More accurately, I visited the Spokane Chamber of Commerce BIZStreet & PTAC office at 801 W. Riverside Ave. Suite 240 in Spokane WA, 509-459-4120 (www.bizstreetspokane.com). This was my first visit to the office. I really didn’t know what to expect; I was on a mission to mostly find out what the office could provide.
In addition to counselors, the office contains a small business oriented library where customers may check out up to three books for seven days. I spent part of the afternoon browsing books and doing a little reading. I had come to the conclusion that I need to focus more of my efforts on market research, so I tried to choose titles that would help in this regard.
Here are some of the notes I took:
www.circlelending.com. I found a pamphlet printed out from Circle Lending that talked about financing small businesses. After reading through it I came to a better understanding of where I should go for money resources first, family. I’d never thought about asking friends or family for small loans to start a business; however, from this pamphlet it would appear some very successful businesses got their start that way including Wal-Mart and Subway. So this has given me a new perspective on where I might look for some money. This pamphlet was so helpful, I downloaded it and printed it for myself once I got home. In addition, the web site also has other resources I’ll probably get back to at some point.
If approaching a bank, think like a bank. Keep these things in mind which they will look for or ask about:
- Management Expertise and Experience.
- Detailed Business Plan.
- Cash Injection, i.e. how much will I finance myself.
- Collateral, what will I hawk to back up the loan.
- Personal Character, I should think about references.
- Credit History, so far so good.
- Personal Financial Statement.
- Consider different loan types:
- Amortized
- Startup/Graduated
- Interest Only
- Seasonal
I certainly need to do more research and reading on this subject.
After some time reviewing financing ideas, I turned my attention to marketing. I found a loose-leaf book about starting a computer learning center. This was an idea very close to what I was thinking, so I began to page through it. I found some highlights and questions I need to ask myself regarding who I want to sell to, or rather, who I am targeting:
- Middle to upper class?
- Dual income families?
- Single Parent families?
- Parent(s) with a child under 6?
- Adults seeking training or retraining?
- Teachers looking for alternate learning centers for students after school?
From here, I now need to figure out a way to survey the market and see if there is a need or a desire for my Internet cafe’.
I made an appointment for next week, 9 August at 1pm with John Coleman, who is one of the councilors. I’m not sure what we’ll talk about but I’ll get a set of questions together. Lastly, I checked out some books before leaving, some of which I took the above notes from:
- Small Business Owners Manual, by Entrepreneur Magazine, ISBN: 1-891984-00-4
- Financing the small business, by Robert Sisson, ISBN: 1-58062-681-5
- Computer Learning Center, Entrepreneur Magazine Group Business Start-up Guide (No ISBN)
I spent just over two hours browsing books and taking notes on these key ideas.
Things I learned:
- Think more than banks for financing: family, friends, etc.
- Prepare properly and thoroughly before approaching a bank.
- There are some great on-line resources for information about starting a small business, including forms as well as advice.
- I need to map my target audience, much like any other presentation, I need to know who I wish to serve.
- I really need to do a market survey to know if my target audience is interested.
Tasks to add:
- Prepare a market survey questionnaire.
- When I finally know my financial requirement to start up, break it down into smaller chunks and make a list for alternate financial approaches. (Make a list of people I might ask to borrow money from)
- Read more from the books, and make it to my appointment next week.
Asa Jay
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