The business you choose should fit the way you like to work, what you’re good at and the kind of company you want to run. This infographic breaks that down into four founder types that will help you whittle down your choices and pick the best fit.

Turns out, a lot of people are jumping into the entrepreneurial game this year. Maybe it's the job market, AI anxiety or people wanting to be their own boss. Whatever the reasons, they’re driving up the startup numbers: → Americans filed 531,423 business applications in June alone, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. → Total filings for the first half of 2026 exceeded three million. → We’re on pace to finish the year with more than 6 million new applications, up from about

A couple of weeks ago, the SBA snuck out an announcement that you may have missed. It seems eligible businesses can now borrow up to $10 million by combining the agency's 7(a) and 504 loan programs. It's been about 16 years since the SBA last adjusted those combined borrowing limits, so this is a pretty big deal. Under the previous policy, using one program reduced the amount available through the other, effectively capping the combined total at $5 million. Qualified busi

NerdWallet is always a good resource when you’re trying to sort through money questions, including how to fund a new business. In How to Fund Your Business Idea, it lays out some of the top small business funding options and who they’re best for. I used the resource as a jumping-off point for this breakdown, then narrowed it to six potential funding paths for founders. The right fit depends on your company's current status, how quickly you need money and how much debt, risk o

When you write a business plan, there’s always this temptation to just file it away and get going on your daily task list. Then one day you wake up and it’s five years later, you haven’t looked at your plan since the month you founded your company, and you’re wondering why growth has stagnated. Business plans are working documents that require regular attention, updates and adjustments. You can use yours to guide daily decisions, navigate roadblocks, find new customer segme

Research shows that somewhere around 38% of startups rely on friends and family for funding. But don’t just leave these deals to a verbal agreement or a handshake over the Thanksgiving dinner table. Take the time to structure them right. From The Business Money Blueprint. Find it on Amazon.

Angel investors, venture capital firms, strategic investors and equity crowdfunding investors offer money and connections. Some may also expect faster business growth, more involvement or a larger ownership stake in the company. When someone invests in your business, they usually expect ownership, input, information and a return on their investment. Before you start pitching, know what you need, what you’re offering and how much control you’re willing to share. Ask yourse

If you're looking for the right business to start this year, the choices can get overwhelming fast. Should you launch a coffee cart? Go all-in on e-commerce? Start mobile auto detailing on the weekends? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce just published a list of 50 business ideas, and I went through it to find the ones that skip the "build it and they will come" gamble because customers are already looking for them. Eight made my cut, and I'm sure there are some here you may not

One of the biggest obstacles standing between a viable idea and an operating business is money. A lot of new founders think they need a lot to even get started, that they’ll need more as their companies grow, and that they can’t possibly consider entrepreneurship unless they have ample funds. I dispel some of these myths in my new book The Business Money Blueprint , which explains the full gamut of financing, from shoestring budgets to bartering your services to crowdfundin

The right funding is out there for your business. Let's find the one that works best for you.

A lot of businesses get started with way less money than you’d think. They bootstrap, get resourceful and tap into the people and support systems they already have. About 42% of the roughly 35 million small businesses nationwide started with less than $5,000 in capital, according to SCORE. So yeah, you don’t need a pile of cash, but you have to be willing to work from the ground up. Here’s one way to do it: start with the barest version of your business and your minimum viabl

When I sat down to write the third book in my business startup series, The Small Business Growth Blueprint , I wanted to dig down into what it really takes to keep clients for life in this fast-moving digital world. You know the one, where your next competitor is a screen tap away and it’s easy for customer to move on. I did some research and also reflected on a few of my own long-standing client relationships to come up with a list of must-haves for successful client retenti

Revenue gets unpredictable when customers don’t stick around. In my new book, The Small Business Growth Blueprint , I show you how to create the follow-up, communication and value systems that keep them coming back again and again.

Most service businesses don't lose clients over one major mistake or miscommunication. They lose them gradually, when small things slip and nobody catches it in time. This week's infographic pulls straight from The Small Business Growth Blueprint and gives you five signs to watch for before a good client relationship starts to unravel. Preview the book on Amazon → https://a.co/d/0dWo9QfP

Most businesses don't lose customers all at once. They just kind of slink away quietly in the space between the sale and the follow-up that never comes. But it doesn't have to be that way. Here's a quick gut check right out of my new book, The Small Business Growth Blueprint: How to Grow Your Business and Turn Customers Into Lifelong Fans , the newest addition to my small business startup collection. Run through these five and be honest with yourself. If any of them hit

A lot of people want a side business but aren't sure where to start. Here's a simple filter you can use before putting time & resources into an idea.

I'm putting the finishing touches on my new book, The Business Money Blueprint: How to Find Funding, Close the Deal and Act on Your Plan and getting ready to hand it off to my copyeditor, but I wanted to share a sneak peek into the self-funding chapter. Along with the usual suspects (like your own savings, credit cards, friends & family, etc.) I dug around and found enough "options most people overlook” to fill a whole chapter. Here are five that don’t require a “yes” from a

I was reading Forbes Careers Newsletter the other day and this stat caught my eye: 62% of workers either already have a side hustle going or are planning to launch one. That's a lot of people out there hustling on the side, but it makes sense at a time when we can all use some extra cash and the job market is a bit shaky (on a good day). Of course, having a side hustle and running a profitable business are two very different things. One supplements your income while you keep

Self-funding doesn't have to mean emptying your savings account. You can bootstrap your company using strategies most entrepreneurs overlook. Some are unconventional. Some require creativity. None of them require a massive bank balance or perfect credit score. Here are six: Vendor credit or payment terms. Most suppliers offer net-30, net-60 or even net-90 payment terms. Translation: you get the inventory or materials now and pay later. This keeps more cash in your pocket upf

Every so often, startup culture declares a new “right way” to become an entrepreneur. Raise venture capital, disrupt something, copy something that’s already working…the list goes on and you get the picture. Now that the pendulum is swinging again, millennials are choosing where to step off instead of hanging on for the full ride. A recent Entrepreneur article says more millennials are skipping the startup grind altogether and buying existing businesses instead. The approach