A Look at Workman’s Compensation

A Look at Workman’s Compensation
Copyright © Jose Love


http://www.yourescape.2freedom.com

When starting a new business, one of the things to

be aware of in the United States is Worker’s

Compensation. This program provides insurance to a

company in the even that one of their employees is

injured or otherwise hurt on the job. This

compensation covers medical expenses, including

hospital stays, doctor visits, surgeries, and

prescription drugs for the injured employee. The

compensation is in place to prevent the employee

from suing the company for the refurbishment of

these funds down the road. In fact, employees using

the worker’s comp program give up their rights to

sue in exchange for the guaranteed payment.

The Worker’s Compensation program began in the

early 1900's, and was put in place to protect

companies and provide workers with an automatic

recourse when injured or hurt on the job. Prior to

the advancement of such programs, injured workers

had no choice but to sue their employers for lost

wages and hospital fees, often resulting in the

loss of jobs and extensive settlements that far

exceeded what was necessary on a case by case

basis.

There are significant arguments against the current

form of Worker’s Compensation in the United States.

Those arguments include that it provides a certain

amount of incentive to larger corporations to

simply move most of their production to those areas

where these Compensation laws are not in effect

(i.e., offshore). Small business owners, likewise,

also complain that the system is in need of reform

and argue that the insurance premiums are much too

high and place too much of a burden on the

fledgling businessman.

Worker’s Compensation has also been in the news

lately, with the new laws that provide for first

responders such as policemen and firemen to have

medical issues such as heart failure and cancer

paid for by the Worker’s Compensation package,

rather than through medical insurance. This has

been done under controversial circumstances, with

the reasoning behind it coming from statistics that

show these diseases to be more prevalent in people

with these types of jobs. Opponents, however, argue

that an anecdotal relationship is not enough, and

there has been no causal link established.

Privatization has been a big issue in the world of

worker’s compensation as well, with West Virginia

the latest state to move from a state funded

program to a privately funded host of competitive

companies. This type of privatization never comes

without risks and controversy, though studies show

that rates for the insurance have dropped

dramatically since the switch took place last year.

Whether public or private, for small businesses or

large, worker’s compensation remains a tightly

woven thread in the American workforce, and it will

surely remain there, in some form, for many years

to come.
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Advertising That Fits Your Budget!

A Look at Health Insurance

A Look at Health Insurance
Copyright © Jose Love


http://www.yourescape.2freedom.com

Starting out in the world of business takes a few

things. One, capital investment to get started,

two, the right advertising to meet your target

demographic, three, a great product or service to

provide to the community, and four, employees

willing to help your company get off the ground.

And when it comes to employees, the market is

tighter than ever. Today’s small business owners

must get creative and extensive if they want to

attract the best employees possible. No longer will

competitive salary alone get the job done. With

rising healthcare costs, few employees can afford

to be without some form of company insurance. There

is nothing in the law books saying the small

business owner has to provide insurance, but he

fails to do so at his own peril. There are too many

other places to work to take this type of cavalier

attitude toward offering health insurance. In

today’s business world, it is a must.

The best way for these plans to work is for small

business owners to sign their employees up with

some form of group health insurance. These rates

are typically not the best for small businesses,

which will of course have fewer employees in the

plan than larger businesses of the same type.

Still, it’s better than nothing, and you will at

least start to become competitive as far as

attracting and keeping employees. You can, of

course, do your own independent things to make sure

your health insurance rates stay within reasonable

amounts. This could include mandatory drug testing,

and even a no-smoking policy. Becoming OSHA

certified and providing on the job safety and

health training can also help to cut health

insurance costs.

Another way for a small business to cut health

insurance costs is to lease their employees from a

larger company. The employees would then become

independent contractors of a sort, but would be

able to obtain health insurance benefits through

the larger outsourcing company. Because these

companies have an enormous amount of employees in

their contract, it makes getting terrific group

health insurance rates that much easier.

If all of the options for health insurance seem too

daunting, and you feel your time would be better

served figuring out other areas of your business,

consider bringing on an insurance broker. These

brokers can help navigate through the health

insurance jungle and help you to discover the right

plan for your company. It also doesn’t hurt to

simply ask your employees which aspects of health

insurance are most important to them. Find out

whether they would rather pay slightly higher

premiums in exchange for lower deductibles or vice

versa. This employee survey can put you in the

right direction.
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Advertising That Fits Your Budget!

A Few Ideas on Internet Marketing

A Few Ideas on Internet Marketing
Copyright © Jose Love


http://www.yourescape.2freedom.com

Promoting your small business on the internet is

crucial in today’s world. The entrepreneur who

ignores this gold mine of potential opportunity

does so at his or her own peril. There is too much

to be gained through marketing on the internet, and

little to be lost. If you company is internet based

to begin with, this is a no-brainer, of course. But

things are rapidly changing on the Web, and those

marketing strategies that worked a few years ago

may not work as well today. Here are a few things

you can do to expose your business to potential new

customers that work today, but may not in a few

years.

SEO. Search engine optimization. For the internet

entrepreneur who wants their website to be a

success, this is the first step toward ensuring

that success. Unless you have unlimited funds with

which to advertise your product, this is a step you

cannot afford to skip. Optimizing your website is

the equivalent of building your brick-and-mortar

store in a major shopping district as opposed to

halfway down a dirt road with an old rusty sign

pointing in the other direction. Its importance

cannot be overstated. There are many facets to SEO,

and not enough room in this article to get into

them. Fortunately, few topics have been as

exhaustively written about. Do a Google search of

your own, and you will find plenty to read.

Pay Per Click. This is another fine way to get your

internet business off and running. This service is

offered by Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, to name a few.

With Google AdWords, you’re going to have the most

potential traffic, but you may also have the most

competition for the best keywords. What does this

mean? Well, AdWords (and the others) work by

letting you create an advertisement (usually a

headline and a couple of sentences). You then must

choose the keywords that will activate your ad.

Then you place a bid on how much you’re willing to

pay per click of your ad, depending on each

keyword. It all sounds a lot more confusing than it

is. The benefit of this type of advertising (as

opposed to, say, banner advertising), is you only

pay when you have been ensured of a visitor. Of

course, what you do with that visitor is up to you

and your own marketing skills.

Articles and inbound links. Next to SEO, this is

the most powerful section of strategy for the up

and coming internet business owner. In order to

move up in the search engine rankings, you must

have incoming links (backlinks, as they’re called

in the SEO world). When the search engines see a

website with a lot of natural inbound links, they

begin to see the website as an authority on

whatever subject the site is about. Thus, the

site’s ranking begins to improve. There are many

ways to go about getting backlinks, but one of the

best ways is through writing articles. There are

article “farms” on the internet, which host your

articles for free and then sell them or give them

away to other website owners, who are hungry for

content. This benefits you because at the end of

the article you will have included your name and a

link to your website. Every time someone grabs your

article to put on their website, you get another

important link.

There are a million successful strategies for

marketing on the internet, but these are the three

building blocks. Go and research them, and your

business will be the better for it.
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Advertising That Fits Your Budget!

A Discussion of Business Plans

A Discussion of Business Plans
Copyright © Jose Love


http://www.yourescape.2freedom.com

Nearly every successful (and not a few

unsuccessful) business has created a business plan

or two within the life of the company. These plans

can be used for a variety of reasons, but are most

commonly brought to life when the business is

seeking funds. This may be through fundraising, a

bank loan, or seeking out individual investors, but

the business plan shows how and why investing in

the business is a smart financial idea. Of course,

not all business plans are created by those

businesses looking to turn a profit. Non-profit

businesses also rely on these plans to raise funds;

though they will usually focus on the services and

social good their business will do, rather than a

bottom line financial consideration.

There are several types of business plans, and many

businesses create a business plan meeting each of

the types, depending on the circumstances

necessary. There is the elevator pitch business

plan, which acts as a teaser. These plans can be

used in short, two or three minute presentations in

order to spark greater interest from a group of

investors or a bank. Sometimes, a business will

have only a short time to present their initial

plan, and this is where this type of plan comes in

handy.

There is the oral presentation plan, which usually

focuses on a showy, entertainment aspect of

presentation. This plan is usually put forth to

encourage the potential investors to move forward

and read the written plan, which will be far more

detailed and include all the bottom line financial

considerations. The oral presentation is there to

generate excitement, and appeal to the investors’

human qualities, rather than facts and figures. If

there is a new product being included in the pitch,

a demonstration of the product will usually be a

good idea for the oral presentation.

The written business plan is where it all comes

together. This can be a lengthy as it needs to be,

and should probably follow one or both of the above

plans. Once the business has successfully attracted

some interest from potential investors, they are

given the written plan and can decide from there

whether or not they see the business plan as being

successful.

Business plans are a must for the small business

owner, looking to gain capital and seeking loans

from lending institutions. They are likewise

necessary for those publicly traded companies that

need to let stockholders know what their plans for

the future are. Even if neither of these are true,

business plans are an excellent way, even

internally, to set down goals on paper and give a

direct path of success to a business or company.

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Advertising That Fits Your Budget!

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A Brief Look at Business Loans

A Brief Look at Business Loans
Copyright © Jose Love


http://www.yourescape.2freedom.com

The first stop for most young entrepreneurs is the

procurable of a business loan from the local

lender. There are several types of loans readily

available for the small businessman who has all his

ducks in a row, and a business plan showing that he

or she knows what they are getting themselves into.

Banks and the Small Business Association are not in

the business of charity, though funding small

businesses is seen as something more substantially

social than a personal loan with high interest

rates. For someone with a college degree, some

substantial collateral, and a smart business plan,

getting a loan should pose no problem. Here are

some of the loans available for the small

businessman.

Micro loans are the smallest category of these

business loans. The cutoff for a micro loan is

usually $35,000, and they typically require a

certain pedigree of training and other requirements

before the banks and/or SBA parts with their money.

Micro loans always require collateral of some kind

as well as a personal guarantee from the lender.

The Small Business Administration has their own

lender programs, and is the first place to look for

many aspiring small businessmen. They offer a

variety of loan guarantee programs, each of them

with their sets of requirements and collateral, and

each reaching various heights of maximum lending.

It is important to note that the SBA does not

actually lend money itself, but rather offers

programs intended to help the small businessman

secure a loan from a bank or otherwise authorized

lender. SBA loans vary in their requirements, but

most of them require at least that the small

businessman himself has put some of his own money

into the venture. They see this as a positive sign

of good faith, and also see it as likely that the

individual with his own money at stake will do all

that he can to see a return on his investment. They

usually require a strong and sharp business plan as

well. These plans show lenders that you know what

you’re doing and have set some specific financial

goals for the future of your business. Good credit

is also a must for getting into the SBA loan

programs.

Franchise financing is what the potential

franchisee will want to look into. These loans can

be easier to secure than traditional,

start-from-scratch business loans. Most franchises

have an established history of profitable business,

and the larger ones have a set path for making

money in just about every conceivable scenario.

Many times the franchise company itself will put

forth money for the loan, encouraging young

entrepreneurs to get into the business, which

benefits both the company and the small

businessman.
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