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As a private business owner, growth opportunities present themselves virtually every day. The thing is, not all of these growth opportunities are financially feasible. It’s essential, therefore, to reserve your time and resources for the opportunities that have the greatest chance of propelling your business forward—and to find the right funding partner to make those opportunities a reality. By following these three steps, you have a better chance of achieving just that.

When bribery and corruption run rampant within governments, they greatly erode our social fabric—negatively impacting such things as the provision of services such as schools, roads and hospitals, standards of living and global climate change efforts. They are estimated to cost the global economy upwards of one trillion dollars per year. Over the last four years, many countries have been working together to build upon those original 1999 commitments and create stronger anti-corruption and anti-bribery regulations—a step that has resulted in phenomenal progress worldwide. While this is definitely something to celebrate, there is still a lot of work to be done. While many large public corporations have taken the necessary steps, many private businesses in the middle market have not turned their attention to this issue, yet. If you’re a private business owner, it’s time to implement anti-corruption and anti-bribery policies in your organization—if you haven’t already. Getting started doesn’t have to cost you big bucks either. Here are some affordable steps you can take to get the ball rolling.

When it comes to increasing the value of your business, the old adage rings true: It’s about the journey rather than the destination. Increasing value is an ongoing process—a process that involves the regular assessment of your business’s strengths and weaknesses. The process should ideally lead you to opportunities that allow you to build upon the former, while remedying—or eliminating—the latter. Because you never know when the need for financing—or the decision to sell—may present itself, you should always be searching for new ways to increase your company’s value. While there are obviously external factors that can play a role in how much your business is worth, there are also many things you can control. These may include:

Companies outsource back-office business processes mainly to boost efficiency and reduce costs. Payroll, HR and accounting processes – the most common to be outsourced – are heavily transactional, and many companies determine that external specialists can execute these far more cost-effectively than they can themselves. It might therefore be expected that providers’ mastery of the relevant technical skills is the critical success factor in any relationship. The intangible aspects of these relationships – a partner’s reliability, trust and other 'non-technical' skills – count as much as (or even more than) harder factors, such as their specialist capabilities, in making outsourcing relationships work.

Many of the business owners will likely choose the traditional route by passing their businesses onto the next generation. For those hoping to preserve their legacy and maximize their business’s ROI, however, this isn’t the only option. While keeping it in the family may seem like the best gift you can give, in reality only 30 percent of businesses will survive the second generation. A more effective route would be to explore other succession options available to you—a process that will require a little soul-searching and a lot of planning.

If there’s one truth in today’s cyber age, it’s that no business is immune from a cyberattack. Given the increasing amount of business information that’s stored online—or in external-facing (aka Internet-connected) devices—it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are a seemingly endless number of cyber criminals out there vying for your data and pertinent information.