Room Archives - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

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.

The Tea Room Business Plan – The Internet, Ecommerce and Affiliate Programs

What is E-Commerce?

E-commerce is the sale of products and services over the Internet. It is the fastest growing segment of our economy. It allows even the smallest business to reach a global audience with its product or message with minimal cost.

o Currently, there are more than 250 million people using the Internet internationally.

o Sixty-nine percent of the online population has made at least one purchase in the last 90 days. By 2007, two-thirds of U.S. households will be online shopping.

o According to the January 2005 Trend/Forecasting report of The Dilenschneider Group, in the U.S. alone, the 2004 holiday season online shopping jumped by more than 25% from 2003. And in 2005 it jumped another 25%.

o The average income of Internet households is over $66,790, making the Internet user a very attractive customer for you to target.

Is an E-Commerce website right for your tea room business?

Much depends on the nature of your tea room business model.

A website doesn’t need to exist solely to sell products online. It could supplement the revenue of your already established tea room. If you sell a unique product, such as loose leaf tea, you might find success reaching others around the country that do not have access to these products in their own towns.

The Internet provides a global audience of potential customers and it never closes. Information about your tea room can be easily added to the website and updated as required. Your customers will have access to information about your business 24 hours a day. You can add pictures and video. In addition, your customer will even be able to buy from you 24 hours a day and learn your best hours of operation of your tea room.

Tea Room Tip:

Promote your website address everywhere including your stationery, sales forms, brochures, leave behinds and advertisements.

The internet has opened the world to small companies and tea rooms are no exception. Owners of tea rooms should consider the revenue opportunities presented by having a web site on the internet that promotes the tea room business and provides product sales opportunities with only a small investment.

With the introduction of new and cost effective tools to develop web sites, the tea room can be advertised and promoted to a larger audience. The web site helps put forth the mission statement and message of the tea room visually and in an effective manner. One company that develops websites for the small business is Go Daddy.com at http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp

E-Commerce and Affiliate Programs

Opportunities for sale of loose leaf tea are particularly attractive when combined with effective web based e-commerce through affiliate programs. For the tea room this can be a source of additional revenue with a very small investment. All that is required is a website, links to the tea supplier and an internet promotion plan.

Generally, loose leaf tea e-commerce sites list tea and tea ware offerings as well as information about tea and other value added benefits. Some have retail and wholesale features (ideal for tea rooms) as well as value added features.

Chose a recognized quality and feature rich e-commerce site that specializes in selling and supporting loose leaf tea products to tea rooms. Deal with a site that allows the direct purchase of tea in tins, bulk tea, teaware, tea club memberships, gift cards and other tea related items. The site should also encourage feedback on products so the highest quality can be maintained.

Affiliate programs afford a small entrepreneur the ability to leverage the website of the tea manufacturer through their own affiliate site. Through this technique the affiliate can minimize their investment and maximize their return on product sales. An affiliate relationship is established by agreement between the affiliate and the manufacturer whereby each party benefits.

There is more to an affiliate relationship than a simple agreement however. The affiliate must be provided with marketing support, account feedback and prompt payment of earned commissions. Most good affiliate programs share a number of characteristics:

o Real-time reporting statistics

o Real-time email alerts upon each sale

o Payment on a consistent monthly basis for initial and repeat orders

o High price-point products that are easy to sell and allow for substantial affiliate commissions

o A comprehensive package of rich content articles and banner advertising that the affiliate can reprint and use for marketing

Of special note for marketing support is the availability of banner ads that are high quality and effective. These are particularly useful affiliate marketing tools.

Acid Reflux and the Emergency Room – An Insider’s Report

Do you remember what it felt like to be rushed into that part of the hospital, believing you had a heart attack, having trouble breathing, and having no idea what is going to happen next?

If you are like me, I’m sure you can recall the emotions in that particular event (especially the first time it happened). After calming you down with powerful sedatives and a series of tests, the truth was revealed. You don’t have a heart problem. You have what is known as Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD) or simply Acid Reflux. And for awhile you experienced what is known as Heartburn.

Nothing serious, claims the doctor and her nurses (or so they say).

You take a minute or so to thank God that it wasn’t something worse, and the resident doctor assures that you’re not alone as that other guy in the ICU was just diagnosed with GERD and gives you a short talk about stress and diet and how it creates and aggravates one’s reflux. She gives your needed emergency medicine, a medical prescription, along with an advice to get a follow up check-up from a specialist.

Obviously, you follow doctor’s orders, take all the recommended treatment and get back to a normal lifestyle. Which lasts for 2 weeks tops. Then it happens.

Again.

You’re rushed back to the emergency room. For the same thing.

Why?

According to gastro-enterologists (people who specialize in digestive disorders), acid reflux occurs when stomach acid backs up into the lower esophagus up to your throat and causes irritation. The levels of reflux vary as it can simply be an occasional nuisance but if not taken cared of, can turn into a life-threatening disorder.

But why doesn’t the prescribed medicine eliminate the problem? What’s wrong with taking these drugs?

1. Liquid or regular antacids (e.g. Maalox, Tums, Kremil)

2. Medicine to reduce acid secretion (e.g. Nexium, Prevacid, Losec, Zantac)

3. Medicine to improve stomach muscle action (e.g. Motilium, Plasil)

Almost everyone who has GERD, knows that they are only prescribed these types of medication for 1-2 weeks. After that, they are supposed to stop and the medicine supposedly should do its job. More often than not however, this is not the case.

But when you are rushed to the E.R. again, you are still given the exact same thing (or in larger dosages this time). In a worse scenario, you’re given additional medication.

Have you ever asked yourself why conventional medicine focuses more on acid reflux symptoms instead of the root cause of the problem? Why they insist on using the “band-aid” approach of treatment when there are natural and safer ways to get rid of your condition… for good?

It’s a good thing someone told me about them before it was too late.

Covid-19: The Elephant in the Room

There’s little doubt that the Coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the way you live and the way you think about things that you previously took for granted. For most, becoming infected will result in symptoms similar to a bad case of the flu, while some may have no noticeable symptoms. However, a small percentage of folks who become infected will suffer tremendously, and some will die. Early in the year, as the virus was just reaching our shores, we observed other countries as they were further along the “curve.” We were told that this virus could be fatal, but mostly to the elderly who were already suffering from other chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and COPD. It became critically important to protect our vulnerable seniors, particularly those in community living housing or nursing homes. We scolded the young who partied on beaches over spring break, bringing the coronavirus back to their homes, family, and grandparents.

Then the other shoe dropped when we learned of young Americans becoming hospitalized and even dying from this “old person” illness. Why are young people dying in the U.S. yet other countries don’t report the same statistics that we’re seeing here? Are other countries not reporting accurately, or is there something different about the virus when it arrived in the U.S.? Why do we see such high death rates, (Coronavirus deaths as a percentage of population) in our large cities that exceed the rates of other countries?

While we in the United States may choose to ignore the elephant in the room, other countries warned of our vulnerability.

Being overweight is a major risk for people infected with the new coronavirus and the United States is particularly vulnerable because of high obesity levels there, France’s chief epidemiologist said on Wednesday.

World News

April 8, 2020

Americans are among the world’s most vulnerable to coronavirus because of their rising rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure

Dailymail.com

Published: 18:58 EDT, 30 March 2020

Other countries talk about America’s obesity problem, but here in the U.S., we blame the bad outcomes of the virus on high blood pressure, diabetes and pre-diabetes, race, poverty, etc. However, it’s rare to hear that being overweight is an independent risk factor even though it underlies almost all of the chronic illnesses that make us vulnerable.

Dr. Robert Eckel, president of medicine and science for the American Diabetes Association, told Business Insider that a “sophisticated internist” in New York City told him at least 90% of the people under age 50 he’s seen ventilated due to COVID-19 were obese.

Business Insider 4/11/2020

Yes, America, we’re fat and we don’t want to talk about it. But there’s good news amidst the bad… We can learn from this pandemic and change our habits and lifestyle to become healthier and boost our immunity at the same time. Amazingly, often losing just 10 pounds can reverse type 2 diabetes and improve most other chronic illnesses. And maintaining a healthy weight is not only protective for Covid-19, but also for other viruses and influenza infections.

So let’s not waste any more time America! You can get on the path to health right now by scheduling a free health consultation to learn the steps you can immediately take to improve your resistance to this and future viruses.