E-Book, How to Jumpstart Your Business

T H E E - B O O K E D I T I O N O F

How to Jumpstart Your Business

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Lakewood Ranch, Florida 34202-5137 Phone 941-556-1299 | Fax 941-866-1953 | e-Mail

Small Business Consulting Website http://www.legacyai.com Training & Development Website http://www.TrainingforEntrepreneurs.com

By Terry H. Hill

Managing Partner Training for Entrepreneurs.com / Legacy Associates, Inc. Small Business Consultants

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T H E E - B O O K E D I T I O N O F H O W T O J U M P S T A R T Y O U R B U S I N E S S

The e-Book Edition of How to Jumpstart Your Business

Training for Entrepreneurs.com

Disclaimer

The e-Book Edition of How to Jumpstart Your Business ©2011 Terry H. Hill

All Rights Reserved: This e-Book Edition, How to Jumpstart Your Business, cannot be reproduced or transmitted electronically or mechanically in any form; nor can it be photocopied, recorded, or stored in any retrieval system. If a reviewer wishes to quote brief passages from this e-Book Edition and reproduce them in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web, the reviewer must obtain written permission from the publisher. For information, please contact the Executive Director of Training for Entrepreneurs.com, at 8374 Market Street #167, Lakewood Ranch, Florida, 34202-5137 USA, or e-mail. Disclaimer and/or Legal Notices: The information presented in this e-Book Edition represents the view of the author as of the publication date. However, since circumstances may change over time, the author reserves the right to alter and/or update his opinion piece. The e-Book Edition, How to Jumpstart Your Business, should be used for informational purposes only. Every attempt was made to verify the information provided in this e-Book Edition; however, neither the author or the publisher, nor his affiliates/partners assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions. Any slights to people or organizations are unintentional. If the reader needs advice concerning legal or other related matters, then the reader should seek the services of a fully qualified professional. This e-Book Edition, How to Jumpstart Your Business, is not regarded as a source for legal advice. The reader should be aware of any laws, which govern business transactions or other business practices in his country and state. Reference to any person (living or dead), or any business -- is purely coincidental.


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Preface Whether it's starting a new venture or simply maintaining the same level of energy and enthusiasm you had the day you founded the company, owning and managing a business can be an arduous task. How to Jumpstart Your Business was written to help you, the owner, fast track your company. This e-book was written as a reference guide to provide thoughts and ideas to some of the most pressing issues and challenges you face as a business owner or aspiring entrepreneur. It is a compilation of the answers to some of the most pertinent questions that have been posed to me and my associates over the years. A common statement among many business owners is that “my business is different.” While it is true that all companies have their own unique set of characteristics, it is interesting how all businesses essentially follow the same basic principles as evidenced by the case studies that we have included in this e-Book. One of the greater challenges many business owners face is “finding the time” to get things done. Dealing with the day-to-day demands of running a business can be overwhelming whether the company is a startup, on a fast track or facing challenges. Part of what creates this situation for the owner is that as the “leader of the organization” you are expected to be proficient in every area of the business. In our experience, the majority of the time the business owner started their business because they knew “the business.” Knowing "the business" and knowing “about business” are totally different. This e-book provides a starting point to some of the answers to the questions "about business". All facets of running a business are covered in the e-book:

• Formation • Planning • Financial • Marketing

• Operations • Stakeholders • Transition • Resources

You are encouraged to read the first chapter which discusses the book in greater detail and provides some valuable “real world” experience about running a business. Enjoy the e-Book,

Terry H. Hill





Table of Contents Chapter 1 – Starting or Jumpstarting Your Business Take the Entrepreneurial Leap of Faith with the Help of a Trusted Advisor ................ .......................... 2

Entrepreneurship … a Leap of Faith Purpose of the Book Start Smart and Seek Advice Look at the Big Picture with a General Business Advisor How to Find a General Business Advisor and What to Look For Implement Your Business Advisor's Initiatives to Increase ROI Establish a Relationship with Your General Business Advisor Based on Trust Score Big with a General Business Advisor – Architect vs. Checker Mitigate Risk with the Anecdote to Failure How This Book Is Organized

Chapter 2 – Planning The Foundation of Every Successful Enterprise ............................................. ............................................ 9

Case Study -- The Challenge The Secret to Success … Plan the Work and Work the Plan Achieve Your Vision with a Strategic Business Plan Address the Components of a Strategic Business Plan What does the entrepreneur bring to the table? Identify Your Attributes as an Entrepreneur Examine Your Goals and Objectives Understand the Complexities of Your Venture Analyze the Nature of the Industry Create a Powerful Mission Statement Define and Live Your Company Values Align Your Company's Culture with Its Shared Values and Beliefs Use the SWOT Analysis to Assess Your Business Status Identify Internal and External Factors that Affect Your Progress Prepare Financial Projections to Reflect Realistic Assumptions Avoid an Action Plan that Gathers Dust Execute, Execute, Execute Your Action Plan Determine the Components or Mini-Goals of Your Action Plan Set Short-term Objectives to Achieve Your Ultimate Objective Case Study—Outcome

Chapter 3 – Formation Structure the Enterprise Properly from the Start............................................ ........................................... 23

Case Study -- The Challenge So…You Think You May Be An Entrepreneur? What is an entrepreneur? What Makes an Entrepreneur Tick? What Drives the Entrepreneur to Start a Business? What Skill Set Does/Should an Entrepreneur Have?





Determine that a Viable Need Exists for Your Business/Service Make Sure There's a Market Potential for Your Product/Service Evaluate Your Entrepreneurial Venture Analyze Your Motives for Your Entrepreneurial Venture Assess and Understand Your Tolerance for Risk Generate Demand with Effective Business-building Practices Calculate Potential Risks and Rewards Case Study—Outcome

Chapter 4 – Transition Transform Fledging Businesses into Long-term Businesses ........................................... ............................ 33

Case Study -- The Challenge Be Flexible When Transitioning Your Business What Is an Entrepreneurially-run Business? Advance Beyond the Entrepreneurial Stage---Here's How What Is a Professionally-managed Organization? Use These Helpful Tips When Changing Management Styles Consider Potential Behavioral Issues When Changing Management Styles Understand the Different Stages of Your Business' Life Cycle The Idea Stage and How It Works The Startup Stage---The Debut of Your Organization The Importance of the Growth Stage Stabilize Your Systems, Structures, and Processes to Support Future Growth Ensure Long-term Success---Diversify Recognize the Signs of Decline Tap into the Experience of Professional Managers The Valued Characteristics of Professional Managers Make Sure You Select the Appropriate Organizational Structure for Your Company Set Standards for Your Operating Procedures Create a Basic Organizational Structure Prevent Needless Bureaucracy Case Study—Outcome

Chapter 5 – Finance and Accounting Account for Your Activities Accurately and Consistently ............................... ......................................... 47

Case Study -- The Challenge Get and Keep the Financial Bottom Line Strong Securing Initial Financing Should You Call on Friends and Family? Should you consider angel investors? Evaluate Venture Capital Weigh the Pros and Cons of Conventional Bank Financing Use a Basic, Reliable, Accurate Record-keeping System Use a Basic, Reliable, Accurate Record-keeping System Maintain Accurate Inventory Generate Invoices Quickly and Accurately for Improved Cash Flow Elements of an Invoice Invoicing Guidelines Analyze and Interpret Financial Statements. Here's How… Optimize Your Cash Flow





Understand Your Income Statement. It's Easy… Assess Your Company's Financial Health by Reading Its Balance Sheets Appraise the Financial Health of Your Company with Ratios. What Are Ratios and What Do They Mean? Create and Use Management Reports to Achieve Daily and Long-term Financial Goals Create and Use Sales Reports for Proactive Management Manage Your Business More Effectively---Create and Use Production Reports Case Study—Outcome

Chapter 6 – Stakeholders Leverage Your Stakeholder Wisely......................................... ................................................................. 62

Case Study -- The Challenge Business---It’s About the People Treat Your Employees Fairly … They are the Lifeblood of Your Enterprise Taking Ownership…What Does It Really Mean? Avoid the Danger of Losing Touch with Your Stakeholders Incentives Usually Work…To be Effective, Use Them Wisely. Here's how Positive, Motivating Work Environments…Who Wouldn't Want to Work There Pros and Cons of Partnership A Synergistic Relationship…What Exactly is That View Suppliers as Untapped Resources What is your banker’s involvement? Meet with Your Banker Regularly Your Customer Base---One of Your Most Valuable Assets Understand Your Customers’ Business & Align Your Products with Your Their Needs Seek Professional Help for Challenging/ Overwhelming Issues Advisors Are Bargains When Considering Their Potential Benefits and Value Think Outside the Box Case Study—Outcome

Chapter 7 – Operations Structure Your Operations for Excellence ........................................... .................................................... 74

The Nuts and Bolts of Running Your Business How Do You Form an Administration? Make Experience a Priority When Building an Administrative Team Be Alert to the Risks of Top-heavy Management Assemble a Quality Management Team --- It’s a Reliable Predictor of Small Business Success What about Costs? Create Basic Systems and Processes to Produce Consistent Results Use Baby Steps to Achieve Short and Long-term Goals Standardize Processes and Procedures---Its Essential for Your Company's Growth and Success Streamline Your Business Operations Select Business Facilities Wisely Should You Rent or Own? Make Your Business Facility Sparkle---It Reflects Your Values and Standards Help Managers and Employees Do Their Job---Organize Your Business Systems Design Efficient Workflows to Gain Optimum Business Success Evaluate Equipment Options Judiciously Prevent Equipment Failures---Maintain Equipment Regularly Case Study—Outcome





Chapter 8 – Marketing The Engine that Drives the Enterprise ........................................... ........................................................ 87

Case Study -- The Challenge Connect Your Products and Services with Your Customers Deploy Targeted Messages across Multiple Channels What about Personal Selling? Network and Grow Your Business Consider Including Charitable Work as Part of Your Plan Maintain and Grow Customer Relationships Mine Existing Customers for More Business Experiencing a State of Balance and Stability? Then It's Time to Expand Your Offerings Invest in Understanding Your Customers’ Business Become Your Customer's Trusted, Indispensable Resource Differentiate Yourself from Your Competitors and Grow Perform a Competitive Analysis, and then Strategize Develop Your Unique Selling Proposition Develop a Pricing Strategy Become a Low-Cost Provider Develop a Cost-Plus Model Become a Value-Based Provider Case Study—Outcome

Chapter 9 – Resources Knowing Where to Get the Answer is Critical .......................................... ............................................ 101

Case Study -- The Challenge The Right Information within Easy Reach Keep in Touch with Your Industry---Belong to a Trade Association Access the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Treasure of Resources Access the Web with Its Extraordinary Store of Information Benefit from Aligning Yourself with an Educational Community Additional, Available Resources that Can Support Entrepreneurs

References Great References are the Backbone of any Great Book.......................................... ................................. 107 Profile -- Terry H. Hill An Entrepreneur's Mentor.......................................... .......................................................................... 111 Profile -- Training for Entrepreneurs.com An Online Small Business Community for Business Skills Training, Virtual Mentoring, and Networking Opportunities................................... ...................................................................................................... 113


C H A P T E R 1 : S T A R T I N G O R J U M P S T A R T I N G Y O U R B U S I N E S S


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Starting or Jumpstarting Your Business

Take the Entrepreneurial Leap of Faith with the Help of a Trusted Advisor Entrepreneurship … a Leap of Faith

Entrepreneurship is a multi-faceted adventure that closely resembles a roller coaster ride without exception! When you begin an entrepreneurial journey or “ride,” you are unaware of the gamut of experiences, both disappointing and rewarding, that you will encounter as you undertake this challenge. Entrepreneurial challenges are not unlike most challenges in life. Hard work, long hours, and anxious moments are just a few of the characteristics of the journey to most successful outcomes. There are a few basic issues that entrepreneurs struggle with on an ongoing basis. Although they may be phrased in a variety of ways, they’re generally centered on these four primary issues: more sales, more cash, more time, and the “right” people. Starting your own business is an undertaking that requires more than vision, inspiration, sweat equity, money, and determination. It is that leap of faith that demands that you let go of everything that is safe, comfortable, and proven. It is getting “outside the box” in the biggest way possible.

Beginning a new business venture can be risky, dangerous, and harrowing. However, with the proper preparation, the appropriate knowledge, and the counsel of a mentor or trusted advisor, it can be a liberating and extremely rewarding experience. There’s a reason why many of America’s most successful people are entrepreneurs who started their own businesses and then saw them take off to unimaginable heights. There’s a reason why the Horatio Algers of the world continue to inspire thousands of entrepreneurs every day. There is a reason why some of America’s greatest companies started with an idea, with meager seed capital, and with an individual who had a maniacal belief in the potential of an idea, and along with determination and perseverance, saw it through to success. The reason? The entrepreneurial spirit! For every success, however, there are hundreds of failures. The statistics are not only sobering, but also down right frightening. More than half of all businesses started today will fail. The failure rate is astounding.

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Take a look at recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and this is what you will discover: after two years, across all sectors, 44 percent of all new businesses are no longer in business. After four years, 66 percent no longer exist. And these survival rates don’t vary much by industry. What do the statistics tell us? That most new businesses—whether they’re founded on the most brilliant idea since the theory of relativity or the production of a mundane, but exquisitely necessary manufacturing component—are making fatal mistakes that will ultimately lead to bankruptcy. This much is certain. If more than half of all new business ventures fail, then there are valuable lessons that have not yet been learned. Purpose of the Book This e-book, How to Jumpstart Your Business, is a resource book that teaches entrepreneurs the lessons

learned by many of their predecessors. It should become the entrepreneur’s business desk reference book. Jumpstart draws on the practical working experiences of many successful business leaders, and is truly a collaboration of knowledge and the wisdom of the contributing authors. The timing for this book, along with the critical information within, couldn’t be more appropriate. Entrepreneurship is at an all-time high! After spending 15 to 25 years in corporations and medium-size enterprises, the baby-boom generation made its mark in corporate America. With the availability of time, experience, and investment capital, Baby Boomers are starting up new business ventures. This baby-boom generation is still on the

move! Many of the Generation X-ers and Baby Boomers who became disillusioned with the corporate world, or who were laid off as part of widespread downsizing, have the resources and drive to go out and do exactly what they want to do. They’re mobile. They can choose the geographic climate and location, where they want to live, purchase a business or build a career, and then generate income while doing what they truly desire. They can control their own destinies and search for the best ways to do so. As a result, we are in an era when entrepreneurial energy and innovation, tempered by a realistic understanding of risk and challenge, will have a greater impact on our economy than at any other time in history! Start Smart and Seek Advice Seeking advice is a good thing. If you’re going to succeed in business, you need to be proactive, rather than reactive. The key to entrepreneurial success is your ability to plan, implement, execute, and adjust. It’s very difficult to do all of these things on your own. That is why it is important to align yourself with an experienced, impartial advisor so that together you can more accurately assess, analyze, and implement your envisioned ideas.





Look at the Big Picture with a General Business Advisor— A General Practitioner for Business There are many types of business advisors—financial advisors who inform you of financial and tax issues, legal advisors who can counsel you on contract law and legal requirements, and project advisors who can offer you expertise in specific areas like IT, marketing or HR. Most successful entrepreneurs also work with another type of advisor—a general business advisor. A general business advisor can help with critical business issues like business development, strategic planning, transition management, and overall enterprise health and efficiency. Unlike most business owners who focus on the trees, the general business advisor specializes in seeing the forest. The business owner may look at his financial statements and decide that the cash flow crunch is being caused solely by a problem with sales. Consequently, he decides to engage a sales and marketing specialist to come and attack that single problem. Unfortunately, sales and marketing may not be the root of the problem at all. A business is a system, and any issue within the system is inextricably linked to other issues elsewhere in the system. Like a general practitioner in the field of medicine, the general business advisor looks at the big picture—the entire company—and sees exactly how the various components are working together or not—from accounting to production to administration to sales, marketing, and IT—and understands how they interrelate and where the problem lies. Isolating one problem and bringing in a specialist is like putting a Band-Aid on a cut when you really need a complete physical. With a general business advisor, you can get an accurate, unbiased, comprehensive diagnosis on the entire enterprise. Only then, can you develop and implement an effective strategy to restore the business to optimal health. How to Find a General Business Advisor and What to Look For Choosing a general business advisor is a serious decision. You want to select a general business advisor who is competent and experienced, and with expertise. It is equally important that he be a person of integrity—a person that you can trust since you will be working together in a truly confidential, fiduciary relationship. The best way to find a competent general business advisor is to first reach out to your immediate circle of friends. Talk to your other advisors, your CPA, your attorney, your banker, and your insurance agent. Then, call each candidate to schedule a personal meeting. It is best to have this initial meeting in your office or place of business, and to keep the following points in mind:

• Sensitivity to the Importance of Confidentiality: This is critical. Get a feeling for how the advisor treats the bounds of confidentiality because he or she will be privy to highly confidential information about you and your business.





• Non-compete Policy: Make sure that the candidate is willing to sign a non-compete agreement and will not advise direct competitors of yours during the course of your engagement and for a predetermined period of time thereafter.

• Chemistry: It’s not just for romantic relationships! There has to be chemistry between you and your advisor. This is someone you’re going to work closely with to grow your business. You have to feel a connection, a sense of trust, and you should never feel forced into making a decision at the first meeting. To gauge the level of comfort that you feel, meet your prospective advisor more than once.

• Confidence: Make sure that you have the level of confidence that you need to move forward—and that the person sitting across the desk from you, is as passionate as you are about your business.

• Competence: Confirm that the candidate is properly qualified and that his or her skill set matches your needs. What is the candidate’s “core” competency level and what additional resources can he bring to the engagement?

Implement Your Business Advisor's Initiatives to Increase ROI

There is tremendous value in working with a professional general business advisor, and the return on your investment can be significant. A good general business advisor will be able to come in, analyze your situation, make recommendations, identify areas for cost-saving strategies, and determine where to improve efficiencies. The savings realized in these areas should more than pay for his fees. If, as with many fledgling businesses, you’re experiencing cash flow issues, a good advisor will first look at your available cash to jumpstart your cash flow. What do people owe you? What can you collect tomorrow? How can you convert more of your inventory to cash? Where can you cut expenses? In terms of ROI, these are initiatives that can deliver returns almost immediately.

The savings realized from other recommendations will take more time. If you need to increase revenues, it will take time to ramp up sales and see a return. A good general business advisor will understand your goals, analyze your current situation, and provide strategies from the viewpoint of an impartial third party to help you resolve your particular issues over time. Many business owners know what their problems are, but they don’t know how to resolve them. In these situations, the general business advisor delivers ROI—both short-term, as well as, long-term—by providing a roadmap for improving the company’s performance and helping you find the resources to do so.





Establish a Relationship with Your General Business Advisor Based on Trust Your relationship with your general business advisor is predicated on a foundation of trust. As your relationship matures, so should the level of trust on both sides. This is critical. How the advisor views your business is also important. Your general business advisor should strike a balance between becoming involved enough to understand your business, while maintaining an impartial view. The experienced general business advisor typically begins an engagement by analyzing the company’s current situation. This analysis is made possible through a series of interviews, starting with you, the business owner, and continuing with the various stakeholders of the business. Then, the benchmarking process takes place--- your company’s financial performance is measured against that of your competitors. Further discussions with you, about your visions and goals, enable the general business advisor to gain valuable insight into your personal motivations. After this process is completed, the advisor is well-informed and knowledgeable, and is in a position to develop a strategic plan to take your company from its current situation to your envisioned future position. The trusted general business advisor works hand-in-hand with you and your staff to implement and execute the necessary strategies to successfully accomplish your visionary goals. Score Big with a General Business Advisor – Architect vs. Checker Like most entrepreneurs, you’re probably tempted to do as much as possible on your own, and occasionally bring in an outsider to “check your work.” The biggest problem with this situation is that you’re missing out on the true value that a general business advisor offers—impartial expertise in assessing your overall current situation, understanding your desired state, identifying the gap between current and future state, implementing initiatives, and executing a strategy to bridge the gap. These are things that most entrepreneurs simply do not have time to do because they are too busy running a business. Launching and growing a business is where most entrepreneurs need help. Bringing in a “checker” to review and audit your work really does nothing more than confirm what you already know—something is or isn’t working. While a “checker” performs an important function, it is the professional general business advisor who provides a comprehensive strategic overview and then rolls up his shirtsleeves to assist you with its implementation and execution. A “checker” keeps score. A “general business advisor” helps you score. A qualified general business advisor is a member of your team who works with you to plan and to determine the outcome of the game. As a general business advisor, the goal is to get you on the right track and through the next phase of your business growth successfully.





Mitigate Risk with the Anecdote to Failure Mitigating risks in your business is the main focus of Jumpstart. This book emphasizes the importance of aligning yourself with a professional business expert who can prevent you from falling into the traps that cause many small businesses to fail. It is a practical reference guide that answers commonly-asked questions about starting, financing, forming, growing, marketing, and running a business. When you take all the challenges that you face as a business owner and condense them, you will find that the challenges typically fall into one or more of the following four categories:

• The constant battle to increase sales

• The ever-present issue to improve the cash position

• The struggle to allocate sufficient time

• The recognition and fact that good people make a significant difference Whatever stage of the business lifecycle that you happen to be in, the smartest move you can make is to seek the advice of a professional expert to help you navigate your journey and to keep you on course to a successful future. How This Book Is Organized

How to Jumpstart Your Business is intended for the entrepreneur who is launching a new business, for the entrepreneur who is purchasing a business, the entrepreneur who needs to revamp an existing business, or who simply wants to learn the basic lessons that lead to success. Every entrepreneur has questions. The right answers can provide the guidance you need to take the leap of faith to launch, purchase, or revitalize a business while minimizing risk.

This book is about giving you the tools that you will need to understand the ebbs and flows of the natural lifecycle of a business and to anticipate the challenges that you will inevitably face. Jumpstart provides business intelligence gained from years of experience and the advice of experts to help you get started, or to pick yourself up and start again when, and if, you falter. The information in How to Jumpstart Your Business is organized into nine chapters that cover basic topics of primary concern of any business owner. Each chapter starts with a case study that explores a common business problem experienced by entrepreneurs. The case study is followed by several frequently-asked questions and answers on the relevant topic. Finally, the questions and answers are followed by the resolution of the problem outlined in the case study at the beginning of the chapter. This format makes the book a very effective resource. It makes for quick reading and is an excellent business tool. If you’re having issues with planning—whether it’s drafting a business plan, an action plan





or a marketing plan—you can go right to the planning section, and scan down through the material until you find the needed information. If you want to understand more about reading financial statements, you can review the chapter on “Finance and Accounting,” If you’re looking for marketing strategies and tactics, you can jump right to the chapter entitled, “Marketing Your Business.” The case studies are based on typical business problems that entrepreneurs encounter and the solutions are based on practical, personal experiences in working with clients and contributing authors. Some of the concepts may seem simplistic, but there is great value in their simplicity. Every business is unique. Every business has its own story. But there are universal principles, challenges, and roadblocks that affect virtually every business. And, there are certain “best practices” that produce positive results.


C H A P T E R 2 : P L A N N I N G

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Planning The Foundation of Every Successful Enterprise Case Study -- The Challenge

Chapter

2

John started a commercial bakery on the outskirts of a large metropolitan city a couple of years ago. He had been an experienced baker for a number of years beforehand and he was recognized as one of the premier artisans in the area. He had always felt that if he started his own company, he would be extremely successful. It turned out that he was far more successful than he could have ever imagined! Now he wanted to expand by acquiring a competitor in the area. John knew that, in order to make the acquisition, he needed to get a bank loan. The thought never occurred to him that securing a loan would present a problem. John met with Larry, the bank loan officer, with whom John had been doing business---borrowing small amounts of money to make equipment purchases. But when John approached Larry with a loan proposal for acquiring a new company, well, that was a little different… Larry wanted to know if John had prepared a business plan. He wanted to know how he planned to integrate the new business with his own and whether he had prepared any financial projections for the combined entity. He also wanted to know what synergies John would achieve with the acquisition. John was irritated by all of these seemingly-irrelevant questions. After all, he had been a loyal bank customer for years and had always made his payments on time. He didn’t have the time nor the inclination to deal with these issues. Some of these questions, he thought, couldn’t really be answered until after the acquisition. Surely another bank would see his reasoning. John decided to meet with a second banker only to be told the same thing. However, this time, the banker suggested that he talk to me. John and I met one evening after work when things had settled down for him. He was still irritated about the way he was being treated and didn’t understand why the banks were putting up so many roadblocks. He was also concerned that if he procrastinated much longer, the deal would pass him by. Once John calmed down, I explained to him that the bankers were really looking out for his best interests. I cautioned him that as his business grows, it becomes increasingly important for him to document his thoughts and ideas on paper. In regards to the financing aspects, it is even more critical if a company is contemplating an acquisition. In this situation, he must “look under the hood” of the company before acquiring it. After all, an acquisition can represent a significant investment not only financially, but also in terms of time and effort. This turned out to be a great opportunity for John and me to sit down and look at not only the terms of acquisition, but also John’s business as well. A number of questions that arose in our discussions are presented in this chapter.

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The Secret to Success … Plan the Work and Work the Plan

Starting and running your own business is a highly rewarding, but often risky endeavor. As with anything else, increasing your chances of success begins with preparation. And, when it comes to transforming your dream into reality, the key to successfully Jumpstarting your business is simple: plan the work and work the plan. Whether you’re just getting a new business off the ground, expanding the business you have, or purchasing a business, devote plenty of time to planning:

• Begin with a discovery process to confirm the viability of your venture.

• Do your homework.

• Uncover fundamental objectives, insights, opportunities, and risks.

• Research the market.

• Examine your offering, market conditions, trends, and the competition.

• Excavate potential problems.

• Outline your goals and objectives.

• Compile the business intelligence you need to create a solid foundation of actionable information to chart your present and future direction.

The next logical step is to develop a plan—a strategic business plan that functions as a living document to define your objectives, guide your business, and take you from Point A (where you are today) to Point B (where you’d like to be). But remember—a strategic plan is about more than securing funding—it’s essential to jumpstarting your business. And once you’ve written your business plan, follow it up with an action plan that spells out your short and long-term objectives and how you’ll achieve them. Just remember this—there is no underestimating the power of planning. As the former CEO of Octel and Lucent Technologies notes, “People usually plan their vacations more carefully than they plan their careers. I’m a compulsive planner, but there were times when I had no idea what I was doing.” This chapter is about understanding and articulating your goals and objectives. Even when you have no idea what you’re doing, developing, and implementing a plan improves your chances of achieving your goals. This chapter outlines the fundamental components of crafting a strategic plan to take your business to the next level.





Achieve Your Vision with a Strategic Business Plan Strategic planning is the process by which the key stakeholders (you and your partners) in an organization envision its future and develop the procedures and operations that will enable you to achieve that vision. A strategic business plan serves two purposes. First, it’s an internal document that defines your goals, strategies, and tactics. Second, it’s a tool for raising capital. However, you need a plan, whether you’re looking for capital or not. Without a plan you won’t know where you’re going and you have no way to benchmark or track your progress. With a strategic plan, you have a roadmap that enables you to look ahead, allocate resources, focus on key points, and prepare for problems and opportunities. A well-articulated strategic business plan clearly outlines your vision, goals, priorities, strategies, products, services, and financing needs. It also provides relevant information about your company, your management team, and short and long-term objectives. A business plan focuses on both the positive and negative aspects of your business opportunities, and enables you to plan ahead three to five years. Address the Components of a Strategic Business Plan

As they say, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Likewise, there’s more than one way to write a business plan. Formats, outlines, and lengths may vary, but business plans all tend to share generally-accepted standard components. What are the common denominators? Your plan must be clearly written, logically organized, and convincingly worded. It should target a specific audience. It should outline the details of financing, competition, strengths, weaknesses, and forecasted financial performance. As a rule of thumb, when writing your

plan, include the following components:

• Cover Letter: Write a cover letter to introduce you and your business plan to your audience.

• Title Page: Include a title page that details the content of your plan, your name, address, phone number, names and positions of the executive team, date and contact information.

• Table of Contents: Develop a table of contents to make it easy for readers to find information.

• Statement of Purpose—includes a clearly stated explanation of your company’s goals and how you’ll achieve them. For example, your statement of purpose may be “to provide quality, reliable landscaping services for less in the Phoenix metropolitan area”. Describe your value proposition, whether it’s price, convenience, service or another attribute, how much capital you’ll need, and how you’ll repay it.

• Executive Summary—this is the most important part of your business plan. Include a brief summary that highlights the major points of your plan. Provide background on your business, the





market, your value proposition, key team members, projected ROI (Return on Investment), internal rate of return, and current and potential risks.

• Market Information: Describe your target market(s). Substantiate statements with facts and supporting detail. Include market research on initial and future markets, key market segments, past growth rates, anticipated trends, and changes.

• Company Description: Describe your company, its type, history, legal structure, industry, market, principals, revenue, size, and growth rate.

• Product/Service Description: Describe your offering, relevant business benefits, stage of development, how your product/services will satisfy a real business need and enable you to compete.

• Management Team: Include detailed information on the core members of your team—the people who will run the company, as well as senior partners, attorneys, financial and business advisors. Include names, titles, experience, skills, responsibilities, and compensation.

• Potential Risk Factors: Include an assessment of the risks facing the company. Describe the worst-case scenario and anything that could go wrong today and in the future. Offer strategies for overcoming risk.

• Execution/Action Plan: Describe how you’ll translate your business plan into actionable results down to the finest detail. Relate how you will obtain licenses to do business, open an establishment, get products on the shelf, hire employees, and forge partnerships. Explain production schedules, delivery processes, and customer service policies in order to set operational benchmarks to measure progress.

• Financial Information: Include a section that projects future revenues and profits three to five years out. Base this information on best-case, worst–case and most-likely-case scenarios. Summarize financial data like cash flow, income statements, balance sheets, banking relationships, terms, and rates of loans, financing plans and working capital requirements.

• Legal Preparation: Include corporate bylaws, patents, and trademarks, licenses to do business, employment agreements, and customer contracts. Anticipate the legal and documentary setup your business will require.

Writing a business plan can seem like a daunting task. However, there are many resources available to help you prepare a sound plan. You can find books in your local book store, software programs and templates online and in local computer/software stores or you can work with a consulting firm, a nearby Small Business Development Center or a local business school.





What does the entrepreneur bring to the table? Entrepreneurs as a group share a unique set of attributes that differentiate them from the rest of the general nine-to-five population. Every entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily have all of these traits, but in all likelihood will have some of them. Typical characteristics of an entrepreneur:

• Focused, resilient, determined

• Highly self-motivated

• Charismatic, natural leaders

• Confident and optimistic

• Willing to take calculated risks

• Obsessed with producing results

• Action-oriented, opinionated, independent

• Driven to control their own schedules, workloads, destinies

• Quick to recognize and capitalize on opportunity

• Willing to exchange near-term sacrifices for long-term gains

• Visionaries with the grit to tolerate uncertainty

Identify Your Attributes as an Entrepreneur Now, take this exercise a step further and zero in on your own abilities as an entrepreneur. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What inspires and drives you? Is it wealth? Is it recognition? Or, is it a drive to control your own destiny? This is important. Your personal strengths and weaknesses can have a significant impact on your success. As you plan to Jumpstart your business, factor your strengths and shortcomings into the equation—and the potential impact of both in the best and worst of times.





Examine Your Goals and Objectives

There are many different types of businesses with many different types of goals. Before you do anything, understand what you hope to achieve. Is your goal to start small and stay small? Grow slowly and steadily? Provide a comfortable standard of living but not much more? Or are you driven to become a fast-track, high-growth, wealth-creating business that doubles in size and profitability every few years? A little self-examination can pay lasting dividends. Understand your goals and objectives before you develop a plan—everything flows from

what you want to accomplish.

Once you understand your overall goals, set basic objectives for the near and mid-term-incremental, achievable baby steps that pave the way to your ultimate goal. Your objectives may be quantifiable (revenues or number of customers). They may be relationship-driven (customer acquisition, retention or deeper penetration of existing accounts) or a balance of the two. Articulate your long and short-term goals and objectives to establish a benchmark for measuring success and shifting directions as needed.

Understand the Complexities of Your Venture Every business venture comes with its own set of challenges. As you develop your plan, understand the complexities and potential risks associated with your unique enterprise. For example, you need to understand how macro-economic and industry conditions can affect your business, how competitors can throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans. You need to weigh the chances of obsolescence, challenges with supply and demand, legal complexities, regulatory issues, market volatility and more. Examining the complexities of your venture means unearthing all of the potential problems and risks, whether they’re strategic, operational, financial, or legal. To really get a good handle on these issues and how they might play out, consider the complexities you face today and imagine how they’ll manifest in the future. Typical complexities include difficulty obtaining products or parts, rising prices, labor shortages, gas prices, international exchange rates, staffing issues, the loss of a key client, and research and development expertise. The key—don’t fall into the trap of downplaying risk or complexity. Acknowledge them and develop strategies to handle and overcome these issues. Analyze the Nature of the Industry The importance of understanding your industry goes without saying. If your business is to succeed, you must have an intimate knowledge of the your industry---not just from 30,000 feet, where you consider macroeconomic factors like unemployment rates, inflation, interest rates, and regulatory requirements--- but also from a more immediate perspective. Become knowledgeable about major players, competitors, and whether your industry is seasonal, cyclical, or counter-cyclical. Understand key drivers for your industry—is it powered by research and development? Is it driven by sales and marketing? Is it driven by constant innovation? Is it driven by





price? Or, is it driven by relationships? Get a handle on growth rates—past, present and future. Familiarize yourself with the trends that affect the industry as a whole. With an understanding of the nature of your industry, you can position your business to withstand the vagaries of change, to capitalize on drivers and cycles, seize opportunity, and generate market share. Create a Powerful Mission Statement Also known as a statement of purpose, your mission statement is a summary that encapsulates your organization’s aims, values, and overall plan. In essence, your mission statement describes who you are as a company. It defines your organization, your ambitions, your objectives, and your method of operation. Developing a mission statement is important because it forces you to distill loosely defined notions and ideas into a tangible statement that captures what you’re doing today, what you want to do tomorrow, and how you will do it. Base your mission statement on a clear and simple structure and make it easy to understand. If you can’t communicate your basic mission or purpose, how can you hope to build on it or expect your investors or customers to “get it”? Once established, the mission statement provides a “sanity check” when you’re tempted to shift directions, stray from your primary purpose, or become captivated by new opportunities. The Chairman of General Electric, Jack Welch sums up the value of the mission statement in this phrase, “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Define and Live Your Company Values Company values, also known as core values—are something we’ve all become familiar with in recent years. They’re basic, central values that integrate a culture and help distinguish it from others. There are two ways to make company values meaningful—defining them and living them. Defining your company values is as simple as considering what you want your company to stand for. Determine what is acceptable and what is not, and define these things in writing. Revisiting Jack Welch’s perspective on business, GE’s core values are “Imagine, Solve, Build, and Lead”—bold verbs that express exactly what it means to be part of GE. Their action-oriented nature not only conveys who GE is as a company, but also serves to energize GE teams around leading change and driving performance. What are your company values? Whether they revolve around ethical business practices, a passion for quality, a focus on innovation, teamwork or integrity, think about the guiding principles that you want to define your company. Articulate them in a way that resonates with your customers, your employees, your vendors, and your partners. Then live them every day.





Align Your Company's Culture with Its Shared Values and Beliefs

Whether you are aware of it or not, every organization has one. What is company culture? Webster’s Dictionary defines culture as “the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends on man’s capacity for learning and transmitting information to succeeding generations.” In the business environment, culture is much the same. It’s a system of shared values and attitudes about how work gets done and how people and materials are affected. It is a set of

shared beliefs, practices, and assumptions that people base behavior on. A more informal definition defines company culture as “the way we do things around here.” However you define it, your company culture matters. It can impact hiring practices, strategy, goal alignment, motivation, control, and performance. The good news is the planning stage provides a great opportunity to create a culture that empowers employees, drives revenues, and optimizes your future. Here’s the key. The individual who leads the company is the only one who can establish values, create a culture, and set the vision and strategic direction. As you do this, be sure to align your culture with the type of work you do. Cultures that are right in one context can be disastrous in another. Is yours a casual, loosely organized group of developers or designers in an environment that encourages collaboration and innovation? Or, is your culture a hard-driving sales environment that rewards competition and individual performance? Here’s another tip. Keep your culture agile. If it’s fluid, it can adapt to changing conditions. Many people believe strong cultures equate to strong performance. This is true—if the company is moving in the right direction. If it isn’t, a strong culture simply fast-forwards failure. Check your compass. Check the strength of your culture. Make sure it supports the work you do. If it doesn’t, realign to suit your customers, your market, and your offering. Use the SWOT Analysis to Assess Your Business Status before You Develop Your Business Plan

SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It’s an assessment technique that paints a vivid picture of how your business stacks up when you consider these four factors. SWOT is a simple, popular way to gather and use information in preparing or amending your business plan. It’s also useful in solving problems, making decisions, and educating staff when change is necessary. In brief, SWOT means identifying:

• Strengths: Internal factors such as expertise, innovation, resources





• Weaknesses: Internal factors such as a high level of debt, labor shortage

• Opportunities: External advantages such as a rapidly growing market where demand outstrips

supply

• Threats: Potential external risks such as competitors undercutting your pricing, natural disasters, changes in the general business environment

Calculate SWOT and you can quickly identify your venture’s pros and cons. Aligning internal strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats is essential to sound strategic planning. With SWOT you know where you stand today and what you need to do by identifying and prioritizing the issues that will accelerate success or bring it to a screeching halt. In the planning stages of Jumpstarting your business, SWOT is essential to your business plan—especially if you’re looking for capital. Why? Investors appreciate any type of analysis that minimizes risk. Identify Internal and External Factors that Affect Your Progress The SWOT analysis builds on internal and external factors that together can impact your business success. To calculate SWOT you need to understand the factors—internal and external—that will affect your progress. Internal factors are those within your control that take place within your business environment; for example, you have on staff the leading experts in your field---a definite advantage. External factors are general conditions and environmental factors that are outside your control; for example, you run a local coffee shop and Starbucks is opening a store across the street. The key is to examine and identify all of these factors, quantify how they can affect your business in the likelihood that some or all of the factors will come into play, and then develop a contingency plan. Examine each of the internal and external factors and develop reasonable responses. Internal Factors:

• Operational Issue: The efficiency of your operation

• Staff and Employees: The loss of a key salesperson or designer

• Capacity: Resources available to match supply with demand

• Cash Flow: The timely flow of revenues to pay financial obligations

• Cost: Costs of Doing Business: Payroll, equipment, rent

• Productivity: Ability to produce desired number of products or level of service within a given

timeframe





• Machine Reliability and Uptime/Downtime: Assurance that production will continue

according to plan with costly delays or downtime External Factors:

• The General Business Environment:: Interest rates and demographics

• Economic Change: A sudden deterioration in the geographic or regional market or growth in

the macroeconomic climate

• Industry/Market/Customer Trends

• Changes in the Competitive Landscape

• Technology Trends: Trends can they be used to your advantage.

• Regulatory Environment: Changes that can create opportunity.

• Weather Issues: If you are a tennis-pro, a painter, or a landscaper, long periods of bad weather can limit revenue-generating opportunities.

• Product Availability: Materials you count on for manufacturing are suddenly impossible to obtain.

Prepare Financial Projections to Reflect Realistic Assumptions Projecting the future is a daunting proposition, with or without a crystal ball. When it comes to jumpstarting your business, though, it’s a challenge you have to face. Fortunately, your financial projections do not have to be perfectly accurate—they just need to reflect realistic assumptions about how expected cash flow will service debt. Financial projections should go out three to five years, providing a "best guess" estimate of how you expect your venture will fare financially. Investors want numbers, and they want them backed up by solid reasoning. Also known as pro-forma financial projections are required for startups, acquisitions of existing companies, or for expansions. When you prepare financial projections, you need to provide best- and worst-case scenarios. There are several ways to develop financial projections. You can:

• Extrapolate based on historical performance.

• Perform an industry analysis and profile a comparable company.

• Use existing sales commitments to calculate a worst-case scenario.

• Conduct market research to assess market demand for product/service.





• Make projections based on your own expectations and assumptions.

Whatever method you choose, develop your pro-forma from the top down, projecting revenues against debt and costs like rent, labor, materials, and services, demonstrating how your anticipated cash flow will offset your company’s debt. Avoid an Action Plan that Gathers Dust

Creating a strategic business plan is a great first step. But if your business plan gathers dust on a shelf, its value is lost. This is where the action plan comes in. It’s the place where the rubber meets the road—the catalyst that transforms your business plan into actionable results. Your action plan sets priorities and describes the specifics of implementing your business plan. Long-term and short-term objectives should be key components of your business plan.

Define your long-term objectives first and then set short-term objectives—baby steps—that break the larger goal down into easy-to-achieve chunks. Review these mini-goals every three to six months, and keep checking to see if you’re meeting your objectives. Use your action plan to define how you’ll operate your business on a day-to-day basis. Address issues such as how and when you’ll manage research and development, hire employees, serve customers, market your offering, publicize your company, and work with partners and vendors. Your action plan should get down to legal brass tacks as well. You need to provide detailed information about legal preparation and documents. Describe how you’ll obtain trademarks and licenses; rent space or create a home office; order, install, and maintain equipment; purchase and inventory supplies; market your business; and distribute products and services. In other words, your action plan turns your business plan into a game plan that makes it real. Execute, Execute, Execute Your Action Plan You’ve established your vision, created a business plan, secured funding, and outlined an action plan. Now it’s time to act. So how do you execute your action plan? Once you’ve identified your long and short-term objectives, you’re ready to execute using a baby-steps approach that incrementalizes (now that's a new word) the entire process. Want to execute your action plan in the simplest, most success-prone manner? Try this:

• Create an action plan based on your business plan.

• Review the action plan with your team and solicit feedback.





• Agree on a strategy and a direction.

• Review your long and short-term objectives.

• Break the objectives down into manageable components.

• Identify required tasks and prioritize them.

• Begin executing against these goals, taking incremental, baby steps.

• Break large tasks down into manageable short-term efforts. As each smaller goal is reached, you’ll experience a sense of accomplishment and generate momentum and confidence.

• Remember—it’s not necessary to start out by attacking the most important issue if you can get some little ones out of the way first.

Determine the Components or Mini-Goals of Your Action Plan Your action plan establishes your priorities, defines the tasks you need to perform, and determines a realistic timetable for accomplishing the tasks. The actual components of your plan are mini-goals that may or may not include the following:

• Site Location: Scope out an office site or store location. Plan how you’ll set up and stock your store or small office/home office.

• Legal Preparation: Prepare bylaws, patents, trademarks, licenses, employment agreements,

customer contracts, and other documents.

• Research and Development: Identify the research that needs to be done, list the necessary steps to develop your offering, establish your production process including the machinery, supplies and input you need, prioritize R&D initiatives, set budgets, and establish schedules.

• Hiring People: Determine the new required positions, the process you’ll use to recruit and hire

the expectations, compensation, benefits, hours, functions of the new employee/s.

• Customer Service/Fulfillment: Determine how you will deliver your products/services to your customers. Via a reseller network? Distributors? Retail stores? Subcontracting? Map out processes/requirements and forge alliances.

• Sales and Marketing: Decide how you’ll reach customers. Develop a sales and marketing plan

that details marketing materials, web strategy, public relations, and brand development. Identify selling techniques, targets, regions, and client types. Create a PR plan. Develop business cards, stationery, website, and brochures.





• Vendor Relations: Develop a process for selecting suppliers and managing relationships. Set expectations, develop billing rules, and agree on reporting systems.

• Managing Resources: Set up systems for storing, tracking, and managing resources/inventory,

software, shipping services etc.

• Branding: Determine how you will brand/differentiate your company based on your value proposition. Build a platform, and determine how you will communicate a unified message across every point of contact.

Set Short-term Objectives to Achieve Your Ultimate Objective As an entrepreneur, the shortest distance between you and your dream is setting basic milestones and concrete objectives in the short and medium term. As we mentioned, short-term objectives are the bridge between your business plan and your action plan. And setting up and achieving your ultimate objective means dividing it into smaller, achievable objectives. You wouldn’t attempt to scale a mountain in a day. Nor should you attempt to achieve your long term business goal at once. Instead, break down your ultimate goal into short-term objectives—incremental milestones—that you can confidently reach and that will help you achieve your long-term goals as painlessly as possible. Here are just a few examples of short-term objectives:

• Find and rent office space.

• Obtain licenses and certificate of occupancy.

• Purchase and install equipment.

• Hire quality employees.

• Establish work schedules.

• Finalize legal agreements.





Case Study—Outcome

John and I sat down and laid out a business plan for the company. We talked about John’s personal goals and objectives, and those he had for the company and its employees. We also crafted a mission statement, talked about the company’s strategic plan, and discussed the direction that John felt the industry was headed in the next three to five years.

We then had the same discussion regarding the company that he wanted to acquire. We took a good look at the cultures of the two companies to find out how congruent they were. We also reviewed an integration/action plan that addressed important questions such as, how would the two companies merge---would they continue to coexist, or would they operate out of one facility? And, if there was a duplication of administrative effort, how could we solve this issue.

John had never really considered this important issue: If he were to acquire the company, the acquisition would have to make good sense---logistically, synergistically--- even before John looked at the viability of the acquisition financially.

Once he analyzed the situation, John realized that he really didn’t have the resources to take over an additional operation at the time, nor did he feel that the business would fit in culturally with his own. He did, however, confirm his intent to acquire a competitor’s company in the future.

This exercise allowed us to document and formalize the company’s goals and objectives. It also provided a roadmap for investigating other opportunities. Six months later, John made his first acquisition with the bank’s blessing. Looking back on the entire experience, John realized that, if he had gone through with the first acquisition, it could very easily have put him out of business.





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References Great Resources are the Backbone of any Great Book

Chapter 2: Planning Corporate Culture and Performance, John P. Kotter Corporate Cultures, Terence E. Deal, and Allan A. Kennedy The Successful Business Plan, Secrets, and Strategies, Eugene Kleiner The Entrepreneur Guidebook for Success, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Finance and Business: Wealth Creation Techniques for Growing a Business, Steve Rogers Beyond Entrepreneurship, Turning your business into an enduring great

company James C. Collins, William C. Lazier Entrepreneur Magazine, an Introduction to Business Plans, Laura Tiffany, March 2001

Chapter 3: Formation Essentials of Entrepreneurship, What it takes to create successful enterprises, collaboration of 60 experts The Entrepreneurial Mindset, Strategies for continuously creating opportunity in an age of uncertainty, Rita Gunther McGrath Growing Pains, Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm, Eric G. Flamholtz, and Yvonne Randle SBA: Entrepreneurial Risk and Market Entry, a Working Paper by Brian Wu,

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Anne Marie Knott, Robert H. Smith School of Business, U of Maryland, Vienna, Virginia SBA: The Small Business Economy, a Report to the President, 2004 Entrepreneur Magazine, Think like an Entrepreneur, Michael Gerber, December 2004

References

R


R E F E R E N C E S



Chapter 4: Transitions Business Plans that Win Venture Capital, Terence P. McGarty Beyond Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company James C. Collins, William C. Lazier Growing Pains: Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm, Eric G. Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle Entrepreneur Magazine, Operations, and Management Plans Surfing the Edge of Chaos, Richard Pascale, Mark Milleman, Linda Gioja

Chapter 5: Finance and Accounting The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Finance and Business. Wealth Creation Techniques for Growing a Business, Steve Rogers Venture Capital, The Definitive Guide for Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Practitioners, Joel Cardis, Sam Kirschner, Stan Richelson, Jason Kirschner, Hildy Richelson Fundamentals of Venture Capital, Joseph W. Bartlett Accounting and Finance for Your Small Business, E. James Burton and

Steven M. Bragg Accounting and Finance Fundamentals for Non-financial Executives, Robert Rachlin and Allen Sweeny Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Book You’ll Ever Need, Rieva Lesonsky and the Staff of Entrepreneur Magazine, © 1998 Entrepreneur Press Entrepreneur Magazine: How to Better Manage Your Cash Flow, December 2003 Entrepreneur Magazine: The Truth about Venture Capital, Paul De Ceglei, February 2000 Ohio State University Fact Sheet, Community Development, 700 Ackerman Road, Suite 235, Columbus, OH 43202-1578

Chapter 6: Stakeholders Leadership and Self-Deception, Getting Out of the Box, The Arbinger Institute Get Them on Your Side, Samuel B. Bacharach Entrepreneurial Transitions: From Entrepreneurial Genius to Visionary Leader, Roy Cammarano Growing Pains, Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm, Eric G. Glamholtz & Yvonne Randle Beyond Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company, James C. Collins, William C. Lazier

The Entrepreneur’s Success Kit, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman Thinking Out of the Box: How to Market Your Company into the Future, Kathy C. Yohalem, February 1997, John Wiley & Sons Entrepreneur Magazine, Keep Your Banker Informed, Keith Lowe, April 2002


R E F E R E N C E S



Chapter 7: Operations Execution, The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan The Ultimate Small Business Guide, a Resource for Startups and Growing Businesses The E Myth Revisited, Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber Growing Pains, Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally

Managed Firm, Eric G. Glamholtz & Yvonne Randle Beyond Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company, James C. Collins, William C. Lazier The Entrepreneur’s Success Kit, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman Entrepreneur Magazine, Selecting the Best Manager, David G. Javitch. July 4, 2005 Entrepreneur Magazine, Top-Heavy Nichole L. Torres, January 2004, Entrepreneur Magazine, Owning Up, Mark Henrick, August 2003 Entrepreneur Magazine, How Efficient is Your Workspace? Sue McMillin, July 2002 Entrepreneur Magazine, To Lease or not to lease, Jill Amadio, February 1998

Chapter 8: Sales and Marketing

The Ultimate Small Business Guide, a Resource for Startups and Growing Businesses The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Finance and Business, Wealth Creation Techniques for Growing a Business, Steven Rogers The E Myth Revisited, Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber Growing Pains, Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally

Managed Firm, Eric G. Glamholtz & Yvonne Randle The Entrepreneur’s Success Kit, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman The Stakeholder Strategy, Profiting from Collaborative Business Relationship, Ann Svendsen Managing Customer Relationships: A Strategic Framework, Don Peppers, Martha Rogers Surfing on the Edge of Chaos, Richard Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja Customer Relationship Management (The Briefcase Book Series) Kristin L. Anderson, Carol J. Kerr Entrepreneur Magazine, The Middle of the Road: Strike a perfect balance when setting your prices to make a higher profit, Jacquelyn Lynn, December 1996 Entrepreneur Magazine, Building Customer Relationships, January 2001, Kim T. Gordon Entrepreneur Magazine, Your community needs you, but what—and—where is it? February 2001 Entrepreneur Magazine. Learn Your Unique Selling Proposition. Every business has something that makes it unique February 04, 2002


R E F E R E N C E S



Chapter 9: Resources The Ultimate Small Business Guide, a Resource for Startups and Growing Businesses Entrepreneur Magazine, Help for Business Owners, February 11, 2002, Jane Applegate Business Start-Ups Magazine, Team Effort: Put Uncle Sam in your corner with free help from the SBA April 1998, Karen Roy

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writes regularly about a variety of business topics. His writings appear in the firm's weekly Business Insights Blog and Tech for Business Blog as well as numerous other business publications.

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Training for Entrepreneurs.com offers two (2) Virtual Mentoring Program options: Individual and Group.

The TFE One-to-One Virtual Mentoring Program is a fee-based, month-to-month service that focuses entirely on the individual's specific business issues and challenges.

Learn more and enroll in TFE One-to-One Mentoring!

Each Program within the TFE Virtual Group Mentoring Series is priced individually. The TFE Get-Business-Smart Series of Group Mentoring Programs include:

• Work-Smart Mentoring Program: For individuals who want to become more super productive.

• Start-Smart Mentoring Program: For individuals who need guidance with starting their new business.

• Grow-Smart Mentoring Program: For individuals who need guidance with growing their existing business.

• Plan-Smart Mentoring Program: For individuals who want to learn and implement practice-proven strategic planning, thinking, and managing methods.

• Brand-Smart Mentoring Program: For individuals who want to learn and incorporate high-impact branding and marketing strategies which generate a rich flow of new business opportunities.

• Exit-Smart Mentoring Program: For business owners who want to maximizes the value of their business at the time of their exit.


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Both the TFE individual and group mentoring benefit business owners and executives because they help them apply their business knowledge and help them master specific business skills – tactics, techniques, and strategies that are critical to business development. Acquiring specific knowledge and skills, and interacting with a TFE Business Mentor, helps individuals gain confidence that will advance their business development success.


Documents

E-Book, How to Jumpstart Your Business