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CAN'T WRITE A SPEECH OR PRESENTATION? GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU
When it comes to writing and delivering a speech, many
individuals become increasingly intimidated. This feeling of
dread is only worsened if the presentation hosts higher ranking
company officials that can potential make or break your...
How BOLD Can You Go With Your Elevator Speech?
How BOLD Can You Go In Your Elevator Speech?
By Fabienne Fredrickson
"How LOW can you go?" is what you think about when you do the
limbo. Since we're talking about marketing, I'll ask you
this: How BOLD can you go, in describing what...
Increase Productivity: Five Powerful Actions
How can you make the best use of your energy to increase productivity each day? Here are five actions that can increase productivity and leave energy to spare. They will also help you to achieve more balance between your work and personal life. The...
Six Steps to Guarantee Your Business Success
Many of us slave away for years for one uninspiring company after another and dream of the day when we can sack the boss and go it alone. If you’re contemplating starting your own business then I’m here cheering you on from the sidelines because...
What Does It Take To Be an Entrepreneur?
It's a long word, entrepreneur, and it can be a bit
intimidating, conjuring images of outgoing people who seem to
always know where the next big thing in business is coming from.
However, there are qualities to the entrepreneur that are in
many...
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Business 101: Passion Before Planning
Contrary to what myriad Internet sites would have you believe,
there is much more to small business planning than a good
marketing mix and solid financials. Whether you want to sell the
next big thing or you simply want to rev up sales and profits
for an existing operation, no business plan template will
adequately address the complex psychology of being an
entrepreneur, especially a successful one.
To illustrate what I mean, let's pretend you aspire to be the
next coffee shop ingénue. You have articulated a comprehensive
business plan; you have chosen your product lineup, location,
promotion plan, and pricing strategy; and you have snagged some
decent financing to keep you running for at least a year. On
paper, you are a coffee empire in the making. "Great!" you think
to yourself. "Let's get started!"
You proceed to sign the lease, shell out some bucks to a lawyer
and an accountant, order a few gazillion pounds of coffee beans
in anticipation of your success, and open for business.
About six months and a few hundred lattes later, you realize
that you do not possess high tolerance levels for the teen
angst, high turnover, and sleep deprived yet incredibly nitpicky
about
extra-hot-no-whip-non-fat-double-mocha-latte-now-or-I'll-go-posta
l cranky clientele that have suddenly become an intimate part of
your life. You despise this situation but also realize that it
will probably be your reality for many years to come, or at
least until you can make enough margin to take a day off and
enjoy a five-dollar coffee poured for you across the street at
Starbuck's.
Perhaps this all too common scenario points to one explanation
for the alarmingly high failure rate of small business start-ups
in North America. The Business 101 textbook explanation of this
phenomenon would state that failure to plan is the root cause of
most small business shutdowns. Indeed, without some kind of road
map, inspiration can quickly turn to chaos if not complete
financial ruin. But even the most well crafted business plan
cannot cement the road to success, and an entirely fabulous
product is no guarantee either.
Work-at-home business gurus, Paul and Sarah Edwards, cite two
independent studies involving a number of successful
entrepreneurs. Both studies concluded that business plans are
overdone in many cases and their importance even overemphasized.
What is needed, the Edwards say, is a succinct plan that
uncovers key aspects of the market you wish to pursue and a
simple roadmap for pursuing them
(www.workingfromhome.com/pages/faq.htm). Of course, in
approaching the planning process this way, you
are more apt to
make strategic changes when necessary because you will be less
"invested" in the document itself and more interested in doing
whatever it takes to succeed.
Failure to plan is a symptom, not a root cause, of small
business collapse. The true "illness" lies within the heart of
western entrepreneurship and the bizarre twists and turns it has
taken in the information age. Get-rich-quick schemes abound in
magazines and on the Internet, yet the only ones getting rich
from these programs are the passionate individuals who
envisioned the intricate pyramid of wealth in the first place.
However, one need not take such an unethical path of deception
toward financial independence.
My overpriced but thankfully small "l" liberal education taught
me something I have not seen in any business textbook: Determine
the correct questions before seeking answers. In saying this, I
am not at all trying to sound literary, highfalutin or Stephen
Covey-esque (loved 7 Habits by the way). I write only what I
know from observation and experience, and it would seem to me
that you cannot derive health, happiness, or wealth from
something that does not reflect your personality, your vision of
your best self, or your basic code for living.
Money in the hands of an entrepreneur who does not know himself
might as well be lumps of coal. And a business plan written by
such a person is not worth much more. No bank loan or angel
moneys can replace the value of introspection. Some questions
you must ask yourself:
* What are my reasons for pursuing this venture?
* Will those reasons be enough if I don't turn a profit in the
first five years? * What will I have lost if the business fails?
What will I have gained?
* Does this venture reflect who I am? Or am I only trying to be
someone I think I "should" be?
Such questions should be fleshed out long before you begin
typing up that business plan. How you honestly answer those
questions should subsequently color every element of your
marketing mix. Passion must precede planning. This authenticity
will shine through in everything you do and say thereafter,
and--in this day--there is nothing so irresistible to your
prospects as authenticity.
About the author:
Karri Flatla is a business graduate of the University of
Lethbridge and principal of snap! virtual assistance inc., a
small business consulting firm providing online marketing
services to the progressive entrepreneur. Karri also produces
Outsmart, the newsletter for small business with big purpose.
Visit http://www.snap-va.com for more information.
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