Have you forgotten what you love?

When you first opened for business, you might have been full of passion.

You may have had the world at your feet.

And now?

Have you lost that lovin’ feeling?

There’s really no point in doing something you don’t love, especially if you are the one at the helm.

You’re the captain: you have to lead others.

You can’t be “iffy” or bored.

If you don’t love what you’ve chosen as a career, you run the risk of failure.

For, only when we have our hearts in what we do is ultimate success a possibility.

Lacking inspiration?

Find airtimes for a show that will inspire you to grow your business.

You heard right.

You spend hours a day on the internet, but did you ever consider learning about business from a television show?

Small Business School airs on KQED several times a week.

It’s a show that focuses on various factors of starting and running your own business.

Guests include real people with real stories of how they became successes.

Check it out. You could end up learning a lot from just one episode.

And who knows? You may just be the next guest star.

Starting from the ground up, you are going to need assistance.

Before hiring a bunch of extra help, look to your family.

Chances are there is someone just a telephone call away that would be eager to help you build your small business.

Relatives are great that way.

Best of all, they won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

Even if you decide to pay your family for their help, it will cost you a whole lot less than hiring professionals.

Not to say you have to keep these relatives on, and include them in the payroll, but for an extra hand here and there…there really is no better way to get the job done while saving some pennies.

Does it seem like business owners are getting younger and younger?

It’s true: there is a ton of young talent out there.

But, for the older, wiser, more experienced entrepreneur, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

You’ve spent a lot of time learning from your elders. Now switch directions and take a shot at learning from your juniors.

Pairing up with a younger partner may be a good idea.

Fresh ideas, new points of view…

It’s not as though an older, more seasoned business owner can’t be innovative. But two heads are better than one.

Bounce ideas off each other and you’ll benefit from one another’s unique viewpoints.

Most importantly, don’t feel threatened by the new generation of entrepreneurial trends. Instead, watch and observe.

After all, the learning process never ends. No matter how old (or young) you are.

There’s something about adding a little sparkle to your business that gets things moving again.

Hey, even faithful customers get bored.

The trick is to find a balance between incorporating too much shiny new stuff and keeping the traditional, comfortable and reliable feel of your place that patrons have come to trust.

After all, too much of a good thing can quickly turn bad.

While everyone likes a little change now and then, many people will agree that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Start small. A new and improved sign, even. An updated window dressing. A new menu item. Anything that catches the eye.

Don’t rearrange your store in one overdone step. Go slowly to avoid confusion.

You can give your place of business a face lift…just don’t schedule a nose job and a chin tuck on the same day!

For the business novice, money is a never-ending concern.

Isn’t it always?

But, for the startup - the one just getting off the ground - money is a pressing issue. More so than ever.

It takes some to make some, which is why getting your business up and running is a very difficult task.

Before you even begin making money, you’ve got to a have money.

Here are some ideas on how to make that happen:

Fundraising

Buy liquidated supplies from other businesses to save costs

Apply for a small business loan

Ask friends and relatives for help

And for more ideas and information on how to gain the capital needed to get your doors open, visit this site and start brainstorming on your own.

Good luck!

We all want it. We claim we have it.

But the concept of independence is a whole lot more complex than one might think.

How independent are we, really?

This is the perfect day to examine your level of independence and to be grateful that there is a grey area.

For, if we were truly independent, where would our sponsors be? Where would our customers be? Where would funding come from? How would we get loans to start our businesses?

You see what I mean.

We need help. There’s no getting around that. And, so, while we may rejoice in the fact that we enjoy freedom, we can never truly be independent.

And that’s a good thing. We rely on others. They rely on us. Just as it should be.