Business Plans and Money |
We'll try to make it easier. If you are registered for even just one class on this site and you answer the questions online, you open a secure database (part of our Small Business Index of Learning Companies) and your answers become key paragraphs in an interactive business plan template. If you build your business plan online, you can assign levels of security to every field. With some more work, you can leverage that plan as a Small Corporate Offering Registration (SCOR) which will be helpful to raise debt or equity capital (a SCOR is a direct public offering of some of the equity in your business). We are compiling a list of professional business plan writers and we will include that list here as it evolves. People – family and friends, bankers, angels, venture capitalists, and other investors through private placements, DPOs and IPOs – have said, and will continue to say, "Yes" to small business. Watch two shows that focus on money: "My Own Money" (as streaming video right here on the web!) and "Make the Banker Says, Yes." Plus, every show touches on money at some point in the discussion. For sure, get a banker before you need one. When you are just starting out, your character is what is in question and it is about your character that an investor or banker will most often base their judgment. In the first four steps of starting a business, bank loans are always personal loans. The banker looks into the face of the business owner, and concludes, "This person is a good risk." If you haven't already, be sure to sign up on this site. This is a site for small business by small business owners. |
Like Hands and Gloves. You will always be working on your business plan. You have to have a plan. Have a plan for success or you're planning to fail. In three episodes of the shows, Cowgirl Enterprises (Donna used FastTrac), Jagged Edge Mountain Gear , and Knitz & Pieces, the key document to get money was their business plan. It is work -- no question -- but it is the key working document for all businesses. You need a business plan. Start it when you have an idea for a business, then "grow it" as you grow your business. At least try to write the first draft yourself. In this exercise you will discover the ins-and-outs of your business. We live in the present; we reflect on the past; we anticipate the future; and we struggle to know what is important and valuable within life. You just have to do it. No whining. Call it "Work-in-Progress" and know it is your working business plan. Every business needs a plan. Now, we hear you saying, "But I am not a writer." Very few people are. So, at the very least, try to write it yourself. We have a template built into the Learn Online section of this site that is based on work from Howard University's Small Business Development Center. Once you have a working business plan and you make a commitment to attain certain financial projections, you have a basis to evaluate your weekly - monthly - quarterly - annual performance and growth. At the height of business planning, you will begin to examine your key critical ratios from your financials and you'll learn how these ratios compare to others within your industry. |