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People say that starting your own business is difficult. Guess what? They’re not kidding. Starting a business, in many ways, is a lot like having a child – and would you just have a child without thinking it through first? Before you get started, there are lots of things you need to think about and discuss with anyone you can.
Can You Afford to Fail?
You might have heard the old saying ‘only gamble what you can afford to lose’. Well, however you approach it, starting your own business is still gambling. A massive percentage of businesses fail in their first year. If your financial situation is such that you agonise over every small amount you spend, starting a business is probably a bad idea.
Put it this way: do not expect to succeed. Expect that you will fail, and always try your hardest not to. You’ll be pleasantly surprised if things go your way. Note that this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t believe in yourself and your business – simply that you have to realise the kind of odds you’re up against, and stay realistic.
Will You Stick at It?
You can’t get halfway through all this and have a sudden change of heart, or feel like you’re doomed to fail. All successful business spend plenty of time doing badly before they start to pick up. You need to prepare yourself for a steady stream of failure being slowly replaced by success. Don’t expect the world all at once.
Could You Take the Stress?
Starting a business is one of the most stressful things you can do. It will affect you mentally, physically and emotionally. You need to be strong to deal with this kind of stress, and you need to have someone to turn to for support.
Are You a Survivor?
There are some people who always seem to make it in the end, regardless of what life throws at them. You need to be the kind of person whose response to things going wrong is to work harder and get it fixed, not someone who cries and goes into hiding.
Many entrepreneurs say that this, more than anything, is the secret of success. You need to be a ‘never say die’ kind of person. You need to be always ready to try again, no matter what gets thrown at you. Remember that it’s not when things start to go wrong that you fail – you haven’t failed until you’ve given up.
Be Prepared to Work Hard.
If you’ve been doing a standard nine-to-five job, you’re probably used to a world where it’s someone else’s responsibility if the work doesn’t get done – you work as fast as you can for the hours you’re told to, and if it’s not done on time then it’s the manager’s fault for not hiring enough people. When you work on your own, though, there’s no-one to blame – the buck stops where it starts, with you.
You Need to Satisfy Every Customer.
When you run a home business, you can’t afford to lose any customers. You need to always be nice to them, trying to meet their needs. You have to remember that you’re the most senior person they can talk to in this organisation, and you have to act like it – when there’s no-one other than you to handle complaints, you have to either give in to customers at every opportunity or watch them take their business elsewhere.
Do You Really Love What You Do?
If you don’t love what you do, then sooner or later you’re going to want to stop doing it – and when you run a home business, that’s difficult. Besides, you can’t run a home business if you’re always sitting and thinking about how great it’ll be when it’s the weekend. No, the only way to succeed in home business is to be absolutely sure that you really love what you’re doing. If you can think of another job you’d rather have, then you’re in trouble.
Think of it this way: could you run up to someone on the street with a leaflet about your business, and tell them all about it in a way that would really leave an impression? It doesn’t matter whether you actually could or not – if you think everyone will be interested, then, believe me, they will be.
About the author:
Karen Walker is a featured author on TAB Money Group. She specializes in helping individuals, entrepreneurs, network marketers, and independent professionals generate substantial incomes with their own Home Based Business on the Internet.
©2008 TAB Money Group- All Rights Reserved Money Group Pros
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Why Doesn’t Your Business Plan Consistently Secure Your Desired Results? by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith / TAB Money Group
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From small businesses to large corporations, when you render all the challenges and issues facing these economic engines from employees to growth and innovation, the inability to secure desired results or implementation always float to the top as the number one to number three obstacles that prevent business success. As a business owner or management executive, have you ever asked yourself one of these five questions:
1. How do I move from my vision to my desired results?
2. How do I get my employees to perform?
3. How do I recruit new employees with the skills that my company needs?
4. How do I attract new customers or clients?
5. Why can’t I consistently achieve my desired results?
All of these questions when rendered down are about implementation. The failure to implement each corporate wide business goal consumes valuable resources specifically time, people and money. These resources may have been already allocated to other initiatives.
Effective implementation is what separates the successful companies from the not so successful ones. Many authors from Rick Page in “Hope is not a Strategy” to Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton in “It’s Not the Big that Eat the Small, It’s the Fast that East the Slow” write about the affects of poor implementation.
Possibly why implementation continues to vex today’s businesses is because executives search for an ineffective answer through a business plan instead of a strategic business plan. A recent search using Inventory Overture revealed that searches for business plan were over 200 times as many as for strategic business plan (148,650 vs. 614). From these searches, it suggests that business owners may be looking for the wrong answer.
Why choose a strategic business plan over a business plan? The answer is simple because a strategic business plan defines “Who Does What By When” through the critical success factors and supporting goals that are in alignment with the sales and marketing plans.
The structure of a strategic business plan is all about implementation. Using the ADDIE Plus methodology may help you in your efforts to create an effective strategic business plan.
Assess - The current market conditions, future market conditions and the organization need to be assessed. This evaluation should begin with an overall organizational assessment and may extend to internal and external customers.
Design – After the evaluation, a design is crafted. This design should include the vision, values and mission of the organization and is overall architecture for the plan. Simply, speaking this is the “Big Picture.”
Develop – The plan is developed according to the structure of the organization. Smaller plans or pictures such as marketing and sales fit within the overall plan.
Implement - Using specific goal setting and goal achievement, the strategic plan is implemented. At this juncture, who does what by when is identified.
Evaluate – Goal achievement is the mechanism to monitor and evaluate successful implementation.
Plus - Follow-up is the plus to ensure necessary course correction that may again require some new assessments along with design, development, implementation and evaluation.
Using the ADDIE+ methodology provides business owners a consistent vehicle from which to create, monitor, evaluate and follow-up on their strategic business plan.
If you truly want to reach that next level of success by bridging the implementation gaps, stop focusing on a business plan and take the time to create a strategic business plan that clearly defines who does what by when.
About the author:
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is a featured author on TAB Money Group. She helps individuals and organizations to double results through innovative training and development. She builds lifelong change through proven processes seeking that next level of success.
©2008 TAB Money Group - All Rights Reserved Money Group Pros
Money Group Pros
FREE WORLDWIDE BUSINESS ADS
From small businesses to large corporations, when you render all the challenges and issues facing these economic engines from employees to growth and innovation, the inability to secure desired results or implementation always float to the top as the number one to number three obstacles that prevent business success. As a business owner or management executive, have you ever asked yourself one of these five questions:
1. How do I move from my vision to my desired results?
2. How do I get my employees to perform?
3. How do I recruit new employees with the skills that my company needs?
4. How do I attract new customers or clients?
5. Why can’t I consistently achieve my desired results?
All of these questions when rendered down are about implementation. The failure to implement each corporate wide business goal consumes valuable resources specifically time, people and money. These resources may have been already allocated to other initiatives.
Effective implementation is what separates the successful companies from the not so successful ones. Many authors from Rick Page in “Hope is not a Strategy” to Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton in “It’s Not the Big that Eat the Small, It’s the Fast that East the Slow” write about the affects of poor implementation.
Possibly why implementation continues to vex today’s businesses is because executives search for an ineffective answer through a business plan instead of a strategic business plan. A recent search using Inventory Overture revealed that searches for business plan were over 200 times as many as for strategic business plan (148,650 vs. 614). From these searches, it suggests that business owners may be looking for the wrong answer.
Why choose a strategic business plan over a business plan? The answer is simple because a strategic business plan defines “Who Does What By When” through the critical success factors and supporting goals that are in alignment with the sales and marketing plans.
The structure of a strategic business plan is all about implementation. Using the ADDIE Plus methodology may help you in your efforts to create an effective strategic business plan.
Assess - The current market conditions, future market conditions and the organization need to be assessed. This evaluation should begin with an overall organizational assessment and may extend to internal and external customers.
Design – After the evaluation, a design is crafted. This design should include the vision, values and mission of the organization and is overall architecture for the plan. Simply, speaking this is the “Big Picture.”
Develop – The plan is developed according to the structure of the organization. Smaller plans or pictures such as marketing and sales fit within the overall plan.
Implement - Using specific goal setting and goal achievement, the strategic plan is implemented. At this juncture, who does what by when is identified.
Evaluate – Goal achievement is the mechanism to monitor and evaluate successful implementation.
Plus - Follow-up is the plus to ensure necessary course correction that may again require some new assessments along with design, development, implementation and evaluation.
Using the ADDIE+ methodology provides business owners a consistent vehicle from which to create, monitor, evaluate and follow-up on their strategic business plan.
If you truly want to reach that next level of success by bridging the implementation gaps, stop focusing on a business plan and take the time to create a strategic business plan that clearly defines who does what by when.
About the author:
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is a featured author on TAB Money Group. She helps individuals and organizations to double results through innovative training and development. She builds lifelong change through proven processes seeking that next level of success.
©2008 TAB Money Group - All Rights Reserved Money Group Pros
Getting Help and Advice on Starting a Business by: Karen Walker / TAB Money Group
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When you want to start a home business, it can be easy to feel alone, confused, and scared. The chances are that you don’t know anyone else who’s ever started a business, and you don’t even know who to ask if you get stuck. Here are a few things you ought to be looking at.
The Internet.
The Internet is a great resource for people who are thinking of setting up a home business – as well as all the articles you can find with practical advice, there are also many forums, where you can read about others’ experiences, and ask questions.
The Government.
Scary as it might seem to be getting advice on anything from the government, most governments go really out of their way to produce all sorts of easy-to-understand material on starting your own business. Encouraging you in business is a great way for them to both strengthen the economy and increase tax revenues.
Depending on your area, you might find that local government agencies are also keen to give you help and advice, and might even have some kind of ‘small business centre’ that you can visit.
Mentors.
Mentors are usually volunteers who think it would be nice to offer local businesses help and advice. They often have years of business experience, and can be really useful – if you find one, hang on to them.
Librarians.
Always willing to help and sadly neglected in our ‘wired’ age, you really should talk to a librarian. Libraries generally contain all sorts of business books and resources that they’ll be able to point you towards, and they’ll be more than happy to do research into obscure areas for you.
Lawyers.
Pricey as they might be, lawyers know all about starting businesses – they’ve almost certainly done it thousands of times over. It can be well worth paying for an hour of a lawyer’s time and just asking them every question you can think of.
Accountants.
A less expensive alternative to lawyers, accountants also know their stuff, especially (obviously) on the financial side. If you want your business to be profitable, you should take on board what your accountant tells you – and if you don’t have one, you should get one. By the time they’ve helped you navigate through all the tax mazes, they’ll almost certainly have made their fee back for you anyway.
Incubators and Investors.
If you think your business would be an attractive proposal to people who back businesses for a living, then you can try going to a ‘business incubator’ or some other kind of investor with your idea. If they like it, they’ll often have a quick process set up to get your company up and running as soon as possible.
Universities.
Here’s an interesting one: universities are full of business students. They’ve all spent ages learning about nothing but business, and many of them would just love to help get a real one off the ground – it’d look great on their CV, after all. Business students can be a great source of free help and advice, and they’ll probably even be thankful to you for letting them help out!
Teachers.
If you do a course to get a formal qualification in what you want to do before starting the business, you’ll probably find that your teacher is also a good resource on the business side of things. They’ll have had plenty of students starting businesses who’ve asked them similar questions, and they might even have prepared some material to give to anyone who asks for it.
Your Bank.
Traditionally, your bank would have been the first place you went if you were thinking of starting a business, but many people seem to ignore them nowadays. While they’re no replacement for accountants, most banks will offer you a ‘business advisor’ when you open a business account, and they can be especially helpful with the technical and financial elements of starting up.
Associations, Societies and Unions.
Whatever industry you’re thinking of entering probably has some kind of trade association, society or union. You should join as soon as you can, and take advantage of all the resources that they will almost certainly offer to people wanting to get started in their industry. After all, the more people who are in their industry, the more members they can get.
So you see, there’s no shortage of advice out there if you look for it.
About the author:
Karen Walker is a featured author on TAB Money Group. She specializes in helping individuals, entrepreneurs, network marketers, and independent professionals generate substantial incomes with their own Home Based Business on the Internet.
©2008 TAB Money Group - All Rights Reserved Money Group Pros
Money Group Pros
FREE WORLDWIDE BUSINESS ADS
When you want to start a home business, it can be easy to feel alone, confused, and scared. The chances are that you don’t know anyone else who’s ever started a business, and you don’t even know who to ask if you get stuck. Here are a few things you ought to be looking at.
The Internet.
The Internet is a great resource for people who are thinking of setting up a home business – as well as all the articles you can find with practical advice, there are also many forums, where you can read about others’ experiences, and ask questions.
The Government.
Scary as it might seem to be getting advice on anything from the government, most governments go really out of their way to produce all sorts of easy-to-understand material on starting your own business. Encouraging you in business is a great way for them to both strengthen the economy and increase tax revenues.
Depending on your area, you might find that local government agencies are also keen to give you help and advice, and might even have some kind of ‘small business centre’ that you can visit.
Mentors.
Mentors are usually volunteers who think it would be nice to offer local businesses help and advice. They often have years of business experience, and can be really useful – if you find one, hang on to them.
Librarians.
Always willing to help and sadly neglected in our ‘wired’ age, you really should talk to a librarian. Libraries generally contain all sorts of business books and resources that they’ll be able to point you towards, and they’ll be more than happy to do research into obscure areas for you.
Lawyers.
Pricey as they might be, lawyers know all about starting businesses – they’ve almost certainly done it thousands of times over. It can be well worth paying for an hour of a lawyer’s time and just asking them every question you can think of.
Accountants.
A less expensive alternative to lawyers, accountants also know their stuff, especially (obviously) on the financial side. If you want your business to be profitable, you should take on board what your accountant tells you – and if you don’t have one, you should get one. By the time they’ve helped you navigate through all the tax mazes, they’ll almost certainly have made their fee back for you anyway.
Incubators and Investors.
If you think your business would be an attractive proposal to people who back businesses for a living, then you can try going to a ‘business incubator’ or some other kind of investor with your idea. If they like it, they’ll often have a quick process set up to get your company up and running as soon as possible.
Universities.
Here’s an interesting one: universities are full of business students. They’ve all spent ages learning about nothing but business, and many of them would just love to help get a real one off the ground – it’d look great on their CV, after all. Business students can be a great source of free help and advice, and they’ll probably even be thankful to you for letting them help out!
Teachers.
If you do a course to get a formal qualification in what you want to do before starting the business, you’ll probably find that your teacher is also a good resource on the business side of things. They’ll have had plenty of students starting businesses who’ve asked them similar questions, and they might even have prepared some material to give to anyone who asks for it.
Your Bank.
Traditionally, your bank would have been the first place you went if you were thinking of starting a business, but many people seem to ignore them nowadays. While they’re no replacement for accountants, most banks will offer you a ‘business advisor’ when you open a business account, and they can be especially helpful with the technical and financial elements of starting up.
Associations, Societies and Unions.
Whatever industry you’re thinking of entering probably has some kind of trade association, society or union. You should join as soon as you can, and take advantage of all the resources that they will almost certainly offer to people wanting to get started in their industry. After all, the more people who are in their industry, the more members they can get.
So you see, there’s no shortage of advice out there if you look for it.
About the author:
Karen Walker is a featured author on TAB Money Group. She specializes in helping individuals, entrepreneurs, network marketers, and independent professionals generate substantial incomes with their own Home Based Business on the Internet.
©2008 TAB Money Group - All Rights Reserved Money Group Pros
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