Prepare an Investor Ready Business Plan

A Business Plan, as all good entrepreneurs starting out in life should know is the foundation, or rather a springboard, towards the establishment and growth of a new business. A business plan is an essential tool for companies raising capital – and your business plan needs to be Investor Ready.

What is an Investor Ready business plan?

An investor ready business plan is a document that has been professionally prepared to meet the needs of both Venture Capitalists and Angel investors. In your business plan, you should be able to see your own project through the investor’s eye. Your plan must be able to answer the concerns of an investor.

Both Venture Capitalists and Angel investors are risking their hard earned capital by investing in your venture in the hope of long term returns that are worth many times their original investment. An Investor Ready Business Plan demonstrates to investors that you are an expert in your industry and that you have a clear mission. An entrepreneur addresses these needs by preparing a comprehensive and detailed view of their business objectives and goals.

Some important business plan sections that address different concerns of the investors are below:

Management

Investors invest in management - not just ideas. It is very important that you express your knowledge, passion and dedication to your business as best as you can. The competence of your team along with their experience levels and their commitment levels are also factors that investors look into before making their investment decisions.

Customers

It is important to communicate to the investors that you understand the needs and requirements of your customers and to articulate your marketing strategy within your business plan.

Product/Service Description

A complete description of the product or the services offered by you should be outlined in detail. A description of the overall market for your product or service, along with the details of your customer base is essential. The investors need to know the reach and the kind of customers your product or service is catering to.

Marketing Plan

One of the most important sections of your business plan is your marketing plan. This section will outline your sustainable competitive advantage to your investors. In a way it assures them why you will succeed where others have failed. This section is where you include a definitive description of your customers, market size, demographics, characteristics, growth prospects, trends and sales potential per product or service category.

The marketing plan is where the pricing strategies are outlined and how they can directly influence the growth potential of each product or service. It is also important to include the future growth, market share and trend influences.

Barriers to Entry

Along with giving the details of what your product or service is and who your customers are, you also have to inform your investors how you will you prevent your competitors from taking away your customers. The barriers to entry section outlines your business strategy to keep your competitors at bay and grow in the market. Investors need to feel comfortable about the soundness of your strategy before they invest in your venture.

Future Africa Recommends Strategic Planning for Business Africa and Consulting Change Management Consultants Africa

Author:
Howard Schwartz is a business plan consultant and a partner in investorbusinessplan.com. He is based in Stanford, Connecticut, and has helped many young entrepreneurs start out on their business careers by working on business plans with them.Contact us to learn more about writing an investor ready business plan.

Internet Marketing And Starting A Business At Home

Many of us hope of being our own bosses. The lure of good money and flexible work hours is quite attractive. Never the less, many are scared to try out on their own. They fear that they do not have the capital required to start a business or they don't want to risk the security of their steady job.

By taking advantage of the Internet marketing programs that are now available, you can generate money and improve your own marketing abilities. Remember, you can always expand into more areas and try out totally on your own later. Right now, get marketing and get clicking.

If you're bored of your work and really hope to work for yourself then stop making excuses and do it. Through Internet marketing programs and selling services you will find that owning your home business is faster than you believe. All it takes is effort and a compromise to achieve success.

If you need to start working for yourself but sense you don't possess the money then you're wrong. If you have a computer and room to put it then you have all you need. You could also begin your business at home and work it around your job. You can eventually commit higher as your home business grows.

Finally, your page can generate money in another way. When it's posted on sites like yahoo publisher or Google ad sense, there are going to ads uploaded. Every time a visitor clicks on an ad you generate. The more clicks, the more money. The administrators manage all the advertising costs and placement. They also try to place related ads to your page. If you're selling rare books ads for cat toys aren't likely going to get visited.

The other possibility you could try to do is attract traffic to other sites. Retail sites such as Amazon and EBay have good programs. If you are able to generate traffic and convert to sales then you make money. These two programs provide ways to increase profits through links and blogs. These are usually free and worth using. Remember, the more you make the more they make.

Once you have made the decision, you want to evaluate your possibilities. What services can you offer and what skills can you bring. Most people begin with affiliate marketing programs from major search engines. If you're good at website design, you could register your website with someone like a as yahoo publisher. That way your site will get traffic with the help of the search engine Yahoo. If yours is a sales website, your traffic can translate into increased sales. The more traffic to your site the better.

Affiliate marketing can be a great way for you to start in your home business. Internet marketing is going to give you the opportunity to sell either a product or a service. With little money and little space you may want to concentrate on services.

The solution can be starting a home business. The reality of the matter is that you can start your home business with no money at all. Ask yourself this, do you have an empty room or space in your house. Do you have a computer with an internet connection? Do you have a telephone? If you have these three assets you have the basics of an office from which your home business can be started.

Future Africa Recommends Business Management Consultants Africa and Business Consulting Services Africa

Author:
George Balibrera, owner of the profit pulling site Online Data Entry Services. To find out more about how to make money online and to get limited time free video training, visit online business.

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Estimating Unknown Expenses

How do you estimate specific costs for a new business? How do you predict expenses? Normally you need some experience. If you have no idea, then you might think again about starting this business. Maybe your team should add somebody who does have experience, and can make estimates. Here is why.

In the real world, there are no standard costs for anything. Your expenses will depend, not on the type of business, but rather on your specific strategy, your specific location, and other specifics of your business situation. You might be able to find recommended expense levels in some books, websites, or other sources, but don’t expect that kind of information to be available for all businesses. Don’t think that there is some source you’re missing that lists standard costs for different kinds of business start-ups.

One general exception to this rule is franchised businesses. If you look to start a business as a franchisee, you can expect the franchiser to have some starting lists of normal costs. This is part of what you pay for when you decide to build a franchise business instead of developing one completely by yourself. Since you are going to pay for this information, make sure you choose a successful franchiser, one that provides real business value. There are a lot of would-be franchisors who don’t really fulfill their promise.

Another exception, in some rare cases, is a sample business plan. If you happen to have a good match between a sample business plan and the business you want to build, then a sample plan can be helpful. However, do not depend on this likelihood, because really good matches with sample plans are rare. A good match would have to match your strategy, your location, and even your year of starting — expense levels for a couple of years ago won’t be the same today. Expense levels for a different location won’t be the same for your location. There are good reasons for this lack of generalized information. Business expenses depend on you, not on the type of business.

Take restaurants as an example. Imagine how much different the starting costs for a very expensive high-fashion restaurant in the best part of New York, serving the best possible French haute cuisine are from the starting costs of a small restaurant somewhere in the middle of the country, in a small town, serving sandwiches and French fries. The point is that starting costs aren’t set according to the type of business, they are determined according to what you, the author of the business plan, decides.

As another example, consider the rent expense for a business office or manufacturing plant. This is an important element in the costs of any business, but no one outside your area can tell you what rent is going to be. You have to consider locations in your area, for your business. You must think about how big a space you want, what your target market is, how important the location is to that market. Then you have to make telephone calls and talk to people and find out rents for prospective locations that might work for you, by asking real estate people, or looking in the ads in the newspaper, or whatever.

There is nobody in the world who can tell you what rent is for one type of business or another, because what matters is where you are, and the choices you make. That’s why people usually develop their own business plans. Sample plans help, and they may give you some good examples and ideas, but the best business plan is the one you develop yourself.

Future Africa Recommends Business Management Consultants Africa and Business Consulting Services Africa

Author:
Tim Berry

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Small Business Owner and Entrepreneur Experts Wanted

What is an expert? Are you an expert? Do you call yourself an expert? Do your customers refer to you as an expert? Undoubtedly, it provides value to be viewed as an expert in a certain field or line of work. Is aspiring to attain such status a worthy goal, or is attaining such status really just a byproduct of ones efforts towards larger, bigger picture goals?

My current business is helping people and business in the process of buying and selling businesses. My perspective or "area of difference" is from the perspective of a small business owner that has personally bought many businesses over a 20 year period to add to my existing business. The interesting component of what I do in helping people buy and sell businesses is that most people only buy or sell a business once in their life once, most never do at all. So when someone is looking to buy a business or sell a business and only do it once, it can be accurately stated that that person cannot be an expert in that process. Maybe when buying a business or selling a business one should seek advise or help from an expert- but that is not what this article is about.

My opinion is that the term expert is a widely used term and its use has only been growing as the internet is reaching further through social networks and into our daily lives. Maybe the term is getting over-used and "watered down." We all get on Google, search, and run into experts everyday suggesting, telling, guiding so many of our everyday actions and even views, or way of thinking. Personally, while trying to further educate myself on internet marketing, or internet business opportunities, or gaining greater website traffic, I consistently find the following guidance by experts in the field.

"Establish yourself as an expert and provide feedback, advise, opinions on the various forums, user groups, etc. to increase your Internet visibility and viability." It is kind of intimated that gaining the expert status is relatively easy. I personally think the goal of aspiring entrepreneur is to achieve the status of expert or having expertise in a selected field - but the real goal is to have that "tag" or description of you applied by others. - Undoubtedly it carries so much more impact and value when applied by others. But beyond the impact stop and do the math. If you think of yourself as an expert - 1 person thinks of you as an expert. Now if 100 people think of you as an expert and they tell their 10 friends that comfortably refer and think of you as an expert, you have 1000 people thinking of you as an expert. From that fact, goods things may happen on your way to bigger goals.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners very often perform similar or the same function within your field of choice over and over does that make you an expert? You very well may be an expert in performing that task or service. Again the goal I believe is to have others apply the term expert to your business efforts.

The one common element among the people I associate with and think of as "experts", is the fact that I never hear them refer to themselves as experts. Actually, I find myself referring to them as very knowledgeable or accomplished people, as I find it difficult to apply this lofty term to most any professional. Again, part of me says expert is a term that should rarely need to be stated in the first person.

I was intimately involved with starting, running, and growing a non-internet related business for 20 years and interacted consistently with testing labs, lawyers, equipment manufacturers, regulators, inspectors, trade associations, and educators within the industry. Did I consider myself an expert? I never felt I was. But maybe I was.

Please find what Wikipedia says about the term EXPERT.

"An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peer or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain. An expert, more generally, is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study. Experts have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field."

What are you calling yourself? What are others referring to you as? Do you display a unique expertise in you field? Is that expertise recognized by those around you?

I think aspiring to be the best in your field, continuously seeking education, and always looking for means to self improvement is the road to success. For some that road may be longer than for others. But remember in lieu of reaching "expert" status, you can be pretty damn good at what you do, and for your customers or target market that may be just what they are really looking for.

Future Africa Recommends Business Management Consulting Services Africa and Project Consulting Services Africa

Author:
Scott M. Messinger, a former and current business owner that has directly purchased multiple businesses to support organic growth. Member of International Business Brokerage (IBBR) that is based out of Miami Fl, with location in Sanibel Fl, and member of the Business Broker of Florida Assn. Background experiences includes the fields of management,water, energy savings, marketing. FREE Access 1000's of Businesses For Sale please see http://www.sellabusinessflorida.com.

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Are You Sabotaging Your Reputation and Business Online?

How you conduct yourself online can adversely affect you as a business person, professional or employee/employer. No one wants to be seen in a negative light so how you handle yourself online is very important.

Your words on screen can be seen by thousands of people every day. Search engines crawl and spider everything or almost everything. Even if you went back to edit your posts days later, it's possible search engines have already cached the pages that can be viewed like archives. The damage is done.

Lately, I've seen way too many topics on work at home forums become personal and heated debates. Angry words attacking the person's character and rebuttals injecting just as much sting like two children fighting on a playground. Many of us can get caught up in our emotions without thinking twice and without thinking about the repercussions. This is ill behavior and it will hurt you and/or your business. What would this look like to your potential customers, business partners or employees/employers? Would you want to do business, employ/work for this person/company?

A recent example of this was a new member joined a forum and right away started off on the wrong foot. This person continued to spiral herself into one confrontation after another with a different member each time. For me, I would not want to do business with her. Why? She has proven not just yesterday, but today and tomorrow that she cannot conduct herself professionally, she cannot walk away without stabbing words, throwing insults or being catty. She sabotaged her reputation inadvertently. You shouldn't let typed words on a screen get the better of you in the heat of the moment, but you can still say your peace with tact and without tarnishing your reputation in the process. You can walk away, calm yourself down, think rationally then come back and respond using carefully thought out words. You can also make it an one-on-one by taking it off the public forum and into a private conversation.

If you want to enforce a positive image online, you need to act professionally, take responsibility for your actions and be accountable for them. You don't have to be boot camp serious all the time; you can still have fun and be a professional.

It's remembering there are a lot of eyes reading and you don't want to give anyone any leverage because you slipped up. There's nothing worse than having your words hold you hostage because of what you said in the past.

Future Africa recommends Business Management Consulting Services Africa and Project Consulting Services Africa


Author:
S. McIntyre owns Work At Home Space, a free work at home resource offering telecommuting jobs, articles, information, resources and other work at home related issues. You can also visit her blog Healthy Perspectives, featuring an array of health topics, nutrition, fitness and recipes for maintaining a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle.

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Small Business Ideas

This article tells you how you can make the best use of your time and earn on your own by just choosing one of these small business ideas. There are many types of small businesses that you can choose from. You should also know small business strategies which you can implement in your business too. Here are some of the small business ideas I have for you.

Small Business Ideas From Home
Here is a nice chance for all the housewives, teenagers or anybody who wants to make good use of their time and for making profits just by sitting at home and working a little hard.

A Boutique
Having a boutique is a great idea, as this will while your time and help you make profits. You can start off with buying clothes at a wholesale price and sell them off at your 'own reasonable' prices.

Bake and Sell
If you are really good at baking, then you can try your hand at this. Don't get into complicated baking like cakes and pastries, but you can try out muffins. Bake some muffins, chocolate-chip muffins, blueberry muffins, walnut muffins etc. and sell them. Further, if this is one of the small business ideas that is working out for you, you can improvise on baking more and be well-known for their delicious taste.

Paper Bags
I'm sure you have a nice big bundle of newspapers lying either in your garage or in your store room. Make paper bags out of the old newspapers and sell them to any grocery store, food malls, your relatives, neighbors etc. Make these papers bags in various sizes so there is a variety to show and sell them to your customers. Write some Eco-friendly quotes and paste them on the front side of the bag. This will help stop the use of plastic bags and you can earn your profits by doing a really 'good n green' act.

Candle Making
Candles are something that everyone loves to spend on. Indulge yourself in candle making, and make different types of beautiful candles and sell them. You can further specialize in making scented candles which most of them prefer gifting.

Gardening
If you are aware of certain ways of keeping a garden clean, neat and tidy, make a business out of it. Water the plants of your neighborhoods, your grandparents or anybody from your area and let them pay for the wonderful job you are doing. You can also help them by weeding, removing yellow leaves, in other words small things that won't require much labor.

Coffee Stop!
If you have an outhouse or some area in your garden where you can set up tables and make a small bar, you could make use of it by turning that small place into a coffee bar. No need of serving a large coffee menu. But just two or three varieties will fetch you a handsome amount.

Small Business Ideas For College Students
Now-a-days college students search for jobs to declare their independence. Here are some small business ideas for college students too.

Are You Drunk?
Well, I know that you are awestruck. What I am trying to say is you can help those who are actually drunk. Okay! What you have to do is, pick up and drop people who are drunk in parties, or even your friends, or anyone else, safely to their houses. This will be like a cab for drunkards to reach home safely. The marketing thing has to be done by you, so see how you go about it. Doing this is going to fetch you a good amount of money and respect too, and will also stop those drunk and driven accidents!

Wake Up!
Make a list of people in your area, or your friends, relatives, or anybody, who are reluctant to wake up early, or just cannot wake up after convincing themselves to wake up early the night before. What you can do is, wake them up, and get paid for doing this! Early morning make calls to them or go to their homes banging doors and wake them up.

Fresh, But Not Free Lemonade!
Girls, this might be a really good idea for you. Soccer practice= guys!, yeah, have a lemonade stall around a soccer practice ground and quench their thrust by serving chilled sweet 'n' sour lemonade. I guess you'll earn a lot of profit here.

Happy Birthday!
This can be a small business idea for students who might have plenty of time after their college. Arrange parties for children on their birthdays. You can make hand bills and distribute them to people, through newspapers, or even at some kindergarten school to fetch you some more clients. It is great managing such parties, and the children will love it too.

Tutor
Be a tutor for kids in your area or even in your school, taking tuition is a great idea but keep one thing in mind that you will need to focus on their studies seriously. This will also help you to earn a handsome amount.

Handmade Creativity
Make handmade calenders, planners, small 'things to do' diaries, wall hanging for writing notes etc. These things will help flaunt your creative ideas. You can convert your hobbies into skills in this way.

Sell Your Talent!
If are good at playing piano, the guitar, violin, or any other instrument. You can play it at any restaurants, bars, etc. and entertain people out there. You never know what it might bring to you. Here you earn too and you have a chance of practicing your notes too.

• Small Business Opportunities and Ideas
• Easy Ways to Make Money for Kids

Here was a list of small business ideas. I hope your creative mind has started thinking how to utilize these now.

Future Africa Recommends Essential Business Process Modeling Africa and Investing in Africa

Author:
Madhumita Shivade

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Starting A Network Marketing Business

Network marketing has become a huge business opportunity nowadays. If you want to start a business with full intentions of having success, network marketing is for you. It's important though, that you consider a few things to get you a good plan and vision for this marketing business you want to start. Here are ideas to consider:

Does the Shoe Fit – Does starting a network marketing business seem like it fits you? In trying to make a profit for yourself, you'll want to study things out first. Understand the product and service that you'll be selling, inside and out. You shouldn't force yourself to learn a product that you don't have interest in. You want there to be passion between you and your product that you'll sell through your network marketing business. You want the shoe to fit, or else you don't want to get into this at all.

What will your commission be – Paying off commission rates to your downline needs to be understood. This means you have to take the time to figure out all the calculations and figures, unless of course you hire an accountant. Now, another factor to consider is profitability. You may have an idea in your head of your total commission you'll earn each month. But when it comes to paying all the commissions at a certain rate, you won't be getting as much as you thought. When offering your commission rates to prospects, your going to want to have real expectations to offer them.

Recruitment – A big responsibility you'll have with your own business is the recruitment of prospects to form your down line. These people will be the ones selling your products and services. You will want to be good at recruiting and understand how much work it will take. You can learn the recruitment process by looking into well-known companies and seeing how they do it. This will help to implement some of these ideas into your own system.

Proper Training – Every person is not going to have the same vision in mind as you do. Make sure that you will have a network marketing business training strategy that will help turn your prospects into a powerful down line that will easily understand your process as well as the products that they are offering to the end-consumer. This makes it vital to have a good training program to use over and over, if indeed, it is successful in turning your down line into powerful sales people.

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Author:
Jesse Miller Finding the perfect MLM Training takes time and effort. The best place to start is with someone who knows like Jesse Miller. You can find his Numis Network and start building your MLM and Network Marketing Business Faster.

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Selling Your Business - The 2010 Winter Olympic Games Parallel

Now that the Opening Ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games has past, it is instructive to think about the ways in which selling your business is similar to preparing for the opening and the Olympic Games. Strange as it may seem to you, there are some marked similarities.

Let's examine the events leading up to the opening ceremony. And we will only go as far back as the previous Olympic winter games, four years ago. Athletes from countries all over the world were making their own commitments to work to be invited to compete in the next winter Olympics. They were committing to train very hard for the next four years. In many cases for a single chance at a best performance and hopefully Olympic medal.

For many their chance to show what they can do will be very brief. In other cases, including team sports, it will be longer. But since the entire competition, for all events, excluding the para Olympics will last only two weeks, all chances will be of necessarily short duration. Think of it! Thousands of athletes will have trained and prepared for years for this event. If they show up to compete with a slight injury, or a cold, or anything else that prevents them from being their very best. Too bad for them. And it will all be over in two weeks.

Then there is the other side of the games. The participants need proper facilities on which to compete. They also need to be housed, fed, given medical attention, moved from place to place, and on and on. And we won't even touch security. This didn't happen by accident in Vancouver, or any past host location. A vast organization needed to be built to deliver all of this, and make it easily accessible for communication to the rest of the world. And all at a cost that is hoped will break even at worst.

None of this can be achieved over night. Like the athletes, the organization responsible for the Vancouver 2010 games, had to work for the better part of the last four years to plan for and prepare the venue and all related services. Calling on a large variety of experts to contribute as and when needed. And this will continue until the very end of the games and the closing ceremonies.

Let's come back down to earth and how this relates to selling your business. As an owner you need to mirror the actions of both the athletes and the local organizations. They started planning and working on their skills long before the event. You need to do the same. They were preparing in advance for a specific Olympic event. You need to prepare your business for a specific event. Its sale.

Like the local Olympic organizers you may need to acquire expert assistance to assist you in you preparation. Experts like lawyers, business valuators, accountants, etc. Your preparation to sell your business may not take four years. However it is likely to take longer than you expect. So you need to start preparing your business for sale long before you expect that you will sell it. Early preparation is just as important for you as it is for Olympic athletes and organizers.

Another similarity is that there will be unexpected challenges along the way. The economy can be a big one. Just as the Vancouver Olympic organizers have been seriously challenged by the downturn in the World economy, you will also be experiencing challenges if you are trying to sell a business today.

However, you have one advantage over Olympic organizers. You can likely decide to defer the sale of your business until the business climate improves somewhat. That is somewhat analogous to an Olympic athlete being allowed to reschedule his event to another day. A day when he doesn't have a cold. The Olympic Games have fixed start and end dates. So they have no flexibility. Actually another advantage you have is that unless your business provides snow removal, lack of snow will not be a problem for you. As it has been in the preparation for some 2010 Olympic events.

With this article as preparation, you will probably be able to think of lots of other ways in which preparing you business for sale is similar to preparing for a high performance athletic event. So don't be tempted to trivialize this comparison. Instead, use it to energize your thinking. And something even more important, use it to energize your actions, and prepare thoroughly, and well in advance.

Future Africa recommends Project Management Consultant and Investing in Africa


Get a head start on preparing your business for sale. For the merits of early preparation see http://www.selling-a-business-without-stress.com/freereport.html.

Author:
Martin Schultz is a leading authority in preparing a business for sale and the publisher of the free information site http://www.selling-a-business-without-stress.com which provides actionable information about selling a business. His experience includes over 20 years evaluating acquisitions including as one of the founding shareholders of a publicly traded company that grew through acquisition. (After merging with another business of similar size, the merged company now trades on the NYSE.) His other credentials include an MBA from a highly respected North American university, followed by over 30 years of business experience. Martin is now an author and business consultant in corporate finance.

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Consulting - Get More Prospects Using These 8 Simple Steps!

Have you started your own consulting, training, speaking, or coaching business and find that your having problems getting prospects? Need a different channel to consider getting your name out there? Before even considering becoming an independent professional you need a market niche. You will need a proven track record in that market niche, something to give you credibility in what it is you plan to sell clients. If you know who your target audience is and can show results, the rest is a lot easier, clients will come to you. Most companies will not even consider a consultant, trainer, speaker, or coach without that track record.

Marketing is not only a difficult task for many consultants, trainers, speakers, and coaches, but the buying cycle of many companies and organizations is a lot longer than people think or expect. It is not unusual for the time from first meeting to start of a contract to exceed 12 months. This is a slow long journey, keep the momentum up, and keep getting your name out there.

1. To raise your profile, writing articles is a good idea, write articles for forums and journals. Make sure that the footer has a link to your web page.

2. Also, you should present at the major national and international conferences in your niche area and audience.

3. While you are waiting to get a real customer, you might volunteer to work on a worthwhile project to get some experience and start building a track record.

4. The more you get your name out there the more prospects you will get and as a result if you have a USP, the more conversions you will get. USP is your Unique Selling Point. What is it that you do better than anyone else? You do not want to be the same as every other under valued person on the market.

5. Find a niche and then major on that. People will still ask you for the other things but people remember people for the difference they bring!

6. Go to local groups and network, do not sell but just let people know you exist. Offer free solutions when they ask a question, then when they have a business need your name is more in the frame.

7. This is a game of persistence; many independent professionals focus on one or two first clients and forget the long term. Focus on long terms results but do what it takes to keep the cash flow rolling.

8. Register with any established companies that use freelance people as associates? The day rates are lowers but it helps keep the cash flow and helps you to build your name and reputation.

Future Africa recommends Business Consulting Services

Author:
George Hayes is the Founder and president of Lead-n-Learn a dedicated Career Marketing firm specializing in professional resumes, job search coaching, interview coaching and personal growth.

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The 50 Critical Questions Essential to Running a Great Business

There are hundreds of questions essential to running a great business. Of all of the questions, I consider these the 50 most critical. Consider making each of these questions the topic for weekly management meetings. Do we have a vision about where we are going as a company?

1. Do we plan adequately to grow the company?

2. Do we communicate the plan to all who are involved with the company?

3. Do we have good cash management?

4. Are we building cash?

5. Is the overall financial condition of the company improving or deteriorating?

6. Do we have timely and accurate financial data to review?

7. Does the data we have help you make decisions? Do we need more? Do we look at all the data you receive each month?

8. Do employees understand how their work impacts the company financially?

9. Is our company performing well compared to industry standards?

10. Do we have adequate internal controls to prevent employee theft?

11. Do we meet with employees at least once a month to review variances and trends?

12. Are we losing market share?

13. Have we surveyed or otherwise communicated with our customers for their input in improvements in service and new products?

14. Are overall customer complaints trending up or down?

15. Do we clearly understand our customers and markets?

16. Do we know where we are positioned in our market?

17. Are our products and services out of date?

18. Is our pricing appropriate and competitive?

19. Are we regularly creating new products and offering them to existing customers?

20. Are we satisfied with our revenue growth?

21. Are all of our product sales profitable?

22. Is our customer base shrinking or increasing?

23. Can we identify customers or groups of customers whose business is not profitable for us?

24. Are we satisfied with our plans to expand via the Internet?

25. Do we spend time with our direct reports, one-to-one?

26. Do we spend time with our top customers, one-to-one?

27. Are our sales and customer service people superstars?

28. Do you celebrate the achievements of the company and its employees?

29. Do we do self-audits on our own records, and the maintenance of equipment?

30. Do we have back up suppliers for most of our manufacturing process needs?

31. Do we have adequate internal quality controls or do customers know first if processes failed?

32. Have we adequately protected our intellectual property?

33. Are our facilities that are adequate for today also adequate for our growth plans?

34. Are we adequately minimizing the threats to our business?

35. Are our facilities and information systems prepared for a natural disaster or other physically destructive force?

36. Do we have adequate back up procedures for our information systems?

37. Are we making the best use of available new technologies in manufacturing?

38. Have we talked to our suppliers about better prices or terms or other changes to our relationship to benefit us both?

39. Do we regularly chart and review operational performance?

40. Do we spend enough time to be sure we are hiring for the long run?

41. Do we follow compliance laws and have written policies as required?

42. Are we following procedures that are most likely to keep us out of employee lawsuits?

43. Does our compensation and benefit structure allow us to hire highly talented employees?

44. Are our employees overworked? Do we spend a lot in overtime and temporary help? Is that number increasing?

45. Do we tolerate gossip or other behavior that undermines employee morale?

46. Do we ask employees to review the company?

47. Do we give enough types of feedback to employees regarding their performance? Do we review them individually at least annually?

48. Do we insist our employees stay employable?

49. Is the CEO accountable to someone for his or her decisions and actions? Does the Board (if you have one) communicate their expectations about the company?

50. Is the CEO accountable to someone for his or her decisions and actions? Does the Board (if you have one) communicate their expectations about the company?

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Author:
Jan B. King, views on business and on publishing have been widely quoted in Working Woman Magazine, the American Bar Association’s Bar Leader magazine, Small Business USA, Business Finance, the Los Angeles Business Journal, and on business web sites such as webhire.com, office.com, ybn.com, portera.com. She has also appeared on Making It! a small business television program on KTTV Los Angeles, The Economic Journal, a PBS business program, as well as on numerous nationally syndicated business radio programs. Additional information on the author can be found at www.janbking.com.

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Solution On Small Business Loan

Need to keep your establishment running on a continuing basis at some point in these unkind period? Or need a PC, a camera or a remodeling job to roll your dinky back span into a "real" staff?

You might be able to forfeit instead of one-or all-of your needs with position cards or by financing them through lend companies. But even in the old easy-credit days, profit toll charged by these sources by and large are the utmost tolerable by state laws.

Read the "terms' portion of the subsequently position tag statement you receive. Then handle the profit on the grasp you're planning to force to, completed the occasion it would take you to forfeit instead of it

The formula is Principal x Rate x Time. If you're like me, you'll be appalled on how much "easy" position outlay. And at this time, if your position rating is sterling, it's simple to persuade modern position or to develop your utmost.

Also dependant on your position rating is to you still can probably borrow the money or nearly of it, on lesser profit, from a row. If you're a modern or residential home establishment, be aware to only some banks grant establishment loans to residential home businesses until you can demonstrate steady profits completed the gone with earnings statements. Including a current, monthly statement on how today's saving has affected your sales or fees.

If you need one turn give somebody an advance of, you'll need collateral. A turn will no more than take a in mint condition leverage as part of the collateral on behalf of a very nice intention. Should they suffer to recall, the equipment or merchandise will veto longer be in mint condition, but used and they won't be able to be obsessed with the extensive amount through a retailing.

If you can't develop a concern give somebody an advance of, a bank's customer service area might grant a not public give somebody an advance of if you suffer with the purpose of nice tribute rating. These loans as a rule conduct privileged benefit toll than concern loans, but are cheaper than the toll charged by give somebody an advance of and tribute certificate companies. Again, you will need collateral.

Collateral can be almost something. Home furnishings and the majority not public chattels seldom suffer much resale meaning. Collectibles could suffer a questionable meaning, especially in the current marketplace...And don't expect to develop them valued next to anywhere by come again? You paid if they are long-ago purchases.

Cars, boats, jewels and furs receive carnival collateral. Land, bonds, certificates of deposit and savings accounts are unsurpassed. They suffer an immediate cash meaning or are absolutely without difficulty liquidated on behalf of the extensive amount. Do remember though, with the purpose of you can't go chattels or withdraw savings so long as they form collateral on a give somebody an advance of.

If you suffer a back home mortgage, you could be able to develop a go along with mortgage to raise center. Or-and this is solitary of the slightest expensive methods of borrowing money-you can borrow anti the cash meaning of life insurance policies.

If you feel right to a tribute union, check their benefit toll anti individuals next to neighboring banks. Often, tribute union toll offer much better toll to members and your own investment in the tribute union could be sufficient to form one wanted collateral.

The slightest recommended way to borrow money is from links and relatives, even if you know someone who would give somebody an advance of the money next to low or veto benefit. If you suffer to receive arrangements to earnings behind next to a turn or other lending tradition, you can get something done so exclusive of the consequence of permanently ruining a affiliation.

If you get something done borrow from a comrade or a family member, suffer a officially binding give somebody an advance of drawn up by an attorney. And for eternity earnings this type of give somebody an advance of paramount and well rather than it's due.

You can, of module, go things you own to raise concern center. If you suffer a long-time concern, go individuals old computers and toss in the old software. A comrade is at this time burden quite well with old Apple parts and software next to eBay.

Apparently the workstation collectors still suffer funds to bargain. Not all collectors get something done. Dolls, furniture, even coins and stamps could not develop come again? You paid on behalf of them if you purchased them years since next to really nice prices. Another comrade of mine recently began advertising sour a number of his working, really nice antique cameras, and he's receiving concerning partially come again? They sold on behalf of next to the opening of 2008.

Future Africa Recommends Essential Business Process Modeling

Author:
Margaret Atwood

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Small business coach or mentor?

The terms small business coach or business mentor are often used interchangeably within the business world, but what do people really mean when they talk about small business coaching or business mentoring? And how are they different from executive coaching or life coaching?

Countless articles and text books tell you that mentors use coaching skills and that coaches can act as a mentor - not much help is it?

The reason for this is it is actually very difficult when you’re a business coach or mentor NOT to utilise both techniques because when you’re working with a client on building their business you often have to be a supporter or coach, an experienced guide or mentor and also to provide one on one training in business skills and soft skills such as leadership skills, communication skills or negotiation skills.

The best business coaches are able to help you to:

• Think strategically and so can assist with business planning and strategy
  
  
• Work out how to increase business through offering guidance on sales and marketing techniques
  
  
• Be a better manager or leader by helping you with communication skills, dealing with difficult people, confidence and assertiveness
  
  
• Manage your stress levels through more effective time management, delegation and giving you back a sense of work/life balance

However, not all business coaching organizations can offer this in one person and if you go to a specialist life coach they might be able to help you with the soft skills and life planning aspects but won’t be able to offer you guidance on building your business because they typically use what’s called a ‘non-directive’ approach, i.e. they won’t offer advice or suggestions but help you to draw the answers out from within yourself (assuming of course that at some level you DO know the answer!).

So as a potential user of small business coaching or business mentoring services how on earth do you find a suitable coach?

Ask around and be prepared to devote some time to talking to a few suitable business coaches. Don’t just ‘jump into bed’ with the first person you speak to (unless they meet all of your criteria) and have an initial discussion with them to work out if the two of you can work together.

Future Africa Recommends Business Management Consultants

Author
Hannah McNamara is a director of SME Academy a specialist business coaching consultancy in London, UK. You can view a sample of the standard coaching and mentoring packages available at www.smeacademy.co.uk/courses/business-coaching-mentoring/

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Major Factors Responsible For A Business Growth

Starting a Business in UK is not simple as in other countries. UK is most prominent country in the field that every overseas company wants to invest and expand their firm here. The ultimate goal for each and every business firm is to begin a stabilized new plant for long time run. The location portal is a standalone location geographical map provider in UK.

The quick search can search for specific user’s keyword targeted for any geographical locations in UK. The search and find option with geographical area map help customers to find locations for business. The search can also filtered with individual need of business like communication infrastructure , funding and support , location in UK, workforce requirement , property and cost availability .

Communication Infrastructure:

A business crucial need for growth is a better communication infrastructure. A particular location of a production group with bad infrastructure accessibility can affect the commerce growth. The location for a business infrastructure depend on the kind of trade for the industry. An area near main roads, ports and airport is a good indication for a firm engaged in business of import and export. An internet based business
prefers a locality not too close to an airport.

Business Funding and Supporting:

Some companies depends more on expenditure, credit, condensed charges and discounted premises availability. The customized search provided find out the list of agencies providing different type of funding availability within specific area.

Workforce:

Staff is the need of every firm to continue success. Search is also available according to the work force availability and labor cost. Workforce search can filter with dissimilar combination like profession, annual salary and talent area.

Cost Factor and Property Availability :

Property availability and cost factor are other two important factors for a new plant. The explore is obtainable with yearly cost range for rental location.

Research and Development:

The UK is one of the most industrial and developed country in field of research and growth The research and development area in big business include biotechnology and healthcare, communication technologies, electronics and photonics, advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, information technologies, emerging energy technologies, design engineering, and sustainable production and consumption. Any business firm relevant to one of the mentioned factors or fields will under profit, if it’s location is near to the universities and other coaching centers. The avail search finds locations most relevant to the business.

Future Development Plans:

The promotion agencies interested in investment have different criteria for business location. Current benefits are not the goal for these types of firms. The ideal location is the one that is under constructional and a development plan. Search by future development plans in specific areas.

Superiority of Living Life:

Quality of life is very complex and wide thing to understand and define. The definition for the term is not fixed and variable to different people.

Future Africa Recommends Strategic Planning Services

Author:
Sampollard is an executive with Wensil I Technologies

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How To Be Successful And Make An Honest Income Online

1. Establish yourself as a leader. People who trust you are going to look up to you and will be more inclined to hear what you have to say. Share your success with everyone you can. Be confident, love talking to people and attend local events so people will start recognizing your name.
   
   
2. Read about millionaires and their stories about how they made it to the top. Remember how hard they worked and what they did to get there. Envision yourself in their position one day.
   
   
3. Be observant. Think of your surroundings and your friends. If you are stuck with a negative person, chances are they will bring you down as well. Hang out with people who you aspire to be.
   
   
4. Stay healthy. A good leader is one that we look up to. Think of who you look up to and what their lifestyle is like. Eat healthy foods and exercise daily. This will also give you the energy you need to stay on focus with your priorities. A happy body is a happy person.
   
   
5. Stay motivated. There will be times where you will not be generating money and you will get stressed out. Take some “you” time and check out of the business mentality in order to let your brain relax. Breaks are a necessity for our minds to stay sharp.
   
   
6. Turn off the TV. Distractions never help.
   
   
7. Focus on why you are doing what you do. If you have a “why” it will drive you to be where you want to be. When you are down, think of your “why”.
   
   
8. Remember that it takes money to make money. Do your research to make sure you are spending money in the right places. Keep track of where your business is coming from and what advertising methods are working. Remember that 20% of your income goal should be spent on marketing.
   
   
9. Have fun! Business and success is what everyone dreams of. If you are at the top or even generating a profit take some time and enjoy yourself and your loved ones. Do not forget about your hobbies and family.
   

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Author:
Lark Miller is the creator of Honest Income Online. If you are anything like me.. you love the internet and making money. I am currently combining the two and changing my life. I am a University Grad who has found my dream job in the world of work at home opportunities.

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How to Obtain Small Business Financing When Banks Say No

Several years ago we published an article which provided advice about what business owners should do if their small business financing application was rejected. The commercial lending environment has now deteriorated to a point that the earlier advice is likely to be especially relevant for many businesses because banks are saying "no" more than they have in several decades.

As described in this article, while a bank saying "no" is not an outcome that any business owner would hope for, it can eventually lead to an overall improvement in commercial financing options under many circumstances. Small business owners are increasingly hearing their bank say "no" to requests for needed business financing and working capital. For most commercial borrowers this represents uncharted waters and they are often not sure what to do next.

Banks are routinely saying "no" to small businesses which are both profitable and long-term customers. Because this has become such a widespread commercial lending problem, it is now common to hear phrases such as "business loans without banks" and "thinking outside the bank" when talking about strategies small business owners might need to analyze.

There are two financing situations that businesses should especially be prepared for banks saying "no". One of these involves commercial real estate loans and the other working capital financing (including business lines of credit). While a small number of banks are still proving to be reliable sources for some business financing options, recent nationwide commercial lending reports clearly show a drastic reduction in commercial loans for commercial real estate financing and working capital loans.

The process of replacing a bank is rarely an option which is openly pursued by a small business. However, an astute business owner will quickly realize that they have little recourse but to pursue such a path when their bank says "no" to routine requests for business financing. Even though this search for new commercial finance alternatives is undertaken under protest by most commercial borrowers, improvements to the overall financial health of a business will be achieved in a pleasantly surprising number of cases. Keep in mind that in many cities and communities, one or two banks frequently operate in a near monopoly environment. When small business owners have literally been forced to find new business finance options, they are often pleased to discover that they can not only replace existing bank financing satisfactorily but also improve their bottom line in the transition.

A prudent starting point for commercial borrowers to adequately evaluate how to get working capital and other business loans when their bank says "no" is likely to be a lengthy conversation with a small business financing expert. Finding and selecting such an expert will not be a quick or easy task for business owners, but this step is likely to be critical to eventual success in formulating a strategy for obtaining new sources of effective commercial finance funding. A crucial aspect not to be overlooked in locating a reliable expert to help is to ensure that the commercial financing expert chosen is totally independent and not affiliated in any way with the bank which said "no".

Future Africa Recommends Investing in Africa

Author:
Stephen Bush is a small business financing expert who has worked with business owners for 30 years. AEX Commercial Financing Group provides merchant cash advances and small business finance programs.

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How to get funding for your small business

The money that a future business owner needs to begin their small business or to keep it running can be available to them in several forms. The important thing is that the business owner-or future business owner-knows how to get that money. This article discusses how a business owner can get funding for their small business.

Getting a loan

Getting funding for a small business from a bank or other lending institution will take a lot of preparation on the part of the small business owner. If the future business owner is planning to get funding for a small business that is not yet up and running, the business owner may need to have a good personal credit history. This takes years to create. Some lenders will take a person's personal credit history into consideration when they are deciding whether or not they want to give them a small business loan.

A business owner will also need a good business plan for their small business when they are asking for a small business loan from a bank. The business plan needs to show the lenders the plan the small business owner has for making their small business a success. Banks will feel more confident lending a small business owner money if they have a plan for how to make more money.

When a business owner is looking for a lending institution to ask for a small business loan, they should do a lot of research to find a bank or lending institution that would be best for them and their small business. This may mean they have to fill out several loan applications and present their business plan to more than one loan officer. But this extra time and energy will be worth it if they get their small business loan.

Friends and family

Luckily for future business owners, getting a loan from a bank or lending institution is not the only way they can get funding for their small business. A small business owner could also get funding for their business from their friends or their family.

To get funding for a small business from friends or family, a small business owner should approach their family and friends very professionally. This business loan should be considered a business investment that the family or friends are choosing to participate in. Numbers, such as how much money was borrowed, if there is an interest rate, and when the money will be paid back in full, should be written down and each person involved in the transaction should get a copy.

Government grants

The government offers grants for small businesses that meet certain requirements. A small business owner or future small business owner should take time to research and find out if their small business meets the requirements for these grants. If there is a grant that is offered for the small business the business owner should review the requirements that need to be met to get the small business grant. Most of the time a small business owner will need to have a business plan ready to present to get the business grant from the government just as they would a small business loan from a bank.

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Why Priority Is A Key To Work At Home Success

The need for discipline in a work at home job is essential to the success of the business. After all an individual can't do their job efficiently if they're playing at the Atari arcade online or catching the latest judge show on television. These workers need to realize there is a time for play and a time for work, and while many are gaining a better picture of that dynamic there is also another element that goes hand in hand with personal discipline.

The Priority Principle

You will have work every day that you know you need to do, but there is every chance in the world that sometime during the day you will receive urgent requests. Have you factored in time in your day to manage emergencies or do you simply pile in as much as you can and apologize if you can't get it all done?

Doctors will often try to leave one or two appointment slots open each day to allow patients who have medical emergencies to find an appointment in their schedule. Those physicians who don't have such a practice can either overbook or unintentionally send patients to another medical facility for emergency care.

How To Prioritize

Your highest priority will probably be to manage the delivery of goods ordered, followed by administrative duties that need to be done, marketing and product creation. These may shift in priority placement from one day to the next. That being said you may have opportunities that come up from time to time that don't exactly fit with your daily list of priorities, but represent a great potential for a much larger opportunity. You would then need to come to terms with the value of that priority and reshift either temporarily or longer term.

For instance in the construction of this information I was presented with an opportunity that would take a relatively short period of time to complete and result in a larger than expected payment for services rendered. I chose to restructure today's priorities to meet that new opportunity. I've effectively connected with a first time client, was paid well for my time and may have new opportunities in the future. The end result is that with a few subtle shifts in my priority list I was still able to complete the absolute essentials I needed for the day.

Are There Non-Negotiables?

The area you need to be concerned about primarily is product fulfillment. If you have promised material would be delivered by a certain date then you can not really justify moving your entire schedule around to accommodate a request that will make delivery of many other products or projects impossible.

Your priority list is important to the functioning of your work at home business. If you can work to install some flexibility within that list you will probably find that you can take advantage of new opportunities in ways you couldn't if you simply tried to cram more work into every waking hour. You may still remain very busy, but the choice becomes yours to select or reject new opportunities instead of feeling as if you have no choice.

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About the Author:
Do you want to Work From Home? Access thousands of Work At Home Jobs in one convenient location. Don't Work At Home until you do a WAHCheck! Visit WAHCheck at this link: http://www.wahcheck.com/

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7 Tax Tips for Small Business

Small businesses have an especially hard time when it comes to taxes. Here are seven tips that will help keep you focused and could help save you money.

1. Deductions – Make the Most of Them

While reviewing your expenditures, remember that ‘ordinary and necessary’ business expenses aren’t just equipment and rent. Business losses can be deducted from the business owner’s personal income taxes. In addition, if you are on a business and pleasure trip, the transportation costs are deductible if you spend more than 50% of your time doing business. Check with your accountant to find out if you are making the most of your deductions.

2. Check out Tax Credits

There are a variety of valuable tax credits available that can reduce your tax liability. These tax credits include Employer Social Security Credit, Disabled Access Credit, Work Opportunity Credit, Research Credit, Investment Credit, and more. Ask your accountant what credits are available for your business.

3. Quarterly Estimated Tax

If your business has a tax bill of more than $500, you should be paying quarterly estimated taxes or you may be hit with IRS penalties which can severely impact your business’s cash flow.

4. Don’t Forget to Give

Charitable contributions can be claimed as deductions!

5. Meet Your Deadlines

Annual returns are due on April 15 for unincorporated companies and S corporations.
C corporations must file within 2 ½ months from the end of their fiscal year.
Estimated Taxes are due 4 times a year: Jan. 15th, April 15th, June 15th & Sept. 15th.
Sales Tax is due quarterly or monthly, depending on what state your business is located in.
Employee taxes are due either weekly, monthly or quarterly, depending on the size of your payroll.

6. Update Your Accounting

Spend time each year reviewing your accounting practices to ensure that your books are up-to-date and accurate. Speak with your accountant about your procedures and ask if your current computer accounting system is the right system for your business.

7. Always Keep Your Tax Documentation for Seven Years

Although no one is looking for an audit, it is better to have your documentation ready if it happens.

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Author:
Dawn Kraus has been working with small businesses and not-for-profit organizations since she graduated Johnson and Wales University in 1994.
Expert's Bio

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Analysis of the African Business Market

Once you Invest in Africa, one thing that should have a big part on your organizational strategic planning is the analysis of the African business market. There is so much at stake if you just go there and all you've got is optimism that you will prosper because Africa is fruitful. Before anything else, you should learn first what goes on in the market you wish to penetrate, whatever market is that. Business doing in Africa should follow a well-studied plan, a savvy and flexible plan. Just by the fact that African market is new and unique, there is definitely a lot to learn waiting for you.


First thing you should study is the availability of the telecommunications. For now, what we are assured of is that, most Africa countries are now diving into the innovative world of effective communication. What we need to know is where it is playing or if the profitable region has enough facility for it. Communication plays a vital role to the success of business. Information technology is probably the latest trend for any businesses in different parts of the world. South Africa has the most advance IT facilities. Broadband is also starting to spread in Rwanda, Mauritius, Nigeria and Egypt. Other countries are also embracing the said innovation.


Next thing to work for is the financial sector in Africa. This is important because it is the one that you can turn to once you fail financially. There are local and international banks where you can make your loan. The World Bank is one of the most attached financial sector in Africa because of their mission of aiding the continent. The organization is collaborating with Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Kenya, BMZ, DFID and USAID. Get to know first their terms and conditions before making deals with them.


Consuming market is another important area in this African market analysis. Africans will be the one that will keep the heartbeat of your business beating. You should know first what they prefer, what goods or services they will try and what they will ignore. By now, the consumer behavior is defined by one thing, Africans will always for something innovative. This means that they will always choose enterprises that will ease up their everyday living. Like for example, in education, there are more schools now adapting the advent of computer and internet. They now depend on computer for wider source of knowledge. And this is the reason why the telecommunications is the most profitable sector in the region.


There is still more that you need to know. These are just the primary concerns that you need to know. To assure a profitable business in Africa, all you need to do is hire business consultants whose expertise is Africa. This is maybe the surest way to the top of Africa's business market.

Future Africa Recommends Business Consulting Services