Category: Lydia Mehit

Crowdfunding: What’s All The Noise About? | Lydia Mehit

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Crowdfunding is the latest buzz to hit the entrepreneur community, but no one really knows how it is going to work.  What we do know is that it will allow people like you and me (non-accredited) investors to use our money to help small businesses to start or grow. The problem is that the funding entrepreneurs need to prove, start and grow their ideas into companies has been at a premium since 2008.  The question now is whether the excitement will translate into a meaningful solution.

The turn of the century already saw a slow down from the tech investing of the 90’s, but when the recession hit, bank funding ground almost to a stop.  Where could the entrepreneur go to seek funding for their idea or startup?

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The SBA Doesn’t Loan Money | Lydia Mehit

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Q. Should I get a loan from the SBA?

A. You can’t get a loan from the SBA, but you can get a SBA loan guarantee. Come again?

Well, first off, the SBA does not loan money, so you can’t get a loan from the SBA.

The SBA guarantees a large portion of the loan made by the bank.  This means you have to negotiate two sets of paperwork and get two approvals before you get funded.

Q. What is the benefit of a SBA loan guarantee?

A. An SBA guarantee gives the bank the opportunity to fund a loan that doesn’t meet their commercial requirements. The SBA guarantees the bank will receive their funds even if the borrower, you, defaults on the loan.  The guarantees range from 50 to 90% of the loan amount.

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Generation Y Consumers | Lydia Mehit

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Gen X as a Target Customer was first in a series of articles aimed a helping you identify the habits and proclivities of a generation. This is to allow you gain insights into how to better approach them with your marketing message. This article will discuss Millennials and the unique circumstances of their generation.

Generation Y encompases a broad range of ages from teenagers (age 14) to home-owning adults. The older end of generation is believed to have the potential to attain the greatest spenfing power of any prevous generation. This means advertisers want to understand what drives the Gen Y consumer to purchase.

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Gen X as a Target Customer – Part Two | Lydia Mehit

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Continuing our discussion of Generation X as our target consumer, we have gathered a variety of facts about our subjects and now need to use those facts to answer the following questions.

  1. Why do they buy?
  2. How do they buy?
  3. What do they buy?
  4. Where do they buy?
  5. Where do you find them?
  6. How do you reach them?

Let’s answer the questions using the information we’ve learned about Generation X.

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Who Is Generation X? | Lydia Mehit

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Many business owners think that EVERYONE is their customer, so they create a coupon, find a monthly delivery system (a coupon magazine or coupon mailer) and hope for the best. But understanding your target customer can give you insights into how to price, how to promote, how to utilize media and what special offers will appeal to them.

Is Generation X the most likely group of people to purchase your goods and services?

How would you know? Start with your current customers. What is the average age of the majority of your customers? Who typically makes the largest purchase during an average visit. Who are return customers?

If you are not in business yet, look at the neighborhoods where you are thinking of locating your business. What is the average age and income of the people in the immediate one mile radius. Check out the three mile radius also. If you have a retail business, the majority of your customers will be local to those areas.

If your answer is Generation X, have you made them the target of your marketing dollars? Do you know how to make your message resonate with them?
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