We have help for banks now. Why not help for small businesses and startups?

The senior senator of NY, Charles Schumer, has proposed a $700 million small-business stimulus plan.

The proposed program would help businesses in several ways including:

• waive bank service fees on loans
• give the Small Business Administration (SBA) more money for staff and loans
•  raise the limits on SBA and let the SBA offer loans for refinancing.

According to the Senator, the program would allow the SBA to help with up to $25 billion in “affordable” loans and generate about 700,000 jobs nationwide. The SBA doesn’t make loans but guarantees payment to a bank if a business defaults.

Schumer will be pushing his stimulus package in the Senate, after elections on November 4.

Do you think Senator Schumer is doing the right thing? Is a stimulus package needed? Should it involve the SBA?

A proposal from the Small Business Administration that would limit the type of set-aside contracts given to women-owned small businesses and the US Senate is trying to block it.

The bill would prohibit the SBA from “implementing a proposed rule that would limit the use of sole-source contracts for women-owned small businesses to only four industries,” the Senate Appropriations Committee wrote in a report on the legislation.

So  how do you feel about this? Who’s right?

Do women get too many breaks to build a business? Or are there not enough?

I am sure many of you have heard about the two recent government reports which reveal (surprise!) fraud and errors in the Small Business Administrations ‘ contracts.

It uncovered millions of dollars in federal contracts that were supposed to go to small businesses but were awarded to companies are really big businesses, including John Deere and Xerox.

Frankly, I am disgusted.  And as I wrote before, the new SBA chief has no small business experience.

So someone please explain to me, why do we allow the SBA to even exist?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve been wondering about your opinion on something.

If you haven’t heard, on June 25^th President Bush appointed a new chief of the Small Business Administration (SBA). The thing is, for the third time in a row, the appointed chief, Sandy Baruah, has very little small business experience. 

Not only has he never run a company of his own, his closest connection to small business would be a consultant job for a Performance Based Consulting Group in Oregon. The group helped improve medium and large-sized firms.

The SBA has constantly struggled with hitting targets and has had tons of problems with loans for small business owners.

Now, he’s not in just quite yet, as he is awaiting confirmation by the Republican Senate. I recommend you do some research on the subject. If you do or do not want him representing the administration, you can change the entire situation by letting your representatives know.

What do you think? Does it matter that Baruah has little experience?  Will it make a difference?

The Small Business Administration launched a new online resource center to help small business owners understand the tax incentives in the 2008 economic stimulus package.

The stimulus package, signed into law earlier this year, includes an increase in the deduction of equipment purchases to $250,000, from $128,000. In addition, businesses can deduct up to 50 percent of the cost of certain equipment purchased this year.

At http://www.sba.gov/stimulus, you’ll find additional information about explanation of the tax benefits, use an online calculator to estimate the first-year depreciation of their equipment and listen to a tutorial that summarizes the incentives.

Will you be using the incentives? Or will you be holding tight on new purchases?

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering a new program called Emerging 200.

It will target 200 business owners across the nation who could benefit from low-interest loans, working with mentors and participating in workshops and classes.

Here’s the catch: your business MUST be located in one of the following areas: Boston; Baltimore; Chicago; Philadelphia; Atlanta; New Orleans; Memphis, Tenn.; Des Moines, Iowa; Milwaukee; Albuquerque, N.M., and Oakland, Calif.

Participating companies must also have at least $400,000 in annual revenue and have been in business for at least three years.

The SBA asked 55 cities that had low or negative compound annual job-growth rates in pockets of the cities from 1998 to 2005 to apply for the program. Of those invited, 23 sent in applications.

This week is National Small Business Week.

And the answer to my informal poll of small business owners in my area is, “So what. How Cares?!?” Or “Really? I had no clue.”

And frankly, that’s pretty much my thought about it, too.

Although billed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a five-day event intended to spotlight the accomplishments of America’s entrepreneurs and draw policymakers’ attention to the challenges confronting them, most small business owners don’t even know -or care about it.

And can you believe they’ve been celebrating this week for more than 50 years?

It’s not surprising. After all, in recent years, the SBA isn’t as small business friendly as it used to be.

What do you think? Are you celebrating National Small Business Week?

Let me know by leaving a comment.

Money, dinero, argent, soldi, whatever you call it, a startup needs it desperately. But it’s not always the easiest thing to get a hold of.

So what do you do if you have a fantastic idea but no funds to back it up? If you have no real credit history and limited other resources (family, friends, venture capitalists, etc.) you may still qualify for a Small Business Association (SBA) loan program. They also have programs specifically for women and minorities as well.

The SBA doesn’t actually make loans though, it guarantees a portion of the loan (anywhere from 50-85%) to qualified individuals made by banks. Fixed and variable interest rates are available and based on lowest prime rate plus up to 2.75%. They do expect that loans be fully secured, however, they will not decline a loan because of insufficient collateral. They will expect that you pledge the assets you do have and personally guarantee the loan.

Before you go searching for loans, do your homework and see if there is an SBA program that is viable for you. Then make sure you have everything you need before you start applying.

Your business plan should include what resources you will need to accomplish your goal, your contribution, how much you expect to need, allocation of loan funds in the business, and how you will be able to pay back the loan. They also might need financial statements, tax returns, projected opening day balance sheet and twelve months projection of income, expenses and cash flow for startups.

A valuable resource for this process is SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Businesses which provides free business counseling to U.S. citizens and legal aliens.  Many of the counselors are knowledgeable of the loan process and can get you started.

(photo courtesy of Shannon Cherry of BeHeardSolutions.com)

The American Small Business League has filed a suit against the Small Business Administration (SBA). The lawsuit claims SBA violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to release the names of Fortune 1,000 firms that were counted as small businesses and may have received SBA money.

News reports have shown giant corporations like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Rolls-Royce have received small business contracting dollars after purchasing small firms with pre-existing government contracts. Until the rules changed in June, those firms were not required to change the status of those subsidiaries. Some estimate more than $100 billion were given to these large companies.

So the big question is: do you think this lawsuit will help the SBA reach out to small businesses?