If you’re thinking of starting a medical practice, you’re in superb company, as the American Medical Association estimates that around 49% of doctors in the U.S. run their own private medical practice. While starting your own medical practice may seem like a daunting task, you may want to start your own because: You want to have autonomy over the kind of patient care you provide as a physician You want to set your own work hours, to work as little or as much as you need to You want a business that is flexible enough to be present for your children, elderly loved ones, or other dependents you ..read more

A quality website—as a platform to display your expertise, educate and serve your customers, and drive sales—is critical to the success of your e-commerce business. This is especially true as the prospects for online retail sales continue to rise. In fact, by 2025, researchers estimate that the worldwide value of e-commerce retail sales will reach $8.5 trillion.  Fortunately, using today’s tools and resources, building an e-commerce site to deliver the look, feel, performance, and the overall experience you want for your customers is easy. Follow these steps to learn how to set up your e ..read more

Running a successful business requires more than just offering your customers high-quality goods and services. The back-end operations of your business are equally vital in creating value for your customers and ensuring future prosperity. It is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of all your business operations and to recognize how they work together in strengthening your bottom line.  Business operations are the day-to-day processes and routine tasks that make up your business. They are the framework for product development, hiring, training, purchasing, inventory management ..read more

Asset-based lending, also known as asset-based financing, is a type of business loan or line of credit that companies secure with collateral. With traditional loans, lenders often place an emphasis on a company’s creditworthiness and cash flow when determining whether to approve applications for business funding. Yet with asset-based lending, the value of the collateral that backs the financing plays a more meaningful role in your business’ ability to get funded and its borrowing capacity.  How Does Asset-Based Lending Work? Asset based financing can come in several different forms.  ..read more

When most entrepreneurs need funding to start or grow their business, they quickly learn one key fact: They need a business plan. Just as you need a resume to apply for a job or a completed application to gain admittance to a university, business plans are required to apply for business financing. And like resumes and college applications, business plans are viewed as a necessary evil by most entrepreneurs. Yet, this shouldn’t be the case. Because unlike completing your resume or college application, the process of completing your business plan has been proven to improve your success—not only ..read more

In 2009, I ventured into the world of e-commerce retail for the first time. With a limited budget, but a good product, I wanted to see how lucrative an online store would be. It was a one-man startup in the board game industry. Every year since the first, I’ve experienced around 33% growth—not bad, considering I had never dabbled in e-commerce or the competitive nature of the market. I learned a lot along the way and have been able to encourage a number of one-man startups to position themselves for the best chance at financial success in a crowded market. If you are wondering if it’s still po ..read more

Private equity (PE) is often tangled with venture capital (VC) because they both invest in companies and use a variety of exit strategies, such as selling their stake during IPOs. However, there are some significant differences in the way they do business. Both invest in different types and sizes of companies, spend different amounts and even claim different percentages of equity. Let’s have a closer look at the core differences between PE and VC firms, and try to characterize the variables that are pushing them to adopt one another’s strategy. Private Equity What is Private Equity? Private eq ..read more

As a small business owner, there are many challenges you may face on a day-to-day basis. Accessing the funding your company needs to thrive shouldn’t be one of them.  Nonetheless, a Federal Reserve study finds that around 40% of small businesses do not receive the full amount of funding they need when they apply for credit. Approximately 12% of small business loan applicants don’t qualify for any financing at all.  In light of these struggles, it’s no surprise that many entrepreneurs turn to methods such as bootstrapping or self-funding to finance startups, expansions, and other busi ..read more

Whether you’re a first-time entrepreneur or a seasoned business owner, presenting a business plan can be a daunting task. Yet, no matter how uncomfortable you might feel in these situations, mastering your business plan presentation is essential to your company’s long-term success.  An effective business plan presentation could be the key to securing startup financing your company needs to launch, expansion capital to grow, or outside investments you’ve been seeking to accomplish important business milestones. This guide will provide you with important advice on how to present your busine ..read more

There are a number of steps involved in launching a new brand. In order to do it successfully, you’ll want to think through the various aspects well ahead of your actual launch date and be intentional and strategic in your efforts.  Below we’ve broken down some of the key action steps involved in preparing for a brand launch that will be impactful and productive, and help kickstart the future success of your brand. Be sure to take your time with this process, as a brand launch should be executed properly for maximum short-term and long-term impact. 1. Define Your Brand’s Purpose, Values ..read more