Small Business Saturday

This week we will celebrate Small Business Saturday.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term- here is what it is:  From Wikipedia:  “Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday held on the Saturday after U.S. Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed on November 27, 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.”

So after the turkey has been digested and you’ve braved the malls and big box stores on Friday, take time to stroll into your mom and pop businesses and spend some of your holiday cash.  Better yet, skip those big box stores and go spend those dollars at a mom and pop store. I’ll bet you will not only find more unique gifts but you might actually help keep that small business owner in business. 

These small businesses are the fabric of our communities.  They help us feel a part of something each time we visit. They get to know our names, what we like and that makes it personal for us.  These people live in our community and are more vested in making our communities more livable.  The only way our small shops are to survive is for us to shop them and keep our dollars local.  It can add up to keeping our small community just that- a community.  

Happy Use Your Common Sense Day!!!

Today is November 4^th Use Your Common Sense Day. Now at first you may think- “Well I always use common sense.” I would venture to say that most of us do not use our common sense ALL the time.  If we did there would be a lot less accidents and visits to the ER each year.   

Things like “I’ll just send this quick text” while driving 70 on the interstate.  Are you using your common sense there? I don’t think so.  Or “I’ll just drive to work even though there is a half a foot of snow and another foot predicted by the end of the day.”  Common sense? I don’t think so there either.

Most of us use common sense sometimes, but I think we don’t take the time to listen to our guts.  Women can be especially guilty of not listening to their gut.  You know what it is and what it feels like but a lot of time you just ignore the feeling.

So today, take time to listen to your gut and follow your common sense- use it, it might just save you that next trip to the ER!

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

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

...What Happens When You Get Sick?

Since it’s cold and flu season I have not missed the opportunity to not only get a bad cold but to pass it along to my husband.  I was down and out for a couple of days as he is now.  So what happens to your business when you get sick? Do you have a contingency plan?  Who handles everything for you?

I have to convince my husband to stay home when he is sick.  First of all he needs time to rest to feel better and fight off the cold.  Second, when he goes in to work and is contagious he gives it to others. So let me just say to those of you who will get sick- STAY HOME! But how do you do that if you are the boss?

If you have staff, you should have them trained to fill in for you when you need them.  We always tell business owners that to truly be a business owner in charge of your own time you need to be able to get away at a minimum of a week without your business falling apart.  That means having someone there to handle everything for you- someone you trust. So if you haven’t done that – make it a priority.  No one wants to think they can be replaced but at the very least they should be replaceable for a week at a time.  It will help your sanity and your health in the long run. 

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter