Retirement Planning and Budgeting

Most small business owners don’t have the advantage of an HR department, so things like retirement planning are not on everyone’s radar. When you work for a large company, you have someone there who can make sure you sign up for a 401K and have advisors helping you. When it’s just you and a few employees you have to make the effort to get this done. And it’s an important thing to put on that to-do list.

Small business owners need to know realistically what they plan to do with the business when they are ready to give it up and retire. Do they plan to sell it and use those funds for retirement? Will the sale of the business be enough for them to live in retirement? If they plan to pass it down to children how will that work? Will the children buy the business, will it be a gift? How will that impact your retirement planning?

If you need retirement and investing help, do your homework. Get recommendations from others; check on how their fee structures work before you sign on the dotted line. But most importantly make sure you are the active planner in your retirement planning, otherwise you may be working long past retirement just to make ends meet.

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter
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What’s Your Credit Score?

When I do seminars or public speaking on starting a business I always ask the audience members to hold up their hand if they know their credit score. More and more people these days are raising their hands. I like that. 

Knowing your credit score is very important, especially if you are thinking about going into business. When you start out your personal credit is your business credit, until you can build a business credit history.

Making sure that your credit report is correct is very important. You may have thought you paid off a bill but it may still show up on your report as unpaid. There may be credit cards that you closed but still show up. You may share the same name as someone else and his or her information may appear on your credit report. 

Someone that I know had this experience.  She knew she had never had credit with the company on the was showing up on her report.   Once she investigated she found out that there was someone with her exact name and their credit information was showing up on her credit report and it was not good.

Knowing what lowers your score is important too. Check with the credit-reporting agency to find out what factors can lower your score. If that score is low, you need to begin immediately to build up that score, because if you want to start a business and need even a credit card for your business you may be denied. So do your homework before you get started with your business.

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter
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Saving For Your Business

When someone is preparing to go into business, one of the first things we talk about is how much money they have saved. One of our favorite sayings here at BizWorks is just because you go into business today does not mean that you will get paid tomorrow- or even in six months! If you plan to quit your day job and work your business full time we recommend at least six months of savings – we prefer a year to help pay your living expenses.

Most people come into their business and expect that money will flow through the door quickly. It does not always happen. The business takes time to set up and it takes time to get clients. Once the job is done, then they have to be billed and it takes time for that bill to be paid. You still have bills to pay in your business and in your personal life so you have to have money saved in order to keep everything running- your household and your business.

So if you have that great idea and wanted to get started NOW, take the time to make sure the money is there to support you- it gives you a greater chance for success if you have the money saved to get you through the beginning stages of your business.

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

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Don’t Cash in Your 401K to Start That Business

I was teaching a while back and one of the students told us the story of his small business startup and failure.  When he retired he decided that he wanted to start a business. So instead of looking for financing he cashed in all of his 401K and sunk the money into the business. Within a year the business had failed. He was out of retirement money and out of work. In his seventies he had no choice but to go back to work.

This is a tough lesson to learn. We never advise people to cash in their whole life savings or retirement to start a business.  The chances of failure are too great and if you lose you could lose everything.  In addition there are many financial penalties for withdrawing all your 401 K too soon.

If you know you want to do something like start a business when you retire then start planning and saving for that business BEFORE you retire.  Educate yourself on running a small business while you are still employed. One of the biggest issues we see with small business owners is their lack of knowledge of actually running the business side of the business.   Save money to get that business going and build up your personal credit in case you have to borrow. But don’t cash in your 401K to start that business. You may just end up working all of your retirement years instead.

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

Be Your Own Walking Billboard

Be Your Own Walking Billboard

I was at the hairdresser the other day and we were talking about her hair. It’s the same conversation I have had with so many hairdressers and that is the fact that she has no time to have her own hair done.  I’ve often wondered why that happens. It would seem that if you make a living out of creating haircuts and hairstyles for other people, your hair should be a walking billboard. 

So if you go around and have a great cut and style like the people who work at the salon with you, you could each brag on the other about who does your hair.  This is a no brainer.  You take the time to look great and others will ask where you get your hair done, even people who don’t know you.  Would a fashion designer wear a lot of other designer’s clothes and not their own?

Many times entrepreneurs miss the opportunity to sell themselves and what they do by not taking the time to take care of themselves and scheduling time to get their own work done!

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter