Keeping a reliable and precise record of forthcoming events, appointments, and obligations is crucial for efficient time management. Choosing A System The traditional way to record future plans by hand is in a diary. Increasingly sophisticated personal planners and electronic organize, with address books and accounting systems, are now...
Month: December 2019
Once you have listed your long- and short- term professional goals, you need to arrange them in priority order. Each goal will involve the successful completion of a number of tasks. Decide which are the most important and need urgent attention. Analyzing Your Work Be honest as possible about your...
It is not uncommon, particularly if the plan is being used to seek capital, for the entrepreneur to be asked to do a presentation of the business concept, highlighting the key points of the business plan. Usually this occurs after the potential funders have read the executive summary and perhaps...
The following are errors that entrepreneurs commonly make when developing a business plan, particularly when the audience is made of investors. 1. Projecting rapid growth of a venture beyond the capabilities of the founding team. This is a common problem. The new venture shows potential for rapid increasing demand, sales...
Bankers/lenders are primarily interested in a company’s margins and cash flow projections, because they concerned about how their loans or credit lines to the business will be repaid. The margins indicate how much room there is for error between the cost to produce the product (or deliver the service) and...
Anyone investing in a new venture has four principal concerns: Rate of growth Return on investment (RoI) Degree of risk Protection Investors are generally betting that the value of their ownership interest in the business will increase over time at a rate greater than another type of investment or of...
The sales forecast of a new business venture should be calculated first because sales affect the expenditures of any business. The forecast should start with a timeline that depicts the seasonal patterns in the industry and the key events that might cause a change in the levels of sales. Having...
The knowledge and experience an entrepreneur brings to the business will be helpful in forecasting sales, particularly if the entrepreneur has worked in the industry in which the business will be operating. Nevertheless, the entrepreneur’s experience is anecdotal and should always be confirmed by other sources. The Industry The importance...
Estimating revenues, expenses, and start-up costs at the feasibility stage is a daunting task at best for an entrepreneur with a new business concept. At this stage, the concept is still fluid, so many of the numbers collected may change when the business plan is complete. Even the numbers in...
Determining what resources for a new venture are needed, when they are needed, and how to acquire them is a critical piece of a feasibility puzzle. Start-up resources include: (i) People such as the founding team, advisors, and independent contractors. (ii) Physical assets, such as equipment, inventory, and office or...
