The Stages of Small Business Growth

Your favorite pizza place and the popular Indian corner bistro may not quite look the same, but studies and research have shown that both actually go through exactly the same stages of business growth. They may be physically different, use different marketing strategies, and have different management systems, but they will be bombarded with common problems and issues at relatively similar phases of their growth.

Getting a good understanding of the stages of small business growth and the inevitable challenges, trials, and problems that go with running it is helpful if you want to be able to fairly evaluate your business’s growth pattern and help you figure out what your next steps should be.

1. The Start-Up. This is when you move on from just having an idea to actually doing the business, and this will take a lot of your time, stamina, perseverance, and a good list of first-time customers. It should go without saying that you will need cash or an initial capital investment here. While you will be supervising some help or staff that you have, you practically do everything in this stage. Your primary goal at this point is to exist. 
   
   At this point, you will need to have a clear marketing plan as to how you can identify, attract, and sell to your customers so that they remain loyal and stick to using your products or availing of your services.

2. The Survival. If you have proven the market that you indeed have a product or service that customers have a use for and will pay for that, then you have moved on to the next stage of your business growth: survival. This is tantamount to saying that you need to make enough money to finance growth.
   
   Many small businesses rarely get off this stage. While other business owners may just be content with getting marginal returns for all their investments, there are those that are simply unable to come up with enough financial resources to cover additional costs such as the development of new products or the employment of more people who can help provide more services for the business. This is where you really have to think whether you are capable of running the business; if you think you cannot, then you need to hire one who can.

3. The Success.  This is the point when the business is considered economically healthy. Here, the company is more or less generating profits that can ensure its success. However, it is at this point where you as the owner should look closely on the business’s organizational development, delegation of the management, financial stability, and the like and determine which needs more attention, modifications, etc., and make sure to give it immediate response.
   
   

   

   
   You may also opt to work on new business ideas that you want to incorporate with the current organization or choose to just enjoy the benefits of success or venture into other interests or hobbies. Additional financial resources will also be necessary if you intend to expand the business more.

4. The Takeoff. If you decide to expand, financing and delegation will be your main concerns. It will take a competent and expert management system to be able to handle growth and the every-changing business environment. Note that with the evolving business climate in the market, change is inevitable—and your business’s inability to cope and adjust to it can sometimes be overwhelming.
   
   As a major point in the pattern of business growth, it is in this stage when you have to decide whether you plan to sell your company for a remarkable profit or be a big business name. To do this, it is critical that you know your own strengths and weaknesses, your positive attributes, and your limitations so you can figure out if you really have what it takes to go further and expand.

5. The Maturity. One major challenge that you will have to face head on when managing a mature business is taking hold of your enormous financial resources, and at this point you may already have a whole department handling just this. Finally, you will have to be as flexible and agile as you can to be able to quickly adapt with the ever-changing environment of a competitive market.

StateAndFederalBids is home to the most comprehensive collection of all levels of government bidding opportunities—state, local, and federal—offered at the market's easiest and most affordable subscription service packages.

Women in Business: Getting Startup Funds (Even with Bad Credit)

Good news: Funding for women planning to start up a small business is readily available.

Bad news: It’s not that easy to get.

Most of these funding sources for women business owners come in the form of loans, and this can be very tough to avail of especially for those with a bad credit standing. Fortunately however there are still ways through which women can avail of these resources even with their bad credit. And one effective way is by being able to prove that you have what it takes to run the business.

The Peer-to-Peer Lending System

The peer-to-peer lending system is ideal for those women who only need a small amount of money (less than $10,000) to get started with the business. The process requires you to talk about your business and your qualifications to manage and run it. Prospective investors will look into your story, check its credibility, and decide on how much percentage of the money will they offer for a loan. Here, having a low credit means higher risk, so your interest rate will be higher as well.

Soliciting help from family and friends can be formally done through peer-to-peer lending. Here, they can lend you some funds that you can use to start up your business while they earn interest from the transaction, which will all be done under an intermediary online site.

The Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors

Venture capitalists and angel investors are those individuals or organizations that are ready to give you the financial capital that you need to start up your business, but they will need to have some control over a portion of your company and its profits. This system is ideal for those looking for a significantly large amount of money like around $100,000 to $1 million.

These individuals or organizations would not be bothered about your personal credit rating. Rather, they would examine your business plan, your capacity to run the business, your experience as well as those of your staff and personnel. Normally, these capitalists will look for those business ventures in the technology industry where the potential for enormous profits are high.

Business Grants and Loans for Women

Many nonprofit organizations grant help to women who would like to start up a business. The competition is stiff, and the grants are normally designated for disadvantaged women or those coming from low-income regions. You may increase your chances of winning a grant if you can hire the services of a professional grant writer for this.

Trying to get a loan with a low credit score can prove to be a daunting task. If you approach a lending company that offer SBA loans, which are normally backed by the government, then you have higher chances of getting an approval. But your best chance would be to get in touch with organizations that really specialize in helping women fund up their businesses and will not bother lending some funds despite your low credit. 

StateAndFederalBids is the one-stop solution for all those start-up businesses seeking to be part of and grow in the government bidding market. We help you find the right opportunities that your business needs.

Being a Small Business Entrepreneur: Are You Up for the Challenge?

Regardless how lucrative it may sound, starting a business is definitely not a walk in the park. It takes a lot of meticulous planning, emotional and financial preparation, and a full commitment to devote as much of your time and effort to eventually realize your goals. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that only half of new businesses survive five years after conceptualization, while only 35% stay afloat after ten years or more.

The Gallup Small Business Index/Wells Fargo surveyed owners of small businesses on how they fared in their journey toward small business entrepreneurship, and here are their opinions and advice for those who are aspiring to get into small business entrepreneurship.

• One of the first few concrete goals that every new business owner must accomplish is creating a solid business plan. As a foundation of your endeavor, your business plan should be the product of a good research about your market, the industry, your clients, your competitors, and every important aspect of the business.

• It’s no surprise that one of the biggest challenges of starting a business is the need to come up with the initial investment, which is almost always likely to be a large sum of money. The survey showed that the most popular source of funds used when opening businesses come from personal savings. Other sources include loans and credits and some help from families and friends.
• If there’s a business plan, it follows that you also need to come up with a financial plan that will help you look clearly and examine your startup costs.  Get help from a professional financial advisor on reviewing your financial documents to ensure that you are really financially capable with this undertaking and get it through for the first few years.

• If you’re looking at getting a credit or a loan, take the time to really understand what your business has to come up with and what it needs to do to qualify and be in a safe position for a secured financing plan.
• While many small business owners have the tendency to underestimate the time and effort that they need to commit to launch a new business, they should be made aware of how amazingly rewarding it is to own a small business. It is therefore critical for one to first identify his reasons for starting the businesses and to determine the opportunities it can bring.

• Know that starting a business does not guarantee immediate profit, so it is very important to make sure that one has the right reserved resources to cover the initial resources. New business owners are generally advised to be able to come up with enough working capital to cover all costs and expenses for at least a year.

Obviously, starting a small business can be a daunting task with the many challenges one has to face, but it’s a well-known fact that it could be equally rewarding in the long run. So before taking those first steps, make sure to have the right plans on hand. Give it all the time and effort you can, and you’re sure to find reap your own rewards as well.


The market's leading provider of state, local, and federal government bids, StateAndFederalBids provides business intelligence solutions that enable clients to strongly compete in the government contracting industry.

How to Come Up with the Best Price for Your Government Bid

Coming up with the best price for the product or service that you want to offer to the government means creating a balance in trying to generate profit for your business while still making a competitive bid. And when it comes to deciding on how to price your bid on the government contracting business, there is no question that you should be more knowledgeable on this than other people would be.

Take note that with the great variety of businesses out there and an equally vast number of pricing methods, the smartest thing to do would be to remain as competitive as you can in your target market. Determining the right price for your bid means having to consider the following factors:

• The Price History of a Product (or Service). Obtain the price history of the item or product from the buying government agency. You can ask help from the Point of Contact noted in the contract or from the Procurement Technical Assistance Center. You may also get in touch with the contracting officer who can provide you with previous contract numbers so you can check the figures on those documents. Be sure however that you’re looking at the same contract statements so you get a more accurate price comparison.
• Bidding Costs and Expenses. While other contracting opportunities are simple and inexpensive, other larger contracts can be more arduous and time-consuming—and therefore more costly. Here, it helps to follow the rule of thumb: an estimated cost of putting together a government bid can run around 3% to 4% from a proposed contract’s value. Also, be sure to have your business ready to handle this cost.
• Quality and Certification Requirements. Be aware of all the necessary licenses, certifications, and acknowledgments and know if acquiring them would mean paying more so you will eliminate any surprise expenses all the way.
• Other Special Requirements. Be sure to get all the requirements that the buyer needs. Do not bank on just a percentage of the cost of the item to cover for additional requirements like packaging, transporting, etc., as they can sometimes be more costly than you think, and can eat it up on your supposedly profit.
• Overheads and Profit. Remember that while you always have the free reign on inputting as much profit as you like, you have to win the contract first before you can finally enjoy that profit you have in mind—and the government contract bidding process is one tough and competitive arena. Take note too that while having your price cover all your overhead costs appear simple and basic, there’s still this pricing factor that many small businesses still cannot seem to get right: if you cannot come up with the right cost information, then you’d have difficulty making the right decisions for your business, correctly bid on a contract, and be ultimately competitive.

StateAndFederalBids gives you visibility into government partner activities and contract awards as well as a comprehensive archive of past procurement activities complete with buyer behavior, pricing, and other relevant variables enabling you to market and grow your business's government opportunities.

Why StateAndFederalBids?

Over the years StateAndFederalBids has earned its name as the industry leader having consistently kept its track record of holding one of the largest and the most updated database on government bidding opportunities for its enormous clientele base, its prompt and efficient customer support service, and its unparalleled market intelligence solutions.

The Widest and Most Updated Coverage

Having an extensive experience in the government bidding market tracking and categorizing bids and establishing direct relationships with all relevant government agencies across the country, StateAndFederalBids ensures their clients of unlimited access to the market’s most exhaustive sources on everything “government bidding.”  

StateAndFederalBids’ revolutionary source database guarantees the regular and prompt tracking of all levels of public government participants, which includes the federal government, states, regions, cities, municipalities, counties, school districts, universities, police and fire departments, hospitals, water and public utilities, correctional facilities, just to name a few. 

The Expert Team and Scalable System

StateAndFederalBids has the initiative in coming up with a unique variation of methods and strategies to establish our benchmark of having the most comprehensive coverage in terms of monitoring bids on a regular basis such as an easy-to-navigate and user-friendly search interface technology, concrete relationships with government entities, and a professional team of expert industry researchers.  

Every day the StateAndFederalBids’ team systematically organizes, categorizes, and strategically streamlines every bid inputted in the system to ensure that it reaches every business that matches it in terms of the business’ specifications on keyword, geography, and industry. These email notifications are instantly sent out to the respective businesses that need to simply click on the bids they’re interested in and start working on the packages right away.

The Best-Priced and Flexible Subscription Services

StateAndFederalBids offers a large selection of subscription options that your business can choose from. At StateAndFederalBids, government bidding opportunities are accessible through three account types. Our free bids account is the best way to test-drive our service before you can actually decide on upgrading. The free-for-30-days account alone provides access to daily email alerts; options to set your location, category, and keyword preferences; view of federal government bidding opportunities; and an option to email a federal bid to a contact/friend.

For a minimal monthly rate, the federal only account will give you unlimited access to federal bids, lets you receive daily email notifications, and lets you email the bids to friends and contacts. And at a very affordable rate, the paid bids account offers full access to all federal government bidding opportunities as well as all state and local government bids. Yearly subscriptions also come in great discount prices, while our regular monthly rates are at rock-bottom prices—so far the market’s best.

Our excellent team of researchers at StateAndFederalBids guarantees our clients that they get nothing less than the most updated listing of government bidding opportunities through our customized email notifications straight into their inbox and smartphones. 

Making Your Business Stand Out

Modern-day businesses are perennially bombarded with limitless choices and faced with the challenges of cutthroat competition—and the government contracting industry is no exception. With the federal contracting competition getting intense day in and day out, having a deep understanding of the government procurement process as a whole is a critical must for government contractors.   

Experts advise that to better position one’s business for success, it needs to have a good assessment of the federal government’s priorities. To gain that competitive edge, you need to do your homework and be smarter than the business next door.

1. Get to know your customer. It should go without saying that knowing one’s client is tantamount to establishing a good foundation for a business relationship. Research on their previous awards, the common denominator among their frequently hired contractors, their motivating factors, etc. This always helps you compose proposals that are well-adjusted to the idiosyncrasies specific to your customer.
2. Know the benefits of knowing the rules. Many small businesses take for granted the significance of knowing the laws that concern them, which actually gives them a lot of advantages. It is critical that you understand the regulations covering small businesses including set-asides, quotas, subcontracting goals, and many more.
3. Take the risk of being different. Do not be afraid to have the initiative of coming up with unique ideas for your small business and be different from your competitors. Be bold enough to go out of your “safe zone.” Put extra effort on research and development or create one-of-a-kind designs and strategies with your team.
4. Team up with other small businesses. Remember that large businesses have the same goals as the smaller ones. The same opportunities given to billion-dollar businesses are now widely open to small businesses as well. Instead of teaming up with competitors, establish a complementary relationship with them and orchestrate mutual success.
5. Grow with technology. Legislative changes for small businesses are due to take effect in 2015. The HUBZone program (Historically Underutilized Business Zones) has never stopped evolving since its creation. And modern-day businesses continue to witness the rise of mobile apps that provide limitless opportunities for small businesses. Contractors should invest on their internet marketing strategies, considering the huge influence that the social media and other online tools have on the market—sellers and buyers alike.

  

StateAndFederalBids offers clients unmatched visibility into government contracts and unlimited access to all the government opportunity listing at the national level at the market's best-priced subscription services.

Small Business: Strategic Management 101

Small businesses normally have two initial goals—they can either stay small but increase their profits or aim to grow into a bigger one. One has to commit a lot of time and exert tremendous effort in establishing a strategic plan to get to the goal that you have initially set, but the realization of the strategy will largely depend on how it is implemented. Properly managing the following elements of strategic planning should greatly help you and your business get to your goal points.

• Take a good look of your competition, market, the industry, and the economic state of the business in the local level. Study the patterns and trends in the market and how they have changed over the last few years and make estimations on how they would be faring in the next few years.
• Make an assessment of your target clientele base: what they want and how you can possibly deliver these needs. Then study every aspect of your business including how it is managed, whether it is operating efficiently, and how it can better meet the customer expectations.
• Know where your business initially stands and where you want it to be. Technically referred to as positioning, this element of strategic planning will help you specifically set the directions that you need to take for your business such that if you’re into selling ladies’ apparel and want to increase your profits but still remain within the small-scale business level, you will have to align all your activities with increasing your sales or expanding the business coverage. Or if you want to grow and become a large business, you’ll have to look into expanding your clientele base to not just deliver within the neighborhood but also outside the region and perhaps maybe on the national level. Here, it is important that you know exactly where you want to take your company, and aligning all the elements of your business will take that directional objective.
• Learn the importance of documenting your strategic plan. Put in boldface your goal, then enumerate the standards that you have set towards the achievement of that goal. Here, you will also need to write in detail the costs and expenses that come with every activity or event that you have listed under your plan, such as hiring additional staff, buying new equipment, upgrading your service providers, and so on. Your list will serve as your touchstone and reference material, which you can easily use in reviewing the progress of the implementation part of your plan.
• Personally ensure that your strategic plan is realized by taking careful steps to have them accurately carried out. It is critical to regularly have everybody on board updated with all the goings-on of the enterprise particularly the key personnel. Meetings and conferences are vital to keep the communication line open, and communication always plays a major role in the success of a strategic plan.