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business plan

Pay Attention when your Business Plan says NO

I’m sure almost everyone is familiar with the story that Thomas Edison discovered 99 ways to NOT make a light bulb. That’s 99 no to reach 1 yes. The point here is that a negative result, proving something didn’t work or was not so, is just as valuable as a positive result. Sadly, scientific research [...]

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Elevator Pitch Part 4: Finish Strong

(Note: this is taken with permission from Planning Startups Stories)
This fourth of five parts in this series depends on who you are, where you are, and what you want. If you’ve personalized in the first part, sold yourself and/or your organization in the second, and established the attractiveness or suitability of the business offering in [...]

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Elevator Pitch Part 3: What You Offer

(Note: this is taken with permission from Planning Startups Stories)
Now explain what that person or organization you’re selling to gets. You’ve personalized the need or want, identified your unique qualities to solve the problem, and now you have to put the need or want in concrete terms that anybody can see. For example:
For a Trunk [...]

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Are You Pitching Your Business Naked?

You are if you don’t have a business plan first.
Seriously: how can you boil it down to the core if you don’t know your basic strategy such as your identity, market, and focus? How can you set a scale to it without some idea of reasonable expectations in sales? How can you possibly talk about [...]

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Start a Medical Billing Business

As the medical procedures and insurance coverage becomes more complex, physicians and other care providers are looking to outsource the administrative tasks associated with processing payment claims. You can take advantage of this growing market need by creating your own medical claims billing business – from home or in as a larger employer.
We’ve grouped the [...]

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Spelling and Editing are Fundamental Business Planning Activities

When I first entered the job market, all my advisors all stressed, over and over again, to be sure my résumé had no misspellings or grammatical errors. They said that employers have to screen hundreds of job applications, and would use any good reason or bad excuse to toss out an applicant. Misspellings and language [...]

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The Importance of Cash Flow in an Economic Downturn

You can be profitable and still be bankrupt. You must closely plan and monitor your cash flow to be successful and stay in business.
During the current 2008 financial crisis, even the largest corporations have had to face this truth, and more than a few have suffered the consequences.
Tim Berry, president and founder of Palo Alto [...]

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It has to be Your Plan for Your Business

excerpted from The Plan-as-You-Go Business Plan by Tim Berry
“Please, can you recommend somebody to write my business plan for me? How much will it cost? How do I find somebody?”
“Where can I find (or buy) a business plan for a doggie daycare? For a resort? For a website selling environmentally-sensitive goods?”
Forget it. You can’t. It [...]

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Mantra, Mission Statement, or Vision

(Note: this is an excerpt from The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan, by Tim Berry.)
People seem to like getting into the mission statement, but I’m not sure it’s always such a good idea. There’s also the possibility of doing your mantra instead, and then some people talk about a vision statement, and of course there are [...]

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7 Business Planning Fundamentals for Hard Times

Time flies. Thirteen months ago I posted Economic Dark Clouds on Small Business Trends. Back then I said “the economic news is clustering now,” but my point was essentially sticking to the fundamentals …
With some notable exceptions, your business moves up and down far more because of very-micro specifics of what you and your team [...]

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