What kind of financial backing would it take to build the largest shopping mall in America? You know, the one in Minneapolis that covers 78 acres and has more than 400 stores, 88 food outlets, nine nightclubs, a 14 screen theater, the world’s largest indoor amusement park, miniature golf and a 1.2 million gallon aquarium. The one where 44 escalators and 17 elevators carry 10,000 employees and 40 million visitors every year. The one that cost $625 million to build.

Surely an undertaking of that magnitude must have had the financial backing of a
     a.  Rockefeller
     b.  national chain of banks
     c.  major credit card company
     d.  Silicon Valley billionaire
     e.  teachers’ pension fund

Would you believe the correct answer is e? The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association is the majority owner of all 4.2 million square feet of the Mall of America, having added $225 million to the $400 million provided by a bank and two trusts.

That’s just one example of innovative financing. According to Max Fallek and Kris Solie-Johnson, authors of Finding Money for Your Small Business, there are at least 50 alternative sources of funding to start or expand a business.

Those who think the ABCs of small business financing begin and end with Ask the Bank for Credit, might want to check out the rest of the alphabet. Among the authors’ suggestions:

Development Companies: The Small Business Association 504 Certified Development Company (CDC) program provides growing businesses with long-term fixed rate financing for major fixed assets such as land and buildings. A CDC is a nonprofit corporation set up to contribute to the economic development of its community. For a list of local CDCs go to http://www.sba.gov/gopher/Local-Information/Certified-Development-Companies/

Franchising: Offering your business concept as a franchise to other entrepreneurs is one way of expanding your business and raising additional financing. To learn more about franchising, go to http://www.franchise.org/resourcectr/4franchisors.asp.
Incubators: Not-for-profit incubators nurture young firms, helping them to survive and grow during the start-up period when they are most vulnerable. They provide hands-on management assistance, access to financing, and critical business or technical support services. To find a local incubator, go www.nbia.org.

Microlenders: Both private and SBA microloan programs provide very small loans to start-up, newly established or growing small business concerns. Under the SBA microloan program, the SBA makes funds available to nonprofit community based lenders which, in turn, make loans to eligible borrowers in amounts from an average $10,500 to a maximum $35,000. For more information on microlenders, go to http://www.sba.gov/gopher/Local-Information/Microloan-Lender-Participants/.

Small Business Innovation Research Funds: The SBIR program is funded by 11 federal agencies that invest small amounts of money in the concept and feasibility stages of development. Federal agencies participating in this program include NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Health & Human Services, and Transportation. For more information, go to http://www.sba.gov/sbir/indexsbir-sttr.html.

What single word is most often entered as a search term on the Internet?

Believe it or not, the answer has nothing to do with getting a hot date on a lonely Saturday night. Contrary to popular belief, Americans are not looking for love on the Internet. They’re looking for things that are "free."

Knowing that the word "free" is the most frequently searched word on the Internet can help you market your business online. Here are some other tidbits gleaned from the new book Low-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business by Holly Berkley. See how much you know about online shoppers.

Match the age and gender groups with the trait they most desire in a web page.
     Seniors      a. slick design
     Women      b. simplicity
     Teens        c. community

Women make up 52% of online shoppers, and they are more likely than men to buy online. Women are looking to save time and money, but they are also looking for something more: community. According to Berkley, www.women.com and www.iVillage.com are two examples of sites that provide that sense of comfort and help with everyday life problems that women are looking for, especially on the topics of education, health and family.

Seniors currently comprise 22 percent of the online population. However, as baby boomers continue to age, the percent of 55 to 64 year olds online is expected to climb to forty. To reach this lucrative market, web sites should be simply designed and easy to access.

Teenagers, on the other hand, grew up with the Internet. They are looking for web sites that can dazzle them with design or content.

Is Internet shopping on the rise or on the decline?

This is a trick question. More people than ever are using the Internet to research products before they buy. However, overall, the majority of Internet users are spending less time on the web.

What does this mean? According to Berkley, people who use the Internet are getting more deliberate and focused when they shop online. How else to explain a decrease in average time online (from 90 minutes in 2001 to 83 minutes in 2002) along side a 45 percent increase in online purchases (from 40 million in 2000 to 58 million in 2001). Berkley recommends keeping your web page and its content focused to match your product with your potential online shoppers.

This pinpoint marketing can be as simple as offering information related to your product’s intended use. For instance, a pharmaceutical company trying to promote a new anti-depressant drug would offer an article on the causes and symptoms of depression, along with information on how their product can help bring relief.

Which is more important for a good web page: fresh content or consistency?

Sorry, another trick question. According to Berkley, it’s best to "walk a fine line between keeping things similar and keeping things looking new." How do you do that? www.JennyCraig.com  is cited as one site that succeeds. Although it is different every day, it isn’t confusing because it swaps similar images and stories. 

What is a better measure of web site success: quantity or quality of hits?

Five years ago the answer would have been quantity. Today, however, prevailing marketing theories maintain that it is not how many people see your page, it is how those people who do see it respond to and feel about not just your web site, but also your company and your product. Misleading web sites cheapen your company brand and lower consumer trust in your business.

 

We’ve all heard of the five p’s of marketing: product, packaging, placement, pricing and promotion.

Now add a sixth p to the mix: the Purple Cow. So what can an off-colored bovine do for your business?

According to Purple Cow author Seth Godin, it could turn your product into something truly remarkable. In fact, that’s what a Purple Cow is...something truly remarkable.

As Godin explains it, "When my family and I were driving through France a few years ago, we were enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing on picturesque pastures right next to the highway"

...Then, within twenty minutes, we started ignoring the cows. The new cows were just like the old cows, and what once was amazing was now common...A Purple Cow, though. Now that would be interesting.”

Something remarkable, like a Purple Cow, is worth noticing, worth talking about, and even worth seeking out. Boring stuff is like a brown cow. It’s invisible.

So, how do you turn your product into a remarkable Purple Cow? Through remarkable marketing. According to Godin, remarkable marketing is the "art of building things worth noticing right into your product or service."

Remarkable marketing doesn’t mean "slapping on marketing as a last-minute add-on." Remarkable marketing is understanding that if your offering itself isn’t remarkable, it’s invisible.

In other words, it’s all in the way you put your product together. Kind of like sliced bread. Oh, sure, now everyone thinks it’s great...as in "the greatest thing since sliced bread." But, it didn’t start out that way.

In fact, sliced bread was initially a failure. Or, at least the new bread-slicing machine, designed by Otto Frederick Rohwedder back in 1912, was not an instant hit. It was a great idea and a good product, but lousy marketing left it with no chance for success.

It wasn’t until twenty years later that a new brand called Wonder started offering pre-sliced bread. The concept took off. The end product itself was remarkable, and everyone had to have it.

Check out Purple Cow to learn more about how to make your product truly remarkable.

 

You Got Nothing Coming:  Notes from a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner

You may not work for Enron or Imclone, but read on to find out what could happen to you if you did.

41-year-old Jimmy Lerner, a suburban husband and father and corporate strategic planner, wakes up in Suicide Watch cell number 3 for killing a man. Now he is on a bus getting ready to go to a nameless penitentiary in the Nevada desert. Jimmy will serve two to twelve years for voluntary manslaughter and every day he will scramble to put his thoughts and experiences to paper, creating "You Got Nothing Coming." His writing is the only way Jimmy knows to keep sane among a group of hardened criminals.

In a claustrophobic cell, Jimmy finds himself bunking with Kansas, a swastika-tattooed skinhead. Throughout his memoir, Jimmy will recount acts of violence, tenderness, dignity and absurdity all ending in a climax which tells the reader how a well-educated executive came to be in "a circle of American hell."