| The Intersect Fund Helps Startups Get Off Their Feet Posted: 10 Jun 2009 02:31 PM PDT  Without the money and knowledge it takes to get started, a good idea will take you nowhere. It’s not hard to have an idea, it’s going the next step with it that takes the time and risk required to succeed.
For those in need, The Intersect Fund is there to help. They make it possible for low-income business owners to seek the seed money, consultations, and training they require to succeed. What is The Intersect Fund? The Intersect Fund is a microenterprise development group that empowers entrepreneurs in America’s urban centers. We offer business training, consultations and seed capital to low-income business owners. Our staff consists entirely of university students, so we deliver our services at an affordable price with low overhead. We are a 501 (c)(3), tax-exempt, non-profit organization.
What does it do? We offer a suite of services for people who are starting or expanding a microbusiness (a business with five or fewer employees). Our target market is people who lack the resources to gain formal training in business fundamentals and those unable to secure sufficient seed capital to take their businesses to the next level.
When was it launched? We devised the concept in the fall 2007 and began serving clients in November 2008. Since then, we have worked with approximately three dozen clients, have recruited 20 staff members, and raised about $125,00 from diverse sources including earned income, individual contributions and foundation grants.
What was the inspiration for it? A friend of mine, Rohan Mathew, and I had been working as editors for the The Daily Targum, the student newspaper of Rutgers University. We had both written about the city of New Brunswick (where Rutgers is located) and developed an understanding of the city’s two sides. On one side was a lot of economic redevelopment. New restaurants, buildings hotels and high-rise apartment buildings were springing up, bringing in new business and revenue to the city. On the other side was a large population struggling to make ends meet. These are the people who are working as busboys and dishwashers at some of the city’s most expensive hotels and restaurants. They are the backbone of economic redevelopment, but they reap few of its benefits. Rohan and I wanted to figure out how we, as college students, could help make better lives for themselves. We found out that many of them have small businesses on the side. They are cooks, cleaners, bakers, hairdressers, handymen, and much more. The main motivation for these entrepreneurs is a second source of income. Often, these people are exercising their true passions in life through these small businesses. Many of the people we found are excellent at providing a certain product or service. The problem is that they often lack the business knowledge necessary to run their enterprises efficiently. To address this issue, we created a crash course in business basics. Over the course of eight weeks, our instructors cover topics such as budgeting, managing cash flow, marketing, taxes, and registering a business. We ask our clients to step back and evaluate their businesses, to make sure they are engaging in the necessary planning and preparation to ensure as high a chance of success as possible. The other problem facing the entrepreneurs we work with is access to capital. Because many of these people lack collateral or a good credit rating, a bank loan is out of the question. Also, securing commercial capital requires compiling years of detailed financial records, which many of our clients are unable to do. We provide small loans through a peer-lending system: groups of our entrepreneurs work together developing each other’s business plans, and the ability of one entrepreneur to get a loan depends on his group members’ paying back the ones they have taken out. We try to build a sense of community among the entrepreneurs we work with, and our staff members provide the personal attention necessary to ensure our clients get as much out of our programming and funding as possible.
What are your requirements for those who can receive your help? Our services are open to everyone, but targeted toward traditionally underserved groups such as Latinos, African Americans, ex-offenders and the disabled. The business training course costs $100, with scholarships available for low-income clients.
How does someone apply? Entrepreneurs interested in our services are welcome to contact us (joe.shure@intersectfund.org) or visit our website for more information (www.intersectfund.org). At the moment, the bulk of the services we offer are available to residents of Central New Jersey. But we are looking to expand elsewhere in the Northeast and, eventually, nationwide.
During the creation of The Intersect Fund and after, what lessons has the experience taught you? One of the most important things we have gained from the experience is that price equals value. When we started our training course, we offered it for free. Big mistake. We didn’t attract many clients, and few of the ones we did recruit applied themselves to the program. That’s when we decided to begin charging for our training program. The program is still affordable to the clients we target, but we can convey to them that getting started in business requires putting some skin in the game. The more of a personal commitment we require, the more our clients gain from the course.
Do you have any pieces of advice that you’d like to share with entrepreneurs that are just getting started? I would have to say to think big, and try not to let your limitations hinder you. As a student-run operation, we had to work hard to prove our credibility. Fundraising was a big challenge at first, as was proving to the community that we could offer something of value to low-income entrepreneurs. But we kept developing our product and our pitch until we had something we were really excited to offer to the public. Along the way, a couple of funders and community partners took a chance on us. We got some seed capital of our own, and we hosted our first series of classes. This helped us build the momentum necessary to expand. Eventually, we developed a base of satisfied customers and a roster of prominent donors. There is still a lot to be done, but the services we offer are needed now more than ever.
From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| YouTube Says You Can Make Money On YouTube Posted: 10 Jun 2009 11:11 AM PDT 
AppScout:
A few years ago Michael Buckley was just a guy with a job. In his spare time he hosted a show on the local cable TV public access channel. Like most public access shows the audience was less than massive and the pay–well, there was no pay. And then, in one of those lucky chances, his cousin decided to post some bits from his shows on YouTube. Michael Buckley doesn’t go to the office any more. He’s quit that job. Nowadays he’s a big YouTube star and making pretty good money doing it! The New York Times places his yearly YouTube take north of $100,000. All this for an enterprise broadcast from his second bedroom in front of a piece of green cloth. Impressive. What the Buck is the most popular entertainment show on YouTube with over 430,000 subscribers, 150 million views. He occasionally covers sports and politics but would much rather talk about what happened on The Hills. So, does Michael Buckley know how to make the secret sauce and can he give the recipe to you? YouTube and Michael seem to think so because they’ve had him create “The Secrets to Michael Buckley’s Success,” a 27 minute lecture on how he did it. It’s pretty good and he’s very entertaining. He answers the top-10 questions sent by other YouTube users. Photo by YouTube.
From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| Money Saving Tips Posted: 10 Jun 2009 10:40 AM PDT 
 photo credit: Ken Wilcox.
In business and even life in general we are always looking for new ways to cut down on costs and save some more moeny. This is especially true today in our troubled economy, we could all use money saving ideas right now. Below are a few tips on saving money that was recently talked about on National Spending Journal. Shoeboxed does the grunt work so its users can efficiently manage their expenses and safely claim the deductions that they have been missing all of these years, automatically saving them time and money. A little bit of organization goes a long way, especially in this economy.
Explore the Black Box, this is the time between you noticing a product and the time when you actually purchase it, about a 15 second interval. So it stands to reason that even in business when purchasing new equipment, office supplies, etc. if you took an extra 15 seconds to think about it, you may find that you really don’t need it. Always remember that the best things in life are free! That’s right, take advantage of what is out there free of charge. Rather than purchasing every business book known to man, join your library and rent them. Sign up for services online that are free and there to help you with your business decisions and tasks. How do you save money in your business? From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| Move Over Craig, Here Comes Jimbob’s List Posted: 10 Jun 2009 10:10 AM PDT 
WCIV.com:
A new website is shaking up the online community. Jim Bob's List may give popular online advertising website Craigslist a run for its money. "Jim Bob is kind of the epitome of a good old boy, a country boy kind of name," Mark Tims, Founder of JimBobsList said. Timms says he created the site to serve rural communities, a group left out by Craigslist. He then chose what he considers a suitable name. Photo by JimBobsList.
From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| Better Results Posted: 10 Jun 2009 09:39 AM PDT 
photo credit: jamuraa
A recent short article was posted on Office Hero Headquarters regarding questions that one should ask themselves when trying to obtain better results. This can pertain to both personal and business life goals, whatever the goal is big or small, always ask yourself the following questions and your sure to acheive better results than before. What do we really want and what is the value of the overall purpose? You should always start with exactly where you are planning to go and what you ultimately want to end up with after your goal is met, it makes the road to your goal that much easier. What are the high-leverage activities I need to do everyday to impact my results?
What do i need to do in order to help get everyone else on board with the plan? Yes, first and foremost you are the most important person in line of order, but next are your employees. If you are the only one on board with the current goal and plan on reaching the goal, it doesn’t do you or the company very much good now does it? Do you have anything to add to the list of questions? From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| Hot In Recession: Chocolate, Running Shoes, Spam Posted: 10 Jun 2009 09:09 AM PDT 
Associated Press:
It’s not all doom and gloom in the U.S. economy. Some products are bucking the recession and flying off store shelves. Sales of chocolate and running shoes are up. Wine drinkers haven’t stopped sipping; they just seem to be choosing cheaper vintages. Gold coins are selling like hot cakes. So are gardening seeds. Tanning products are piling up in shopping carts; maybe more people are finding color in a bottle than from sun-worshipping on a faraway beach. Strong sales of Spam, Dinty Moore stew and chili helped Hormel Foods Corp. post a 6 percent increase in first quarter sales in its grocery products unit. Consumers have trimmed household budgets and postponed buying cars, major appliances and other big-ticket items. Yet they still are willing to shell out for small indulgences and goods that make life more comfortable at home, where they are spending more time. Recession shoppers also are drawn to items that make them feel safe, both personally and financially. Photo by Associated Press.
From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| Should You Quit Your Day Job Posted: 10 Jun 2009 08:38 AM PDT 
photo credit: fuzzcat
Today many many people are contemplating leaving their 9-5 day job and starting their own business, intrigued by the many benefits of owning your own business, it is almost seen as a salvation. But, with owning your own business, you have to consider all of the numerous aspects. All of the thing’s that you do in your day job, times them by about 10 or 20 and you will have how many tasks you will now encounter with your own business. Many people find themselves missing their fellow co-workers, friends and interaction that they had during their day job. Your day job currently does provide you with a steady lifestyle, meaning you always know what amount your pay check is going to be, where as working on your own there is no guarantee of the income. You now will be the boss making all of the important decisions, handling all of the crisis’s and more, is that something that you are comfortable doing everyday? When making this decision to start a new business you must remember that you will be in charge of taking all the risks and accepting the outcome of those. You also will be in charge of making sure that your business plan is put into action with the proper funding behind it as well, stated recently on SmallBizBee.com. The decision to quit your job goes a lot farther than just coming up with a good business idea. And as you can see there is a lot to think about.
From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| Americans Are Saving More Money Posted: 10 Jun 2009 08:08 AM PDT 
MSN Money:
All it took was a financial crisis followed by a recession to get Americans to start pocketing their cash. Americans are saving more money now than at any time since February 1995, The Wall Street Journal reports. According to the Commerce Department, personal saving rose to 5.7% of after-tax income in April. That’s up from 4.5% in March. A year ago, the savings rate was a big fat zero. President Obama’s stimulus package helped, as it started adding a few more dollars in most Americans’ weekly paychecks. This switch to saving would make your mother proud. But is increased saving actually a good thing? More spending is what will help jump-start the economy, and all this saving — while good for personal bank accounts — could be getting in the way of a recovery. Keep in mind that the credit markets have a direct impact on the savings rate as well. More credit means more spending and less saving. The credit markets have dried up, and more saving is a natural result of that. Photo by dlnny.
From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| When To Go Off Duty Posted: 10 Jun 2009 07:37 AM PDT 
photo credit: Jasoon
With the way the economy is today, and customers becoming more picky as to where they do business, it is understandable that business owners tend to feel like they need to be on call for their customers 24/7. With today’s technology it is possible to receive emails via your cell phone, have calls forwarded to your cell phone and home, etc. However, this tends to create numerous problems for the owner such as resentment towards their business and clients, tiredness, irritability and a constant feeling of never having a break. It is important to tend to your business and customers, but it is even more so important that you tend to yourself and give yourself a break every now and then. If you are not in tip top shape, neither will your business be. Simply figure out a reasonable load of hour’s of operation, and display them clearly in your store, your business contracts and more. Leave detailed outgoing messages as to when you will be returning to the office so that your clients know when to expect you back, as suggested on FrontLineResultsBlog.com. Of course there will be occasions when you may need to take an urgent call outside of business hours, but these should be the exception rather than the rule!
How do you balance your time in the office and at home? From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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| It’s Official: Internet Is Part Of Daily Life Posted: 10 Jun 2009 07:07 AM PDT 
USA TODAY:
According to a new report by the Census Bureau, Internet use tripled from 1997 to 2007. Sixty-two percent of U.S. households used the Internet from home; 18% did that in 1997. Among those using the Internet in 2007, 82% did so using a high-speed connection. Just 17% used dial-up. The rapid rise of broadband shows how quickly a ubiquitous technology like dial-up, which ruled the online world in the 1990s, can become outmoded, says Morton O’Kelly, chairman of Ohio State University’s department of geography. • Mississippi and West Virginia had some of the lowest rates of Internet use in 2007 — around 52%. Alaska and New Hampshire, where people live in a handful of cities, were among the highest, 76.1% and 74.6%, respectively. • For individuals 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree, 87% used the Internet. • Those without a high school diploma: 19%. • 69% of whites lived in a home with Internet use; so did 73% of Asians, 51% of blacks and 48% of Hispanics. Photo by scataudo.
From Business Opportunities Weblog. 
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