The Importance of a Business Plan for a Small Business

If you're one of the many people thinking about starting a small business, having a business plan is one of the first things you should have on your list of things to do. It doesn't matter if you're starting a small business from home or away, having a plan for your business is considered a blue print for a successful small business. What is a business plan and why do you need one?

A Business Plan
A business plan is simply a plan of what your goals are for the business, and how you plan to go about accomplishing them. Some people refer to it as a vision for your business. I like to refer to it as a blue print or a road map to accomplishing your goals.

Your plan should be spelled out in clear and defining terms and be kept simple. It should be a written document and used as a tool in managing the business.

A plan should include but is not limited to the following:

1. A statement of your business purpose
2. A description of your company
3. The goals of your company
4. The structure of the company (sole-proprietorship, partnership or corporation)
5. The product or service that you are selling
6. A market analysis of your product or service
7. Resources spent (time and money)
8. A financial plan to include financial statements
9. Information about the managing principals in the company
10. How you plan to manage and operate the company

The Importance of a Business Plan
The success of a business starts with a business plan. The plan defines your business as to what it is and how you plan to achieve the goals of the business. It presents a clear picture of your business in terms of goals and objectives.

The plan reflects how you plan to operate your business. How you plan to market your product or services. It provides a financial picture of the company.

If you are looking for money to fund your business, you're going to need a plan for your business. When you go to borrow money, lenders and investors are going to want to see written documentation in a business plan of your financial situation. Why do they want to see this information? Lenders and investors want to see this information because they are the ones taking the risk in lending your business money.

Once you have a plan in place, it's important that you follow it. If you're achieving your goals you should stick with the plan. If you are not achieving your goals then you will have go back, analyze your plan to find out what is working, what is not working and why it is not working.

A plan is not etched in stone. It is subject to change. As time goes on, things change in this world and businesses like everyone else are subject to change. A good plan will reflect changes that a company has to make to keep it competitive and successful.

Where can you find samples of a business plan for a small business? If you go into any of the search engines such as Google or Bing and type in "samples of a business plans for a small business" you will find websites with this information.

This is why it is important that a small business should have a business plan. If you look at those small businesses that are successful, you will find that most of them all started with and have a plan for their business.

The Author
Larry Zinamon has had a home based tax business for over 20 years. A few years ago he started doing work as a network marketer. If you are serious making money online, then you'll want to join the fastest growing community of home based entrepeneurs, by visiting Larry's website at http://www.PerfectWorkAtHomeOpportunity.com today.

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5 Quick Steps for Choosing a Location to Sell Your Products

One of the most important steps of launching a successful product release is choosing the location where you will sell your products. "Place," one of the 4 Ps of marketing, is key to converting sales. The ideal location for selling your products is a place where members of your target market frequent and come prepared to buy. Five quick steps will help you make the final decision on where to sell your goods.

Step 1. Identify your target market first and foremost. This is the group of people you believe will be most likely to need or strongly desire your product. If you're unsure, you can determine the target market by performing market research on companies similar to your own.

Step 2. List places where members of your target market frequent. For instance, if your target market is teenage girls, possible places include the mall, movies or the beauty section of the local pharmacy. Investigate whether these people come to these locations with money or motivated to make a purchase. List as many potential locations as possible.

Step 3. Decide on the specific area (or areas) that you want to target with your new product. Narrow it down to a town or city based on information about your chosen target market. You can use an online demographics reporting service like ZipSkinny to find areas densely populated with members of your target market.

Step 4. List the cities or towns you want to target alongside the types of places where you could potentially sell to your targeted customer (such as local malls). Match the places to the cities and start developing a list of the specific businesses and locations where you want to sell to your customers so that you can contact each place to ask about retail opportunities. For instance, if you decide to sell in local mall A in Anytown, Michigan you might list and contact the mall management office there to ask about the cost of renting a kiosk to sell your products to customers.

Step 5. Write down a short marketing plan describing how you plan to reach customers in each of the specific places you identified in the previous two steps along with cost considerations and other details. Narrow down the list based on the options that best fit your budget and other requirements. Finalize distribution or rental agreements to service customers in the places you've chosen.

Parker Williams is a small business expert and Internet marketer and one of the founders of Start Up a Small Business -- a website that teaches newbie entrepreneurs how to start up a business step by step.

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Promoting Your Small Business Using Printed Coffee Mugs

Promoting any small business can be a tough task, especially in today's world where competition is at an all time high and the number of small companies continues to grow. A lot of small business owners decide to promote their businesses by using common yet effective go-to methods such as newspaper advertisements, flyers, local affiliates, and business cards. However, since today's world is populated with high levels of competition, small businesses really want to think outside of the box when it comes time to promote their name. To do this, unique promotional items, such as printed mugs, can be used as a way to advertise a small business' products or services. While the traditional methods may work, nowadays unique promotional programs are a must.

So why should a small company use items such as printed coffee mugs to promote visibility? When looking at the facts, the use of ceramic mugs is pretty high, as many people drink coffee and tea on a daily basis. Since printed coffee mugs are already popular items, any small business can take advantage of this and turn a printed coffee mug into one that is still useful but promotes the business' name at the same time. Because coffee mugs are used daily, mugs printed with a small business' name, logo, and contact information can truly make any promotional program extremely successful and profitable.

Small companies should also consider using printed mugs for promotional purposes because they are affordable. Small businesses typically do not have large budgets for advertising, but with printed ceramic mugs, a couple hundred dollars can go a long way. Small companies don't have to worry about rearranging their budget to use ceramic mugs to promote their name. Instead a small company can safely purchase printed mugs and when used properly, these mugs have proven to be very effective in attracting new customers.

Designing Printed Coffee Mugs

When using printed mugs for promotional purposes, a small company will of course want to ensure that the mugs are not just coffee mugs. Instead, each mug needs to have a promotional feel to it. This means that the mugs need to have your business' name, logo, contact information, and maybe even a business slogan. Small companies should also design their printed mugs in a way that they are unique. Since coffee mugs are so common, it's important that a small business' mugs are different looking. This can be achieved in many different ways, from using vivid colors, special fonts, and even engraving.

To beat some of today's most fierce competitors, small companies should consider unique ways to promote their business name. by using printed mugs, a small company can spend a relatively low amount of money in exchange for an effective and unique promotional program. With special marketing methods, a small business is sure to experience a growing number of customers which means that success and profits too will experience growth.

Printed Coffee Mugs are a great way for small businesses to get their company name and logo seen by new customers. One of the most popularly consumed beverages, coffee is a morning routine that your company will soon become part of. Like ceramic coffee mugs, Custom Travel Mugs are also a popular promo that people everywhere will love. Shop DiscountMugs.com today to custom design yours!

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How to Earn More Money While Working for Your Home Office

If you are a freelancer working from home then your future is in your own hands. It will be up to you to keep yourself motivated so that you can earn the right type of cash. One of the most important ways that you will do this is by becoming more productive. You can assist this process by designing your home office so that it encourages productivity. The aim of this article is to teach you how to do just that.

Tips for Increasing Productivity in Your Office

Here are just a few tips for how you can earn more money while working in your home office:

You will want to design your home office space so that nothing interferes with your flow of work. This means getting rid of any unnecessary distractions. You will also want all the furniture placed for the most convenience. It goes without saying that your desk and chair need to be ergonomic so as to protect your health.

You should always have a clear outline of the work you need to do for the day. A great way of doing this is to purchase a whiteboard; you then put this somewhere that you can see it. Before you finish at the end of each day you will want to write down all the tasks for the following day. This way when you come into your office in the morning you will be ready to go. It is usually best if you put the hardest tasks at the beginning of the list.

You will want to clear any clutter from your desk at the end of the day. It can really damage your productivity levels if your environment looks messy.

You may not realise it but the colour scheme in your office has a huge impact on your mental performance. If you want to be more productive then choose a colour for your office that promotes energy - a bright colour will help with this.

Some people are finding that using a stand up desk greatly increases their productivity. The other benefit of this is that it will also help keep you health. You do not need to spend a fortune on your online desk; you will find instructions for how to make your own online. This is something that can really change the way you work.

Working from home can help cut your costs by quite a bit, so take advantage of this and try to find other to increase your business profit.

James T Lees writes for and on behalf of Blueprint Office. They offer offices in the UK the finest in contemporary office furniture and accessories.

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5 Top Small Business Marketing Blunders You Should Never Commit

There are tons of small business resources available both online and offline. Many of these resources can help you to avoid mistakes that others before you have made, thereby saving you time and money. Let's talk about the five most common small business mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Don't make a website or own websites that are outdated - Without a proper website, your business is practically non-existent. In addition, if your site was built eight years ago, it is likely to be very outdated according to today's standards.

Outdated websites are not as easy to find in the search engines and they don't really create a confident or respectable business image. There are a lot of free small business resources online that can help you make your website look professional and stay up to date. A simple Google or Yahoo search will bring up thousands of results to choose from.

2. Don't limit your marketing on just one method - While the introduction of the Internet has enabled buyers and prospective buyers to browse and shop at their own pace, direct mail is still a very important part of the marketing process.

3. Don't spend all your money on PPC - PPC or pay-per-click advertising works, but it has to be used properly, or else you could stand to lose a lot of money. PPC campaigns, if used correctly can drive a lot of quality traffic to your website.

Establish your company's reputation first, and then use PPC in addition to your existing marketing strategies. There are many small business resources available on learning PPC and understanding how the process works, and informing yourself as early as possible will help you to avoid very costly mistakes in the future.

4. Don't spam or bombard people with ads - A lot of business owners think that loud explosions are a way to get customers, either through email, direct mail or spamming. Although you will be getting the attention of a lot of people, you may find that it angers the very people you are trying to get to buy from you. This can leave a bitter taste in people's mouths, and do the exact opposite of what you intended.

5. Don't do campaigns without tracking the results - A lot of business owners do really great until you get to the part where they are supposed to track things. The best marketing strategy in the world is useless until you have a system in place to track all important variables.

Without tracking, how will you be sure that your marketing is successful?

Hopefully the above tips will help you to avoid serious mistakes that can be deadly for the life of your business. It is often better to research as much as you can before jumping to make any decisions.

By researching and evaluating all of the possible small business resources available, you'll be sure to avoid pitfalls and costly mistakes in the future.

Discover how I can help you in your business using this small business resources.

If you have found this post helpful, visit my website to learn more about small business internet marketing.

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7 Secrets to Designing a Simpler Business for Your Life

I have this phenomenon that has been going around in my head and heart for the last few months.

I want my business to be simpler.

As may be true for you, I have been through stages in my business where I have been too stressed, too overwhelmed and too exhausted. I was working too hard and often felt I was just spinning my wheels and not really moving forward in spite of all my hard work.

As my business has grown I have realized I needed to make things work more smoothly and easily.

And funny as it may sound, the older I get the simpler I want things, especially my business. So, I have been making extra effort to streamline.

Here are some secrets I have discovered that I want to share with you. It's so strange how so often I can make things more difficult than they need to be. Do you ever do that?

Secret #1: Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your business. Keep moving forward every day but be gentle with yourself.

Secret#2: Don't do this alone. Running your own business is not for the faint of heart but it can be one of the most satisfying things you'll ever do. Surround yourself with like minded peers and always have at least one coach to learn from, to support you and to keep you accountable.

Secret#3: Create blocks of time for your work. Do not start out your day with checking emails. All this does is put the people writing the emails in charge of your day. Start out with the projects that you need to get done but aren't your favorite things to do. Get them done and over with.

Block out 45 minute for smaller projects and 2-3 hour blocks for bigger projects. By 'blocking' out times, I mean no email, no kids, no pets etc to distract you. Close your door. Don't answer the phone. You will be amazed at how much more you will get done!

Secret#4: Only take on new projects or commitments that really jazz you. Be sure you know the amount of time they will take, how much will be asked of you and what you will reap in return financially. (In case you forgot this is a business not a hobby.)

If you have previous commitments and they are no longer working for you (more time than expected, more work than expected, less money than expected) then simply bow out. I know that can be hard to do but you need to do that to honor your commitment to yourself to keep things simple.

Secret #5: Create systems in your business. What is your system when someone gives you their name and email and gets on your list? What is your system when a client signs up for one of your programs or services? When you have systems like these in place you don't have to figure out each time what your next step should be. It's all set up. Keep it simple!

Secret #6: Hire help! You cannot do this all by yourself. Well, I suppose you can but you will totally burn yourself out and unless you know all that needs to be done (website, auto responders etc) then you will do things wrong and create more problems. There are VA's (Virtual Assistants) and personal assistants everywhere for a very reasonable investment. Your sanity is required in this simple business of yours! Hire help!

Secret #7: Keep a launch calendar. This is simply a calendar, on-line or on your desk, that will take you through the next year or year and a half. Now don't let that panic you! This is part of making your business easy.

You probably have tons of ideas of things you want to do in your business. New programs and services that you want to offer your clients. That's great, but if you have them set up on a calendar you can be clear about when you are offering what. That way you aren't wondering each week or each month what you are going to do next. It's all planned out and you know when each launch (promotion) is going to happen. Keep it simple.

I hope this is all helpful to you. As I mentioned earlier, my big goal for myself is keeping my business simple. Life gets complicated enough!

You don't need to follow every new bright, shiny nickel out there! Pick and choose wisely what works for you, for your business and your life.

Do you have the Moxie it takes to start and sustain a thriving coaching business? Find out at http://moxiemastermind.com Kim Kirmmse Toth transitioned from 23 years as Licensed Clinical Social Worker to building a high 5 to 6 figure coaching business while enjoying her free time doing the things she loves. If you are a savvy woman (or even gentleman) and a heart-centered solopreneur who wishes to grow an exceptional, heart based on-line business, let Kim show you the way at http://www.positiveaginginc.com.

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