Last month, I wrote a post helping small business owners who were considering whether or not to buy into an existing franchise.  Today, I’d like to address this issue from an alternate angle, namely, "When is it time to transform your small business into a franchise?"

Last month, President Obama announced that $730 million of his stimulus package will be dedicated to making it easier for budding entrepreneurs to start a small business.

What this means for you, if you are one of the many preparing to start a small business, is that it will be much easier to get started. 

While there is no shortage of business books from which business owners can choose as they try to navigate the ever changing path of business ownership, there is a set of books from Toolkit Media Group that attack both the broad and more focused elements of having a business.

If you’ve been having trouble getting a traditional business loan from a bank, you’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs and small business owners are finding it harder to come by money than it would have been even just two or three years ago. The natural reaction is to cast a wider net; and that’s where the home equity question arises.

In an interview with “The Balancing Act,” a daily morning talk show on LIFETIME Television, I shared with viewers the benefits of incorporating their home-based business as well as the risks of not incorporating. (Watch “Incorporating Your Business” – 4 mins.)

Not every company suffers during times of economic uncertainty. Despite the relative lack of confidence, consumers will always buy what they find necessary. And what is it they find most necessary? According to Business Week; McDonald’s double cheeseburgers.

It was the early 1900’s, and a young woman with little more than trust in herself, the support of her family, and a dream of what she loved to do, started a business creating cloth dolls.

Early retirement wasn’t what Rich Halbeisen wanted or expected after a 30-year engineering career with IBM. In November of 2007 he was one of a number of employees asked to take early retirement as a cost savings measure.

“Alex Andon, 24, a graduate of Duke University in biology, was laid off from a biotech company last May. For months he sought new work. Then, frustrated with the hunt, he turned to jellyfish.”

So opens the excellent article on business startups, “Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own,”  by Matt Richtel and Jenna Worthman published last month in the New York Times.

So you’re looking for some alternatives to the bank? You’re not alone. There are other places you can go for capital to start, grow or invest in your business.

In our earlier post we discussed Peer-to-Peer lending and Credit unions. Today we’ll take a look at another two options that often get over-looked in the quest for cash.