Archive for July, 2015

Lawsuit Funding Companies – Banking on the Small Entrepreneur

Saturday, July 18th, 2015

If you are a keen business executive, you must have observed the temerity with which small enterprises are fighting Fortune 500 in court. This is unusual considering these large conglomerates are flush with cash to crash plaintiffs.

Well, the secret lies in litigation financing, an aspect of financing that can help you safeguard your business even when the world around you seems to be crumbling.  Take for instance if an employee takes you to court over a case you have grounds to win.

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Fighting Against All Odds

Fighting such a case can be devastating to your business if there is no other source of capital.  Luckily, litigation funding companies are bankrolling businesses in order to enable them fight any cases. Your enterprise might be facing one of the following situations:

  1. Intellectual property rights
  2. Disputes concerning assets
  3. Customer compensation suits
  4. Suits on unlawful termination or liability issues pertaining to your firm

Benefits of Lawsuit Funding

These are just a bit of legal issues your company can face at any time.  To survive then, you need to bank on a financial partner who trusts you will eventually win. Litigation funds help to pay attorney fees and clear other costs pertaining to your case. The advantage of these loans includes:

  1. Protection against bankruptcy due to a court case
  2. Spreading risks thus avoiding by avoiding litigation expenses
  3. Peace of mind in order to concentrate on your business as attorneys deal with your lawsuit
  4. Easy approval after assessment of the strength of your case
  5. No upfront fees and you only pay when you win. In essence, it is a no recovery no payback agreement which relieves you off any pressure.

The benefits go on and on but what you cannot deny is the fact that for once, the small business has a partner to lean on when the ground gets shaky.  You also feel more confident on your side as you will know these experts have already seen the strength in your suit.

Tips on Using Lawsuit Loans

Now that you appreciate the benefits of this kind of financing, it is time you started exploring the industry in order to identify the best firm to work with. Here are some tips on getting the best out of the deal:

  1. Weigh the options: While this might appear like a new industry, it has been in operation for a long time. This means there are many players out there therefore research and comparison is called for. You need to take time and examine as many companies as possible before picking the best.
  2. Understand every minor detail: It is critical to understand every aspect of the agreement to avoid disagreements in future. For an entrepreneur, more legal tussles can ruin operations and you must avoid them at all costs.
  3. Understand the application process: The agreement involves you, your attorney and the funding firm. A lot of research will be necessary but it is always crucial to follow the guidelines of your lawyer before applying.

There you have it; your business at last has a source of recourse in case you are slapped with weighty litigation.

BIO

Anita Burton is one of the most recognized legal writers for the last three decades.  Today, she focuses on aspects of the law that can help hapless citizens such as lawsuit funding companies.

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Financial Intelligence, Guest Post, small business | 1 Comment »

Business Tips To Help You Succeed As An Entrepreneur

Thursday, July 16th, 2015

Prospective entrepreneurs often wonder about how established business owners managed to achieve their success. There is no quick or short path towards becoming successful in the world of business. The key factors that determine your ability to reach your business goals include having the right attitude and taking action.

Pursue your Goals Passionately

You will enjoy a fulfilling life if you make the bold choice of pursuing your dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Anyone who gets the chance to work in an industry that he or she is passionate about will be more motivated and productive.

While financial goals are a crucial aspect of starting your own business, you should ideally start a company that has the potential to make a positive impact on people’s lives. This will enable you to not only run a profitable venture but make a worthwhile difference to the lives of other people as well.

Being committed to your business objectives requires you to be passionate about your ideas. Your level of commitment has a significant effect on whether or not you will succeed. Take pride in the work you do and the service or products that you provide.

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Entrepreneur

Focus and Consistency

Your desire for generating income and growing your business should never distract you from being consistently good at what you do. Maintaining focus and making an effort to be among the best in the industry will make it easier for you to achieve profitability and growth over time.

Enjoy your Work

Several successful entrepreneurs can attest to the fact that being positive has contributed to their achievements as business founders. You should be able to enjoy what you do and your business should add joy and fulfillment to your life. If your business makes you miserable, it would be a good idea to try something else that actually interests you.

Your employees also need to look forward to work each day and be actively involved in various aspects of business operations. The happiness and motivation of your employees will enable them to serve customers better and work more efficiently. Look for people who genuinely want to add value to the company and contribute to the success of your venture.

Never Give Up

Difficulties and challenges are inevitable when starting a business and you may not always get the results that you aim for from time to time. The road to entrepreneurial success is not always smooth but you should never give up.

Tenacity and resilience are essential because they make it possible for you to be firmly entrenched in the pursuit of your goals. Whenever you encounter failure, use the experience as a valuable lesson and keep on trying until you reach your goals.

Learn and Grow

Every time you get new ideas note them down in a journal that you can refer to for inspiration. List also your goals so that you can track the progress that you are making. In order for you to learn how to be a successful entrepreneur, you should be willing to listen and gain knowledge from other people.

A good entrepreneur also needs to learn how to delegate duties especially in regards to areas of the business that he or she may not have the skills for. Hire people who have the qualifications to carry out the work that you may be unable to do and allow yourself to have enough time to spend with friends and family.

Positive Working Environment

The free time you get when you delegate is also useful for helping you focus on other ways to implement in order to grow your company. The work environment should encourage people to communicate and share information that is useful for the business.

People need to be able to interact freely and be comfortable enough to express themselves. This type of work environment creates confidence and makes every member of the team feel valued by the organization.

Take a Break

With technological advancement, people are able to accomplish several tasks as long as they have computers and internet connections. Although this has made it possible to carry out tasks faster, it is still important to get out and face the real world occasionally. Take a break from your computer screen and mingle with inspirational people.

Succeeding in Entrepreneurship

Regardless of where you are located or the kind of profit you are able to make, it is important to be surrounded by positive motivated people who will give you the encouragement you need to keep your business running. Being a successful entrepreneur takes hard work and determination. Entrepreneurs who have been able to achieve success in their venture share a number of similar characteristics.

  • In order for you to be set apart from your competitors, you need to be persistent, positive and passionate about your business. Such attributes need to be cultivated because they enable you to possess the skills that are necessary for developing a business effectively.
  • Business strategies cannot thrive without passion. If you approach your business ideas with a reluctant attitude, your willingness to succeed will soon fade away. Keep on persevering until you get what you want because every effort you make will be rewarded in the long run. Taking the plunge into the business world is exciting but you need to be cautious about how quickly you move.
  • Manage your risks efficiently and try to make them as small as possible so that you will be able to recover faster in case anything goes wrong. The outcomes of business risks provide entrepreneurs with lessons that they will never forget.
  • Many entrepreneurs usually begin by working for other people. The amount of time they spend in a particular industry prepares them for the process of starting their own businesses. Find a mentor who you respect and admire because his or her mistakes and success will help you learn what you need to know about running a business.
  • Confidence and effective communication are essential traits for any entrepreneur who wants to promote a venture effectively. A business owner should have the ability to market the company and share its vision while prioritizing the needs of the customer.

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Nigerian, small business, Tips & Tricks | 3 Comments »

An Entrepreneurs Guide to Planning a Business Effectively

Tuesday, July 7th, 2015

Planning to be successful in a business venture does not have to be a monumental and time consuming task. As an entrepreneur, if you know the right ingredients to be able to plan every step and facet of your business, you will have a good guide to manage any business effectively enough to prosper and grow. Your main focus should initially be; to know what to plan, get the right key people to help you come up with a good strategy and create some time to focus on getting the ideas in black and white.
Below is a step by step guide to help you come up with a good strategic plan that will make your new business venture prosper.

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1. Be clear about your competitive edge
The main purpose of developing a strategic plan is to ensure that you are clear about what goods or services you can provide to customers better than anyone else. This is called finding your competitive edge. Once you find out what your competitive edge is, you will be able to know where you need to focus your resources to make sure that you get the best utility from your efforts. By making your competitive edge an integral part of your organizations mindset, you will be able to attract customers by providing better service and/or product(s).

2. Create a mission statement or a purpose for your business
A mission statement is usually a short statement that captures the purpose of the business. It also serves as a guide or mantra that everyone in the organization can look to for inspiration in their day to day activities. Once you already know what your competitive edge is, it will be easy to come up with a mission statement that can bolster the purpose of your existence as a business.

3. Have a vision for your business
One of the important parts of creating a strategic plan is to have a vision which will serve as a guide for everyone in the organization and offer inspiration on a day to day basis. Your business’ vision is what you hope your business will become in the future. When coming up with a vision for your business, you need to consider the following;

• What is the direction of your business?
• Which clients should you focus on in the market?
• What position in the market do you intend to occupy?
• What activities to do you want to pursue in order to achieve your vision?
• What capabilities, proficiencies and competencies does your business plan to develop?

4. Take inventory

Once you know your competitive edge, have a mission and a vision, your next step should naturally be to take stock of your current position and determine what you need in order to achieve what you have set out to through your business. This is done mainly through the use of a tool called SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis stands for; strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This tool helps you to critically and analytically look at the current status of your business and then plan how you can improve and strengthen what you are good at.

5. Know your customers well
Your next step should be to create a profile on your target market. If you can understand your customer better, you will be able to provide better goods and services that will meet their needs. You will also be able to utilize your resources better in order to reach your customer and inform them that you have what they need.

6. Have SMART goals and objectives
As you create your strategic plan, you need to come up with clear goals and objectives that you can pursue to help you achieve your vision. One tool that is very helpful towards this is SMART, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. If you manage to develop your goals and objectives around this principle, you will be able to achieve your goals with greater efficiency and success because you will always be able to monitor what you are doing. Your goals should be able to support your objectives and therefore, you need to develop your objectives before your goals.

7. Create a to do list with priorities
After you have come up with your goals, it is important to make sure that you are doing something every day to ensure that you achieve your set out goals. The simplest way to do this is to create a to-do list for each goal. As you create your to-do list, make sure that you assign the tasks to specific people, giving proper timelines and resources for them to successfully perform the tasks.

8. What are your resources?
Next, you need to take stock of the resources you currently have. This will help you prioritize and, more efficiently, utilize the resources that you have based on your most urgent goals and objectives.

9. Keep a scorecard of your achievements and failures
By keeping a score card, you can easily and effectively monitor what you have achieved in certain strategic periods, thus adjust or course correct when you are not going in the direction you intended.

10. Communicate your plan with the relevant people
Finally, communicate your strategic plan to the rest of your staff regularly to ensure that everyone is aligned with the organizations direction.

Conclusion
When it comes down to it, you have to realize that a plan should just be a guide to help you keep your goals in focus and actionable on a day to day basis. You may find that while putting into action some of your plans, you will get better ways of doing things by cutting costs or doing things more efficiently. An initial plan will be helpful because you will be able to observe your growth and replicate it. A rough plan is much better than not having a plan at all.

Author Bio
Christopher Huff has been an entrepreneur for the last 25 years of his life. He has had 3 unsuccessful and 4 successful businesses in his career. He recommends the services offered by nationaldebtrelief.com. Visit his website for more information.

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Guest Post, small business, Tips & Tricks | 3 Comments »