Operating a business takes the right mix of hard work, dedication and ideas, but prior to even getting the ball rolling you need the capital to put your plan into action. Few small business owners or business hopefuls have the necessary money in order to completely put their plan into action, but with the help of the right small business loan your dreams of business proprietorship can become a reality.

Small business loans can be secured in a variety of ways, prospective or fledgling business owners can look to acquire the capital that they need through the Small Business Administration ( government institution that works with lenders to facilitate small business funding), through traditional lenders, like banks or through non-traditional lenders, like private investors.

It can be difficult for a brand new business to secure a loan through a commercial bank due to the fact that there is no financial history available. When a commercial bank prepares to lend money, they usually want to see a track record of success in order to be able to assess the businesses worth. Small business loans from any financial institution will have prerequisites that must be met in order to secure the money necessary to grow and develop your business, but loans from commercial banks often have stricter guidelines and more involved paperwork in order to move forward with the application process.

If your business is already open and operational and you are looking for a loan to expand, a small business loan from a commercial bank may carry a lower interest rate than a loan from a non-traditional lender, but you’ll need to have all of your documentation (including personal and business financial records, your business plan, business performance statements and detailed projections for your business moving forward) well organized and accessible if you hope to be taken seriously and have the best possible chance to be approved.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) can be a good option for start up companies who don’t have a proven track record of sales or business credit. Though the SBA does not provide money to small businesses directly, they work with financial institutions to help small businesses get the money that they need to move forward with a business plan. You’ll have to go through an application process with the SBA that will include providing the necessary financial documentation and business plan in order to move forward. Businesses that meet all of the requirements of the SBA will have to apply for a loan with a connected financial institution, but a portion of the loan will be guaranteed by the SBA so the risk isn’t nearly as great to the financial institution.

A third option for attempting to obtain a small business loan is to go through a non-traditional financial institution or private lender.  This is the route that many brand new business owners must go because there aren’t nearly as many rules and restrictions when dealing with a private lender as there are with a commercial bank, but you’ll often find that the interest rates with non-traditional lenders can be a good bit higher than they can with commercial banks and larger financial institutions.  If you’ve got little in the way of financial history to show for your business and are unable to secure a loan with a commercial bank, a non-traditional or private lender can be a great way to get the capital you need to start your business.

Obtaining a small business loan can seem like a complex and daunting process, and the fact that there is any number of sources out there to apply to can add to the confusion.  In order to be successful in gaining the capitol that you need to start or grow your business, you need to be well prepared.  Applying for a small business loan is the first major step in your business venture and in order to have your business plan taken seriously (which is completely necessary if you hope for a loan from any lender); you need to show prospective lenders that you are serious about doing business with them.

Research the materials that different lenders require for the application process and be certain that you have all of that information ready to submit with your application.  Remember that without this money that it would be difficult or impossible to develop and grow your business, getting the right small business loan is a very serious step in the development of your company and in your financial future and plenty of research, care and thought should go into preparing to secure the right loan for you.

As more comes to light…

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Transocean, the company that owned the ill-fated drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, lashed out at well owner BP Thursday, accusing the oil giant of stonewalling the investigation into the Gulf disaster.

The drilling company accused BP of failing to provide documents critical to determining exactly what caused its drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, to explode and subsequently sink last April.

Source: CNN

Definitely had no idea about this one… I didn’t know the sales taxes were so high in certain states.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Tennessee has the highest combined state and average local sales tax rate of any U.S. state, at 9.44%, according to a research group’s report released Thursday.

The Tax Foundation report also said that, among major metropolitan areas, two Alabama cities are tied for the highest combined state, county and city sales taxes. Birmingham and Montgomery both levy an average of 10% on purchases.

Source: CNN

Entrepreneur.com has a writeup regarding how to manage a business twitter account – and of course while covertly plugging their Facebook promotion book at the top.

While all this sounds simple enough, conducting an effective Tweet Chat can be a little awkward, especially for the ill prepared. Although this feature is referred to as a chat, it is much more cumbersome than chatting online with any of today’s popular instant messaging platforms. Personally, I would rather conduct such an interview on a Facebook Page in the comments area of a Status Update; there at least the discussion is all in one place and easy to follow, instantly archived, and associated with whatever brand’s page it appears on. On Twitter, there’s no branding, the discussion is not archived in any reasonably accessible manner, and the platform itself is entirely devoid of the type of analytics today’s businesses need to gauge the effectiveness of the effort.

Be that as it may, Tweet Chats are another way to get the word out about your business and products, especially if you conduct an effective session. Following are some suggestions on how to do just that

Source: Entrepreneur.com

CNN has writeup regarding at least 32 new iPad “knock offs” coming soon to the public, an interesting read overall – but makes you think about how Apple has to be completely thrilled and flattered.

Nothing breeds imitation in high tech like a runaway Apple (AAPL) success. Even before the iPad was unveiled, Cupertino’s competitors were scrambling to catch up. Now that Steve Jobs’ latest invention is clearly a hit, the rush is on.

How many iPad wannabees are out there or in the works? Technologizer’s Harry McCracken stopped counting at 32, but he seems to have captured all the important ones in what is, for now, the definitive list. You can see his annotated round-up here.

Source: CNN

CNN has a good writeup regarding why Entrepreneurs and the approach on net neutrality. The real question is have you read up on it yourself and come to your own conclusion?

(A VC) — I’ve written a bit about Net neutrality on my blog in the past few years. Every time I do, I hear about problems with regulating the Internet. The readers of my blog are a fairly “laissez faire” bunch. Guess what? So am I.

Somehow Net neutrality got painted as “regulating the Internet” when it is really all about not regulating the Internet. Net neutrality is about keeping the way the Internet works today: an open Internet where innovation is allowed and freedom reigns.

Source: CNN

Let’s go back to another thing that BP is in the news for, but definitely not enough to even be seen over the oil spill. Back in 2005 BP had an explosion at a Texas refinery of theirs that resulted in the death of 15 employees and a lot more injuries. Now they’re being held for a $50 million dollar fine in relation to this explosion.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Federal regulators said Thursday that BP will pay a record $50.6 million fine for failing to correct safety issues at its Texas City refinery, where an explosion in 2005 killed 15 workers and injured scores more.

“The size of the penalty rightly reflects BP’s disregard for workplace safety and shows that we will enforce the law so workers can return home safe at the end of their day,” said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in a statement.

Source: CNN

A good writeup over at Entrepreneur.com mentions that a few BP gas stations feel so tarnished by the actions of BP that they’re considering switching back to the Amoco name. When it comes to brand recognition the reverse is definitely possible as well – which is where reputation management comes into mind. In my opinion BP gave the cleanup and all of that jazz a good run on the PR and reputation management aspect but there really wasn’t too much else they could do about it – it was simply out of their hands.

BP and Amoco merged in 1998 and quickly abandoned the outdated red, white and blue torch logo for the now infamous green and yellow BP flower. But now, desperate to convince customers that they’re not linked to the oil giant responsible for dumping 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, some station owners are seriously considering rebranding.

Today’s feature on Entrepreneur.com “The PR Crisis Playbook” offers tips to ensure your business’ image isn’t seriously tarnished–like BP’s–the next time a calamity arises. However, the Amoco rebranding plan doesn’t seem to follow the PR steps outlined in this article. Would this rebranding effort really be effective? I’m not convinced. It seems like a fairly desperate move. Besides, it would be costly to convert the sign and paint colors back to red and blue. Can a new (read: old) name really repair a company’s critically damaged image?

Source: Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneur.com has a writeup about the number of people that go from being unemployed to starting their own business. Chances are most of the mentality behind this is due to the realization that someone else has control over their lives unless they work for themselves. I guess it’s about the time when they find out that most of them can’t do it, and therefore most of the businesses end up failing in some way.

Apparently, all the people out there who want to start businesses have now done it. A new study from Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows the percent of laid-off workers starting their own businesses sunk to an all-time low in the first half of this year. Just 3.7 percent of job-seekers ended up starting a business instead in the survey. For comparison, 8.6 percent of the unemployed became entrepreneurs in calendar 2009.

That might sound like business opportunity is drying up, but it could really mean the opposite. Here’s why the drop in startups might be a good sign for established business owners: Motivated entrepreneurs have already done it. This far into the recession, anyone with a burning drive to start a business in the current conditions may have already hung out their shingle.

Source: Entrepreneur.com

A good writeup about Net Neutrality from the perspectives of Google as well as Facebook.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Facebook and Google, two of the world’s biggest and most influential online companies, are duking it out in a very public battle over who should control the Internet.

That war of words continued on Thursday, when Google wrote a rebuttal to responses on its joint policy proposal with Verizon about an open-Internet standard known as “Net neutrality.” The rebuttal comes a day after Facebook said it disagreed with the substance of Google and Verizon’s pact.

Source: CNN