Articles
Want to Start a Franchise? Here’s What You Should Know.
Franchises are a tempting way to get into business ownership. Is this the right path for you? And if it is, how are you supposed to pick one out of the thousands of options? For those completely unfamiliar with the idea, franchises are businesses that trade their name and operating methods to people in exchange…
What is an Unsecured Small Business Loan?
An unsecured loan is a loan that requires no collateral and is based solely upon the creditworthiness of the borrower. In reality, very few unsecured true business loans exist today, especially those for larger loan amounts. While a bank may offer an unsecured consumer loan or line of credit to a particularly credit worthy borrower,…
When Should Small Businesses Decorate for the Holidays?
Walk into any department store, and it’s obvious: the holidays are upon us. The elaborate miniature winter villages, the glamorous plastic Christmas trees, and the reindeer sweaters seem decorate a solid chunk of the store, luring you into holiday splendor. Every year, the ornaments and tinsel seem to go up earlier and earlier. Instead of…
Will a Credit Check Hurt My Credit Score? It Depends
A good personal credit score can make a difference with some lenders when you apply for a small business loan. And while building a good personal credit score requires that you apply for and use credit, the associated credit check that follows every credit application can actually hurt your score. If this sounds confusing or…
How Two Marine Corps Veterans Teach Leadership to Corporate America
When Marine Corps captains Courtney Lynch and Angie Morgan left military service more than a decade ago for the private sector, they were surprised to find so few employees who understood the concept of leadership. There were leaders around, but “people were not recognizing that they were demonstrating leadership behavior,” explains Morgan. As a result…
Clues That Your State or City Is Welcoming to Small Businesses—and What to Do If It’s Not
When survey results declare certain states or cities welcoming to small business, owners in those regions pat themselves on the back. And rightly so. Scoring high in metrics such as ease of hiring, starting up, or following regulations means that a region is keen to make successful entrepreneurship possible. Your job, as a small business…
Business Isn’t Personal—Nor Should It Be
For many reasons (particularly in regard to credit), business and personal don’t mix. Although many entrepreneurs capitalize their early-stage startups with personal funds—they might use their home equity, personal savings, or personal credit cards to get things off the ground— it may not be a good idea for the long haul. Here are just a…
How to Start a Veteran-Owned Business
Founding new business is a process that anyone with skills, ideas, a budget, and staying power can decide to do. Fortunately, for military veterans, the process of starting a business will seem quite natural, since your military training and service gives you advantages many entrepreneurs lack. In fact, veterans display more innate entrepreneurial traits than…
Content Marketing: An Interview with Industry Guru Joe Pulizzi
I met Joe Pulizzi shortly after he published his first book, Get Content Get Customers. The company I was with did a two-day workshop with him to develop a content strategy in 2009. This was in the very beginning of what would become a content marketing revolution and eventually lead to the creation of the…
Improving a Good Credit Score to Make it Great
There’s no question, in many situations a business owner’s personal credit score has an impact on his or her ability to get a small business loan. While your personal credit score is not the best proxy of the health of your business and is only one of many factors we consider to evaluate your business’…
Facebook Page vs. Website: Which Should You Use?
A strong digital presence is key to success in our tech-oriented society. Maintaining a website, however, requires time and money that small business owners don’t always have in great supply. If you’re looking for ways to simplify your online efforts, Facebook’s recent updates might seem pretty appealing. But are they good enough to stand in…
The OnDeck Score: Making Targeted Small Business Lending Decisions in Real Time
Since 2007, OnDeck has been transforming the way small businesses access capital, using our proprietary technology and small business credit scoring system, the OnDeck Score®, to efficiently evaluate a business’ creditworthiness and make targeted lending decisions in real time. So how do we actually do this? Keep reading to learn more about our OnDeck Score…
4 Important Questions to Ask Before You Apply for a Business Loan
There’s no question the notion that it takes money to make money isn’t lost on small business owners looking for capital to fuel growth or fund other business needs. And, for many business owners, a small business loan is where they find it. Although borrowing capital from traditional sources like the bank is still a…
6 Ways to Make Working with an Independent Contractor Successful
For certain tasks and projects at your business, it may make sense to find a contractor to get the job done. Follow these common-sense guidelines to get the most value out of the experience. 1. Use a Contract Every time you work with a contractor, use a written contract that both you (or a representative…
Young Wizards Academy Launches ‘Cauldron Creations’ Party
To celebrate our recent expansion into Canada, we held contests in Toronto and Vancouver to give small businesses the opportunity to win $5,000 (CAD) by answering one simple question: Why Do You Love Being a Small Business Owner? We’re checking in with Young Wizards Academy (YWA), our Vancouver-area small business winner 60 days after the…