Recently Dan Boudreau one of the authors we feature on www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com held a book promotion for his book Business Plan or Bust! As I happen to own a copy of his wonderful book I thought it was about time I told everyone my thoughts on it. For starters I have to say that this is a book every entrepreneur should keep on their desk. And I really can’t stress this enough. The reason being is not only the fact that the book is very down to earth in its writing but also shows aspiring entrepreneurs what owning a business can really be like. Next the book doesn’t just tell you how to write a business plan it shows you in a step by step manner. In fact there are 99 steps that this book will walk you through to complete your plan. He does this by providing worksheets and asking the questions that you need to answer so that you can put your plan together in a well organized manner. All the while using his own business experience to relate to what the planner is going through. I really can’t say enough about how much you need this book if you have aspirations of starting your own business enterprise. To learn more about this great book just check out Dan Boudreau’s website www.RiskBuster.com for more information.
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10Apr
Tags: Business Planning, Business Plans, Entrepreneurship, Planning Your Business, Writing a Business Plan
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10Apr
One of the most crucial steps a business owner can take is to put some of your profits back into the business. At least if you want to give your business a chance to grow. But you need to decide carefully how you intend to invest your money. You’ll have many options and you need to choose wisely. You don’t want to spread yourself to thin. Putting your profits back into your business requires careful planning. You need to consider this when you are updating your business plan. Many business owners are willing to reinvest profits but often they fail to plan on how to do it properly. If that happens then all your hard work and effort could be going to waste.
Tags: Business Planning, Entrepreneurship, Financials, Financing, Leadership, Management, Reinvesting Profits
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10Apr
Ok well to talk about BHAG’s I guess it’s best if you first know what one is. BHAG is an acronym that stands for BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS. It’s a term that Jerry Porras and Jim Collins use in their book “Built to Last.” This is the book I am currently reading. A BHAG is something that many companies fail to set. It’s a goal that most people would think impossible to accomplish but as a company they go for it anyway. Sometimes to the extent that they are willing to bet the company to reach it. The book talks about visionary companies versus ordinary companies. And one of the difference makers is that visionary companies are willing to establish a BHAG and then give it everything they’ve got to achieve that goal.
I mention BHAG’s because they are not just for big businesses. Small companies can establish BHAG’s as well. There is no rule saying that shooting for the moon is just for the big boys. Establishing an audacious goal for a small company can give it a sense of purpose and drive that can become an unbelievable competative advantage. If you run a small business maybe you should consider what large and audacious goals are out there that you would like to achieve. You might be surprised at the reaction of your employees when you show to them what you think they can accomplish.
Cash
Tags: BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goals, Business Planning, Company Goals, Entrepreneurship, goal setting, Leadership, Management, Motivational
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10Apr
Recently I was browsing through my collection of as yet unread business books looking for something that would be able to stimulate my mind. While doing so I ran across my copy of the book “Built to Last” by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. A few years ago they came out with the book “Good to Great” which talks about how good companies can be turned into great companies. I read the book back when it was first released and found it to be truly excellent. And afterwards I searched for and found a copy of “Built to Last” which was actually written before “Good to Great”. Anyway I pulled out this book and took some time to start reading it. Neadless to say it really is an impressive piece of work.
So what is it about? Well in a nutshell it talks about the differences between truly visionary companies and companies that are mearly good at what they do. The book was actually put together over the course of 5 years and used an avalanche of material to prove its point. What the authors did was offered up a comparison set of companies. One example of a visionary company is Marriott to Howard Johnson. Both are companies with long histories but the authors go out and prove how Marriott can be considered a truly visionary company. How they are about more than just making money. The best way to explain it might be that Howard Johnson’s just exists to make money but Marriott exists to make people happy when they are away from home.
The authors also make a point of mentioning that even the smallest companies can be about more than just making money. And in fact they can be about more than a founders legacy as well. The company can create its own legacy if a set of core beliefs are developed and through time are actually adhered to. Size doesn’t matter for such a philosophy.
For entrepreneurs it really is something to consider as you go into the future.
Tags: Built to Last, Business Books, Business Planning, Core Beliefs, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management, Motivational, Visionary Companies
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03Feb
As you all know by now I’ve been co-hosting a regular BlogTalkRadio Show each week with Business Coach and SmallBusinessDelivered.com author Steve Smith. Well last week our topic of conversation was Strategic Vision in Small Businesses. This was an especially interesting topic because most small business owners do not truly know what it is they want their business to become.
I mean think about it for a moment. Yes you have a business and it probably consumes most of your waking moments. And maybe just maybe you’ve taken the time to write a business plan for it. But in that business plan did you ever actually ask yourself the question “What Do You Want Your Business To Become”? Think about this for a minute. Don’t just worry about the day to day affairs of running your company. For those wondering what I am talking about I’ll give you an easy example. Say you own one conveniance store. Now ask yourself what you hope that conveinance store will become in ten years. Will you build up a chain of them where you live. Maybe go national, or create a franchise. Or maybe you’re just hoping to cash out one day. What is your strategic vision. What do you hope your business will become?
As I build up www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com I constantly ask myself this question all the time. And the answer does change sometimes at least a little. Some strategic visions are constantly being modified as you learn more about the business you are in and what you can potentially accomplish. Keep this thought in the back of your head and at some point take a moment to consider the question. You may be surprised by the answer you come up with.
To check out our show on Strategic visions just follow the link BlogTalkRadio Show.
Tags: Business Growth, Business Planning, strategic plan. business plan, strategic vision
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02Dec
I just wanted to take the time to tell all of our readers that we’ve been in recruiting mode. If you didn’t already realize it all of our authors are also business coaches that specialize in different fields. Some like Dan Boudreau focus on Business Planning primarily while Kristina Evey is a Customer Service expert and Shirley Fine Lee specializes in both Time Management and Team Building. These are just some examples of the experts who contribute to www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com. Well our recruiting efforts have beared some more fruit. Last week we added Michael Davel Anderson who runs www.trainmetobeceo.com. And this week we’ll be bringing you Allie Casey who specializes in Workplace Communication. Our goal of coarse is to bring our readers the best possible content that we can and I believe we’ve been able to do that. So I hope everyone will take the time to check out her articles as we can certainly benefit from them. Her first article will be up during our next weekly publishing cycle. Again I hope everyone of our readers benefits from all of the great content on www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com.
Tags: Allie Casey, Authors, Business Planning, Customer Service, Dan Boudrea, Kristina Evey, Michael Davel Anderson, New Authors, Shirley Fine Lee, Team Building, Time Management, Workplace Communcation
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30OctBusiness Planning, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management, Motivational, Talk Radio, Uncategorized 1 Comment
Exciting times are coming! Starting this Sunday November 1st. We’ll be airing our first episode of a regular series of radio shows on www.BlogTalkRadio.com. For our first show I’ve lined up Dan Boudreau author of “Business Plan or Bust!” and the recently released book “Riskbuster, Start or Grow any Small Business.” We’ll be covering the topic of business planning and the role such plans play in the success of small businesses. Dan of course is one of the authors on www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com and we have published a number of his articles over the last year or so.
I am hoping that all of my readers of this blog as well as the numerous visitors we’ve been getting to www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com will be able to join us and listen in. If you do you’ll have the chance to call into the show and talk with myself as well as Dan Boudreau live on air. It should really make for an interesting evening as we get into what business plans are all about.
The show will be broadcast at 9pm Mountain time on Sunday November 1st and will last between 45 minutes and an hour. After that a recording of the show will be made available on www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com as well as this blog.
To learn more about the show got to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Small-Biz-Delivered/2009/11/02/Admit-It-Your-Business-is-Suffering-Because-You-Do You’ll need to visit this page to listen in and for the call in number.
Also check out our BlogTalkRadio Home page to learn about future episodes at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Small-Biz-Delivered
I look forward to hearing from you.
Cash
Tags: Authors, BlogTalkRadio, Business Planning, Business Plans, Business Strategy, Dan Boudreau, Interviews, Riskbuster, Talk Radio
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