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    <title>Home: Message List - Equity Investor</title>
    <link>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/community/forum/loansandlinesofcredit?view=discussions</link>
    <description>Most recent forum messages</description>
    <language>en</language>
    <pubDate>Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:11:05 GMT</pubDate>
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    <dc:date>2007-12-22T12:11:05Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Re: Equity Investor</title>
      <link>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9033&amp;amp;tstart=0#9033</link>
      <description>JT, Best of luck. A few questions. Do you have a Business Plan?? An Accountant??&lt;br /&gt;
Is this a New start up day care center as compared to an existing one??&lt;br /&gt;
Do you use a local bank?? Have you gone to them for a loan?? Does your accountant have any suggestions??&lt;br /&gt;
Again good luck, Hope the following helps, LUCKIEST&lt;br /&gt;
h3. 6 Steps to Small Business Success&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
1. Start Smart &lt;br /&gt;
2. Plan Ahead&lt;br /&gt;
3. Set up Systems&lt;br /&gt;
4. Seek out Sales&lt;br /&gt;
5. Aim for Growth&lt;br /&gt;
6. Leverage Opportunities&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;1. Start Smart.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
Identify a niche. Don't compete to be the lowest cost provider. Look&lt;br /&gt;
for what makes your product or service unique and adds a special value&lt;br /&gt;
for the client and charge for that value. Every business has many&lt;br /&gt;
facets. Start with what you know and like; start a business that has&lt;br /&gt;
meaning to you. Keep in mind that we don't know what the future holds,&lt;br /&gt;
many of the jobs and businesses of tomorrow don't exist today. You can&lt;br /&gt;
create your own success. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Now is the time to dream. To start smart, you should like the idea of&lt;br /&gt;
the business. The way to earn a good income and build wealth is by&lt;br /&gt;
serving clients well, making their life better in some way-it's more&lt;br /&gt;
than filling a need in the marketplace. To succeed you want to test the&lt;br /&gt;
idea to make sure your potential clients like the idea too. Test your&lt;br /&gt;
ideas. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;2. Plan Ahead.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
People often ask me why bother with a business plan? Look at the&lt;br /&gt;
lottery as an example. You may get lucky and get the winning ticket,&lt;br /&gt;
but the odds are against you when you rely on random chance. I'm a risk&lt;br /&gt;
taker...but not that much, minimize the risk of going into business and&lt;br /&gt;
maximize your potential for success. Take the time to write a plan of&lt;br /&gt;
how you get from point A to point B. A plan gives you a clear future&lt;br /&gt;
focus and increases your chances of success. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The first rule of a start-up is put some of your own money in the&lt;br /&gt;
business. As the owner you must be willing to capitalize the business.&lt;br /&gt;
The second rule is put as little of your own money as possible in the&lt;br /&gt;
business. Prepare your plan and look for funding for your business from&lt;br /&gt;
multiple sources, which can include a business loan or business line of&lt;br /&gt;
credit.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Don't go it alone. Plan ahead now to build your team. Your team may&lt;br /&gt;
include a CPA and an attorney that you work with as needed. Add a&lt;br /&gt;
mentor from your industry and get a SCORE mentor to help you plan for&lt;br /&gt;
success. No one has all the answers. You get more ideas and information&lt;br /&gt;
by building a success, support team that can help you plan ahead.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;3. Set up Systems.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
The most basic system every business should have is a good financial&lt;br /&gt;
system. Ask yourself how am I going to generate enough income to&lt;br /&gt;
support myself and my family. Begin here. Put together a personal&lt;br /&gt;
budget, so you know what it costs you to live. Now, you can move on to&lt;br /&gt;
the business budget and sales planning, so you can see how many sales&lt;br /&gt;
you need to break even and make a profit. The start-up expense plan,&lt;br /&gt;
operating budget and your accounting software are vital to your&lt;br /&gt;
success. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;4. Seek out Sales.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
The daunting question is how do you go about seeking out your first&lt;br /&gt;
sale. Recognize that since you don't have a big ad budget to be seen by&lt;br /&gt;
everyone, you need to target a niche and get connected in your market&lt;br /&gt;
community, be it local, regional or national. You need other people&lt;br /&gt;
selling for you-not employees-goodwill referrals. Get out and talk to&lt;br /&gt;
as many people as you can. Join organizations that would have clients&lt;br /&gt;
for your product or service. Become a visible part of your market, and&lt;br /&gt;
then ask for the sale. You begin the sales process with people that you&lt;br /&gt;
know. Yes, it's okay to start with friends and family as your first&lt;br /&gt;
customers, and then broaden from there.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;5. Aim for Growth.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
The basic tenant of creating a company is that you own the company. You&lt;br /&gt;
are not just creating a job for yourself. It's less risk and less&lt;br /&gt;
investment to get a job. Building a business is creating a company that&lt;br /&gt;
is more than the job itself. Think about the future. How large do you&lt;br /&gt;
want the company to be in terms of sales, net profit and employees?&lt;br /&gt;
Your answer to each of these questions will influence how you grow.&lt;br /&gt;
There are varying costs and profits associated with growth. It's&lt;br /&gt;
important to make a deliberate choice early about how you want to grow&lt;br /&gt;
your company. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;6. Leverage Opportunities.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
Good luck. Good fortune. Good timing. All play a part in business. As a&lt;br /&gt;
business owner, be very clear about your core focus for the business&lt;br /&gt;
and how it serves clients. Your core business is what pays the bills.&lt;br /&gt;
Then, as an entrepreneur you are about opportunity. When you see a&lt;br /&gt;
potential opportunity or stroke of luck measure it against your core&lt;br /&gt;
business focus. Good fortune is great, when it matches your vision for&lt;br /&gt;
the business. Always consider if a good opportunity is the right fit&lt;br /&gt;
for your business. If something looks great, but it's not in sync with&lt;br /&gt;
your long-term plan and budget, think carefully before committing your&lt;br /&gt;
company's resources.</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:11:05 GMT</pubDate>
      <author>LUCKIEST</author>
      <guid>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9033&amp;amp;tstart=0#9033</guid>
      <dc:date>2007-12-22T12:11:05Z</dc:date>
      <clearspace:dateToText>Dec 22, 2007 7:11 AM</clearspace:dateToText>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Equity Investor</title>
      <link>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9002&amp;amp;tstart=0#9002</link>
      <description>Your have many options to chose from to obtain the financing your need. Your open minded and willing to be creative. I believe I can help. Email me at cory@walkerlender.com our website is phoenixfinancialpartners.com</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:17:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <author>loan guy</author>
      <guid>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9002&amp;amp;tstart=0#9002</guid>
      <dc:date>2007-12-22T06:17:53Z</dc:date>
      <clearspace:dateToText>Dec 22, 2007 1:17 AM</clearspace:dateToText>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Equity Investor</title>
      <link>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8990&amp;amp;tstart=0#8990</link>
      <description>Here is our company web site if ther is any one who would like more info about this post fill free to contact me at joseph@childrenpalacecdc.com www.childrenpalacecdc.com &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
Thanks, &lt;br /&gt;
Joseph</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:08:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <author>jtownsel220</author>
      <guid>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8990&amp;amp;tstart=0#8990</guid>
      <dc:date>2007-12-22T03:08:33Z</dc:date>
      <clearspace:dateToText>Dec 21, 2007 10:08 PM</clearspace:dateToText>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Equity Investor</title>
      <link>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8988&amp;amp;tstart=0#8988</link>
      <description>Hi my name is Joseph, my wife and I just purchased a day care center in metro Atlanta. We use equity out of some investment properties that we owned to fund the purchse and the rehab of the property. Now we're in need of an additional $50,000 dollars. We do have other properties that we out right own but now all lenders are telling us our DTI is to high and we should have taken more out the first time. This center is license for 125 kids and our break even point is 40 kids. We're looking for an short term equity investor to fund us for six months. We are looking to offer a 17% return on this investment we're running short on time our openning date is set for 01/15/2008 and to make this happen we need to order the remaining class room items and bus in order for the state to grant our full operating license. We are willing to put one of our properties up as collateral if need be. If there is any one out there taht is the possition to help us with this small issue please fill free to responed ASAP.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p /&gt;
Thanks,&lt;br /&gt;
Joseph</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Dec 2007 02:56:31 GMT</pubDate>
      <author>jtownsel220</author>
      <guid>http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8988&amp;amp;tstart=0#8988</guid>
      <dc:date>2007-12-22T02:56:31Z</dc:date>
      <clearspace:dateToText>Dec 21, 2007 9:56 PM</clearspace:dateToText>
      <clearspace:replyCount>3</clearspace:replyCount>
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