In fact it’s not just a question related to women.

You probably saw that President Obama is now focusing on loans for small business. His proposal is to take $30 billion of the repaid TARP money and give it to small and medium sized banks so they will increase their lending to small business.

“We’re going to start where most new jobs do — with small businesses,” Obama said at a town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H. This was a repeating of a statement he made in his State of the Union address last week.

The issue is that banks have been receiving bailouts and then not lending to small businesses. The knock on effect is that small business is not hiring people to work as they are very cautious about coming months. net result, the economy slows down even more. Did I just read that 1 in 6 people are now unemployed or working less?

Anyway, back to the question of small business loans women. Here are a few sources for you to start looking, if you are a Woman Owned Business (WOB):

Community or small banks that are local to you. Many people are switching away from the “too big to fail” banks to smaller community banks. You’ve probably driven by them in your town. Drop in on one of them and have a chat. You many be surprised!

The SBA (Small Business Administration) has a whole area devoted to women. Their Office of Women’s Business Ownership is a good place to start.

Federal Grants – Try going to Grants.gov and you can see a complete list of funding opportunities. This can be complex and drawn out, but if you need cash….

There’s no denying that getting small business loans women, or anyone, is tough at the moment. But use your ingenuity and don’t forget to be armed with a very well prepared business plan. There is also a good article at on this at Womenowned.com by Phyllis Rawley.

Note that we didn’t use the word great. If we were investing in a business we’d far prefer to be putting money into a good idea with a great team and plan than a great idea with a rotten team and plan. Graveyards are full of businesses with great ideas and rotten execution.

In fact Venture Investors (VC’s) have told us that it’s really all down to 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

At WDTD our goal is simple. We’ll help you take your inspiration and make the perspiration easier.

Back to those ideas. let’s help you get inspired!

One of the great benefits of working out of home is the flexibility and convenience. Combine this with the very low cost of starting out. It’s no wonder that 1.4 million women every year will start their own business.

We often get asked “I want to start my own business, but I’m not sure what I should do?”

Here are six trends that we are seeing

1) Consulting

This is the classic example of using your prior experience and contact list. Our businesses use many consultants because it’s cheaper to pay someone for a few days or weeks than go through the process of hiring someone. Outsourcing is a huge trend and you can take advantage of it. This area is vast.

We have two consulting businesses. One works with Fortune 500 type companies on major strategic issues. The other is focused on internet start ups. the reason we can do this is because of our experience in both fields and specifically Angelique’s years of consulting all over the world. It’s an example of what we have previously talked about. Using your experience.

2) Freelance

Take your skills and your contact list and start out at home. A great example of this is our book keeper. She manages our basic accounting work out of her home for all our businesses and does it for several other companies as well. She makes more money than she did in her previous job, works less hours and her time is totally flexible.

Another lady we know well does company business report writing. The ideas here are almost endless. We have also worked with a lady who is setting up an admin service for other small companies who don’t want to pay for a full time secretary. She’s building a network of women who are at home and passing them work based on the number of hours each women wannest to do per week.

3) Online marketing

Women are leaving previous jobs and becoming on line marketers. Working a few hours a day they are quickly building incremental income. We helped one lady do this as she was planning to have a child in 18 months and wanted to move her job to her house. She just had her first daughter – congratulations Lara!

Another area that women are actively involved in is using their experience in software like Adobe to start website development business. If you have a computer and an internet connection, you’re half way there. The cool thing here is that the start up is low cost and very quick. We have often hired a woman who turns round photoshop projects at high speed and creates beautiful work. Thanks Stephanie!

4) Food, catering & event planning

You don’t need a big business here. We’ve seen women making great money out of starting selling food they have cooked at home. The profit margins here are excellent. If you have a good set of contacts at companies you could start a catering business.

5) Health and fitness

Fitness training, exercise studios, and many more ideas. We worked with a lady who has started several specialist exercise studios. She was previously in the world of food products but had a passion for this. Liz is doing spectacularly well. Niche health and fitness is one of the top trends for small business. Don’t just think of humans. Pet related wellness is another growth area.

One of our friends came to us. She was frustrated at work, bored and becoming disillusioned. She and her husband agreed that she’d transition to a work at home mom. She was personally into physical therapy and started a massage business. Again, very low cost start up and a steadily increasing list of clients. She’s been amazingly innovative in growing her business to the point where she has now taken on a 2nd women to cover her demand. She’s happier and making decent money that is paying for all sorts of extras for the family.

Remember that your business idea does not have to be a multi million dollar monster. If it strikes the right personal and financial balance it can quickly change your life.

6) Interior design and staging

We know several businesses run by women doing exactly this. Even with the slump in home sales there is a constant demand for staged houses and there is a segment of the market that is always looking to improve their home space. Talk to a few realtors about staging. We know one lady who runs a staging business out of her apartment and keeps all the staging products in a pair of rented garages.

We wanted to give you a flavor of the ideas what we are seeing women using to change their lives. Remember that most of your best ideas will come from your experience or your hobbies and passion. Just make sure you plan your moves carefully and get the right support.

Be successful

Rob & Angelique