Online Business Articles Philippines

4 Financing Solutions Your Business Needs to Survive

June 25, 2016 by CarlosV 1 Comment

Coming up with a profitable business idea is just half of the company creation process. Pooling money to sustain the enterprise is the other crucial half. If you already have an awesome idea to start with, the next wise move would be to look for and take advantage of the right choice of business loans. Good thing there are several options today that are suited to the varying needs of your company, including the working capital, asset acquisition and project development. To cover all the basics, here are the top four loans you might consider applying for:

1. Equipment loan — If you’re looking to buy equipment to start your operations, it might help to apply for an equipment loan. This type of loan allows you to borrow money to buy equipment and use it as collateral for the loan. You can use the machines and earn from them while paying for your loan.

2. Short term business loan — Your business might also need sufficient cash on hand to sustain its daily operation. With a short term loan, you’ll have access to cash you can use as a working capital or for tax payments, payroll, debt refinancing and inventory expenses. As most short term loans come with higher interest rates, it’s highly recommended to pay back faster, preferably weekly or bi-monthly.

Applying for a Business Loan in the Philippines 3. Line of credit — It’s also wise to apply for a business line of credit, which can provide you with cash you can use for different purposes. This can also be used as a source of working capital, fund for equipment purchase and many more. You can also opt to have an unsecured or secured line of credit, as well as a “one off” or “revolving” credit line.

4. Invoice financing — If you’re operating a B2B business, invoice financing is another option you might like to consider. This loan type allows you to take out cash in advance based on a percentage value of your expected receivables. Lenders of this loan type do not usually ask for collateral or a credit check for borrowers.

With the plethora of business financing solutions on the market today, choosing the right loan type can be quite tricky. But if you have one or two of the types above, you’ll have enough funding for your company. Are you now planning to apply for one of these loans? If you are, don’t hesitate to visit the loansolutions.ph site to learn more about today’s leading providers of these credit types. Loansolutions PH is the country’s leading financial solution concierge, connecting those in need of funding with reliable lenders. Apply in as easy as 3 steps and follow up the status of your application using the Check Loan Status tool available on site.

This article is contributed by Maricor Bunal. Mari writes for Loansolutions to help educate people in making informed-decisions on taking out loans and becoming responsible borrowers. Being the COO, she feels it is her social responsibility to do so. Learn more from her as she shares tips, advises and stories on finance. Also, she’s fond of 9GAG, so you might read some random stuff over here.

Franchising Fees: What You Need To Know and Watch Out For

August 20, 2014 by CarlosV 1 Comment

The Philippines has been recognized as the Franchising Hub of Asia. It means that franchising as a business model is well accepted in this country. In fact, it is one of the top choices of any enterprising Filipino with money to spare and who wants to be conservative with his venture.

As with any business, franchising has its share of traps and this article discusses that part which involves money.

Fees and Charges Associated with a Franchise Operation

1. Franchise Fee

One of the first things people ask when they consider going into a franchise business is “How much is the Franchise Fee?”

Indeed, it is one most expensive items you have to deal with when buying a franchise business and you will understand why later. Depending on how you look at it, this is money that you basically just throw out the window and into somebody else’s house.

Fees and Charges Assosiated with a Franchise Operation

Fees and Charges in operating a franchise business must be thoroughly understood before embarking into the deal.

Franchise Fee is associated with:

The use of the company name and logo. This is very cool. Most of the time, clients and customers will never know that the business is run by the jerk-next-door.
The Business System. This is the most valuable assets of a business and one of the most difficult to perfect. This is one area also in which buying a successful franchise business is worthy compared to doing it from scratch. Having a proven business system eliminates a lot of guess work and mistakes that go with running a business. A successful and highly experienced franchisor can tell you the things that work and those that don’t.
Training and Support. One of the nice things about joining a franchise is the support system the company offers. A good company should take you seriously as a partner in the business. That is, they should have a stake in your success.

Tips on Franchise Fee: It’s very hard to tell if the Franchisor’s Franchise Fee is fair or not. You have to check what its competitors are offering and make sure that you compare apples to apples. Never, ever buy a franchise just because is it something you can afford. There are more things to consider than just the franchise fee.

2. Royalty Fee

This is one thing you really have to think about. Royalty fees come in various forms, such as the following.

Percentage of gross sales. That is, they get a piece of the pie even before the government gets theirs. Naturally, you — as the operator of the business — get the last piece. The worst royal fee I’ve seen so far in the Philippines is one which is based on the gross sales + VAT.
Percentage of purchase. This one is the opposite of the royalty fee mentioned previously. Instead of taking it from the items you sold, they take it from the items you buy from them. Technically, this should be lower compared to the other type of royalty fee.
Fixed recurring fee. Which is not really a royalty fee but more like a rental or retainer’s fee.

Tips on Royalty Fee: Take a good hard look at this item before you consider buying a particular franchise. This is one area that causes a lot of franchisee regrets. Franchising is supposed to foster a win-win partnership, right?

3. Marketing / Advertising Fee

This part is a real bomber because it appears to be legitimate. Like the royalty fee above, marketing fee ( or sometimes named advertising fee) is charged on the franchisee on a periodic basis, usually monthly. This is supposed to help your business by driving clients and customers to your doors, right?

But… there are franchisors that collect marketing fee who never run any single ad, ever!

Tip On Marketing Fee: Have you personally seen for yourself a single ad or marketing campaign by that particular franchisor? How often do they run that campaign? Will it benefit your own franchise operation?

4. Renewal Fee

A Franchise Agreement usually has a set time frame and beyond that you need to renew it with the company. The following should be the ideal scenarios when it comes time to renew:

You should have recovered your expenses and gained from the past years of operating the franchise business.
The renewal fee should be lower than the original franchise fee.

Tip on Renewal Fee: Everything else being equal, you should select a franchise that offers the longest renewal term and with the lowest renewal fee.

Do the Math

Doing the numbers before embarking on a franchise deal is one of the smartest things you can do to your planned business venture.

The concept of franchising may be old, but its adoption here in the Philippines is relatively new. As such, there are a lot of unscrupulous businesses disguised as legitimate franchises and who are only after the money of unsuspecting clients who don’t know how to evaluate a business opportunity. Here at NegosyoBuilder.com, we want you to steer clear of that situation.

In the next couple of articles, we will be featuring business and franchise opportunities that are available in the Philippines. As usual, we’ll guide you with some tips and point out the traps to avoid.

Top 3 Reasons Why Your Business Should Have A Website

January 17, 2013 by CarlosV 2 Comments

Did you know that an estimated 2.2 billion people from all over the world are already using the Internet? Well, not all of them may become your customers, but it means that the Internet will become more and more part of our daily staple.

Here at Negosyo Builder, we believe that the top 3 reasons why your business should have a website are as follow.

1. Your customers are online.

This is the single best reason I can think of why you should put up a website for your business, especially if you are targeting the following:

New customers. These are the ones who have never done any business with you yet. They may know you from someone else, or they don’t know you at all.
Customers who are new to your place. A few examples: real estate buyer from another city, business traveler, etc..
Customers who are looking for an alternative solution. They may be dissatisfied with their current supplier or they are simply looking for the best bang for their investment money.

Fact: Your customers are online. Are you?

These are the type of customers who tend to use the Internet and do their research to find out about the businesses they will be dealing with eventually.

They can be described by a single word: skeptical.

And yes, consumers these days are more skeptical than ever. They refuse to be fooled anymore. They want to know more and more about you before they decide to hand you their money.

Don’t have a website? Any or all of the following could possibly happen:

They won’t find you. For them, you don’t exist. Or, you exist in another world. But it’s not the world of your customers
They won’t know you. Did you know that the About Us Page is one of the most visited pages in any website? Customers want to know who’s behind a particular website.
They won’t trust you. There is no basis of establishing trust in the first place. Remember your mom’s advice about talking to strangers? Like it or not, in the eyes of the customers, you are a complete stranger until they actually start doing business with you.
They won’t like you. Did you ever like a movie which you haven’t seen yet? Unless you are blind, I guess you’ll agree that the answer to that question is no. Unless they can see your virtual face, your online customers can’t possibly like you yet.

In his book entitled, “Endless Referrals”, Bob Burg mentioned this simple truth that all salesmen should plaster on their foreheads:

“All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.”

2. A website builds your brand and credibility

Would you buy a PC or a piece of software from a vendor that doesn’t have a website? Would you enroll a computer course from a school that doesn’t even have a website?

Ironic as it may seem, but this is happening all the time in the Philippines. There are so many businesses with very low online credibility, and yet have the audacity to ask for your business.

This is like going to the gym because you wanted to flatten your belly, and perhaps put on some abs — though not necessarily six packs since you are not really into boxing. You have all the motivation in the world to lose those belly fats until the front desk staff introduces you to your instructor. Your eyes begin to scan his figure, not because you are gay 🙂 , but because your mind is searching for traces of credibility from someone who is suppose to give you the right instructions. And, oh my, he happens to look like he is 7 months pregnant! Where’s the credibility in that?

That’s what I mean by very low in credibility.

If you are like me, I would raise the following questions:

Am I dealing with the right people?
Can they deliver what they promise they would?
Are they trying to scam me?

In the online world, your own website — not your Facebook Page, or your Twitter account — can build your brand and credibility for you.

The 2012 Nielsen Advertising Survey found out that 58% of the online consumers around the globe are more likely to trust a company that has its own website.

Many of your website visitors may not be buying from you yet, but these people can be looking at your website in search of information. And the more you provide them with the information that satisfies their curiosity, the more you reinforce your online credibility.

3. Your website makes it easy to engage your customer

The same Nielsen Advertising Survey conducted last year found that 92% of the online consumers worldwide say they trust word-of-mouth and recommendations from people they trust more than they trust the traditional forms of advertising.

Your potential customers also rely heavily on customer reviews and feedback from other third-party websites. That’s how intelligent customers are now becoming.

Through your website, your potential customers can help you share the good things about your business without you spending a single dime. And with social sharing features in place, you also make it easy for a satisfied customer to recommend your business to his friends and his friends’ friends.

You could be the next business rock star! Who knows? But it has to start somewhere: with your very own business website.

Can You Really Make Money Online?

January 11, 2013 by CarlosV 2 Comments

If the answer to that question is no, I don’t have anymore reason and motivation to put up this website.

The NegosyoBuilder.com website is about building and running all aspects of an online business, with a little diversion on traditional businesses occasionally.

But for someone to be asking, “How do you make money online?” I think he is looking for an answer that is easier to digest.

Mind you, it’s not a stupid question. It’s a curious beginner’s question which deserves a straight-forward, but intelligent answer.

Here is my attempt to answer the question in a way that any sixth grader would understand. Here’s how you can make money online.

1. Sell Your Products and Services

In a traditional business, you make money by selling products, services or a combination of the two. The same thing happens when you go online.

In a traditional business, you have a physical store sitting on a specific location – that’s why they also call it bricks-and-mortar – where people can go and buy your products. If it’s a physical product, they can touch it, smell it, or even kiss it.

Online, your prospects (also called suspects if they are not buyers yet) can browse from the Products Catalog that you put from your website. With a few clicks, they are all set to place their orders and buy from you.

I’m talking about selling products. Your job now is to imagine how it would be in the case of services.

And by the way, here are some business ideas (offering products or services) you can implement if you wanted to run a pure, virtual business online:

Become an author and write your own ebooks. See lulu.com for details.
Run a membership website where only paid, subscribed members can have access to specific contents.
Offer Webinars on topics where you have expert knowledge.

These are just a few examples.

( Shameless Promotion: Discover how NegosyoBuilder.com Services can turn your website from nothing into something. )

2. Sell Advertising Space On Your Website

‎”It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot harder to make a difference.” –Tom Brokaw

I’m not sure if it is still the case today, but my favorite local newspaper company, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, at one point once admitted that the cost of producing a particular issue was actually greater than the price they were selling it to. Meaning, they were actually selling at a loss. But how do you think they survive until now?

Here’s the secret: They don’t make money by selling newspapers. That’s the newspaper boy’s business. They make money – and lots of it – by selling advertising spaces at various places in the paper.

Still wonder why bad news is everywhere whether in print, radio, TV and the Internet? Hint: Bad news is the real news.

If you have a website, you too can act like a small media company and deliver ads your web pages. It’s one of the quickest and easiest monetization strategies that anyone can do. You can contact an advertising agency’s website and simply sign-up for their program.

Here are some of my recommendations if you want to explore this option:

Tip: One of the mistakes new publishers make is they get too excited with this concept and immediately rush to fill their websites with various ads. This is not advisable if your website is relatively new with only a few pages to show. It’s best to work on your content first. Make lots of articles so that you can have a sizable base of audience who keeps coming back. Once you start developing your fans, that is when you should start populating your content with ads and put those ads only in strategic locations of your website.

3. Become A Middleman

“The shortest distance between two points is not a straight line – it’s a middleman.” –Ayn Rand

Here’s a sampling of the familiar middle men: real estate brokers, stock brokers, and insurance agents.

There are people who hate the middle man. But I’m here to tell you that the middle man – if you know how to pick the right one – could make your business transaction faster and your success easier.

People may criticize him for his lack of boxing skills, but Bob Arum is one of the finest businessmen in the world of boxing. As a promoter, he simply gets things done and makes millions of dollars happen – for everybody.

So don’t be afraid of the middleman. Instead, learn how to make use of his talents, skills and services to your advantage.

One of the ways you can make money online is by helping businesses sell their products and services. The image above is courtesy of Wealthy Affiliate Open Education Program. It shows how you can make money by referring products from Amazon.

In the online world, there are various names given to the middleman, including the following: affiliate, referral agent, leads generator and sales partner. But basically, here is how they make money:

The referror sends traffic (site visitors) to the merchant’s website. This can be initiated in different ways like links from a website, emails, Facebook, Twitter or online ads campaign.
When the visitor takes action like he buys the recommended stuff or signs up for a subscription, the referral agent gets compensated by the merchant. Think of it as the merchant’s way of saying, “Thank you for sending us the traffic.” In the online world where every business is hungry for attention, the modern middleman could save the day for the merchant.

The nice thing about building an online business around this concept is that it doesn’t require much financial capital to start with, therefore you minimize the risk of going bankrupt with the venture.

So there you have it, the three ways you can make money online. Which one do you think is a best fit for you? Do you see yourself implementing all three in one website? Well, that’s possible, too.

Traditional vs Online Business

October 4, 2012 by CarlosV Leave a Comment

Let’s say you are to start a small business anytime soon, would you go for a traditional business — with an actual physical location — or pick an online business concept?

If you ask me, I’m bias, of course. I would always pick an online business over the one which is traditional, bricks-and-mortar. It’s the smart choice and later I will elaborate why by comparing the two types of businesses.

First, let me lay down the basis of comparison just to make sure we are comparing an apple to an apple. There are many forms of businesses, but let’s make this simple. Consider a small and familiar retail outlet. It could be a mom-and-pop bookstore, franchised store operation, or anything you are already familiar with.

Let’s start.

1. Location

They say the three most important factors to consider when buying a piece of real estate are: location, location, location. Many traditional businesses like retail stores and restaurants are overly dependent on the location. Being in the wrong location could mean committing financial suicide for your business.

An e-commerce store on the other hand lives in cyberspace. It’s a virtual real estate identified by such things as domain name, IP Address, sub-domain, etc. In a virtual world, location is not the problem. Your problem is being found out by your target customers. (I have more to say on this topic in another article.)

2. Business Or Store Setup

Online vs Traditional Business Space rental, renovation, period maintenance — you have to consider these things in a traditional store setup. Furthermore, you’ll need a signage, furniture or fixtures, display areas, POS machines and other things needed to keep your business in operation.

In an online business setup, your website is your store. Yes, you still have to maintain it, keep it looking good, update your product listings and prices, or run a few articles. But in general, comparatively cheaper to do or buy and you won’t be sweating it out when doing these activities.

3. Manpower

In general, a traditional store requires a much bigger manpower to operate than an online store.

More often than not, the size of the store’s floor area is directly proportional to the number of employees needed to operate the store.

4. Inventory

I once discussed with a medical representative about the possibility of setting up pharmacy. The one thing I can’t forget was his advice on inventories: As much as possible, you have to keep a wide range of different kinds of medicines in your store because once your customer goes there and you don’t carry what he is looking for, he would go to your competitor and might never come back to you again.

Keeping a large amount of inventory is one of the burdens you have to bear for running a traditional store.

With an online business, this one is less of a problem. You can start with minimal or even zero inventories and keep it that way. There are so many ways of doing this.

5. Business Hours

Bricks-and-mortars operate in the usual and standard business hours. Your staff have to go home, too.

An e-commerce store, on the other hand, can accept orders round the clock, 24/7 – even while you sleep. That means, passive income coming your way.

6. Customer-base

Since it is confined to a particular location, a tradition business can only serve a very specific, regional market. The only way to serve more clients and customers is to setup branches in different locations.

This restriction is removed if your business is online. You can choose to serve nationwide or even to do business internationally. As our tagline says, “Earn Global. Live Local.” That’s easily possible with an online business.

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Fees and Charges Associated with a Franchise Operation

1. Franchise Fee

2. Royalty Fee

3. Marketing / Advertising Fee

4. Renewal Fee

Do the Math

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1. Your customers are online.

2. A website builds your brand and credibility

3. Your website makes it easy to engage your customer

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1. Sell Your Products and Services

2. Sell Advertising Space On Your Website

3. Become A Middleman

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1. Location

2. Business Or Store Setup

3. Manpower

4. Inventory

5. Business Hours

6. Customer-base

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