Is peer-to-peer lending right for my business?

In the world today, finance is still the core of what makes our society work. People must be able to borrow money and turn assets into mobile currency in order for the economy and people to grow and innovate. Banks have always facilitated a large portion of this and in many countries they are tightly controlled. The down side of this is that investors willing to take more risk can't find those who can't get funding. There is a great need to connect these lenders with borrowers. Many peer-to-peer sites have found that they can make money by simply connecting the two...with almost no risk to the facilitator. This means people can get a bigger reward for accepting the risk.

I would recommend a look at this article at some point, but I don't agree with everything:

http://www.businessfinancestore.com/2012/05/04/the-pros-and-cons-of-peer-to-peer-lending-for-small-businesses/

One thing I would like to discuss are interest rates. Why are peer loans so much higher in interest rate? The real question is why are the rates set by the Fed so low? The Fed set interest rate is not based on the market. The market dictates that rates should be much higher. Peer loans simply reflect a more market based rate. Also one thing to note is that the loans do not have collateral associated with them like an auto loan or mortgage would.

So now that you get to idea of peer-to-peer lending. Is peer-to-peer the right way to finance YOUR small business? In order to answer this we need more questions:

1. The first question is how much?

How much do you need to get off to the next phase? Do you need 5,000 to fix up your leased building? Do you need money for inventory? Think and come up with a number. If this number is greater than about 25,000 then you need to look at other sources. Otherwise keep going!

2. Do you have assets you could put up for collateral?

What could be used for collateral. If you find a way to get a low rate without sending everything you own to the pawn shop, then GREAT! Consider that fact of the asset getting repossessed. You will have bad credit and no asset instead of just bad credit. Otherwise keep going!

3. Do you have a compelling story?

People love a good story. If your getting the money to fulfill a life long dream, or to accomplish something you have always wanted to accomplish, then peer-to-peer is the way to go. People love to see money going to making dreams come true rather than paying off old debts.

The payments and payoffs are the same as a regular bank loan so nothing new to know about there. Good luck!

Zigbee vs. Z-Wave Home Automation Protocols

Both Zigbee and Z-Wave operate as a mesh network. Zigbee uses 2.4 GHz versus 900 MHz for Z-Wave. Zigbee waves travel on a more commonly used frequency. The more modules in your home, the more distance your network can cover.
Z-Wave can handle up to 232 nodes, while Zigbee can handle over 65,000 modules. The 2.4 GHz frequency gives Zigbee more bandwidth. This means it can carry more information over it’s network. Zigbee is an open source network.

Zigbee does win in many areas. Zigbee is better from a forward thinking perspective, especially for large applications. However, for consumer homes, Z-Wave might be more in line as the right choice. Zigbee can control more types of devices with it’s larger bandwidth, but that also means there’s more code in the Zigbee protocol and leading to issues with cross-compatibility. Zigbee does perform well, but inter-manufacturer interoperability has been noted as a major problem.

Standardization will be the key for home automation. So my bet is on Z-Wave for now and Zigbee will eventually win out once the open source format learns from the known mistakes. Price is everything in this market. Not many people will be sinking thousands into home automation unless the price of electricity absolutely sky rockets. Check out the Vera 2 controller to find out more. Vera 2 is an WiFi meets Z-Wave router/client that has backwards compatibility aspects allowing interfacing with less expensive X-10 and INSTEON modules. The fact that Z-Wave is not open source is not an issue. Z-Wave is more in line with most consumer home automation needs.

Understanding the Future of Crowd Funding

Crowd Funding describes the collective cooperation of people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually using mostly the internet to support efforts or ideas initiated by other people or organizations. How will this idea change how business is funded? Typical business efforts focus on a heavy initial investment from original owners and heavily involved investors. This new concept gets ordinary people involved earlier than the public markets. The idea is to get support for an idea from the public originally than from big money investors. It is considered a more "organic" business building concept.

Other articles to examine: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/16/crowdfundingstartups/

Cash in on the trend...Our Phones are now SMART!

The number of smart phones in the world are growing and will continue to grow! The smart phone isn't going away anytime soon. In the future, majority of internet use will be through phone, tablet, and other embedded devices (Apps on Blu-ray Players). Now is the time to prepare your website. Does your site need a specialized mobile front? This really depends on your product or service. If you really want to engage the customer to make a decision, then I would advise this be done as soon as possible. Perhaps you don't have a website...your doomed. Think back to the last time you flipped pages through the phone book. Perhaps you unable to recall such an event. Hmmm well guess what, in 10 years, NO ONE will be using phone books at all. These will all be online catalogs. Now is the time to adapt. Your buisness could go under in the amount of time it takes to build and promote a website to play ball with the rest of the gang.

Stay a step ahead of the game! Build rich websites, mobile sites, and apps NOW!

Smart devices are to reach 1.84 billion units by 2016:

http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/28/idc-by-2016-android-devices-to-outnumber-traditional-windows-pcs/

Use What for Doing What in Social Media!?

I have been asked the following questions several times. Why should I be on Facebook? What is good is Twitter. Should I have a LinkedIn account? All these services can be confusing. Remember these site are simply tools for connecting and sharing information. So how I may use them will differ from the rest of the pack. However, I am attempting to give a general idea of what these sites can offer and how I would recomend my clients to use them.

Facebook: This social media site has become number 1 for connecting with people personally. Facebook friends are typically people you know in real life in a more personal sense. Family, friends, old co-workers you shared good times with, and perhaps a few old high school buddies. The variety and scope of information shared here is totally limitless. People have not yet adapted to the proper edicate of information sharing. A post on Facebook should be treated as something more public than an e-mail to a good friend. I do NOT recomend you use this site for buisness networking unless you are quite fond of the individuals on a more personal level.

Twitter: This site is for quickly sharing information in a more open and public manner than facebook. Many people you follow and that will follow you will not know who you are. Perhaps you have similar interests, maybe you just responded to something they posted that was "cool" and interesting. I do not recomend sharing personal information on this site. Great for following company CEO's!

LinkedIn: This site has evolved a lot over the years. It began as a way to network professionally with individuals and companies. This still holds true today. It is very useful in research comunities for finding experts. The site allows you to list skills and work related information. It is starting to evolve into the furture of the online job search. Instead of applying for jobs the model for LinkedIn is to put your resume information into your profile and tag yourself as "looking" for a job. I recomend this to anyone starting a company to get familar with LinkedIn. The site is really not for sharing information with everyone but more for sharing info with groups that share interest. You might have the occasional, "We hit a million for the year and its only March!"

Hope this cleared up some of the confusion. Remember there are many ways to utilize these tools and I have really only scratched the surface. Also the sites are adding new features almost every month. Start focusing on the one you think will prove the most useful for meeting your needs.

Do We Really Need Mail?

For some reason, people think mail is necessary to survive. Somehow the world will suddenly come crashing down if mail routes cease to exist. As a business, mail is becoming less and less necessary. Honestly pick through your next delivery and see if there is anything you actually want to read. Your post office box is likely filled with catalogs and life insurance policies from less than reputable companies. E-mail has already begun to replace much of the information passed via US mail, but faxing was said to do the same in the 80's. Unfortunately, junk mail is the backbone of the wildly unprofitable US Postal Service. Raise prices for these types of mail and stop delivery junk mail every week. The UPS guy doesn't come to my house everyday! It just doesn't make sense. We don't NEED mail. Businesses can survive without mail. The mail must change and adapt to the needs of the people or else it will vanish like VCR recorders.

Lets Talk Numbers...Accounting Numbers

Accounting software has gotten increasingly better over the years. Newer software platforms allow for direct bank connecting and integration. Checks can be printed on the fly on your laser or inkjet printer. Examining the software and your needs can keep you productive. Every small business has to keep up the numbers but this information can continue to influence your business. For personal finances check out www.mint.com. I also suggest looking at Quick Books Online and Peachtree accounting software.