New York City Small Business Loans Drop

New York City's small businesses saw a sharp drop this year in the number of loans guaranteed by the government.

Reps. Anthony Weiner of Queens and Nydia Velazquez of Brooklyn released data showing a nearly 40 percent drop of loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration in the budget year that ended in September.

The total value of such loans -- made by private companies but guaranteed by the government -- dropped 18 percent compared to the previous year.

The hardest hit borough was Queens, where businesses borrowed 45 percent less. Staten Island fared best with a 4 percent increase.

Weiner and Velazquez said the government effort to ease the credit crunch should do more to focus on small companies.

The above is a quick news update from Business Week. I'm afraid how much percentage would it be by the 1st quater next year. Will it be going on the worse direction?

What if Lenders are not Lending?

It is a fact that one of the major source for business financing are from lenders. It is also a fact that only a few manage to get all the financing on their business from their personal savings, from family and closest friends.

So, I thought of something especially in this tough time for business -- what if Lenders are not Lending us money anymore? What can we specifically do in this situation? How are we supposed to approach this problem? Do we all have to do is shut down our business (in worst case scenario)?

Have you thought of that too? How did or how will you manage it? I would be very glad to hear your comments on the comments section. Thanks!

China announces $586B stimulus plan

Wow -- 586 U.S. Dollars stimulus plan?

China unveiled a $586 billion stimulus package Sunday in its biggest move to inoculate the world's fourth-largest economy against the global financial crisis.

The Cabinet approved a plan to invest the money in infrastructure and social welfare by the end of 2010, a statement on the government's Web site said.

Some of the money will come from the private sector. The statement did not say how much of the spending is on new projects and how much is for ventures already in the pipeline that will be speeded up.

China's export-driven economy is starting to feel the pinch of weakening U.S. and European economies, and the government has already cut key interest rates three times in less than two months in a bid to spur economic expansion.

Yes. You read it right guys! 586 Billion Dollars to save China from the global financial crisis. They are that rich! I hope this business financing plan will work. Read more about this news over CNN.Com.

Myths And Realities Of Financing Start-Ups!

One of the most important things you will do as an entrepreneur is to raise the money you need to finance your new business. Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths about financing new businesses.

Below I outline a few of the myths and point out the realities:

Myth 1: You need a lot of capital to start a new business — Not true. The typical start-up only requires about $25,000 to get going. Many entrepreneurs keep the cost of financing a new business down by designing their businesses to work with little cash. They borrow instead of paying for things. They rent instead of buy. And they turn fixed costs into variable costs by, say, paying people commissions instead of salaries.

The above is just one of the more myths that Scott Shane shared regarding business financing. I recommend it really a good read as it will clarify to us a lot of important things relating to start up financing. Check it out --Myths And Realities Of Financing Start-Ups!

Complexity of Pay Per Click Programs For Our Business

We all know that marketing our business which of course, includes advertising will help us with our small business profitability.

However, they are precautions that are worth noting because we might have not realized that the advertising that is supposed to help us with our business is exactly what will put our business down. That's the case if, we missed to spend our efforts and business financing in advertising carelessly.

Just say for example, the complexity of Pay-Per-Click programs has become.

Pay per click advertising used to be a lot easier to do. But in the past 24 months it seems to have gotten more competitive and complex. Some small business owners are discouraged about it.

There’s a new PPC Strategy Flowchart just out that walks you through the considerably more complex process of running pay-per-click ad campaigns today. Created by Giovanna Wall at the PPC Blog, it illustrates the kind of strategy, testing and tweaking that you have to bring your advertising campaigns.

But whether we like it or not, PPC programs are still effective when comes to advertising our business but I believe we have to educate ourselves about it so that we won't be putting our investment into waste.