Test Your Concept by Writing a Short Business Plan
Are you an entrepreneur looking to test a new business concept? Sure, you could write a complete business plan, only to find that the concept doesn’t work. Why not write a short business plan, get a handle on the key components to a business plan, and create an outline for a full business plan? This will provide you with an initial gauge on the concept, and tell you whether or not you should continue to develop it through the business planning process.
An executive summary should run approximately 3 to 5 pages. I prefer to format it in double columns for easy reading and reference. It should cover all the key components to a full plan, including company concept, market positioning, marketing and promotion, operating strategy, and financial viability. It requires a basic level of research into the market and industry to determine size and basic trends, and some basic research into the financials so you can put together a mini 3 to 5 year P&L.
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Little Lies, Big Lies And Financial Statements
A tip to the wise follows. Not facing up to financial problems when they are in their infancy lets them grow into eight hundred pound gorilla issues. Almost any month you will see or hear about some financial issue that was missed or ignored until it reached crisis level.
How would you like to be a director or officer at a public company where the Security and Exchange probes your first set of public company financial statements? A basic cause for a review like that can be that the financial statements do not include a large enough balance in the reserve account.
Grow Your Business’s Customer Base With Joint Ventures
Would you like to get more customers for your business while spending minimal amount on advertising? The best way to achieve this outcome is to setup Join Ventures with complimenting and non-competing businesses!
How can you partner with another firm, or create a joint venture, that is beneficial to both companies and helps you generate more sales and profits? The principle behind joint ventures is to provide you and your business with quick, cost-effective access to large pools of potential customers. Similarly, any JV partner you agree to do business with has the same interests – growing their customer base. Take the example of McDonald’s. They have some brilliant JV partnerships and promotions.