Debits and Credits
You don’t have to know debits and credits to do a business plan. As I say elsewhere, planning is not accounting. You don’t need to be an MBA or CPA to develop business plan financials. You need to be able to make reasonable assumptions and follow the financials, preferably using Business Plan Pro software. Still,...
By Tim Berry |
SWOT and Teamwork
SWOT is probably the best tool there is for taking a strategic look at a company. It’s named for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s a very good first step towards analyzing any company, or developing business strategy. I recommend the SWOT be part of every planning process. It’s also an excellent tool for gathering...
By Tim Berry |
Gather Your Team
Especially when you’re growing an existing business, you want the planning process to pull your team together, develop commitment, and accountability. Managers have to believe in a plan to implement a plan. They also have to believe that results will be tracked, and that managers will be held accountable for disappointing results and will be...
By Tim Berry |
The Fresh Look
Back in the 1970s when I was a foreign correspondent living in Mexico City, I dealt frequently with an American diplomat who provided information about Mexico’s increasing oil exports, which were a big story back then. We had lunch about once a month. He became a friend. Then one day he told me he was...
By Tim Berry |
Business Plan? But I’m not a Start-up!
Ask the owner of a small-to-medium company about a business plan. Expect the answer: “Business plan? but I’m not a start-up. Why would I want a business plan?” They don’t all answer that way, but too many do, and it’s a shame. The business planning process is such a great tool for growing a business,...
By Tim Berry |
Displacement Really Matters
Displacement: In the real world of small business, everything you do is something else you can’t do. Understanding displacement is vital for business planning, vital for growing a business, vital for small and medium business in particular. Consider the picture here, marbles dropping into a full glass of water. The water comes splashing out of...
By Tim Berry |
Winning Shelf Space In a Competitive Market
Good article over at StartupJournal with an entrepreneurial story about Vitamin Water. Interesting insight into what it takes to get retail shelf space when you’re just starting out. It turns out that it’s just guts and perseverance… If you’re an entrepreneur, you already have that.
By Noah Parsons |
Professional TV ads for small business?
Why do all cable TV ads for local businesses have to look like they were shot on a friend’s video camera with a budget of $10? Spot Runner doesn’t think it has to be this way. This interesting service offers a library of professional produced ads with professional voice-overs PLUS online media buying for a...
