Bloomberg BusinessWeek
By Monica Mehta
Creative financing can help sellers command better prices or close deals. It can also create complications among banks, sellers, and buyers. During the recession, merger and acquisition activity in the lower-middle market (private companies with up to $100 million in annual sales) was anything but active …. Read More
Posted in BusinessWeek, Exits, Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Print, Small Business
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
By Monica Mehta
Entrepreneurs seeking early-stage capital must rethink strategies to suit investors’ expectations. HitFix shows how the landscape has changed. Venture capital returns over the past decade deserve two thumbs down. (Read More)
BusinessWeek
By Monica Mehta
Are there more for-lease signs in your neighborhood than stop signs? Maybe. Rents for office and retail space have fallen more than 40% from their highs. Over the short term, landlords are bracing for things to get even worse. In most respects, that means it’s a tenants’ market. Now’s the time to reduce your real estate overhead by renegotiating a lease, moving, or locking in some concessions from your landlord. (Read More)
Posted in BusinessWeek, Print, Real Estate
BusinessWeek SmallBiz
By Monica Mehta
Everyone knows the economy is struggling: Gross domestic product is down, job losses continue, and housing starts are still, for the most part, a nonstarter. But to a business owner with cash on hand, a rotten economy may mean something else entirely: “Hurry!,” “These prices can’t last!,” or “Buy now before we come to our senses!” (Read More)
Posted in BusinessWeek, Finance, Print, Small Business
Tip #1: Find an idea by focusing on skills, passions & problems
Tip #2: Be customer focused
Tip #3: Sell, sell, sell
Tip #3: Cash flow is king
Tip #5: Be flexible
The best business ideas leverage a passion, skill or fill a need.
Adults are always short on time. Here are a five businesses that make money by making life more convenient for grownup:
1) Sell old items on Ebay
2) Babysitting
3) Dog Walking
4) Lawn Mowing
5) Pool Cleaning
Are you a tech geek, great with a glue gun, handy with a spatula or an ace in school? Here are five ideas that can put your skills to work:
1) Sell a craft product on Etsy
2) Sell baked goods to neighbors
3) Teach grownups about surfing the web
4) Start a tech support business
5) Tutoring
BusinessWeek SmallBiz
By Monica Mehta
Bankruptcy is one of the worst things that can happen to a business. And we’re not even talking about your own bankruptcy (thank goodness). Even if you’ve managed to steer clear of danger so far in this recession, an unprecedented rise in corporate insolvencies can derail otherwise sound businesses. A customer who files for bankruptcy is like Kryptonite to the small business superhero. (Read More)
Posted in Accounting, Bankruptcy, BusinessWeek, Collections, Finance, Print
BusinessWeek SmallBiz
By Monica Mehta
Building a business is not unlike baking a pie, except that the ingredients aren’t sugar and flour but intangibles such as a great idea, strategy, and execution (cash helps, too). But with multiple founders showing up with different contributions at different times, it’s hard to know how to split the pie, especially before it has been baked. How much should be given to the guy bringing the sugar vs. the one with the strawberries? What about the gal who came up with the idea to make dessert in the first place? (Read More)
BusinessWeek SmallBiz
By Monica Mehta
One casualty of a recession is trust. In better times, you’re confident longtime customers will pay their bills. But for businesses dealing with rising inventories and account defaults, once-solid partnerships can suddenly seem risky. (Read More)
Posted in BusinessWeek, Finance, Insurance, Print, Small Business
BusinessWeek SmallBiz
By Monica Mehta
Trouble for America’s lenders could mean opportunity for you. As banks scramble to shore up their balance sheets, savvy business owners have found it the perfect time to buy back debt at a substantial discount. (Read More)
Posted in Bank Lending, BusinessWeek, Finance, Print, Small Business
BusinessWeek SmallBiz
By Monica Mehta
Entrepreneurs, by nature, are a wildly confident lot. When you dream of things that don’t yet exist, then leave a good job, raid your savings, and sacrifice family time to make it happen—well, confidence is a prerequisite. But an overly optimistic attitude can impair your judgment when it comes to your company’s financial health. Right now, it’s time to wave the yellow flag of caution. (Read More)
Posted in BusinessWeek, Credit, Finance, Print
The Entrepreneurial Instinct (McGraw-Hill, Sept 14 2012)
Monica Mehta is an investor, author and finance expert. She is a frequent contributor for CNN, Fox News, BloombergTV, MSNBC, INC Magazine and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. She is the author of The Entrepreneurial Instinct (McGraw-Hill, Sept 2012)
Monica Mehta 