CITY BEAT CITY TALK  

BUSINESS IN THE 22^ND CENTURY - CAN YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVE THE NEW TECHNOLOGY

THIS WEEK WE’RE FOCUSING ON BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE REAL ENTREPRENUERIAL AGE?

CAN THE BUSINESS YOU HAVE ALREADY, SURVIVE AND SERVICE THE COMING TECHNOLOGICAL BOOM?

THE ADVANCES IN COMMUNICATION AND HOW WE HUMANS INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER IS BECOMING EASIER, YET MAKE IT A LOT LESS OF A PERSONAL INDEVOUR. WE CAN NOW TALK WITH PEOPLE ONLINE THROUGH TEXT, VIDEO, CHAT LINES, AND WITH THIS LATEST TECHNOLGY FROM BLOGTALKRADIO.C OM IT IS NOW JUST AS SIMPLE FOR EVERYMAN TO HAVE HIS OR HER OWN RADIO STATION ON AIR IN A MATTER OF MINUTES.

AND WHAT DOES THIS DO TO BUSINESS AND THE HAPPY ENTREPRENUER WHO SITS AT SOME DESK SOMEWHERE IN A BRICK AND MORTAR BUILDING? IT BASICALLY PUTS THEM OUT IN THE COLD.

WITHOUT AN ONLINE PRECENCE THESE DAYS, BUSINESSES ARE SOLELY DEPENDENT ON EITHER FOOT TRAFFIC, WORD OF MOUTH OR THEIR CURRENT CUSTOMER BASE.

THOSE SMART ENOUGH TO HAVE A WEB PRESENCE KNOW THAT ONE THIRD OF THEIR BUSINESS CAN COME THROUGH ONLINE INTERACTION WITH CUSTOMERS… CURRENT NEW, AND POTENTIAL BUSINESS.

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TODAY YOU CAN HAVE ONLINE CONFERENCES WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS ACROSS THE WATERS JUST AS EASY AS SPEAKING WITH THE PERSON NEXT DOOR. ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY ALLOW VIRTUAL VISUAL MEETING WITH CLIENT SO YOU SEEM IN THE ROOM WITH THEM AND IT NO LONGER MATTERS WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE NEXT DOOR OR THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY!

SO WE’RE GOING TO DEAL WITH HOW DO YOU DO BUSINESS IN THE 22^ND CENTURY AND WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SURVIVE AND SERVICE YOUR CUSTOMERS! First lesson:

ALWAYS KNOW THAT:

The most important person to come into an organization whether in person, on the phone,  or by mail.

The person who ultimately pays my pay check.
I really work for Them.

They’re Not someone with whom I should argue.

Dale Carnegie said:

"The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it"
—especially with customers.

Someone with whom I will learn patience,
even though he is not always patient with me.

Someone who can make or break my day,
depending upon how I react to her comments.
I can easily control my life by controlling
how I respond to situations.

Someone who has biases and prejudices just like I do.
He may not like my hair; I may not like his clothes.
Yet he is a special human being and my customer.

Someone I take care not to offend.
Even when she is wrong, I point out the mistake
indirectly and politely,

Someone who is sometimes a challenge.
I embrace the challenge
and am glad when I can turn a frown into a smile.

Someone who is very special.
She is my customer for a few short minutes
and I focus on serving her needs 100% when I am helping her.

Someone with whom I will go the "extra mile. "
He may not realize it, but I realize
that the difference between mediocre and excellent
is just 10%.

Rebecca L. Morgan, CSP

business PLAN
preparation

WHAT YOU NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN
PLANNING A BUSINESS, AND WRITING

THE BUSINESS PLAN.
If you've considered going into business for yourself, the step to planning has already been approached. You have thought about the type of business you want to start, and the way you want it, and probably even about the personal issues that accompany a decision to start your own
business, in its most general sense,  business planning is all about taking your dream and building it into a reality.

So what is a real written Business Plan?

a business plan is the document you create when you take an idea for a commercial endeavor and work through all the factors that will have an impact on the successful startup, operation, and management of the business.   Smart entrepreneurs plan, not because accountants or business
advisors tell them to, but because they understand that it increases their chances for success.   Sure, there are successful businesses whose owners fly by the seat of their
pants and never create a written business plan. But they succeed despite the lack of a formal plan, not because of it. How much better might they have done had their good ideas
been coupled with some solid planning?

Creating a comprehensive business plan is the only logical step in the process of confirming, and presenting the viability of any new business. A well-written plan may well be the vehicle that carries your new idea from the conceptual and planning phase down the road to the building
and operational phases.

Or, it may help establish your present business's credentials for purposes of obtaining bank financing or investment by future partners. A plan for an existing business may just
deal with a single aspect of your business, such as a new product introduction and its impact on financial management and other ongoing operational issues.

In this segment we address some questions about preparing your business plan:

1. What can a business plan do for me?

Benefits from documenting what you know will
work, and why it helps make your venture have more
chance for success.

2. Writing the Plan.

Do you know whom you’re writing for? How will
you assimilate the needed information?   What it
should look like.

3.  Using your business plan.

POINT OF FACT: A Business Plan provides Real World results and what to do when things don't go as planned.

WHAT CAN A BUSINESS PLAN DO FOR ME?

Many people think that the only reason to develop a business plan is to convince potential lenders or investors to provide financial backing. This view is a little shortsighted however. A well-developed plan can serve as one of your most important management tools.   A good plan will provide a blueprint, and step-by-step instructions on how to translate your ideas into a profitably marketed service or product.

Remember, no two business plans will look alike. There are a number of key considerations that will play an important role in shaping the content. These considerations include whether you're writing the first plan for a new business or business opportunity, or a plan that updates or
supersedes an already existing plan.

Obviously, your business's position in the life cycle will have a significant impact on type of planning that's needed.

An ongoing business might require a plan that relates to new market that it wants to enter, or a new product that it wants to introduce.

BENEFITS OF THE WRITTEN PLAN

Everyone who opens his or her own business has a plan, however informal. The camera store clerk who decides to open a photography studio may not have a formal, written plan outlining the steps to be taken.

However, at some level she has organized the relevant information, performed her own analysis of the market, and decided that she can make a living by starting out on her own. Perhaps, moonlighting for weddings and other occasions has shown her that her professional services are sufficiently needed to support her without the camera store job.

What steps did she take to reach the decision to go into usiness for herself? Hopefully, at a minimum, she sat down and tried to compile a list of what it would mean to leave a salaried position and take on a free-lance career. At the top of that list would have to be what she felt would be the comparison of the net income from free-lancing to the net salary. That would involve estimating the number of jobs
she could reasonably expect. The cost to provide the services and the price she could charge.

The irregular timing of payments versus a steady income might present personal cash flow problems. However, even if our hypothetical camera store ^"^sm clerk has a well thought out plan entirely in her head, at some point she will need to communicate it to others, such as suppliers, professional advisors, and perhaps a banker from whom she wants to obtain a line of credit. Having a written plan is an essential communication tool, since it's not practical to explain your options in person each time someone needs to know who you are.

Moreover, the odds are that our budding entrepreneur has not thought out every significant aspect of her future business.

Going through the process of creating a written plan can help you to be sure you haven't missed any significant factors that can cause a fledgling business to do a quick nose-dive.

If you are just starting out in business, a written business plan can help you organize the
pieces that will have to come together to make your business a success. A business
hoping to expand can achieve the same benefits.

Also, a business that has grown out of a business-as-usual rut can use a plan as a modeling tool to examine various options before committing to one.

Many small business owners feel that they can keep track of everything without the need to write it down. A written plan after all, is really just the embodiment of the internal planning that every business owner does anyway. However, the structure that a written plan provides makes it more
likely you will consider all relevant factors and that nothing is left to chance.

The justification of the written business plan comes when you weigh the financial rewards of having and not having one. With one, you increase your already gambled chance of success.  It presents to anyone, a blueprint of your business idea and how you will go about making it work.

More specifically a written business plan is: