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September 16, 2011 By

Small Business Resources and Tips For Veterans

As a veteran, you may have a hard time transitioning to an office environment and opt for starting a small business instead. The thought can be exhilarating and daunting at the same time. Fortunately, there are some organizations that will help you start and manage your veteran owned small business by providing initiatives to aid in your success.

Programs such as the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Patriot Express Loan Program or the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) VetBiz program provide veteran owned businesses with the tools to successfully run their own business; however, it is up to the business owner on how they are seen by their customers, which stresses the importance of protecting their brand.

Veterans Resources for Small Business Start-up and Management

Patriot Express

The Patriot Express program is designed to reward our veterans through offering the lowest available interest rates for our service members. Rates can fall as low as 2.25 percent to 4.75 percent, depending on size and length of the loan, as well as credit history and business experience.

Some business owners are members of the National Guard and when called to service, they may consider shutting their doors or leaving their business in the hands of someone who may not be qualified to run the business. This is why the SBA gives veterans the option to use their Patriot Express funds towards finding management in the event of deployment.

Funds are also designed to go towards business purposes, such as funding for start-up costs, like real estate, equipment, and inventory purchases. However, veterans already running a business can use the funds for expansion and disaster recovery. Note that the loan use is restricted to business purposes only.

The SBA considers the following eligible:

  • Veterans
  • Reservists and National Guard members
  • Active duty service members eligible for the Transition Assistance Program
  • Spouses of the above
  • Spouses of service members who have died while serving or due to a service related injury

VetBiz

A longer-standing program through the VA, VetBiz, assists veterans in starting or expanding a small business. Veteran-owned businesses are encouraged to sign up and use VetBiz, due to the fact the government and other prospective clients can look at the business’ ability to meet the needs of certain projects all from the VetBiz site. Therefore, contract buyers have access to all of these veteran-run businesses, their products, and services.

VetBiz gives veteran owned companies priority on government contracts. Contracting officers can easily compare veteran owned businesses from the VetBiz site and narrow down the list of possible contractors. Such ease of access means more business and prime government contracts for veteran entrepreneurs.

Small Business Branding and Reputation for Veterans

Just as trust and reputation were important part of your military service, it is also important in your business. Without a good brand and reputation, your business won’t succeed.

Build Your Brand

After taking advantage of the great programs available to get your business started, be sure to immediately begin managing your brand from the first day your doors open. Building a strong brand takes time, but being proactive while your company is young can lead to much success.

Forums, discussion boards, and social networking sites can easily being a breeding ground for negative comments about your brand, and if a potential customer comes across one of these comments while researching your business, they will most likely go to a competitor with a better image. To protect your brand and image from any potential naysayers, online reputation management must continuously be on the front of your agenda. Businesses frequently perform keyword searches to determine what is being said about the company, while more advanced search engine optimization (SEO) techniques should be used to bump up sites with positive reviews.

Increased Brand Visibility

Achieving the top positions in the search engines has historically been a great way for businesses to achieve greater visibility; however, it is no longer enough. With social networks that carry millions of users, your companies must adapt to promote its brand on these channels as well. It is important to keep your social media sites frequently updated with relevant content because a neglected account is worse than no account at all. To determine post frequency, try experimenting with different numbers of posts and checking you feedback.

Brand Image

Complaints will happen, so be prepared in advance. Whether it is a complaint on your Facebook wall or on a third party reviews site, handle it with speed and care. Show good will to the customer and try to resolve the issue. Even if nothing can be done to please a specific customer, it is still in the best interest of your company and brand image to try and work things out. It shows other customers that you do care and are willing to resolve any problems. It is also a good practice to comment on positive reviews as well, thanking the customers for their patronage, which can build repeat customers and brand advocates.

As a member of the military, you may face many challenges when transitioning to a civilian role. Fortunately there are programs available to veterans to help you make the transition smooth and provide tools that will help you succeed. If you’re a service members interested in starting your own business, look into the available programs and keep in mind it is important to maintain your business’ reputation.

File under: Beginners, Branding, Business
August 1, 2010 By

Are You (Gulp!) Scared?

scared My wife has been declaring to the world via Twitter and Facebook each time she tackles tasks that are outside her comfort zone. As any good spouse does, I listen to her talk herself through those fears – OK maybe sometimes I do zone out a little. I’ll admit, I don’t really understand some of her worries because she’s great at what she does and others are hard for me to identify because I don’t struggle with the same things.

But, I can tell you, those fears are very real for her. Today, I see she’s challenging herself again by publicly proclaiming she’s going to do something new that is outside of the norm for her. I’m proud of her.

Truth is, I too have my own fears. As a matter of fact, almost anyone who’s ever run a business fears something in varying degrees at one point or another.

Scared about some new strategy we have not tried, worried about upsetting customers over product changes, losing sleep over legal issues that have not materialized, nervous over the new product you are launching, quaking in your boots over the upcoming seminar you’ll be speaking at or an interview with the media. The list goes on.

The question is, will you rise over it? Face it and move forward or bail out and put a choke hold on your business? You can’t move forward if you bail out. But if you take them head on and do it afraid, next time, it won’t be that scary anymore and you’ll find yourself on the next upward rung of the ladder.

Some resources that you might be interested in concerning fear.

Photo by Bob Smith
File under: Business
November 23, 2008 By

Brand Common Sense in 5 Easy Steps

It’s a little late to think about buying a parachute when you’re going down in flames. Businesses that chose to ignore their brands and marketing to save a few dollars are now scrambling to try and and fend off their inevitable demise. Have you ever noticed that many in the retail world, both large and small do their best job at marketing when they are going out of business. The liquidation sales are adequately promoted with proper funding. When they had the opportunity to take marketing seriously they chose to pinch pennies and failed to invest in themselves, believing people would just beat a path to their door.

Their brands are now so weak they it will take very deep pockets just to stay above water let alone grow. Take this 5 step action plan that is more common sense than anything miraculous:

1) Respect your brand and don’t fall prey to the temptation of being all things to all people. Now is the time, more than ever before to define your brand and compel your customer. If you fall back on a price advantage, the competition will gladly buy the business back. Deeper pockets will work every time.

2) Get in the door with a competitive positioning strategy and sell up from there.

3) Build a relationship that builds loyalty and service the hell out of them.

4) Don’t rely entirely on technology for communication but put your bum in front of them when ever you can.

5) And for God’s sake, don’t stop trying to satisfy and keep your name in front of them – what ever it takes.

File under: Featured, Marketing