In Q1, according to the advance estimate, the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.2% annualized rate. That’s only right about average growth, if not below average for the American economy in good times. Indeed, it was slower than the previous quarter and also below analyst expectations.

However, it wasn’t all bad news, and there were a few hints that the primary drivers of economic growth are picking up speed. More than 70% of the U.S. economy is made up of one segment: personal consumption expenditures. The famed American consumer accounts for the majority of our economic activity, and came out swinging in the first quarter of 2012. While real personal consumption expanded at a 2.1% rate in Q4 2011, the increase for Q1 2012 came in at a 2.9% rate. And while growth in sales of durable goods (those are items like cars that we expect a consumer to keep for more than 3 years) maintained their strength, the real growth was in nondurable goods and services, which saw growth of 2.1% and 1.2% respectively, against 0.8% and 0.4% in Q4. This means that consumers are by and large speeding up their purchases of both long-term assets, but also willing to spend more on short-term goods and services.

Now that the American consumer is starting to look up, business will be next to begin taking risks. As an entrepreneur, you know, it’s time to plan now for what risks will provide the best reward.

Reuters reports that the former Chief Executive of Morgan Stanley, John Mack, has joined the board of Lending Club Corp, a peer-to-peer lending website. It’s a big sign of confidence in peer-to-peer lending from the man once known as Mack the Knife for his relentless cost cutting when he led Morgan Stanley.

Peer-to-peer lending, which uses the power of the Internet to directly match lenders and borrowers, has been a crucial source of credit since the financial collapse, particularly for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Lending Club, for example, has already lent $589 million since it launched in 2007, and has generated $51 million of interest for investors. For small business owners, Lending Club offers loans of up to $35,000 at a lower rate than most banks typically offer. Prosper, which was the country’s first peer-to-peer lending site when it launched in 2006, offers business owners up to $25,000 at generous rates.

It’s not only the U.S. that’s embracing peer-to-peer lending. According to the Financial Times, “the peer-to-peer model is also gaining traction in Germany and China, which has an estimated 100 lending sites.” And it’s little wonder: peer-to-peer lending has been a crucial source of credit ever since the big banks have tightened their belts.

As for silly old Polonius, the character who actually said “neither a borrower nor a lender be?” He ended up getting stabbed to death by Hamlet. We think you’ll find a happier ending.

So, aside from a pun of questionable quality, what’s actually in the JOBS Act? “The JOBS Act is a collection of six measures that its backers say would make it easier for companies to go public more quickly and raise money,” says Politico.

Those measures include rule changes that “allow small businesses to use ads to solicit investors and permit more companies making public offerings to opt out of SEC rules. ” Perhaps most importantly, however, the new law makes it much easier to “crowdfund”—i.e. to raise money from a large number of people on the Internet. Thanks to the JOBS Act, entrepreneurs are now able to raise up to $1 million annually through crowdfunding, without triggering any SEC registration or filing requirements. Another important component is a measure pertaining to capital expansion. According to business strategist Carol Roth, the law “increases the number of shareholders that can invest in a community bank without having to comply with extra regulation… [this makes] more capital available for community banks… [and results in] trickle down into the local small business economy.” The new law also makes it easier for start-ups to stay private for longer and makes it cheaper for them when they want to go public.

In sum, as Amy M. Wilkinson, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School sees it, “the bill makes it easier for startups to raise money, to stay private when they need to and to go public when the time is right.”

Of course, the JOBS act isn’t going to raise your funds for you. For that, you’re going to need an excellent business plan—preferably a MasterPlan. Nonetheless, in an effort to save their own jobs, Congress and the president have just made it a heck of a lot easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital. Good JOBS all around!

“The service once saved for special occasions has become affordable, accessible, and quick,” raves Marie Claire. At one blow-dry bar in West Hollywood, ‘dos are named for drinks, like the Mai Tai for beachy waves or the Manhattan for a straightened, smoothed-down mane. A blowout can run about $30 to $40 and last about 45 minutes. “If I’m having a bad day, I go. If I’m having a fat day, I go. If I’m traveling for work and I want to look and feel polished, I go,” one marketer told the Journal. As blow-dry salon cofounder Ali Webb told Marie Claire, “We’re not just selling blowdrys. We’re selling happiness and confidence.”

Hair salons generate about $34.9 billion in annual revenue, says market research firm IBISWorld. There are now several blow-dry chains across North America: five-year-old Blo, which has 16 locations and also offers extensions, and two-year-old Drybar, with 10 locations. There’s even Blowout, a blow-dry salon here in Portland that offers makeup too—and it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump away from the MasterPlans HQ. Guess where we’ll be going before work tomorrow?

Want to start a blow-dry salon in your area? MasterPlans can write and research a top-notch business plan for you in as little as five days. Get in touch!

These days one of the strongest trends is towards the utilization of social media and new marketing tactics that help businesses engage directly with their customer base. This is a powerful concept at its core—the mission of every business is to win over a limited marketplace full of customers, and speaking directly to them offers great potential.

We haven’t just seen more app developers contacting us looking for a plan that will help them find angel investors while they start the next Facebook or Groupon, we’ve also seen a wide variety of traditional businesses adopt marketing strategies that use social media to create buzz about their business, and a lot more instances of an “app development” line in the start-up expenses table. Studies over the last few years have shown small and large businesses alike at different stages of development quickly adopting social media plans.

We’ve become more active social media followers, too, blogging, tweeting, sharing and promoting our clients and partners. We’ve also become experts in helping businesses of all industries to get across how they’re going to leverage their social brand image to speak to their audience. It’s a great strength that investors realize sets even the restaurateur or wholesaler apart, showing dedication to the business and familiarity with the cutting edge.

We also love helping out military veteran entrepreneurs here at MP. Luckily, it looks like 7-Eleven does too. They’ve just announced new incentives for military veterans, including a 10% discount off the franchise fee (that’s savings of up to $35,000) and up to 65% financing. All of this comes in addition to the usual franchisee benefits that 7-Eleven provides, including:

• Comprehensive training
• Business Consultant assistance
• Accounting and bookkeeping services
• Advertising support
• Merchandising support
• The benefit of a large product distribution network, keeping inventory fresh and costs as low as possible

You can apply for a franchise application with 7-Eleven here. And don’t forget to check in with us on getting you a top-rate 7-Eleven business plan.

Great benefits for veterans AND a great business plan from MasterPlans?

Oh thank heaven!

While calls are strengthening for further liberalization and an extension of immigration quotas, current U.S. immigration law already helps encourage this link between business ownership. Two classes of visas, the E5 and E-2 Treaty Investor Visa both help immigrants looking to start a business in the U.S. get the residency they need to manage their company. The E-2 visa is available for immigrants from treaty countries that are looking to invest a modest sum, usually at least $50,000, in a new or existing U.S. business.

But of course part of the deal is to demonstrate the viability of the company and show the capital needed to sufficiently cover asset purchases and operational costs until the business breaks even. That means a business plan is a must—it’s the best way to show how your business will continue the great American tradition of entrepreneurial immigrant success. Add in the knowledge you’ll receive during the writing process about the market you’re entering, and it’s clear that a business plan is a useful tool for immigrants both in attaining their visa and in making the most out of it.

Disheartening, to be sure. But is your business idea really finished? Not hardly.

We hear a lot about first-mover advantage, which is the idea that the first occupier in a specific market segment has a significant competitive advantage. But, it turns out that second-mover advantage can be even greater. The Financial Times recently ran a story declaring that being first-mover is not always a surefire path to success—in fact, it turns out that “fast followers” oftentimes eclipse the first-mover.

The pink paper runs through a number of examples to prove this thesis: for example, Xerox was not the first company to release a photocopier, Pampers were not the first disposable diaper brand, Apple did not invent the personal computer (or the portable mp3 player!), and Kodak did not come out with the first camera. (OK, maybe Kodak’s a bad example.) And, incidentally, does anyone still use AltaVista, a search engine that pre-dated Google?

Why is this? As the FT explains, “so-called ‘fast followers’ have the advantage of being able to use pioneers’ experiences to learn about consumer tastes, new designs and manufacturing techniques, and the potential size of a market. They can also learn from their mistakes.”

So do you think you’ve spotted the flaw that Jeff Bezos/Fred Smith/Steve Ells (that’s the Chipotle guy) have failed to notice? Then get moving!

Take Small Business Administration 504 loans, which are paired with private-sector commercial loans, and which help small businesses purchase fixed assets, like real estate. Reuters reported last fall that the interest rates for Small Business Administration 504 loans are at unprecedented lows. The 20-year effective interest rate on a 504 loan—that is, the rate that small business borrowers pay, including servicing fees—is only 4.6%. 10-year 504 loans now have an effective interest rate of an even more miniscule 3.77%. Now with the Fed announcing its continuation of abnormally low interest rates, the good times should keep rolling.

In the past, high interest rates might have been enough to scare off even the most optimistic of borrowers. The thought of cascading debt left many wondering if Bank of America or Wells Fargo would eventually have to send around a guy that looks like this:

Not anymore.

There’s never been a better time to borrow, as repayment terms have never been more generous.

So are you still thinking about that great wine bar/cloud computing/gourmet pet food store idea? Stop just thinking and start planning!

Crazy, right? Impossible, isn’t it? Must have been an episode of The Twilight Zone or something, correct?

Wrong. It happened just recently to an entrepreneur who wrote into the Freakonomics Blog.

Why?

Well, according to the experts over at Business Insider, besides financial support, there’s one thing you need to successfully woo a lender: a robust business plan. One that, in the words of BI, “explains your businesses’ goals and objectives, projected earnings (including financial statements and pro formas), marketing strategy, and any other relevant info.” Charles Moore, founder of Rocket.Lawyer, a legal service says, “Banks appreciate everything to be highly detailed and spelled-out, so don’t be afraid to include something like a bio of the company’s partners, advantages your company has over others, etc.”

It sounds to us like what Moore is saying is that what the entrepreneur needed was not just a business plan, but a MasterPlan. Our plans include everything he mentioned—and more. Check out what we offer.