So, you’ve been growing your business regionally and now you’re thinking about expanding into the United States or maybe you’re an entrepreneur who is not a citizen or resident of the United States and you want to start a business in the United States.

You understand that you can gain several advantages by expanding your business outside your region. Benefits such as: – Increasing your sales and profits – Gaining additional market share – Taking advantage of the global economy – Minimizing the impact of seasonal fluctuations on your business – Extending the reach of your market – Reducing your dependence on your regional market – Increasing your knowledge of your foreign competition

Before you expand you ask the very basic question of why expand into the United States and what does the US economy have to offer me?

Everyone knows about the wealth of the United States and the vibrant economy. The USA has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) approximately forty-percent higher than most western European countries and Japan, as well as having one of the highest levels of disposable income for the consumer. Other advantages to expanding and incorporating your business in the United States include a business friendly regulatory environment, one of the best infrastructures in the world and an educated labor pool to meet all your business requirements.

The United States celebrates the entrepreneur and has created a business environment that favors small business owners, whether they are US citizens or investors outside the United States. Small businesses, which are defined by the Small Business Administration as having fewer than 500 employees, represent 99.7 percent of all employers. They have generated 60 to 80 percent of the new jobs in the United States over the past year and account for more than 50 percent of non-farm GDP.

The government promotes free trade and deregulation of businesses allowing owners to compete based on the merits and value of the product and services they offer. It also allows owners the ability to adjust the size of their work force easily with few ramifications. If a business has to lay-off workers it can do so without several months of advance notice. This is unlike a number of other countries which require several months advance notice to lay-off workers. In addition the US allows profits and capital gains to be repatriated to almost every country, subject only to taxation.

A key to expanding and reaching your customers is ease of accessibility to the market. Can you get your goods or services to your end user and if so what is the cost of delivering your products or services. Because the infrastructure within the United States is so outstanding a business should never have a problem with distributing the goods or products to customers in the United States.

There is not a place or customer within the United States that you cannot reach either via phone, internet or roadway. The United States has 268 million land line telephone users, over 194 million mobile phone users, and over 203 million internet users. There are over 14,000 airports with 5,000 of those airports having paved runways. If you do not want to have your product delivered by air or you do not need to fly to a destination you can drive or take a train. There are over 6,407 kilometers of roadway with 74,000 of them highways and 227,000 kilometers of railway.

Every business owner knows that they must rely on their employees to help implement and execute their business plan if they are to be successful. The United States work force, whether it is laborers or skilled employees are experienced and well educated.

The likelihood to comprehend, implement and successfully execute a business plan is much higher with an educated work force than with a non-educated work force. Additionally, if the business requires a technically skilled employee, you can draw on a well educated and skilled pool of individuals from any sector, whether it is research, technology, healthcare, retail, manufacturing or construction.

Finally, launching and incorporating your business in the United States, although it has never been easier, is still a daunting task. A key factor in determining your success is finding key local resources and using the right tools to help you implement, execute and manage your business plan and communicate the performance and progress of your business. A trusted local resource, such as a local CPA firm, combined with right tools will allow you to manage and monitor your business remotely.

Now is the time to take advantage of the US economy and expand your business and launch your new corporation in the United States.

Richard Beauchemin
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/why-does-incorporating-my-business-in-the-united-states-make-cents-50601.html

As with a personal credit card, the business credit card is a highly efficient method for obtaining, granting, and expending loans. The applicant for a business credit card needs do little more than fill out a brief application or key in a few bits of information over the Internet. In most cases, the customer is granted a line of credit, which can be accessed and expended quickly and easily each time the business credit card is used. Assuming that the customer has a good credit record, the credit limit will automatically be increased when it is reached, thereby increasing the loan amount without much effort on the part of the business credit card holder.

To qualify for a business credit card, a good credit record is necessary. In view of future credit needs such as business credit cards, small business owners should register their businesses with the major business credit bureaus such as Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) or Business Credit USA to obtain credit ratings. These business credit bureaus operate much like consumer credit bureaus. They will collect information from your existing creditors about your business, including a check on how much credit you have, the length of time your accounts have been active, and your payment record.

To complete your credit profile, the business credit bureau will also need some information on the rest of your business. This normally includes how many employees you have, how long you have been trading for, what you sales and profit performance is, and your business’ litigation history. Regardless of whether you register or not, you will probably show up on their records the moment a lender extends your business a credit line. Being proactive about it and voluntarily registering with a business credit bureau is a good idea. It offers you the opportunity to present your company in a good light and it creates a better impression of your business in general.

When the business credit card issuer receives your business credit card application, one of the very first things they do is obtain a copy of your business credit report. If your business does not score too well on the credit report, it may well scuttle your chances of getting a business credit card. Maintaining a good credit score needs to be high on the priority list of any business.

When it comes to new business, there is normally very little solid credit history to bank on. It could take anywhere from two to five years to build your business’ credit reputation. Until that happens, your business credit and personal credit will be inextricably linked to each other. When you apply for a business credit card and your business has no credit history, your own personal credit record is the dominant factor considered by the business credit card issuer.

Once you obtain this business credit card, it is good to remember that this credit will be included in your personal credit report until your business develops an adequate credit history. So the sooner you can establish the independence of your business credit card from your personal credit, the better.

Richard Gilliland
http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/business-credit-card-application-needs-good-credit-report-136867.html

The retail business has been grand, absolutely peachy. What a great time to be in retail and especially juicy if you were lucky enough to have been selling, non-essential, tariff-free imported bargains to endless lines of over-extended, credit card junkies. Ahh, those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end.

Now, I’m not saying that it been easy. Business is never easy; still you’ve got to admit it’s been a wide open shopping spree for last decade. It looked like there was no down side. I’m sorry to point it out, but, weather we’ve been aware of it or not, we have all been complicit in the biggest “easy credit rip-off” in the history of the planet and in the following nose-dive and belly flop of the world economy.

For several years now, the wealth of our county, the true base of our economy, the savings and equity of the American people has been quietly pillaged. With the implicit encouraged by the government, wall-street, the banking system and the credit card companies, the American public has been gleefully charging itself into the poor house. Many or more honestly most of us have been enthusiastically involved in the scam.

We have, all of us, to great extent, been living beyond our means; too many have been maxing out our credit cards and getting caught in the dreaded minimum payment undertow. And then, Brainstorm! To get out of the credit card trap, why not take a “leader” loans on our real estate. That’s the ticket, then either not read the fine print {shame on you} or hope we’ll get lucky before the roof falls in, but then what? Of course, max out the credit cards again. Gee, it just sounds too good not to go on forever.

If you have recently been revived from an extended coma resulting from looking at your 401k statement, you may still be too disoriented to have notice that the world has changed, and that it may never be the same again. 
Where did all the money go? Who is that guy headed for the ranch? No wait a minute that’s for another article.

To tell the truth, we, as retailer got some of the booty, just the crumbs, of course, for doing the heavy lifting. Now we need to find ways to hold on to our pittance and how to prosper into the future. Last year’s retail business model may be as dead as a door nail. Many of you have notices the changes in the wind, smaller crowds, smaller tickets and old customers not coming around as often. There is no end in sight. The credit card business will surely be in decline for some time to come for most segments of the retail world.

Well, here we are sport fans, so what now?

Well one of the things I just loved about this whole fiasco was the way the credit card companies start off charging us, the retailers, a healthy chunk of every transaction, it’s been like having a second landlord sucking on your neck. Then they follow your customers’ home and rifle their pockets, so they can’t afford to come back very often. Ideally they would like to continue this until our customers can only afford to stay home and pay the minimum for the rest of their lives. Even though this arrangement is oh so nice for them, it just doesn’t work out too well for the rest of us. 
Don’t start looking for the exit. I’m not going to suggest that you go cold turkey on the plastic. But the truth is, many of your customers will have their limits reduced or their accounts closed and of course foreclosure and bankruptcy tends to slow down the shopping for non-essentials and let’s face it, non-essentials are some of our favorite things to sell.

So what can be done? Well there is one form of the luscious plastic that will not be going away, Thank goodness. More and more people will be using debit cards, it’s already more popular than cash in Canada and soon will be in the U.S. There are already 300 million debit card holders in the U.S and an increase of 160 million a year is projected, 30 percent of these customers have no other card.

So, we are all safe and sound right? Well, except for one little thing. The credit card companies discovered that with debit cards they didn’t get to mug your customers latter and that just didn’t seem right to them. They got sad and cranky. Then they decided that we retailers should be made to pay for this non-muggable transaction.

Did you know? if you run debit/bank/ATM cards though your credit card machine you are charged a premium rate for an absolutely risk free transaction. That’s right, there is no risk in an ATM transaction, if the money is in the account, it is transferred instantly, no chance of a charge-back or anything else, no risk at all. Even so, the credit card companies charge you an extra fee on every debit card transaction.

Drat, cut off at the pass again, so I guess we just bend over and touch our toes and take our medicine, I mean we wouldn’t want to be responsible for making the credit card companies sad. Would we? Sound like the perfect solution, right? The customer doesn’t get mugged, doesn’t cost them a cent and the credit card companies get to slam us twice, so they won’t have to be sad. Only we have to take it in the shorts. Sounds like the perfect plan for everyone…except us. Maybe it’s time we get sad and cranky. You think?

Well there is an answer; it’s time to let the customer help pay for the convenience of using ATM/bank cards. This can be accomplished with an inexpensive cashless or scrip ATM machine. Many large nationwide companies are already doing this. The new generation of these machines are the same size as your credit card machine, do not need a dedicated phone line and make a transaction fee for the merchant on every transaction. Yes, you heard me right, after all these years you can actually make a bigger profit on a card sale than a cash sale.

In Canada, Atm/debit card transactions have recently exceeded cash and credit cards for retail purchases. This will soon be the case here in the good old USA. There are more than 300 million ATM/bank cards currently in the US. For 100 million this is the only card they have. ATM/bank cards are expected to increase by 150 million new cards a years. These cards can either help your bottom line or hurt it depending on how you process them.

A study by AT&T Global and Visa recently reported that an ATM machine was the most profitable footage in any business, even businesses with gaming machine. The average ATM in America makes a profit of $20,000.00 per year. You can add to that 15 to 25% savings on credit card charges, elimination of bad checks and an increase in gross sales of 20% average.

So, here’s the story; let’s say you have a ten or twenty dollar sale and the customer hands you a visa or mastercard, that is actually a debit card, if you run that card though your credit card machine you will be charged your regular rate plus a surcharge for processing a debit card. This transaction could cost you between .85 and $1.50.

If you run that same transaction through a debit card machine, you receive a surcharge that averages $1.50 so the difference on that ten or twenty dollars transaction is $2.45 to $3.00. On these small ticket sales that can mean the difference between a tidy profit and losing money. You’ve put your blood, sweat and tears into building a successful business. Giving the lion’s share of your profits to the credit card companies is not something you can afford to do. In today financial climate you just can’t afford to let an average of more than $20,000.00 per year slip through your fingers. Even if it makes the credit card companies sad.

Alan Goldsmith
http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/can-your-retail-business-survive-the-coming-credit-crunch-709625.html

Most people don’t realize it, but one of your first and most important business decisions can be picking your business name. A great name is one that attracts customers and can really give your business legs in terms of starting a buzz. Do you think Google would have created the fanatical sensation it has with a name like Search Engine USA? If you are not the creative type, then bring in others to help you to name your baby. Work with a team of advisors, family or even just some business savvy friends, but don’t delegate this task completely to someone else, and especially not to a stranger or some internet naming company. A naming company is not going to understand your business or know you. If it is your business it should be a name that you like and that links back to your unique value proposition and the personality of your company. People will ask you, where did you come up with your name. This can be a golden opportunity for you to say something really brilliant and memorable, come up with a name that allows you to take this opportunity. If you are conservative, don’t be persuaded into something wild, that makes you uncomfortable and if you are zany, then don’t go conservative just because everyone else in your industry does. Picking a name should happen over a period of time, not in a day or an hour. Forcing creativity seldom works, so give yourself and your team time to percolate on it. Hold a series of brainstorming sessions until you are comfortable and excited about saying, seeing, hearing and owning a particular business name. During these brain storming sessions you should work through these eight rules for choosing a business name:

1) Be distinctive and be memorable, but be easy to spell and pronounce.

Your potential clients should be able to easily remember your business name. However, they also need to be able to find it easily if they’re looking for it in a phone book, directory or online. So choosing a business name such as “Phorgetmeekknot” is not a good idea. While we usually encourage the unique, we also suggest that you be unique without the difficult spellings. Your business name should also be easily pronounced, which is why, for instance, we discourage our clients with predominately American clientele from using French words or names.

The test: If someone were to say your business name over the radio, would people be able to remember it, spell it correctly and easily translate it into a properly spelled dotcom address for surfing at another time during the day? A good name is something that can be mentioned on the radio or over the phone, without a lot of explanation. A great name does this and is memorable.

2) An attractive business name needs a visual element.

What popped into your head when you read “Phorgetmeekknot?” Most people wouldn’t visualize anything when they read this name. Generally we are hard-wired to “See” images when we read or hear language. Incorporating a visual element into your business name can be a powerful aid to customers’ memory and a powerful advertising tool. So you want your business name to have a strong visual element to it.

3) An attractive business name should have a positive connotation.

Many words suggest both literal meanings and emotional meanings. A word’s literal meaning can be positive, neutral or negative depending on the emotional associations that people generally make. The classic example is the difference between “Mom,” which has a very positive literal meaning and “Mother,” which has a neutral connotation. It would not be advisable to name your company Mother’s Toffee when Mom’s Toffee has a more positive underlying suggestion.

When you create your business name, you need to choose words that suggest positive meanings that people will associate with your business while making sure that these meanings are suitable for your business. So, don’t name your business Dad’s Cookies if you’re going to be selling Tofu.

4) An attractive business name should allude to what your business does.

You need to be sure that your new business name gives your potential clients some clues about what you actually do. That’s why almost all banks have the word “Bank” in their name, and bars include words such as “Pub,” “Saloon” or even “Bar” in their names.

Including information about what your business does in your business name also makes it easier for potential clients to find your business in phone books and directories on and offline.

Including a descriptive component in your name can help customers understand the nature of your business. However, you should avoid including descriptive elements that could quickly become out of date or inaccurate. We encourage our technology clients to not use technical abbreviations or words in their business names as those terms can quickly become archaic.

5) An attractive business name should be short, but not too short.

This is vital because you want your clients to be able to remember your business’s name so they can tell other people what it is. It’s also important for promotional purposes. You want a business name that will fit on a business card and stationary, look good displayed on a sign or in an ad and work well as a domain name for search engines if you choose to use search engine optimization. So, keep it as short as you can. That being said, avoid abbreviations or initials as a startup. Your name is part of your branding so it needs to convey meaning. Standalone letters do not convey meaning. This is a case where it is not wise to emulate the big boys. Names like IBM and DHL while now household names, are not good names for a startup, because they carry no meaning. You can shorten to initials after you have developed your image, but it will be easier to develop your brand image if you start with a name that has meaning built into it.

6) An attractive name should distinguish you from your competitors.

If your top competitor is Jewelry Works, you should not choose the business name, Jewelry Worx or Working Jewelry. You need to choose a name that will distinguish you from your competitors. There is a lot to be said for being the black sheep in business and targeting a market based on your unique value. Better to be bold and stand out then be timid and blend in.

7) An attractive business name in today’s world has a dotcom option.

As the Internet reaches a critical mass, owning a good dotcom domain name has a tremendous value. If you believe the Internet will play an important role in the future of your business, you’ll want to factor the availability of dotcom names into your name choice.

It’s easy to find out what domain names are available, and which ones are taken. Use free online resources that determine the availability of a particular name. While .net, and .us are other options for the most part they are not seen as having the same status as a dotcom, so keep that in mind depending on your target market and their status sensitivity.

A lasting business name should not violate IP rights.

You must be sure to choose a name that does not violate the intellectual property rights of another business or organization with the name you choose, which could put your ability to use the name in jeopardy. You can use the internet to research if there are other businesses with your name or search businesses by name with the State government division in charge of registered businesses. This is a state affair so the body governing business registration will not let your register an already existing name. When searching a database, try different spacing and word combinations to find all possible matches. For example, try Prairie Dog, PrairieDog, PrairieDog.Com and Prairie Dog Café.

If you want to trademark your business name you should search the US Patent and Trademark Office website before you choose your name. You can also hire an attorney to do this work for you.

One last tip: think about colors and images when you’re choosing a business name. Colors and images will be an important component of your business logo and other business promotion materials and your business web site. Colors and images have strong emotional associations that you and your team of advisors should take the time to consider. You can read up on this on the internet or at your local bookstore.

For more business tips or information about starting or developing your business visit www.flourishingbusiness.com.

Elizabeth Gordon
http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/choosing-an-attractive-business-name-79964.html

Starting a new business can be very fun. For some, this is the best part of the business’ life. The uncertainty and optimism of a brand-new business can be intoxicating. For others, just getting to this stage is a challenge. Today, I will present you with ten steps you need to take to get your small business off the ground right. Just because you are starting up an Internet business doesn’t mean you should jump in without thinking first.

Let’s get right into the steps.

Step One: Set up a business entitypreferably a corporation or LLC. If you are going to run a business, you should set it up as a corporation or LLC to limit your personal liability.

Step Two: Get a business phone number. Yes, I’m aware that you probably have a phone number already, but you should give your new business its own phone numbereven if it’s just a virtual number tied to your home phone.

Step Three: Set up a business address. If an office or virtual office is too expensive or just not possible, set up an address at your closest mailbox place (not the post office). Your business needs a placethat’s not your hometo receive mail and look a little more professional.

Step Four: If you are in the USA, get an EIN number. You can visit the website for the IRS to do this online. Your EIN number is like a SS# for your business. You will use it for tax purposes.

Step Five: It’s time to get a bank account. Take your business entity paperwork, EIN number and other information down to the bank of your choice and setup a business checking account. Your bank will be happy to help, and you shouldn’t need much money to open one. Some banks allow as little as $100 for the required first deposit.

After completing these five steps, you will have a legitimate business that’s ready for the future. In other articles, I’ll talk about where to go from here. Look out for my next article “Five More Internet Business Start-Up Tips,” which was released with this one.

Many new business owners are tempted to skip these stepsespecially those doing business on the Internet. The purpose of these steps goes beyond limiting personal liability and setting up a proper business. It also puts you in the mindset of a real business. If you were going to build a mansion, you wouldn’t buy a piece of land that could only fit a mobile home on it would you? Building a successful business is not just about results, it’s about the state of mind that helps produce those results.

Jake Truman
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/five-internet-business-startup-steps-69583.html