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Write a Great Business Plan Now

You need to write a great business plan because a mediocre one just will not do. Not any more. Not in this turbulent financial time.

Banks are stingy. Venture capitalists are stingier. And angel investors are probably the stingiest of all. Approaching any one of these entities without having a great business plan in hand is absurd. It just won’t fly.

So what makes a business plan great?

Well, starting at the beginning, the basics need to be covered. These are the items you will find outlined on every business plan site in existence. These items include:

Biographical information
Financial information
History of the company
Identifying your market
Credit reports

But if your business plan included all of these things, it still has less than a 10% chance of being funded.

What are you missing? Pizazz.

Pizazz means more than filling out an outline and handing it in. Pizazz means presenting yourself and your company as the absolutely best choices on the market. It means you have the ability to navigate through tough times. It means you have marketing skills beyond the ordinary. It means you can use the tools of the web world to capture more business than other businesses in your field.

More than anything else, you need the ability to take the tools that are available and make them your own, much like a great actor makes a role his own. Everybody sees the same words, but some people have the ability to see beyond the words.

And it means that you can present all of this with style and grace.

Well, we never said that writing a great business plan would be easy. It is not.

But all the work is definitely worth it. A strong business plan opens doors than would otherwise remain slammed shut. Even if a particular bank or venture capitalist or angel investor is unable to fund your project, with a strong business plan in hand you are far more likely to get the referrals that you need to succeed.

Going through the process is half the battle. Researching, writing, re-writing, honing your message… all of these are essential to really examining yourself as an entrepreneur, and your vision for your company. A “vision statement” just doesn’t cut it. Your vision will be presented throughout your whole business plan. The style, the outlook, the growth pattern, the people involved all contribute to defining your vision.

And once you have gone through the process, having the skill to put it all into a concise, persuasive sales tool called a business plan is the other half of the process. And, yes, it is a sales tool, not a declaratory statement.

The payoff? You can stand proud when you stand in front of your banker or your angel investor, knowing that you have indeed done your homework. And you are the best.

How to Write a Small Business Plan

The first thing to do when starting a small business is to write a plan for your business, it is very essential and useful if you really want to focus yourself and get a whole picture of what you have to do in order to build your enterprise. A business plan is the road map for the success of your business

What do you have to offer?

What are your products or what are your intended products? What are your products or services? What kind of income will these activities be generating or what is the expected range of income once the products are launched? Give answers to these questions giving a complete picture of the principal activity that you are engaged in or will be engaged in during the timeline of your business plan.

Where are you located?

Do you work from home or do you have a business premises? If you have a business location such as a store or factory, then explain about the size and capacity of this establishment. What is the business climate like in your area? Are there significant competitors and what are your prospects or advantages of competing in this market? Find answers to all these questions as best you can and give yourself and would-be investors a clear picture of where your business is situated geographically and with relation to your overall market.

How to make it happen?

Your sales and marketing research or plan should be outlined in this section. Explain how you intend to establish your product or service and what steps you will take to create or expand your customer base. How will you fund the start-up cost and the expansion of your business? Explain the source of your funds whether you have existing loans, your savings, borrowing from friends or liabilities. How much money do you need to raise in order to get realize your entire plan for the launching or expansion of your business? Explain how you are going to put your business idea into practice.

Having a good business plan is your key to success. A well-thought-out business plan forces you to think about the future and the challenges you will be facing. As long as your forecasts are realistic and you have done plenty of market research you will definitely come out with a good result. Go ahead with your plan and stick to it.

To your success!

Write a Bankable Business Plan – Ten Action Steps

Action Step # 1

Define Your Company: What will you accomplish for others?

Write down all the specific needs your company will satisfy. Potential investors need to know that your business will be meaningful and marketable to people who can use your product or service. So concentrate on the external needs your company will meet. What will your product or service enable people to do better, more cheaply, more safely, or more efficiently? Will your restaurant make people’s palates delirious with new taste sensations? Will your new mouse trap help people capture mice without feeling sick to their stomachs? Will your new bubble gum scented bubble bath revolutionize the way children agree to take nightly baths?

Think of all the positive benefits your company will provide. Write them down. Admire them. Absorb them into your consciousness. Believe in them. These are the primary motivators that readers of your business plan will respect and value.

Action Step # 2

Identify Your Company’s Initial Needs: What will you require to get started?

Whether you want to buy an existing company with 300 employees or you can start your business by only adding an extra phone line to your home office desk, you need to make a list of the materials you’ll need. Some may be tangible, such as five hundred file folders and a large cabinet in which to store them all. Other requirements may be intangible, such as time to create a product design or to do market research on potential customers. You may need to hire an assistant to develop a retrievable filing system for the five hundred folders, or hire a consultant to set up a computer system that’s beyond your technical skills.

If you’re going to build a better mousetrap, you may have constructed a prototype out of used toothpaste tubes and bent paperclips at home, but you’ll need a sturdier, more attractive model to show potential investors. What exactly will your mousetrap look like? What materials will you need? Do you require money for research and development to improve on your original toothpaste tube and paper clip construction? Do you need to hire an engineer to draw up accurate manufacturing designs? Should you patent your invention? Will you need to investigate federal safety standards for mousetraps?

Next, do your homework. Call a real estate broker and look at actual retail spaces in the neighborhood where you’d like to open your restaurant. Make a chart of the most expensive and least expensive sites by location and square footage. Then estimate how much space you require and how much money you’ll need to allow for rent.

Make a list of all the tangible and intangible resources you need to get your business going. The total estimated price of all of these items will become your start-up cost whether you’re buying highly sophisticated computers or simply installing a new telephone line on your desk. If there’s any item in your estimates that seems unreasonably high, research other alternatives. But keep in mind that it’s better to include every element you truly need along with a reasonable estimate of the cost of each item, so you don’t run out of money or default on your loans. Be honest and conservative in your estimates, but also be optimistic.

Action Step # 3

Choose A Winning Strategy: How will you distinguish your product or service from others?

Although there are millions of types of businesses, there are actually only a few basic strategies that can be applied to make any enterprise successful. The first step in selecting an effective strategy is to identify a competitive advantage for your product or service. How will you establish that your product or service is better, cheaper, more delicious, or more convenient? How can you make your company more noticeable than your competitors? What restraints in your business or its industry might determine which strategy you choose?

Your competitive advantage may include designing special features not found in rival products. It may entail superior service characteristics such as speedier delivery, a lower price, or more attentive sales people. Perhaps you’re establishing an image or brand of exceptional quality or reputation. Does your product or service bestow a certain status on its users? Does it create more profits or other benefits for your customers’ own endeavors?

Perhaps you want to position your mousetrap for a primarily upscale market because the best design requires titanium and manufacturing costs will be so expensive only rich people will be able to afford your product. But maybe the mousetrap is so fantastically effective that wealthy people will want hundreds of them around their vast country homes and polo pony barns.

You must have a reason why your business will succeed. This is the competitive advantage your product or service will deliver. Once you’ve established the competitive advantage, you will be able to select the best strategy to reach your goal.

Action Step # 4

Analyze Your Potential Markets: Who will want your product or service?

To determine your targeted market, write down the demographics of the people who will use your product or service. How old are they? What do they do for a living? Will mostly women use your service? Is your product or service attractive to a particular ethnic or economic group of people? Will only wealthy people be able to afford it? Does your ideal customer live in a certain type of neighborhood, such as a suburb with grass lawns, in order to use your lawn mower? Answering these questions about the demographics of your prime market will help you establish the clear characteristics of the people you need to reach.

If you’re selling soap, you may believe that every dirty body needs your product, but you can’t start with the entire world as your initial market. Even if you’ve developed such a ubiquitous item as soap, you need to identify a smaller, more targeted customer group first, such as children under eight for the bubble gum scented bubble bath. If your soap only works with pumped well water without fluoride, you must acknowledge that your intended market has geographical limits as well.

Establishing the size of your potential market is important, too. This will be easier once you’ve completed the demographic analysis. Then you’ll be able to research the numbers: How many car mechanics, house painters or bathroom contractors are there in any given community? How many children in the United States are currently under the age of eight? How much soap will they use in a month or a year? How many other soap manufacturers already have a share of the market? How big are your potential competitors? And where do you find the answers to all of these questions?

Identifying your market is one of the great satisfactions of starting your own business. You’re thinking about the actual people who will use your product or service and how pleased they will be buying it as you are selling it.

Action Step # 5

Develop a Strong Marketing Campaign: How will you reach your customers and what will you say?

Entrepreneurs, especially inventors, often believe that their business concept is so spectacular that promoting their product or service won’t be necessary. Sort of a “build it and they will come” attitude, especially if what you’re building is the proverbial better mousetrap. One of the most common flaws I see in plans is the entrepreneur’s failure to describe exactly how customers will be reached and how products will be presented to them. Potential investors, staff, and partners won’t be convinced that your idea can succeed until you’ve established well-researched and effective methods of contacting your customers – and the assurance that once you’ve reached them, you can convince them to buy your product or service.

Marketing describes the way you will position your product or service within your target market and how you will let your potential customers know about your company. Positioning your company means concentrating on the competitive advantages you have identified: will your product or service distinguish itself by its superior quality, its revolutionary features or its ability to make your customers happier than they’ve ever been in their lives? Marketing helps you focus on identifying your competitive advantage so you can position your product or service. It also establishes the best ways to reach your potential customers and what to say to them.

When you have the right marketing campaign in place, you have an operating plan to gain market share, generate revenue, and bring your financial projections into reality.

Action Step # 6

Build A Dynamic Sales Effort: How will you attract customers?

The word “sales” covers all the issues related to making contact with your actual customers once you’ve established how to reach them through your marketing campaign. How will you train your sales staff to approach potential customers? Will you divide up your sales staff so some become experts in selling your bubble gum scented bubble bath to small, independent retail toy stores? Will other salespeople concentrate on developing relationships with major manufacturers so your product could be sold in tandem through their national distribution outlets? Will you have a sales force expert in buying television slots on Saturday morning cartoon shows or placing ads on the backs of kid-oriented cereal boxes?

What advertising and promotional efforts will you employ – two for the price of one specials or free coupons inside those same kid-oriented cereal boxes? Where can you locate lists of the greatest concentrations of children under the age of eight or whatever group constitutes your market?

In planning your sales activities, you will also need to answer questions such as: Is it ethical to contact your colleagues and clients from your former job as a door-to-door soap salesperson to tell them about your new business. Will you be the only salesperson in the beginning stages of your company? When will you know it’s time to hire more sales staff? How do you convince your clients that your sales staff will take care of them as well as you did? What will your basic sales philosophy be – building long-term relationships with a few major clients or developing a clientele of many short-term customers?

You will also need to consider how you will compensate your sales staff – with a base salary plus a commission? Will you hire full time staff with full benefits, or part time staff without benefits. How will you motivate your staff to do the best sales job possible?

Knowledge of your competitive advantage is just as important in designing a dynamic sales effort as it is in developing an effective marketing campaign. You’ll need to think about what product or service qualities will be the most compelling to your prospective customers. Then you’ll have to devise convincing language that clearly communicates this competitive advantage to your sales staff who will in turn use it when talking to your customers. In my experience, the most important element of an effective sales effort is having a sales staff that thoroughly understands your business and the needs or your potential customers. Therefore, your sales plan must address the issue of how you will create a sales staff that is as knowledgeable about your business as it is about your potential customers.

Action Step # 7

Design Your Company: How will you hire and organize your workforce?

By the time you’ve reached this stage of thinking about your potential business concept, you’ll probably have a good idea of the number of people you’ll need and the skills they’ll require to get your enterprise up and running. Keep in mind that your initial plans will undoubtedly change as your business grows. You may need to hire more managers to supervise your expanding staff or to set up new departments to meet new customer demands. Projected growth and expansion for your company should be mentioned in your business plan, but it’s not the primary focus. For now you want to secure help in getting started and convince your funding sources that you will become profitable.

Investors will want to know if you’re capable of running the business. Do you need to bring in experienced managers right away? Will you keep some of the existing employees or hire all new people? And where do you find these potential employees?

Funding sources will also want to know if any of your partners expect to work along side of you or if their obligations are only financial.

Your plan will need to specify the key management jobs and roles. Positions such as president, vice presidents, chief financial officer, and managers of departments will need to be defined along with stating who reports to whom. You may hope to run your company as one big happy family – and it may work out that way – but organizations require formal structure and investors will expect to see these issues addressed in your plan.

And as soon as you have employees, you need to consider how you will handle their salaries and wages, their insurance and retirement benefits, as well as analyzing the extent of your knowledge of tax related issues. As you think about hiring personnel and organizing your workforce, you must also confront your desire and ability to be a good boss. If you haven’t contemplated this aspect of your commitment to owning your own business, now is the time to give it serious consideration.

Action Step # 8

Target Your Funding Sources: Where will you find your financing?

As your business concept begins to take shape, you can begin to home in on the most likely financing sources. Issues such as the size of your business, the industry it is in, whether you are starting a new business or buying an existing one, and whether you can provide collateral to a lender are among the issues that must be considered in creating a target list of funding sources. Banks and other funding sources don’t lend money because people with interesting business ideas are nice. They follow specific guidelines, such as the RMA database, which are designed to insure that they will make money by investing in or lending to your business.

For the vast majority of entrepreneurs, the well-known, high profile means of raising money, such as through venture capital companies or by going public, are not viable options. Your own credit, credit rating, and business history are key factors in obtaining financing for your venture through Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loans and other bank credit. Your ability to tap into your personal network of friends, family, and professional contacts is crucial to raising money beyond what your own personal funds or credit can provide. In all of these cases, there are important considerations such as the potential impact on relationships when family and friends become investors.

When you have completed this process of identifying the likely potential funding sources and writing a bankable business plan that addresses their needs and answers their questions (even before they ask them!), you will have greatly increased the likelihood of obtaining the financing you need.

Action Step # 9

Explain Your Financial Data: How will you convince others to invest in your endeavor?

The accuracy of your financial figures and projections is absolutely critical in convincing investors, loan sources and partners that your business concept is worthy of support. The data must also be scrupulously honest and extremely clear. Since banks and many other funding sources will compare your projections to industry averages in the Risk Management Association (RMA) data, I’ve stressed throughout my book how you can use the RMA figures to test your projections before the bank does. Your numbers will be more credible if they compare reasonably to the industry averages.

The actual number crunching portion of your business plan is the place to discuss how and why you need certain equipment, time or talent, how much these items will cost, when you expect to turn a profit, and how much return and other benefits your investors will receive.

More new businesses fail because they simply run out of cash reserves than for any other reason. Investors lose confidence in the entrepreneur and the business and become reluctant to invest more when projections are not met. Had the projections been less optimistic and the investors asked to invest more in the beginning, they probably would have done so. In most cases, proper planning and more accurate projections could have avoided this problem completely.

Your business plan should clearly state the amount of funds you need, how soon you require them, and how long before you start repaying investors. You should also explain what type of financing you hope to acquire, either equity (such as through the sale of ownership shares in your company) or debt (such as loans to the company).

If you’re planning to buy an existing business or already own a business you would like to improve or expand, you will also need to provide a detailed historical financial summary of how well – or poorly – the business has done in the past. This analysis should also include a comparison of this venture’s financial performance compared to the industry standards.

Action Step # 10

Present Yourself in the Best Light: What are your qualifications for bringing your plan to fruition?

The talents, experience and enthusiasm you bring to your enterprise are unique. They provide some of the most compelling reasons for others to finance your concept. Keep in mind that investors invest in people more than ideas. Even if your potential business has many competitors or is not on the cutting edge of an industry, the qualifications and commitment you demonstrate in your plan can convince others to proffer their support.

Your resume will be included in the separate appendix of exhibits at the end of the plan, so this is not the place to list every job you’ve ever had or the fact that you were an art history major in college, especially if these experiences have no direct bearing on your ability to start your own business. But it is the place to emphasize qualifying skills that may not be readily apparent from your resume.

But don’t overlook the impact being some part of your background that might even seem unrelated to your new venture. For example, having been a pilot may demonstrate that you know how to supervise a crew of people working together to make a group experience if not comfortable, at least safe. You have undoubtedly handled dissatisfied or enraged customers. Even that BA degree in art history may enable you to make your products or store more appealing to the eye.

Your unique qualifications will separate you from all the other people who have sought venture capital for similar ideas. Boasting about these skills is not hubris; it indicates that you have a highly honed business savvy.

How to Write a Business Plan For an Online Business Directory

Writing a business plan for an online business directory is as important as writing a business plan for any type of business. A proper plan is essential to making an online directory a success. This will outline the type of business directory you will be running and how you will make it profitable. Below are a number of tips to writing a business plan for an online business directory.

1. The plan should outline your strategies on how you will make the directory a money generator. It will detail how the directory will work and how you will maintain profitability. It will also help you plan for unexpected obstacles, such as if one method of acquiring business listing does not work, how you will modify the strategy to make it more effective. It is important to regularly update your business plan to maintain competitiveness. Create short and long term goals and establish time frames for achieving specific tasks and set goals, such as the number of businesses that will post their listing in a week, or in a month.

2. The mission statement is a blueprint to having successful directories. It should define your values and objectives to maintaining competitiveness in the marketplace. It is important that you outline how you understand your target audience, including their needs and wants and how your directory will meet them. It must detail how you will attract customers to list their businesses.

3. You must detail your understanding of your competitors and how your directory will be unique and stand apart from your competitors’ directories. For instance, will yours fill a particular niche market? You need to outline your promotion plan and how you will implement your marketing strategies. You need to create a strategy that gives you a competitive edge.

4. You need to detail a comprehensive financial plan. You have to include such information as advertising and promotion costs and the expected revenue you will generate. You should outline all of the methods and programs you will use to effectively monetize your directory. This can include affiliate programs, offering paid listings…etc. You should create an effective budget that is practical and takes hidden or unexpected costs into consideration. You will need to break down your expenses and revenue to make sure you have a plan that generates more revenue that money paid out.

Starting a new online business directory can seem overwhelming as there are so many online directories on the internet. To stand out from the others, you need a strategic plan, clearly defined objectives, clear promotion and marketing plan, and a practical budget. It will help minimize the risks and maximize the benefits. A general guide on writing a business plan for an online business directory is helpful when planning to build a successful online business directory, but it is essential that you do your research and consult with others to make sure your business plan is a blueprint to success.

Technical Writing – How to Write Project Justification Documents

As part of building the overall project scope a technical author will first need to lay out the justification documentation. This document which can also be considered a “business case” lays out the fundamental reasons for implementing the project. Here’s a simple guide on creating a project justification.

State the Problem

Businesses don’t carry out projects for fun; they perform them in order to solve a specific issue or issues. You need to describe the problem clearly and accurately at the start of your document so that you can then present the solution to that problem.

For example if you intend to implement a new HRMS (Human Resource Management System) your problem may be; “The HR team currently spends nearly 80% of its time on non-productive administrative tasks, reducing the effectiveness of the function dramatically.”

State the Solution

This should be a simple statement to define your project. This enables your reader to understand what it is you’re proposing.

“We intend to implement an automated HRMS system to reduce manual administration by half.”

Supply Supporting Information

The problem and solution aren’t going to justify your project to the stakeholders and decision makers, so you need to provide the right level of information to enable them to support your recommendation.

Examples of the kind of information you should use:

Market Demand – Not always the strongest argument, but if you can show that all your competitors are implementing similar systems, it certainly suggests that it may be worth considering in your organisation.
Business Need – In this example the business need is clear, the HR team are spending the majority of their work time on non-specialist tasks and that costs money.
Customer Demands – what is it that your customers are screaming out for? Don’t forget to include internal customers as well as external ones.
Technological Progression – what’s going on in the world around you, is there are compelling case to be told in terms of the way IT and systems are developing?
Legal – Don’t forget the all important obligation to the law, if you can show that your project brings compliance or makes it easier to comply with those requirements you have a stronger case.

Writing a business case or project justification is an essential part of the larger project scoping process. Ideally you should write this early in the lifecycle of your project to help you obtain funding and support. You will also then be able to clearly identify the objectives of your task so that team members have a clear message to take away.

The Essentials of How to Write a Business Plan

As long as you have the key facts figured out, getting your business plan on paper need not be such a challenge.

Industry experts agree that the most common reasons why b-plans head straight for the shredder are because of the small things that give it away as an amateur production: unrealistic claims about competition or risk, spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors, content and formatting errors, incomplete or vague information and so on.

Considering that your business plan is the first ever impression of your business, a sloppy piece of work is not going to be read through seriously – especially if its being read by angels and VCs who have to choose among several businesses vying for their attention.

Most plans are divided into standard sections to discuss the business proposition, the management, the market and unique strategies for marketing and operations. The most critical information should be presented upfront rather than buried deep inside the pages, and sections should be well-balanced and inter-related.

Having said that, there is no fixed format for a business plan – sections are put together depending on their relevance to who is going to be reading the plan. For example, a plan for investors is quite different from one put together for internal purposes only.

Presentation is key so that the content is not unnecessarily complex or overly simplified – the plan should be easy to read and build up excitement from logical reasoning and facts (not hot air). Along the way, a clearly emergent SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) should become evident.

The executive summary at the beginning can make it or break it, so it needs to receive as much attention. Together with the investor presentation, it should do a nice job of summing up your entire plan so even though it is the first chapter, it should be written last.

Financial projections that can be supported by actual market facts and data will make sure the nuts and bolts are in place since a lot of investors might read nothing more than the executive summary and the financial projections (though all the other sections need to be there for reference and due diligence once your business is short-listed).

No matter what level you are at, a proper business plan is ideally never written by one person alone – there are bound to be some gaping holes you somehow overlooked in all your excitement.

Business plan software and templates give you some broad areas to discuss, but you should spend your time on more focused responses. Rather than ‘filling in’ sections using a hammer and chisel, try to find answers to specific questions your potential investors will be asking you.

Business consulting firms are usually far more useful than software or templates that are one-size-fits-all, and can help you write a solid plan that gets results.

If you can come up with good answers to questions the consultants put forward, you do not have to worry about the presentation, since the documentation of your responses (with added value) is the responsibility of the consulting firm. The Q&A sessions will also help you build confidence when you actually talk to investors.

Services provided typically include writing, market research, financial modelling, proof-reading, editing and review. For a slightly larger budget, a serious firm will even provide consulting to develop your business strategy. However, you should make sure the consultant works closely with you so that the end result is no less than what you bargained for.

In case you are not in for the additional investment for acquiring these services, make sure your plan receives a good sanity check from your cohorts and is looked over with a critical eye by at least one person external to your business. And don’t forget to spell-check and watch your grammar.

3 Reasons Why You Should Write a New CV Today

Over the past decade the quality of CV writing has risen dramatically. This is down to the amount of free information you can find online. There are lots of CV writing guides and tips which help anyone wanting to improve their application, and this has pushed the quality up to a whole new level.

Because of this employers are now expecting a higher quality of CV, which leaves anyone not swotting up online in the past. The old style of writing a CV is not good enough anymore and it’s harder than ever to now get an interview.

If you’re worried that your CV may be failing you, here are 3 massive reasons why you must write a new CV today.

It’s too generic

If your current CV is purely a list of all your skills, qualifications and experience – then read on. This approach to CV writing is out of date and not going to impress anyone. But what will help you get a job interview is tailoring your application.

To find out if your CV is too generic, grab a highlighter pen and print off a copy of your CV. Having read the job advert you should have a good idea of the skills and experience they require. Then, highlight all the information which isn’t relevant to the employer you are going to send it off too. After highlighting all the irrelevant parts you will probably have most of your information in yellow by now!

Like so many other CVs you should find that most of your information isn’t going to be of interest to the employer. Now that you’re staring at a huge sea of yellow or pink highlighter, you can see why a generic and untailored CV is not going to get you an interview.

Now would be a great time to start again completely from scratch. Keep your old CV so you have all your work history, but create a new one which now takes into consideration what the company wants.

You must tailor your CV to the role and the company if you want to succeed. The hiring manager wants to pick up your application and instantly see that you are suitable. A generic CV will force them to read between the lines, and most of the time they won’t bother.

You only update

If you keep the same CV and simply keep updating it every time you change jobs, you definitely need a new CV. Your old and tired CV is going to continue to slowly step out of favour with its design and content.

“Tailor your CV. Look at the company’s website and social media accounts, look to see if they’ve recently been mentioned in the local press and use the job advert to make sure your CV is targeted to the role and employer.”

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/how-to-write-a-cv

We’ve already covered the topic of tailoring your CV to the role, and by doing that you will prevent this from happening. You don’t need to keep making small updates if you always write a brand new CV every time you apply. Even if you’re applying to numerous employers for the same job title, you should still write a new one for each – there will always be differences, no matter how subtle they may seem.

So stop making small updates and start again. It will ensure your information is relevant and fresh, and you can also choose a new design for your layout. This brings us on to…

You haven’t used a CV template

A CV template is a ready made layout that you can use to simply insert your details. Not only will that save a lot of time and stress, it will look great!

Unless you are a graphic designer or have a keen eye for this sort of thing, you should always choose a ready made CV template. You just have to make sure you pick a good one and avoid any rogue websites. Unfortunately not every CV template website you come across offers the best designs, but hopefully you will be able to filter out the good from the bad.

There are lots of modern designs to choose from and most are free to download. If you can find one that’s recent and clearly looks fantastic, it will certainly help you get a job interview. The overall layout and design of your CV is just as important as the skills you have to offer.

How to Write a Business Plan That Works

Key components in and organisation’s success will depend on a great degree on how well you;

can gather and interpret information
adapt to change
manage staff and resources
promote your business
look after customers and more.

This is where forward planning can help you.

A colleague once told me that ‘even a bad plan is better than no plan at all’. A bad plan at least shows that you have given some thought to the direction you want to go in.

A good plan takes time and effort, especially the first time you do one and many business owners or operators think they don’t have the time, or don’t see the value in it. But believe me… it is worth the time and effort!

It is an opportunity for you to build solid foundations for your business, based on known facts and these allow you to:

be very accurate in your plans and future projections.
avoid unforeseen pitfalls and crisis situations
spend your money and/or other resources in the most effective way
stay ahead of the market
make the most of every opportunity
be pro active and choose your own course rather than be reactive and follow everyone else
stop wasting time, effort and resources on inefficient processes and more

Good business planning involves:

looking at what you’ve done in the past few years
looking at where you are now
drawing conclusions from the above two points
based on that information determining your objective for the coming year/s
setting key strategies to help achieve the objective

Analysis of Past Performance

In this section of a business plan you look at the past year (or two) to take a good look at what worked and what didn’t. Where you came from is every bit as important as where you are going. You need to look at:

What promotional activities did you run– for example did you have any discount deals, special offers etc?
What worked? What didn’t?
Why did the activities work so well, not so well – find the reasons
Advertising campaigns
(again) What worked? What didn’t?
Why did the campaigns work so well, not so well – find the reasons
What mediums did you use? (ie Newspapers, magazines, radio. List the actual companies you used as you may have used a number of different ones.)
How much did you spend on them?
Which ones generated enquiries and which ones didn’t?
Did you keep track of the enquiries, if so, what were the results?

Keeping statistics on where enquiries come from can help you to use your advertising budget in the most effective way. There’s no point in spending a lot of money on advertising on television, for example, if most of your enquiries come from newspaper ads or word of mouth. Asking customers where they heard about you and keeping a record is the best way of determining advertising effectiveness.

Were there any noticeable or unusual increases or decreases in your business? If so, why did they happen?

Were the increases/decreases at any particular time of the year, or did they affect any particular product or service. If so why? Do a detailed analysis of product and service sales. How many of each individual product or service did you sell? Break these figures up by month (as shown in the graph above) as this will, again, show up regular high and low periods which will then allow you to forward plan. For example in high sales periods you know that you will have to order more stock and put on more staff whereas in low demand periods you order less. You can plan for these peaks and troughs in advance… because you have statistically shown that they are coming. An example of a detailed sales analysis is shown on page 15.

Did your competitors do anything that impacted on your business? If so, what was it?

How did it affect you?

Are they likely to do it again?

What did you (or could you) do about it?

Budgets – income and expenses. This is extremely important and we will look at this in detail later in the document. Over the years these statistics will build an extremely accurate picture of your expenditure habits and sales that will show trends. With this information you can anticipate what is going to happen and proactively avoid any pitfalls or take advantage of upcoming opportunities. You can forecast – with a fairly high degree of accuracy – how much you will earn and spend in the coming year. While you might have an accountant to look after the “book keeping” for you, it is essential that you know exactly where your money is being spent and what your income is made up of.

The answers to these and any other questions relevant to your particular industry and business will give you a solid base upon which to build your plans for the future. Knowing how you got to where you are now can show you where you went right… and where you went wrong and gives a clear

Conclusions

Looking at the above information – what conclusions can you draw? For example:

What will you do again next year and why?
What won’t you do again next year and why?
What will you do differently and why?
Were there any lessons to be learned?
What were they?
Did you spend money on areas that were unsuccessful / unsuccessful?
How much?
Was this money well spent? Why / why not?
Which products sold well / not well?
Will you expand your product line?
Are there any products you should discontinue?

Overview of Current Situation

It is very important to have a firm grasp of your current business environment. This is where you look at what is happening around you right now. Things that are happening that could potentially have an impact on your business. This will:

give you a clear idea of any issues that might get in the way of your plans in the foreseeable future
give you the opportunity and the time to take proactive action on any of these issues. This is much better than having to “react” to a change or problem that you didn’t anticipate.

It’s like having a high powered torch in a tunnel as opposed to a match!

A good overview of your current situation will involve looking at:

the business environment in which you are operating
your strong and weak points
what your competitors are doing.

Business Environment Analysis

What exactly does “business environment” mean?

At its widest view point it can mean the sum total of a number of external and internal factors that affect you and the organisation you work for.

External factors could include such things as:

Political issues. The stability of the Government can have a dramatic affect on the country’s or state’s economy.
Legislative issues. New legislation can have an impact on your particular industry.
Economic Trends. Are people spending money? What are they spending it on and so forth.
Social Trends. What’s in.. what’s not? Safety & security issues as well as environmental protection issues etc are considered here.
Competitors. What is your competition doing and how does that affect your business?
Technology. This is an area that is constantly changing and can have quite an impact on the way business is done.

Also known as a PLESCT Analysis this is a thorough look at the world around you and the influences various issues may have upon your customers, suppliers and therefore your business. Doing this type of research means that you should not be caught unawares by new legislation, trends, changes or advancements. PLESCT stands for: Political, Legislative, Economic, Social, Competitor and Technology and looks at each of these sectors and how they may affect you positively – or negatively .

Doing a PLESCT Analysis

Some of the issues to consider when doing this analysis can include such things as:

Political issues. Here you should look at the general political stability of the country or state.

Is there an election due? People get nervous around election times and are cautious about spending / investing their money
Has there just been an election? In which case is the new government likely to make changes to the status quo – and if so, how will this affect you?
International economic and social environment – how stable is the situation?

and so on….

For example changes in government often have an impact on businesses dealing with health, education and employment as existing programs are often changed or discontinued after an election, or new programs are introduced. International economic crises often have a big impact on our own market as does the increasing threat of terrorism or conflict situations.

Legislative issues

Have any new legislations been passed / or amended that affect your industry?
If so, what will you have to do to comply with them? How will these changes affect:
staff?
resources?
policies and procedures?
costs?
Do you need to obtain any licenses or permits?

For example all staff working in the childcare industry, or dealing with under 18’s, must have a Blue Card, while industries dealing with tobacco or alcohol have very strict licensing laws.

Economic issues and trends

What is the current economic climate?
Does the current international climate have an effect on us?
Are people spending more / less money?
What are they spending it on?
Are they likely to spend it on your product or service?

For example, the cost of living is currently rising faster than wages – things such as petrol prices and interest rates are increasing rapidly and people are thinking twice about spending their hard earned money.

Social issues and trends

People will often be influenced in their purchase decisions by “what’s IN”, or may wish to keep pace with friends
Environmental issues such as water saving, conserving energy and so on can have an impact on people’s purchasing decisions and so need to be considered
Cultural issues also need to be considered – people from different countries and backgrounds have views and customs that may dictate how they make their purchasing decisions.

Competitor information – This is a very important part of your business environment analysis – you need to know as much as you can about your competitors. Questions you need to ask are:

Who are they?
Where are they located?
How big are they (compared to you)?
Do they have any affiliations?
What are their promotional activities?
How do they advertise?
What do they advertise?
How does their product range compare to yours?
How do their prices compare to yours?
How does their service compare to yours?
What impact do they have on your business?

The answers to these questions will give you an overview of how you compare to them and what you can do to improve, and therefore win extra business.

If practical, a product/price comparison grid is an excellent way of keeping an eye on how you are faring against them.

It’s also a good idea to also do a SWOT Analysis on your main competitors (next section) – you need to be able to:

counter their strengths
take advantage of their weaknesses
take advantage of the same opportunities and
maximise their threats.

Technology –

Is there any new technology available that will have an impact on the way you do business?
Is it viable for you to adopt this new technology from a cost point of view?
Can you afford not to adopt this new technology from an efficiency point of view?
What impact does the internet and electronic means of communication have on your business?

Internal influences also need to be taken into considerations and could include:

The overall economic state of your business. Is it doing well or not?
Change of ownership or management of the business. This could have a big affect on the internal workings of the company and the company morale.
Change of direction for the business. Are you offering new services or products?
Updating or upgrading of the business. New premises, new equipment etc.
Down or Upsizing. Are you laying off staff or hiring more?

Looking at the PLESCT Analysis and your internal influences in detail will give you a firm understanding of what is going on around you, and will help you:

avoid unpleasant surprises that could be costly and damaging to your business
stay a step ahead of your competitors
help you take advantage of new opportunities quickly
minimise the impact of negative trends…..

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis allows you to have a deep down, honest look at your organisation in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and to look at ways to make you stronger.

Strengths

What are your organisations strong points? For example:

Do you have a great location?
Is it easily accessible?
Is it a long established company?
Does it have an excellent reputation?
Does if offer anything unique?
Do you have a lot of repeat business?
Are your prices the best?
Are you a market leader?

and so on.

Weaknesses

What are your organisations weaknesses? For example:

Is it a newly established business and not yet well known
Is the infrastructure in the surrounding area poor making it difficult for customers to get to you?
Are there any problems with suppliers or staff?

and so on. A point to remember is that not all weaknesses are negative and could be viewed as opportunities for improvement.

Opportunities

What opportunities are there that you could take advantage of? For example:

New legislation opening new markets to you
New housing or business developments bringing new customers into your area
New technology that will make your production or processes more efficient
Introduction of new product or service lines that will increase revenue

and so on.

Threats

What things could stop you from achieving your goals? For example:

A new competitor in the marketplace
A change in legislation that will mean major changes to your business practices.
Re-zoning of your area or roadways changing and taking customers away from their current routes (where you are located)

and so on.

Conclusion:

When looking at your SWOT Analysis what areas need to be addressed?

Strengths – what can you do to capitalise or maximise on them?
Weaknesses – what can you do to minimise or negate their impact. Which of them can be turned around to become a strength?
Opportunities – what do you need to do to take advantage of these opportunities? How can you ensure you get your slice of this opportunity?
Threats – what can you do to avoid or minimise the impact of the threat?

The answers to these questions will form part of your business plan.

Objective for Next Year

Having looked at your past analysis and current business situation you should now have a solid grasp of your business and where it needs to go to remain successful. Your endeavours to date will now give you a clear direction – or objectives – to aim for in the next one to three years.

One overall objective will have a number of Key Strategies – each of which will, in turn, have a set of tactics designed to help achieve each strategy and therefore the ultimate goal.

Your objective is WHERE you want to be in a given period of time (ideally 1 – 3 years0
Your Key Strategies are WHAT you need to do to achieve the objective and
Your Tactics are HOW you are going to go about actually making it work

Key Strategies

The objective, as stated, is where you want to be. The key strategies are the issues you need to address in order to achieve the objective; WHAT needs to happen. For example if your objective is to increase your revenue by 10% over the previous year, then typical key strategies could be:

Introduce a new product range to fill an identified market need
Decrease expenditure by 15%
Increase your customer base by 10%

All of which would work towards achieving the overall objective.

Obviously strategies will be determined by your own business and industry needs, so think about the things you need to do to achieve your goal.

Tactics

Each strategy will have a series of tactics (or steps) that need to be taken to make that strategy work. As mentioned, these will outline HOW you will go about each strategy. For example.

Key Stratey 2: Decrease expenditure by 15%

2.1 – Review all current suppliers to ensure we are getting the best product for the best price

2.1.1 Offer tender opportunitities to new suppliers
2.1.2 Research new suppliers via web, phone calls etc
2.1.3 Review all suppliers on an annual basis.

2.2 – Introduce new procedures regarding unnecessary printing of emails and other documents to decrease amount of paper being used

2.3 – Re-use single sided documents as scrap paper / memo pads to save paper

2.4 – All electrical equipment and lights to be turned off when not in use

2.5 – Review discounting policy and determine if this could be replaced in a more cost effective manner

2.6 – Review consumable usages

and so on.

Once again, the tactics will depend entirely on what strategies you need to fulfil and should be as detailed as possible. These tactics will form part of your action plan. If there is a cost involved, or extra resources, then detail them here.

Sales Forecast for Next Year

Forecasting is neither as scary nor as complicated as it sounds – if you keep accurate sales records!

Sales forecasting means making an “educated” guess on how much revenue you will earn in the coming year and for this reason accurate records are essential and indispensable. You need to know where your sales came from – by product or service and even by month or week of sale. This may seem overkill but eventually this data will give you a complete and detailed picture of exactly how your business is performing. For example spikes (up or down) in sales figures don’t happen for no reason – detailed statistics can show up these spikes which might be due to such things as:

Promotional or advertising campaigns
New trends
New products
Competitor initiatives
Seasonal fluctuations
Economic climates and so on….

For example – the Tourism Industry is very much affected by high and low seasons. They usually know well in advance when demand will increase or decrease. Travelling to Europe in their winter is low season and demand is not as high as going in their spring or summer time. Knowing this tourism operators can plan for these periods by developing specific products designed to increase sales and take advantage of increased demand in high season. They can also accurately forecast revenue because they have a solid knowledge of who their customers are and when they travel on a month by month basis.

The same may well apply to your own industry.

A review of past years sales statistics can give you an excellent idea of how your sales happen on a month by month basis. You can read the trends like a story – allowing you to estimate with a large degree of accuracy what sales you can expect to make and know how much you will need to spend in the next year.

But what good does all this do you in forecasting? When you have collected this data for a number of years you can start to build up a picture of:

peaks and troughs in your sales
popular and less popular products,
popular times of the year
effects of advertising and/or promotional campaigns and so on

Sales figures rarely drop (or increase) for no good reason.. the trick is to be aware of what is going on around you so that you know why increases or decreases happen. This is where your PLESCT and SWOT prove valuable.

Armed with all this accurate and well researched information you should be able to make a reasonably accurate prediction on how many of each product you will sell in the coming year.

Action Plan

Points for your action plan will come from the tactics. By putting them into an actual action plan, detailing what needs to be done, by whom and by when, you can ensure that each task (or tactic) is done on time and will therefore take you that step closer to reaching your objective.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is basically it!

By following these logical steps you can:

gain a greater awareness of the environment in which you operate
avoid major pitfalls that may come your way
realise your strengths
overcome weak points
take advantage of opportunities that are presented to you and much more

Templates for building a better business plan can be found on www.lptraining.com.au

How to Write an Online Digital Internet Marketing Business Plan

It’s common for businesses embarking in internet marketing and social media to think they need to build their strategies around technology and not look at audience needs first. Every business needs an integrated marketing plan. Sometimes businesses see digital planning as a separate thing but ideally your online marketing plan should be integrated with wider business objectives so it is part of an overall marketing plan.

There are two models that provide a framework for writing an integrated digital marketing plan. The first is called SOSTAC® planning model developed by PR Smith. In plain English this approach means breaking your plan down into six parts: –

S stands for Situation Analysis – which means where are we now?
O stands for Objectives which means where do we want to go?
S stands for Strategy which summarises how we are going to get there
T stands for Tactics which are the details of strategy
A is for Action or implementation – putting the plan to work.
C is for Control which means measurement, monitoring, reviewing, updating and modifying.

You can use the SOSTAC® planning model to build a digital marketing template to fit your business needs and customer profiles.

The second model that’s useful for mapping out a social media marketing plan is Forrester’s POST method. The POST method helps define your social media goals, plan and prioritise your actions. By thinking this through you can create a clear purpose and vision, as well as implementing goals, strategies and tools that will help you to reach the people you are looking to connect with online. The POST method in a nutshell looks at:

People – Start by looking at your customer’s social behaviours and attitudes. Who do you want to attract on sites like Facebook and Twitter?
Objectives – Next decide on your social technology goals. Do you want to build relationships or, create brand awareness or improve customer service?
Strategy – What strategies do you plan to carry out and what is your priority? Determine how your goals will change the way you interact with customers through twitter, a blog, LinkedIn or Facebook page
Technologies – which ones will you use? Pick the most right technologies that will meet your goals you don’t have to use them all!

These methods will ensure your integrated digital marketing plan put audiences and customers first, identifying their needs and developing a plan with the right mix of online and offline channels to build strong relationships,drive leads and generate traffic to your website.

How to Write a Business Plan Funding Proposal

You have a great idea for starting a new business or expanding your current one. You’ve thought through all the issues and created a roadmap for success. Now all you need is the funding to put your dreams into action. But how are you going to secure that funding? You can’t just stroll into a bank or sit down at a committee meeting and hand them your notes and spreadsheets. You need to write a business proposal to lay out your plans and request the funds.

You’re an entrepreneur, you think, not a writer! You’ve never written more than a business letter and a meeting agenda. Don’t worry. It doesn’t need to be an intimidating process, because there is a basic structure to every business proposal. Here are the four parts, in order: simply 1) introduce yourself; 2) show that you understand your customers/clients and their needs; 3) describe how your goods and services meet those needs and present your expected expenses and profits; and 4) persuade the bank or committee that you have integrity and can be trusted with the money.

You don’t need to start out with blank pages, either. You can speed up the proposal writing process by using pre-designed templates and samples, along with simple automation software.

The length of your proposal will vary depending on the complexity of the project you are proposing and how much funding you require. It is obviously easier to describe an expansion plan and present financial data for an existing business than it will be to describe how you will get a new business up and running. Your proposal might be only ten pages long, or it might need to include dozens of pages.

The secret to creating a successful funding proposal is to show a need or desire on the part of your prospective clients/customers, and then to show how you will meet that need and profit from providing the solution. When requesting funding, you also need to keep in mind the needs of the bank or funding committee. Put yourself in the other party’s shoes. What does your prospective funder need or want? What are their concerns? How have you gathered this information? What sort of information about your business experience and financial know-how will the funding institution want from you before handing you money? Lending institutions and grant committees want to understand your background and your plan to determine if your business is likely to succeed. A bank or investor will also want to see your plan for paying them back.

Start your business plan funding proposal by introducing yourself and the proposal with a Cover Letter and Title Page. Your Cover Letter should be brief: simply explain who you are, include all relevant contact information, and print the letter on your company letterhead. The Title Page should simply introduce your proposal and the specific project you are proposing. Some examples might be “Business Plan for New Panne Bella Italian Bakery,” “Proposed Expansion of Grayle’s Hardware Store,” or “Funding Proposal for New Downtown Art School.”

After the introduction section comes the section where you talk about your clients or customers: the people who want or need your goods or services. Here you will include topics that demonstrate your understanding of the business market. Depending on the complexity of the project you are proposing, you may or may not need to start off with a detailed summary (called an Executive Summary or a Client Summary). In this section, describe the market need that you intend to fill, and provide statistics and data to back up your assertions. You need to impress the proposal readers with your market knowledge. This is not yet the place where you talk about your goods or services. This section is all about proving a need or desire for your business.

After the market-centered section comes the section where you explain how your goods or services will provide solutions to the needs you described. You’ll add pages with titles like Products, Services Provided, Benefits, Price List, Services Cost Summary and so forth—include all the topics you need to describe exactly what you intend to provide and how much it will cost. Depending on the sort of business you are requesting funding for, you may also need to include descriptions of Facilities, Equipment, and Personnel that you need for your proposed project.

At each step in this section, you will need to describe expected expenditures and returns. Depending on whether you are requesting funding for an existing business or asking for money to launch a new enterprise, you will need to prove your case by including pages with titles like Funding Request, Income Projection, Breakeven Analysis, Project Budget, Annual Budget, Cost Management, Cash Flow Analysis, and Return on Investment. Also make sure to include a Repayment Plan to show the bank or investor how they will be paid back and potentially profit from funding your business.

After you’ve described what you are proposing to do and how much it will cost comes the final section, where you provide information about your company and your financial history. If you’re already running a business, you’ll need to provide a financial overview of that business, including pages such as a Profit and Loss Statement. Your goal is to conclude your proposal by convincing the prospective client that you can be trusted to deliver the goods or services you have described, succeed in your business, and pay back the funding. In this section, you’ll add pages like About Us / Company History, Awards, Testimonials, References, Qualifications, Capabilities, Our Clients, Experience, and so on. Include everything you need to convince the bank or funding committee that you know what you’re talking about and can do what you’ve promised.

After the proposal is written, take some time to make sure the pages look good, too. You might consider adding color and graphics by incorporating your company logo, selecting custom bullet points and fonts, or adding colored page borders. Don’t go overboard, though—keep the overall tone business-like.

Be sure to carefully proofread and spell-check all the pages. If your proposal seems sloppy, the reader may conclude that you are not professional and don’t pay attention to details. Recruit a proofreader who is not familiar with your proposal to do the final proof, because it’s nearly impossible to spot errors in your own work. Keep in mind that spell check cannot catch words that are correctly spelled but misused.

Save your proposal as a PDF file or print it, and then deliver it. If the bank or funding committee has specific rules, obey them to the letter. It’s common to email PDF files nowadays, but a hand-delivered printed proposal may impress the money-lenders more. If you have a lot of competition for limited funds in your area, put your best effort into the proposal and delivery.

You can see that each business plan funding proposal will include different pages because each must describe the market need, how the proposed project will meet that need, and why the management is credible and can be trusted with the funding.

But you can also see that all business plan funding proposals follow a similar format and structure. And remember that you don’t need to start from scratch—you can find templates for all the pages mentioned in this article in a proposal kit. A kit of templates will contain instructions and provide examples of information to include on each page. A proposal kit will also contain a variety of sample funding requests. Starting off with a proposal template kit with sample business plan proposals will give you a big head start on creating your own winning business funding proposal.