eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Whether you're starting your first business or you're a serial entrepreneur, you know how important a good business plan is to your business's ultimate success. Bad or non-existent business plans are a primary cause of business failure. But don’t fret! Business Planning Essentials For Dummies gives you all the essential, practical information you need to succeed—from deciding what your business is really all about to building a long-term vision of where your company will go. In between, the book covers budgeting and finance, pricing, predicting sales, and much more.
- Covers all the essentials of writing a business plan and getting on the road to turn your plan into a reality
- Serves as an ideal refresher or introduction to the topic in an affordable small-format edition
- Intended for anyone starting their first business or even just thinking about it
Business Planning Essentials For Dummies is packed with everything you need to know to get started on building your dream business. So what are you waiting for?
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781118641293 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 07/07/2014 |
| Sold by: | JOHN WILEY & SONS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 192 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go From Here 3
Chapter 1 Letting Your Plan Take Flight 7
Getting Your Feet Wet 8
Deciding who this plan is for 8
Choosing your dance partners 8
Looking at online planning tools 9
Scoping the Nature of Your Plan 11
Structuring your plan 11
Setting aside enough time 12
Deciding how far into the future you want to go 15
Scoring Your Business 16
Chapter 2 Figuring Out What's So Special about You 19
Understanding Strategic Advantage 20
Looking at examples of strategic advantage 20
Understanding how risk relates to gain 21
Justifying Why You Can Succeed 22
Developing Your Strategic Advantage Statement 24
Drafting your statement 24
Growing your advantages over time 25
Looking Around for More Ideas 26
Chapter 3 Sizing Up the Competition 27
Understanding Why Analysing Competitors is So Important 28
Engaging in Cloak-and-Dagger Tactics 29
Doing a competitor profile 29
Mirror, mirror on the wall 31
Choosing Your Competitive Strategy 32
Weighing up your options 33
Matching competitive strategy to your strategic advantage 34
Taking a Bird's-Eye View 35
Thinking about future competitors 35
Observing industry trends 36
Responding to industry trends 37
Chapter 4 Spotting Opportunities, Threats 39
Looking at Your Strengths and Weaknesses 40
Putting yourself through the griller 40
Prioritising where you need to do better 41
Identifying Opportunities and Threats 42
Pulling the Pieces Together 45
Putting theory into practice 45
Translating your SWOT analysis into action 46
Chapter 5 Separating Yourself from Your Business 49
Deciding What Path You Want to Take 50
Doing the thing you love to do 51
Getting help and delegating what you can 52
Building a business that's separate from you 53
Creating a way of doing business 54
Wearing Different Hats 56
Building a Business with a Life of its Own 58
Defining your difference 58
Documenting and building systems 60
Setting goals for you and your business 62
Planning for a graceful exit 63
Appreciating the Limitations of Your Business 63
Chapter 6 Budgeting for Start-Up Expenses 65
Creating a Start-Up Budget 66
Purchasing materials and inventory 66
Listing your start-up expenses 67
Including expenses paid for out of personal funds 69
Adding enough to live on 69
Separating Start-Up Expenses from Operating Expenses 70
Assessing How Much You Really Need 71
Understanding Finance Options 72
Getting into bed with the bank 73
Offering up collateral 74
Seeking equity partners 74
Borrowing from family 75
Chapter 7 Figuring Out Prices and Predicting Sales 77
Choosing Pricing Strategies 78
Setting prices based on costs 78
Setting prices based on competitors 78
Setting prices based on perceived value 79
Building a Hybrid Pricing Plan 80
Offering a premium 80
Cutting back the frills 80
Getting creative with packages 81
Charging different prices for the same thing 81
Forming Your Plan of Attack 82
Building Your Sales Forecast 83
Calculating hours in a working week 84
Predicting sales for a new business 86
Predicting sales for an established business 87
Creating Your Month-by-Month Forecast 88
Chapter 8 Calculating Costs and Gross Profit 91
Calculating the Cost of Each Sale 92
Identifying your variable costs 92
Costing your service 94
Costing items you buy and sell 94
Creating product costings for manufacturers 96
Understanding Gross Profit 97
Calculating gross profit 97
Figuring out gross profit margins 98
Looking at margins over time 98
Analysing Margins for Your Business 99
Calculating margins when you charge by the hour 99
Calculating margins when you sell products 100
Calculating margins if you do big projects 101
Building Your Gross Profit Projection 102
Simply you 103
Adding little helpers 103
Small-scale productions 104
More in the mix 105
Chapter 9 Planning for Expenses 107
Concentrating on Expenses 108
Separating start-up expenses from other expenses 108
Thinking of what expenses to include 109
Building a 12-month projection 112
Finetuning Your Worksheet 114
Recognising relationships 114
Allowing for irregular payments 115
Playing the 10 per cent rule 115
Thinking about Taxes and Loan Repayments 116
Allowing for personal and company tax 116
Understanding where other taxes fit in 116
Dealing with loan repayments and interest 117
Factoring in Personal Expenses 118
Chapter 10 Assembling Your Profit & Loss Projection 119
Understanding More About Spreadsheets 120
Building Your Profit & Loss Projection 120
Step one: Projected sales 120
Step two: Variable costs 122
Step three: Expenses budget 123
Step four: The bottom line 125
Step five: Tax, glorious tax 125
Checking you've got it right 126
Analysing Net Profit 127
Calculating net profit margins 127
Assessing whether your net profit is reasonable, or not 127
Thinking further ahead 128
Taking Things a Step Further 129
Measuring risk and your comfort factor 129
Looking at cashflow 129
Creating Balance Sheet Projections 131
Chapter 11 Developing a Strong Marketing Plan 133
Laying Down the Elements 134
Writing an eloquent introduction 134
Building a brand people want 135
Defining Your Target Market 136
Thinking creatively about channels 137
Researching the market 137
Setting Sales Goals and Strategies 138
Thinking beyond the dollar 138
Getting SMART 139
Creating strategies to support your targets 140
Planning for Customer Service 142
Keeping Yourself Honest 143
Comparing targets and actuals 143
Tracking referral sources 144
Analysing online success 145
Chapter 12 Pulling Together Your Written Plan 147
Reviewing the Overall Structure 148
Introducing Your Business 151
Devising a mission statement 151
Crafting a company description 152
Refining your overall strategy 153
Plunging into the Financials 154
Presenting your key reports 154
Pleading for finance 155
Completing the Rest of Your Plan 156
Selling yourself and your team 156
Providing a quick summary of operations 157
Introducing the killer marketing plan 158
Setting Milestones for Every Step 158
Chapter 13 Ten (Almost!) Questions to Ask before You're Done 161
Can You Summarise Your Business in 30 Seconds or Less? 161
Does Your Plan Truly Evaluate Competitors? 162
Have You Double-Checked Your Numbers? 163
Do Your Numbers Fit Your Goals? 163
Have You Cast Your Net as Wide as Possible? 164
Have You Made Any Assumptions You Can't Justify? 165
What Do Others Think? 165
Do You Have a Get-Out Plan? 166
Is Your Plan Inspirational? 166
Index 167