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“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” – Chinese Proverb
Category: New Venture Mentor
Top Mistakes Newbie Entrepreneurs Make on Financial Projections (So You Can Avoid Them)
Creating pro forma financial statements is tough for anyone, especially new entrepreneurs, and there are a few common mistakes that I see those entrepreneurs make time and time again. Since the same missteps seem to trip up tons of newbies, I figured I’d share some of the ones I see most often to help prevent you from falling into the same trap. So, here are some of the top financial projection bloopers entrepreneurs make so that you can avoid them as you build your own pro formas.
Monday Quotable
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“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Chinese Proverb
How to Squash Excuses for Not Getting Ish Done
Everyone has excuses for why they can’t or shouldn’t get stuff done to build their business and these excused keep you from creating the business that you want. If you’re sick of letting these excuses cause your business to remain stagnant, check out this week’s video where I give you my tricks for squashing the top 3 excuses I hear entrepreneurs make: I don’t have time, I don’t know how, and I don’t have money.
What are your top excuses that threaten to keep you from moving forward with your business and what are the tricks you use to squash them?
Monday Quotable
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“Vision without action is daydreaming and action without vision is a nightmare.” – Chinese Proverb
The Importance of Maintaining Good Personal Credit as an Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs understand that they need to keep their business’ finances in order if they’d like to obtain a business loan in the future. However, many are not aware that it’s imperative to keep their personal finances in tip-top shape as well.
There seems to be a major misunderstanding among small business and startup owners about the requirements for obtaining a business loan from a bank. I have seen many entrepreneurs not realize that even if the business is formed as a corporation, they will likely still need to provide a personal guarantee in order to get a loan. That means that their personal credit will affect whether the business gets approved.
Confused about why that’s the case? Watch this week’s video to learn more about why it’s so important that business owners maintain good personal credit in addition to keeping their company’s finances in top shape.
Monday Quotable
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“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Agatha Christie
The Secret Motivation Mix That Will Get You Moving Towards Building Your Business
Starting a business is nerve-wracking and the toughest part can be getting yourself motivated to move forward and make progress towards building a company. I usually don’t like to discuss “the fluffy stuff,” but since this barrier holds a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs back I thought I’d go ahead and share my (dirty little) secret for getting motivated: the motivation mix. This post isn’t like my typical ones, but I hope that you find it helpful.
Check out the video below to learn what’s in the motivation mix and how to use it to get going towards your goals.
I hope you found the concept of the motivation mix helpful and are feeling a bit more comfortable jumping into building your dream business. If you’re ready to go but need a little guidance about where to start, set up an appointment with me by clicking the “Work with Cate” tab in the navigation bar for a full consultation or the “Contact” box in the lower right to chat for 15 minutes and get a better idea of how I can help.
Also, don’t forget to share how you get motivated in the comments section below! Everyone has some useful tricks that others may want to try!
Monday Quotable
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“Leaders don’t force people to follow, they take them on a journey.”
-Charles S. Lauer
Tips to Promote Your Small Business or Startup with Press Releases
As time goes by more and more new avenues for promoting your business emerge: social media, webinars, youtube – but as we incorporate these new tools into the marketing arsenal, we don’t want to forget about some tried and true promotion options. One of those oldies but goodies is the oft forgotten press release.
Press releases have been around forever, but nowadays in addition to still being a great way to get the word out about what’s going on with your company they’re also an awesome tool for improving your SEO. With that said, here are some tips for creating great press releases so you can be sure everyone knows about your company’s latest news:
- Remember that a press release is only for happenings that are actually newsworthy.
- Take the time to write a release that is thorough but concise and is well-written.
- Don’t forget to include complete contact details in your press release.
- Remember to distribute your press release as widely as possible.
With any luck, you’ll get an actual story written about your company or product and even if you don’t, you’ll get some lovely backlinks to your site to help your SEO – just remember to make sure your release is optimized.
For more details on the tips above, check out this week’s video:
Have you successfully utilized press releases to promote your startup or small business? If yes, please let us know what’s worked for you and share your top tips for press release success in the comments section below!