By Annette Hansbury on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 8:36 PM

The president wants to double exports in 5 years...that got alot of claps...reforming export controls...not so much. Bet half of them have no idea what BIS or ECCN even are!!

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By Annette Hansbury on Tuesday, January 05, 2010 9:52 AM

Today's WSJ has an interesting article which summarizes the lending environment for startup businesses in 2010 as bleak. We get alot of calls in our office from would be entrepreneurs seeking seed money. Contrary to popular belief the SBA does not offer loans to businesses...they offer a guaranty to the bank for lending to the small business. Ultimately, it's up to the bank to decide whether or not to lend the money.

Our advice to would be entrepreneurs is to have as much of your own collateral to start your business, because if you're relying on a loan to start your business, you won't have much luck in the current enviornment. These sentiments are echoed in the article here. Full article available under Read More.

Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., estimates that entrepreneurs need on average $65,000 to start a business, two-thirds of which comes from personal savings and the rest from "informal" investors such as relatives and friends.

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By Annette Hansbury on Monday, January 04, 2010 10:21 AM

Happy new year! As we slowly return to the world of work after a 2-week break, check out this reprint of business advice from Guy Kawasaki. It never hurts to make resolutions for you business...now put that cookie down!

 

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By Annette Hansbury on Friday, December 18, 2009 1:56 PM

This summer our office participated in a US Embassy sponsored workshop on how to do business in the US for small businesses in the Israeli Occupied Territories or the West Bank. For those who don't know (and that would have included us until this workshop), the US has special trade provisions for businesses in the West Bank and Gaza, which similar to a free trade agreement, allows any goods manufactured in these areas to enter in the US duty-free. (see this link for the specifics of the agreement)

So imagine our surprise when halfway thru the presentations, the West Bank small businesses, vented their frustrations at not being able to receive shipments from the US or export their product to the US due to the Israeli blockade. So when we ran across this article, that talked about flowers being fed to horses because of the blockade, it brought the issue to light again. You can have the best product in the world, but politics and war will ruin a good business everytime.

Here's a link for the article from the Christian Science Monitor...also posted below under Read More.

 

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By Annette Hansbury on Wednesday, December 02, 2009 1:04 PM

Normally you don't think of Singapore as a place prone to scams...what with the laws against littering and all, but this is just in from the US Dept of Commerce on a credit card scheme perpertrated on exporters. Beware and use common sense!

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By Annette Hansbury on Monday, September 21, 2009 2:34 PM

From time to time, we get wind of a job opportunities in the community and we love to pass them on. If you're interested, contact the recruiter directly....we're just the messenger...good luck!

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