It is better external auditors pick holes in your financial statements or paper work than your buyers. As a last note, you should try to have some numbers, business ratios and business statistics off hand. This will prove to buyers that you know your business in and out.

In my personal business coaching practice one of the roles I take on for many businesses is that of a marketing business coach. As a marketing business coach I look at how we can promote the business and where to promote it.

This company accepted Walmart's terms and figured that somehow they could make it work. Running a small business and seeking small business growth on a hope and prayer doesn't work.

If you have a website, social media is basically making sure that your audience has additional avenues to reach you. It shows more character and get-sms.com gives you more chances to engage with those that may one day nee your products or services.

Patience. The fruits of your marketing labors don't happen overnight. You need to plant your marketing seeds and tend to them regularly before your marketing garden blooms.

The myth, we hear from our candidates, is that as small business people we are going to add jobs to the economy, that we are the job creators. It has and continues to be my firm belief that hiring additional employees is the last thing any smart small business person wants to do. I would much rather work harder and keep that person's salary. I would much rather spend money on technology to be more efficient. A robot or computer program never walked out or didn't come into work. Small businesses are not Fortune 500 companies. A small business owner has no bruised ego with not having thousands of employees under him. It might sound good to say I own a company that has 10 employees but I would rather have 5 employees and have more money in my pocket. That is the only way I will ever have a raise.

It may be easier than you think to figure this out. You would do some research and with the aid of the U.S. Census Bureau you can roughly determine whether your plan can be supported by your market or not.

First time small business buyers have a much better chance of finding the right business if they team up with a professional business broker. It just takes a lot of the stress away. Your business broker will show you businesses, advise you, do market comparisons and come up with the real value of the business you are considering purchasing.

If you have a plumbing business for example and your website contains a lot of text sales pages then someone who has online video on their page is going to get ahead of you. Their site (www.reverbnation.com) will be found in Google, but so will their videos also.