Small Business Expert Janet Attard Turn your small budget into big profits with these helpful hints.

Coming up with the idea for your business was the easy part-nowyou're finding that number-crunching is more difficult than youthought. You want to spend more money on advertising, but you needa new computer, and of course there's the issue of paying youremployees. Putting together a budget you can work with can befrustrating. So just how do you do it?

Janet Attard has a few tips up hersleeve, and she shares them in her book Business Know-How, which is based onAOL's Business Know-How Forum. You'll find out just how totake those numbers and make your small business bloom on a limitedbudget. For a taste of what you'll find in her helpful guide,here's a look at a few things you can do to cut corners and seethose profits rise:

BIZ Experiences.com: What'sthe first thing you need to know when you're budgeting? Whatthings do you have to take into consideration?

Janet Attard: Try trackingwhat you're spending your money on and [determining] whether ornot it's producing the results you expect. One big area isadvertising, and I've seen many small businesses, particularlybusiness-to-business service companies, spend a lot of money onadvertising in the wrong places. You have to stop and look at whereyour sales come from when deciding how you're going toadvertise and promote your business. First figure out where yourbusiness comes from, and then decide what it's going to costyou to reach that particular market.

		"Growing a business is really hard becauseyou're kind of stuck between what you have coming in and theresources you need to increase business."

Another way people often go wrong is by sending direct mail-theysimply decide they're going to get a lot of customers bysending out a mass mailing. You have to look for your targetmarket-the niche that's going to be interested in yourproduct-if you're going to do a direct mailing.

BIZ Experiences.com: What otherbudgeting mistakes do you think small-business owners make, andwhat should they be doing instead?

Attard: Business owners,particularly newer ones, don't allow enough time for cash tocome in. You have to estimate how long money is going to take toreach you and then have a way to cover your expenses during thattime. If you're expanding your business, you might have to geta loan before you take that big contract on or hire 30 people.You'd better make sure you have financing behind you so you cancover your bills and not run into a cash flow problem.

Growing a business is really hard because you're kind ofstuck between what you have coming in and the resources you need toincrease business. Either look for a line of credit at your bankwhen you don't need the money or use your credit cards-but becareful when you're doing that. You should get credit cardswith a tremendous line of credit. Those are very handy ifyou're going to be growing, you know the money is coming in,and you just need the money to tide you over until you startreceiving payments. There's also a place where you can get aloan on the Web-Loanwise.This site features online loans for up to $50,000, and you can findout immediately [if you've been approved]. For a businessthat's growing, the best thing I can suggest is get a loan whenyou don't need it because it's much easier to get moneywhen you don't need it than when you can't make yourbills.

The other mistake people make is overbuying equipment or notbuying equipment when it's really needed. A lot of times,you'll see people deciding they're going to start abusiness, and they buy every piece of equipment under the sun tostart their business. They've spent $10,000 to $20,000 beforethey have a single customer. They're going to have to do a lotof business to cover those costs, and they probably didn't needhalf of what they bought. Going slowly and not overbuying isanother way to keep your budget in tune and not go broke.

BIZ Experiences.com: How shouldbusiness owners allocate their funds to be most efficient? Whatareas should they put money into? In what areas should they makecuts?

Attard: That depends on thebusiness. Some businesses have to spend a lot on advertising. Ifyou're selling to consumers in a mass market kind of situation,you have to budget a lot for advertising. If you're sellingbusiness-to-business, you probably don't have to spend much.You have to look at the nature of your business and then setrealistic estimates for what it's going to cost. If you'vebeen in business for a while, look at your past records to see whatyou've been spending and if there are places where you can trimcosts without harming your business.

BIZ Experiences.com: You talkabout advertising taking up a huge part of the budget. What aresome cost-saving tips small-business owners could use to staywithin their budgets?

Attard: One is to be sureyou're advertising to the right market. Don't advertise ina regional newspaper because those are very local. Don't go outand buy huge full-page ads and commit to long-term ad campaignsuntil you know you're in the right media and that your adswork. Test first and start small. Build up until you have someguidelines to go by. If you're in a service business, look atjoining networking groups because so much business comes your wayfrom who you know and who knows you and what they know about you.Your best investment often is to become active in these networkinggroups and have some attractive product literature so when somebodysays, "Send me something," you've got somethingprofessional to send out. Another tip is to focus on a particularmarket and saturate it with advertising and promotionalmaterials.

BIZ Experiences.com: Whatthings can a business do to make it look like it's working on abig budget?

Attard: If you'reself-employed and want to look bigger, hire an answering servicerather than using an answering machine so people get a live voice.Have professional-looking literature made for your business. If youcan't afford to hire an ad agency, look at some of the betterpreprinted brochures from Paper Direct. I suggest using them ratherthan the office supplies stores because [the literature from them]just isn't as heavy and doesn't look as good. And never usepreprinted business cards-they always look as if they were done athome.