March 1st, 2010 by James Scott
So many companies dream of going public to raise massive amounts of capital, as set up for an exit strategy, to make acquisitions with stock and for many other reasons. While your intentions may be pure and with genuine motives, you’re entering shark infested waters of boiler rooms, crooked attorneys and underbelly consultants who have made careers off of taking well intentioned executives just like you for a 24 month rollercoaster ride while they take every penny you have as your company shrivels up like week old road kill.
Just and honest consultants in the ‘public offering’ industry are as rare as the illusive white elephant. This industry exists in a cesspool surrounded by rose gardens; from afar it looks amazing and an image of a dreamland but get up and close and the sludge and odor are enough to make you run and hide. So what do you look for in a consultant? The best consulting firms are the ’boutique firms’ with minimal overhead that keep a low profile and are made up of 3 or 4 ‘partner’ consultants. Read more...
February 25th, 2010 by James Scott
Easily Find And Secure: Angel Investors, Private Investors, Institutional Investors And More! Raising capital for a start-up, corporation in expansion mode or a company in virtually any position presents it’s challenges and roadblocks. There has been no period in recent history that can simulate the difficulties that current entrepreneurs and executives are having when trying to achieve the procurement of venture capital. The standards have become more stringent and the cross-collateralization of personal and corporate assets as security for loans has virtually become a mandatory prerequisite for any type of funding, equity or loan based.
When initiating the process of raising capital one should take into consideration the use of a combination of funding options such as but not limited to: traditional venture capital, bank institutional, institutional equity investment, hedge fund lenders, private money lending, angel equity and loan investment, a private placement memorandum as the mechanism for raising capital distributed in shares, international equity based funding, the reality of taking your small business public on the OTCBB and many other concepts of capital raising that can be placed into a simultaneous strategy. Read more...
February 12th, 2010 by James Scott
If you are trying to raise capital with a PPM or public entity like OTCBB you need to understand the mind of the investor. After the business plan sells the investor on the business concept you need to sell them on you and your executive staff. You need to stack your executive positions with professionals with a proven track record of success and possess a solid reputation in the industry. You must paint the picture for investors that your business is run by the who’s who in your industry and this pedigree is demonstrated by your education, degree, grades in college, professional organizations of which you have been and are currently a member, advisory board positions with other corporate organizations, a track record of setting up and maintaining strategic alliances, networking contacts and more.
When an investor looks at your human resource list on your PPM, business plan or public offering docs it needs to scream power, authority and confidence. Each individual that you place on your advisory board must have a massive contribution other than ‘advice’. Advisors should be able to prove their ability to assist in crucial decisions, connect your company with strategic partners and help you get to the next level. Read more...
February 11th, 2010 by Clinton Kampen
Many people find that they still need to plan for their own retirement. A Blue Ridge financial planner can help you achieve the goals that you need to retire even if you own your own business.
Some owners plan on selling their business and using the money to retire on. Because of different factors such as competition undercutting the price the business is worth or the industry not performing as well as it does now, selling your business may not mean all of your needs when you do plan on retiring.
You can choose to have a planner help you set up an IRA savings account. They can explain how these can help you and how much you need to invest annually to see the return you want. Much like non business owners, this can be an effective way to plan for your retirement.
A Roth IRA may provide you with a better retirement since they only tax tax initial investment. A planner can help you determine which will work better for you since a Roth IRA may be suited for younger investors. Once you have determined his, they can start process of obtaining them. Read more...
February 4th, 2010 by Robert Holdsworth
Many businesses have implemented energy efficiency measures in their facilities over the past several years to help decrease operating expenses and aid the local and global environment. What a lot of these companies do not know is that sizeable federal tax deductions are available to them and also that time may be running out.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) provides generous, immediate tax deductions to businesses for making energy efficiency improvements to their buildings. The federal tax incentives center mainly on efficiency improvements to lighting, HVAC and building envelopes and can be as large as $1.80 per square foot.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 extended Section 179D and EPAct 2005 so the act will not expire until December 31, 2013. However, that does not mean that time may not be running out for some companies.
For businesses that implemented energy efficiency projects in 2006 it is probable they filed their tax returns before April 15, 2007. If they were unaware of the deductions at that time, they are now at risk of losing those tax deductions forever since the IRS only allows a three year period to amend tax returns. Read more...
January 29th, 2010 by James Scott
Regulation D, Under Sections 4(2) and 3(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, the SEC adopted Regulation D to coordinate the various limited offering exemptions and to streamline the existing requirements applicable to private offers and sales of securities. The Regulation establishes three exemptions from registration in Rules 504, 505, and 506.
Rule 504, which provides an exemption for non-reporting companies unless they are “blank check” issuers or certain “shells”, stipulates that: The sale of up to $1,000,000 of securities in a 12-month period is permitted provided that there is no general solicitation, the securities sold are restricted securities and cannot be resold except pursuant to a registration statement or exemption, and a notice must be filed with the SEC within 15 days after the first sale. Rule 504 does not provide an exemption under any state laws. In certain limited circumstances where an offering is conducted under state accredited investor exemptions, securities offered under Rule 504 may be freely transferrable. Unlike Rules 505 and 506, Rule 504 does not mandate that specified disclosure be provided to purchasers. Nonetheless, the business person should take care that sufficient information is provided to meet the full disclosure obligations which exist under the antifraud provisions of the securities laws. Read more...
January 26th, 2010 by James Scott
Discovering the ‘thumbscrews’ of investors is crucial to getting them to take action. In over a decade of dealing with global investors there are several elements that I’ve discovered to be universal truths about the mind of the private investor (angel investor, accredited investor).
When talking to an investor for the first time, it’s more important to listen than to speak. It’s more important to ask questions than answer them. It’s more important to discover their needs and wants than to exclaim your own. Your first conversation with an investor should be all about piercing the armor and finding the trigger points that prompt a reaction that gets to the center of their ‘childlike’ state.
What I mean by this is, investors, just like anyone else, has insecurities that are rooted in their childhood and what they are outwardly today, is typically a polar opposite of what they are on the inside. For example, an arrogant, chest beater seems proud and obnoxious on the outside but the reality is that they are over compensating for an insecurity that is rooted in an individual or collection of childhood incidents. Read more...
January 22nd, 2010 by James Scott
How To Find All The Angel Investors And Venture Capital Financing You’ll Ever Need! The once definitive line that would separate hard money and private/angel financing has merged into a hybrid of sorts in the past few years. As the economy has taken a dive and structured private lending firms have felt the crunch we are finding many of these lending solutions closing its doors and re-opening as privately owned and managed funding options with an interest in both lending and seed investment.
Approval decisions that were once made by a group are not being made by an individual or duo with an eye toward optimal capitalization with both short term and long term agendas. As investors are, now more than ever, trying to get as much bang out of their buck, entrepreneurs are in the precarious position of accepting funding from virtually any and every enterprise that is making an offering. That said, it is more important now than ever to swing open your mind to the possibilities of mass exposure of your opportunity to the investment world. Read more...
January 17th, 2010 by Jay Polmar
Everyone is trying to save money these days. Finding bargains is quickly turning into the Western worlds favorite pastime. A close second is doing anything that one can to make oneself invaluable to his or her employer.
What would you pay for that next promotion? What would you pay to practically guarantee a raise? In todays global financial market, what would you pay for simple job security?
Self-improvement classes of all types start anywhere from $200 to $2,000 and offer mixed results and mixed promises. There is one company, however, which offers worldwide results and guaranteed outcomes.
SpeedRead America, Inc. has condensed their 3-day live speed reading course into a compact, at-your-own-increasing-pace ebook course to help you”the busy business professional”not only make yourself invaluable to your employer, but to also increase your chances of getting that all-too-important promotion or surviving the latest round of job cuts.
This course has been taught to everyone in the corporate world from busy executives to the administrative assistant answering the phones in more than 20 countries around the world in more than five languages, all with amazing results. Many mid-level managers see promotions in less than three weeks. Everyone who takes the course doubles their reading speed in just the first hour”some even triple or quadruple their reading speed! Read more...
January 11th, 2010 by David van Dyk
Real estate investments are often termed as low risk investments which can produce good return on investment. A lot of people feel that real estate can and is a really easy business to enter into and to run. The reality is as with any real business it require hard work and a good knowledge of the field. The most important thing is to be able to find locations and properties for sale that will turn good profits for you. So how do you go looking for real estate for sale?
A lot of people begin looking for real estate through the internet. The internet is after all the hub of all information and contains massive amounts of data on real estate for sale. So, you could look for properties for sale using the search engines on the internet. You could also specify your requirements in on real estate sites to get very specific results on current properties. Most sites have images and video of some of the properties thus reducing the need for visits or viewings. Read more...
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