Business Planning and Surety Protection
Liability is a major concern in this modern, over-litigious world.
Through purchase of a surety bond you can protect yourself and your business in the event of nonperformance of contractors or delivery of product.
Starting Your Own Business…. Starts with a Plan!
Welcome Back, If an entrepreneurial bug has you business planning, brainstorming, and chomping at the bit, you’ll appreciate a few tips on starting your own business. All great small business opportunities start with a great business idea, but It can’t stop there.
Smart Business Planning.
Have you ever wondered why its “OK” for the small business failure rate to be around 95% after 5 years? And if you think that stats a bunch of bunk, I invite you to site some credible resource that shows different, I’ve looked. Business planning has to be on the short list of common reasons small business start ups fail. Traditional business planning many times points to core business processes. Accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and cash flow are the targets of the traditional business planner.
Business planning: An Alternative Approach.
Creating forecasts and sales targets, while widely accepted and quite useful no doubt, leave a bit to be desired given the failure rate of people starting their own business. If you have a great business idea and your ready to start your own business, here are a few more tips that I’ve learned and find useful.
- Is your idea built off an existing idea or market?
- How will you fund your business?
- How can you start your business with 50% less funds that planned now?
- What significant differences does your business MODEL have?
- Which weighs more on your expecting success, the business model or the business idea?
- Why will you business surpass ridiculously unfavorable odds of success?
- Do you have a genuine love for the idea you intend transform into a business?
- Does you business have to “look” successful, how much will this cost?
- Can you form partnerships with existing businesses that are related but not competitors?
- Can you provide product or service to an audience in another state or nation?
- Is your idea scalable? Will it work with 5 customers and 5,000 customers?
- What is the impact of growth on profitability?
- Is the business idea one that can innovate an grow into other “related markets”?
- Is automation a key element in your idea? What is your function as the entrepreneur?
The Best Small Business Start Ups.
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about what you can be “the best in the world at”. What is that your business idea will be the best in the world at? One of the things to consider when business planning is to understand your niche. Many people starting a small business are finding that a niche that used to be considered to small because of geographical restrictions is now a top small business idea to start. The Internet as a means of connecting with customers around the globe is a major contributor to the micro-niche trend. Whats your micro niche?
Small Business Planning Forum
Got an idea or question? What are some things you’ve learned with regard to being successful starting up a small business?
