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Grow Your Business with Financing - Train & Apply in 1 Hour
Manageable monthly payments allow customers to attain the project they really want. Fortunately for contractors, payment options also tend to result in higher sales per job. Because your costumers can pay in manageable monthly installments, they can choose measures that complete their project. This is where the new Small Business Financing Project (SBF) comes in. SBF offers attractive financing for energy efficiency projects of up to $5 million, whether your costumer owns or rents. Getting started is easy, and you could be a Participating Contractor by the end of the day! Participating comes at no cost and gives you access to a support team, marketing resources, and the legitimacy of a state-promoted program.
Submit your application to gogreen@frontierenergy.com
Access to Capital
Business Management Fundamentals Series
Programs Overview – https://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/degrees/business-management-programs/
Career Essentials – https://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/degrees/business-management-programs/careers/
Scholarships Guide – https://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/degrees/business-management-programs/scholarships/Rapid Loan | Accion
Need funding fast to start or grow your business? Accion offers the Rapid Loan with funding options from $300 to $8,000. This loan is for small business owners who are looking for funding to cover start-up costs, vehicle purchase, inventory, equipment, marketing or to hire employees and much more! Only available in the following California counties: Imperial, Riverside, San Diego, and San Bernardino.
Offer Details:
- $300 to $8,000
- Approved in as few as 3 days
- Terms up to 36 months
- 14-18% Fixed, Simple Interest*
* No prepayment penalties; 1% discount for veterans, active duty military and spouses
For more information, visit: https://us.accion.org/offer/rapid-loan
SCORE Business Counseling
SCORE is a non-profit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses start, grow, and succeed. It is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), providing workshops and opportunities to connect with experienced executives. Online workshops are also available 24/7.
SDSU Technical Assistance Program
Designed to assist women-owned, minority-owned and other small businesses, the program can provide consulting for such things as marketing studies, advertising and promotion, web development, business plan creation and business expansion, accounting and bookkeeping, insurance, contract bidding, import-export, government programs, time management, human resources and a variety of other areas. To learn more, call (619) 594-3950.
Writing a Business Plan
When a person decides to start a business, it can be an exciting and overwhelming time. Like any new endeavor, people are often anxious to get started, but this can cause them to skip steps such as creating a business plan, which is vital to their success. A business plan is a carefully thought-out document that describes a business, its goals, and how one plans to achieve them. Learn more!
TO LEARN MORE CALL OR VISIT US
National City Chamber of Commerce (619) 477-9339
901 National City Blvd., National City, CA
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Smart Services Every Small Business Owner Should Consider
No small business owner knows it all, and no small business owner can generate all the tools in-house that they need to succeed. There are plenty of free and paid services out there that small business owners need to know about, as they can boost your customer satisfaction, increase your popularity, and make your essential business operations run more smoothly. All of this will not only better your bottom line but will set you up to grow. Here are some essentials.
Automatic Email Marketing
Although Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other forms of social media are trendy (and yes, actually important), email is still king when it comes to reaching your target customers. As WPBeginner.com explains, “email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools. It is easy to manage, gives you full control and allows you to establish direct contact with your customers.” In fact, some studies have found that some businesses can actually earn up to $44 for every $1spent on email marketing.
Services like ConstantContact, GetResponse, and MailChimp offer free and paid services to get you started. You’ll want to automate this, as manual email marketing will only get more time-consuming as your customer or client base increases.
Google Alerts
You can’t respond to customer criticisms and concerns or amplify customer praise if you don’t know it’s happening. The vast majority of discussions about your business is going to happen online, and one of the only ways to know every single time someone talks about your business (good or bad) is to set up free Google alerts. This will help you manage your online reputationand ensure that potential customers are seeing what you want them to see about your business.
Comprehensive Payments Solutions
If your payment or point-of-sale systemis out-of-date, you are not only making your business run less efficiently, but you’re possibly missing out on revenue. You should consider a good all-in-one credit cardsystem, complete with onboard security features, NFC (touch payment) compatibility, and the ability to print receipts right from the terminal.
For online payment, make sure that your business accepts as many forms of payment as possible. This should include Apple Pay, Google, Pay, PayPal, Amazon Payments, and many more. Being versatile when it comes to in-store and online payments will ensure you never miss out on sales because of transactional difficulties.
Online Survey Tools
How are you going to find out what your business is doing wrong and what it’s doing right if you never ask your customers? Sure, you could ask them face-to-face (if you even have a brick-and-mortar shop), offer a link for feedback on their receipt or in an email, or simply wait for them to review you online. However, this is far from proactive. Instead, consider services that allow you to conduct in-depth surveys, which will give you the knowledge to improve your business. Zoho, Checkbox, and SurveyMonkey are some top optionsin this space.
Payroll solutions
Small business owners either spend so much time on payroll and human resources that it eats into their other responsibilities or don’t put enough effort into it and wind up making a mistake that costs them in the end. Don’t let this be you. Instead, invest in aquality online payroll service. It’s worth the cost in peace of mind alone.
Don’t be stubborn — you simply can’t handle every aspect of your business all yourself (and you certainly wouldn’t want to). Each small business service you employ gives you just a little more freedom to run your business the way you truly want to run it.
Photo by Joshua Rodriguezon Unsplash
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