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Five Tips For Small Businesses To Invest Their Money

Five Tips For Small Businesses To Invest Their Money

What would you do with $400,000?

What would you do with $400,000? That’s the amount of financing you could qualify for as a small business applying for a grant or loan through Connecticut’s myriad of lenders. The staff at the Women’s Business Development Council, headquartered in Stamford CT, knows a thing or two about how small businesses can invest their limited budgets to help grow their businesses.  Over the past 20 years, they’ve worked with nearly 19,000 entrepreneurs and business owners from across the state and assisted in the creation of nearly 1,800 businesses.  Here’s advice from Jennifer Hrbek, their Director of Programs and Services and a licensed Master of Social Work and Certified Financial Social Worker on the best way to invest your money as you’re starting up:

  1. Make sure your legal and tax situation is squared away.  Do you need an LLC?  Have you consulted with an accountant?  Do you know what type of insurance you need. It’s smart to consider all of this in advance and lay the right tracks so that you don’t have issues down the road.
  2. Get yourself set-up with some good office equipment.  You can spend $200 printing just a handful of PowerPoint presentations for a new business pitch. Instead, invest the same amount of money in all in one printer and scanner so that you’re saving money and time (no late night copy runs).
  3. Get the word out on your business.  Make sure you secure your website address, get a freelancer to help you launch a simple website if you can’t do it yourself and consider investing a little in Facebook ads and Google Adwords to make your presence known.  You would be surprised about how little money you need in order to do that.
  4. While you’re at it, sign-up for contact management and email marketing programs to help manage your network and drive sales.  There are very cost effective and easy to use programs available now designed specifically for small businesses.
  5. Get help.  You can’t be everywhere at once, and one the best ways to spend your budget in the beginning is to get some additional arms and legs on your team if you need it.  The right kind of help can really free up your time to focus on growing your business.

The Women’s Business Development Council believes that the biggest barrier facing women entrepreneurs is not only the access of capital but, even more so, the access to financial education and small business resources.  The Women’s Business Development Capital Program is focused on providing that financial education and personal finance coaching to better prepare our clients to successfully access the funds available to them.  To date, we have worked with twenty-three Women’s Business Development Council clients to help them secure $3M in grants and loans. To learn more about how we can work with you to improve your access to capital please contact us at 203-751-9550.