my Internet Business Secret

A business plan guide is a great place to start when you are getting ready to write your first business plan. Perhaps you have found a book about writing business plans, or are following a template, but chances are, these materials will only focus on the steps necessary to create your business plan and will fail to point out the critical mistakes that most new business owners make. So let’s ignore the step-by-step tutorial for a moment and focus on the real world mistakes you need to avoid.

1. Don’t Put it Off.

Yes, writing a business plan can be a monumental chore. It’s easy to procrastinate while you focus on the more exciting processes of your business. Many new business owners will wait until the day before their scheduled meeting with the bank — and then frantically try to write a plan overnight. You can imagine the results.

Don’t wait until you have more time. There will never be more time. You need to clear your calendar for a week and make your business plan a top priority. Or if that isn’t feasible, schedule a certain period of time each day to work specifically on planning. No doubt you have heard the old saying: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”.

2. Don’t Confuse Profit With Cash Flow.

Unless you have an accounting background, you are very likely to define the success of your business in terms of profits. A simple definition of Profit would be Sales minus Expenses equals Profit. But in the business world, profits do not equate to cash. Your profit formula does not take into account the amount of cash you have tied up in production costs for products that have not yet sold, or the customers who still owe you money for sales that have already been made. Your business can look quite “profitable” while your bank account is over-drawn.

Make sure your business plan includes a table that addresses cash flow. Ideally, you should detail the monthly cash flow for the first two years of the business and annually thereafter.

3. Don’t Fall in Love With Your Idea.
Too many business plans blabber on for pages about the “newness” and “uniqueness” of the idea. But the truth is, investors want to invest in people, not ideas. It is only the people who can execute the systems necessary to bring the idea to life.

Instead of waxing poetically about your business idea, focus your energy, and your reader’s eyes, on the ways you plan to implement this great business idea.

4. Don’t Succumb to Fear and Dread.

If you have never written a business plan, the process may loom like Mount Everest. But, like most new challenges, writing a business plan isn’t as hard as you have imagined it to be. You aren’t writing a doctoral thesis or the next great novel. If you have invested in a business plan guide, use it. You can easily find helpful resources such as books, software programs and templates. Remember, you eat an elephant one bite at a time, so start chewing.

5. Don’t Over Sell.

Skip the vague and meaningless business phrases such as “best ever”, “highest quality” and “unsurpassed customer service”. You will lose your reader’s interest and respect if you engage in hyperbole that isn’t supported by measurable facts. Remember that the objective of a plan is its results, which require tracking and follow up. Focus your goals on specific dates, management responsibilities, budgets, and measurable milestones. Think fewer words and more numbers.

6. Don’t Engage in One-Size-Fits-All

Business plans can have many different purposes and they should be written to reflect the specific purpose at hand. You may be using your plan to start a business, or just run a business better. Your purpose may be simply to sell an idea for a new business to one particular business partner. Your plan may be intended to secure a small business loan, or it may be needed to secure millions of dollars of venture capital. Each of these purposes would require different information, presented in different ways to meet the needs of different readers. Keep a picture of your intended reader firmly in your mind and your business plan will stay focused as well.

7. Take Off the Rose Colored Glasses
Optimism is a wonderful resource. Without it, a business owner would find it difficult to summon the energy necessary to launch a new venture.  However, this is not the time to engage in unbridled projections. If your company’s growth chart is based on an “industry average” of 15% annual growth, you should certainly be prepared to prove that assumption. When in doubt, be less optimistic.

By using a good business plan guide, and avoiding these common mistakes, you can prepare a plan that almost guarantees your business success. Good luck!

There are two questions you should ask yourself before purchasing any business. Why do I want to buy a business and what kind of business would fit in with your personal experience. The “why” is in many cases more important than the “what” when answering these two questions? You need to know why you want to own a business and are you ready both financially and emotionally. After you answer this question you can look into what kind of business you think you should own.

Why do you want a business?

Why you want to take on the responsibility of a business is important. Owning and running a business is a challenge to do successfully. If you want to be your own boss that is OK as long as you realize that your future earnings will be in your hands and not those who run the business where you are working now. You must have sufficient money to get the business up and running and still pay your monthly bills that you currently have. You cannot count on taking any money out of the business for several months to a year. Your own business does mean some freedom, but it also means you are the owner seven days a week and with little time off. You also need to figure if the business you are thinking of getting into is one that you can run without many extra people or is it one where you will need help. This is important for several reasons. More people means the business has to generate more income. There are also rules that need to be complied with as far as employees are concerned. Let’s assume you are financially and emotionally ready to take this big step. What kind of a business are you going to buy?

Which type of business would be a match?

The type of business depends on your interest and knowledge. If you have an area of expertise, then this area should be looked into very seriously. Are you a people person, then a business with a retail or business-to-business element would make sense. People businesses need a front person to capture the clientele. If this is your forte, then this business area should be looked into with a serious intent. One of the ways to find out which types of businesses are available is to look into a business broker and see what they have listed. Another way to find a business that may not be listed is to ask bankers you know or other business owners. Accountants could be another source of businesses that are not listed for sale. Business brokers list most of the businesses for sale in the market online. Listings by private owners and Business Brokers online are available at the Buy a Business Section of Acquireo.com.If you do not have the patience to browse each of them by state or category,Search the business you are looking for with a keyword or location

With these two questions answered or at least a tentative decision made, the buyer needs to look at each business that meets the criteria that has been set. Formal meetings that allow for full disclosure of the business’s situation both current and future are an important step in finding out more about the business. How the business has done in the past is useful for predicting the future. This meeting is also the time to find out if there are any problems coming up or like building code changes or possible lawsuits. Are there any obligations, which will be assumed that can be brought forward in time as to payment? Are key employees going to stay with the business and if not can they be easily replaced. Is there a way to quickly add to the business or change some of its functions to add to the sales? Are the prices being charged at a fair level? The real reason for these meetings is to exchange information. Win-win deals can only be made when both parties are equally informed.

Buying a business outside of your experience or knowledge

If the business is one where you will need training to learn the business, make sure you have a timely agreement with the old owner for their help for a period of time. You would also be well advised to have the owner introduce you to the important clients that have made the company successful. This introduction could be the difference in keeping the client and losing them to a competitor.

Learn as much as you can about the competition. These are the people who can move in on a new owner. Make sure they have not suddenly developed a product that is superior to what you will be selling. Also find out if you can who they sell to and why the old owner could not make any headway with the competitor’s clients.

Price negotiation

With the exchange of information out of the way, the hardest part of any purchase comes into play. The price that the business will sell for is usually a negotiated sum. There are many ways to come up with the selling price. The owner will have a price in mind and you will have an offering price you will start the bargaining with. Another price can be obtained from a third party who is certified to set prices for businesses that are put up for sell. The certified brokers have passed a series of tests that qualify them to come up with an unbiased value for the business being sold. This price is fair to both the buyer and the seller, because it is arrived at by standard business evaluation principles. This expert price is the result of hard work and careful analysis of the business both current and future prospects.

Terms of the deal

Once a price is set, the terms of the deal can be negotiated. There is always a cash price and a price, which involves terms. Most owners are willing to carry back some of the purchase price in order to expedite the sale. This is an area that usually can be dealt with by reasonable bargaining and private negotiating.

Banks can be a source of funds for some buyers if they have assets and very good credit. Sometimes a person can arrange for private financing among friends of relatives. The seller is always a potential lender for the buyer if they have a big enough deposit. Some times the seller’s asking price is too high, but the buyers counter offer can be “I will meet your price, but you will need to give me very good terms”. This is all part of the buy-sell negotiating. Simple rules should be in play during the negotiating. Remember the seller wants to sell and if you make reasonable counteroffers, there is a good chance that one of them will be accepted. Do not try to win by just being stubborn. Compromise is the way to make the sell happen for the buyer and the seller.

Conclusions

Keep the old owner on your side, as you never know when you may need them for something that comes up after you have made the purchase. The problem may have happened to them in the past and they may know the perfect solution.

The final advice for buying a business, is do your homework and do not believe that all will just go smoothly during the first year. There will be problems, and since you are the owner, you will have to resolve them in a timely manner. If you have to employ others, treat them with respect and if they know the business, ask them what they would do if they were in your shoes. Knowledge is power and respect will help you gain the employees willingness to share with you.

Firm and fair are the traits of a good employer.

Ask any business owner if they have a growth objective for next year and you’re sure to receive a resounding “yes!” Revenue and profitability, of course, are the primary growth factors on the minds of most business owners as well they should be if you want your business to survive and prosper into the future. However, when planning for growth, for example, deciding exactly what to do to achieve your growth goals, I would suggest expanding those factors beyond revenue and profitability to include Reputation, Expertise and Perspective, and here’s why.

REPUTATION – When you strip away the assets of your company, either inventory or intellectual capital, all you really have left is your reputation. Customers and clients buy your products and services because of your reputation, i.e. your ability to either create a solution for your customers or lead them to one. So if perception is reality, or if at least it has something to do with it, business growth must include growing your reputation. A few excellent ways to do this include:

— Conducting surveys that will interest your customers and ideally present new and valuable information to them.

— Writing letters to the editors of trade publications and periodicals that your target customers read (and don’t forget on-line publications).

— Preparing and publishing “White Papers” that research and analyze important topics for your target customers – keeping your writing objective fact-filled and devoid of any marketing hype.

— Joining a business association that clearly adds value for its constituents and taking on a leadership role, e.g. association officer, director or committee chair.

Reputation is about demonstrating leadership, creativity and results in your market niche and these tactics will help you do so. They also help position you and your company as “experts.”

EXPERTISE

Business growth should also include expanding your products and services or expanding your target markets, or some combination of each. This must be done very carefully of course, considering the classic and valid argument that you can’t be all things to all people. However, customer needs and wants are constantly changing and so are attitudes toward change, with an increasing willingness among customers to try something new. You too can capitalize on change and this willingness to try new things if you are willing to experiment with a few new things. A couple ways to grow your expertise and experience include:

— Offer a product or service to a new target market for free or at a significant discount.

— Offer a scaled down product or service to your target customers pro bono.

— Create a new distribution channel. For example, convert a training seminar to a book or perhaps convert a book to a training seminar.

Keep in mind that expertise is about quality and creating more value. A little creativity and a willingness to try something new can go a long way!

PERSPECTIVE

Growth and perspective is much more about you than it is about your business – it’s all about learning. Developing strong and valid points of view are invaluable to a business leader and are easily sparked by getting away from the routine. Some ways to broaden your perspective include:

— Attending seminars and workshops.

— Enrolling in college courses (anything you like).

— Reading at least one non-fiction book per month.

— Joining mastermind groups.

— Joining collaborative strategy groups.

Again, there are numerous opportunities to grow perspective. Just be sure to choose carefully and be willing to contribute in order to receive.

Growth is a requirement for business, and we all want to grow our revenue and profitability. However, projecting growth just by extrapolating last year’s numbers, or by choosing a revenue goal of where you really want to be, won’t necessarily get you there.

Growing your reputation, expertise and perspective will.

Many virtual PBX phone service companies offer small business phone numbers with local area codes. Your small businesses can get as much as ten phone numbers from a single connection. These virtual phone numbers can be used in major cities and can be set with local area codes of your choice. This contributes greatly to improving your business image as it gives the impression that you are operating from a big city, even if you are actually located in a remote place.

Flexible Communication Solution for All

Virtual Phone numbers with local area codes are not only cost saving for your small business but for your customers as well. Your customers will not have to pay long distance charges for making calls to these local phone numbers. These phone numbers can be integrated with the hosted PBX service to obtain additional call handling features. The hosted PBX phone system is less expensive than the conventional phone system and hence ideally suited to small businesses. These phone numbers can be easily interchanged with other local codes if the need arises.

Calls made to the virtual phone number can be transferred to your home, office or cell phone numbers. This phone system also provides extension numbers for employees and various departments. Apart from auto attendant, the hosted phone features include call forwarding, call transfer, voicemail, fax mail and more.

Customized Services for Small Businesses

Virtual PBX phone service providers offer your small business phone numbers with local area codes customized according to your budget and requirements. These services can be utilized in establishing virtual offices at different locations without a physical presence in those areas. The local phone number system is not only easy to use and set up, but also free of maintenance hassles as it does not require the installation of complex hardware equipment. The low monthly charge paid to the service provider is also affordable.

The fact is that proposal writing starts well before you even put pen to paper…because the proposal is only part of the business development cycle. Sure, there are the technical things you need to know how to put the proposal together and to write persuasively, but if you know your client and know what you can do to help them, then writing the proposal should be the easy bit…

In order to get to where we have to write a proposal, we have to have a client and a need identified. And either of those could come first.

If you have a product that fills a certain need, then you can target organisations that have that need. Presuming you have a genuine value proposition then it shouldn’t be too hard to sell…and presumably you have the need in mind when the product was developed…if you didn’t then you have a strange way of going about product development.

      

But what if you are more services-oriented and don’t have an off-the shelf solution to sell? How do you find and create opportunities? In many ways the same way…surely you have a marketable solution that you can offer to a target organisation…

You may have a long list of target organisations, but how do you get in the door. Maybe they have an incumbent offering a similar service already. Firstly, get to know them. Get an appointment – if you can get a call to a decision maker then asking for a few minutes of their time shouldn’t be hard – as long as you can demonstrate that you can offer better value to them than a competitor or provide them with something that solves a business need.

Use a SWOT analysis to help you quantify your own value proposition and refine it. Use competitor evaluation tools to help identify your market position.

There are of course occasions when tenders and RFPs are advertised, but by then the organisation has done it’s research and knows what it wants – to get the most out of opportunities, try and get in there first and create your own. What tenders provide you with though are information about the business and especially their procurement cycle. The more professional procurement gets, then the better you have to be ready to handle it. Remember that not all your competitors may not jump through all the hoops as well as you, so use the procurement process to your advantage.

Once you have a target client, then create an account plan for how you will achieve your goals. Start those goals small – a phone call with your target buyer. Then a meeting, then an identified opportunity stating at each step of the way what you need to do to close the next goal that you have identified. Remember that getting any kind of action from the client – agreeing to a phone call or meeting is a close…and if you keep closing you end up writing a proposal (hopefully writing a winning proposal) for your client.

Plan regular meetings and calls with the client and once you get to know them, give yourself a monetary target that you are looking to get from that client.

No-one is handing business out these days – you have to go after it, and create your own leads. So do research on potential organisations where you can make a difference, find out how they buy, what they need and go after them with your value proposition. It’s not going to work every time, but you will end up with more opportunities to write proposals for.

Learn to Write Proposals is the leading Internet business proposal resource center.

At Learn to Write Proposals you will find all the tools that any proposal writer needs to manage, write and review a proposal. This includes training material, templates, tools and resources all designed with one goal in mind – to help our members create better proposals, faster.
http://www.learntowriteproposals.com

Writing a business plan is not a simple task … nor does it need to be a painful one either.

For starters, if this is your first attempt, you should look for Govt. and Non Govt. resources for small businesses and entrepreneurs ….. like your local chamber of commerce.

For online resources Linkedin is a good start.  Also try advisorgarage, gobignetwork, and similar networks to find a business consultant ready for pro-bono work.

The last thing you wanna do though is to buy a software for business planning purposes unless you need this business plan simply for the sake of having a business plan on the shelf

The better approach is: you should write a rough draft of your idea and everything what you think about it. Bounce these ideas at others and gather unique perspectives, feedback and more ideas, document that too. Lay out your monthly fixed costs ( rent, wages etc) along side your variable costs and then compare it with your prospective income sources. Run this schedule for at least 24 months. Use this schedule to see how much money you can go down for before the business works. Do you walk away 5 grand down after 6 months, or do you get lumbered with a hard to sell, expensive to keep, lease? Figure out, what happens if you reduce your income. Do a break even analysis – what is the lowest level at which you can make it work. Try to write something why …. and how sure are you that you will do better than anyone else who is doing the same. If you’re the only one doing or planning to do this the chances are either the idea is not profitable …. or even you don’t know where and who is doing it? So do more research about the business and try to figure the realistic bottom line for the business. All this analysis and work above was for your use. If you still want to do it -

Then draft a business plan using the free resources like Microsoft template and many more available in the market – this draft initially should include what you have done that makes you sure this will work. This may simply be – I have a contract, I know the business, there will be more, or it may be a thorough market research, traffic counts, industry statistics and the like. Put the schedule we did in the first place, into a spreadsheet,and lay out the rest in whichever format you like.

In my opinion, this is the most economic and realistic approach to write a business plan and not an off the shelf software which will give you a me-too business plan which to me is of no use as neither am I convinced nor can I convince any investors with that kind of auto-generated plan.

A business plan has many formats but shares a common group of elements. The one you write for yourself is different from one written to secure financing, or key employees. The place to start is not “which software to use” although that will be very helpful later.

You need to tell a story, or better yet, view it as a movie screenplay. If you can fill in the four elements below, you are well on your way to starting writing one.

The Title- The description of what your core idea is has to be compelling and not “just like all the others”. Why are you different?

The Star Studded Cast- Your Customers. Who is going to give you money? Why? Why Them?

The Thrilling Action-The plot details -Money In and Money Out- financiers love this part- but in simple terms, explain the money coming in and the money going out.

The Big Finish- Answer the question Why You Will Succeed? A good crisp answer here is the capstone.

I have seen plans go forward without these key elements explained simply and clearly, but the ones who do have a better shot at accomplishing their goals.

For more information and “how to” guides I suggest looking over the resources available here: 

Business Plans

Score

Starting internet business is actually quite a big decision. It is not a short term operation, which you do today and which is over tomorrow. The steps to starting an internet business requires a long term commitment. And to commit yourself, you need a motivation, a plan and a correct attitude.

1. You Need To Think Through These Things Before Starting Internet Business.

The first and the most important question is your motivation or want towards starting internet business. Why do you want to do that. Is your plan realistic or just a dream.

Are you willing to work with it seriously or have you just heard some hype stories about big money. Have you listed the things, which you think is required for starting internet business?

Have you thought about what kind of an internet business do you want. Is it a product marketing, information sharing, AdSense based or what? What do you think would be your expertize area?

2. Your Starting Team Is Important.

Let us compare the internet business with the ice hockey. If you think to build a great career in the bad team, do you think to succeed? On the opposite, if you think to start your career in the too good team, do you think you can succeed?

Both are bad ones, you need a team, which fits to your level of marketing know how. This is extremely important, because the team is half of our possibilities to succeed. You need targets, but not too big ones.

If I could, I would tell you the name of one affiliate program, which could offer you a full package and which I used to learn the basics of the internet marketing. This happened years back.

3. Starting Internet Business Is A Mental Competition And You Will Compete Towards Yourself.

Your real battlefield is in your own head. The thoughts, that you have, will follow the attitude you have. What you need is planning and a great discipline to execute those plans.

Your competitors, other entrepreneurs in your niche, are actually your fellows with whom it is wise to cooperate. One of the most important place to you is the marketing forum, where the same thinkers meet, help and change ideas.

When you find a useful forum, it is like your working place, your job, with the difference, that you can participate, when you want and if you want.

Some industry blogs offer the same benefit, because the commentators share lots of useful information and tips. I would underline the importance of the attitude. It is the only factor, on which we can totally influence.

The power of your attitude is enormous and if it is okay, it will carry you through all those obstacles, which are waiting in the future. The attitude must include the willingness to take the internet business seriously.

When you are about starting internet business, it is like learning a new profession. Because this business is a know how business, the willingness to study is a must. This is not a surfing thing, where only positive things happen. But when you take this with a positive and professional attitude, this will reward you in a great way.

Writing a business plan is not a simple task … nor does it need to be a painful one either.

For starters, if this is your first attempt, you should look for Govt. and Non Govt. resources for small businesses and entrepreneurs ….. like your local chamber of commerce.

For online resources Linkedin is a good start. Also try advisorgarage, gobignetwork, and similar networks to find a business consultant ready for pro-bono work.

The last thing you want to do though is to buy a software for business planning purposes unless you need this business plan simply for the sake of having a business plan on the shelf.

The better approach is: you should write a rough draft of your idea and everything what you think about it. Bounce these ideas at others and gather unique perspectives, feedback and more ideas, document that too. Lay out your monthly fixed costs ( rent, wages etc) along side your variable costs and then compare it with your prospective income sources. Run this schedule for at least 24 months. Use this schedule to see how much money you can go down for before the business works. Do you walk away 5 grand down after 6 months, or do you get lumbered with a hard to sell, expensive to keep, lease? Figure out, what happens if you reduce your income. Do a break even analysis – what is the lowest level at which you can make it work. Try to write something why …. and how sure are you that you will do better than anyone else who is doing the same. If you’re the only one doing or planning to do this the chances are either the idea is not profitable …. or even you don’t know where and who is doing it? So do more research about the business and try to figure the realistic bottom line for the business. All this analysis and work above was for your use. If you still want to do it -

Then draft a business plan using the free resources like Microsoft template and many more available in the market – this draft initially should include what you have done that makes you sure this will work. This may simply be – I have a contract, I know the business, there will be more, or it may be a thorough market research, traffic counts, industry statistics and the like. Put the schedule we did in the first place, into a spreadsheet,and lay out the rest in whichever format you like.

In my opinion, this is the most economic and realistic approach to write a business plan and not an off the shelf software which will give you a me-too business plan which to me is of no use as neither am I convinced nor can I convince any investors with that kind of auto-generated plan.

A business plan has many formats but shares a common group of elements. The one you write for yourself is different from one written to secure financing, or key employees. The place to start is not “which software to use” although that will be very helpful later.

You need to tell a story, or better yet, view it as a movie screenplay. If you can fill in the four elements below, you are well on your way to starting writing one.

The Title- The description of what your core idea is has to be compelling and not “just like all the others”. Why are you different?

The Star Studded Cast- Your Customers. Who is going to give you money? Why? Why Them?

The Thrilling Action-The plot details -Money In and Money Out- financiers love this part- but in simple terms, explain the money coming in and the money going out.

The Big Finish- Answer the question Why You Will Succeed? A good crisp answer here is the capstone.

I have seen plans go forward without these key elements explained simply and clearly, but the ones who do have a better shot at accomplishing their goals.

If you are a business owner in Southern Ontario thinking about selling a business, the issue of ‘timing’ may interest you.  Company owners often put off a decision to sell a business due to ‘bad timing’ of one sort or the other (example – the economy has slowed, new staff need to be trained, just acquired a new complex account, etc.)  The decision to sell a company is an important one and clearly prudence with respect to timing must be taken.  However, there is a grey area between thinking that the timing to sell a small business is off compared to finding reasons not to sell.   The purpose of this article is to de-bunk a main reason that business owners cite as to why they think it’s not a good time to sell and also to explain why now is a good time to sell if you have a strong, profitable business.
Selling a business does certainly require preparation and foresight.  The successful business seller will have taken several steps to ensure that they are able to find a buyer interested in their venture and that their business presents well.  Doing things like claiming all of your earnings, maintaining proper records, increasing sales and improving business operations contribute significantly to selling a business successfully.  The trouble, however, is that some business owners neglect to take the necessary steps to sell their businesses and then cite the “slow economy”, “new staff”, etc. as the reason that they won’t or can’t sell their business.  The reality is that it is never a 100% ‘ideal’ time to sell – there is always something that is not quite perfect prior to listing a business for sale (example – revenue might be off for the latest quarter, the economy may have softened, a key staff member may have resigned, and so on.)  The point is that selling a business is a long term decision that requires forethought.  Decisions must not be knee-jerk otherwise you, as a business owner, may never sell your business at all.

Sell a business in a challenging business environment
The other issue to consider is that of perspective when you are selling a business.   For instance, some people look at a situation and only see how the negative might affect them while others see opportunities.  For instance, consider the economy of southern Ontario.  The economy has traditionally been a manufacturing-centred area stretching from Toronto (GTA) to Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, St. Catharines through to Niagara Falls.  This QEW corridor is the home to countless factories, machine shops, steel companies and many other types of manufacturing companies.  When the economy softens this sector is usually impacted much harder.  Jobs are lost, exports decline, and so on.  Clearly this is not an optimal situation.  However, as a business seller you must remember that Ontario’s economy is now a modern, integrated service-based economy that has evolved greatly from the manufacturing roots.   Economic downturns usually mean an increased level of unemployment as well.  Consider that many workers look to buy a business when they lose their jobs.  Buying a business is a clear option for many downsized workers so the potential pool of business buyers can increase in this scenario. 

Good businesses are always in demand
The final point to consider is that not all businesses for sale are the same.  Keep that in mind when you see a long list of online business for sale listings that don’t seem to be selling.  Business buyers look for strong, stable and profitable businesses.  They look for a business for sale that has ‘clean’ books, a history of good operations and one that is truly cared for and priced fairly.  These types of businesses are in constant demand.  All too often, the business for sale market is flooded with businesses that have failed (or are failing) and the owners list them at a price that is far too high and then expect to attract buyers.  The trouble is that not many buyers are in the market for these types of companies (some are, but not many).  The point is that even when the economy is soft or if something is not quite 100% with your business (and it never is with any venture), a fundamentally strong company that is profitable and well run should have a very good prospect of selling in any economy.

Talk to a business broker
Selling a business is a big decision to make.  Talk to a business broker to discuss some of the many different options that will work best for you.

Starting a business and making it successful encompasses a great deal of work, but sometimes it gets overwhelming and you feel that selling it is the best option for you. While the current business market is shaky with the global recession affecting everything, you still have a good opportunity to sell your business. Even if you decide to wait until the economy is in a better state, you can be preparing your business for sale. Here are some things to consider while preparing to sell your business.

1.    If you have any problems within your business whatsoever try to get them resolved as soon as you can. Talk to any business partners about major decisions concerning the business and its sale, and make sure that a buy and sell agreement is in place before any sale is finalised to ensure a smooth transition.

2.    Work on getting all of your financial documents up to date and as accurate as possible. This is a great way to impress the buyer of the businesses acumen, and it will help convince them that the business is worth the price you are asking for it. It’s best to be up front and honest about all aspects of your business as well. Even if there is something negative in the businesses history, not revealing it could lose the sale.

3.    Be prepared to help finance the sale of your business, because the current economic conditions could keep the buyer from getting funding put into place. You can also start looking for a reliable business broker to help you in your search for buyers. They will be able to qualify the buyers for you based on their financial credibility and their ability to successfully run a business.

4.    Discuss with the business broker the price you should be asking for your business. They have all of the expertise needed to help you determine a price for your business that is based on the current economic conditions, how the marketplace is moving, and how a realistic price will help you sell your business instead of leaving you out in the cold because your price is simply too high.

5.    Stay in constant communication with your business broker throughout the preparation of the business for the sale all the way through to the finalisation of the sale itself. They know where to list your business for sale, who to contact and speak to during inquiries about the sale and ways to get the transaction completed in a reasonable amount of time.  They will act as your representative for the buyer and they can assess the offers that come into their office. They can also help you structure the final sales transaction, and by working with them consistently you can build a trusting relationship that will benefit your business.

While waiting for the business to sell it is advisable to keep the business running as efficiently and profitably as possible, letting the business broker hand the sale for you. They are working on your behalf and by allowing them to handle all of the sales aspects for you; you can concentrate on making sure the business remains running at peak efficiency.

Business plan software is something that often gets overlooked and isn’t considered to be a necessity for some reason.  In my opinion, business plan software is essential, it is not a luxury. I am a huge advocate of business planning. When people ask me  if they need a business plan, my response is, “Absolutely!” You see, starting a business without a business plan is akin  to  starting college without a degree plan. If you don’t know where you are going, you won’t know how to get there. You will waste your time and your money if you are not following a plan. It’s really  that simple!

So, you know you need a business plan, but what about  business plan software? For business planning,  there are really three alternatives: 1) crafting your own business plan from scratch; 2) hiring a business plan writer or business planning consultant; or 3) using business plan software to write your own business  plan. Each of these alternatives has its own advantages   and disadvantages.

Writing your own business plan from scratch is certainly a possibility. Doing so gives you the freedom to format and arrange the plan in any way that you see fit. On the other hand, doing financial projections, which are necessary  for  the  purpose  of budgeting and financial planning, can be difficult to do  without a business plan program,  or at least financial projection software or spreadsheets.

Hiring a business plan writer makes sense for some people.  A business  plan writer is generally well-versed in business planning and will have insight that will assist you in preparing a comprehensive business plan that takes everything into account. The disadvantages to having your business plan  professionally written are the expense associated with the initial plan, and the limitations that exist in regard to changing it as your business evolves, which is something that business plan software empowers you to do.

Business plan software is relatively inexpensive when compared to hiring  a  professional business plan writer or consultant. However, when compared to doing your own plan from scratch,  it may seem like an unnecessary expense. Business plan software does have many advantages. A good business plan software package, like Business Plan Pro by Palo Alto, has the headings  and  categories for a business plan already set up for you. It also has  guidance throughout the business planning process that  explains  what  to include in each part of your business plan.

What I really love about Business Plan Pro is that it is so  easy to do financial projections using the business plan software, whether or not you understand  accounting.  The main financial sections include a section for start-up costs,  one for income projections, one for a proforma balance sheet, and one for  a projected cash flow statement. Information that input into one of the financial forms automatically transfers calculations to the other financial statement forms making the process of projecting your financial plan a breeze.

Another huge advantage I see in regard to business plan software is that when you use business plan software to create your own business plan, you can make changes to it anytime you need to. It doesn’t become a stale  document  that sits on the shelf and collects dust. A business plan should be  always evolving. You should update your business plan frequently including new goals, objectives and milestones. You should also adjust your financial projections regularly for the purpose of budgeting. Business plan software makes it easy to do.

If you choose not to use business software, and to create your own business plan from scratch, you will need some guidance unless you are a  professional  business planner yourself. The Small Business Administration  at  sba.gov has some excellent resources and guides about business planning. If you choose to hire a  professional business plan writer, do  review their qualifications and references and make certain that you understand exactly what is included in the business planning services they are offering.

This is the fourth in a short series of articles from Learn to Write Proposals examining how to write a proposal.

If you compare sales people and project managers yu may conclude that you wouldn’t want your project managers going out selling and writing bids and you wouldn’t want your sales people running your biggest projects. That’s a huge generalisation and probably not fair to the many exceptions to the rule, however, writing sales documents is a different type of writing that many internally focused staff aren’t familiar with.
   
But the point is that quite often, sales people aren’t the best at planning and managing detail, especially when it relates to project plans and the like.There’s a good reason for this – they are often out on the road, visiting clients, managing relationships and don’t have time to micro-manage a complex development project…even if that project is a written proposal. Plus, dealing with the detail isn’t what drives sales people.

With the advent of proposal centres and bid team support in many organisations the onus has been taken off a lot of sales people when it comes to planning the detail of a bid, managing those who need to contribute to it and actually writing the business proposal. Where bid teams exist they often take over the project and the account manager becomes a contributor to the combined effort.

But what about in smaller organisations where there is no bid team? How do they manage the production of sales documents? Ideally you need someone to manage the project (of writing the proposal) and that person should have commercial awareness to do it. Look at the job advertisements for bid team managers and you’ll see some of the skills required.

So if you don’t have a bid team behind you, or you are managing a bid for the first time, what do you need to do?

Firstly, check all the requirements of the RFP or tender documentation – know exactly what you have to submit and when. Just like any project planning think about the goals and work backwards, considering all the project dependencies.If it’s a large bid with a lot of people working on it, then get some help off a project manager in putting a project plan together.

Learn to Write Proposals has a whole bid management toolkit to support the bid preparation. Our bid planner includes key things that you need to include in your bid planning including the Proposal Development Schedule. This requires some basic planning, such as:

Key Event
Start date / Finish date
Who is responsible?
Deliverable Status

The Bid Management Plan should pull in the relevant strategic overview from the capture planning document for this opportunity and look closer at each section of the proposal and allow you to allocate ow- nership of the different proposal sections. It should look at other areas too – it is there as a practical tool to help you be successful, so develop it, keep it updated and circulate it with updates to everyone involved. Other things that you should consider are:

Detail of each specific requirement: summarise or copy the requirement from the RFP
Your response to the requirement: How do you meet the requirement and add value in your solution. (Use strategy and win themes from the bid capture plan)
Documents: are there any other documents to read or to refer to?
Graphics: would your response benefit from graphics (the answer is yes, so make a list of the graphics you need and schedule time for them to be prepared)
Who?: Which individuals are responsible for drafting the relevant sections for the proposal?
When? What date is the response required?: update this if a draft has been completed and the individual is now working on the next version – it can be checked off when verified as finished

A common mistake is not allowing enough time at the end of the proposal for proper review. Anyone who has been involved in writing proposals has had the experience of the late night trying to get a proposal finished because it has to be handed in the next day. That might not be such a problem if your are making last minute changes to perfect the fourth draft, but if you are just trying to finish the first draft, the chances are you’re in trouble.

As England’s law of proposal writing states: “The chances of winning a proposal are directly in proportion to the number of hours between finishing it and the time it has to be submitted.”

There are some very good reasons why you should give yourself time for the proposal to be reviewed properly – and we will look them in a later article on quality reviewing a proposal. For now, just ensure that you give yourself plenty of time for this in your proposal schedule – I recommend at least four days and schedule the people you will need to review it for that time.

Lastly, when thinking about proposal planning, bear in mind those times when you have multiple proposals to prepare. It makes life harder and it means getting more people involved. Sometimes it may even require a decision that you can’t bid for some of the smaller, lower-probability opportunities. That’s when opportunity qualification and making bid/no-bid decisions really comes to the fore of your business development strategy.

Next…what information do I need to include when I write a business proposal.

For more proposal resources visit http://www.learntowriteproposals.com