Now that the strategic planning process is complete you may be wondering what you should do with your plan. The answer varies from person to person, but if you are serious about starting your business, you have laid the foundation for a solid business plan. Now that you know what your goals are, you can plan for the start of your business.
Business plans are more involved than strategic plans. They are written to test the feasibility of a business idea and to coordinate the start-up process. Entrepreneurs use their business plans to acquire financing for their businesses. Investors will want know about the owners and their business before they loan out money. A business plan is a blueprint for the construction of a business. It is proof that the owner has researched and planned for his/her business idea. For this reason, it is advisable for new entrepreneurs to seek professional assistance when formulating their business plan.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency that is dedicated to assisting entrepreneurs develop their business ideas and inventions into profitable business ventures. They provide resources, and in some cases funding to entrepreneurs. The SBA has offices in every state, and the best part is that the resources that they provide are fee. You can access this information on the SBA website as well.
I hope that the information I have provided has been helpful to someone, but even if it wasn’t I have learned a great deal that will be useful to me as I continue the planning process for my business.
Useful websites for help with the business planning process:
SBA- http://www.sba.gov/
Center for Business Planning- http://www.businessplans.org/
Entrepreneur Magazine- http://www.entrepreneur.com/interstitial/default.html
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Your Road Map to Success
I have finally finished the strategic plan for my business, and now it is time for me to pass on what I have learned. This is an explanation of the last two steps in the strategic planning process, which are: 5. Set your goals and strategies; 6. Set up a control system.
Your mission statement provides the general direction of your business. Your goals are your business' destination. Your goals need to be written in outcomes rather than actions. Here is an example; I plan to increase online sales by 25%; As opposed to, I plan to advertise online. The latter is not a goal it is a plan to achieve a goal, and let’s face it plans change. Your goals on the other hand should not change.
You must set goals in each functional area of your business. Your goals should be challenging, yet attainable, and written with an end in mind. A good plan has many levels of goals. It is the steps (written in goals) that you will take to achieve your businesses mission (mission statement). This is an example of one tier of my business plan:
Day One: Put car title into the name of my business (sorry, I’m still not ready to share).
End of Year Two: Purchase a gently used delivery van ( less than 5 years old).
End of Year Five: Own (lease) fleet of 2 new and 1 used vans.
End of Year Seven: Own (lease) 5 new delivery vans.
End of Year Ten: Own (lease) and operate (use in business) 10 economically friendly delivery vans.
Once you have set goals in all functional areas of your business, you have completed the strategic planning process. The end result is a control system for business planning. Steps five and six are the product of steps 1-4 and then you use this information to pinpoint problems. If you have planned well, you will be able to pinpoint problems if (when) they occur. You will know exactly what caused the problem, when it occurred, and what you need to do to fix it. It is genius, and you have your research at hand. A well thought out Strategic Plan will help you keep your business on track with your goals.
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. New York: Boston, 2009. 84-86.
Your mission statement provides the general direction of your business. Your goals are your business' destination. Your goals need to be written in outcomes rather than actions. Here is an example; I plan to increase online sales by 25%; As opposed to, I plan to advertise online. The latter is not a goal it is a plan to achieve a goal, and let’s face it plans change. Your goals on the other hand should not change.
You must set goals in each functional area of your business. Your goals should be challenging, yet attainable, and written with an end in mind. A good plan has many levels of goals. It is the steps (written in goals) that you will take to achieve your businesses mission (mission statement). This is an example of one tier of my business plan:
Day One: Put car title into the name of my business (sorry, I’m still not ready to share).
End of Year Two: Purchase a gently used delivery van ( less than 5 years old).
End of Year Five: Own (lease) fleet of 2 new and 1 used vans.
End of Year Seven: Own (lease) 5 new delivery vans.
End of Year Ten: Own (lease) and operate (use in business) 10 economically friendly delivery vans.
Once you have set goals in all functional areas of your business, you have completed the strategic planning process. The end result is a control system for business planning. Steps five and six are the product of steps 1-4 and then you use this information to pinpoint problems. If you have planned well, you will be able to pinpoint problems if (when) they occur. You will know exactly what caused the problem, when it occurred, and what you need to do to fix it. It is genius, and you have your research at hand. A well thought out Strategic Plan will help you keep your business on track with your goals.
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. New York: Boston, 2009. 84-86.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
What Is Wrong & What Can You Do About It?
Proper Planning Prevents Problems (say that 3 times fast)
The next step in the strategic planning process is to analyze your strategic alternatives. Using the information that you gathered earlier in the planning process, you identify problems and create a list of possible alternatives to deal with the possible threats, and weaknesses in your plan. Basically, a strategic plan is a two step process; step 1- pinpoint what the businesses flaws and weakness are, and step 2- identify as many solutions for theses issues as possible.
Earlier in the planning process, step 2- environmental analysis, we discussed and I completed a SWOT analysis to identify the internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may or may not affect the future of my business. Next, I will analyze my strategic alternatives by indentifying as many possible solutions to each of the items identified in my SWOT as I can. It is important to remember that few problems are solved by formulating a single conclusion so I will try to come up with as many alternatives as I can.
The following are some helpful tips to help you come up with many quality alternatives.
• Write your ideas down on paper, it stimulates creativity.
• Don’t evaluate your ideas as you write them down, criticism stifles creativity.
• Always strive to be proactive; it greatly reduces the need for reaction.
Once you have compiled your list, carefully consider the potential effects of your alternatives on your company’s resources, environment, employees, and customers. You may find that some of your strategies could negatively affect the way others view your business. For example: you may decide that your restaurant will benefit from adding a salad bar, but find, after it is added, that there was not sufficient space for a salad bar, and as a result you had to remove some of the tables which reduces the seating capacity and effects profits. Keep careful records of your alternative evaluations, because you will use them later in the planning process to aid you in the construction of control process.
As I have stated before, I am using my text book to guide me through the strategic planning process, and I realize that most readers do not have access to my source. Normally, I supplement the information in my text by researching the topic online and finding additional related sources. However, there is little information related to this step in the planning process available online, because the business owner completes this step by thoughtfully analyzing the information that was previously gathered, and then determining ways to solve problems and strengthen weaknesses. Not too many people want to share their business' weaknesses with the public.
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. New York: Boston, 2009. 84-86.
The next step in the strategic planning process is to analyze your strategic alternatives. Using the information that you gathered earlier in the planning process, you identify problems and create a list of possible alternatives to deal with the possible threats, and weaknesses in your plan. Basically, a strategic plan is a two step process; step 1- pinpoint what the businesses flaws and weakness are, and step 2- identify as many solutions for theses issues as possible.
Earlier in the planning process, step 2- environmental analysis, we discussed and I completed a SWOT analysis to identify the internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may or may not affect the future of my business. Next, I will analyze my strategic alternatives by indentifying as many possible solutions to each of the items identified in my SWOT as I can. It is important to remember that few problems are solved by formulating a single conclusion so I will try to come up with as many alternatives as I can.
The following are some helpful tips to help you come up with many quality alternatives.
• Write your ideas down on paper, it stimulates creativity.
• Don’t evaluate your ideas as you write them down, criticism stifles creativity.
• Always strive to be proactive; it greatly reduces the need for reaction.
Once you have compiled your list, carefully consider the potential effects of your alternatives on your company’s resources, environment, employees, and customers. You may find that some of your strategies could negatively affect the way others view your business. For example: you may decide that your restaurant will benefit from adding a salad bar, but find, after it is added, that there was not sufficient space for a salad bar, and as a result you had to remove some of the tables which reduces the seating capacity and effects profits. Keep careful records of your alternative evaluations, because you will use them later in the planning process to aid you in the construction of control process.
As I have stated before, I am using my text book to guide me through the strategic planning process, and I realize that most readers do not have access to my source. Normally, I supplement the information in my text by researching the topic online and finding additional related sources. However, there is little information related to this step in the planning process available online, because the business owner completes this step by thoughtfully analyzing the information that was previously gathered, and then determining ways to solve problems and strengthen weaknesses. Not too many people want to share their business' weaknesses with the public.
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. New York: Boston, 2009. 84-86.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Getting Ahead
What is your competitive advantage?
The next step in the strategic planning process is to complete a competitive analysis. The purpose of this step is to determine your company’s competitive advantage, which is the thing that gives your business an advantage over your competitors’, and keeps your customers coming back. In order to determine your completive advantage you must analyze your competitors’ businesses and identify their weaknesses.
Gathering information for your analysis is not as complicated as it might seem. Small business owners can find information about there competitors in trade publications such as baker-net.com, which is an online magazine dedicated to bakery businesses. Many trade magazines have websites as well as printed publications.The following are additional sources of information for your research; visit your competitors’ stores, purchase their products and try them, talk to their customers, consult their published credit reports, and keep files on your competitors for future reference. You should gather all the information that you can find on your four closest competitors to use in your analysis.
Next, you use the information that you gathered and the following questions to rank your business and your four competitors’ businesses in order to identify areas in which your company might enjoy a competitive advantage.
1. How do consumers perceive the reputation and physical appearance of the business?
2. Is the business convenient to customers in terms of distance, parking, traffic and visibility?
3. Is the physical layout of the business suited to serve the customers?
4. Is the atmosphere appropriate?
5. Can customers get the products that they expect?
6. Do customers receive the quality and quantity of services that they expect?
7. Are the prices appropriate?
8. Do the advertizing methods reach their target audience?
9. Are the customers comfortable with the sales methods that the business uses to sell its products?
Your competitive advantage puts you a step above your competitors, but it is important that you maintain your lead. Your objective should be to create a sustainable competitive advantage that differentiates your products and services from those of your competitors, and it should also make a meaningful difference to your customer. If you are looking for additional resources on the subject, the following is a link to an article, The Sure-Fire Way to Create Your Competitive Advantage which I found helpful when I completed my own competitive analysis.
The next step in the strategic planning process is to complete a competitive analysis. The purpose of this step is to determine your company’s competitive advantage, which is the thing that gives your business an advantage over your competitors’, and keeps your customers coming back. In order to determine your completive advantage you must analyze your competitors’ businesses and identify their weaknesses.
Gathering information for your analysis is not as complicated as it might seem. Small business owners can find information about there competitors in trade publications such as baker-net.com, which is an online magazine dedicated to bakery businesses. Many trade magazines have websites as well as printed publications.The following are additional sources of information for your research; visit your competitors’ stores, purchase their products and try them, talk to their customers, consult their published credit reports, and keep files on your competitors for future reference. You should gather all the information that you can find on your four closest competitors to use in your analysis.
Next, you use the information that you gathered and the following questions to rank your business and your four competitors’ businesses in order to identify areas in which your company might enjoy a competitive advantage.
1. How do consumers perceive the reputation and physical appearance of the business?
2. Is the business convenient to customers in terms of distance, parking, traffic and visibility?
3. Is the physical layout of the business suited to serve the customers?
4. Is the atmosphere appropriate?
5. Can customers get the products that they expect?
6. Do customers receive the quality and quantity of services that they expect?
7. Are the prices appropriate?
8. Do the advertizing methods reach their target audience?
9. Are the customers comfortable with the sales methods that the business uses to sell its products?
Your competitive advantage puts you a step above your competitors, but it is important that you maintain your lead. Your objective should be to create a sustainable competitive advantage that differentiates your products and services from those of your competitors, and it should also make a meaningful difference to your customer. If you are looking for additional resources on the subject, the following is a link to an article, The Sure-Fire Way to Create Your Competitive Advantage which I found helpful when I completed my own competitive analysis.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Be Aware of Opportunities and Treats
Start planning for tomorrow today!
My focus today is on step 2 of the strategic planning process; complete an environmental analysis. An environmental analysis, also called a SWOT analysis, is important to small business owners, because they generally have fewer resources, and cannot afford to make as many mistakes as larger businesses can.
A SWOT will pinpoint your businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It indentifies environmental factors that could affect any sector of your business. It is necessary to consider both internal and external factors when conducting an environmental analysis for your business.
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To conduct an external analysis you must search for threats and opportunities in economic, legal, social cultural, technological, and competitive environments related to your business. This means that you are looking for any data or trends that may suggest a possible threat to your business goals. At the same time you should scan for opportunities to enhance your products or services. It will also help you identify external factors beyond your control such as, interest rates, gas prices, and other economic changes that may affect your business. A solid external analysis gives small business owners more flexibility and enables them to quickly recognize good opportunities.
An internal analysis is an assessment of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. You identify what your company does best and what it needs to do better. It allows you to match your company’s strengths to possible opportunities, and provides insight as to which threats you are most vulnerable to. A complete internal analysis is the key to matching possible opportunities to resources currently being sought (Hatten 76).
I have chosen not to share my environmental analysis with the public. However, here is a list of some of the resources that I found helpful while doing my own research.
I found a template for a SWOT analysis at http://www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm,
After that I checked with my local Chamber of Commerce for information on other related businesses in the area.
Next, I searched the U.S. government’s business website http://www.business.gov/, which has information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Labor, the Department of Commerce and others.
I also found a useful article about marketing analysis at entrprenuer.com http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/businessplancoachtimberry/article78002.html.
Information for an internal analysis comes from you. It is all of the information that you can gather from careful analysis of your businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. After you have gathered all the info that you can, you then use it to take advantage of opportunities and to avoid threats.
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. “Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond.” New York: Boston, 2009. 74-77.
Berry, Tim. “Conducting a Market Analysis for your Business Plan.” Entreprnuer.com June 2005.
My focus today is on step 2 of the strategic planning process; complete an environmental analysis. An environmental analysis, also called a SWOT analysis, is important to small business owners, because they generally have fewer resources, and cannot afford to make as many mistakes as larger businesses can.
A SWOT will pinpoint your businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It indentifies environmental factors that could affect any sector of your business. It is necessary to consider both internal and external factors when conducting an environmental analysis for your business.
To conduct an external analysis you must search for threats and opportunities in economic, legal, social cultural, technological, and competitive environments related to your business. This means that you are looking for any data or trends that may suggest a possible threat to your business goals. At the same time you should scan for opportunities to enhance your products or services. It will also help you identify external factors beyond your control such as, interest rates, gas prices, and other economic changes that may affect your business. A solid external analysis gives small business owners more flexibility and enables them to quickly recognize good opportunities.
An internal analysis is an assessment of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. You identify what your company does best and what it needs to do better. It allows you to match your company’s strengths to possible opportunities, and provides insight as to which threats you are most vulnerable to. A complete internal analysis is the key to matching possible opportunities to resources currently being sought (Hatten 76).
I have chosen not to share my environmental analysis with the public. However, here is a list of some of the resources that I found helpful while doing my own research.
I found a template for a SWOT analysis at http://www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm,
After that I checked with my local Chamber of Commerce for information on other related businesses in the area.
Next, I searched the U.S. government’s business website http://www.business.gov/, which has information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Labor, the Department of Commerce and others.
I also found a useful article about marketing analysis at entrprenuer.com http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/businessplancoachtimberry/article78002.html.
Information for an internal analysis comes from you. It is all of the information that you can gather from careful analysis of your businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. After you have gathered all the info that you can, you then use it to take advantage of opportunities and to avoid threats.
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. “Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond.” New York: Boston, 2009. 74-77.
Berry, Tim. “Conducting a Market Analysis for your Business Plan.” Entreprnuer.com June 2005.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Reason for Your Business
As I previously mentioned, a successful business must be built on a strong foundation. The first step in building that foundation is to develop a strategy for obtaining your goals. A strategic plan is a great tool used by entrepreneurs to stay focused on building a successful business.
A strategic plan consists of 6 steps:
1. Formulate your mission statement
2. Complete an environmental analysis
3. Perform a competitive analysis.
4. Analyze your strategic alternatives
5. Set your goals and strategies
6. Set up a control system
For this posting I will focus on step 1-formulating a mission statement. My entrepreneurship class text book (Hatten 73) defines a mission statement as a description of the reason why your organization exists. It further states that your mission statement should answer the following questions; what is the purpose of your businesses existence, and how will you serve your customers? A mission statement describes what you hope to accomplish with your business, and how you plan to do it, in 25 words or less.
Using the information provided by this article as guidance, I wrote the following Mission Statement for my business:
Homemade Birthday Bakery offers cakes and party planning services to those short on time and cash. We help support our local economy by purchasing all of our supplies from other local merchants. We treat everyone with respect and compassion, offer to help when we’re needed, and we believe that a little free time is always a blessing.
Well, it is longer than 25 words, but I believe it conveys to the public the essence of my business. By helping others we help ourselves, and free time is the most valuable of all commodities. What do you think?
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. New York: Boston, 2009. 73-74.
Entrepreneurship.com. How to Write Your Mission Statement. http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/leadership/businessstrategies/article65230.html
A strategic plan consists of 6 steps:
1. Formulate your mission statement
2. Complete an environmental analysis
3. Perform a competitive analysis.
4. Analyze your strategic alternatives
5. Set your goals and strategies
6. Set up a control system
For this posting I will focus on step 1-formulating a mission statement. My entrepreneurship class text book (Hatten 73) defines a mission statement as a description of the reason why your organization exists. It further states that your mission statement should answer the following questions; what is the purpose of your businesses existence, and how will you serve your customers? A mission statement describes what you hope to accomplish with your business, and how you plan to do it, in 25 words or less.
My textbook offered some guidance, but I still felt like I needed more. So I googled mission statements for your business and found Entrepreneur.com’s article, "How to Write Your Mission Statement” very helpful. Here I learned that a mission statement is more than a description of why your business exists. It communicates to everyone the essence of your business. After reading your mission statement customers, employees, competitors, and the community will know your businesses philosophies and goals. I found the section The Write Words particularly helpful while I was working on my own mission statement.
Homemade Birthday Bakery offers cakes and party planning services to those short on time and cash. We help support our local economy by purchasing all of our supplies from other local merchants. We treat everyone with respect and compassion, offer to help when we’re needed, and we believe that a little free time is always a blessing.
Well, it is longer than 25 words, but I believe it conveys to the public the essence of my business. By helping others we help ourselves, and free time is the most valuable of all commodities. What do you think?
Works Cited
Hatten, Timothy. Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. New York: Boston, 2009. 73-74.
Entrepreneurship.com. How to Write Your Mission Statement. http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/leadership/businessstrategies/article65230.html
Saturday, October 3, 2009
A Blog Revised
If obstacles block your path make your own detour
This blog was started as a means to fulfill the requirements of an assignment for a paralegal course. As you can tell from reading my previous posts; I treated it as such. After reading the other blogs set up by my classmates I realized that I misunderstood the purpose of this assignment. Now that I have a better understanding of what a blog is I have chosen to revise mine.
I am working on starting my own business, but right know I am in the planning stage. I expect that it will take a few months for me to get my ducks in a row, and as luck would have it this assignment will take a couple of months to complete. It must be fate. My plan is to write about what I learn and my own experiences as I work towards my own goals of entrepreneurship.
The focus of this posting is to share with you the information that led me down the path of entrepreneurship. I am a paralegal student working my way towards an associate’s degree, and I only have 2 or 3 quarters left until I graduate. However, I do not expect that I will find my dream job, or really a job at all, right after graduation given the current state of the economy.
Over the summer I checked the usual job websites every few days hoping to get an idea of what area of law needed paralegals the most; so that I could change the course of my study and better my chances of finding a position as a paralegal after graduation. What I discovered was there aren’t really any paralegal jobs in this area, and the few I found required experience. After the panic passed, I started thinking about my options.
Option #1
I could continue to work hard towards my degree and cross my fingers and hope for the best. That could work, right? Well, I don’t have time for that. I need to start working after graduation because I have a big family to feed.
Option #2
I could quit school and get a full time job. But that is much easier said than done right now. Even if I did find a job minimum wage is not enough to support my family. What more could I expect without an education (I hate it when my parents are right).
Here is my problem. I want to be a paralegal!!!! That is why I am in school, but I am going to have to work in the mean time, so what do I do?
Option #3
I continue my education and work harder than ever to make good grades so that when I graduate I will be able to tell prospective employers that I graduated with honors. That gives me an advantage over other recent graduates who may interview for the same position, but it doesn’t create a job for me where none exists.
Hmmm, how can I create a job for myself? The answer was staring me in the face all along…..I create a job for myself! I want to be a paralegal more than anything, but I am also a good baker. I previously had a small business of my own baking cakes for kids birthday parties (friends and family mostly), and I did pretty well. So I enrolled in an entrepreneurship course, which is one of my electives for my degree, and here we go. Each posting after this will be about the things I learn and the path that I chose to take as I work toward opening my own Specialty Bakery.
This blog was started as a means to fulfill the requirements of an assignment for a paralegal course. As you can tell from reading my previous posts; I treated it as such. After reading the other blogs set up by my classmates I realized that I misunderstood the purpose of this assignment. Now that I have a better understanding of what a blog is I have chosen to revise mine.
I am working on starting my own business, but right know I am in the planning stage. I expect that it will take a few months for me to get my ducks in a row, and as luck would have it this assignment will take a couple of months to complete. It must be fate. My plan is to write about what I learn and my own experiences as I work towards my own goals of entrepreneurship.
The focus of this posting is to share with you the information that led me down the path of entrepreneurship. I am a paralegal student working my way towards an associate’s degree, and I only have 2 or 3 quarters left until I graduate. However, I do not expect that I will find my dream job, or really a job at all, right after graduation given the current state of the economy.
Over the summer I checked the usual job websites every few days hoping to get an idea of what area of law needed paralegals the most; so that I could change the course of my study and better my chances of finding a position as a paralegal after graduation. What I discovered was there aren’t really any paralegal jobs in this area, and the few I found required experience. After the panic passed, I started thinking about my options.
Option #1
I could continue to work hard towards my degree and cross my fingers and hope for the best. That could work, right? Well, I don’t have time for that. I need to start working after graduation because I have a big family to feed.
Option #2
I could quit school and get a full time job. But that is much easier said than done right now. Even if I did find a job minimum wage is not enough to support my family. What more could I expect without an education (I hate it when my parents are right).
Here is my problem. I want to be a paralegal!!!! That is why I am in school, but I am going to have to work in the mean time, so what do I do?
Option #3
I continue my education and work harder than ever to make good grades so that when I graduate I will be able to tell prospective employers that I graduated with honors. That gives me an advantage over other recent graduates who may interview for the same position, but it doesn’t create a job for me where none exists.
Hmmm, how can I create a job for myself? The answer was staring me in the face all along…..I create a job for myself! I want to be a paralegal more than anything, but I am also a good baker. I previously had a small business of my own baking cakes for kids birthday parties (friends and family mostly), and I did pretty well. So I enrolled in an entrepreneurship course, which is one of my electives for my degree, and here we go. Each posting after this will be about the things I learn and the path that I chose to take as I work toward opening my own Specialty Bakery.
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