Posts Tagged ‘ Business Plan ’

Creating something new causes pain.  That’s just the way it is.  Especially anything worthwhile: a birth, a new nation, artwork, a marriage.

If you want a successful business, then you MUST be able to endure pain.

Almost anyone who decides to start a business has determination.  But they don’t always have success in their new venture.  About two thirds of startups survive two years, but only half survive more than five years.  What makes the difference between the winners and losers?

Does your business plan have an effective dashboard to measure results?  If you can’t measure your results and compare them to your goals, your business will fail!

Here are three rules that will help you make an effective business plan dashboard.

Rule #1: Test and Track.

Start with your goals or you’ll never get there. These could be referrals, cost per lead, lead conversions, limiting waste, increasing quality, more sales, or whatever.  More below the fold about what your goals should be.

What are the core fundamentals for a business plan?

The first priority in making a great business plan is to understand the purpose it serves.

Who is your audience?

There are several groups that the business plan needs to serve.  First is you: the management team.  A great plan can help you know if you are going the right direction.  A few things you need to know are what the business actually is, who you compete with and how, what financial milestones measure success, and how you will operate.

It doesn’t matter if you start a dry cleaning business, a pizza franchise, or a construction business, you need to understand what strategy will make you successful.  But you also need to know how to implement your strategy.  Your team needs to know how and why and why it works.  Any ambiguity will undermine your success.

So what do you do to identify a crystal clear strategy that drives your entire business plan?  Well, it starts with asking the right questions.  For example: What business is McDonald’s in?

So you are thinking about starting a business.  Congratulations!  Now what?

Where do you start?  How do you know what kind of business to create?

Rule #1 is, don’t go do something you don’t know anything about! That seems obvious, but people break this rule all the time.  The internet is full of people who will sell you their system that is “guaranteed” to make you money.  Buying their system is only guaranteed only to make THEM money.  Admittedly, some of those people have a pretty good product to offer, but if you buy some system, be SURE you will use it.

Welcome to TonyBrownMBA.com!

This website is all about helping small businesses develop and implement business plans.  A lot of people get those free online business plan templates and that can be a good place to start.  But a business plan should be exactly that – a plan.  It should be simple.  It should drive daily decision making.  It should make you more prosperous.

How do you develop a strategy to make your business competitive in the marketplace?

How will you find the right kind of customers?

How will you meet their needs in a unique way that will bring them back begging for more?

How do you make financial projections that have meat to them, not just wild guesses about what you want to happen?

How do you develop leadership in yourself and, as your company grows, your team?

Check back often and leave comments if something is particularly meaningful or you have questions that you need help with in your business.

Thanks!