Established in 1929
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Published by Defined Publishing, Inc.
New Mexico’s Legal & Financial Weekly
June 24, 2011
Vol. 1.82 No. 26
FORECLOSURE SALES: 4
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STORAGE AUCTIONS: 1
NOTICE OF SUITS: 10
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OTHER AUCTIONS: 1
10 Ideas for Growing Your Business WWW.SBA.GOV - For those of you who have already successfully started a business and are ready to take the next step, you may be wondering what you can do to help your business grow. There are many ways to do this, 10 of which are outlined below. Choosing the proper one (or ones) for your business will depend on the type of business you own, your available resources, and how much money, time and resources you’re willing to invest all over again. If you’re ready to grow, take a look at these tips.
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• Open another location. This is often the first way business owners approach growth. If you feel confident that your current business location is under control, consider expanding by opening a new location. • Offer your business as a franchise or business opportunity. Franchising one. Investigate companies that are similar to yours, or that have your business will allow for growth without requiring you to manage offerings that are complementary to yours, and consider the benefits of the new location. This will help to maximize the time you spend combining forces or acquiring the company. improving your business in other ways, too. • License your product. This can be an effective, low-cost growth • Expand globally. To do this, you’ll need a foreign distributor who can carry your product and resell it in their domestic markets. You can medium, particularly if you have a service product or branded product. locate foreign distributors by scouring your city or state for a foreign Licensing also minimizes your risk and is low cost in comparison to company with a U.S. representative. the price of starting your own company to produce and sell your brand or product. To find a licensing partner, start by researching companies • Expand to the Internet. Very often, customers discover a business through an online search engine. Be sure that your business has an that provide products or services similar to yours. online presence in order to maximize your exposure. • Form an alliance. Aligning yourself with a similar type of business can be a powerful way to expand quickly. • Diversify. Diversifying is an excellent strategy for growth, because it allows you to have multiple streams of income that can often fill seasonal voids and, of course, increase sales and profit margins. Here are a few of the most common ways to diversify: Sell complementary products or services Teach adult education or other types of classes Import or export yours or others’ products Become a paid speaker or columnist • Target other markets. Your current market is serving you well. Are there others? Probably. Use your imagination to determine what other markets could use your product. • Win a government contract. One of the best ways to grow your business is to win business from the government. Work with your local SBA and Small Business Development Center to help you determine the types of contracts available to you. • Merge with or acquire another business. Two is always bigger than
yard sale tips Dollars & Sense by David Uffington Summer is a great time to de-clutter and make a few dollars at the same time. Holding a yard sale can be work, but it also can be lucrative. Here are some tips to make your yard sale successful.
Organize: Set aside the items you want to sell. Gather user manuals, clean your items and make them look as attractive as possible.
Cash only: Put up a sign that says you’ll only take cash -- and stick to it. If someone wants something, be willing to “hold” an item for a few minutes while your customer runs to the nearest Recruit the kids: You might convince ATM. Generally, however, people know them to sell their unused toys if you they’re going to spend money at yard allow them to keep the money. If sales, and they bring the cash they need. nothing else, you can clear some of the clutter out of their rooms. Table displays: Have enough tables so that merchandise is up off the ground. Ads: Go in with others on the cost and hold a multi-family sale. The bigger the Clothing: Make sure items are washed Don’t make people bend over and paw sale, the more traffic you’re likely to and dried and hung on hangers. Check through boxes of stuff under a table, the pockets. especially clothing and books. get. Posters and signs: Put up notices in grocery stores, the library, senior center -- anywhere you can find community bulletin boards. Be sure what the laws are in your area about posting on telephone poles. Make a list of the sign locations so you can take them down quickly after the sale.
Pricing: Put prices on everything, ideally where the sticker easily can be seen. Put bigger signs on items such as furniture.
Books: Price them cheaply enough and they’ll move quickly. Flip through the books to make sure you haven’t left anything between the pages.
Paper or plastic? Collect plastic grocery bags for people to use. Be honest: If the printer doesn’t do color photos well but is great with black ink, say so on the price sticker. Making change: Have plenty of bills and coins to make change. Designate a family member to run the cash box -- and not leave it unattended for a second. Even better: Use a pouch that belts around your waist. David Uffington regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Write to him in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to columnreply@gmail.com. (c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.