Learn How to Write a Busiess Plan
Writing a business plan can be a daunting task the first time you do it. So many would be great entrepreneurs have a great idea and need funding for it, some even self fund or boot strap their business and they all have big plans. They will tell you how big their company will be some day or why you should invest your money but most do not have a formal business plan.
Just this last week I was presented with a new idea that I really thought was excellent and the entrepreneur was clearly working hard and committed to getting the product to market. She was excited, smart and full of enthusiasm and of course wanted me to invest in her idea.
Now here is the reality the venture could be huge or a huge flop and that risk is always present so the risk is not why I turned her down. Nope it was the lack of a business plan that did it. She even had great packaging and was lined up to do trade shows and meet some perspective buyers from major retail chains. The risk is still there so I must make a risk assessment as an investor.
How I make a risk assessment
This is pretty simple I know the results if the product totally flops that is a 100% loss right? Yet what a business plan will tell me is what I can expect to see in gross sales and return of investment at various levels of success. How can an entrepreneur expect investment if they can’t even tell me the return I will get and in how long if things go right, mostly right or moderately successful. I need the numbers for all those out comes to weigh the risk reward, without that I can’t even get started.
I also may not understand the market, the supply chain, the competition and the total market cap and opportunity in a new niche. I need it spelled out and I need to understand the marketing that the company will use to communicate its message to the world. Additionally if I am to put my money or even just partner with assistance/consulting with a company need to know their vision. More importantly I need to know they understand their own vision. All of these things are addressed with a proper business plan. Even if you don’t want investors you need a business plan to be sure you have your own vision right, your own risk/reward ratio strait and to help you make the right decisions.
How do you do it? Easy turn to one of my heroes in business, Donald Trump for some free assistance. Trump University offers a free How to Write a Business Plan course you can sign up for and lean a ton from. I also recommend the excellent free business templates available from Score. They have templates for business plans, financial work sheets and other needs.
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comment (0)If you are great financial mind listen up
I was recently asked to have a look at a website for a company called, Willis Consulting Inc, they specialize in financial job placement and while the news reporters keep talking about gloom and doom now may be one of the best opportunities for top financial minds from an employment view point. You see when money is tight, when profits are down and when recessions hit hard it is the financial expert that turns a company around or keeps it from entering decline in the first place.
Even during the worst economic times there are companies that thrive and excel. In such times even while laying off parts of their workforce many companies still pay top dollar for bright financial minds because when the chips are down they are needed more then ever.
If I were ever to consider myself “employable” again I would certainly utilize an executive recruiting firm. If you are really good at what you do emailing resumes and searching job boards is a total waste of time. My career advice for anyone looking for new opportunities is find a good recruiter, someone you trust and who can do a good job and put them to work marketing you. If you happen to be a top financial minds this may be one of the best times in recent history to do just that.
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comment (0)Establish your expertise by self publishing
If you are in business today, especially if you are in the online information business, doing public presentations or perhaps consulting then being seen as an expert can really increase your chances of success. One thing that can really help you be seen as an expert in your industry is to be an author of a book. Now I mean a real honest book that you can touch and feel not an eBook. eBooks are great for selling information but they certainly don’t carry the clout you get from publishing a hard copy book.
The problem in the past is to self publish was expensive and quite risky. Often you had to order 1000 copies or more and this led many early self publishers to end up with a closet full of books that never sold. All that has changed today with something called “print on demand” technology. Just as it sounds basically every time an book is order it is individually printed and shipped. This makes publishing low cost, low risk and open to anyone that want to take the time and effort to write a book.
One of the best Book Publishers for the would be self publishing author is called Author House. They offer a exceptional array of services to help new authors get started and with just a bit of effort anyone can become a published author today. It definitely takes some effort to write a book but the reward is usually well worth it. Thanks to new services like Author House it is an option for more people today then ever. For move information visit their website for more information at www.authorhouse.com
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comment (1)Outsource your IT and Development
Especially for the small to mid sized business owner I am a huge fan of outsourcing. There are certain functions that you should never outsource and these I consider to be “outsourcing your soul”. So if you business builds custom cabinets and you outsource cabinet construction that to me means you no longer make cabinets you simply sell them. Yet would most small cabinet shops really have the resourses and in house knowledge to maintain a web presence or if they do a lot of business online to deal with something as complex as web hosting colocation?
Even a “high tech company” will generally not be able to provide for all of its needs with in house talent especially the countless individuals that work from home building websites that sell a variety of services and products. I have often used services like RentACoder for my needs but honestly that has been hit or miss with quality and time to delivery.
One resource you may want to consider is Momentum which acts as a single source of contact and more importantly accountability for all your IT outsourcing needs. I cannot over state the value of accountability when you are outsourcing technology projects. So just what type of IT needs can you outsource to momentum? A few things like
- Media Design
- Server Management
- Application Development
- Programming Work
- Data Back Ups
- And even on demand consulting
Today you can easily and inexpensively run a business with the proper use of outsourcing. Whether you are a small to mid sized business or an individual internet based entrepreneur, services like Momentum offer an excellent way to leverage your business and compete with much bigger companies by being more nimble and adaptable to challenges and opportunities.
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comment (0)Your job is not secure
Let me be clear I don’t think you have a safe, secure job today if you work even say for the Post Office or even a State Government agency. I believe firmly with the toxicity of debt in both the consumer credit card market and the sub prime lending market a major recession is coming. We won’t die off, no one will jump from tall buildings on Wall Street and the dust bowel is not comming back but there also may no longer be “two chickens in ever pot”. Todays “chickens” are Plasma TVs and other do dads.
Right now there is over 1 Tillion Dollars in toxic debt in the consumer credit market, that is money that will NEVER get paid back. The American tax payer has had enough, we won’t bleed money any more. Social Security is getting to where you as a working member of society have you “own old person” to provide for, it will change and that will be good but short term it will hurt.
The dollar weakens almost daily now! Canada now has a stronger dollar then the US that has never happened. The weak dollar is supposed to help fix the multi trillion dollar trade deficit we have with the world, it does nothing of the sort. The biggest potential export markets for us are China and Japan and both artificially tie their currency to the dollar. When the dollar drops so does the Yen by an equal amount. All a weak dollar does is make your money worth less and less in the global market.
My point is this can’t all just stand as the house of cards it is today and there will come a time soon when some of the bills will have to be paid. When that happens there will not be enough money to pay it. At that point employers are going to feel it hard and tough decisions will have to be made. Your boss might love you but if it comes down to the company surviving and your employment he will have that hard talk with you about some measly severance package. Odds are in many instances he will then get to have the same talk with his boss and so on.
How bad will it be? I do not pretend to know but it will be worse then it is today, that I am sure of. My real point though is it doesn’t really matter does it how many people loose jobs? All that matters to you is if and when you loose yours! It can happen to the best of us, it happened to me and because I live by the things I teach and write about it just wasn’t that big of an issue.
My point is you need to live as though you are currently in the hight of summer. You must buget and make spending choices with the view that you are right now at the peak of your earnings, you must plan for a big decline that can come at any time. This does not mean that you live in fear only that you live free from illusions.
If right now this second you or your spouse lost a job and were unable to replace it quickly how long would your last before you started to go negative on paying your bills. How long till you lost your house or got evicted from your apartment? The average American could scarcely make it 30-60 days! Many are but one or two paychecks from bankruptcy!
How do people get in this position? The belief that a paycheck is an entitlement that’s how. It amazes me how entitled employees tend to be in relation to their employers. Just look at the auto and airline unions, they keep getting more and more from their employers but the problem is the airlines and the car makers no longer can pay the bills. They are putting their very security in jeopardy by always wanting more, more, more.
So what is the solution? - Here are ten things you should be doing starting yesterday.
First - Never see yourself as secure in your job, have a plan B. Always know which competitor or similar company would be best for you to go work for. Cultivate relationships within said company, don’t act like you are ready to switch if you are not but be on the radar.
Second - Build a big network of contacts in your line of work, I don’t care if it is packing boxes or running companies as a CEO. Build network of people around you that can help you if you ever need a new job.
Third - Live below your means! Nothing is more important, make sure you buy less house then you can afford. Buy a cheaper to own and maintain and fuel car that you really have to settle for. In short never buy what you can afford today, buy what you should still be able to afford with far less then you have.
Fourth - If you deep in debt get out now! If have home equity and large credit card debt refinance your house and pay off the cards, then cut them to pieces.
Five - Buy and own a home! Renting has a place but as soon as you can afford to own a home the right way do it. Buy smart, pay less then the house is worth, find a deal, there are always deals. Know this variable rate mortgages are the devil, if you can’t afford the home with a fixed loan, you can’t afford the home!
Six - Build a second income, in other words own your own small business. You know how to do, make or advise on something better then most people. Find a way, anyway to make money with it. Do private consulting, build online income (this is what I do) hell just by blogging you can make 500-1000 dollars a month, (I will show you how in the future). Someway, somehow develop a second and even a third stream of income.
Seven - Save money outside of just your 401K, IRA, etc. The golden rule is get to where you save 10% of your income in an IRA or other tax deffered acocunt. That money is locked away until you retire though. I am all for 10% going to retirement as long as you can save say 15%. If today all you can afford to save is 10% put 5 into a long term locked away account and 5% where you can get to it with out penalty if you need it. Build an emergency fund of at least 90 days of your current income before you lower your savings contributions to liquid accounts.
Eight - Plan on being fired, your company being bought, your job being downsized, etc. It may never happen but plan on it. The very act of viewing such things as a possibility will make you smarter in your decisions every day. It will also make you more level headed and able to stand the hardship if it comes. Again do not live in fear, just follow the boy scout wisdom of “be prepared”.
Nine - Educate yourself in and outside of your current employment niche. When I lost a job about 8 years ago it became an opportunity! I went from Sales Management into online marketing and became very successful. The reason was simple in my sales career I educated myself on how to sell all the time. At the same time I taught myself how to market on and off line. I took my sales knowledge and put it to use online with my new skills. This was my “secondary income” a tiny small business that was making me about 500 dollars a month. I turned it into a new career because I had become a learning sponge. Today I own companies because of this education I gave myself. Be it online, via books, classes, seminars, I don’t care what invest both time and money in educating yourself.
Ten - Be the supreme commander of your own life and destiny. Every day think about how you can do better for yourself, your family and your employer. Your job IS NOT a right, you salary IS NOT an entitlement. Get that into your head right now this second. Would you take a raise if it was enough to damage your companies future? If you can answer that with a yes you should be fired! See yourself as an independent contractor, self employed no matter what your job is about. You should get paid as much as you can with in reason, many are underpaid but many people are also over paid. Work hard enough to be able to demand and expect more.
The key here all goes back to one thing though, no job is secure today. That false belief has put many people into massive debt and financial ruin along with a retirement in poverty. Sure this post was an ass kicking but most of America needs one from time to time.
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