Monday, November 30, 2020

Writing a Business Plan: Why It Is Worth the Time and Effort

 

Writing a Business Plan: Why It Is Worth the Time and Effort

Are you thinking about approaching a Bank for finance to support your business? If you haven’t already gone to see the Manager then you may not know that the first thing he will want to see is your Business Plan. Perhaps you are not convinced that all the time and effort needed in preparing a plan is essential; if so then here are the main benefits for both you and your business. 1. No matter how good a communicator you are, you will never be able to convey your vision for the business as successfully as a perfectly put together Business Plan. It provides a clear understanding as to what you want to achieve. It allows you to express your ideas in a clearer manner. 2. Too many times business owners try to sell their idea verbally and at the end of the interview with the Bank the Manager is none the wiser than he was at the start. I think you can guess the outcome of many of those requests! 3. A Business Plan will help convince both you and the Bank of the project’s feasibility and viability. There’s nothing like having all the facts in front of you to clarify the key issues 4. There’s no getting away from the fact that a business owner who plans ahead comes across as being more ambitious and more focused. A well prepared Business Plan demonstrates you have vision and that you know what you want 5. With numerous ideas floating around in your mind, the pitfalls or stumbling blocks to success are never that visible. A mind buzzing and full of ideas will rarely achieve clarity. A Business Plan forces you to put your ideas down in writing and in an orderly manner. The result of this could be you going in a completely different direction than you initially thought of, or even abandoning your idea altogether. Not a pleasant thought, but which would you prefer? The loss of your hard capital or the opportunity to re-think your idea? 6. It is an ideal tool to monitor progress against the objectives you have set yourself (we will cover objective setting later). By checking progress against your Plan, you will be able to spot if you are moving away from your original vision and so you will know what has to be put right 7. Imagine if you didn’t have this check in place; an unnoticed change in direction or a slippage in achieving your objectives, if left uncorrected for too long, could be fatal to your business. On the other hand, it may transpire that a shift from your original vision could be a better alternative, but at least recognising this change allows you to adjust your course in a planned, structured and controlled manner 8. Every action you take has a consequence, and a Plan helps make these consequences much clearer. Being aware of the possible effect of your chosen direction allows you to plan ahead, leaving you better able to cope with whatever the world of self employment can throw at you. This is one thing that “mental planning” would not achieve 9. Putting your thoughts on paper may make you realise that you need to do more research on the demand for your product or service. It could also highlight that more investigation on your competitor’s products or services is needed. Additional research could help avoid a potentially costly mistake or even uncover a hidden advantage, which you had not seen before! 10. A Plan will guide you as to how much money is needed to make an idea work. In your mind you may have a rough figure of what you’ll have to commit, but until you do a Cash Flow Forecast you may not realise that an overdraft limit will be required, in addition to a loan for your equipment. If the mention of preparing a Cash Flow Forecast brings you out in a sweat, don’t worry as later in the book I’ll be showing you exactly how to do one 11. A Business Plan will help you get funding. One of the main reasons Banks turn down requests for loans is a lack of information to assist in making an informed decision. If the Manager doesn’t have enough knowledge about your idea or business then he won’t feel comfortable enough to support you. He has to understand your business before he can say yes. Some time in the future he may have to justify to his superiors why he lent you the money, so he needs as much information as possible to back up his decision. A Business Plan will make him feel much more at ease and so more able to say yes 12. By the time you have finished writing your Business Plan you will have a total understanding of your business; its strengths and weaknesses, the environment it operates in, what could potentially go wrong, and what you can do to ensure your success. Doing your planning on the back of an envelope is not going to achieve this You should realise by now that it’s essential to have a Business Plan; it could be the difference between success and that dreaded “f” word – failure! It’s all about understanding the importance of planning ahead. Spend time putting your thoughts on paper in a structured and logical manner. It will pay you dividends, both in getting the Bank to take you seriously and securing the future of your business.

Why line up at the post office to buy postage stamps when you can make your own

 

Why line up at the post office to buy postage stamps when you can make your own

Ever lined up in a big long queue at the Post Office just to buy one single 39c postage stamp ? What a waste of time, especially knowing that you can print your own postage stamps right from your PC. Seriously, you can print a postage stamp that is fully approved by the US Postal Service (USPS) right from your PC… so the only thing you will be doing at the post office is dropping your mail in the outgoing mailbox. You don’t need to line up to pay for your letter/package to be mailed, your postage has already been paid for. Dymo Corporation have teamed up with the USPS to deliver a system that allows you to print your postage stamps from a free software program called Dymo Stamps. Basically, you create an online Dymo Stamps account, add some postage funds to your account ($10 minimum) and start printing postage stamps on your Dymo LabelWriter printer. Opening an account with Dymo Stamps is free, and there is no monthly service fee. All you pay for are blank stamp labels, and the actual cost of the postage. You will however need a Dymo LabelWriter printer to print your own stamps, and scales to weigh your mail (scales can be found in most Department stores starting at around $10). The most popular LabelWriter, the Dymo LabelWriter 400 Turbo is just $109 – with free shipping from Labelcity. When you take delivery of your Dymo LabelWriter, you get given a free roll of Shipping Labels and also a roll of blank Dymo Stamps. Also included is instructions on getting started with Dymo Stamps, and with the simplicity of registering your Dymo Stamps account, there is no reason why you can’t be printing postage stamps within 10 minutes of taking delivery of your LabelWriter. Note: the Dymo LabelWriter isn’t used solely for printing stamps, they can print everything from Address Labels to Jewelry labels, Video Cassette Labels to CD/DVD Labels, Veterinary Prescription Labels to Price Tag Labels – there are 1000’s of uses for a LabelWriter. Dymo Stamps software is extremely easy to use, and it is compatible with Windows 2000 and XP, as well as with Macintosh OS X v10.2.8 and later. Dymo spent a lot of time getting the stamp-creation process right, and they have made it so simple that even a computer novice will do it with ease. Suppose you have an envelope that needs to be mailed to a client. You simply open the Dymo Stamps software, select the type of mail service (First Class, Priority Mail, International Air or Postcard), select the weight, select the quantity of stamps (if you had say 5 envelopes, you would set the qty to 5) and then print your stamps. The stamp ejects out of the LabelWriter printer, and waits for you to peel it off and affix it to your envelope. You can even print a whole lot of postage stamps ahead of time. For example, if you regularly send the same size/weight envelopes, you can go ahead and print off a strip of stamps and keep them handy for when you are ready to send your mail. Or if you prefer, you can just do them as you go. 

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Who Needs a Business Advisor?

 

Who Needs a Business Advisor?

The simple answer to the seemingly complex question of ?? Who needs a business advisor ??? is ?? everyone responsible for operating a business. That ?? s right. The Fortune 50 CEO to the one-person show needs an advisor. The CEO of a public company has mentors as well as a board of directors to turn to. They often don ?? t have a choice of who their advisors are but small business owners do. Unfortunately, with this choice of advisors comes another choice that is often made instead. That choice is to not get any help at all. Not getting any help at all is very often the cause of the business failure statistics we hear so much about. The small business owner will often claim that they don ?? t have the time or money for an advisor. Think about that comment. How can you not have the money to get help from someone that can potentially save or make you more money since you obviously are not getting it done on your own? Or how about that time you are lacking? Maybe if that owner sat down for an hour with an advisor, they would be able to see why they don ?? t have time and do something about it with the help of someone who has already been in those shoes. A coach or advisor gives to small business owners something most of them don ?? t have; a sounding board and a board of directors to turn to for advice. These are two great resources to use when trying to avoid ?? trial and error ?? decisions and processes. I ?? m not knocking trial and error as the way to learn things. I ?? ve personally used that method and faired well in many cases. But that is a case-by-case basis, not for on-going daily concerns. Don ?? t forget that this method is also very costly and time consuming. Why not ask someone who has probably already faced the problem? What many business owners do not realize is that they rarely go through any trials and tribulations that someone else has never dealt with. Not to mention that about 70-75% of their business is the same as every other business including HR, finances, sales, marketing and funding. The other 25-30% is industry specific. Small to mid sized business owners take away much more from an advisor than big businesses. This, if for no other reason, is the case because the smaller companies have owners that wear a lot of hats. Many of those hats take time away from the things the owner actually needs to make a priority to see their company succeed. Things they should be doing that they don ?? t have time to get to or things they are taking care of that they have no experience in doing. These situations take away from them doing what they do best. That ?? sa problem. The question now is how to find an advisor. There are many types of business advisors out there. Some are purely ?? coaches ?? and others are true developers and implementers that will roll up their sleeves with you when asked to. It ?? s up to you to pick the type of person you want or need. Here are a few things to think about: - Do they click with your personality? There are many good advisors out there but if they don ?? t click with you as a ?? business friend ??, don ?? t bother with them because you will end up fighting them even when you agree on the advice. - Have they owned a small business before? Gray hair does not equal business ownership knowledge. I promise you that the ex-CEO or Senior manager from a huge company knows very little about successfully operating a small business. These are two significantly different worlds. - Don ?? t worry if a potential advisor doesn ?? t know your specific industry. Remember that a lot of your troubles have nothing to do with your industry. It would help though if the advisor had contacts / resources for you in your industry for when specific problems are addressed. - Look for flexibility. A potential advisor that pushes for more than 20 hours a month of your time from day one is probably out for money. Until they start working with you, there is no way of knowing that they need that much time per month to meet your goals and timelines. A good advisor will understand that you have made a commitment to get back on track just by the fact that you are talking to them. They shouldn ?? t need to try and get a ridiculous time / money commitment from you if they want to help. - Make it a local thing. This suggestion is a two-part issue. First, the advisor should agree that when face time is needed that they come to you. Second, there is absolutely no reason why a small business with locations in one state needs a business advisor that must fly in or travel more than 2 hours to see them. These companies somehow find suckers to take their so-so advice and huge reports full of fluff and also pay for travel costs. There are plenty of advisors local to every company in this country. Yes, even in Hawaii. Once you have made the very intelligent decision of getting help in making your business a success, 

Work From Home Data Entry Made Easy

 

Work From Home Data Entry Made Easy

Small Home-Based Businesses — Five Simple Steps to Succes

 

Small Home-Based Businesses - Five Simple Steps to Success

Did you know that, in Australia, 60% of small businesses fail in the first twelve months? For those of us who would like to start a small business - maybe even work from home - that ?? sa very discouraging statistic. Does that mean that your business idea is doomed to failure? Far from it! There are steps you can take that greatly increase your chances of success. With a little time and some serious research you can hit the ground running. Let ?? s start from the beginning ?? The bright idea  First, of course, you need to come up with an idea. Typically, business opportunities can be divided into four groups: 1. Offering an existing product / service in an existing market. 2. Introducing an existing product / service to a new market. 3. Offering a new product / service in an existing market 4. Introducing a new product / service to a new market. At this stage of the game the only limit is your imagination. Inspiration can come from anywhere - maybe you have a hobby that you ?? d like to turn into a full-time job; you may be on the receiving end of bad service one day and decide to try doing it better yourself; or you may have a talent that you ?? d like to capitalize on. Once you ?? ve come across something that you ?? d like to do, it ?? s time to take a look at the market and see what ?? s on offer. Passing the test  So you ?? ve had a great idea and you ?? re keen to roll with it; now it ?? s time to put it through its paces. For the purpose of the exercise, let ?? s say that you have a passion for healthy living, and that you want to distribute a range of lifestyle accessories that promote healthy living with a do-it-yourself approach. Ask around: Is there a market for products that promote healthy living? What sorts of products are available? Who would you be competing with and what do your competitors offer? Do you have the necessary skills to run such a business and - more to the point - what would those skills be? Where would your business be located? Once you ?? and answered those questions you should have a fairly clear picture of what your business will look like. You source some products and decide to do some further research into the range of lifestyle products offered by a company called Vitality 4 Life. Your own life experience plus some work you ?? ve done as a dietician has given you the necessary skill sets, and you think that you ?? ll be able to work from home, giving you more time for family. There is an existing market, but there ?? s room for expansion. Now it ?? s time to take a closer look. To be or not to be?  It ?? s time to get down to the nuts and bolts. You don ?? t want to jump into something feet first and find out the hard way that the budget just doesn ?? t work. To get started, sit down and work out if you need hire staff, which means paying wages. If you lease a premises you ?? ll need to be able to pay the rent, and your location will have to be suitable for your business and target market (which also means that you ?? ll have to think carefully about just what that target? market is). You ?? ll also need to work out the likely demand for your product / service. Ok ?? you ?? ve worked out that there is enough demand for good quality juicers, sprouters, water filters and other high end accessories to take a shot at a distributorship as a home-based business opportunity. Now you need to make some marketing decisions. Look at me! Look at me! Advertising can be costly so you ?? ll want to be sure that your advertising budget is spent wisely. That means more market research, this time one-on-one. Profile your customer groups so you can aim your marketing at the right group / s of people. Draw up a questionnaire (a short questionnaire - people run out patience if you ramble for too long) and hang around outside a few of the local gyms (for our particular example). Come up with a mixture of open questions (What do you think of ???? ..?) And closed questions (Do you have a gym membership? Yes / No.); Sliding scales can be useful too. For our health accessories business, a good question might be ?? How did you hear about this gym? Radio, tv, newspaper, word of mouth etc ???? Such a question would then give you an indication of the types of media that your target group responds best to. Measure it, manage it! A teacher of mine made the point that, in business, if you can ?? t measure it you can ?? t manage it. You need to be able to plan ahead, and to do that you need to know - or to be able to accurately predict - your total sales. The equation is simple: number of customers x average sale x frequency of visits per customer per year = total sales. Remember it, revise it often, measure your business and you ?? ll be able to manage it! Keep an eye on your bottom line and, most importantly, always be aware of your cash flow - the cold, hard cash that you have in the bank. Allow for invoice periods (14 days, 30 days etc) when you ?? re planning your budget. The market place has a life of its own, and no one can prepare for every contingency. Put some thought into your idea; make sure that there ?? sa market for what you ?? re offering; research, research, research; promote your business effectively; always know what ?? s going on in your bank account and don ?? t forget about cash flow! It ?? s not perfect but, if you follow these few simple steps, you ?? ll be miles ahead of many new small business ventures. If you ?? ve heard of a great home-based business opportunity, or have a product or service of your own to market, you ?? re off to a great start!

Where to Find the Perfect Business to Buy

Will People Really Read Your Small Business Web Site

 

You May Have A Successful Small Business Idea

You May Have A Successful Small Business Idea

You surely know that a small idea can lead to a great business success. The first movement is to think of an idea that would be suitable for the business market. After coming up with the idea, the next step is to put that idea into action. Of course, this is a very difficult step and having the idea is only the start of the journey. After that you will have to face many obstacles before being able to carry on with your business project. This is just the beginning of this process and there is a lot of questions you will have to answer before even start. Some of the main aspects you have to concentrate on when you have business ideas are the abilities and gifts you can pour into the business. It is very important for you to be identified with your business project. Those ideas should be based on activities and actions you take pleasure in doing. For example, if we suppose that you dislike working in the open, landscaping business would not suit you. On the other hand, if you like working with children, setting up baby-sitting or tutoring business would be an excellent idea. In this case, without any doubt you business will be more successful because you will have put your mind, effort and also your heart on it. Another vital step is to analyze the needs of a specific product or service in your region before setting up your business. Do people of your area need your product? Are there other business like the one you are planning to start? You should ask yourself whether or not you are the only one offering that service or product. If you are not, you will have to analyze the competence you will have to face. You have to think whether the service you are offering is one that customer would repeat, or if it is a one-time specialized service. Obviously, the former are more likely to succeed than the latter. There are other aspects you have to take into account. These aspects are described below: - One of them is that if the idea is unique, you will reign the market. But if there is much competition, it will be difficult to enter into the market. - A second point would be if you can offer quality from the very beginning, otherwise, you won't succeed. - Finally, you have to think about your capital to start your own business. There are many business ideas that require little investment and bring great profit. Some demand research, such as daycare service, and others need a large amount of money to begin the business.

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

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