Success Archives - Page 2 of 5 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Child Care Center Success Factors

When making the decision to go into the child care business you first need to consider a variety of important factors that can help you to decide if child care is the right business for you.

Owning and running your own child care center can be an extremely satisfying and rewarding experience, but not everyone is cut out for working in this industry. Below are some of the factors that can determine whether an individual is suited to this business.

Before taking the plunge and getting set up with your own child care business ask yourself the following six questions.

Child Care Business Success Factors

1) Do you have leadership skills? As the manager of a child care center you will be taking on a leadership role with both your staff and the children.

2) Are you hardworking and organized? Setting up and managing a child care center requires a lot of effort. You must be able to manage your time and resources in a way that maximizes productivity and keeps things organized.

3) Are you in good health? It is a fact of life that children get sick more than adults and colds can spread around daycare centers like wildfire. Being fit and healthy will ensure that your immune system is strong and that you can avoid getting sick too often. Good health will also give you the energy to lead the business lifestyle of a child care center owner.

4) Can you keep cool in a crisis? To be successful in daycare or any business for that matter you should ideally be someone who will not panic in an emergency.

5) Do you have sufficient funding to start the business? You will need to ensure that you have enough cash to cover your living costs in the early stages as well before your business becomes profitable.

6) Do you enjoy working with children? Are you able to take responsibility for, and take care of other people’s children like they were your own? Depending on the age groups that you are working with you may have to take care of them physically, discipline them, educate them or play with them.

Once you have decided that you are suited to opening and running a child care center you can then consider the following four factors to come up with a basic business model before proceeding with the preparation of a business plan.

Other Basic Child Care Startup Considerations

1) Home-based or rented premises? Running a commercial daycare business requires a large investment and you may be best to start off with a home-based service and then work up to eventually opening in rented premises. Wherever you open your child care or daycare center make sure that you are in compliance with local zoning laws.

2) What kind of legal structure will be suitable for your center? This will depend on many factors and you should seek advice from an accountant or lawyer before deciding to go with a sole-proprietorship, a partnership or a ‘limited liability’ company. It is likely that you will also be required to have a business license to run a daycare in your state.

3) Location. Is it possible to run a small child care center from your home or will you have to rent commercial premises? Even though many organizations such as companies, universities and hospitals have set up daycares on-site many parents still prefer to use a service closer to their home. So the question here is, do you set up close to where families live or close to where parents work?

4) Operating hours. You really need to do some market research to find out some more about when your services will be needed by local people. Some parents may want to drop children off very early in the morning before they go to work and others will want to pick them up late so it is likely that you will have to be open for long hours. If you are not interested in such long hours you could target mothers who are working part time and only need your services for part of the day. Depending on the size of your market their may also be the opportunity to offer weekend care if parents require it.

Successful businessmen and women take time to carefully evaluate an opportunity and to make sure that it is compatible with them. Understanding the factors that will improve your chances of success is the key to making a great start. Ensure that opening a child care center is a positive and profitable experience for you by knowing exactly what you have to do to succeed.

Restaurant Success Factors – Questions to Ask Yourself Before Opening a Restaurant

When it comes to starting a restaurant, many entrepreneurs jump in and risk their time and startup capital without giving the idea proper consideration. Like other business models, restaurants have a high failure rate and owners quickly realize that being in the restaurant trade is not as glamorous or enjoyable as they first imagined.

That said though, for the right type of people who have done the right preparation, restaurants offer some excellent business opportunities. Many end up thriving and enjoying the lifestyle that goes with owning a business in this industry.

Before deciding to take the plunge and open a restaurant take some time to consider the following restaurant success factors. These are set out as a series of questions to ask yourself to see if you have what it takes to open and manage a restaurant business.

1) Do you Need Experience and Qualifications?

It is still possible for someone with no formal training or experience to open a restaurant and succeed. However, you will increase your chances of success dramatically if you have had some kind of formal training, experience or both. There are numerous culinary schools throughout the United States offering a variety of courses of various durations.

If you are able to get some experience working in a restaurant then this is also a great way to learn about how things are done and to get ideas for running your own business. Start off doing one role and persuade the owner to let you work a variety of roles so that you can understand the whole operation.

2) Do you have General Business Management Skills?

Having good money management skills will be useful when it comes to handling cash and budgeting for expenses. While not absolutely necessary, restaurant owners that understand all the cash flows coming into and flowing out of their business are more likely to feel in control and turn a profit. Doing a course in small business administration or bookkeeping would be extremely useful if you don’t possess these skills already.

3) Do you have Creative Talent?

While you can rely on the creative talents of others, such as chefs and interior decorators it will be helpful if you are a creative person. You can then have considerable input into creating a unique and workable restaurant concept, menu design and dining room decoration among other things.

4) Can you Face Long Working Hours?

Running a restaurant business will require you to spend a good deal of time away from your family if you have one. When your children are home from school in the afternoons and evenings it is likely that you will be working as most restaurant business models follow these hours (unless you focus on breakfasts and lunches). Weekends are the busiest days of the week for most restaurants so it is likely that you won’t see your family much on Saturday and Sunday as well.

5) Do you have Full Support from your Family?

Clearly you have to have the support of your spouse, at least in the early days until you are able to step back and have managers run your operation in a way that allows you to have some time off. And if you will be working with your spouse then you must make sure that your relationship is strong before going into business together.

6) Do you have enough Startup Capital?

You will need to make sure that you have access to the funds required to get your business up and running as well as to cover operating costs in the early stages. You will also require funds for your personal living costs over the first few months of your businesses life while you are getting established and revenues are still low. Unexpected expenses will undoubtedly arise as well so make sure that you don’t get caught short.

7) Are you a People Person?

As a restaurant owner or manager you will have to relate well and communicate effectively with all kinds of people.

With your staff you will have to show strong leadership skills and communicate clearly to them in order to maximize productivity and maintain good relations with them.

Restaurant owners that have strong personalities and get to know many of their guests often become the face of the brand. Sometimes the owner even ends up being part of the attraction that draws customers to dine at specific restaurants. As a restaurant owner you should be prepared to get out on the dining floor and mingle with your patrons whenever possible. Be sure to do it in a way that doesn’t interrupt their dining experience.

With your suppliers, city officials, inspectors and other parties you will also have to have the ability to communicate with them in a way that allows you to get what you want and to build strong relationships.

8) Are you Hard-Working and Organized?

As a self-employed restaurant owner you must be motivated and disciplined if you are to get everything done and achieve your goals. Being organized is the key to managing your time and the time of your employees effectively.

9) Can you Keep Cool in a Crisis?

In the day to day running of your restaurant you will encounter lots of small and large problems, especially in the early days. To keep things running smoothly you must be able to take control in a crisis situation, calm your employees and offer quick, practical solutions that avoid stressing everyone out. As the owner and manager you then have to work on eliminating problems so that they don’t occur again.

There are many assets, personality traits and other attributes that the ideal restaurant owner should have. To some extent these restaurant success factors can be acquired, learnt or developed before you open your doors for business.

While you should always keep financial rewards in mind when you start up in the restaurant trade it is also important to have other reasons for going into this business. If you have a love for people, food and hospitality then there is nothing that you can’t pick up along the way to turn yourself into the perfect restaurant manager.

8 Golden Success Secrets for Small Businesses

Running a small business is as challenging as trekking to Mt. Everest without having oxygen cylinder, prior practice, and a valid map guide. The challenges are only because there are no authentic rules that can lead a small business towards success while other major obstacles comprise: low budget, limited manpower, and lack of efficient resources. But as a small business owner, you must delve into the passcodes that help you decode the secret patterns of operating a successful startup or small business. It not only helps you to sustain your current growth but also excel your business planning’s to achieve higher objectives. There are a few suggestions based on real-world experiences, which can assist you to hit the bull’s eye.

1- Utilize the power of social media:

Nowadays, the entire world revolves around social media and if you are able to use its full potential, it can immediately help you increase your sales and brand reputation with very minimum resource and effort. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, help you connect with a large scale of users, where you can directly interact with them, thereby allowing you to convert them into your potential clients. It forms a two-way channel that not only allows you to put your message across but also, listen to what your targeted audience want, which eventually goes a long way in improving and growing your business.

2- Research and analyze your competition:

A business turns to be successful only if it runs on some finely grinned facts and figures. And competition analysis is one of the most important elements of the process. Competition analysis tells you the strength you will require to establish your brand in the market as well as it helps to prepare your business planning adequately so that you could avoid the chances of business failure. An additional benefit of competition research is it allows for designing and developing more feasible and user-oriented products that eventually help you attain a competitive edge over the current market.

3- Work as per your plan but be flexible too:

Efficient planning is a roadmap that drives your business to the top in the long run with predefined routes. It is always advised to stick with our planning even if we face a few hurdles while running our business given that the strategies are designed after in-depth analysis. And day-to-day challenges should not incline you to alter with whatever you planned. The winners always back their business plannings regardless of the stiff challenges, but on the other side, a successful business requires the owner to be flexible enough to embrace new changes. Adapting the new ideas and concepts not only makes a business owner take smart decisions but also, keeps their core planning intact and fresh.

4- Use informative materials to build trust and loyalty:

The Internet is the best medium to reach out to the huge audience with less effort, but you should keep the fact in mind that there is already a heavy flow of advertisements and endorsements all over the web. So, what can be an efficient way to create our presence with a significant impact?

There are definitely some better ways to do it like using informative online materials such as well-written blogs, well-designed infographics, animated videos demonstrating some set of skills, and presentation sheets, etc. Following such practices will attract a huge mass to our platform to learn and engage with us, which gives a sense of trust and ultimately convert them into our long-term clients.

5- Hire your weaknesses:

A small business consists of a team of limited dedicated professionals, having different skill sets of all the corners to tackle most of the business requirements. Small businesses, sometimes, compromise in some crucial areas since they can’t hire specific individuals due to the lack of budget. To get your business positioned to the top, please don’t bear with your inefficient area. Rush into hiring experienced professional(s) so that all parts of your business fire with the same intensity.

6- Be ready for mergers and acquisitions:

Even after working with your full potential, you may not generate enough force to compete with the leading competitors. Other small businesses with the same concept may face the same situations. Just find them and join in the talks to check the possibilities of the merger to form a combined force, which can provide the required pace and power to achieve the common business goals. Mergers have a long, rich history of producing successful businesses, so don’t shy away with it. Similarly, business acquisitions are a noble idea to inject more strength to our business if budget allows us to do so.

7- Keep the quality service always on:

Quality service is the most important source that keeps your client for a longer period of time and it spreads huge positive feedbacks in the mass, driving in a large number of new clients. There have been more than just a few businesses reaching to the top just on the base of excellent service and even without spending a bomb on advertisements and business promotions. While there are other businesses which have failed miserably because of giving no importance to the quality of the services they provided. All in all, having the sound quality of the products/services is the key to succeeding in today’s cut throat competition.

8- Don’t give up:

Running a successful business is not a child’s play since it requires a lot of guts, courage, and risk-taking capabilities. It, sometimes, shakes your ambitions when going through some rough patches, and you need to have the burning desires within you to keep it alive. Keeping patience is also an important character that the small business owner must have, as the formation of a business and climb the ladder of success, demands to wait for long period of time. So, as a business owner, you need to instill never give up attitude to see your dreams come true!!

Summing it up, though the above-mentioned points are not entirely foolproof but yes, following these points will definitely help you to become a smart small business owner who can defy all the challenges and get on the top of the competition. Of Course, the chances of success or failure of your business completely depends on your planning and execution.

How to Find Success in Business, No Matter What Business You Are In

After thirty-five years of running my company, Mid-Hudson Marketing, I’ve come to realize a few truths about what brings success in business. Regardless of what business you are in, if you give the clients what they want, the clients will be happy. And happy clients come back. They also refer other clients to you.

Now, you would think that in a marketing business, a client would come to me in order to bring him business. But, ironically, when a client comes to me for marketing services, there is a lot more to what the client wants than is obvious on the surface. Clients need confidantes. Clients need friends. Clients need reliable helpers to do the things they themselves cannot do, and to do them well. Clients need dependable business partners they can lean on in times of need to provide them with guidance and advice. Clients need all of this but do not want to be overcharged for it. And clients need these things exactly when they need them, at the precise moment they ask for them, without having to wait their turn. After all, clients are busy people with many important tasks at hand including making a success of their own businesses. It is a rare client that recognizes that you and he or she have that in common.

No, clients by definition are usually quite selfish with only their own concerns in mind. When they call you, they need you. Otherwise, they don’t call. Of course, in the present state of the economy, getting a call from a client in need should be regarded as a blessing if you are running a business. This is your bread and butter. And furthermore, the reason they can be excused from their myopic vision is that they are paying you to help them. Not the other way around.

Never mind that they may be interrupting you from serving the needs of other important clients whose calls may have come in first. It is an exercise in tact and diplomacy that provides you with the right things to say to satisfy the demands of all clients within the time constraints given. No single client wants to be told that he must wait, and all deserve your very best efforts to perform whatever it is they expect of you.

Luckily, the laws of probability usually dole out these calls in a rather random fashion so you are not overwhelmed with immediate urgency that is impossible to deliver on. And in a business like marketing, there are a multitude of different tasks clients may need, all requiring different skills, allotments of time, and expectations for completion.

And of course, not all projects come in as phone calls. Many come in as emails in today’s world. But in either case, an immediate reply is the most important course of action for you as business owner, to provide the solution each is looking for. I find that most clients just want to know that they are important to you and that you are grateful for their call, and that you intend to address their requests right away. This is usually accomplished by a prompt call back or email reply confirming receipt of their message and how you intend to fulfill what they need. I also always promise to confirm when the job is completed. Having done this, my stress level for the moment is reduced because the immediacy of the demand has been taken care of. However, as anyone running a business knows, chronic stress is part of being successful, since it drives us to do the work the clients ask for, as quickly and expertly as possible!

Next step for the business owner is the prioritization of tasks at hand. I approach this by figuring out how many steps there are in the process, how long each will take and how soon I can get them done while working on a multitude of jobs simultaneously. For the small business owner, or people who run their businesses single-handedly (like me), this usually means being a workaholic and working morning, noon and night, 24/7. That is not an exaggeration. I work every moment I can, subtracting out time for personal hygiene, eating, sleeping, and an hour of daily exercise every day, without fail! Of course, I admit I am very robotic about everything in my life which serves me well in business. The reason is that I can multi-task easily without breaking my concentration from the most important application of my attention.

An example would be answering the phone with my standard greeting without missing a beat, while using any one of my many software programs to design, write, produce, enhance or convert any number of the many jobs I juggle on a daily basis. People often comment that I sound like a recording. We laugh about that and move on. Not only is my predictability beneficial for my business, it is appreciated by my clients who are able to reach me on one or two rings without having to wade through the muck and mire of phone prompts or receptionists to try to speak to me directly. Sure, they sometimes get my voice mail but I always call right back and never keep them waiting.

I must reveal, though, that prior to a couple of years ago, when I maintained a formal business suite of offices in the largest city nearby, my working hours were quite different. Time to commute even on the worst days in winter ate up a good chunk of my availability to keep plowing through my workload. I used to believe that such time was well spent… as a “creative pause,” as one German professor of music I had at Bard College used to say. Time to reflect, plan strategy, get an overview of business as a whole. Now, however, since I was prescient enough to realize that closing that overhead-heavy office I had taken pride in for a 35-year career was an unaffordable luxury in today’s economy and moving home was the best alternative for many reasons, my time is much better appropriated.

First of all, I now have a life! How, you may ask, can I possibly have a life if I work 24/7?!! Well, since I love what I do for a living, I definitely enjoy working from home. Here are the major differences:

Instead of getting up at 4 a.m. to get dressed to the business hilt, reading several newspapers while eating breakfast and driving an hour to work, I now get up at 8:15 a.m. and run up and down my staircase for exercise for 20 minutes (2500 steps in all!) and make a small breakfast I eat as I check my email in my comfy office off my dining room wearing my shorts, a t-shirt and socks. My work day usually begins about 9 a.m. which is the norm for the majority of office workers.
Instead of having to wear high heels while driving to and from occasional client meetings which also killed a good portion of the day (not to mention my feet!), I now stay at home and avoid meeting anyone altogether. I am totally accessible by email and phone and seeing me in person is unnecessary in this day and age of Internet access and video-conferencing.
Instead of leaving the office late in a rat-race-paced drive home to cook supper after having stopped at the grocery store, a gas station and navigated through the occasional traffic jam and subsequent longer-than-usual detour, I now take a twenty-minute walk with my husband around 4:30 every day and after continuing to work until 6:30, begin making supper after a productive 9-hour day. I am lucky to have a retired husband/life partner who now does all the shopping.
Instead of ending my day at 9:30 p.m. so I can try to get enough sleep to wake up at 4 and start all over again, I now get to watch the end of the Yankee game most nights if they’re still playing around 10 p.m. which is when I stop working after dinner to enjoy a little TV exposure and eat an apple. Bedtime for the robot is now about midnight, giving me about 8 hours of sleep each night vs. my previous 5.5 hour average. That in itself has given me back my life!

But lots of things have changed in business since the economic downturn. It is not a surprise to hear of people working from home. Having an office was wonderful for many years when people would come in for frequent conferences or to check proofs. There was a time when I spent entire days doing high quality on-site photography, sometimes from helicopters, using gyroscopes and expensive rented long lenses while flying through now forbidden air space over Manhattan! Times have changed and my industry with it. We’ve become an online culture with everything accessible through affordable high quality digital photography and emailed PDF proofs. People are more conservative about business expenses than they ever were and the cost of gasoline and of everything has curtailed how we all do business. And, as a result, how much we charge has become an issue of sensitivity as well.

Having arrived at a place in my life where money is no longer a matter of life or death, sink or swim, I am fortunate to have the freedom to negotiate agreeable rates with long-term clients I respect who have expressed anxiety over loss of revenue due to the business reduction everyone has felt. Once you hit a certain age, you realize that life does not go on forever and it is more important to live life for the pleasure it can bring than for some arbitrary dollar figure to which you once may have aspired. Since my house and cars are all paid for and I have the security of some relatively satisfactory investments, it is more important to me to have clients who seek my intelligence and skills, and keep me busy with interesting work, than to try to amass a fortune doing it. I am also lucky (and have been for the bulk of my career) that I don’t ever have to look for work. It just comes in as it always has from clients with whom I’ve been working for most of my life. Those clients refer others. And, there are always new clients who find me through my website. Yes, my office was a beautiful representation of my polished business image, my brand…but I have achieved the same thing through my website, at a greatly reduced cost!

I have written this article, which is really more of a glimpse into my life, for the purpose of sharing the kinds of things that bring success. Not so much for the specific information, but for the attitudinal and philosophical truths that shape a person’s life. Always putting the client first; doing the best work you possibly can; respect for the client’s needs and timeframe; being frugal with spending; and above all, being fair in every way; these are the ways I’ve found success in my life. It doesn’t take a lot to make me happy, thank goodness. Not being destitute, having a perfectly ripe avocado available, a good apple, my favorite balsamic vinegar, skim milk, oats, walnuts, my Taster’s Choice decaf. These are things that make me happy. And, a kind word from a happy client now and then! Do I mind working entire holiday weekends keeping up with client deadlines and work goals? Not at all. I thrive on it. And this I would define as success in business.

The Place of Entrepreneurship Competence in Business Success and National Development

The pivotal position occupied by entrepreneurship as a sustainable tool for rapid economic growth and development of a country cannot be over emphasized. This is evident in several available literatures written by scholars on the subject matter but a closer examination of these literatures show tilted emphasis and concentrations on some common areas relating to entrepreneurship.

Increasing competitions, rapid and constant changes in internal and external environment of business activities, and the significant influence of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) on the economy generally have resulted in a growing interest in studying the role of factors stimulating successful entrepreneurship, business success and national development.

Though, entrepreneurship, have played and can play more of these positive roles, is not an easy vocation as it does not always guarantee a hundred per cent triumph. There are several critical areas of knowledge and factors that must be acquired and put in place to enable entrepreneurs achieve a measure of business success and consequently contributing to national development.

Several researches have been conducted in areas of entrepreneurship competency, entrepreneurship success and national development.

Most literatures relating to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship success tend to unquestionably argue that most entrepreneurial fiascos are essentially due to inadequate financial resources (e.g. Adeyemo and Onikoyi, 2012). Such research outcomes have no doubt influenced government policy direction in many developed and developing countries of the world through the creation of financial agencies and provision of financial resources to business units for the sole purpose of boosting and sustaining entrepreneurial development for rapid national development.

The above, policy strategy unfortunately has led to the continuous negligence on the part of the government, scholars and business operators in these countries to considering other vital factors like entrepreneurial competency which equally contributes to successful entrepreneurship, business success and national development.

The current literatures on the subject do not provide sufficient explanations to the role general and/or specific competences play in successful entrepreneurship, business success and national development. This has thus, made the relationship between entrepreneurial competence and entrepreneurship success to be important topic within organizational literatures. The above fact is evident in several available studies done by scholars on the subject matter (e.g Crook, Todd, Combs, Woehr, and Ketchen, 2011; Mitchelmore and Rowley, 2010; Inyang and Enuoh, 2009; Laguna, Wiechetek, and Talik, 2013 e.t.c).

Many of these studies identified entrepreneurship competences like communication competence, financial competence, marketing competence, business ethics competence, social responsibility competence, decision-making competence and leadership competence as catalysts to entrepreneurship success and national development. We shall be duelling on our discussion more on these entrepreneurial competences to see how they individually contribute to successful entrepreneurship, business success and national development.

As said earlier at the beginning, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship success play strategic roles in economic growth, economic transformation and development of the society. These roles are noticeable in the numbers of jobs created, the level of wealth generated and the rate of indigenous entrepreneurship promoted in several countries around the world.

There is no doubt that government of the world have put great efforts in promoting entrepreneurship development, business success and economic development through provision of financial resources directly or otherwise through various agencies and under different terms and conditions, this fact prompt one to ask a question of high concern.

Why are there still high rate of business failure around the world? Without much thinking, the failures are due mainly to entrepreneurial incompetency of those concerned with making the daily business decisions of these businesses. Many business failures can be said to be and are largely attributed to lack of entrepreneurial competence.

Most of the businesses failed unknowingly even before there are started because of lack of one of the required competence; project evaluation and management. This does not therefore; make it surprising while entrepreneurship competence has often been identified as the missing link for successful entrepreneurship, business failure and consequently crawling national development and in some instances stalled economy. What then is entrepreneurship competence?

Before we proceed to defining and explaining entrepreneurship competence and understand the contextual meaning in which it is employed in this writing with simplicity, it will be very imperative to first and foremost comprehend what entrepreneurship is.

Entrepreneurship may be defined as the process through which something new and valuable is created through the dedication and effort of someone who takes on financial, psychological, and social risks and seeks personal satisfaction and monetary rewards (Hisrich & Peters 1986).

European Commission, (2006) defined Entrepreneurship as a dynamic and social process where individuals, alone or in collaboration, identify opportunities for innovation and act upon these by transforming ideas into practical and targeted activities, whether in a social, cultural or economic context.

Critical assessment of the above two definitions summarized the concept of entrepreneurship by stressing creation processes and performance of targeted activities. Entrepreneurship as defined above is not necessarily limited to the roles and characters of entrepreneurship involving creativity, innovation and risk taking, and most importantly, the ability to plan, manage projects and to turn ideas into action in order to achieve set objectives for successful entrepreneurship. But, it requires tact, art and competency to achieve winning edge success.

Entrepreneurship success is a multidimensional phenomenon. It includes multiple criteria of financial characters like profit maximization, revenue maximization, dividend maximization as in the case of shareholders etc., and non-financial characters for example larger share of market, customer satisfaction, perpetual enterprise existence etc. To achieve success in any of the following sections, one must be competent in his/her chosen area of enterprise.

Entrepreneur competence can therefore be defined as the cluster of related knowledge, attitudes, and skills which an entrepreneur must acquire or possess to achieve an outstanding performance and optimize the business objective(s) amidst several constraints. Every job/role has a skill and competency requirement. Every career like entrepreneurship draws on the competence of an individual. For every entrepreneurial undertaking one needs certain competencies. Entrepreneurship competence is simply the skill which an individual needs to do an allotted entrepreneurial job successfully.

Entrepreneurship competence constitutes a cluster of related knowledge, attitudes, and skills, which an individual acquires and uses together, to produce outstanding performance in any given area of entrepreneurial responsibility. Some of these competences may be general and some peculiar to the chosen areas of enterprise. We may describe competences to mean abilities and skills, for a teacher or a performing artist, for example, it is the skill to communicate that plays a decisive role in their effectiveness besides, of course, their knowledge. For a craftsman or an artist, it is the creativity and skill in the chosen craft.

In like manner, entrepreneurial competences are critical success factors required for successful entrepreneurship, business success and of course national development. The subject thus, deserves solemn attention in entrepreneurial discourse and not to be neglected. There is no substitute for entrepreneurship competence for successful entrepreneurship, not even abundant financial resources can. There is no doubt as explained, entrepreneurial competence play important role in any successful entrepreneurial activities.

The following are some of the necessary entrepreneurial competences required for successful entrepreneurship and rapid national development. We shall be discussing below 8 of the basic essential entrepreneurial competence for successful business.

1. Time Management competence: Time is an economic good; it is an economic good worthy of effective and efficient management because of it scarce nature (Dan-Abu, 2015). Time is unique, unlike any other economic resources (input) such that it has no wing but can “fly”. Time is irreplaceable and irreversible. Time lost is lost forever and can never be recovered, and by that I it includes, time lost doing insignificant things. This is why few things are more important to an entrepreneur and for successful entrepreneurship than learning how to save and spend time wisely. One major causes of entrepreneurship failure in relation to time management is doing too many things at the same time in an inefficient manner.

To achieve more and be successful in the day to day running of an enterprise, the entrepreneur must be thoroughly equipped with time management skill. Investing and practicing effective and efficient time management skill is a profitable investment for every entrepreneur, since every efficient business act is a success in itself. It therefore means that, if every single act of entrepreneurial activity is undertaken with consistent efficient one, the enterprise as a whole must be a success.

Time management involve among others practices, commitment to work contract and taking personal pains to complete a task on schedule, this will promote confidence and loyalty on your business/organization and will thus led to winning of more contracts from clients again and again; prioritizing of task based on urgency and importance in relation to a project activities and delegating of task to subordinates.

Some common time consuming activities include slow decision making, inability to delegate, unnecessary interruptions, failed appointments, delays while traveling, poorly conducted meetings, procrastination, etc.

2. Communication competence: Communication is a two-way process characterized by sending and receiving of messages through a channel between sender and receiver. This may be verbal or non-verbal for example, telephone call and procurement proposal respectively. Good communication skill is an indispensable management tool for a successful entrepreneurship. It is through communication that procurements are made, business products/services are sold, business objectives are discussed, employees are recruited etc.

Communication competence is very important to the survival and success of every organization, this is regardless of whether the organization is a profit or non-profit making, private or public enterprise, involved in provision of services or sales of products, online or offline business etc. Communication competence is so vital to successful entrepreneurship that it goes beyond inter-personal communication; of course this too is indispensable to the success of the entrepreneur’s business.

A winning communication competence in an enterprise will help in disseminating circulars, minutes, letters and memos effectively reaching every intending individual, team or unit in an organization. It also facilitates efficiency through the saving of cost involved in sending and receiving the messages on the part of both the organization and the employees. Communication competence in enterprising organizations will facilitate large turn out and compliance when meetings are called or directives are given to be followed respectively.

Communication competence in like manner can speed up the time taken to make merchandize procurement in period of high demand; this can help the concerned firm increase profit during the period of shortages and high demand.

Developing and employing good communication skill in an organization will definitely lead to two fold success; the firm will be able to benefit from internal interactions among persons, departments and units, and externally benefit from interactions between it and the business transacting partners (outside world). We can therefore say in summary that, there is no business without communication.

3. Human Resources Management Competence: The relevance of human resources management competence to successful entrepreneurship, business success and national development cannot be over stressed. Though materials and capital are of equivalent importance to the entrepreneur, they are inanimate and unemotional; they demand no understanding of human requirements and inspirations for their effective utilization unlike human resources which need good and competent human resources management skill by the entrepreneur to successfully utilize it to optimum level in productive activities.

Human resources of some enterprise are the most difficult to obtain, the most expensive to maintain and the hardest to retain. Without the acquisition and practicing of effective and efficient human resource management skills, the capital resources earlier mentioned will not be effectively used. Generally, small and medium scale enterprises often managed by an entrepreneur do not have the luxury of human resource department that can interview, hire and evaluate employees.

Most of these decisions taking regarding the above are the responsibility of the entrepreneur and perhaps one or two other key employees. This is good why human resources management competence is important for successful entrepreneurship and national development. As the firm grows, there will be need to hire new employees; entrepreneur must follow important procedures for interviewing, hiring, evaluating and preparing job description for new employees. Instituting an effective organizational culture is best implemented when an entrepreneur is competent in human resources management.

4. Marketing Management Competence: The success of every enterprise involves selling of products/services; this is largely enabled through good marketing management, it is therefore imperative for an entrepreneur to have good marketing management skills.

Ebitu (2005:196) concord, that marketing is crucial to the survival and growth of any organization. It is through marketing that revenues used for bills settlement, assets acquisition, pursuing of business diversification and expansion objectives, settlement of dividend and tax liabilities and social responsibility projects are generated. The entrepreneur in developing good marketing strategies and marketing management competence must be conversant with and employ the four marketing mix of place, promotion, price and product.

5. Adherence to Business Ethics Competence: Every business has its ethics. Ethics deals with moral ability and obligations. It can be defined as a system of rules and principles that define right and wrong, good and bad conduct and the ordering of values in undertaking business activities in society. Business ethics is sometimes called management ethics, and it is the application of ethical principles to business relationships and activities.

Business ethics is becoming a subject of intense concern for society, which is now demanding that organizations should operate responsibly and uphold very high ethical standards to improve the quality of life of the people. Entrepreneurs, in light of the above, need to be competent in dealing with different public policies, trade union’s established standards and norms and customers’ concerns for high quality work for successful entrepreneurship.

6. Financial Management Competence: Every business enterprise requires capital with which to start and continue with its operations. Capital here means two things; money (finance) needed to start and operate the business and assets representing the resources provided by owners (equity) and creditors of the business (liabilities).

Mbat (2001:3) defines financial management as the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the firm’s financial resources. Finance is the blood at the centre of any successful business enterprise, one of the features common to successful entrepreneurs is their ability to source for funds for their enterprise. The funds mobilized internally or externally have to be properly managed to ensure that at any point in time, there is adequate funds to cater for the day to day running of the enterprise.

Most entrepreneurial failures are due to the inability of the entrepreneurs to effectively distribute and manage funds. For example, an entrepreneur needs to acquire knowledge on financial management issues like anticipation of financial needs for the enterprise, fund raising sources, cost of raising fund from external sources, acquisition of funds, allocation of funds in order to yield optimum result through identification and maintenance of correct proportion of the firm’s finances in areas of savings, insurance and investments policy of the enterprise.

The important of financial management competence to achieving entrepreneurship and business success cannot be over stressed. We have seen many at times when financially buoyant “start-ups” crumble down to pieces after successful take off because of financial management incompetence of the management, caused by tied up funds as they watch helplessly as the business dive into ocean of failure due to lack of reserve funds to successfully execute contracts or perform business operation.

Leadership Competence: leadership can be defined as the ability to influence and motivate other person or group of persons towards achieving a shared a set objective. Leadership competence is also another important single factor determining business success or failure in our competitive, turbulent, fast moving, free global market economy.

According to Ilesanmi, (2000: 187) successful entrepreneurs are successful leaders; they have power and motivate the entrepreneurial venture. The ability to produce the necessary leadership is the key determinant of achievement in all-human activities, the quality of leadership is therefore a decisive strength or weakness of any successful entrepreneurial endeavour.

Successful entrepreneurship requires creative, unique leadership qualities and personal styles. It involve seeking opportunities, initiating projects, gathering the physical, financial and human resources needed to carry out projects, setting goals for self and others, directing and guiding others to accomplish goals. Effective leadership is therefore a powerful tool required for successful entrepreneurship, business success and national development. Good leadership competence helps an entrepreneur to turn his/her business vision into reality.

7. Social Responsibility Competence: The establishment of every business enterprise is backed up by the profit motive. It is the profit that drives entrepreneurs to starting businesses, motivate shareholders into buying shares and private capital owners into investing their capital in a company. The profit motive though leads to the production of goods and services; the entrepreneur’s business venture also has the responsibility to embark on certain projects within and outside its operating environment as part of its social obligations.

Businesses should not only be concerned about the quality of goods and services they produce to generate profit but must also pursue policies that sell their enterprises by contributing to the quality of life in their operational environment. The business operators have responsibility to protect and improve society. Their actions during production and marketing should not in any way endanger the community or society. Entrepreneur can earn more profit by displaying high degree of corporate responsiveness, which is the ability of an organization to relate its operations and policies to the environment in ways that are mutually beneficial to the organization and the society.

The entrepreneur for example needs to make contribution to community development, product safety, employment generation, ethical business practices, and contribution towards educational activities in the community of operation. An enterprise for example can award scholarships to students, create opportunity for apprenticeship training and so on. Undertaking some of these social responsibilities may endear the entrepreneur’s enterprise to its host community; enhance his image and social standing, and consequently contributing significantly to his business success.

8. Decision making Competence: Decision making is very important to the success of an entrepreneur, this skill is at the core of every successful entrepreneurial activities. Decision making is the process of selecting a line of action from available alternatives. This selection process may be very difficult especially when the available alternatives are numerous or the decisions to be made or chosen from are risky ones.

Many potential entrepreneurs have difficulties in bringing their ideas to the market and creating a new business because making a decision is one thing and making the right decision in a given circumstance is another. The actual making of effective entrepreneurial decisions has resulted in several new businesses being started throughout the world by those having this decision making skill necessary for successful entrepreneurship.

An entrepreneur makes decision on a daily basis and therefore has to acquire adequate knowledge and skills in decision making to enable him/her make the right decisions.

Most of the entrepreneurial competences have been studied in isolation and with little effort to recognizing their mutual relationships to entrepreneurship success and business success. In a study aimed at explaining entrepreneurial competences in order to rank them according to the level of their importance to successful entrepreneurship by Edgar, Dirk and Danny, (2005) shows that, entrepreneurs on one hand considered decision making the most important competence while scholars in their different writings are in support of identifying business opportunities competence as the most important when embarking on an entrepreneurial venture.

In another study aimed at explaining how general and specific managerial competencies relate to the business success of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) by Laguna, Wiechetek, and Talik, (2013) proved that general and specific managerial competency is significant predictor of success in running a business. They further stated that specific managerial competency demonstrated to be a mediator between general competence and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) success.

In a similar study conducted by Rosária de Fatima Segger Macri Russo and Roberto Sbragia, (2010) who opined that the operational responsibilities of a project manager (planning and controlling) are in stark contrast to the characteristics of an entrepreneur. In light of the above contradictory viewpoint, their research which was directed at assessing whether managers showing entrepreneurial characteristics are associated with more successful projects or not found within their study sample an empirical evidence supported their hypothesis that the possibility of a given project having a successful outcome increases with the enterprising tendency of its manager.

After critically examining the necessary entrepreneurial competences required for successful entrepreneurship, business success and rapid national development. It will be important to quickly add here that no single or sets of entrepreneurship competence are more important to the other. It is only through the combination of the competences that an entrepreneur can achieve maximum business success.

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Nike – Philip Knight’s Success Story – Famous Entrepreneurs

“Play by the rules. But be ferocious.”

Starting The Business

Like Fred Smith and the origins of FedEx, Philip Knight’s first ideas of what would become Nike Inc. came to him while he was at

school. While working on his master’s at Stanford, Knight – an accomplished runner during his undergraduate days at the University

of Oregon – wrote an essay that outlined a plan to overcome the monopoly Adidas had on the running shoe market. He thought the way

to realize this was to employ cheap Japanese labour to make a shoe both better and cheaper.

The plan was put into action shortly after graduating in 1962. Knight went to Japan to meet with the executives of Onitsuka Tiger

Co., a manufacturer of imitation Adidas runners, claiming to be the head of a company called Blue Ribbon Sports (which did not

exist, except in his mind). Knight convinced Tiger to export their shoes to the States though Blue Ribbon and had them send samples

so his associates could inspect them.

Knight paid for the samples with money from his father. He sent a few pairs to Bill Bowerman, Knight’s track coach from his days at

the University of Oregon, who became interested in the venture. Knight and Bowerman became partners and put $500 each into the

purchase of 200 pairs of Tigers. Blue Ribbon Sports was formed, and Knight began going to high school track and field events

selling the shoes from the trunk of his car.

Sales were at $3 million dollars when Knight chose to dissolve the partnership with Tiger in the early 1970s. Blue Ribbon began

producing its own line and began selling its Nike line (named after the Greek goddess of victory) in 1972. These first Nike shoes

were adorned with the now-internationally recognizable swoosh logo – which Knight had commissioned for $35 – and had the

traction-improving “waffle soles”, conceived of by Bowerman while watching his wife using a waffle iron.

Building An Empire

Blue Ribbon’s success (renamed Nike in 1978) throughout the 1970s and into the ’80s can largely be attributed to Knight’s marketing

strategy. He thought it best not to push his Nike shoes though advertising, but rather to let expert athletes endorse his product.

Fortune smiled on Knight as his partner Bill Bowerman became the coach of the American Olympic team and many of the best performers

on the team decided to shod their feet with Nikes. Of course, when the runners performed well, the shoes they wore were

highlighted. Steve Prefontaine, a brash and unconventional American record-holder, became the first spokesperson for Nike shoes.

After the tennis player John McEnroe hurt his ankle, he began wearing a Nike three-quarter-top shoe, and sales of that particular

brand jumped from 10,000 pairs to over 1 million. As Knight had hoped, celebrity athlete’s endorsements brought success to the

company. Knight also capitalized on a jogging craze, and through clever marketing persuaded the consumer that they should only be

wearing the best the best in the world.

The Air Jordans helped the company continue to thrive into the 1980s. In their first year, the shoe made more than $100 million.

Knight realized his initial goal of replacing Adidas as the number the one shoe manufacturer globally in 1986. By then, total sales

had surpassed $1 billion. However, by neglecting the growing interest in aerobics shoes, Nike would have to face a few

difficulties.

Through Problems and Controversy

Sales dropped 18% between 1986 and 1987 as Reebok’s trendy, stylish aerobics shoes came to be in high demand. Knight had to

acknowledge that the technical achievements of the Nike shoe would not satisfy those who placed appearance above performance. The

Nike Air was Knight’s response to Reebok. It revived sales and put Nike back in the number one spot in 1990.

Corporate Monster that it had become, Nike was the object of public outrage in 1990 when stories of teenagers killed for their

Nikes began floating around. It was believed that Nike was promoting their shoes too forcefully.

That same year Jesse Jackson attacked Nike for not having any African-Americans on its board or among its vice-presidents, despite

the fact that its customer base was in large part black. Jackson’s Nike boycott lasted until a black board member was appointed.

There has also been a controversy around whether Knight’s use of Asian factory workers as cheap labour s exploitative.

Through all of the bad press that has been foisted on Nike through these events, Nike shoes have continued to sell well. And in

1993, The Sporting News voted Knight “the most powerful man in sports” though he was neither a player nor a manager. Knight’s

marketing mastery is to be lauded and regarded as a major factor in his impressive successes.

Women Entrepreneurs: How To Make Your Business A Success

With entrepreneurship holding out the promise of a lucrative future, together with the freedom to be your own boss, many women are choosing to walk the road to free enterprise rather than stay in dead end jobs. Research has shown that twice as many women as men opt out of corporate jobs to start their own business.

Advantages of Starting Your Own Business:

1) Earlier, women were expected to work towards the goals of their organization without considering their own professional satisfaction. Now, more and more women are discovering the joys of being their own boss.

2) As the boss of your own organization, you have more flexibility about setting corporate goals.

3) As a woman entrepreneur, you need not worry about any glass ceiling that may hamper your professional growth.

4) You get to earn more as an entrepreneur.

5) Your contributions will be valued more when you run your own business.

What Makes Women Entrepreneurs Successful

The world over, business analysts are sitting up and taking note of the contributions women entrepreneurs are making to the economy. Entrepreneurship used to be a male bastion, and the glass ceiling in corporate sector is driving many women away. Therefore, an increasing number of women are choosing to leave their corporate jobs and start their own businesses.

Here are some startling facts about women entrepreneurs:

1) Women start more companies than men do.

2) A third of women who left their jobs to become successful entrepreneurs said their employer did not take them seriously.

3) 51 percent of women left corporate jobs because of lack of flexibility.

4) In the US, women own 28 percent of small businesses.

5) Women entrepreneurs in the US employ a little over 9 million people and earned $3 million in revenues for the US in 2005.

Groups for Women Entrepreneurs:

Many organizations support the growth of women entrepreneurs. You can join groups like Women in Entrepreneurship that aim to train women entrepreneurs and provide them with resources.

Women Entrepreneur Groups: Advantages of Joining;

Some of the advantages of joining groups for women entrepreneurs include:

1) Opportunity to share experiences and network with other women entrepreneurs.

2) Get updates on workshops, seminars, trade shows etc.

3) Have access to a directory listing of women entrepreneurs.

4) Participate in competitions for women entrepreneurs.

Women entrepreneurs can also avail grants and loan programs run by many federal, state and private agencies. With more and more women starting their own businesses, the number of grants and loans allocated to them has also gone up. If you are a woman entrepreneur and need to know more about funds, business plans, and organizations that help women entrepreneurs, you can consult a small business expert.

Success University – Enhance Your Direct Marketing Skills Today

Do you want to develop your marketing plans? How can you develop your direct marketing skills? How can you boost up your business online? With these questions in mind, you will be able to analyze what you have to do with your direct marketing skills. What career path would you like to have concerning about your business?

If you have a business online and you are having a hard time getting customers or readers’ attention, chances are your marketing skills are not working for your business. Time to do some changes in your methods and apply new ones that could help boost your direct marketing skills. And that is where Success University could help you. If you would like to have a career in direct marketing, learn the techniques, develop more of your personality about marketing, then Success University is for you.

With Success University, you can develop and improve more of your entrepreneurial skills. You will be able to plan better ideas, apply new marketing principles and strategic planning in your direct marketing skills. Success University will be able to help you have that marketing attitude that could get prospective clients listen and deal with you. You become a man of integrity and you will learn to listen to clients, become responsive with whatever benefits they would like to ask from you. You will be more attentive of the details in your business by being more focused, straightforward and driven. The proper attitude, advance methods, and principles in marketing will be shared and taught to you by the best teachers in the marketing and business industry. You will get to hear from the top entrepreneurs how they have developed and found ways to add to their direct marketing skills. You will be more creative with your ideas and business strategies that could wow potential clients. Success University will give you a strong foundation in the elements of direct marketing. You will build your skills faster, avoid mistakes, and enhance your marketing ideas.

Enrolling at Success University will teach you the proper ways of marketing and business elements. You will learn everything that you need to know about strategic planning, business elements, entrepreneurship, and marketing attitude. You will have the guarantee that you will be well informed what with enough resources available to enhancing your direct marketing skills. You will have preferences in your marketing media as well, since Success University is an online education, it will also provide better options for your marketing media.

Boosting your career in marketing will give you the result of making it big in your online business. To achieve this, you have to get the right information, proper tools and develop a better personality that will mold you into a better entrepreneur. Take the best education for you because you deserve to have the best in your career.

To get the quality education in direct marketing and to learn how you can improve and become a better entrepreneur, opt for Success University where you will learn the skills and methods. Get the right education for you. Enhance your direct marketing skills at Success University and you will learn what success really means.

Planning Your Small Business Success Journey – Six Steps to a Dynamite Action Plan

You are considering starting a small business. Most startups fail. So why should yours be any different. Any strategist will tell you that there are many factors that contribute to the success or failure of any endeavor, but the one factor that will guarantee failure is lack of a realistic detailed action plan.

Step 1: Set Realistic and Specific Goals

The key to knowing what goals are realistic and specific is experience. In an established business, past history provides the clue. In a franchise, the franchisor can help you set realistic and specific goals based upon years of experience in the industry. For an independent startup, much research is needed. Talk to other businesses in the area you are considering opening your business. Talk to other business owners in your industry. You will want to ask about customer traffic, revenues, and costs. Then set your goals in each specific area.

Step 2: Identify Activities, Resources, and Responsibilities

I know it worked for Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, but in the real world, if you build it, no one comes. You have to inform your customers about what you do and why they should patronize you. In many startups you have to lure your first customers in using couponing and special events. Identify the specific marketing and sales activities that will bring your customers in. Have a detailed list of all resources available in your area such as signage, media, and public relations. Outsource what you can. Hire when necessary. Do it yourself if you must. Have a detailed list of responsibilities for each activity and hold your contractors, your staff, and yourself accountable.

Step 3: Define Your Timetable

Your timetable is often closely related to capitalization. Industries have time-tested standards for profitability. A house painter may be profitable in 6 months, but a restaurant takes 3 years to be profitable. If you are considering investing your life savings and need to be profitable in the first month to make your mortgage, find a less expensive business to open. Chart your course carefully.

Step 4: Create Contingency Plans for Other Possible Outcomes

General George Patton once said, “Every plan is perfect until the first shot is fired.” What is your contingency if you get a different result than the one you planned for? If you run a special expecting 20 sales of a particular item, what is your plan if you sell 10? What if 30 people want the special? Always have a plan to liquidate excess with minimal or no loss, or to get more product quickly if needed. If you have done your marketing correctly, people will show up wanting to do business with you. Don’t disappoint them. If there is a piece of equipment that is critical to your business such as a brewer in a coffee shop, know where you backup is. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have another in the cabinet, but have a relationship with your repair service so you can rent one within the hour.

Step 5: Merge your Plan of Action with your Timetable

Every plan must be linked to a realistic and specific timetable. In step 4, you set a timetable to reach the overall objective you identified in step 1. Now, set specific milestones linked to the activities you identified in step 2. These can be graphed with project management software, or a simple outline will do. Just make sure you have identified which tasks need to be identified first before others can be started. Think these through carefully. Building from the bottom up makes sense, but don’t lay your carpet before your roof is finished.

Step 6: Delegate, Supervise, and Evaluate

Launching a startup is a daunting task. Often first time entrepreneurs take on too much themselves and burn out. Then they look for someone they can turn the reigns over to while they focus on what they enjoy most. This is called management by abdication and usually ends in disaster. To implement the plan, the entrepreneur needs to focus on delegation, supervision, and evaluation. This gets the job done faster without burning out the owner.

Entrepreneurship is hard work and high risk. So why do so many try it? Because there is nothing quite as rewarding as building a business that can run without you and provide you with financial security for a lifetime. It may seem the odds are stacked against the first time entrepreneur, but a good detailed action plan goes a long way to level the playing field.

Business Plans – Your Roadway To Success

Experts say that a strong business plan is one sure step in the direction of success. So, what is a business plan in the first place? It is defined as a document that outlines the functional and financial objectives of a business. It also contains details of the budget involved and the goals to be achieved.

Everything on earth is tending to become compact. Gone are those days when a sea beach was described in a thousand words. Today, a similar description is possible with a powerful visual and a string of strong adjectives in only a few words. A mobile phone today is slightly bigger than your thumb. Similarly, a business plan is no longer a document of a hundred pages. Nobody wants to know your business. They want to know your views, your goals, your objectives and your plan of action.

How Well Can A Business Plan Be Implemented?

o Simplicity of a business plan – is it understood by one and all? Are its views and objectives clear?

o Specificity of a business plan – are the contents measurable? Are all the activities dated (initiation to completion)? Are all the actions distributed among personnel clearly?

o Real nature of a business plan – are the objectives and targets real? Are the goals set within a specified time achievable?

o Totality of a business plan – is the plan complete? Does it have all the necessary elements to outline your business goals?

A business plan has multiple uses. It can be used to start a new business enterprise, take a loan or to find good investors. There are many other reasons for which you need a business plan. You should first find out why you need a business plan.

Why Do You Need A Business Plan?

o Outline objectives and set goals to achieve them

o Prepare regular business review outlines

o Start a new business enterprise

o Decide on a value on a business for sale and legal issues

o Outline agreements between business partners

If business plans are conceived for different purposes, there must be different business plans for different kinds of ventures. Business plans are also known as growth plans, internal plans, investment plans and so on and so forth.

If your business plan is for internal study and revision, there is no need of background details of your organization because you are already aware of them. You need to add that only if your business plans are meant for banks and other institutions.

What Are The Different Types Of Business Plans?

– The most basic of business plans are the start-up plans that clearly outline the steps for a new business venture. They include details of service provided or product offered, market value of the same, implementation strategies, market and financial analysis. The basic structure consists of a summary of the company, ending with details of financial transactions and expectations for the first year.

– An operational business plan contains details of dates, deadlines and milestones. It is often referred to as an internal business plan.

– A strategic business plan aims at higher levels of target and does not deal much with dates and deadlines. This business plan is more of future and growth oriented and focuses less on facts of the company.

– A growth or expansion business plan focuses more on one or more subset of the business. There are variations of this kind of business plan. If it is meant for a new investment, it will obviously include the background of the company.

– A feasibility business plan is your entire business in bulleted form. It includes the summary, the mission and the vision of the company, the USP of the business enterprise, expected financial outcomes etc. The main purpose of this business plan is to test whether this business is worth a venture at all.

The Seven Points Of Business Plans

Business plans usually cover the following 7 points. Of course, they will vary in detail, depending on the purpose of the business plan.

– Mission Statement – your business plan must explain clearly why you want to start a particular kind of business in the first place. It doesn’t have to be long, but it needs to convey the message clearly.

– Business Description – this is the place where you talk about your business. What is it that you are trying to sell or provide? What is the USP of your business?

– Goals in view – here, you describe both your short term and long term goals. Short term goals may include your plan to acquire office space, provide a proper business name, apply for a business license etc. Long term goals include answers to where you see your business ten years down the line, opening new stores etc.

– Prospective Customers – who is your target audience? Why will they need your service or product? How well do you understand their needs?

– Competition Analysis – this helps you rank your business venture in the market. Who are your competitors? If their focus area is too competitive, try for a niche market that is comparatively less competitive.

– Financial Considerations – be realistic and optimistic about your finances. Make sure to spend only that much with which you are sure to receive returns. Or else, go in for a small business loan till your business can take care of its own expenses.

– Marketing – sell your ideas before you sell your products. Advertise your products everywhere you can think of. Don’t miss out on both offline and online publicity. If you get a chance, exhibit your product or service at local communities and organizations.

Do’s And Don’ts Of Business Plans

Your business plan should:

a) Set concrete goals and deadlines

b) Distribute work among people and departments and set deadlines to achieve the goals

c) Maintain a steady ratio of implementation to strategy to 10:1

d) Provide a platform for regular review and discussion

Your business plan should not:

a) Display your knowledge about your field of expertise

b) Be too lengthy – people lose interest easily

Not all businessmen and women are good planners. It has often been seen that a business fails because of the lack of a good business plan. That is one of the cardinal mistakes for an entrepreneur.

Business Plan Mistakes

Experts have identified some common mistakes regarding business plans. They are:

– No business plan – many business ventures begin without any plan. Plans are written out in a rush only if the clients or banks or investors ask for the same. It is often seen as unnecessary because the business is more important. Imagine the condition of a house without a plan. You will get lost midway in heaps of concrete and steel. Similarly, you will get lost in ideas and desire to implement them.

– Cash is more important than profits – business is not the same as profits. Cash is the main player. Only if you have cash to spend in the beginning, will you get profits at the end of the day.

– Ideas don’t sell – your business sells because of hard work, perseverance, cash and a lot of common sense. Your idea does not have to brand new. Old wine is better than new ones. Why? People trust age and experience.

– Fear factor – a business plan is as necessary and as routine as making a travel plan. You don’t need to be Einstein to chalk out a business plan. You just need to think straight and pen your thoughts.

– Specificity wins – focus on tangible results, instead of trying to be the best. Results matter and they tell you everything.

– Fit all business plans – your business plan should work for bankers and investors as well as internal review and corrections. Don’t make individual business plans for individual purposes. Rather, concentrate on your business.

– Everything cannot be important – you can have only a few priorities. 20 priorities are vague and they clearly show lack of strategy and of goals.

A business plan is the first step of starting a business. It is neither easy nor difficult. What is a business plan about? How do you implement a business plan? What do you include in a business plan? What are the ‘must have’s’ and ‘have not’s’ of business plans?

Whether it is travel, study, cooking or any other activity involving a process, planning is usually the first step. The same holds true for business. Business plans are probably more important than the business itself. For example, the plan for a house is more important than the house itself, though it is the house that people remember and not the plan. But the house wouldn’t stand without the plan, would it?