The idea of investing in commercial real estate can be daunting”even for the seasoned residential investor. The industry terminology, the differences in funding, and the overall culture of the commercial real estate world can be intimidating, to say the least. While these factors may make your entry into commercial investing a little frightening, dont let it shake your confidence. In fact, the commercial real estate sector is actually quite strong in many markets”and it is the perfect time for novice investors to join the game.

If you are planning to invest in a commercial property, leasing the space out can be extremely profitable. Depending on the type of tenants you plan to have, one type of lease may be more attractive than others. Read the following to gain a basic understanding of the various types of commercial leases.

Net lease: The tenant is responsible for paying the rent in addition to a portion of the maintenance fees, some operating expenses and insurance premiums.

Triple-net lease: This type of lease is most commonly used for tenants of a freestanding building. The tenant is responsible for paying all fees and operating expenses. If you are currently a tenant in this type of lease, it may be wise for you to consider purchasing the property, if the owner is willing to accept an offer.

Gross lease: Similar to a traditional apartment lease, with a gross lease, the tenant is responsible for paying a set rent at a predetermined rate established by the building owner. The landlord then uses the funds from the tenants rent to pay operating costs, insurance and taxes for the property.

Ground lease: Also known as a land lease, ground leases includes the grounds of the property as well as the property itself in the lease. Tenants with this type of lease option must remember that improvements made to the property usually revert back to the landlord at the time that the lease is terminated. This includes new buildings or structures constructed on the property during the lease period.

Shopping center leases: With this type of lease, the tenant is given the least control. While the tenant is responsible for paying an established rent rate that typically directly coincides with the square footage that is used, they also usually must pay a predetermined percentage of gross sales and a portion of the property taxes. The tenant usually must adhere to strict guidelines about signs and promotion, established traffic areas (especially for businesses with pick-up and delivery services), and the tenant may be moved to a new location within the shopping center at the discretion of the owner.

The common thread between all successful businesses is availability of adequate funding. Regardless of how innovative a product or service is, without the necessary funding, your dreams of business ownership will never come to fruition. The tricky part can be finding the funding you need to start your business or expand on an existing business. There are a wide variety of approaches to business funding, but all have certain advantages and disadvantages attached that must be considered. Read on for a brief tutorial about the various types of business funding, and learn which option is right for you.

Personal Funds Personal funds include funds from your savings account, or retirement fund(s) (401K or 403 B).

Advantages Low overhead Debt free Tax-deferred savings

Disadvantages High risk if business is not successful You may not have enough in personal savings to fund a business

Business owners also commonly acquire bank loans to finance business ventures. Unfortunately, in the current economy, this is sometimes easier said than done. It might also be in your best interest to keep your credit lines clear for other expenses associated with owning a business”expected and unexpected. If financing cannot be received through bank loans, many consider credit cards as a viable alternative. This option comes with high risk in the event that the business does not assume the expected level of success, as repayment of debt may become difficult.

Funding from friends and family is also considered a form of personal finance. When people lend money for the start of a business, or become a co-signer for a loan for commercial property, this could open up the opportunity for the individual to become a vested owner in your business”a positive or negative, depending your end goal. If the friend or family member becomes a vested owner, this would alleviate the need to repay the loan, but would also limit your overall control of the company.

For many, funding a business with any form of personal financing is not a viable option, as the risk is much too high. So what is the alternative? Read on:

Equity funding, also known as equity finance, equity loans, private equity, venture capital or private venture capital, is essentially an investment that combines a life insurance policy and mutual fund shares. With this option, the investor is shielded by the protection of the insurance policy (collateral), and also has added bonus of the growth potential of the mutual fund.

Equity funding is a viable option to obtain funding for your business expansion project, or funding your start-up; but it also takes work. How do you find interested investors? How do you construct an appealing funding proposal? How do you get investors to actually read the proposal? What are the typical terms of agreement for your particular business venture? Are there other funding options to use in addition, or in lieu of equity funding? Will the same angel investors work for equipment financing? What about merchant cash advances? Get the answers to all of these questions, and more.

Government grants are heavily underutilized, but are an invaluable resource for those hoping to obtain business funding”especially since the passing of the Recovery Act, which released Stimulus money. Grants vary by amount, ranging from a couple thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The critical mistake many business owners make is discounting grants that may be in smaller amounts, as insignificant. The fact is, your competitor could be a business that received $20,000 in grant money last year. While this is not a life-changing amount of money, which companys bottom line is immediately strengthened? Certainly not yours if you did not take the initiative to apply. Doing nothing gives your competitors an advantage. Who doesn’t like free money?

You have probably been bombarded by companies offering to find grants and apply for them for a “nominal” fee”but these services are simply unnecessary. The government actually wants to give away this money to help strengthen the economy, so information pertaining to these grants is available and free to the public.

The first thing you need to know about applying for government grant funding is that your odds are strengthened with numbers. Submitting several applications at once is the best way to ensure that funding from government grants is obtained. Apply to all that is applicable to your business”especially the obscure ones. These grants are commonly overlooked by all demographics, but are extremely underutilized by female business owners in particular. Nearly half of all monies designated for female entrepreneurs in 2008 went unclaimed.

The government wants to give you money!

There are 26 federal grant-making agencies, all of which offer a multitude of grants each year. Grants are categorized and rewarded by the following segments:

Agriculture Business and Commerce Consumer Protection Education Energy Food and Nutrition Housing Information and Statistics Law, Justice and Legal Services Science and Technology and other Research and Development Recovery Act Community Development Disaster Prevention and Relief Employment, Labor and Training Environment Health Humanities Arts Income Security and Social Services Natural Resources Regional Development Transportation

At first glance it may appear that the selection of available grants that your business may be eligible for is limited. The key is to look beyond the obvious. The fact is, a large number of grants are overlooked each year, and the money is not used. Looking for, and applying to the most obscure grants can often be your ticket to obtaining funding. Given that you have properly filled out the form, if you are the only person who applies for a grant, you win!

Remember, do not be discouraged if you only receive one grant from your first 10 applications. This is free money that you did very little to obtain, and it also means that it will be easier to obtain government funding in the future. Once you have your first grant, and have proven that you will use the money wisely to expand your business and stimulate the economy, you may actually be personally invited back to apply for other grants in the future. Obtaining grant money is a slippery slope, of sorts”once you get the ball rolling, nothing can stop you! Learn more about grant funding for your business

, including the best time to apply, various application methods, search techniques and the application process.

Obtaining business funding has become increasingly difficult throughout the years. As the economic climate worsens across the U.S., and on a global scale, lenders are less likely to freely distribute funding, and investors are not as willing to take a chance on seemingly risky business ventures. So how do you obtain business funding in such a climate? Personal financing is risky, and not an option for the majority. A fairly new option that has become increasingly popular within the past few years is the merchant cash advance.

Merchant cash advances, the purchase and sale of future income, are often used as an alternative to traditional financing, but many view this as an option that is as good as, or better than, many available traditional financing options, due to the flexible nature of the advances.

How it works

Merchant cash advances provide business owners with immediate access to working capital in exchange for the promise of a share of future sales. Since the lender will receive funds from all future sales until the debt is repaid, there is no real collateral involved. This option has gained popularity due to the fact that debt repayment is not on a fixed schedule, but rather based upon current sales. This flexible payment schedule is attractive, particularly when future sales are unpredictable. Lenders for this type of financing are also much less choosey than a bank or venture capitalists.

While this option may sound appealing, there are certain criticisms to consider. Interest rates vary by company, but can be extremely high. In addition, since this industry is fairly new (less than ten years old), it is virtually unregulated. It is also important to consider the fact that while unpredictable future payments may be an advantage when times are rough, if you have unusually high sales for a period, your payments will also be unusually high as well.

As with any method of obtaining funding for your business, it is critical that you fully understand the terms of the agreement before you decide to take action. While it may be easy to obtain funding through a merchant cash advance, it should be treated like a loan. Be proactive and closely monitor interest rates. Learn more about merchant cash advances and other forms of business funding.

When a company calls you to plan a meeting or large event for them, they are thinking, Please, keep the costs low! They know the expense of a meeting is more than the checks they will write for the event–it may also include the employee-hours lost at their company and a host of other charges that can nickel and dime them to death.

However, far from putting pennies on the eyes of their meetings, you can help them save by doing what you do best–finding the right way for the company to gather the number of people necessary for the best results.

One way you can help them is to streamline your own business. Make sure you are automated, and that you have online access to everything you need to save time and money. Find all the real-time booking sites you can, and open accounts on meeting planner websites. Find all the online instruments you can to make your own operation run smoothly and efficiently.

Next, you may be able to serve your client best by suggesting a virtual meeting. This is especially true if some of the participants have to travel long distances. See if VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) can help you. There are lots of high-bandwidth sites out there with very high quality VoIP service. Find them and make them your friends. Also dont rule out the idea of web conferencing–if your clients need to be able to share files, this is your answer for high tech virtual meetings.

For face-to-face meetings, make sure your automated internet contacts give you the best prices and service for your clients. If you need to plan meals, try the ideas behind Banquetology, which is a way of a greater variety of food at smaller portions. This has the added benefit of appealing to those of us who are watching our girths as well as our bottom lines.

Do yourself and your clients a favor, and trim your own fat as you help them trim theirs. You will both benefit in the long run.

Since 1986, Six Sigma has assisted companies in taking the guess work out of quality control. By eliminating product variation and analyzing company process by a measurable means, customer satisfaction is improved.

There are many methods in Six Sigma but the most basic method is DMAIC which is what everything else is built on. There is training available to educate people in these methodologies. The training will teach you to DEFINE, MEASURE, ANALYZE, IMPROVE and CONTROL.

Once the ineffective processes of wasted energy and resources are identified and removed there is opportunity to implement techniques that actually are useful. This is the premise of training for Lean Six Sigma whose methods include TQM and Zero Defects.

After the student earns their Six Sigma certification they have a choice of proceeding to additional levels. A Six Sigma green belt trains the employee about efficient job task completion and how to implement the methodologies in order for the business to be successful. The black belt is the next step in certification, they supervise the green belt in methodology facilitation. They also oversee certain six sigma projects inside the business.

The Six Sigma education is beneficial in promoting the most efficiencies for the benefit of the business. So gaining certifications in six sigma is of high importance for the business and the involved worker.

In Overland Park, KS there is an approval that has been granted for a new hotel. The hotel will be a mid price ranged hotel like a Fairfield Inn or Holiday Inn Express according to the developers.

The Hotel will be built by Empire Hotels, Inc. which is owned primarily by Nish Patel of Lebanon, MO and Armit Patel who is a dentist in New York City. Nish already owns 2 hotels in the area of Lebanon including a Days Inn and an Econo Lodge.

Building a hotel in these times is a tough decision, this area flourishes though with the Kansas City Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs nearby. I am not sure I would make such a business decision at this time, however.

The hotel is expected to cost five and one half million dollars to construct. It is expected to start in the Spring of next year and then be completed in 2011. The hotel will have 76 rooms, an indoor pool with a water slide that is in a 2 story space.

Empire Hotels, Inc. appears to be a privately held company and very small. It will have some steep competition in that area because of the amount of lodging available near Interstate 35 in Kansas City, but who knows, they have had some success and they have the money to dump, so it’s all good!