Are you planning on creating a business plan but need some
quick and free expert advice? I just so happened to come across 2 business plan experts who are up-to-date with the latest trends in business planning. These
experts, Tim Berry and Jim Blasingame, provide insight on what it takes to
create a successful business plan that will attract investors.
Founder of Small Business Network, Inc. and creator of The Small Business Advocate Show, Jim Blasingame is classified as one of the world’s foremost experts in small business and entrepreneurship. With several decades
of business experience, Jim Blasingame shares his knowledge through his
energetic keynote speeches and regularly helps small businesses maximize their
successes.
One key factor that Jim Blasingame stresses is the
importance of writing down your business plan even if the concept is simple. He
defines a business plan as “the result of thinking, researching, strategizing,
and reaching conclusions about how to pursue opportunities.” Writing down your
business concept would allow you to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of
your business within the industry. It would also help you develop a clear
understanding of how your business could attain profits through a particular target
market. Once you are able to narrow down your business concept to a competent
business plan, it will serve as an assisting tool for when you are presenting your
business plan to your potential investors. As stated by Jim Blasingame, the
idea is to “Write your business plan but practice business planning.”
Founder of Palo Alto Software Inc. and author of “The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan,” Tim Berry have had 40 years of experience as a
professional business planner. He is recognized by Pamela Slim as “the Obi Wan
Kenobi of Business Plans” and is referred to as “The Father of Business
Planning” by Jim Blasingame. He also judges at business plan
competitions and gives free advice to his blog viewers as to how one could create a competition
winning business plan.
In an interview with Vikas Shah, Tim Berry goes over some quick secrets to creating a strong business plan. One discussion was about the
importance of connecting the solution that is provided by the company to the
problems of the people. A great way to go about this idea is to provide a
believable story of the problem and the solution. Once this idea is fully understood, then a
business can accurately develop the proper marketing tools in order to
communicate directly to the target market.
As for creating a good finance section of a business plan, Tim
Berry mentions that investors are mostly concerned about the credibility of
revenue projections from the bottom up. As stated by Tim Berry, “I want to see
maturity in the relationship between the numbers- I don’t want to see gross
margins or profits that are 4 times industry average.” A good finance section
should be based on a firm understanding of cash flow through the channels that are mentioned in the business plan.
Most importantly, Tim Berry suggests that people should
overcome the fear of always creating a business plan. People often fool themselves with the idea that a business cannot be implemented without a perfect business plan
or a start-up business would no longer have a need for a new business plan. In
the real world, successful businesses are often the result of a start-up that
consistently adjusted their business plans based on the data that was collected
during business operations. By starting a business and monitoring its progress
along the way, a more realistic business plan can be created. This will also increase the chances of a more successful business and develop trust between you and your potential investors.
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