The threat of new entrants is a constant and consistent one. You have the advantage in that your business is established, but that\'s no guarantee that a serious threat will not rise up to compete with you. In fact, it\'s pretty much assured that eventually somebody will either improve on your product, or they will find some new product that will supersede yours. There are two ways to combat this threat. The first is to keep innovating. Don\'t sit on your laurels, no matter how good your business is doing. Continue to search out new ideas and new talent and take risks, or risk your business. Secondly, establish a customer base. Keeping customer loyalty will be your best protection against the threat of new competitors. Always act in the interests of providing a quality product or service and you\'ll have a good, solid base when somebody eventually tries to woo them away from you.

Not every business can, but 20% of small businesses are run out of homes directly. Contact your local SBA and Chamber of Commerce for information on what types of permits you\'ll need.

It very much depends on your business, but if you\'re running a small storefront in a local area, then location can be incredibly important. What you need to consider when choosing a location is availability of your prospective clientele, their ability to access your establishment, the potential employee pool, and the number of competitors nearby. Be sure to be liberal in your definition of "competitor" when you\'re considering this. Just because you run a bakery doesn\'t mean the sports bar down the way won\'t be drawing people into large, filling meals and pouring lots of alcohol that could prevent them from taking advantage of your lovely Black & White cookies.

There\'s no one way to develop and execute an effective marketing campaign, and it can change from location to location. The thing to remember is that your marketing campaign determines the presence your business will have in your area. Your best bet is to actually contact your local SBA and ask them for advice for your area. They\'ll be able to tell you what people are looking for and how to be reach them.

Market potential in general boils down to a very basic formula. You figure out a customer profile (who you want to target with your marketing) and combine that with the geographic size you want to target (how many of those people are in that area). This is your general market potential. To get a more specific marketing potential, you need to know also how many competitors you have and their strength in the market area. You can then estimate how much of their business you\'ll be able to take from them (we recommend being conservative on your estimates), and that will be the market potential of your business.

Marketing is much more than just advertising and selling. It involves learning about the market you want to sell to, understanding what they can afford, and how best to approach them. There are four basic aspects to marketing: product (description of what you’re selling), price (how much it costs), promotion (how you inform people of what you’re selling), and place (the distribution channels you use to get the product to the market). Keeping those in mind, you have a very basic concept of what is actually involved in marketing.

Telecommunications can mean many things, but keep in mind that all small businesses share several common needs, specifically, the need to serve sales, purchases, financing, and operational functions. Your telecommunications option should be the one that best serves all of these functions. This covers things as simple as your long distance carrier to your internet provider and even fax machine. Only you can know what is most appropriate for your specific business in this regard, but think in terms of meeting the service needs listed above.

Taking on a partner doesn’t always make it easier to run your business and can, in fact, make it more difficult. What you should look for in a partner is somebody who compliments you, and makes up for your weaknesses with their strengths. I know somebody whose uncle was an amazing salesman, but didn’t know how to run a business, so he hired my friend’s father, who helped him quadruple his business within two years. Make sure if you do take on a partner that you have a clear understanding in writing of what everyone’s rights and responsibilities are.

There’s no formula for business success. No math will help you except the math on your balance sheet, so don’t look for one. There are some things that can help you, though. Sound management practices, technical support, experience in whatever industry you’re in, and the ability to plan will help you make the decisions you need in order to create a successful company. Remember, though, that even with all of these elements, there’s no guarantee that you’ll do well. It will still take a lot of hard work , a realistic outlook, and any number of other factors that you can\'t necessarily control.

When you say “more customers,” that implies that you have some to begin with. If that\'s the case, then you have the seeds of new customers already. Start giving referral bonuses to your current customers if they bring new people to your business. Let them have 10% off of cleaning services if they get you five new customers, for example. You can compound this by going a little bit extra with your current customers by doing things like sending thank you notes on a major holiday or simply asking if there\'s anything you can do to improve your service. If your current customers see you as attentive and interested in their business, they\'ll be more likely to recommend you to your friends.

That depends on what business you have, but in general it\'s more civicly responsible to do so. Large national chains will almost always be able to undersell local shops just because they have the buying power to keep their costs lower, but keep in mind that money spent there won\'t stay in your community and you will get lower quality customer service when the actual decision-makers are hidden away in a skyscraper in another city rather than working behind the counter. If you can afford to do so, building a relationship with local suppliers will get you better quality products and better service than working with a chain.

This largely depends on your specific situation. First of all, is this vehicle an integral part of your business (like a shipping business), or is it a way to make the running of your business more convenient (as in a company car for you or an employee)? Is having a new vehicle every two or three years with no major repair risks more important than long-term cost? Or are long term cost savings more important than lower monthly payments? Is having some ownership in your vehicle more important than low up-front costs and no down payment? Is it important to you to pay off your vehicle and be debt-free for a while, even if it means higher monthly payments for the first few years? It doesn\'t make a specific difference to your business in the sense that there are no provisions for buying or leasing that have a direct impact on it. However, the same considerations that you would take for a personal vehicle in regards to buying or leasing still apply in this case. Please contact your business CPA and ask them the same question, they do know much more about your business and would be a better source regarding your financial/business conditions.

Your biggest consideration is going to be local zoning laws. New Jersey is famous (or possibly infamous) for its stringent, varied, and unpredictable zoning laws. As late as last month a company in Hammonton was forced to scrap plans for a solar array on their property because of zoning regulations. That you\'re putting them on the roof of your plant will help as it side-step a lot of impervious coverage laws (which are designed to limit the amount you can build on a lot that will prevent rainwater from soaking into the soil), but there are still a labyrinth of zoning laws you need to consider. Try going to your local municipal building to find out what sorts of laws you\'re dealing with. Often the local government will also be able to inform you of county or state regulations you\'ll need to follow. Beyond that, consider how much power the panels will provide and what you can use them for. How much do you currently spend on electricity and how much would solar power cost you? Assume that it\'ll take a year or more to recoup your investment and determine if that matches your plans. You will definitely want to find out about tax deductions that are probably available for moving to green technology. Also, find out if all your excess energy can or will be bought by the local utility company. The most important thing to consider, and what all of these questions boil down to, is “Will this help me make my business more successful and my product or service better?”

Actually, now is a great time for entrepreneurship for exactly the reason you said. The bigger companies are floundering, so there is more of an opportunity to get into markets that were previously dominated by them. Part of what is changing in the markets is that there is a noted lack of faith developing in the larger companies. The perception of large companies these days are as untrustworthy, uninterested, and generally not in tune with their customers. This isn\'t to say that new industry titans will rise out of the ashes of global economic meltdown, but rather that it\'s making a little space for new companies as the current titans don\'t have the resources to focus on competing with smaller entities. More to the point, smaller, local shops are more likely to be able to win the trust and comfort of their customer bases again. This is a time when knowledge of a product, passion for the purchase and production of something, can go a long way. Doing something well at a local level makes it more likely that a small business can be successful, especially when you would add today’s technology and communication advantages for the small business owner. Also keep in mind that in economic hard times, new and clever business models emerge. People are losing jobs, and they have been so corporatized that it\'s sometimes hard to conceive of doing something on one\'s own. However, there are needs out there to be filled, and clever people can be the ones to fill those needs. Finding a new way to produce, market, package, or present an already established product or service in a cheaper, faster, or more efficient manner changes the playing field from that point forward and is better both for companies and consumers.

Our answer might seem a little incomplete, but we do not know what type of product you are trying to present to children or their age group. Children are among the most highly sought-after marketing demographics in the country. Part of this answer depends on what you mean by “children,” as marketing to teenagers is vastly different from marketing to kids under ten, for example, but there are some tips that remain the same for both. First, remember that in the end the parents control the purse strings. While they might not be directly exposed to your advertising a lot of the time, the way you present your product is going to affect how the kids present it to their parents, so make sure that what you\'re selling has a benefit that will appeal to the adults as well as the kids. Make sure also that you\'re placing your product where kids are most likely to have access to it. Mall stores are going to be much better than large chain superstores if only because kids are more likely to hang out at malls than their local Walmart or Target. If you have your own store, find ways to also make it a hangout for kids. If the kids are there, they\'ll be more likely to buy your product or at least be exposed to it. With children it\'s also extremely important to keep an eye on trends. Clever marketing finds way to take what is currently “in” and use it to draw the attention of the target audience, in your case, children. Older kids often like the same things as younger kids, but attempt to show that in an ironic way, like taking a popular cartoon character and making a t-shirt with a witty or mocking statement regarding said character. With kids it\'s even more important to think out of the box and craft a marketing approach and presence that will make owning your product, ultimately, fun.

Without knowing your business we will try our best to give you some options to work with. There are several ways to stay competitive when you find that there are more people in your market space than when you originally started. First, I would ask myself a question, what if I went beyond the 20 mile radius, is my competition more or less? Depending on your own answer please consider the following suggestions. Keep in mind that you have an advantage over them since you\'ve been there longest and therefore are established and have a customer base already. If you want to keep that customer base, though, you\'ll have to get creative with your marketing. Try offering deals and benefits for your regular customers that encourage them to stay. 10% off coupons and the like go a long way toward maintaining a customer base. Also, since you still need to bring in new customers, referral bonuses will turn your customer base into a marketing machine for you, encouraging the people who have stayed loyal to your business to bring in friends, even ones who have considered your competitors. Holding an event also tends to draw attention to your business rather than the other people who are doing the same thing, so don\'t be afraid to bring people in with raffles, small prizes, or similar things that are fun for your customers and get them to come to you. Most importantly, watch your competitors and see what they\'re doing. How did they get started? How did they draw the attention of people in your area to begin with? If it worked for them, it can work for you as well. Don\'t be afraid to think outside of the box with your marketing and your presence.