8 Really Crappy Things To Know About Being An Entrepreneur / Small Business Owner

Tags

being an entrepreneur, Business, business owners, business ownership, Cricket House Studios, cricketdiane, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, small business, small business startups, small businesses in America, Start Your Own Business, starting your own business, startups, things to know about being an entrepreneur, US business

1. Being an entrepreneur does not have “regular” hours – unless you count all 24 hours as regular, 7 days a week or as most entrepreneurs would say – 30 hours a day, 8 days a week, which isn’t a joke – but a sad reality about how much there is to do in the time available – ALL the time.
2. When business books say that most businesses do not “break-even” for the first three years, that means for three years or more, over 80 hours a week, you will not only be working for free, but will probably be taking from your pocket and paying into the bills of the business – for you to keep doing that work.
3. The vast majority of business ventures fail rather than succeed and that is a lot more than half in this case – go look up the exact numbers, it will astound you. That means, despite having everything going for them, many of those businesses fail anyway. There may be reasons, and none may be valid for why it failed. Sometimes, businesses have everything right – timing, pricing, effort, marketing, product, process, people and sales – but fail anyway.
4. There is more paperwork being broke and poor than to run a business – but not by much. And, there are deadlines for poor people to put in paperwork, keep up with papers, produce them at a minute’s notice too – with fines and jail if you don’t, just like there are for small businesses and in both cases, there isn’t an army of people on staff to help with it like big corporations have.
5. There is rarely a faster way to go broke than to be in any business – even a business enterprise that has at some point, done well. When it turns bad, being an entrepreneur offers no skill sets to deal with the speed at which things can go to hell in a short period of time. Only the survival skills can help at that point and unfortunately, they are needed right when the mind is least capable of making any good decisions at all because of extreme stress and inordinate complexity of the information at hand which must be dealt with all at once.
6. In the US, entrepreneurs were at one time heralded and small businesses supported especially, as the backbone of the economy. That hasn’t been really supported for many years although the words are still used and it is talked about being that way despite the fact that it isn’t. And nobody you know wants to know you when the boat starts sinking, let alone throw you a paddle or a bucket to help you out.
7. Selfishness, greed and penny pinching are not the character traits that most people would brag about, nor wish to consider as their only real personality, but to be an entrepreneur those are the critical personality traits if it is going to work at all. If you don’t mind being that kind of person, and other people knowing you’re that kind of person – entrepreneurship is for you because 99% of the time, day in and day out – over a period of years, those are the traits you will be using if you want it to succeed. And, it still might not succeed regardless.
8. Last, but not least – no matter what you think about being an entrepreneur, why you’re doing it, what your product or service is and no matter what you think the experience will be like for you – being an entrepreneur will change you. It will change your relationships that you’ve always held dear and not always in positive ways. It will steal from what you already have and what you could’ve had if you’d done something else. It will take from your family and from their time, goodwill and caring. It just does. Whether you want it to or not – being an entrepreneur does that no matter how you go about it.

• cricketdiane, 01-11-17

**

Advertisements

Here’s Why Your Startup Business Won’t Sell Anything to Anybody Starting Out

Tags

Business, cricketdiane, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, Marketing, Profitability, sales, selling, small business, starting a business, starting your own business, startups

I’ll save you the bother. I don’t want to particularly, but I will. We could wait to have this discussion until you’ve experienced it too and then have a good laugh about it when it’s all over and we’ve gotten past it. But why not tell you now so you can develop ways to deal with it. So, I will.

When you start a business, believe this – it is harder to get sales than you would begin to guess. And there are some significant reasons for this.

First, your family isn’t going to buy whatever it is because, well, they’re your family. They should get whatever you may be offering at the cut rate family discount of nothing because well – yeah, they’re family. So they aren’t going to buy from you. You can choose not to give it to them for free and they’ll simply resent it and you and your stupid business that is taking up all your time and still won’t buy from you or your business.

Second, your friends are nearly the same category as your family and for about the same reasons, they won’t buy from you either. You damn sure aren’t going to sell anything to them and if they like or need what you are selling, they still aren’t going to buy from you because, well, they’re your friends. And, they want the same deal your family thinks they should get – free services or products that your business is providing to everyone else for some price.

Third, your neighbors aren’t going to buy from you because they have better things to do than to be bothered with whatever it is you are selling and really don’t want to know about it either. They could not possibly care less and besides, they are getting whatever they need from retailers that they know or the online stores for those retailers – whom they don’t know and have never met, but trust more than they ever will trust you.

Fourth, don’t think that it stops there, because the people from your church, school and if you have one, workplace don’t want to be bothered with whatever you are selling either. They don’t even want to know about it because that takes up their time and they don’t want to be share with, told about, know about, see any of it, learn anything about it or basically, have anything to do with any of it. You’re only friends by virtue of going to the same place some of the time and otherwise, have no real relationship of any measure with you. And, in a way – you’d think that would favor selling something to them because at the very least, maybe they wouldn’t want it for free since they aren’t really your friends. But, no.

Fifth, that leaves everybody else – and those people don’t know you, don’t know about you, don’t want to know about you and essentially are already buying from somebody somewhere offering something that works good enough, thank you very much. And, they are too busy and don’t want to bothered finding about any of what you are about, what your business is about or what you are offering either – no matter how damn good it might be. And that is a fact.

Sixth, among the rest of the world who may have some individuals who either need or want what you are offering and my really like to have it and be willing to spend money to get it, there is absolutely little if no access to them or for them to find you and what your business offers. These include people on twitter and pinterest and other social media which I’ll tell you about next.

Seventh, the people on twitter, pinterest and other social media sights are there, for the most part, because they want to sell you something. They are not there to retweet your marvels because they believe in them or like them, nor to repin your wonders because they think that is the best thing they’ve ever seen. They are there because your business might be a candidate for buying their marketing services, SEO services, online marketing services, and other business skills services like training you in how to be in business. All these are great and much needed but you are likely to need them when you don’t have any money from your business and by the time you do have business sales with the money to get their services, you probably have passed the point of giving a damn about whether you are getting that part right or not. And, likely don’t need them, either.

Eighth, you’d think that stores, manufacturers and other commercial businesses could use whatever your business is offering and it is probably true. They could fall into the category with family for the extent to which they act like whatever you are offering is useless or of a value that you should give it to them for free and be grateful they were willing to take it from you at all. But, they are in a category by themselves because all these businesses are overwhelmed with their own competitive streak in the marketplace and to them, no matter what you are offering – you are a competitor or worse, trying to waste their time selling them something. They are more likely to steal it when you’ve walked out the door after saying they aren’t interested and that is true regardless of how you approach them, unless you bring an army of agents and attorneys with you that you can’t afford.

Ninth, not to be outdone, local businesses want to believe their time is even more valuable than big companies and since each owner has 100,000 times more things to do in any given moment than anyone working in a large corporation, they may be accurate in believing that. They nearly all share the idea that whatever you offer, it has to be overpriced, untrustworthy, untried, unreliable, unbelievable, unlikely and unsatisfactory or you wouldn’t be coming to them to try and sell it. That is especially true if you aren’t already the place they are used to buying from – no matter what it is or how much they need it. And, obviously if you are starting your business, they couldn’t be buying anything from you yet, so there you go.

Tenth, just in case you thought that actually leaves anybody that you could sell your products or services to, you would be right. There are three people in the world besides you that would love your product or service, would believe it is wonderful and be willing to spend their money to get it and be grateful to have it. Those three people do not include you and I’m not being a smartass about it. This is simple statistics – out of 7 billion people more or less, there must be three that would like it and want to buy it and be willing to pay for it. That is good to know, but you can’t build a business or profits from three people, let alone find them among that many people. Even narrowing it down by country, market, strata of buyers for certain things, season or proximity, is still beyond daunting and you would need to get your products and services in front of them at the point when they want to buy for it to matter.

Now, I know that whether it is home parties that sell certain products, or life insurance and car sales people, or any other type of business, the first thing they want to do is list all the people they know or that the person they are selling to also knows to use as referrals. And, if you make that list and have someone else approach those people you know or that are your family members – AND – if they didn’t know it was actually your company, they would probably buy some of the products or services your business is offering. Possible.

Getting written up in a nice newspaper or magazine article might help get your products, services and business in front of the three people in the world that are sure to want and need what you are offering and let them know it is available to them. It could. And a few other people might see the article and accidentally tell somebody about what they read, who will possibly buy from your business – eventually. Don’t hold your breath.

And, not to be despondent about it nor malevolent either, none of the facts above mean anything about the value of your business or you or your product or your service or your credibility or your value or your business’ value or your products’ value or damn well anything. But it is really hard not to take it that way. The fact is, all of those truths above say more about the people and groups of people doing things that way than it does about you or your business or anything your business is offering. There is a reason that advertising costs so much – it not only provides access to a certain demographic and number of audience members but it also provides the opportunity to get in front of them in a way for you to choose what to say, how to show your product fitting into their lifestyle and identity, how to provide your products’ benefits and solutions to their problems.

Unless you have taken out a business loan or taken on investors where some real advertising budget is available, that option is probably not accessible for your startup. Some startups use a guerrilla marketing style plan with enough ingenuity to get their products in front of people who want to buy it, but their plans fail with as much regularity as they succeed – so keep that in mind. And, with enough efforts being made to run around doing guerrilla marketing as time consuming as that and social media are, you won’t have to worry about doing your primary business or providing your product or service to the public because you won’t have the time or energy to do so.

Lastly, no matter where you put your product, your service, your business, your story about it in front of people online or in the real world, it won’t be what they are looking for when they find it which amounts to no more than a bother as far as they are concerned. By the time they decide that they want or need it or both and want to buy it, they won’t even remember where to find it, what your name is, what your business is called, where they saw it or where they might find it now that they want to buy from you. And, every time you hear that a small business or a startup can take anywhere from three to seven years to break even and be in the black, remember – that really means you taking money from your own pocket or from potential future sales by taking out loans to pay for working overtime every day of the week to have a business that isn’t earning any money until it does. And since nearly every business relies on sales to earn money and make a profit, refer back to the list above.

• cricketdiane, 05-06-2016

**

Start your own business – venture capital and forms to do business with venture capitalists – business opportunities – create your own business – small business – business resources and tools –

Tags

business opportunities, business resources, business tools, creating your own business, entrepreneurship, international business, Making money, Money, small business, Start Your Own Business

Calls for tender – Appel d’offres

• On-going call for Interest
  ››	View Call for tender
  ››	Contact
  ››	Specifications available on 29/06/2009
  ››	Deadline: 17 August 2009, 5:00 p.m.*

  Identity search engine

  The International Criminal Police Organization � INTERPOL with headquarters at 200 quai Charles de Gaulle, 69006 Lyon, France is launching an open call for bids with a view to the conclusion and execution of contract, the objective of an identity search engine that shall enhance the quality of search results. The Solution is to be an add-on to the Organization�s existing search facilities, designed to search nominal data. The features of this Solution are further described in the Specifications.

• On-going call for Interest
  ››	View Call for Interest
  ››	Contact
  ››	Questions (to be updated)
  ››	Specifications available on 27/05/2009
  ››	Deadline: 31 July 2009, 5:00 pm (MEST)

  INTERPOL e-passport (Call for Interest)

  INTERPOL is presently conducting a feasibility study on the creation of an electronic passport (e-passport) that would reflect state-of-the-art security features and processes. The INTERPOL e-passport will be created for Heads of National Central Bureaus (NCBs), INTERPOL General Secretariat officials, and elected members of INTERPOL�s governing bodies to confirm the bearer�s identity as an official or representative of INTERPOL and to facilitate international travel for official purposes. Companies and consortiums are invited to express their interest to sponsor the design and production of a state-of-the-art INTERPOL e-passport meeting ICAO standards.

http://www.interpol.int/public/icpo/callfortenders/default.asp

***

Venture capitalists want regulation exemption

Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:30am EDT

My Note – Well, of course they do . . .

(article found here – )

http://www.reuters.com/article/smallBusinessNews/idUSTRE55H2P420090618

***

What Are The NVCA Model Venture Capital Financing Documents?

A “template” set of model legal documents for venture capital investments put together by a group of leading venture capital attorneys. The model venture capital financing documents consist of:

• Term Sheet
• Stock Purchase Agreement
• Certificate Of Incorporation
• Investor Rights Agreement
• Voting Agreement
• Right of First Refusal and Co-Sale Agreement
• Management Rights Letter
• Indemnification Agreement

All templates were reviewed in January of 2008 and updated as deemed appropriate by our model legal docs working group.

In general, these documents are intended to reflect current practices and customs, and we have attempted to note where the West Coast and East Coast differ in a number of their practices.

[Etc.]

http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108:model-legal-documents&catid=43:resources&Itemid=136

***

Portfolio Company Valuation Guidelines

Over the past few years, much attention has been paid to the development of guidelines and standards that could impact the venture capital community. These reporting standards and guidelines generally fall into two categories: (a) performance presentation formats and (b) portfolio company valuation guidelines.

[ . . . ]

http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=138

***

[from-]

National Venture Capital Association

http://www.nvca.org/

***

Start Your Own Business Stuff – just a thought or two – Adventures in Business – US economic crisis 2009

Tags

America The Beautiful Show, Business, business sense, common sense, Creating Solutions for America, Creativity, Cricket House Studios, cricketdiane, entrepreneurship, innovation, invention, inventiveness, Start Your Own Business, USAX1

Adventures in Business –

The biggest trade barrier to the kitchen table inventor, the non-business oriented innovator and individual creator is that every business, every industry and every corporation has a series of people and systems designed to protect and prevent anyone from getting through. That is because they have lawyers that told them to do that so unsolicited materials, ideas and inventions wouldn’t be seen by a known path of evidence where they would be liable for acknowledging the source of the materials. Isn’t that special . . .

Whenever there is a contest, promotion or a competition for designs, inventions, novel materials, innovations and other creative applications, if you enter it – you are giving it to them whether you win or not. Read the fine print. If you send in your comedy materials – it becomes theirs to use as they see fit including selling it, profiting from it, publishing it, broadcasting it, or incorporating it into other things they own. That is true of inventions, it is true of innovations and is true of creative materials, as well.

This doesn’t matter if you win or not. Once it is submitted and you have applied for entry into their “contest” – those materials belong to them. Read the official submission information that is not the brief guidelines but the long-winded, small print description that goes on for pages, and pages, and pages. There it will say if you enter, those materials belong to them or if they revert to you after consideration for the competition. Read it. Don’t give what you can’t afford to be without, (considering you will never have the rights to any of it ever again.)

And, if they don’t ever use it – once you’ve submitted it to them for a competition, contest or promotion – it still isn’t yours after that. There is nothing that you can do about it, whether they use it or not. Many of the materials could go in the trash and simply not be available to anyone, including you.

But the single most challenging trade barrier in America today, is the system that nearly every company has in place to discourage, thwart, evade and undermine the ability of anyone to get through to them. It is easiest to see in the publishing industry but try to suggest something to Starbucks and you’ll find the same thing in place. The William Morris Agency only considers those who are referred by someone they already have working for them and many literary agents that would be required in order to present materials to publishers do not consider anything not presented to them by someone they already know, as well. Most materials of any kind that are sent anywhere are simply sent back, put in the trash, forwarded to a secondary company hired to look it over, electronically “dumped” without anyone seeing them or dismantled by polite rejection saying they don’t want to see it in the first place.

These are the same companies and industries that are hammering for feedback, interaction, ideas, innovations, promotional campaign concepts, opportunities, new inventions, better ways of doing things and greater competitive advantages / compatible distinctions. They have assured that none of that gets to them, if it isn’t already there in-house. If they are paying outside companies to offer these things, they are being promised that they will get “thinking outside the box” and innovative inspiration, creative prototypes and exciting promotions that work, brilliant public relations opportunities and increased sales. But, do they? Or is it just that those are given the only access so anything they come up with sounds pretty good?

I don’t know that I could do a better job. There isn’t a way to tell whether anyone outside these structures could be better at it including the 19 million people who are out of work or under-employed across America right now, but I have a feeling that the intellectual inbreeding of thought and creativity wouldn’t be the problem it currently is at some levels of corporate America. It isn’t rocket science to know that a lot of them need help and in the worst way, they need that help right now.

A quickie true story –

So, once upon a time, I thought it would be great to be roofer – everyone needs roofers. The five days that my friend and I got on someone’s roof to do roofing it hit 104 and 105 degrees in a freak heat wave (during the 80’s in Atlanta). I was wearing a black leotard and blue jeans which seemed to be one of the hottest fashion choices for roofing ever considered. As much as I now have a very healthy respect for roofers, it is obvious to me that I am not a roofer.

I also made some serious errors in judgment about business doing roofing. One is, never allow a man (any man) to make the deal. Second, always – always check the contract price against the actual costs of materials. And, third, when someone says they priced something to the customer high enough to cover all the costs and pay those doing the job – don’t believe them, do not take it at their word and don’t take it at face value, because it is probably wrong somehow somewhere.

I found out the nails and particularly roofing nails should be bought at the same time as the roofing materials, like shingles and tar paper, not in fourteen separate runs to the hardware store, among other things. And, that gutter ruined when your partner mis-adjusts the ladder, means the cost of fixing it comes out of everybody’s money. I’m not a roofer. It is not a good business for me. And, if you ever decide to do any of it – check the weather first. Rain isn’t the only thing that is a problem.

***

This story is specifically to say, that a simple idea is not necessarily the best. People (including me) are complicated, complex and dynamic. Business that are simple, direct and fill a need in the community may be geographically efficient, but are not automatically efficient and appropriate for any given individual. The match really needs to be found.

Everyone is uniquely suited to be more appropriate to some things than others. Needs are out in the greater world in varying degrees of all different types. There are business opportunities that exist everywhere by finding those needs, problems to be solved, direct access to situations that need resolution, processes and solutions along with innovations and inventions that could be applied to numerous different needs and problems.

At the point where I want to do a business thing, most everything in the world around me is not on my side to do it. That just happens to be where I stand. But, for most people there are some sets of things going for them and some that are not. I have time on my side that some people don’t, but many people out of work right now have that asset as well.

The competitive marketplace is not easy to enter, every industry and business wants the share you or I would take and it is not a “gentleman’s game.” So, that means every last shred of knowledge, access to information, idea, thought, procedure that works, innovations, inventions, designs, distinct diverse advantage that you or I have is going to be necessary to us for success. That fact is already known by the competition, and hard to keep in mind all the time when starting out. But, it is critical.

Some people will say to run around to everyone you know and tell them about your ideas to build some excitement about it presuming that they will then invest in you doing it. I will tell you from experience, that you need to decide intelligently about that. It is one way to do it but it runs the risk that someone will complete the task without you, being better positioned to do so.

It also lets any and all potential competitors know what you are doing, what you plan to do and how you are going to go about it, in a way that gives them the lead time to defend their business position from it and possibly to undermine your efforts and opportunities. It simply needs to be considered before running all over the place telling everybody what you are going to do. This method can build excitement, sometimes it does yield investors and occasionally it will inspire friends and family to help you get started with money, knowledge, networking contacts or help. But, they might not, and then you’ve taken the risks of letting everyone know about it before doing what is necessary to protect it. And, nothing is going to inspire bankers, venture capitalists and business leaders to help regardless, – unless you don’t need the money they can loan because you are borrowing against the cash you already have sitting right there in front of them.

– cricketdiane, 05-08-09

***

ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL AND DISADVANTAGED BUSINESSES

8(a) Business Development Program

The SBA’s Section 8(a) Business Development Program provides various forms of assistance (management and technical assistance, financial assistance, government contracting assistance and advocacy support) to foster the growth and development of businesses owned by socially
and economically disadvantaged individuals.

SBA assists these businesses, (during a nine year tenure in the 8(a) Business Development Program), to gain access to the resources necessary to develop their businesses and improve their ability to compete in the mainstream of the American economy.
Business development assistance includes one-to-one counseling, training workshops, and other management and technical guidance required to expand into the federal government contracting arena.

The SBA enters into contracts with other federal agencies and subcontracts the performance of such contracts to 8(a) program participants.

Eligibility Criteria:

To participate in the 8(a) program, a business must be:

• a small business concern

• owned by a U.S. citizen

• at least 51 percent unconditionally owned and controlled by one or more an individual(s) who qualify as socially and economically disadvantaged

• established for two full years before applying (or qualifying for a waiver of the two-year rule)

Social disadvantage:

Socially disadvantaged is defined as individuals who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias because of their identity as a member of a group without regard to their individual capabilities.

The following individuals are presumed to be socially disadvantaged: Black Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans,Asian Pacific Americans and Subcontinent Asian Americans. An individual who is not a member of one of the groups presumed to be socially disadvantaged must establish individual social disadvantage by a preponderance of the evidence. Anyone may
apply for 8(a) Program certification.

For additional information regarding evidence of social disadvantage, please visit:
http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/8abd/index.html

Economic disadvantage:
Economically disadvantaged individuals are socially disadvantaged individuals whose ability to compete in the free-enterprise system has been impaired due to diminished capital and credit opportunities as compared to others in the same or similar line of business who are not socially disadvantaged.

Net worth:

For initial 8(a) Program certification, the net worth of an individual claiming disadvantage, must be less than $250,000.

For continued 8(a) Program eligibility after admission, net worth must be less than $750,000. In determining such net worth, SBA will exclude the ownership interest in the applicant business and the equity in the primary residence.

Day-to-Day Management:

• Management and daily business operations must be controlled by the disadvantaged individual(s) upon whom eligibility is based.

• The individual(s) must have management or technical expertise.

For additional information on the 8(a) Business Development Program, please visit:
http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/8abd/index.html

Small Disadvantaged Business Certifications

To qualify as a small disadvantaged business, a firm must be owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged. Congress has directed that individuals who are members of certain ethnic groups are presumed to be disadvantaged. Other
persons, including women and persons of any race, can also qualify by establishing their
disadvantaged status.

Once certified by the SBA, the firm can be added to an online registry of SDB-certified firms maintained in CCR/DSBS. Firms remain on the list for three years. Contracting Officers and prime contractors may search this registry for potential contractors.

For additional information on SBD Certification and Eligibility, visit the SBD Web site at: http://www.sba.gov/services
and select “Small Business Certifications” from the “Contracting Opportunities” menu in the
center of the page.

Online 8(a)/SDB Application

The online 8(a)/SDB application allows small companies to apply for 8(a) Business Development and Small Disadvantaged Business certification directly from SBA’s Web site. The 8(a)/SDB online application incorporates features including context sensitive help, real-time validation, printer friendly versions and integrates with the CCR/DSBS.

You may access the electronic 8(a)/SDB application by visiting:
https://sba8a.symplicity.com/applicants/guide

If you are having difficulty with SBA’s General Login System (GLS), please e-mail SBA at ITSecurity@sba.gov

If you are having difficulty with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR), please go to
http://www.ccr.gov/help.asp
for contact information.

If you are having difficulty with the Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS), please contact Robert.Connolly@sba.gov

Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) E-application, please contact
SDB@sba.gov

8(a) Business Development E-application, please contact
8ABD@sba.gov

The Mentor-Protégé Program for 8(a) Participants
Through the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program, 8(a) Program participants can receive in-depth business advice to assist them in becoming more competitive in obtaining federal government contracts. The SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program encourages private-sector relationships and broadens the agency’s efforts to address the needs of clients in the 8(a) Program.

If you are an 8(a) participant, mentors can provide you with technical and management
assistance, financial assistance in the form of equity investments or loans, subcontract support, and assistance in performing prime contracts through joint-venture arrangements with 8(a) businesses.

For additional information, please visit:
http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/8abd/index.html

MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

SBA’s Section 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program authorizes the SBA to enter into grants, cooperative agreements and contracts with public or private organizations to pay all or part of the cost of technical or management assistance for individuals or concerns eligible for assistance under sections: 7(a) (11), 7(j) (10), or 8(a) of the Small Business Act. Specifically,
the following are eligible to receive management and technical assistance including businesses which qualify as small under 13CFR part 121 of this title: concerns located in urban or rural areas with high proportions of unemployed or low-income individuals, or which are owned by such low income individuals; and businesses eligible to receive 8(a) contracts.

The types of assistance available to eligible individuals through the Management and Technical Assistance Program include counseling and training in the areas of:

• Finance

• Management

• Accounting
• Bookkeeping

• Marketing and presentation analysis

• Advertising

• Loan packaging

• Proposal bid preparation

• Feasibility studies
• Industry specific technical assistance

• The identification and development of new business opportunities

More information is at:
http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/ 8abd/index.html

Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC)

PTA Centers provide assistance to business firms in marketing products and services to the Federal, State and local governments at no or nominal cost.

SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS

In 1999, public law established federal procurement opportunities for veterans and service-disabled veterans. In 2003, the Small Business Act established procurement vehicles for small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. Contracting officers may award a sole source or set-aside contract to a small business owned by a service-disabled veteran if:

• The business is a responsible contractor able to perform the contract, and the
contracting officer does not reasonably expect two or more small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans will submit offers.

• The anticipated award price of the contract (including options) won’t exceed $5 million in case of a contract opportunity assigned a North American Industry Classification System code for manufacturing; or

• $3 million in the case of any other contract opportunity;

• In the estimation of the contracting officer, the contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price.

Additionally, a contracting officer may award contracts after competition restricted to small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans if the contracting officer reasonably expects two or more small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans will submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair market price.

Veterans and service-disabled veterans may participate in all SBA procurement programs. To determine your eligibility, contact your local veterans business development officer in your nearest SBA district office, visit the various program Web sites or contact the SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development at
http://www.sba.gov/vets

SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH PROGRAM

The SBIR Program encourages small businesses to explore their technological potential by reserving a specific percentage of federal research and development funds for small businesses.

The program serves to fund the critical startup and development stages for a technology and encourages commercialization of the technology, product or service. In turn, this stimulates the U.S. economy.

SBIR Requirements:

Small businesses must meet the following eligibility criteria to participate in the SBIR program.

• Be 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens in the U.S. or be a for-profit business concern that is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by another for-profit business concern that is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the U.S.

• Be organized for profit.

• Principal researcher must be employed by small business.

• Company size cannot exceed 500 employees.

For more information on the SBIR Program visit
http://www.sba.gov/services
then scroll down the “Contracting Opportunities” menu along the bottom and click on “Contracting Program.” From there, select “SBIR/STTR Programs” from the menu that appears on the right-hand side.

Participating Agencies:

Each year, the following eleven federal departments and agencies are required to reserve a portion of their R&D funds for award to small business: Departments of Agriculture; Commerce; Defense; Education; Energy; Health and Human Services; Homeland Security; Transportation; Environmental Protection Agency; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and National Science Foundation.

SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAM

This STTR program reserves a specific percentage of federal R&D funding for award to small business and nonprofit research institution partners. Small business has long been where innovation and innovators thrive. But the risk and expense of conducting serious R&D efforts can be beyond the means of many small businesses.

Conversely, nonprofit research laboratories are instrumental in developing high-tech innovations. But frequently, innovation is confined to the theoretical, not the practical. STTR combines the strengths of both entities by introducing entrepreneurial skills to high tech research efforts. The technologies and products are transferred from the laboratory to the marketplace.The small business profits from the commercialization, which, in turn, stimulates the U.S. economy.

STTR Requirements:

Small businesses must meet the following eligibility criteria to participate in the STTR Program.

• Be 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens in the U.S.

• Be organized for profit.

• Principal researcher need not be employed by small business.

• Small business must conduct at least 40 percent of the work.

• Company size cannot exceed 500 employees. (No size limit for nonprofit research institution).

The nonprofit research institution partner must also meet certain eligibility criteria:

• Be located in the United States and be one of the following:

• Nonprofit college or university.

• Domestic nonprofit research organization.

• Federally funded R&D center.

• The research institution must conduct at least 30 percent of the work.

Participating Agencies:

Each year the following five Federal departments and agencies are required by STTR to reserve a portion of their R&D funds for award to small business/nonprofit research institution partnerships:

Department of Defense;
Department of Energy;
Department of Health and Human Services;
National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and
National Science Foundation.

TECH-NET

TECH-Net is an Internet-based database of information containing Small Business Innovation Research awards, Small Business Technology Transfer awards, Advanced Technology Program awards, and Manufacturing Extension Partners centers.

It is a search engine and electronic gateway of technology information and resources for and about small high-tech businesses. It is a tool for researchers, scientists, state, federal and local government officials, a marketing tool for small firms and a potential “link” to investment opportunities for investors and other sources of capital.

TECH-Net is a free service for those seeking small business partners, small business contractors and subcontractors, leading edge technology research, research partners, (e.g. small businesses, universities, federal labs and non-profit organizations), manufacturing centers and investment opportunities.

TECH-Net is available at:
http://tech-net.sba.gov/index.cfm

Leadership and Deceitfulness is not the same – Leadership and Dictatorship is not the same – and America isn’t yours to run – its ours (which simply includes you in that, too.)

Tags

American citizenship, American Revolutionary War, ancient sea, bailouts, banking, bonds, Capitalism, commercial paper, commodities, conflicts of interest in US Congress, corruption and abuse of authority, counterfeit securities, credit default swaps, Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips, cricketdiane, currency, Economics, Economy, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, financial derivative instruments, financial derivatives, free market economy, Freedom, Freedom of Thought, global economic crisis, Global Economy, Illuminati of One, International Concerns, investment banking, Leadership, life in America, living in USA, Macro-economics future forecasting, Money, mortgage backed securities, Principles of Economics, Reality-based Analysis, socialism, Statistical Analysis, stock market, United States of America, US bailout plan, US Congress, US Constitution, US economic crisis, US Government, US government bailout, US government policy, Wall Street, We Come Bearing Gifts

This is why we don’t study this economics stuff in classrooms. We study it in the real world and teach it in classrooms.

It is not whether anyone has worked in the public sector before or has that experience from which to draw. It is in whether anyone has ever experienced being homeless and out of work, without opportunities and enslaved by poverty and despotism. That is the experience it takes to know why it is so very critical to have done the right things in the right ways before this and certainly, now that we are here.

The practices of our “financial class,” bankers, investment houses, Wall Street, speculators and their friendly Congressional legislators have burned down the framework of freedom and prosperity in America long before today. It is why today, we have their results and the crises it has caused that is before us to solve. We have America’s economy to rebuild and opportunity to be restored.

I know why it was critical and important to work on getting changes made to this many months and years before today ever came because of two things, 1.) It didn’t have to be this way and, 2.) I personally know the damage their way of doing things has caused. Now, they’ve spread those results out to a greater population, who is already experiencing it this very minute. I know what that is and what could’ve been done to avert it, while you and your colleagues along with every trader, banker and politician were saying, “it is all fine, everything is just fine.”

So, from the real world I learned the tangible costs of Wall Street having the run of our government and their demand that leadership equals dictatorship. I know what leadership is in a nation of freedoms, rights and opportunities to prosper equally guaranteed to all under a government of representation serving her people. I’ve seen what can happen with that and what has happened without it. The difference lends to us the results from histories of oppression and economic insolvency throughout time and around the world that we now have unfolding here.

Genuine leadership in America has integrity, not pretense, because it answers to the people of America that it serves. Regardless of one’s background, status, nationality, religion, race, gender, age or “wholeness” by some prescribed measure, each and every American individually and as a nation, serves America.

Everyone, whether citizen by birth or oath, or simply physically standing in our nation, is governed by consent of the governed, and nothing else. Not by law, nor decree, nor by money, nor status, nor even by principle are we governed – only, and always only, by our consent. That was the decree of freedom that made this country and it is the truth even today.

There is nothing else that makes it work and nothing else that will work for very long because we have tasted freedom, died for it, lived for it, endured for it and will always fight for it. To not have freedom, rights, opportunities, equality and the possibility of prosperity makes living and enduring any difficulty immeasurable and filled with sorrows.

I know. I have lived in an America without freedom – have you?

Written by Cricket Diane C “Sparky” Phillips, 09-29-08, USA