Add the lack of support from family members and the poor economy and you get nervous jitters, sleepless nights, and a growing sense of uncertainty. You aren’t alone. As a rule, first-time entrepreneurs are beset with questions they have no answers to, from morning till night, day after day.

I was there not long ago. I was consumed with uneasiness; I wondered how I and my team would be able to continue, day after day, three people doing the work of ten. We asked ourselves all the same questions I know other new business owners ask themselves – and listened hard to the silence, in response:

• “How long can we keep this up?”
• “Who do we know that will help- can we even find volunteers?”
• “When will things pick up so we can hire?”
• “What do we need to do, that we haven’t done already, to get that bank loan?”

Truth is, the answers aren’t that hard. Reality dictates that you “keep on keeping up” for as long as it takes. If you’re focused on excellence, if you’ve looked at your business from all possible angles and you’re confident it’s viable, you work harder, smarter, longer…because keeping up is only a small fraction of what you need to do.

You learn that volunteers are there, they’re the people who believe in you. They’re the people who wish they’d thought of doing what you’re doing. They’re the people who offer to help, every day, and who you’ve pushed aside again and again, because you didn’t want to take advantage. You learn that asking for their help isn’t taking advantage; it’s offering an opportunity.

Hiring help? You do that when you can afford it. You’ll be able to afford hiring when you achieve a profit – when you’re doing more than just keeping the lights on. The numbers don’t lie. You may be able to ‘hire’ sooner than you think. You’ll figure it out, if it’s necessary.

To the bank loan – everyone knows that answer to that. You just keep trying. You make more sales, you put your own money in to prove you’re serious, you put together a stellar business plan, and you take it to as many places as you need to, until someone says yes.

As entrepreneurs greet each day, they tackle these questions and dozens more. The questions come in an unrelenting flow.

But, there is one question most entrepreneurs don’t ask. One question, the $64,000 Question (game show from many years ago), that they should be asking.

It’s tough. It doesn’t have a simple answer. It will tear apart the same-old, same-old you’ve embraced again and again – where the devil you know is easier to deal with than the devil you don’t, so you think. This question will shock you out of your comfort zone and remind you that your dream of independence is more than hard work – it’s a belief system.

A week ago, I was jolted out of my sense of warmth and safety, into a world of possibility by this one question. My mentor, Bruce Peters, a business radio talk show host on WCEOHQ Radio, emailed me and shook me to my core.  He wrote:

“What is the one question that if answered would make it impossible to remain as you are?”

I sat at my computer, stared for what seemed like forever, at those words, and blinked like a fool.

“What do you mean?” I emailed back. “What is your one question?” Of course you should always defer tough questions back on the questioner. (No, you shouldn’t, but I did.)

“I keep it in front of me to sort of shake things up in my daily thinking,” he wrote back. “In a sense the question is the answer. Rilke’s admonition is to ‘not seek answers now for which will not be given…..but learn to live the questions and you will gradually live yourself to your answer.’

“So, I keep it there because I want to ask the most provocative question I can to live to my answer.”

I’m still staring at the words. I don’t have the answer. I don’t have the question. It’s a new year and a new me and I will not remain as I am, in that too cozy comfort zone, any longer. I am determined to be provocative, because it’s extraordinary and if I am not extraordinary, I will merely fade into the shadow of everyone else’s ordinary.

Therefore, I ask you, “What is the one question that if answered would make it impossible to remain as you are?”

Game Show Photo via Shutterstock

The post The $64,000 Question appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Here are five questions you should consider before you begin the funding process:

1. How much is my business worth, today?

This is crucial for banks and investors. Is your company/business worth enough to cover the investment? Hiring new workers is a key motivation in today’s high market of unemployment. Even with an investment or a loan, hiring new workers means having a sustainable business model that is going to last more than another year or two. Those new workers want some long-term security, as do your investors.

2. What is the money really for?

If you tell your banker that you need to hire new workers, you better be prepared to support that statement. How many new workers? What will they do? What are the working conditions? Do you have people in mind, already? Being able to describe the roles you need to fill and how much they need to be paid, along the ability to say, “I have four people I’ve been working with on a contract basis who are ready to be full-time employees,” goes a long way to building credibility.

3. Can’t you fund your expansion yourself?

For many of us, that’s a no-brainer. If you can help it, don’t take on an interest-bearing loan or become indebted to investors. The problem is that while many businesses today are doing well enough to limp along, they’re not well enough to hire new people or mortgage a bigger building. Without additional workers or extra space, these companies will not be able to grow.

4. What is your projected revenue for the next five years?

Some folks predict five years out, while some are only looking three years. Regardless of how long you’re willing to predict forward, you still need to show a revenue line that covers the growth and the investment. No one is going to give you funds if you’re merely trying to stay alive. You must show the opportunity for growth.

5. Do I have a strong executive team to manage growth?

Existing companies looking for growth funds need to show the ability to manage a solid executive team and the growth that follows. You can’t expect a bank or other investor to approve new cashflow if Cheryl from marketing hasn’t produced anything for the company except lunch expenses, or if Patrick has hired two mediocre sales people for his team and failed to meet quarterly goals, or if the head of Business Development needs some new development. If you’re doing all the work yourself despite having an executive team, you’re essentially asking someone to invest in you. And, seriously, how much are you really worth?

There are more questions to ask than just these five. In an economy that is struggling to bring back the good old days, establishments in the business of investing funds to small business owners are only doing so when the small business owner can justify those funds and show a profitable return.

If you think it’s personal, you’re right. It is personal — personal enough to ask you a lot of questions about prior year’s income, to the point of asking why you purchased a new car last year. Really, did you need a new car? It can get personal enough to ask why you haven’t used the $25,000 you have in savings, which they know you have because you gave them permission to review your finances. It’s even personal enough to include questions about why you haven’t tapped into family and friends first.

The act of supporting businesses with added funds, whether from family and friends, a bank or a VC, involves pretending you can guarantee a return on the investment. Everyone knows there is no guarantee.

“How much of your own money are you going to put in?” a banker asked a friend of mine looking for funding to expand her two year old business.

“If I had my own money,” she said, “I wouldn’t be here asking you for yours.”

She didn’t get the loan. Will you?

Editor’s Note: This article was previously published at OPENForum.com under the title: “5 Questions to Ask Before Going for Funding.” It is republished here with permission.

The post Ask Yourself These Questions Before Going for Funding appeared first on Small Business Trends.

These books and their authors are your competition. Yes, some of those almost two million books have one and the same author but that doesn’t change your odds all that much. You have a task ahead of you … so, let’s look at the small picture and talk about ways you can compete. Regardless of how your book came to be published, it is up to you, the author, to create the attention that will turn into sales.

The good news is that it has never been easier to get your book noticed by the right people. In fact, before you put fingers to keyboard, before you type “Chapter One” on that pristine blank page — you should begin your marketing. You should be promoting yourself and your book, via the web, even before the book is done.

Shel Israel, co-author with Robert Scoble, of Naked Conversations, is creating his newest book online with the help of Twitter friends and blog comments. He and Scoble did a similar thing with Naked Conversations, and it reached bestseller status. The key is to talk about the book, share your writing stories, ask for input, and get your readers involved. The more involved I am in the writing of your book, the more likely I am not only to buy it when it’s done, but to help promote it to others.

Let’s talk about The Top 10 Ways to Promote Your Book in 2009:

(1) Create a Blog Book Tour

Your book blog, named after your book — or after you, depending on what you’re branding — should be an invitation to connect with readers, other authors, and business professionals. As you visit their blogs and leave comments (linking back to your blog), also take time to build the relationship and identify possible review opportunities.

Choose blogs whose writers are consistent in their posting, who generate comments, and who are able to speak to your expertise when they write about you and your book. If you want help, tap into this Blog Book Tour site.

(2) Create a Book Video Trailer

This is much like a movie trailer. Dr. Susan Reid, one of my authors, created an outstanding book trailer to introduce people to her book. It’s short, it outlines what the book is about and it creates the right “expression” — supporting the books’ goal to help small business owners tap into their “Inner Samaurai.”

Use a webcam or a Flip video camera, add some background music, and read from your introduction. Although Dr. Reid did not narrate her video, I recommend you narrate yours. Readers want to connect with you and hearing your voice brings you closer to being a “real person” to them.

(3) Be Creative with Your Press Releases

Today’s press releases are more than announcements. They are Search Engine magnets. Choose a good firm that understands the value of attracting search engines, and write a killer headline. A killer headline grabs the reader’s attention.

When I wrote my book Dickless Marketing (about marketing to women online, leaving behind the old Dick and Jane world of the 20th century), I created this headline: “Look, Dick. See Jane. See Jane Dominate E-Commerce.” I got a call the same day to be on a local TV station. The headline got the reporter’s attention.  The body of the release, which revealed the title of the book, convinced her to have me on the show.

I covered two bases there – one was to be current and informative, the other was to be provocative.

(4) Find Local Sponsors to Buy Case Quantities of Your Book

With the economy forcing so many businesses to tighten their belts, this is a great time to be resourceful with your book. The price of a book (usually under $35) makes it a great giveaway for a bank or a business organization.

Banks are eager to attract more small business owners, and business organizations are always looking for qualified speakers – with books. Our local KeyBank supports women business owners and hosts a breakfast once a year, where they give away the speaker’s book after she speaks.

(5) Connect With Your Local News – Both TV and Radio

This form of marketing is not dead, as some would have you believe. The news editor is always looking for great stories about local people.

Send a letter, with an overview of your book and your press release, and a testimonial from someone of authority. Make it easy for the editor, tell her why covering your book will make a good noon news story. Take the 6 a.m. slot if that’s offered – a lot of people are up watching or listening to the news at 6 a.m.

(6) Speaking of Voices of Authority – Who do You Know That Can Offer a Testimonial?

Authors tend to leave this for last, thinking they need to have a preview copy of the book in hand before someone will grant them the privilege of a testimonial. This is patently untrue.

Tap into a former college professor, a CEO from a networking group, the author of a book you’ve enjoyed, or the founder of a popular website/social networking group. Let them know you’re writing the book and ask them if they would offer a testimonial.

Tap into your LinkedIn profile. Three degrees of separation can work in your favor. You do have a LinkedIn profile, don’t you? To learn how to use LinkedIn more effectively, visit Steve Tylock’s site: The LinkedIn Personal Trainer.

(7) Use Twitter

See what Guy Kawasaki, talking with Robert Scoble, says about Twitter in this video:   On Twitter, you can easily connect to thousands of people you might never meet otherwise. Be selective but friendly. Don’t over promote your book on Twitter – rather, be on the lookout for people who will promote you – by sharing the link to your blog or your book’s sales’ page. Make friends … friends help friends out.

(8) Be Remarkable

Marketer Seth Godin swears by this principle, and it’s true that standing out from the crowd has its benefits.

When I say be remarkable, I’m leaning more towards the Scott Ginsberg model. Scott is “that nametag guy” … he wears a nametag everywhere he goes (he even has one tattooed on his chest!). If you search online, using any search engine, for ‘that nametag guy’ you will get hundreds of thousands of hits and they are all about Scott.

What phrase will you claim in Google or Yahoo? My phrase is the name of my book, Dickless Marketing, although I often come up on the first page of a Google search for just my first name (today, I’m #9 out of 29,100,000).

(9) Become an Amazon Best Seller

Connect with experts who know how to do this. It involves a lot of work, a lot of connections, and a focus on results. Kathleen Gage has done it for others, more than once, and can do it for you, too. Invest in the tools to create the kind of attention and build the kind of mailing list that will continue to support you and your book for years to come.

(10) Utilize as Many Facets of Social Media as You Can

Yes, create a Facebook page. Yes, join SWOM (Society for Word of Mouth).

Yes, follow Marti Lawrence’s lead and create a page on Squidoo.  Her book, 7 Way You Screw Up Your Life, (Are you FUGGDUP? Forgetting, Underestimating, Gratifying, Grieving, Deceiving, Undermining and Procrastinating are some of the most common problems that cause your life to be screwed up. Is this scenario familiar?) displays her book cover, a compelling description, and an easy link to her buy page. Squidoo is free and worth the few minutes to create a page and a link to all the places we can purchase your book. Remember to add your blog and Squidoo page to your email signature.

The book industry is changing dramatically, in response to the social networking aspect of business life today. Authors are ever more qualified to be the marketers of their book, by understanding where their market hangs out and showing up now and then; online and offline. Joe Girard, recognized as the best salesperson ever, says it best: “The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs … one step at a time.”

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About the Author:  Yvonne DiVita, President of Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC: Books, Blogs and Beyond, is focused on consulting with businesses on how to effectively use new media tools. She blogs at LipSticking, with a focus on the women’s market.

The post Top 10 Ways to Promote Your Business Book appeared first on Small Business Trends.