Plan Archives - Page 5 of 10 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Four Reasons Why Small Business Fail To Plan and Why They Need To Think Again

It is so widely acknowledged that a robust business plan is one of the key ingredients in small business success, it seems remarkable that anyone serious about their business could considerable it optional. For example, Business Link say, “It is essential to have a realistic, working business plan when you’re starting up a business”. A recent survey showed that small businesses were twice as likely to be successful with a written business plan as compared with those without one. The Times in their annual round up of 100 up and coming UK businesses suggest that “poor business planning” is a key reason for failure. Indeed, it’s almost impossible to find an authority that would advocate the opposite idea, a clear signal that this idea is accepted wisdom. Despite this, a recent survey shows that two thirds of small business owners run their businesses on gut instinct alone.

I had a very interesting discussion about this a couple of days ago with a good friend of mine who has run several successful small businesses in which he posited the idea of a “planning gene”. He felt that the only possible explanation for the lack of proper planning in small business was genetic.

According to his theory, the majority of people are born without the “planning gene” and this explains why so many people don’t have any written business plan, despite the overwhelming evidence of a high correlation between a robust and vigorously implemented business plan and business success. The majority of us are simply not biologically and genetically wired to plan.

This is certainly one explanation, although I have to say I have a few reservations as to the validity of his theory. I talk with small business owners about planning every day. I’m part of a small business myself. I’ve owned several small businesses over the last ten years each with varying degrees of success. In all those conversations and all that experience, this was the first (semi) serious discussion I’d had about the planning gene.

If I was to aggregate the results of the conversations I have had with actual and prospective customers on this topic, four distinctive strands emerge explaining why small business owners fail to plan. Whilst I have heard a few other explanations for the lack of effective small business planning, I am treating these as outliers and focusing on the most significant.

I’m Too Busy To Plan – More often than not, the small business owners we talk to tell us that proper planning is a luxury that only big business can afford. For them, business planning, if done at all, was a one-time event that produced a document for a bank manager or investor which is now gathering dust in the furthest recesses of some rarely opened filing cabinet. There just aren’t enough hours in the day and if forced to choose, they would do the real, physical work and leave the mental work undone, which seems to be the poor relation at best, if it is even dignified with the status of work at all.

Traditional Planning Doesn’t Work – The “I’m too busy to plan” excuse is often supplemented with this one. I’ve heard the stories of the most legendary construction overrun of all time, The Sydney Opera House, originally estimated to be completed in 1963 for $7 million, and finally completed in 1973 for $102 million, more times than I can remember. Sometimes, this idea is backed up with some actual research, such as the fascinating study by several eminent psychologists of what has been called the “planning fallacy”. It seems that some small business owners genuinely believe that mental work and planning is a bit of a con with no traction on physical reality.

My Business Is Doing Fine Without Detailed Planning – A minority of small business owners we speak to are in the privileged position of being able to say they’ve done pretty well without a plan. Why should they invest time and resources into something they don’t appear to have missed?

Planning Is Futile In A Chaotic World – Every once in a while, we hear how deluded we are to believe that the world can be shaped by our hopes and actions. This philosophical objection to planning is perhaps my favourite. It takes ammunition from a serious debate about the fundamental nature of the universe and uses it to defend what almost always is either uncertainty about how to plan effectively or simple pessimism. This is different from the idea that planning doesn’t work as these business owners have never even tried to form a coherent plan, but have just decided to do the best they can and hope that they get lucky as they are knocked hither and thither like a steel ball in the pinball machine of life.

As with all of the most dangerous excuses, there is a kernel of truth in each of these ideas and I sympathise with those who have allowed themselves to be seduced into either abandoning or failing to adopt the habit of business planning. Most small business owners feel the same dread in relation to business planning as they do to visits to the dentist, so it’s unsurprising that so many simply don’t bother. However, by turning their backs completely on planning, they are in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Taking each idea outlined above in turn, I’ll attempt to show why business planning is critical, not just despite that reason but precisely because of that reason.

I’m Too Busy Not To Plan – Time is the scarcest resource we have and it is natural that we would want to spend it doing those things that we believe will have the greatest impact. Of course, we want to spend most of our time producing, but we should also invest at least some time into developing our productive capacity. As Stephen Covey pointed out in his seminal work, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, we should never be too busy sawing to sharpen a blunted saw. Planning is one of the highest leverage activities we can engage in, as when done effectively it enhances the productive capacity of small businesses, enabling them to do more with less. Nothing could be a bigger waste of precious time than to find out too late that we have been using blunt tools in pursuit of our business goals.

If we as small business owners weren’t so busy and time wasn’t so scarce, then we wouldn’t have to make choices about what we did with our time and resources. We could simply pursue every opportunity which presented itself. However, for the busy entrepreneur, the decision to do one thing always has the opportunity cost of not being able to do something else. How can we be certain that our business is going where we want it to go without pausing regularly, scanning the horizon and making sure not only that we are on track but also making sure that we still want to get to where we are heading? I believe more time is wasted in the single-minded pursuit of opportunities that are not right than is wasted by over thinking the opportunity of a lifetime.

In short, small business owners are extremely busy and their time is precious. So much so that to waste it doing the wrong things with the wrong tools would be tragic. Small business owners that cannot afford the luxury of making expensive mistakes simply must regularly sharpen the saw through continuous business planning.

Traditional Planning Doesn’t Work, So We Need a New Approach That Does – There are some fairly large question marks over the effectiveness of traditional business planning techniques. In an age where business models are becoming obsolete in months rather than years, a business plan projecting five years into the future cannot be viewed as gospel. Nobody has a crystal ball and if they did, they probably wouldn’t be writing business plans but using their remarkable predictive powers to some more profitable end.

Dwight D Eisenhower said “plans are useless, but planning is essential”. Whilst producing a document called a business plan is far from useless, the real value lies in the process by which the plan is created in the first place. If this process can be kept alive in a business then the dangers associated with traditional planning can be minimised or avoided all together. In an environment of continuous business planning, small businesses can be flexible and adaptive to the inevitable changes and challenges they will face. Rather than quickly becoming obsolete, their plan will simply evolve with the changing circumstances.

Accepting that the plan is a living thing that will evolve necessitates a change of approach to business planning. An effective business plan is the response to the repeated asking of the questions what, why, how, who and how much. It is not a 20 – 30 page form to fill in for the benefit of a bank manager or some venture capitalist, who will probably never fully read it. A business plan should help you, not hinder you, in doing business. If traditional business planning doesn’t work for you, it’s time to embrace the new paradigm of continuous business planning.

My Business Could Do Even Better With Effective Planning – If you are one of the lucky few whose business has thrived despite an absence of traditional business planning, then I say a sincere well done. I hope that you can say the same thing in five years time.

Business life expectancy in Britain and across Europe and indeed the world are in rapid decline. A study done at the end of the eighties and then again as we marched into the new Millennium showed that life expectancy had more than halved for British businesses in those ten years, from an average of 9.7 years to 4.1 years. Just because a company once enjoyed market leadership does not mean that its future is assured. Many high street institutions have fallen victim to the recent recession. Five years ago it was inconceivable that UK retail institutions like Clinton Cards, Game, Borders, Barratts, T J Hughes, Habitat, Focus DIY, Oddbins, Ethel Austin, Principles, Allied Carpets, Woolworths, MFI and Zavvi/Virgin Megastore would all be either out of business or teetering on the brink of oblivion in 2012. Yet that is exactly what has transpired.

Any business from the smallest to the greatest is not impervious to the winds of change. A new competitor, a technological breakthrough, new laws or simply changes in fashion and consumer preference can all re-write the future of a company regardless of how bright that future once seemed. It is precisely because these risks exist that business planning is critical. To survive in business is extremely hard, but failing to effectively plan for the future or adapt to current realities surely makes it impossible and failure inevitable.

Of course, it is not necessarily the absence of plans that did for these companies but the quality of their plans and most especially the quality of their implementation. Even a poor plan vigorously executed is preferable to the finest planning and research left to rot in a drawer. Continuous business planning is effective business planning because it emphasizes implementation and regular reviews of real results as part of what should be a continual process of improving company performance rather than simply attempting to predict the future and wringing our hands when our prophecy fails to come true. We believe, like Peter Drucker, that the best way to predict the future is to create it.

Planning Is Essential In A Chaotic World – We sometimes feel small and insignificant as we try against all odds to translate our dreams into business reality. It’s easy to feel all at sea when we consider some of the challenges we face. However, whilst it is true that we cannot control the direction of the wind, we can adjust our sails and change the direction of the rudder. Difficult and challenging circumstances may come in our lives, but we can control the outcome of these circumstances by choosing which path to take.

The truth is that we are fundamentally achievement orientated as human beings. When this is taken away, we lose much of the energy and motivation that propels us forward. There have been numerous studies carried out on life expectancy rates after retirement, which show that when clearly defined goals and daily action moving in the direction of those goals are removed from our lives, the result is literally fatal. The individuals studied who failed to replace their career goals with a new focus for their retirement simply shriveled up and died. The implications for small business owners are clear. Those business owners with clear goals who take action daily that propels them in the direction of their goals are far more likely to thrive and survive than those who take any old goal that comes along or move from day to day with no defined objective other than survival.

It seems to me that precisely because life is so chaotic and challenging that effective planning is essential. Without continuous business planning, our businesses and the small business owners that work in them may find that bit by bit they are atrophying and on their way to becoming another business failure statistic.

There undoubtedly exists an antipathy for business planning felt by many small business owners. Clearly, this cannot be fully explained by the lack of a “planning gene”, but it equally cannot be fully justified by the reasons most commonly put forward by small business owners to not engage in the business planning process. These reasons must be critically re-evaluated and a commitment made to a continual and never ending process of improving the condition of their small businesses. Without such a commitment, the future for small businesses in the UK is uncertain.

The Tea Room Business Plan – Basic Concepts

Business planning and the start of a new tea room venture is more of a process than an event. A new business is a separate entity that is very much like a garden: planning is required to start, certain mandatory steps are required and constant management and pruning must occur to produce a successful venture.

This plan addresses the basic steps as well as business structure and management steps that are required for success.

The Basic Concept

The basic concept of the business plan is simple:

o An Entrepreneur senses a market opportunity

o To capitalize on this opportunity the entrepreneur establishes a business entity

o The entrepreneur has a vision of the company for the future that foresees a healthy, growing, profitable company

o In order to reach that future vision, a roadmap is required that can be reviewed to determine progress to achieve the ultimate goal

Just like any important trip, a roadmap in the form of a business plan will improve chances of arriving on time and safely. An additional benefit of the business plan is the control function evidenced by the ability to measure progress against the plan.

The critical feature of any plan is not its complexity but its use. Since this document is focused on building a tea room business, a basic document should be prepared and used as the basic guide to the growth of the business, The business plan should be the business owner’s bible and should be read and consulted frequently to determine the mid course adjustments that are always required in the life span of the business.

TEA ROOM TIP: Believe that the business plan is your guide to success. The completion of the plan is only the start of the business. The plan will act as the guide to success and will constantly change as conditions require. The plan will never be complete but will always be useful.

Simplicity

Business planning is a universal discipline and there are as many plans as there are companies. The complexity of the business plan can vary from simple .to overly complex to Byzantine. A classic case study is the story of Compaq Computer, a multi billion dollar computer manufacturer that was launched based on a business plan written on the back of a cocktail napkin.

Many companies however focus on the tress of the planning process and overlook the forest of building a business. Often, the business plan becomes one more document for the corporate bookshelf or the drawer of the planning executive and is not used as it should.

Most effective business planners add only that detail that is informative and productive but does not distract the reader from the core ideas of the plan. Since each plan is a living document that represents a guideline to grow a business, changes can be made as often as required by business conditions. Excessive detail may become irrelevant in the light of new conditions.

TEA ROOM TIP: Start with a bare bones plan that can be expanded or enhanced as conditions warrant. Don’t attempt to create an overly detailed plan that may become obsolete as conditions change.

How To Rock Your 2021 Business Plan

The anxiety and angst of 2020 are behind us. It was a year that left its mark on thousands of businesses everywhere.

Due to the pandemic many companies adjusted their business strategies, readjusted and then readjusted again.

Those with strong operational foundations were able to survive. They were able to adjust to the ebb and flow of the marketplace.

Some even thrived and made significant growth in sales and revenue. Others were not so fortunate and were forced to trim production and staff.

As the COVID economy continues, business owners must continue to adjust and add to their strategic processes. This includes an analysis, evaluation and development of a plan that establishes proper direction and the discipline necessary to sail through the headwinds that will surely be faced throughout 2021.

Case in point. I was a member of the 1988 USVI Olympic Sailing Team. We sailed out of the US Sailing Center in Coconut Grove, Florida. When we raced, the course was set up in a triangle. That means no matter which way the wind was blowing you needed to make your sailboat move rapidly and maintain speed.

The course required you to not only fight hard to sustain momentum but to watch out for other boats. You could not let a competitor literally “take the wind out of your sails.”

The race included a high level of strategy. Sails had to be set precisely to make the upcoming 300 degree turn without losing velocity. It was an all-out effort to cross the finish line ahead of the competition.

Your business plan should do the same. That is formulating a strategy that not only enables your company to maintain pace but actually is designed to win the race in the new year.

One example of a winning plan is the popular Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®), used by thousands of businesses nationwide and worth echoing here. Like the EOS® plan, your strategy should focus on six key areas.

These include…

A solid vision. One where everyone in the organization is on the same page and rowing, if you will, in the same direction. The entire team must understand the direction of the business and how you are going to get there. Great progress can be made when employees have a clear vision of where you are headed and then spend the bulk of their time aligned with it.

Great people. Business owners need to surround themselves with excellent people from top to bottom. A great vision cannot be accomplished without a great team. Many business owners struggle in this area but the best companies have a strong group supporting them.

Data and metrics. Management must cut through all the personalities, feelings, opinion and egos. Instead a plan should be boiled down to a handful of objective numbers. This gives you an absolute pulse on where things are at any given time. These data points will help the team focus, engage and work toward your vision.

Issue resolvement. Issues can hold a company back. Most are solvable but left unresolved can turn a thoroughbred into a slow moving mule. These issues should be addressed at their root cause. When properly addressed they can be eliminated and/or their impact substantially reduced.

Processes. Companies have various business processes. Some are better than others and may be different for every employee. Management needs to document what these processes are and then simplify them to ensure they are followed by everyone in the organization.

Traction. Once companies enact these processes they hit a point in implementation where they are making great progress, never before imaginable. By identifying their top priorities, taking the time weekly to work through them and holding each other accountable, they are able to grow farther and faster.

Creation of the right strategic plan, with the proper processes for implementation, measurement and accountability, will enable a business owner to crush their numbers and rock their business plan in 2021.

8 Business Plan Mistakes to Avoid

It is hard to get a funding from a business plan, even a very good business plan. You can give yourself a much better chance of raising capital if you avoid eight common business plan mistakes.

Your business plan may be the first thing investors see, and it is important that your business plan be written professionally and excellently. Investors see thousands of business plans each year, and the ones that get funded are less than 1%. You will greatly improve your chance of getting funded if you avoid these mistakes.

1. Mistakes in Overall Content

A well written business plan finds the solutions to problems that customers are looking for and will pay money to solve. The plan dos not need superlatives to say that it is great. If it is great, the readers will come to that conclusion. Also, be sure your plan presents a focused strategy to solve only one problem in the target market.

2. Stating “There is no competition”

Every business has competition, either direct or indirect. A competitor is everybody else that is trying to sell to the same target market. Your plan should show how you differentiate yourself from competitors and show that you are stronger in the market.

3. Too Long and Technical

Your plan must convey your business idea concisely. Any detail that you believe is important can be included in an addendum. Also, your plan should not be too technical or scientific. Keep it simple.

4. Poor Organization

There is a logical way that business plans should be put together, and each section should logically flow into the next section. You can finds hundreds of resources that tell you what the basic sections of a business plan should be, and you or any professional you hire should follow this advice.

5. Incomplete or Inaccurate Financial Statements

You must use the right terminology in describing the financial condition of your business. The financials should contain enough detail to fully support your important assumptions.

6. Unreasonable Financial Projections

All the numbers in your financial projections should be reasonable and similar to financial projections of other companies in your industry. Your financials must include Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow Statement, and they all must be prepared in compliance with GAAP.

7. Writing Errors

You must use proper spelling and grammar and cannot be redundant. Be sure your plan is attractive, interesting, easy to read, and professional looking.

8. Timing Mistakes

Have your plan in final form long before your presentation to investors. You may not have the 500+ hours required to write a business plan. Then you must hire a business consultant to write your plan. Be sure to have another objective person read the plan thoroughly and give you some feedback on its effectiveness before you show it to investors.

Effective Lesson Plan Making Strategies

Planning is an integral part of any activity that you do as it is the only thing that can ensure the smooth completion of your activity. An effective plan can let you work in a proper way and also lets you analyze your path, your growth and your progress towards your aim. The same principles are applicable to the field of education. This makes Lesson Plans an essential part of the teaching and learning process. A lesson plan is a blueprint for a teacher on his/her course of teaching or conducting a class. While this takes care of the different styles in which a subject can be taught to the students, it also takes care of the various understanding levels different children may have.

An effective lesson plan helps you in finding the right way to guide the students. A teacher gets to know how to handle a topic in an effective manner and how to go about it so that the concept or the learning outcome is absolutely clear to the students. While the plan lets you to strategize your teaching course it also helps you in effectively managing assessment.

An effective Lesson Plan should broadly be based on the following elements:

• Direct Instructions: this is where a teacher makes a formal introduction to the topic that has to be taught. Reading and explanation can be included under this.

• Guided Discovery: Also known as ‘learning by doing’, this should include activities where students gather information about the topic and learn by way of researching or doing. A plan should include the kind of activities that can be conducted for this purpose.

• Assessment & Review: this should include the way in which the teacher plans to assess the understanding of the students and the way actionable feedback can be given in a well-structured format.

Steps in making an effective Lesson Plan:

• Share clear learning outcomes – the principles or concepts you expect children to learn and understand by the end of the class

• Make a strategy to have an instruction process that ensures that the whole idea is made clear to the students.

• Find out different methods that can be used by students to investigate the topic and research it which in turn will facilitate learning.

• Chalk out activities that would make students learn in groups and develop learning partnerships.

• Develop and design activities that generate interest in the subject and make students learn through discussions, reflection and investigation.

• Find and develop activities that will help in assessment of students’ learning

•Find out ways to recognize and review understanding and grasp of core concepts.

A major challenge here is to have a right plan in place and most teachers struggle in making a perfect plan without wasting much of their time that is needed in teaching. Here educational experts can help out. They have the professional skills and the qualifications to chalk out the best plans and help teachers manage their time effectively. Since they are experts in subject matter as well as educational planning they know how best to strategize and plan to get the desired results. One can go for some well known Educational Service Provider for getting a good lesson plan prepared for effective teaching delivery.

PIE: The Simple 3-Step Process for Creating Your Strategic Business Plan

Many business owners (especially those with a non-business background) struggle when it comes to creating a strategic business plan for their business. Chances are they’ve never ran a business before, and even in their “employment” days were not involved with the day-to-day business management.

So when it comes to running their business they struggle!

“Still need to figure out (sit down and actually learn) how to do this!” said one business owner to me earlier this week.

They have a dream for their business, are an expert in whatever it is they do, but have no idea how to take that idea/dream and turn it into a viable and profitable business… so they continue in a state of overwhelm and frustration, with a slow growing business.

Spending some time planning all of your business activities is crucial if you are to succeed long-term. It’s not just about planning your business – you need to understand the strategy behind what you’re going to be doing. And you also need to understand how all the different pieces of your business fit together to create one coherent business.

Today, I’d like to share with you my simple, 3-step process, for sitting down and crafting your own strategic business plan.

PLAN – schedule some time in your calendar to work on your business plan. Some people opt to take a mini-retreat away from their office. It could be spending the day in your local coffee shop, or actually going out of town for a few days. Or you could just schedule one or two hours and sit quietly in your office planning out your business (that advantage of doing in your office is that you have all your business information right there with you). Whatever works best for you is going to work best for your business. But the important thing is, you to schedule in the time to create your plan!

INVESTIGATE – what is it you’re going to be offering over the coming 90 days; 6 months; 12 months? I like to have a loose 12-month plan, but then have a very specific 90-day plan in place. It’s much easier to focus and implement with a shorter time-frame than it is to do so over, say, a 12-month period. Sometimes planning out so far ahead can feel overwhelming. But it is important to have that “big picture vision” in place so that you know where you’re heading.

Also when you’re deciding what it is you’re going to be offering ask yourself, “Does this make sense? Does it fit my big picture vision?” This is where understanding the strategy behind your business comes into play. It’s no good deciding you want to do a live event, or offer an online training course, if you don’t understand how this fits into your “Big Picture Vision”. All paths must lead you to that “Big Picture Vision”.

EXECUTE – now that you know what it is you’re going to be offering and when, it’s time to put that plan into practice. One thing that I do in my business is “reverse engineering”. I always start with the end date in mind and then work backwards. For example, if I’m offering a 4-part live training class on a specific date, what do I need to do to promote that training class, and when. It’s much easier to plan out the promotions if I work backwards from the start date of the class. That way too, I can see if I’m leaving enough time for the promotions or if I need to adjust something in some way.

So there you have my simple 3-step process for creating your strategic business plan. No go ahead and create your own!

The ABC’s of Writing a Restaurant Business Plan

Even though setting up a restaurant is easy, you still need to create your own business plan not only because it is one of the regulatory requirements, but you need it to guide you during the operation of the business.

If you plan to set up your own restaurant, then you need to write your own business plan.

It serves as a map that guides you on what path to follow. It details the owners of the business, investors, suppliers, creditors and many more. It contains your business strategies and tactics on how to manage and to operate your company. It serves as your compass that helps you achieve your goals and become profitable.

Despite the hard work and dedication associated in opening a restaurant, many individuals still decide to open one. Majority of entrepreneurs love to open up their own business due to the fact that they are their own boss and the satisfaction of creating new dishes.

For those who do not know, having a restaurant requires majority of your time. As owner, you need to manage the facility six to seven days weekly and to work from opening time to closing time. Moreover, you have to interact with different types of personalities who dine and who eat at your company.

Despite the onset of recession, you should not worry of its profitability because food is one of the basic needs of everyone. Due to the fast pace we have nowadays, professionals, executives and students make it a point to eat out and dine instead of going home and cook a meal.

Before writing one, you need to research and conduct feasibility studies to know the basics of setting up a new restaurant. If you lack ideas on its process, you can consult a professional business planner to help you identify ways of creating one and know strengths and weaknesses of the business. You need to identify your goals, your target market, owners of the firm, suppliers, creditors and many more. You need to identify your competitors, business trends, profit expectations and ways of achieving your goal.

You also need to have a business forecast to identify hard times and ways of overcome it. You need to disclose your cash flow to prepare your budget strategies and keep you going despite recession.

Other factors you need to consider in opening a restaurant:

Experience – To better manage your restaurant, you need to have knowledge on restaurant administration. You can acquire them by enrolling in special short courses offered by institutions.
Budget – You need money to fund your operations. It is need to fund purchasing your raw materials, your equipment and salary of workers.
Workers – To operate successfully, you need to hire credible and experienced workers and managers. In your absence, they are the ones who interact and who operates the company.
Restaurant equipment and supplies – You need to acquire the supplies and equipment needed in your operation, such as tables, chairs, plates, serving dishes and many more.

You Win With a Business Plan

No matter how small your business idea, a business plan can help you build the confidence you need to get to opening day. Business planning is not just for large or high-growth ventures, and it really shouldn’t be put off until you need to borrow money.

As healthy as the planning is, many small and microbusiness owners will put it off as long as they can. And it’s easy to understand why. Business planning involves the tedious process of organizing your thoughts and getting them onto paper, more likely into a word processor. It includes a whole whack of potentially unfamiliar activities, such as researching, writing and building a credible set of financial projections.

Indeed, why would anyone knowingly put themselves through such pain? Thankfully, the benefits far outweigh any negatives. Here 11 ways you will win by taking the time to develop a business plan:

You know where you’re going
You will have a roadmap or blueprint for your business
You will have a document to look back on in order to measure your progress
A plan will help protect your investment and equity from loss
You will find out if your idea will work
You can discover and solve problems before starting the business
You will build confidence in your business idea
The plan can help you get financing
You become the expert for your business
You will prove your business case
You will have a document to use for communicating with others, family, partners, investors, bankers

Business planning can appear larger than it really is, until you step up and embrace it. Think of it as a cost-effective learning process for anyone aspiring to operate a successful business in today’s complex global work environment. A business plan can be a giant step toward making your dream business a reality.

Planning your business doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time or money, and you don’t have to go it alone. Two local agencies that do a great job of helping entrepreneurs get started are the Community Futures Development Corporation at 562-9622, and the Aboriginal Business Development Centre at 562-6325.

Whether you are thinking of starting, buying or growing a business, I urge you to first develop a business plan. Once you take the plunge, you might just have fun doing it!

After all, it is you who really wins with a business plan.

Writing Your Business Plan? Don’t Forget Your Own Professional Development

This may seem obvious to more serious or experienced individuals who are climbing the ladder of success, but one must endeavor to stay current and invest in professional development. Many of the business plans that I review fall short in this area, and a lack of vision at the outset of the planning process can eventually be fatal to the enterprise.

When a prospective entrepreneur shows me a plan that cuts corners in important ways, I become concerned. Going “bare on health care”; family members working for free; no plans for time off; delayed or unpaid salaries; a statement that marketing will all be done by “word-of-mouth”; and no budget for professional development: one or more of these is a sure-fire tip-off that there’s trouble ahead on the entrepreneurial railway. You see, if a product or service which is to be offered is really viable, it stands to reason that the business would be profitable enough to support necessary business expenses, which include creating an environment that is suitable for human beings, as compared to machines.

In addressing the subject of “professional development,” we might divide it into two sub-topics: How does one “do it?” and “What are the benefits that cost-justify the investment?”

How exactly does one “do” professional development?

For the past couple of years, I have purchased an average of two or three books per month, which are related to a subject area that is of interest to me, either at a book store, or when a book club circular associated with this area of interest is delivered to my mail box. The reason I have not specified my area of interest is that it doesn’t really matter, relative to the overarching point, which is: You should buy books that address a topic of interest of your own, and read them. This practice (virtually made into a “habit” because of the book club) costs me about $50 dollars per month.

I also subscribe to about two dozen periodicals (journals and magazines). Some are industry specific, some are business magazines, and some are consumer magazines. Some are paid subscriptions, and some are complimentary subscriptions based on my ties with certain industries or subject areas (and some are included in membership fees). My paid subscriptions cost about $300 per year.

It is also very important to attend conferences and workshops. If one goes as a speaker, he or she can use the visibility of the conference platform as a means to network, create a reputation for having a certain type of expertise, learn from others who have different viewpoints or specialties, and justify travel expenses. If one goes as an attendee, he or she can accomplish many of the same objectives, sans the visibility of being on the official program. Conferences vary widely in price, but several hundred dollars for conference fees, and $1500 for food, lodging, and travel might be typical for a four-day national conference. Regional conferences are typically less expensive across the board, as they are held at less expensive facilities, have smaller conference fees, and may be within driving distance. I plan to attend a one-day workshop in Atlanta within the next month or so. That will cost $149 for the workshop fee, and mileage expenses (about a three-hour drive). Annually, one should probably budget at least a few thousand dollars for these activities (e.g., four or five), and of course, the “sky is the limit.”

Networking soirées are all over the place. These happen in any given community as social, cultural, and business events. Organizations such as a local chamber of commerce will often sponsor gatherings that allow people to mingle and meet over drinks and light fare. Many cities have bona fide networking clubs, which are operated to provide a free exchange ideas, resources, and contacts. The entry fee for most of these events is low: $30 may be typical. How often should one attend? Oh, I’d say about a hundred dollars-worth per month would prevent anyone from accusing you of being reclusive.

Professional memberships are also important. For any given discipline or area of specialization, there are probably three or four associations or similar organizations that one should join. (Hint: discounts on conference fees, publications, and other perks are usually available to members as an incentive to join). Being an active member is also important. Try to contribute in some way, besides paying membership dues. You can participate in the conferences and support the organization’s sponsors (which keeps the organization viable), serve on committees or in leadership positions, be responsive to other members, provide pro bono services, or the like. While fees and the availability of memberships varies widely, $1000 per year would be a good place to start.

Some training is covered above in the context of workshops and conferences, but you may want to also consider taking a formalized course from time-to-time, or even enrolling in a degree or certificate program. On a smaller scale, you could buy software, take courses, and stay current on the Internet (e-learning is predicted to be a major trend). If you are now convinced about implementing the suggestions that I have mentioned above, but still looking to cut costs, you can certainly spend time in the library, and online, conducting research and staying current. I would recommend that you do not attempt to cut all of the costs, because that would mean that I am back to square one, with regard to the purpose of this article. The issue is discipline, and creating positive habits. (Remember, I said that the book club circular ensures my own habitual behavior? Meeting announcements, membership and subscription renewals, and other regular reminders will help you make sure that you follow-through with action – if you are determined to do so in the first place, of course).

What are the benefits that cost-justify the investment?

Now, some people will say they can’t afford to invest in books, conferences, workshops, and the other tools that would aid their efforts to either stay current, or advance in their careers. I would reply that it’s a matter of attitude and planning, at least to a great extent.

Can you afford to pay for your own professional development?

Well, that’s up to you, and your own attitude, and the choices that you make about your career and your business pursuits.

One’s own professional development (and the development of employees, assuming that you are still working on your business plan) is a far better investment than just about anything else you can buy. Paying attention to your own professional development, and addressing the means by which you will grow the people in your organization within the pages of your business plan will assist you in proving that you are long-sighted, adaptable, and worthwhile investment, yourself (if you are seeking outside capital).

As for me, I figure the several thousand dollars per year that I keep investing will eventually be worth far more than what I have spent. I know what I won’t have if I don’t invest: No current knowledge; no contacts; no contracts; no industry knowledge; and no ability to demonstrate that I even have a clue about what’s going on, as a so-called professional, among my cohorts in academia or the business community.

That would be a very high price to pay, indeed.

Small Business Owners: Plan to Hit Your Profit Targets

To make a Profit, the business needs to focus, not on breaking even, not on survival, but on business profitability – literally, the ‘ability’ of the business to aim at and produce a specific dollar amount of profit as a percentage of projected gross income. Only when this is the clear business target is it possible to build a business that can deliver profit to the owner year after year. Only then can that business truly become an ongoing, revenue-producing asset for the owner. How is this done? How can a business become a profitable asset? Show me the Money! Most small businesses are inherently profitable. Depending on the business, a reliable profit of 10% to 30% of total annual sales already exists as the potential, ongoing profit return on investment of the company. But where is this Profit? Why is it so hard to see, let alone produce?

As a small business consultant for a major consulting practice, I was continually amazed at the number of small-to-medium sized companies operating with a ledger notebook and aluminum box for cash. I was stunned that the computer was used only for internet email, customer letters and office decoration. The accounting software (QuickBooks or Peachtree) was on the computer for tax purposes used by the accountant at tax time. As a consultant I was able to help the small business owners realize the most effective way to run a profitable business was to plan to be profitable. By getting the owner to understand that expenses and sales should be planned towards a goal and events controlled in such a manner as to yield the profit target. By not monitoring the profit and loss statement, the business events control the owners, and management cannot drive process and procedures toward profits. The accounting software packages were then set up to view each product by profit and loss statements on a monthly and annual basis. This allowed the small business owner the ability to react quickly to any deviations from its budgeted plans (cash falling through the cracks). The organization learns from the feedback it gets by comparing budgeted goals to actual results(revenue decreasing). Communication increased throughout the organization about employee expectations towards profitable goals.

Owners, when was the last time you updated your business plan, which is probably on your bookshelf where you placed it since you initially developed it. Now, don’t get bogged down in the document, just dust it off and use a red pen to ask your self the following questions:

Profit Planning: Budget vs. Business Plan

Has the management team updated the business plan to reflect current/future market industry ‘realities’?

Does my management team understand the ‘market intricacies’ of each product they sell and service in the business unit they oversee?

Does my management team understand the ‘customer’ product needs and wants they sell and service in the business unit they oversee?

Have you developed a profit and loss statement for each product? What are your sales revenue, direct costs, and overhead expenses for each product?

Have you benchmarked your Gross Profit margin against industry standards? Is it high or low?

How are your products sales trending? Quarterly? Is product cost percentage lowering as you sell more volume of products? If not, can workflow be streamlined.

Is my business making money? Do I have a simple profitable business model in place for every product?

Have you identified your bestselling product lines vs. your worst selling products? Select which product will grow your business?

Have your management team created action plans to meet planned product profit specific objectives and goals in target areas?

Employees/Operational Readiness

What is the current morale of the employees? Who will champion the ‘Profit Program’ that they can believe in?

What are the current ‘roadblocks’ to lowering cost and increasing throughput of products? Why?

What are the training needs of my employees to achieve profit goals? How will training improve business or morale?

Do the employees know what’s expected of them? How will they be held accountable for performance?

How will they be rewarded? Plan to give Incentives, increase Profit-Sharing, surprise Bonuses, spontaneous Intangibles?

Have your managers and supervisors set specific production objectives and goals in target areas?

Are my employees cross trained in key (growth products) production areas? Why not?

Do I have financial measurements scorecard posted in work area? Do I have relevant workflow processes posted in work area?

Do we have the best technology solution in place to reach profit goals?

Customers

Has my customer base changed?

Has my product/service offering changed?

How often/how many new customers have I obtained in the last year?

What product do my customers need to solve their problem? What services can we offer to provide convenience or can we lower product cost?

Are there any solutions outside the industry that will ‘wow’ the customer? Is the marketing strategy relevant to customer wants?

What is the company reputation to the customer? If low, how can we improve reputation and brand image to the market?

Do I know who my best customers are? What do they really want?

Do I have more/fewer customers? Why did they leave?

Who are the current ‘bad customers/clients’? Money Owed? Should I keep them or sell them?

Competitors

Do I have new competitors? Who?

Do I have more/fewer competitors? Why?

What are the current competitive threats to my business?

How are my competitors resolving the customer problem? Who?

What industry has the best innovative solution to address my customers need? Why? Applicable?

What technology is a competitive threat to my bestselling product?

Evaluate answers against the strengths and weaknesses of your business capability. Formulate your strategy according to the opportunity available in the marketplace. The game is to make money for the long term, not to see how many widgets you can ‘hide’ at the end of the month or play financial engineering games with the books.

Price Points

It is never a good idea to cut your price, even in tough economic times. If you do cut your prices, only do it for a limited time encouraging customers to “act now.” This should be a last resort effort.. The temptation to cut your price in tough times is great. Ask your management team ‘If we cut prices, how will you get the prices up when the tough times are over?’ Stay on the message. Your value doesn’t diminish in tough times. Why should your price go down? Businesses should focus more on customer satisfaction. By focusing on delivering more than you promise, you are putting the customer first. It reinforces their decision to buy.

Business Partners

Look for businesses that you can partner with to cross-promote your products and services while sharing the costs. For example, a laundry mat offers free detergent with each washer load and the free detergent is paid for by both the owner of the laundry mat and the supplier of the detergent. The price was not reduced, but there is a unique incentive for the customer with a specific start and end date, which will get the customer to “act now.”

Plan to profit with sales this year. Explore new markets, new prospects and new products and pitches. This year, the three Ps of marketing your business are: prospects, products and pitches. All three may need to change a bit to get you to a profitable year.

You can do it. Surround yourself with mentors who you can talk to plan for success. It’s amazing the difference it makes just talking through your ideas. Think of planning as preparing yourself for success with a clear profit picture in mind.

New Markets

As you review your business plan, ask yourself where else you can sell your product or service. Go back to those customers who have not bought from you in a while. Have a compelling reason for them to buy from you now, such as improved service, different products or greater customer satisfaction just to name a few. Does it make sense to enter new geographic markets? Have any competitors in that market left or ‘retrenched, waiting for better times’?

Update Your Offerings

After reviewing your business plan is it necessary to change or update your product or service offering? Will product or service changes or additions allow you to sell more to your existing customers? An “update” here could mean a redesign of your web site, starting a blog, joining a social network. Essentially any way you can expand your reach to potential customers. The reason newspapers across the country are closing is due to lack of readership. People are moving to the internet for their news and information… and to find your business!

Improve Your Pitch

Thoroughly understand your product and service and why someone should buy it from you. Use written testimonials from some of your satisfied customers.

• Tell your story in five minutes or less.

• Practice to perfect your pitch “before” the sales call.

• Listen well. Ask questions & really listen to the client’s needs and concerns.

The bottom line is practice makes perfect. Be a dedicated practitioner in client connection. You are the owner. Your time, care and connection in the sales process will bring results. In these times, you can be tenacious & focus on seeking out new opportunities which will pay huge dividends when the economy turns around.

Our nation is experiencing a recession and has been in a prolonged serious economic downturn in the past decade. According to Tom Reilly, MissouriBusiness.Net, “Seventy percent of today’s CEOs have never led a company in or out of a recession and 60 percent of today’s salespeople have never sold in tough times”.

On every championship team, great coaches must receive accurate information in order to adjust their strategy to win the game. To be a truly great small company you must operate from a core value of honesty toward strategy and profitability. Remember the old management adage ‘If it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get done’ and ‘Lost Opportunity’ (bad decisions) can close your business. Planning profitability is a proven business method that allows your business to measure whether its succeeding or failing, not smooth talking inexperienced senior executives, presenting the latest management theory of the month to the board.

Remember, Enron, WorldCom, George S. May International, Arthur Anderson and Tyco.