rates of franchises are better than those of startups.  For example: 90% of startups are closed within 5 years while far more franchises are still operating. 

There are some big reasons why those franchises would still be operating even if they were losing money.  I explore several of these in my book and a big one in this video: https://youtu.be/Fi6f2fknDR0

My advice though is always the same; buy something that already has sales and profits.  This way there is no question that people will buy from the business... they already are.

Learn how to buy a business at www.BusinessBuyerAdvantage.com where you can access tons of information and enroll in my online course.

In fact, it’s so awesome that people all over the world buy it even if their local currency makes it seem expensive.  (The course works out to about $20/hr. and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee!)  You can see how my whole buyer system works in this video from a few weeks ago: https://youtu.be/ooixMSaFf6Y

Please remember to like and share this article, it’s the only way the people who run the internet have of knowing if the content is any good or not. The more you share, the more likely someone who needs this information will be able to find it.

Look just to the left, you can sign up for my e-mail list and get videos before they're released publicly as well as notices of deals or new live events.

I’m coming to Saint John, NB on March 1^st, Moncton, NB on March 30 and Toronto on May 10.  Seats are already filling up.  Find all my live events here: http://davidbarnett.eventbrite.ca .    

The Centre for Entrepreneur Education and Development in Halifax will be having me do two workshops in Halifax, NS on April 10.  Visit http://www.CEED.ca for more info.

Thanks and I’ll see you next time.

Looking to start a small business or side-hustle with a low investment? Listen

Check out this great episode of The Survival Podcast for 10 low-cost businesses you can start even while keeping your job.

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/10-businesses-2-23-16

15 Creative ways to finance a business

I came across this article recently, it provides a great rundown of funding sources for startups.  I guess local investors would fall into the Angel or Venture Capitalist categories.

One of the categories that I found interesting was to fund a business with a 'side business.'  There is one example given of a person who does work as a hiking guide to get money to invest in his online business.

The 'winning a contest' segment was also an eye-opener.  If I think about it though, I can remember a lot of innovation based contests where people won from $10,000 to $100,000.  I would imagine though that this money is not 'free.'  it can take a lot of effort to put these presentations together.

Enjoy

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15 Creative Financing Methods for Startups

Katherine Arline, Business News Daily Contributor   |   May 04, 2015 02:43pm ET

For many would-be business owners, financing is one of the most intimidating and challenging parts of the startup process. Some entrepreneurs may not have the cash they need on hand when they want to launch, and bank loans or investments can be difficult for brand-new small businesses to obtain.

If you can't bootstrap your business, there is a wide variety of both traditional and innovative funding sources you can draw from to help you get started. Whether your goal is to open a local boutique or to launch a tech startup, one of these options is likely to be the perfect fit for your next business.

Small Business Administration loan. The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two types of loans that can help entrepreneurs get the capital they need to start their business: the 7(a) guarantee small business loan and the 504 fixed-asset small business finance program. The 7(a) guarantee loans are more common for small businesses. Prospective borrowers can apply for these loans at banks that participate in the SBA loan process. But this may not be the right choice for you if you don't have a proven track record. Chuck Evans, co-founder of Prudent Lenders LLC, noted that the SBA typically looks for applicants who are two years into the business cycle and generating cash flow. [CONTINUE TO MAIN ARTICLE]

The problem with government-funded venture capitalism

I was invited to a strategy session the other day by a good friend who has years in the business development and marketing fields.

'David,' he said, 'I'd like you to come and see a presentation from a group that I'm working with. They have a neat technology solution and they're looking for some help in trying to find a way to attract some more investment. I've always enjoyed your perspective on things and I think you could bring some clarity to the conversation.'

I agreed to the meeting and scheduled 120 of my precious minutes to go and see the presentation and give some feedback. I ended up being there over 3 hours.

The presenters have a technology.  Let's call it an online 'gizmo.'  It solves a problem for business and the market is supposedly huge.  The presenters showed me how it worked, showed me how it saves money and then asked for feedback.

'What are your sales?' I had asked.
'Zero. No sales. We believe in a freemium model.  This is what our advisors have told us to do.'
'Does it really work? Could I go online and sign up today and have it fix my problem?'
'Yes. Can you tell us how to position this so that investors will be attracted to giving us more money?'
'Yes,' I said.  'Show the investors that people are willing to pay you. Show them sales and they'll be all over it.'

So let me ask the question to you, kind reader: How is it that a company can run for years giving away its goods for free and have no sales strategy at all?

I mean not just 'no sales' but actually no sales strategy. My friend was helping them with this.  He's been advising them for just a few weeks.

How can these 'entrepreneurs' run around travelling and using all the latest tech gear?

How can these people think that the solution to running out of money is to seek more investment?

Why haven't they been selling their solution for months or years?

They've never had to.  The government just gives them money in hopes that one day they'll create jobs.  It's true.

You know what the punch-line to the joke is?  They hope to sell the company to a bigger IT company somewhere else in the world and cash out.

It's true.

If a market exists for a product, customers will create a demand. An entrepreneur will fill the need and something will be created.  If the government makes money available, someone will invent a solution to a problem that may or may not exist so they can dip their hands into the cookie jar.

I'll stop now.  I'm getting upset.

I showed them several ways to sell their gizmo.  I certainly hope no more of my tax dollars go into it.

Equity crowdfunding comes to the Restaurant industry. Check out this article on a new company specializing in this type of startup financing.

I came across this interesting article talking about crowdfunding for equity in the restaurant business.

Crowd funding for equity has been a minefield for startups because selling equity is covered by the complex rules surrounding the securities markets. (stocks and bonds)

Traditional crowdfunding has been for rewards or gifts.  This means the funds actually end up being 'sales' for the company.

In the equity model, the funds end up being equity and the people providing the funds are given shares in the company.

Restaurants poses an interesting industry for this to be growing because of the traditionally high failure rate in this industry.

I like the new term 'investomers.'  Interesting article.

Cheers.


View an earlier blog post about how crowd funding is threatening traditional lenders [HERE]

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CROWDFUNDING COMES TO RESTAURANTS

The way to consumers’ hearts is through their stomachs – likely because unlike almost any other good or service, food is a non-negotiable purchase for 100 percent of human beings. Individuals have different preferences for what they eat that can vary widely – from vegans to those who will only consume the sustenance of their Paleolithic forerunners, but everybody eats multiple times a day.

Yet, that sure-fire demand for a product seems at odds with the sure-fire path to an investor’s checkbook.

An overwhelming majority of restaurants fail. The most consistently cited statistic is that 60 percent of them fail in the first three years, according to data released by the National Restaurant Association. One might say that those odds are at least better than the 90 percent failure rate of most startups, but the fact of the matter is that restaurants are perceived to be expensive liabilities – and entrepreneurs looking to wade into the restaurant business find startup capital hard to come by.

“I think bank robbers are more welcome by lenders than customers looking to finance restaurants,” one restaurateur wrote for Forbes. “We visited four banks, got outright rejections from three, one of them the same bank that we have had a perfect and significant lending relationship with for 20 years, each rejection because we used the dirty word ‘restaurant.’”

Attracting qualified investors isn’t much easier – considering that an accredited investor under current legal guidelines in the U.S. must earn more than $200K per year or have assets (excluding housing) in excess of $1 million and to launch the typical restaurant venture need as many as ten of them.

But those laws are changing – 15 states have opened up crowdfunding equity investment, and the SEC is currently creating a federal rules framework to expand the circle of who can invest. Thanks to a provision of the JOBS Act, purchasing equity in a small business will soon be open to any investor – within limits, offerings are open to anyone to invest 10 percent of their annual income or net worth in each deal.

EquityEats – a crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs – is poised to take advantage of this forthcoming expansion in the investor base – and in so doing hopes to create an entirely new class of financier in the food services business  – the “investomer” – the person who buys in because they look forward, someday, to dining out.

“We have seen that those most engaged in restaurant crowdfunding are self-identified foodies, regardless of how much they invest,” EquityEats CEO Johann Moonesinghe noted on the firm’s blog “Opening restaurants with the support of 300-500 investomers (investors + customers) sets entrepreneurs up for success from Day 1. Not only does this group of local people express interest in a restauranteur’s concept, but also they provide tremendous value as loyal guests for the life of the restaurant.” ...more...visit article to read the rest.
[CLICK TO VISIT ARTICLE AT PYMNTS.COM]

[VIDEO] Investment vs. Speculation

I discuss the difference between investments and speculation.


The Invest Local Book blog is all about small business, local investing, home economics, small business systems and borrowing money for your business. It's full of great content and I look forward to seeing your feedback.

[VIDEO] Now what do I do with this Business Plan?

I briefly discuss a public questions posted on Clarity.fm. What do you do with your business plan once its written?




Also reminded me of this famous interview with Mark Cuban:

While I don't think startup debt is quite moronic, I will agree that it is certainly unwise.



The Invest Local Book blog is all about small business, local investing, home economics, small business systems and borrowing money for your business. It's full of great content and I look forward to seeing your feedback.