Almost everyone knows that you need a business plan, but one of the most difficult questions to answer when developing that business plan is how much start-up costs will be. There are so many factors to consider, including business licenses and incorporation fees, patents and trademarks, business insurance, leases for an office or production facilities, and many more.

So many, in fact, that it is almost impossible to accurately calculate business start-up costs. Even adding a new location to an existing business can produce wildly different start-up costs when compared to the original start-up experience.

So is it useless to plan? Not exactly, says Theodore Bolema, a professor at South University’s Novi, Mich. campus and director of the business program. Bolema, who holds a Ph.D. in business as well as a law degree, says planning is important – but so is being realistic about the accuracy of your forecast.

“A decent rule of thumb is to figure out what you think your costs will be. Then double it,” Bolema says.

There is a good reason that it is nearly impossible to accurately predict these costs, according to Bolema. “Determining fees, equipment purchases, inventory and the like is relatively easy for most businesses. What’s much more difficult is knowing what your cost of time will be.”

The “cost of time” is an important concept for all businesses, but especially for start-ups. If a business is obligated to pay an office lease or employee salaries while it is not yet able to do business – or a regulatory agency is holding up its ability to do business – then start-up costs will add up quickly.

And don’t expect government agencies to operate with your costs in mind. Even the best-run agency will not move with the same urgency you would like, Bolema says. After all, it may be your lifelong dream and your life’s savings at risk, but to them, you are just another file folder stacked on the desk.

So while you are waiting for an agency to act, or a supplier to supply, or an advertising firm to get that mailer in your customers’ mailboxes, you’ll be paying building leases, business loan payments, utility bills, payroll and all the rest – all without any revenue to offset those expenses.

It can be frustrating, but it certainly will be less frustrating if you build a business plan realistically and raise capital accordingly.

“It’s better to tie up capital in a cash reserve than to have an inadequately funded business plan,” says Bolema.

As in life, there is plenty of uncertainty in business. So hope for the best and plan sensibly, including how long things will take, not just how much they will cost.

One possible choice is a “safe haven” asset such as physical gold. Gold can act as a potential hedge against inflation and a falling dollar and is often an asset of choice during tumultuous economic and political times.

What to Ask
Before getting into the gold market, however, there are a number of key questions about your goals, your present portfolio and the economic environment you may want to consider first. For example:

Does your overall investment portfolio include assets that provide a potential hedge against inflation and a falling dollar? According to the U.S. Dollar Index, the dollar has lost 37 percent of its value since 2001 and that decrease may continue based on current monetary policy. If you are concerned about future inflation and the weakening dollar, it is worth considering gold.

Will having a physical asset-something you can hold in your hand-provide you with greater comfort about your portfolio? Gold has intrinsic value.

Are you in a position to invest in gold for the long term? Gold needs to be treated as a long-term investment: one with a three- to five-year—or, better yet, five- to 10-year—time horizon. You should be prepared to hold the investment for that long without liquidating it, although markets may dictate a longer or shorter holding period.

What’s the right amount of gold to own? Gold should be viewed as a diversification strategy, not a “bet the ranch” strategy. It’s prudent to allocate 5 to 20 percent of a total portfolio to gold, though others may recommend a different allocation.

Would you like to hold physical gold-such as coins or bullion-in your IRA? Physical gold can help diversify an IRA just as it can help diversify any other portfolio.

Is it the right time to buy gold? “A number of analysts continue to see a bullish trend for the price of gold, but we do not believe it’s wise to try to ‘time the market’ for gold,” said Scott Carter, CEO of Goldline International, a leading source of physical precious metals. “If you can treat gold as a long-term component of a larger investment portfolio, now could be a good time to get started,” he added.

Free Kit
To get a free gold investor kit and read important risk disclosures, visit http://www.goldline.com/learnmore. Goldline recommends that you review its account and storage agreement and risk disclosure booklet, “Coin Facts for Investors and Collectors to Consider” (both available in Goldline’s Investor Kit and website), before purchasing. All investments, including coins, currency and bullion, involve risk and past performance does not guarantee future results.

Many banks offer financial alerts to customers for no additional fees and deliver them by text, e-mail or both. There may be a carrier cost associated with receiving the alert on a mobile phone, but that fee is charged by the customer’s mobile carrier.

Manage Your Money
If you have multiple financial accounts, such as a checking account with a linked debit card, major credit card, student loan or mortgage, financial alerts can help you monitor activities in each and every one. Banks can notify you daily, for example, when:

• A transaction on your credit card is above a threshold clear, such as $50;
• A credit card bill is due;
• Your CD account will mature; and
• Your payment to your mortgage account is due.

If you are a parent, you can monitor the accounts of your children. Financial alerts may be particularly useful for parents who have students away at college.

To learn more about alerts from Wells Fargo, visit https://www.wellsfargo.com/wfonline/messages.

Protect Your Money
Credit card fraud is an increasing problem and alerts can help.

Rapid Alerts by Wells Fargo let customers monitor their Wells Fargo Visa® credit card account activity and are typically sent near real-time of a completed transaction. Rapid Alerts are triggered when the transaction meets certain criteria previously selected by the card holder and delivered via text message or e-mail.

For example, if a customer requests notifications for foreign transactions, Rapid Alert messages can contain the amount, time and date of the transaction, as well as currency conversion and information relating to the merchant. Customers can also choose to be alerted when credit card payments are declined, which helps remind them of recurring payments they may have forgotten to update due to a reissued, lost or stolen card.

To learn more about Wells Fargo’s Rapid Alerts, visit http://www.wellsfargo.com/rapidalerts.

However, the survey, conducted quarterly by Javelin Strategy & Research, also has good news.

“In spite of the difficult economy, Gen Y is engaging in smart financial behavior to help build their better future,” says David Shapiro, senior vice president, Western Union. “This survey shows Gen Y using tools such as online banking and online bill pay to manage their budget and credit standing.”

Here are some tips to get you started:

Credit and Debt Game Plan:
Establish the Base. Open a bank account, and start saving and paying down debt: online banking, online bill payment, automatic deduction and mobile banking are helpful tools.

Establish a Budget. Check out online budget management tools to get your budget started. Also check the applications available for smart phones.

Establish Credit. Approximately 30 percent of your credit score is based on bill payment history. Look into scheduling automatic payments through your banks or biller.

Establish Credit — Part II. Even if it’s just one bill payment, establish credit in your name.

Check Your Credit Scores. Know how to obtain your credit scores and read them. Forty percent of Gen Y-ers have not seen their credit scores in the past year, and 44 percent have never seen them. Check sources such as http://annualcreditreport.com and http://myfico.com for how-to’s.

Set up an Emergency Fund. Set up an automatic rainy-day savings plan now.

Work It Both Ways. Understand there are two paths to financial success. Make more money and save it. Or spend less money and save it. Or do both.

That could be because many of us don’t fully grasp the mechanics of credit scores and credit reports. You may realize that having good credit can profoundly affect your financial health, but you may not be sure how to take control of your credit.

Fortunately, it’s not difficult to demystify credit management. A few simple steps can put you on track to take control of your credit this year.

Know where you stand
Your first step toward a healthier credit future is to get a clear perspective on where you are now. If you haven’t looked at your credit report in a while, now is the time. Websites like http://CreditReport.com allow you to obtain and review your credit report – a move that can empower you to make better financial decisions. You’ll get your free credit score as a reward for enrolling in Experian’s credit monitoring product, a membership that can help keep you abreast of changes – both good and bad – in your credit report and score.

By monitoring your credit report and score on a regular basis, you’ll be better equipped to make financial decisions, and will be more aware of your ability to use credit. Get educated on what’s on a credit report and how credit bureaus use that information to calculate your credit score. Generally, credit reports include detailed information of an individual’s payment history with various creditors. Among other factors, bureaus consider three key things when calculating your score – the length of time you’ve had credit, the ratio of available credit to credit used, and if you pay your bills on time.

Manage your debt
At a time when debt is high in many American households, it may be difficult to remember that not all debt is bad. Debt that is secured by a tangible asset, such as a home loan, or that builds your family’s future, like a college loan, can be good debt as long as you manage it wisely. When looking for a mortgage or college loan, start out by knowing your credit score, then shop around for the best rate and terms. And be sure to avoid borrowing more than you can comfortably repay.

Pay down credit card debt, which is generally perceived as higher-risk – and higher interest – debt. Avoid using credit cards to pay for things that you should be paying cash for, such as groceries, utilities, restaurant meals or vacations. If you use credit for these things, which rapidly get consumed, and you can’t pay off your bill in full right away, you could wind up in debt very quickly.

If you already have credit card debt, never pay just the minimum balance due each month; it would take years to pay off just a few thousand dollars at that rate and you’ll pay much more in interest than the amount you originally borrowed. Always pay more than the minimum, and concentrate on paying off cards or loans with the highest interest rate first.

One exception to the pay-it-off quick rule may be your mortgage. If you’re able to make your monthly mortgage payments without struggling, concentrate on paying off other, higher interest, unsecured debt first. The interest you pay on your mortgage may be tax deductible, but the interest you pay on credit cards is definitely not. If your mortgage’s interest rate is high, look into refinancing to lower the rate.

Between closing your books on 2010 and preparing for 2011′s tax season, knowing how creditors and others perceive your business may not be top of mind. Yet, now is the perfect time to verify the information in your business credit report and update it with current and relevant facts about your growing business.

It can help you better prepare your business for the coming year. The credit experts at Experian offer some insight into the factors that affect your small business credit report and business credit score, and why it’s important to your business.

Why it matters
Does your business credit report really matter? Absolutely. It paints a picture of your small business for the world to see. Outdated or incorrect information can give the wrong impression about your business, resulting in unfavorable decisions by potential lenders and creditors – which can negatively impact your bottom line. Plus, anyone, including partners and investors, can view your business credit report for any reason.

If your business has grown or changed over the last year, it’s important to update the data reflected in your report and know the score. There are several factors that make up a business credit score, including but not limited to previous payment history, industry type and business size.

An accurate business credit report and a good business credit score can:

Save you money because lenders usually offer their best interest rates to businesses with good credit.

• Reduce your personal liability and protect your personal assets by enabling you to obtain business credit without the need for a personal guarantee.
• Help you offer your customers competitive prices by passing your interest savings on to them, while still keeping a larger margin of profit for yourself.
• Get you the money and capital you need to keep your business running.

What’s on your report?
Your business credit report provides an up-to-date, objective overview of your business and how it manages financial obligations. It can include information on your payment history, public records about your business, background on the company, collections information and comparative information that places your business payment history in context with your industry.

You can find out how your business compares to others like it across the nation in terms of business credit with an interactive map by visiting http://www.businesscreditfacts.com/map.

Managing and monitoring
Web-based services are a great way to monitor and manage your business credit report. Sites like http://SmartBusinessReports.com and http://Experian.com/SmallBusinessCredit not only allow you to view your own business credit report and score, but also provide useful information on how Experian arrives at your credit score and how your business practices affect your score and report. These sites also allow you to check the business credit of your suppliers, customers, prospects, partners and competitors.

Your business credit information is as important to your business’ financial health as your personal credit information is to your ability to borrow money privately. While you’re wrapping up last year’s financial matters and preparing for the coming year, now is a good time to think about your business credit and how you’ll manage it throughout the new year.

TD Bank, which conducted the survey, asked small business owners across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions how they believe 2010 will compare to 2009.

Some 66 percent of small business owners said the recession has had some level of negative effect on their business, with 23 percent rating the impact as very negative.

For the one-quarter of business owners who said they have not been adversely affected by the recession, some 29 percent of them identified streamlining costs as a huge factor in their success.

And as businesses head toward the end of 2010 and look forward to the coming year, nearly half of business owners surveyed identify their overall goal as, quite simply, to save more and spend less.

“Simple,” perhaps in concept anyway. To successfully curb spending, one has to analyze costs and expenses and scrutinize business activities to identify potential money cyphoners. Then, it is a matter of making educated decisions about what can be cut, what should be cut and by how much. There is a fine line between reducing spending and taking drastic action that will severely diminish a company’s quality of service, effectiveness and overall operations.

To help initiate cost-cutting within the company, consider these ideas:

Set up corporate travel plans with car rental companies, hotels and airlines. Even small businesses can earn rewards and get fixed pricing. Also, the fee, often just $20, for a travel agent is less expensive than having an employee take time from his regular duties to look for the best rates online and, in the process, perhaps not realize hidden charges.  An $80,000 per year employee that takes more then five minutes to book flight is a loss.

Sometimes service contracts have great flat fee unlimited service, but if you look at how much service has been performed during the past three years, you can get an idea of what is better – $10,000 per year service on a machine or $150 per hour to fix it. If you have had only one or two problems per year and the vendor spent five hours each time for repair work, it might be worth the risk to save the money and pay whenever the equipment breaks instead of going with a service contract.

Having employees expense their personal cell phones is a bad idea for two reasons. First, your company does not get as good a price as with a bulk plan. Second, if the employee leaves and/or tries to start his own company, he retains the telephone number that all of your clients have to reach that now former employee.

Be aware of automatic renewals on leased business equipment. Such contracts, when they expire, roll over into new yearly or multi-year contracts without negotiation of length of contract or terms, potentially leaving you with a longer and/or more expensive contract than you could have secured through negotiations or price shopping.

As a couple of these examples touch on, a key in a cost-reduction effort is to review for billing errors, cost reductions and refunds all accounts for which the company receives recurring bills – utilities, telecommunications, waste removal and/or janitorial services, property tax bills, workers’ compensation plans, cable/satellite TV, for example.

It can be a daunting task, but consultants are available to lend their time and expertise to support the process. And, consultants have at their fingertips benchmark pricing. Thus, a business owner may believe he or she is getting the best rate the company has ever gotten from a vendor but that same business owner may not know what pricing the business owner down the street is getting. The consultant is able to make knowledge-based comparisons.

And finding a refund on a past payment, for example, is cash in the business’s pocket and can be categorized as pure profit. Finding just $5,000 per month becomes $60,000 per year and $300,000 over five years. The new found cash can easily translate into the cost of hiring a new employee, adding and/or upgrading equipment or making other major purchases.

With minimal staff involvement, giving the consultant an opportunity to discover hidden monies for the business and with a structure such that if no savings are found, no consulting cost is billed makes the endeavor worthwhile. Simply choose carefully to find this type of structured agreement.

About the author:
Dan Schneider is founder of SIB Development & Consulting, a cost recovery and expense reduction firm. Its goal is to cut operating costs for businesses of all sizes and industries across the U.S. A high school dropout, Schneider has overcome many obstacles to become the successful business owner he is today. Schneider lives in Charleston, S.C. For more information, visit http://www.sibdevelopment.com.

There are many ways to get in on this growing opportunity to become an entrepreneur-and a surprising reason.

Doing Well And Doing Good
In some cases, you can not only make money, set your own hours and maintain your independence, you can help others as well. That’s because of another trend in business: the emergence of entrepreneurs taking social responsibility to new levels. These forward-thinking business owners have woven the concept of “giving” into the very fabric of their companies from day one. While it’s generally expected that companies make charitable donations once they have made it big, it takes an entirely different mind-set to create a profitable business model strategically based on the premise of helping others.

For example, one cause-oriented, for-profit business has expanded this concept further by putting giving power in the hands of its customers.

Specializing in the in-home purchase of precious metals, the company donates a minimum of 2.5 percent of all purchases to charitable organizations selected by party hostesses. As a result, in just two years, it’s given more than half a million dollars to thousands of charities across the country.

The expertly trained professional buyers who join Golden Girls are given the latest technology to assess, measure and certify the gold they purchase.

Charities across North America can use gold-buying parties as fundraising opportunities for their members, supporters and other contacts. These organizations can even create a network of parties to maximize their rewards.

Learn More
For more information on how to host a party or train to become a buyer, plus learn about other ways to make money, visit http://www.golddoesgood.com.

Small business owners have been hearing about the economic recovery for months.

Nonetheless, as a small business owner you can take steps to prepare for improving conditions and ensure your business recovers quickly.

Seshadri offers five tips for small business owners looking to take recovery into their own hands:

Keep track of all funds that come into or go out of your business on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. “It’s surprising how much value business owners find when they focus on their expenditures and revenues,” Seshadri says. Tracking expenses, sales, inventory and revenue is vital to good cash flow management and helps you grow your business. Knowing how much your business spends and how much it brings in each month gives you a true picture of just how well the company is performing.

Make the most of marketing, from advertising and public relations to special promotions, discounts and social media. When the economy suffers, it’s more important than ever to continue marketing efforts, experts say. And marketing isn’t always about spending money. Consider connecting with referrals using low-cost channels and experimenting in new areas – have your tried YouTube? Have you tried Social Networking? If you cut back on marketing but your competitors do not, you leave a void they can easily step into. Continuing marketing efforts through a downturn can help ensure your business is front-of-mind when the economy improves and customers start spending more money.

Find a great financial advisor. Many small business owners turn to their accountants or their peers for advice. Some consult professionals, or network at their local chamber of commerce. Others rely on their small business banker. “Every community has advisors for small businesses,” says Seshadri. “It’s important to find an experienced, qualified advisor you can trust.”

Find a great bank that will work with you. Business banking is about building relationships. A small business owner with a long-standing relationship with a bank can take full advantage of its products and services as well as bring a proven track record to help the bank make credit decisions.

Stand out with customer service. It’s a complaint you hear from all quarters these days – no one seems to care about customer service anymore. Caring about customers and treating them with respect can help ensure they keep coming back to your business. Teach employees how to provide excellent customer service, and make sure you lead by example. In addition to courteous, prompt service, consider showing customers your appreciation through special promotions and loyalty rewards programs.

“Small business owners don’t have to wait for the recovery to arrive; they can create their own recovery by taking the right steps toward improving their business operations,” Seshadri says.

To learn more about how banking products and services can help improve your small business, visit http://www.citibank.com.

- Courtesy ARA

When it comes to making money on the Internet, one of the best ways to create an income is to monetize your blog.

Pay Per Click

There are different programs out there where you get paid when someone clicks on a link.  One such program is Google Adsense, which can easily be added to any blog out there.  You can have it display text ads, banner ads or a combination of these methods.  You can also change the size of the ads, where they display on the blog, and you can change the color scheme so that the ads match your blog.  You can also have your Adsense post to your RSS feed to increase your exposure on it.

Adsense is not the only program like this; you can sign up with several others.   It is best if you already have an established blog before trying to sign up, as these companies do have to approve you.  It can also take a while before you reach payout levels with these programs.  Make sure you check out AdBrite, Chikita, BidVertiser and Yahoo Publisher.

Direct Ads

There are many websites out there that allow people to buy advertising space on their websites or blogs.  This is a service that you could provide on your blog.  How you work this depends on you, you could charge for an ad of a certain size, timeframe or anything else that may work for you.  Check out similar sites to see what types of amounts they charge.  In order to get traffic, you will have to provide value on your site, or else why would people come view your site and then click on a link?

Affiliate Marketing

Many people choose to get into affiliate marketing as a way to get income from their blog.  You can either provide just a link for people to buy the product, and you get a cut, or you may want to write a review, or focus your whole blog on the product, depending on what it is.

Promote Your Own Product

Quite often people create a blog because it allows them to promote your own product, and a blog tends to be more casual and flowing than a website.  You can use your blog to post about all the benefits of your blog, and then include a link directly to being able to purchase the item, and increase your sales.

Paid to Write

Another method of getting paid to blog, is to write content for others.  One of the biggest reasons that a blog fails is that the owner does not have time to provide content.  Offer your services to assist with this aspect, and you will be paid to blog.

While some people have a hard time understanding how a blog can be profitable and help you earn money, with these steps you can start your career of making money with a blog.  At first it may take a while, but as you get established and experienced, you should see your income increase.

About the Authors:

Lena Morrish and Dima Nikolayenko are webmasters and spend most of their time helping people in building a home Internet business. Find clear guidelines on how to make a profitable website in their FREE e-mail course “7 Vital Facts You Must Know Before Starting an Internet Business.”