Motorola Planning Soak Test for Droid 3 Update

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While taking a look at the just-beginning release of the Motorola Droid 2 Global's Gingerbread update, we noted how Motorola's luck seemed to be improving when it came to readying software updates for its phones on Verizon. It looks like the company's sights are now on the new Droid 3, with plans to get an update out sometime this month.

Owners of the phone have reported receiving notification of an upcoming soak test to try out the update with a limited number of users. If everything goes smoothly, we should see the "Sept. 2011" update come out on-schedule.

What would this new software bring to the Droid 3? We haven't seen any official lists, or even leaked copies, but rumors are pointing to fixes for certain battery problems, and enabling video calls with Google Talk. If you end up taking part in the soak, we'd love to hear what changes you notice to your phone.

Source: Droid-life

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Business Planning for Women: Why Traditional Models Don't Always Cater for Women in Business

An increasing number of women are starting small businesses.

The number of small businesses that are starting up with women at the helm is growing and 30% of business owners in the UK are women (Labour Force Survey 2003). The reasons women decide to start their own business vary, with most reporting that they want to be their own boss, choose their working hours and enjoy better work life balance.

However for many of these women the reality of running a small business does not live up to their expectations; it is difficult to fulfill their dreams for their business and they become disillusioned and overwhelmed with the ongoing struggle of running a small business alongside their other roles in life - mother, partner, friend, daughter, chef, chauffeur, socialite - the list goes on!

One area that has been identified as a significant factor limiting the success of women in business is a lack of business planning.

Many women entrepreneurs and small business owners fail to set aside the time to develop (and regularly re-visit) their business vision and strategy. As the old quote goes, 'if you fail to plan, you plan to fail'. It is generally agreed that if you want your small business to succeed, you have a much greater chance if you have a clear vision and an action plan for bringing that vision about.

So what stops women who are starting a small business from developing an inspired and effective business plan?

After all, we know that we should have a business plan but despite the best of intentions to succeed in our business, many of us don't! Why is this? What is it that stops us sitting down and writing a clear plan and strategy for our business, especially when we know that we are more likely to succeed if we do it?

We believe it is partly because writing a business plan is boring! Let's face it, it feels like a chore so we don't do it. We may get the resources together that we need, we may even get part of the way through writing it, but it is the rare few that actually complete a comprehensive business plan outlining a clear vision, strategy and action plan for their business. Often, we are chomping at the bit to get our product or service out into the world and figure we can simply skip the boring planning bit altogether right? We can certainly relate to this feeling because we struggled with business planning in the early days - we gave it a try but never seemed to get further than a few pages in!

It is our view that traditional models of business planning do not cater for women in business!

We believe that traditional models of business planning and strategizing don't recognise that women in business have a life outside of work - that they have a partner, friends and family to think about and are not prepared to compromise on health and relationships to have a successful and profitable business. Women today want the best of both worlds; we think it is possible and that they deserve to have it!

Conventional business planning and management approaches are grounded in the belief that work and personal life should be kept separate, a task impossible for most women today. This makes it very difficult for them to create and sustain a business that acknowledges their business ambition AND empowers them to bring about great relationships and a healthy and balanced lifestyle for themselves and their loved ones.

So how can business planning be tailored to meet the needs of women in business?

Whether you are starting out in business or you are well-established, we encourage you to prioritise business planning in order to ensure a strategic approach to business growth and success.

Set aside the time and space to make this happen in your business now.
Acknowledge that traditional models of business planning may be a great starting point, but that they may not address your needs as a business woman who also values health, relationships and having a life outside of work.
Think outside the square and discover ways to plan your business that relieve stress rather than increase it. Look for tools that empower you to bring all aspects of yourself to the planning process - personal and professional - because the reality is that for women in business the two are intertwined and to be successful in one you must pay attention and care for the other!
Get creative in your approach - both to the process of business planning and also to the way you can incorporate the other aspects of your life into your successful business strategy.
Take action to implement your strategy so that it comes to life for you.
Commit to re-visiting with your business plan on an ongoing basis to ensure.

Business planning is vital to the success of your business, and can also encompass all the aspects of your life.

You do not have to sacrifice your health and relationships to be a successful business owner and entrepreneur. Take action now and plan for your success in business and in life.

Jo Foster at Love Your Small Business helps women grow their small businesses in a way that aligns with their personal lives. We are passionate about enabling women to run profitable businesses without compromising on their relationships, health, or other aspects of their lives. To find out about our business planning tools specifically for women in business, visit http://loveyoursmallbusiness.com/

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Three Levels of Business Succession Planning

One of the chief concerns facing family business owners is how to effect an orderly and affordable transfer of the business to the next generation and/or key employees. Failure to properly plan for a smooth transition can result in monetary losses and even loss of the business itself. This article will explain how to keep the family business in the family.

There are essentially three levels to a business succession plan. The first level of a business succession plan is management. It is important to recognize that management and ownership are not the same. The day-to-day management of the business may be left to one child, while ownership of the business is left to all of the children (whether or not they are active in the business). It is also possible that management may be left in the hands of key employees rather than family members.

The second level of a business succession plan is ownership. Most business owners would prefer to leave their businesses to those children that are active in the business, but would still like to treat all of their children fairly (if not equally). Yet, many business owners lack sufficient non-business assets to allow them to leave their inactive children an equal share of their estate. Thus, a business succession plan must provide a means of transferring wealth to the children who are not interested in, or not qualified for, continuing the business. Business owners must also assess the most effective means of transferring ownership and the most appropriate time for the transfer to occur.

The third level of a business succession plan is transfer taxes. Estate taxes alone can claim up to 45% of the value of the business, frequently resulting in a business having to liquidate or take on debt to keep the business afloat. To avoid a forced liquidation or the need to incur debt to pay estate taxes, there are a number of lifetime gifting strategies that can be implemented by the business owner to minimize (or possibly eliminate) estate taxes.

LEVEL ONE - MANAGEMENT

Whether management of the business will rest in the hands of the next generation, in the hands of key employees, or a combination of both, the business owner must learn to delegate and work on the business. It can take many years to train the successor management team so that the business owner can walk away from day-to-day operations. For many business owners, giving up such control can be difficult.

All too often, business owners focus more on the ownership and transfer tax issues involved in a business succession plan and ignore the people issues. In the typical family business, the future leader is likely to be one of the business owner's children. If so, steps must be taken to assure that the future leader has the support of the key employees and other family member owners. Generally, a gradual transfer of roles and responsibilities gives the successor time to grow into his/her new position and allows the business owner some time to get use to his/her diminishing role. Thus, lead-time is important for a smooth transition.

Many family businesses are dependent on one or two key employees who are critical to the success of the business. These key employees are often needed to manage the business (or assist in the management of the business) during the transition period. Therefore, the succession plan must address methods to guarantee that key employees remain with the business upon the death, disability or retirement of the business owner. Among the commonly used techniques used to assure that key employees remain with the business during the transition period are employment agreements, nonqualified deferred compensation agreements, stock option plans and change of control agreements.

LEVEL TWO - OWNERSHIP

Often, a major concern for family business owners with children who are active in the business is how to treat all of the children equally in the business succession process. Other concerns for the business owner include when to give up control of the business and how to guarantee sufficient retirement income. For example, selling (as opposed to gifting) the business to the active children results in all children being treated equally and provides the business owner with retirement income. For those business owners that are not reliant on the business for their retirement, they can gift the business to the active children, and leave the inactive children non-business assets. If, as a result, the inactive children will not receive an equal (or fair) portion of the business owner's estate, make up the difference by establishing an irrevocable life insurance trust for their benefit.

Simultaneous with the gifting and/or selling of business interests, the new owners should enter into a buy-sell agreement. A buy-sell agreement is a legal arrangement providing for the redistribution of shares of the business following the death, disability, retirement or termination of employment (triggering events) of one of the owners. The buy-sell agreement would also set forth the purchase price formula and payment terms upon the happening of a triggering event. If properly designed and drafted, a buy-sell agreement will create for the departing owner a market for what otherwise would be a non-marketable interest in a closely held business; will allow the original owners to maintain control over the business by preventing shares from passing to the departing owner's heirs; and will fix the value of a deceased owner's shares for estate-tax purposes.

LEVEL THREE - TRANSFER TAXES

The transfer tax component of business succession planning involves strategies to transfer ownership of the business while minimizing gift and estate taxes. The gift and estate-tax consequences deserve special attention. Unanticipated federal estate taxes can be so severe that the business may need to be liquidated to pay the tax.

While there is currently a lapse in the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, it's likely that Congress will reinstate both taxes (perhaps even retroactively) some time this year. If not, on January 1, 2011, the estate tax exemption (which was $3.5 million in 2009) becomes $1 million, and the top estate tax rate (which was 45% in 2009) becomes 55%.

For business owners with taxable estates, a gifting program can be used to reduce estate taxes. For lifetime gifts or sales of the business, nonvoting shares are usually used for two reasons. The first is to accomplish the business owner's desire to retain control of the business until a later date (i.e., the owner's death, disability or retirement). The second reason is to reduce the gift-tax value of the shares because of valuation discounts for lack of control and marketability.

Gifts of business interests up to $13,000 ($26,000 for married couples) can be made annually to as many donees as the business owner desires. This amount is adjusted for inflation in increments of $1,000. Such gifts not only remove the value of the gifts from the business owner's estate but also the income and future appreciation on the gifted property.

Beyond the $13,000 annual gift tax exclusion, the business owner can gift $1 million ($2 million for a married couple) during his/her lifetime. While the use of the gift tax exemption reduces (dollar for dollar) the estate tax exemption at death, such gifts remove the income and future appreciation on the gifted property from the business owner's estate. Unlike the estate tax exemption, the gift tax exemption remains fixed at the $1 million level.

While a business owner can gift shares in the business outright, consideration should be given to making the gifts in trust. One advantage of making gifts in trust for the benefit of the active children is to protect them from their inability, disability, creditors and predators, including divorced spouses. Another advantage to making gifts in trust is that the assets in the trust at the children's deaths can (within limits) pass estate-tax free to the business owner's grandchildren (and perhaps more remote descendants depending on state law). These are sometimes known as generation-skipping or dynasty trusts.

For business owners with very large estates, there are sophisticated gifting strategies that can be used with little or no gift tax, such as installment sales to a grantor trust, private annuities, grantor retained annuity trusts, and self-cancelling installment notes. There is also statutory relief, including Internal Revenue Code Section 303, which permit the tax-free use of a closely held corporation's cash to pay a deceased shareholder's estate tax; and IRC Section 6166, which allows the business owner to pay estate taxes on installments.

Life insurance often plays an important role in a business succession plan. For example, some business owners will wait until death to transfer all or most of their business interests to one or more of their children. If the business owner has a taxable estate, life insurance can provide the children receiving the business the cash necessary for them to pay estate taxes. As mentioned above, business owner can use life insurance to provide those children who are not involved in the business with equitable treatment. Finally, life insurance is a popular way to provide the cash necessary for the business or the surviving owners to purchase a deceased owner's interest pursuant to the terms of a buy-sell agreement. In many instances, the cash surrender value in a life insurance policy can also be used tax free (by surrendering to basis and borrowing the excess) to help pay for a lifetime purchase of a business owner's interest.

TO THE EXTENT THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS TAX MATTERS, IT IS NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN TO BE USED AND CANNOT BE USED BY A TAXPAYER FOR THE PURPOSE OF AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED ON THE TAXPAYER, ACCORDING TO CIRCULAR 230.

Julius Giarmarco, J.D., LL.M, is the Chair of the Estate Planning Group of Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton, P.C., Troy, Michigan.

http://www.disinherit-irs.com

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Business Planning For Recession Survival and Recovery

The New Basics of Business

With unemployment continuing to rise, home prices falling due to a surplus of inventory, and small business lending at a standstill, this recession doesn't seem likely to end soon. The recovery will be slow and Americans will certainly not enjoy the prosperity of a few years ago for a long time to come. It's not just economists who think this way. "Half the population in [a] new ABC News poll thinks both job security and retirement prospects in the years ahead will remain worse than their pre-recession levels." ("Poll: Less Job Security is the 'New Normal,'" ABC News The Polling Unit, June 15, 2009, analysis by Gary Langer) This confidence, or lack thereof, is an integral part of an economic cycle. The analysis goes on to say, "Those diminished expectations - plus the pain of the current downturn - are fueling retrenchments in consumer behavior that could fundamentally reshape the economy."

Basically, consumers are hunkering down to limit spending, save money, conserve resources, and change the way they've been living. The major influence on the health of an economy is the psychological state of its consumers. When there exists a broad belief that spending beyond necessity is unwise, people will change their habits and as a result, some businesses will have to close their doors. The economy is molting into a new, leaner animal. Rather than react in desperation to avoid doom, firms should interact with the current situation with innovative and forward thinking actions.

No matter the economic slump, increasing profits is typically the number one goal of any business. To ensure profitability, a company must demonstrate a competitive advantage over others in its industry, either by cost leadership (same product as competitors, lower price), differentiation (same price, better services), or focusing on an exclusive segment of the market (niche). For long term maintenance of competitive advantage, a firm must ensure that its methods cannot be duplicated or imitated. This requires constant analysis and regular reinvention of competitive strategies.

A recession is the optimal time to reinvent competitive advantage because the pressure of a feeble economy will separate the strong businesses from the weak ones, with the weak falling out of the game entirely. Your business will be strong if you have a plan of action based upon a little industry research, an analysis of what you have and what you want, and continuous monitoring of the results of your plan. This kind of innovation is not only a necessity right now, but it is an opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency in the way you do business.

The three basic actions for growing a business in any economic climate are: improve efficiency (maintain output while reducing inputs, such as time and money); increase volume (produce more in order to spread fixed costs); reorganize the business (change goals, methods and/or philosophy). If you plan to implement one of these, you may as well plan to implement them all. By focusing on one of the above strategies, you will find a ripple effect that causes a need to address the others. This is a good thing.

Right now, growth may sound like an unattainable goal as businesses are grappling just to survive, but hey, "flat is the new up." If a business can keep its doors open and lights on, then it's doing better than many others. But lights and open doors don't make sales, so making changes that attract business is in a sense, striving for growth. It won't be this tough forever, but for now, putting some growth strategies into action may be what keeps your business alive, if not thriving.

Every Business Needs a Plan

Without a plan, there is little hope for growth, let alone survival. As my small business development counselor, Terry Chambers says, "If it's not written, it's not real." That doesn't mean it's unchangeable, but it does show that you mean business. In order to accomplish your strategies of improving efficiency, increasing volume, and reorganizing your business, you've got to examine what you have, what you want, and how you plan to get there.

Sometimes it takes a significant event or change in existing conditions for a business to create a written plan. I think it's safe to say that the state of the economy is a significant change that should prompt business owners to alter the way they've been doing things. If you already have a business plan, it's time to get it out and revise it. Make sure your plan includes answers to these questions:

What do I want to accomplish?
What do I have to work with?
How have I done in the past?
What might I do in the future?
What will I do now?
How will I do it?
Is it working?

A business plan can be used as a vehicle for accurate communication among principals, managers, staff, and outside sources of capital. It will also help to identify, isolate, and solve problems in your structure, operations, and/or finances. Along with these advantages, a business plan captures a view of the big picture, which makes a company better prepared to take advantage of opportunities for improvement and/or handle crises.

Essentially, the three main elements of a business plan are strategies, actions, and financial projections. In order to cover all of the principle elements, you will engage in other types of planning:

Marketing plan: Includes analysis of your target market (your customers), as well as the competition within that market, and your marketing strategy. This plan is usually part of the strategic plan.

Strategic plan: Asses the impact of the business environment (STEER analysis: Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors). Includes company vision, mission, goals and objectives, in order to plan three to five years into the future.

Operational planning: With a focus on short-term actions, this type of planning usually results in a detailed annual work plan, of which the business plan contains only the highlights.

Financial planning: The numerical results of strategic and operational planning are shown in budgets and projected financial statements; these are always included in the business plan in their entirety.

Feasibility study: Before you decide to start a business or add something new to an existing business, you should perform an analysis of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis), as well as its financial feasibility, then asses its potential sales volume.

The process of business planning does not end when the written plan is complete. Business planning is a cycle, which includes the following steps:

Put your plan of action in writing.
Make decisions and take action based upon the plan.
Gauge the results of those actions against your expectations.
Explore the differences, whether positive or negative, and write it all down.
Modify your business plan based upon what you learned.

President of Palo Alto Software, Inc. and business planning coach Tim Berry says, "Planning isn't complete unless you've planned for review." Review is the fundamental action that initiates putting your business plan into action. In his blog at Entrepreneur.com, Berry lists some insightful strategies to making good use of your plan review, a few of which include keeping the review meetings as brief as possible and an emphasis on metrics as key to effective review.

Write your business plan in sessions. Don't think that you have to produce a business plan before go to bed tonight or you won't be able to open your doors for business tomorrow. I like Tim Berry's Plan-As-You-Go method of business planning. The practice of planning is an effective way to really get to know your business and you might end up discovering some important things about your company and about yourself.

There are various strategies and outlines available that will guide you in choosing the appropriate format for your business plan. Check out the collection of sample business plans for a variety of businesses at Bplans dot com. Every business is different, therefore every business plan will be structured differently, but for the purposes of this white paper, I will present the fundamental elements that make up strategic, operational, and financial planning. Here is a basic outline, thanks to NxLevel® for Entrepreneurs (2005, Fourth Edition):

General Business Plan Outline

Cover Page

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Mission, Goals and Objectives

General Description of the Business

Stage of Development

General Growth Plan Description

Mission Statement

Goals and Objectives

Background Information

The Industry

Background Industry Information

Current/Future Industry Trends

The Business Fit in the Industry

Organizational Matters

Business Structure, Management and Personnel

Management

Personnel

Outside Services/Advisors

Risk Management

Operating Controls

Recordkeeping Functions

Other Operational Controls

The Marketing Plan

Products/Services

Products/Services Description

Features/Benefits

Life Cycles/Seasonality

Growth Description (Future Products/Services)

The Market Analysis

Customer Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Market Potential

Current Trade Area Description

Market Size and Trends

Sales Volume Potential (Current and Growth)

Marketing Strategies

Location/Distribution

Price/Quality Relationship

Promotional Strategies

Packaging

Public Relations

Advertising

Customer Service

The Financial Plan

Financial Worksheets

Salaries/Wages & Benefits

Outside Services

Insurance

Advertising Budget

Occupancy Expense

Sales Forecasts

Cost of Projected Product Units

Fixed Assets

Growth (or Start-Up) Expenses

Miscellaneous Expenses

Cash Flow Projections

Break-Even Analysis

Monthly Cash Flow Projections - First Year

Notes to Cash Flow Projections (Assumptions)

Annual Cash Flow Projections - Years Two and Three

Financial Statements

Projected Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Statement of Owner's Equity

Additional Financial Information

Summary of Financial Needs

Existing Debt

Personal Financial Statement

Appendix Section

Action Log

Supporting Documents (Resumes, Research Citations, etc.)

Executive Summary

A business plan starts with an executive summary, which is a one or two page summary of your business plan, or an introduction to your business. Although this section is at the beginning of the business plan, it is the last thing to be written. You'll be able to condense your business plan more succinctly once you have the opportunity to work through the other parts of the plan. The executive summary may be the only thing a potential investor or financier will read, so write it last because it has to be the most compelling.

Start by writing a description of your business, including what stage of development it is currently in (conception, start-up, first year, mature, exit) and your plans for growth. Discuss the nature of your business, the main products and services you offer, the market for your products and services, and how and by whom the business is operated.

Mission Statement

Then work on your mission statement. Here is where you concisely state the focus, scope and hope of your business (or values, vision, philosophy, and purpose). What is the customer pain you are soothing, the need you fulfill? Here's an example from Coca-Cola:

Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.

To refresh the world...
To inspire moments of optimism and happiness...
To create value and make a difference.

PepsiCo has a different take:

Our mission is to be the world's premier consumer products company focused on convenient foods and beverages. We seek to produce financial rewards to investors as we provide opportunities for growth and enrichment to our employees, our business partners and the communities in which we operate. And in everything we do, we strive for honesty, fairness and integrity.

This is the mission statement of Inspiration Software, Inc.:

Our company strives to support improvements in education and business and to make a positive difference in our users' lives by providing software tools that help people of all ages use visual thinking and visual learning to achieve academic, professional and personal goals.

Goals and Objectives

Next, outline your company goals and objectives, including long-term and short-term goals. You will get into more detail on how the goals will be accomplished in your operational plan and annual work plan, so focus on brevity at this stage. There is a difference between goals and objectives and it's important to know what that is. I like how Andrew Smith explains it in The Business Plan Blog. Objectives are non-emotional, precise descriptions of what is needed to achieve a goal. Goals can involve emotion and don't have to be as specific as objectives. Objectives are the steps to actualizing the goal. Here's an example:

Goal:

To increase revenues by 50% by the end of the year.

Objectives:

Add a new product to our line.

Expand marketing outside of local area.

Develop a new customer retention strategy.

Of course, you will need a plan of strategies in order to accomplish each objective, but those details will be expounded upon in your annual work plan. A list of three short-term and three long-term goals, along with the objectives necessary to achieve them, is sufficient for most business plans. Remember to replace the goals and objectives with new ones as you check them off your list.

Background Information

The section that details the background information should start with identifying the industry your business is in. Even if you are not a member or have no intention of becoming involved, you should list any trade associations within that industry; you never know when you made need those connections. Find out what publications, magazines or journals are available to businesses in your industry. Use these and other sources of business information to identify how past trends (economic, social, political) affected the industry, as well as any current or future trends that may have an impact.

How does your business fit in the industry? What is the history of your business, including who started it, what changes have occurred, when was it started, where was and is it located, how was it started and operated, and why it was started? What barriers to entry, if any, have you recognized?

Organizational Matters

The ownership hierarchy of your business, the management structure, and the personnel are described in the section on organizational matters. This part of the plan deals with who, what and how your business runs. Who is in charge of what and how are they qualified? Discuss how the various parts of your business interact together; include details about outside contractors and consultants and what functions they perform. See the example below, thanks to Edraw Soft Vector-Based Graphic Design.

The organizational section of the business plan also needs to include an explanation of your record keeping process, checks and balances, and control management systems. Anyone who reads your business plan should be able to understand the organizational procedures for running your business day-to-day, as well as in an emergency situation.

The risk management plan needs to be fleshed out in the organizational section as well, including your risk strategy, the different types of insurance required, your contingency plans, and problem-solving protocols. What will you do if a natural disaster ruins part of your inventory? How will you handle the sudden illness or long-term absence of a key manager? What happens if you are unable to finish a project on schedule? What are some early warning signs to watch for?

It may not be pleasant to imagine all the "what ifs," but doing it now and planning for those unexpected events will improve your company's chances of surviving a storm. For an excellent step-by-step guide on the details of developing a risk management plan, see the article "How to Develop a Risk Management Plan," by Charles Tremper at wikiHow.com.

Marketing Plan

The next section, themarketing plan, gets into the details of what your business offers and what market it serves. Marketing is the communication of how your products and services "ease customer pain." Show the problem and how your business solves it. Marketing is a necessity for every business because once your doors are open, you must invite customers to come in. Everything you do in your business that affects customers is marketing because it sends a message about your company.

This part of the plan details the features and benefits of your products and services, their seasonality and life cycle, as well as any future products and services you are planning. It also includes a thorough market analysis, in which you will study your customers, your competition and the market itself. Here you should include a PEST analysis, in which you will consider the impact of various factors upon your business. The factors include combinations of the following, depending upon your business: social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal, ethical, and demographic.

Studying your market will give you insight as to how you can make your business more appealing to people. Market research is more than just noticing trends in your customers' buying habits; it's discovering what motivates your customer to buy. Don't assume that you already know because you've been in this business for years. This study often unearths characteristics about your market that are hidden or new. It's best to discover these things before your competition.

Another key element to the marketing section of your business plan is an outline of your marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics. Writing down the avenues you travel in order to market your business will afford you the opportunity to record what worked and what didn't work. You must be able to measure and calculate the results of your marketing efforts, otherwise, what's the point? If you don't know if something is working for or against you, then it's working against you.

Include details about all of the following that are applicable to your business in the marketing section of your plan: location and distribution, and promotional strategies, such as packaging, public relations, advertising, and customer service. As a result of exploring these areas, you will naturally need to consider how much you will budget for your marketing efforts. This question is closely connected to your sales forecast, which leads us into the next section of the business plan.

Financial Plan

The financial plan consists of four sections: Financial Worksheets, Cash Flow Projections, Financial Statements, and Additional Financial Information. All of these components will tell the story of how you plan to start or grow your business from a financial perspective. It is vital that you explain the assumptions under which you have based your projections, for example, "We assume that there are no unforeseen changes in economic policy to make our products and service immediately obsolete." or "We assume interest rates will stay the same over the next three years." (both quotes from Bplans.com sample business plans)

I suggest that you construct easy to read tables and graphs for the financial portion of the plan. The worksheets suggested are: Salaries/Wages and Benefits, Outside Services, Insurance, Advertising Budget, Occupancy Expense, Sales Forecasts, Cost of Projected Product Units, Fixed Assets, Growth (or Start-Up) Expenses, and Miscellaneous Expenses. You may find some of the worksheet templates at PlanWare.org to be useful.

The expected revenues and expenses for at least a year should be projected in the cash flow section of the Financial Plan. It's better to make conservative predictions rather than be too optimistic when it comes to cash flows. As part of this section, a break-even analysis is essential. This is the "amount of units sold or sales dollars necessary to recover all expenses associated with generating these sales." (NxLevel for Entrepreneurs, 2005) The formula for calculating the break-even quantity is Total Fixed Costs/(Price - Average Variable Costs).

The financial statements section should show the way things are now if you have an existing business, as well as a forward look at your checking account, or projected income statement. The only way a start-up company can provide an income statement and balance sheet is by projecting these figures based upon well defined assumptions. Both start-ups and existing businesses should include a statement of owner's equity.

An income statement shows revenues minus expenses, in order to calculate net income or net loss. Start-ups should project these expected results for the first twelve months of business, then quarterly for the next two years. A list of a company's assets (what you own), liabilities (what you owe), and net worth (assets minus liabilities) is called a balance sheet. The statement of owner's equity shows the owner's initial investment, additional investments, and retained earnings, minus owner withdrawals.

The additional financial information at the end of this part of the plan should give a summary of your business's financial needs in order to grow, show its debt position, and state the owner's financial status.

Appendix

In the appendix, which is the final section, an action plan or timeline for implementing the business plan should be presented. This is where the detailed goals and objectives are expanded in a work plan. Also, include in this section any additional information or supporting documents that are relevant to your business plan, such as important research, marketing materials, product specifications, and owner and employee résumés.

Executive Summary

Now that you have written the hard part of your business plan, it's time to write the fun part, the executive summary. As mentioned in the beginning of this white paper, this is the most important piece of the business plan because it illustrates the very essence of your business in a captivating and condensed form. If you ever share your business plan with a potential investor or potential buyer, the executive summary may be the only thing that is read.

Make the executive summary brief (no more than two pages), but make sure you showcase the best qualities of your business without glossing over important information; show why yours is a winning business. Write one to three sentences about each of the following:

General description of the business
Mission statement
Management structure
Business operations
Products/services, the market and your customer
Your marketing plan, including the competition
Financial projections and plans

A clear, concise, and convincing executive summary will intrigue your audience and inspire them to read the rest of your plan. If the plan is never seen by anyone outside of your business, don't assume it was a waste of time. During the planning process, you will have worked through an enlightening exercise that prepares you to run and grow a better business.

Having this written document available for frequent consultation and review will improve your chances of not only surviving, but coming out strong on the other side of this recession. Most people think that knowing in the back of their mind what they plan to do is sufficient for survival or recovery, but the difference between a written plan and an idea is usually the difference between failure and success.

http://www.universalfunding.com/index.html

Laura Walker is the Marketing Manager at Universal Funding Corporation. She writes articles about the world of business and the economy. Her blog, Factoring Vibe can be found at UniversalFunding dot com forward slash blog. She has written prize-winning business plans, numerous small business advice articles, as well as poems and literary criticism. Universal Funding Corporation is an accounts receivable factoring company in Spokane, WA. Not only is Universal Funding family-owned, but it is family-managed. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with their account associates, customer service, receivables management, and financial staff, the Wozows have daily interaction with their clients, treating them like part of the family.

With a broad spectrum of experience, the family at Universal Funding has roots in all aspects of business. A few staff are entrepreneurs; many have advanced degrees in their areas of expertise; some have been on the front lines of Fortune 500 companies. They have investing, banking, accounting, and legal experts on site and at their clients' disposal. As long-standing members of the International Factoring Association and the National Association of Credit Management (NACM), Universal Funding offers capital solutions to businesses large and small, local and national. Keeping apprised of trends and new developments in the commercial finance sector is important to them. Staff regularly engages in industry conferences and training courses, such as NACM's Commercial Credit Convention and the Experian Vision Breakout Sessions.

Providing fast capital funding to businesses for over a decade, Universal Funding has been a leader in the factoring industry since its inception. With over 63 years of combined experience, their financial specialists have expert knowledge of how to help businesses grow and prosper.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

3 Killer Business Planning Principles - Background, Detail, and Conservatism

Business planning is one of the most critical steps to online or offline business success. It is so much easier to work from a well researched and well conceived blueprint, when running a business, than it is to work without direction. When you work from the air, without any guidance or sense of direction, you get blown with the wind. You get lost in a sea of problems. You become overwhelmed, overworked, stressed, and rudderless. You are in the doldrums. Please, do not put yourself into such a mess!

When you have a good business plan you can follow it to achieve your life's dreams. You can modify it as you work from it so that your plan remains relevant at all times. A business plan is the route map to your wildest financial aspirations. All the more reason why you should pay diligent attention to its preparation.

Business planning is a fundamental part of starting and running a successful online or offline business. A business plan is a strategic document that manifests the principle of thinking before acting. As a strategic document it details the long term plan to be followed, covering a period of 3-5 years. A business plan is also a tactical document in that it is best constructed at a detailed level that makes the forecasts reasonably accurate over the first year.

A business plan manifests the time-honored principle of thinking before acting. As a wiseman would ask... "How can you act when you don't even know where to begin, not to talk of where you are going to?" A business plan forces you to do the necessary groundwork or research that tells you the right point to begin, and what direction or path you should be following to run your business successfully. This activity is a risk management activity... it fills your initial ignorance with concrete, actionable intelligence.

A business plan should be flexible to allow for continuing refinements as the business is executed. A business plan should also be updated every year, to keep it relevant and a powerful driving force for your business.

This article discusses three killer business planning principles that were introduced in the earlier article... "12 Deadly Principles of Business Planning. You Must Know These." The three principles are... the background principle, the detail principle, and the conservatism principle. The emphasis here is on elaborating on these principles so as to fix them clearly in the reader's mind. Basically, the principles are applied to the planning of an unnamed business in order to provide the reader with a concrete example of how the principles may be applied. See also the article... "3 Explosive Principles of Business Planning... Your Business Will Fail If You Violate Them."

The Background Principle

The background principle states that "A business plan must be the work of someone with a relevant background (the founder, for a start-up business), and the plan must reflect its author's background." 'Relevant background' means that the author's background must be relevant to the business area covered by the plan. There must also be consistency between the plan and its author's background.

For a start-up business the plan must be the work of the founder, assuming that the founder will be running the business. This is because the experience and lessons learned in constructing the plan are critical to the successful execution of the business, based on the plan. It is almost impossible for a founder to successfully execute a business that has been planned by someone else. This is because the founder would lack insight into the plan... unless the founder is already an established expert in the business area. The quality of the business plan also testifies to the management capability of the business, and hence to the ability of management (or the founder) to run the business successfully.

The unnamed online business's management team has an interdisciplinary background involving management, technology, problem solving, research, writing, and human psychology that is ideal for writing its business plan and for running its business. Many problems have been solved on the path to completing its plan, and to solve the problems the management team has needed research skills. It has drawn from its understanding of human behavior and it has needed to express its ideas in legible ways.

The Detail Principle

The detail principle states that "A business plan must be sufficiently detailed to inspire confident action when executing the business; yet it must remain flexible."

A business plan must be concrete if it is to have any use. When it is concrete it is easily implemented, and the way to make it concrete is to make it sufficiently detailed without losing its flexibility. Of course, a business plan must be visionary (this gives it direction), but the vision must be translated into concrete, actionable, detailed steps if the vision is to be easily implemented and attained.

A detailed plan for a start-up business imparts confidence that the founder knows what he or she is doing. It is also evidence that the founder has done his homework. A detailed plan builds investor confidence and proves management's capability.

A detailed plan also illustrates strategic thinking, which is about anticipating problems well before they occur and preparing solutions for them, while leaving room for day-to-day tactical maneuvers that create efficiencies from, say, tracking and testing.

The unnamed online business's plan does a good job of problem anticipation, and provides well-researched strategies and tactics for dealing with the problems. The result is lowered risk and boosted confidence. The strategic solutions will be revised on a yearly basis as part of the yearly business planning process. This will account for changes in the business environment, such as in market data.

The Conservatism Principle

The conservatism principle states that "A business plan must be conservative." This means that it must not exaggerate sales or deliberately underestimate costs. To the contrary it must deliberately underestimate sales (just in case things don't go well) and it must deliberately overestimate cost without going over the top (just in case costs increase). It must also plan for omitted costs due to oversight.

Another way of stating this is that a business plan must be reasonably pessimistic in both costs and sales; i.e. costs must be reasonably over-estimated and sales must be reasonably underestimated. It is important to capture only the worst case scenario so that the tendency for business failure is minimized. It also means that a business should normally outperform its plans.

The unnamed online business's plan reasonably over-estimates costs by first researching an item's cost using Google and then augmenting it by a reasonable percentage to reflect possible increases. Where costs could not be researched an educated guess was made that weighed on the side of reasonable pessimism.

The plan reasonably underestimates sales by exploiting the link between sales and the potential market. The measures taken were as follows:

1. The potential market was based on only search engine traffic; it omitted other major traffic sources such as direct traffic, referral traffic, Web 2 traffic, publicity traffic, purchased traffic, viral traffic, etc.

2. Only a limited set of relevant keywords were used to estimate the potential market. The more relevant keywords that are used, the greater the traffic volume and potential market.

3. The potential market was derived from US figures only and was then doubled to account for the rest of the world. Considering that The Internet Coaching Library's "Internet World Stats: Usage and Population Statistics" indicates, according to December 2007 figures, that only 18% of Internet usage is attributable to North America (US and Canada combined) it is clear just how conservative the unnamed online business's estimate of its potential market is. First, it ignored Canada; and then it represented only at most 36% of the Internet population (i.e. twice the North America percentage).

4. A growth rate of 49% a year is assumed for the business, when reliable sources indicate that the average Internet growth rate is 100% a year. These sources include K G Coffman and A M Odlyzko's "The Size and Growth Rate of the Internet", First Monday, 1998; K. G. Coffman and A. M. Odlyzko's "Internet Growth: Is There A "Moore's Law" For Data Traffic?", Handbook of Massive Data Sets, 2001; and A. M. Odlyzko's "Internet Growth: Myth and Reality, Use and Abuse, 2001."

5. It is assumed that visitors make a purchase every 10 visits when reliable sources (including John Barbour's "The Email Profit Formula: How to Turn Your Email List into a Virtual Profit Machine", 2005) indicate that visitors take 5-8 visits to a purchase.

6. It is assumed that, when a visitor buys, she buys only one item when it is indeed possible that she may buy more items.

7. A conversion rate is used to reduce sales further as a reality check on the planning. This concedes that not all potential customers (or sales) will be actual customers (or sales). Some of the potential customers who make repeat visits to a site will do so only for research purposes and will not buy. Others still will be freebie hunters who never buy.

8. Sales estimates are based on only 10% of the current site, this 10% being the original site planned. New productivity tools made it possible to expand the site to 10 times what was originally planned.

Final Remarks

This article has described in some detail three master principles of business planning. The principles are... the background principle, the detail principle, and the conservatism principle. The emphasis has been on elaborating on the principles using a concrete business planning example, the idea being to fix the principles in the mind of the reader. If you are planning to start a business you'll be foolish to ignore these principles. And if your business is failing then these principles are more than likely contributing to its failure.

Dr Agbormbai runs these sites containing related business information:

1. Business Opportunities:

http://www.bright-future-for-you.com/business-opportunities/

2. Free, Highly-Rated Home/Online/Internet-Marketing Business Course worth Thousands of Dollars (First 200 persons admitted free, after which you pay full rate. Free places still available. Don't wait!):

http://www.bright-future-for-you.com/subscription-form.html

Feel free to extend your knowledge and insights into home/online/internet-marketing businesses.

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR YOU... YOU BET IT!

Yes, you have a bright future ahead of you! No matter how helpless your circumstances are, a bright future awaits you. No matter how troubled you are, happiness stands on your path. No matter how fearful you are, courage awaits you. No matter how demoralised you are, confidence awaits you. No matter how much you cry, laughter is coming your way. No matter how angry you are, peace is coming to your soul.

Dr Agbormbai's sites provide various opportunities to help you brighten your future. Perhaps the best way you can do so is to solve your financial problems to guarantee yourself and your family financial freedom.

As such the first opportunity provided is the business opportunity of starting and running a successful online, Internet, or home-based business. You'll find all the links on the right of the sites' pages. Other opportunities are elaborated as time unfolds.

There are many benefits to owning a successful Internet, home-based, or online business, and the web sites consider the top 8 of these.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

3 Explosive Principles of Business Planning - Your Business Will Fail If You Violate Them

Business planning is a fundamental part of starting and running a successful online or offline business. A business plan is a strategic document that manifests the principle of thinking before acting. As a strategic document it details the long term plan to be followed, covering a period of 3-5 years. A business plan is also a tactical document in that it is best constructed at a detailed level that makes the forecasts reasonably accurate over the first year.

A business plan manifests the time-honoured principle of thinking before acting. As a wiseman would ask... "How can you act when you don't even know where to begin, not to talk of where you are going to?" A business plan forces you to do the necessary groundwork or research that tells you the right point to begin, and what direction or path you should be following to run your business successfully. This activity is a risk management activity... it fills your initial ignorance with concrete, actionable intelligence.

A business plan should be flexible to allow for continuing refinements as the business is executed. A business plan should also be updated every year, to keep it relevant and a powerful driving force for your business.

This article discusses three deadly business planning principles that were introduced in the earlier article... "12 Deadly Principles of Business Planning. You Must Know These." The three principles are... the requirements principle, the objectives principle, and the motivation principle. The emphasis here is on elaborating on these principles so as to fix them clearly in the reader's mind. Basically, the principles are applied to the planning of an unnamed online business in order to provide you with a concrete example of how the principles may be applied. The name of the sample business has been omitted for privacy reasons.

The Requirements Principle

The requirements principle states that... "A business plan must comply with the requirements of funding bodies." All funding bodies have stringent requirements to be followed and these requirements are useful in themselves because they make a plan complete and rigorous when it complies with them. Therefore, even if you are not planning to seek funding it is strongly advised that you construct your business plan such that it complies with the requirements of one or more funding bodies.

These requirements often include:

Technological Innovation

Your business must be technologically innovative. For instance, the unnamed online business's web site is a technologically innovative process for marketing digital information products. While the idea of a web site is not innovative, the idea of a maximally converting web site that maximises visitor satisfaction through heightened customer service is indeed innovative. Note that the innovation is in the process not in the product - the site currently sells only affiliate products. The combination of top visitor relationship-building (i.e. branding) techniques in unique ways to achieve maximal conversions is innovative. These branding techniques include: quality content provision, seamless copy/content integration, cleanliness and friendliness of design, easy navigation, list building and informative follow-ups, use of communities or social media, and use of live site-assistants.

Presence of Technical Risk

Your business must have technical risk. This is an extension of the technological innovation requirement. An innovative project is always steeped in technical risk. For instance, a substantial project such as the unnamed online business's web site development is full of technical risk. However, the feasibility of the project was ascertained by constructing, testing, and refining several development prototypes of the site. This exploratory activity reduced the project risk to acceptable levels.

Presence of Commercial Potential

Your business must have commercial potential... or why call it a business? For instance, the unnamed online business's plan demonstrates that the business's web site project has huge commercial potential because it addresses a market that has millions of willing potential customers and it sells products that are among the most wanted in the market.

Job Creation and Retention

Your business must create or retain jobs. It is not enough to employ yourself, you must create or retain jobs for others. If you have the skills to employ the right people to your business then that is the best thing you will ever have done for your business. For instance, the unnamed online business's web site is an online business with a great deal of job creation opportunities. However, with its outsourcing philosophy, most of its jobs will be created through the outsourced companies. It is not only important to create new jobs, it is also important to retain existing ones.

Funding Needs

Your business must demonstrate its funding requirements. Funding bodies must know why you need the money and for what. For instance, the unnamed online business's business plan demonstrates the funding requirements of the business, highlighting the role of external funding as a small percentage of total funding needs. The major portion of the funding is provided in-house through the CEO's equity.

Balanced Funding Sources

Your business must have balanced funding sources. This means that it must be funded from various sources. This makes it easier to find funding. For instance, for the sample unnamed online business, total funding needs are provided through in-house and external funding. In-house funding is provided largely through the CEO's work equity, while external funding is provided via one or more of grant, investment (friends/family, angels, or venture capital), or loans.

The Objective Principle

The objective principle states that "A business plan must have clearly defined objectives and it must accomplish those objectives." The objectives principle asks the question... What is the busines plan trying to achieve? A business plan is prepared to meet some set of goals, and it must accomplish those goals. The objectives of a business plan are the same as the objectives of the business it describes. For instance, the aim of the unnamed online business's business plan is to plan and design an autopilot cash-generating system that maximises profits by minimising costs and maximising sales. At the end of the plan there will be a blueprint for reconstructing the unnamed online business's web site and for running the business to achieve its strategic aims.

Designing an autopilot system means substantially automating the system, and that means employing a web site as well as outsourcing traffic generation and other supporting activities. The use of a web site and of outsourcing minimises costs while maximising effectiveness. Sales are maximised through effective customer service and branding, and through maximising growth via the strategic pursuits of scalability, leverage, focus, and outsourcing.

Scalability means being able to expand easily or without much work. Leverage means being able to achieve more for less work; e.g. achieving high profits for only a modest work input. Focus means concentrating attention on one key thing at a time and doing it extremely well before moving to the next key thing. And outsourcing means delegating work to external specialist businesses who have far greater experience, efficiency, and effectiveness in the work area.

The Motivation Principle

The motivation principle states that "A business plan must have clear motivations which highlight its significance." The motivations of a business plan are the reasons for constructing the plan. As such they highlight the significance of the plan.

For instance, the motivations of the unnamed online business's business plan are as follows:

1. To act as a guide to action, a blueprint for business execution.

2. To act as a web design and optimisation plan, a blueprint for reconstructing and optimising its web site.

3. To be a framework for comparing actual performance against planned performance.

4. To be a reference point for yearly strategic planning of the business.

5. To act as a funding document, a focal point for generating business financing.

6. To act as a clarity-inspiring document. The world of online business is full of hype, with the blind leading the blind; and scam artists are legion. To succeed, it is necessary to cut through the noise in order to strike at the heart of the secret knowledge and doctrines that drive the privileged 2%-5% of businesses that make it online. The unnamed online business's plan embodies research, web site development, and market tests, the combination of which engenders clarity of thought and confidence in the future.

Final Remarks

This article has described in some detail three master principles of business planning. The principles are... the requirements principle, the objectives principle, and the motivation principle. The emphasis has been on elaborating on the principles using a concrete business planning example, the idea being to fix the principles in the mind of the reader. If you are planning to start a business you'll be foolish to ignore these principles. And if your business is failing then these principles are more than likely contributing to its failure.

Dr Agbormbai runs these sites containing related business information:

1. Business Opportunities:

http://www.bright-future-for-you.com/business-opportunities/

2. Free, Highly-Rated Home/Online/Internet-Marketing Business Course worth Thousands of Dollars (First 200 persons admitted free, after which you pay full rate. Free places still available. Don't wait!):

http://www.bright-future-for-you.com/subscription-form.html

Feel free to extend your knowledge and insights into home/online/internet-marketing businesses.

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR YOU... YOU BET IT!

Yes, you have a bright future ahead of you! No matter how helpless your circumstances are, a bright future awaits you. No matter how troubled you are, happiness stands on your path. No matter how fearful you are, courage awaits you. No matter how demoralised you are, confidence awaits you. No matter how much you cry, laughter is coming your way. No matter how angry you are, peace is coming to your soul.

Dr Agbormbai's sites provide various opportunities to help you brighten your future. Perhaps the best way you can do so is to solve your financial problems to guarantee yourself and your family financial freedom.

As such the first opportunity provided is the business opportunity of starting and running a successful online, Internet, or home-based business. You'll find all the links on the right of the sites' pages. Other opportunities are elaborated as time unfolds.

There are many benefits to owning a successful Internet, home-based, or online business, and the web sites consider the top 8 of these.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Planning For Results - A Process Tool To Build A Successful Business

Business Plan:

Proper Planning is an important and effective tool in financing your project or a business, and shaping its future. It is important to understand how planning process and Business Plan can be applied to your business.

"Conversation would be vastly improved by constant use of four simple words: 'I do not know' " - Andre Maurois

Planning is an attribute or character of Management that assists and motivates a leader to make things happen, rather than not doing anything or allowing things to happen. Management may be an individual, family, business owner, principal, or project manager that organizes the finances for a project or business.

"At a presentation I gave recently, the audience's questions were all along the same lines: 'How do I get in touch with venture capitalists? What percentage of the equity do I have to give them?' No one asked me how to build a business!"--Arthur Rock, Founder and Chairman of Intel Corporation.

Surprisingly, many business owners do not consider a Business Plan as an important factor in building the business and raising money. They consider that they might be better of just sketching out basic financial projections. For a start-up project, it is necessary to prepare a full Business Plan. This includes organizing financial with three years of projections and describing detailed goals and strategy and why the business will be successful. It also helps in creating a good impression with stakeholders and lenders/investors. Once a full Business Plan is prepared (which may initially take three to four weeks), it may be appropriate to spend one or two days every few months updating it. This will also assist in evaluating earlier decisions and improving or fine tuning the business model.

A Business Pan is only as good as the quality of efforts that go into the planning process and preparing or documenting the same. In general, a Business Plan is the end result of planning process. Successful planning process involves management in a manner where they take responsibility of the organization's own actions (or in actions) and final results--with a goal to succeed and willingness to take necessary actions that address risks and avoid failure. Business planning requires one to develop goals and strategy that address all probable eventualities or risks that one's business could face in the future. It helps to determine the best number of action-steps necessary for the management to reach its business goals, and avoid, minimize or overcome foreseeable hurdles.

Proper planning is an important and effective tool in building and financing one's project or business and shaping its future.

Business planning consists of two key elements: The Business Planning Process and The Business Plan.

The Business Planning Process:

The Planning Process is a step-by-step approach that helps to build by "thinking-out" management's plan on how to achieve goals or desired outcomes. The professional skills of gathering and analyzing information, setting realistic and challenging goals, how to meet competition in market place, and sound decision-making at every step are utilized in this process. Today's business environment is very competitive and full of uncertainties, so management should pay adequate attention to the Planning Process. This process improves the chances of success for the project as it also minimizes chances of failure.

Management should address a series of relevant questions that help clarify business' past, present situation, the future a business desires, the means of achieving the future, and the systems of organization, delegation and controls or accountability necessary to track and sustain the progress. The Planning Process may require periodic revisions. Management should decide how often it should be revised or updated depending on the value it derives from effort and expenses incurred. As management proceeds through the planning process, it scans through the possible end results of different courses of actions. During this scanning process, management is forced to confront issues relating to the goals, purpose, vision, mission, core values, strategy, customer perception, and priorities of the business.

For example, when developing a Business Plan, management may decide not to invest more than certain amount of capital in the business in order to provide owner(s) adequate resources to pursue family, personal or other investment goals. One must acknowledge that, given the management's decision, it cannot expect to receive the same business development considerations as someone willing to invest triple the amount of capital. Every business may have different goals that will involve investment of resources and sacrifices (opportunity costs). For example, an opportunity or benefit may be lost or "foregone" for the sake of pursuing an alternate use for the same resources. Organizations may sacrifice business success or developmental opportunity, while someone else may sacrifice alternative investment. The business planning process brings these factors in to the deliberations, and realistically assesses the trade-offs necessary for the management team to finalize the business goals.

The Business Plan: The end result of the Planning Process.

The Business Plan is the final document that defines management's perception of the game-plan as of a specific date, and is a final output communicating management's planning process for the project or business. It is a document that states the core assumptions, goals, and strategies that management has decided to pursue by investing the necessary resources in terms of time, financial resources, and action steps that will be necessary to achieve the goals. The business plan is derived from the management's deliberations and the series of final decisions of the planning process. The written Business Plan also serves as an important controlling tool for regularly monitoring actual vs. plan on different parameters and the corrective action to be taken so that the overall success is achieved for the business or project. The parameters that are monitored could be time, cost, resources, quality, Return On Investment, employee morale, etc. Facilitating the planning process that generates the Business Plan requires expertise in both the financial and general aspects of management and the business planning process itself. The value of a Business Plan is in the decisions it influences during the Planning Process as well as the monitoring of progress--ultimately, how cash flows in and out of the business' bank account and achieves the stake holder's objectives over a period.

How I utilized Business Planning:

A company in California manufactured a range of engineering products with a good technology base. However, for various reasons, the business had become stagnant over last few years in terms of revenue and profitability. I evaluated the business model and management infrastructure, and facilitated restructuring of the business with a focus on achieving growth. This planning process involved producing additional revenue streams, improvement of production processes, replacement of machinery, and relocating the plant. The new Business Plan and Presentation Package made it possible to raise additional business loan of $4 million dollars. This was utilized to triple the revenue over a three-year period and also resulted in increasing the number of employees. The business is now on a progressive track, doing well and is expected to achieve its goals.

Mr. Shah is the President of Capital Management Group (CMG) and a Financial Consultant. CMG is a California licensed lender/broker for financing small businesses, business financial advisor, and Business Management Consultant. CMG assists projects and businesses in US as well as international projects. For more details, visit http://www.cm-group.com Mr. Shah can be reached at 714-281-0245 or via email at cm-group@sbcglobal.net

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.