Why Your Home or Small Business Needs a Business Plan

A business plan is the backbone or spine of your business. There are many words which could describe your business plan; such as, a foundation, a master plan, or a blueprint for success; however, simply put it is a detailed outline or roadmap for your business. ItA business plan provides accurate planning to reduce uncertainty. The actual planning activity helps the entrepreneur to realize the hurdles & obstacles ahead, as it is basically about simulating scenarios for initial start-up and medium term business development and growth.

Some key reasons to have a business plan are:

It creates a vehicle to communicate what the business is trying to accomplish.
It is the starting point for discussions with investors.
It forms the basis to measure actual versus expected performance.
It provides an internal reference for the management team, both in terms of common understanding and benchmarking.

For most new start-ups, a business plan is a dual-purpose document used both inside and outside the business. New insights invariably emerge when an entrepreneur immerses them self into writing the plan and start seeking feedback from others. It's important to recognize that the plan will usually change while being written. Moreover, the path to success is not always in a straight line.

Use the business plan as roadmap to determine where your business is now. For example, business background, present situation, projections, resources, and not the least competitor analysis. You should also use your business plan as a tool to look at actual verses planned, or as a benchmarking tool or reference.

Ensure you customize the your plan to suit your target audience. For Instance, a business plan may have variations for bankers or investors, suppliers or customers, contractors, or even new or potential employees and existing employees.

So now you're really eager to get started, but before you start drafting or writing your own plan, please take some time to do an opportunity analysis. Consider the following questions?

What is your product?
What is the pricing?
Is there a market for product? (sales channels)
Who are your target customers?
Who are your competitors?
What does the management team look like? (who, experience)
What is your cash flow plan?
What are your financial needs?

An opportunity analysis will verify that the proposed enterprise is viable, before you spend time and money on doing a full-blown business plan.

Finally, as a home or small business entrepreneur, you want to ensure every chance of success, so a business plan will assist you and keep you on track. You really should consider a business plan when creating a new business or venture, or expanding an existing one.

INDIEpendence Day - A Celebration of Indie Authors

This INDIEpendence day, the Indelibles would like to celebrate indie authors (self-published and small-press) as a whole by holding up examples of outstanding indie works. The 25 Indelible authors all believe that amazing works of fiction can be found in indie novels. By highlighting and bringing greater awareness to quality indie books, people find great books to read, indie authors get support, and we continue to change hearts and minds about the gems that can be found among self-published and small-press novels.

WIN all around!

Will you join us?

Here's how it works:

1. PICK A BOOK: Pick an indie (self-published or small press) book that you either HAVE READ AND LOVED or WANT TO READ. 
2. WRITE A POST: On INDIEpendence day (July 2nd), write a post about that book. It can be a review, an interview with the author, or simply a post highlighting the book. In your post, be sure to include: 1) HOW you found out about the book and 2) WHY you liked it (or WHY you want to read it). Make it easy for people to sample your indie author by providing buy links as well.
3. DO A GIVEAWAY (optional): You can give away swag, or a copy of the indie book you're highlighting, or don't do a giveaway at all - it's up to you! 
4. IMPORTANT: you may NOT highlight your own novel or one of the Indelible's novels (this is a Pay It Forward event!) We think all Indelibles books are high quality and deserving of celebration, but we can do that some other time.
5. GO TO GOODREADS (optional): Add the Indie book or books you're featuring to our ever-growing INDIEpendence Day List.

Easy peasy.

For extra incentive, the Indelibles will be giving away a $10 B&N gift card (to be used on Indie books!) to a random host from the participating blogs! But the real win is a chance to pay forward your love of an indie author's work while helping your friends find a great summer read.

Sign up on the linky below!

p.s. Please spread the word to your fellow author and book blogger friends so we can get as many participants as possible.

Open a Coffee Shop - Five Tips on How to Start a Coffee Shop

Do you love coffee shops? And do you ever wish you could hang out in your favorite one all day long -- and get paid for it too? If so, read on to find out the best way to do just that.

Sure, you could be a barista in your local coffee shop. But they don't get paid much. So why not own the coffee shop yourself?

It's quite an undertaking, but it's also one of the hottest business models around.

Here are five tips to get you started:

1) Explore your market

Do you know your market? Different coffee shops appeal to different people. But overall, if you create a comfortable yet classy place for people to hang out in, and if you provide superb coffee and customer service, along with free internet access, you've got a winning combo that will appeal to almost any target market.

But there's one area where your market will determine your success: price. Make sure your market can handle what you plan to charge -- or make adjustments accordingly.

2) Check out your competition

Be very familiar with all the other coffee shops in your area and make sure that you'll be able to meet and beat them in their offerings. You want to make sure your coffee is great. You also need to find something where you excel. Maybe you provide cookies to die for. Maybe it's your soups, the fantastic live music, or the cushy sofas.

3) Poll your potential customers

Ask people in those competing places what they like about them -- and what would have to happen to make them like them even better.

Next, ask them what might lure them to the competition. Is it the coffee? Is it the variety of fancy drinks? Is it the ambience? The friendly baristas? Or maybe the food? It could even be the reading materials that you provide free of charge.

4) What are the opening times of the competition

Maybe you can beat them by being open when the others close? Then again, be sure there's a ready market at those times, or else you'll be paying for your employees to be all by their lonesome selves. Maybe there's a reason why the others are closed at those times.

5) Create a solid step-by-step business plan

Even before you actually decide to open a coffee shop, make sure you know what's involved and it's really what you want to do. The best way to go about that is to educate yourself about exactly what you'd be getting yourself into and start working on your business plan.

And when you're shopping for a how to start your coffee shop guide or a coffee shop business plan, be sure to get one from someone who actually does what you want to do. What I mean by that is to make sure they actually have a successful business of the exact kind you're looking to start.

PROPER CERTIFICATION (SHALL MEANS SHALL)

In another case of shall means shall, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) dismissed an appeal on May 30th in which the contractor had decided to get creative with the certification of claims requirement in FAR 33.207(c).  The contractor certified its claim as follows:

I certify that this invoice is correct and in accordance with the terms of the contract and that the costs incurred herein have been incurred, represent the payments made by the Contractor except as otherwise authorized in the payments provision of the contract, and properly reflect the work performed.

FAR 33.207(c) states the contractor shall certify as follows:

I certify that the claim is made in good faith; that the supporting data are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief; that the amount requested accurately reflects the contract adjustment for which the Contractor believes the Government is liable; and that I am duly authorized to certify on behalf of the Contractor.

A defective certification deprives the judicial tribunal of jurisdiction over the claim; but the defective certification can be corrected under certain circumstances.  But not in this case.

If the certification is made with intentional, reckless or negligent disregard for the applicable regulation, it is not correctable.

In this case, the contractor's certification wholly omitted the words "the claim is made in good faith."  Fatal.  It also omitted "the supporting data are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief."  Again, fatal.  Finally, the certification omitted the third and fourth prongs of the certification.  Finally, fatal.

The CBCA determined that the contractor's failure to submit a certification using the proper language was either intentional or negligent, not innocent or inadvertent.  Case dismissed.

The lesson (for government and industry):  Shall means shall.

www.spriggslawgroup.com

Reality Is Setting In

I think the markets are finally facing the reality I have been talking about for a while now. The stock indices are down hard in London this morning ahead of, but not because of, the jobs report.


But as discretionary day traders, we just trade the trend of the single chart we use.


Looking more longer term, in answer to emails and comments, I'm showing one of the longer term trades in one of the accounts I trade.


The risk graph shows the risk and P&L possibilities. The position is what is left of a more complex butterfly. It is in profit of 6% and I am looking to make 15% on my max margin. I try to do this about 3 or 4 times a month for this particular type of trade. I only need to look at the trade once a day or when an alert email goes off. I don't always wait for the 15%, as I use the usual EL analysis on daily data to manage the trade. I plan on showing some of these trades in a separate blog starting next week. I'll post a link when it's up. Seems to be a lot of interest from traders wanting to swing trade with a big edge in their favour. I can be profitable if the market goes in my chosen direction, stays in a range, or even goes against me. I ran an options market making team who worked for me on the LIFFE floor, so have lots of experience in options.

No post next Monday and Tuesday as the whole tribe is in Ireland for a wedding of a relative.


Today, the ES was for sale from the get go. It was not too hard to sell the pullbacks in the direction of the trend.

Making a Great Thing Better

One thing I thought I got right the first time around, was my cover--with the exception of the spine. Oh, the spine. LAME doesn't even begin to describe it. 

But, you know. My cover was "listed" on Goodreads for having an awesome cover. Fans raved about it--including this video review!

All of this is fabulous . . . except I knew. I knew it wasn't perfect. I knew there were things that could have been better. 

And you know what? As an indie author, I am not stuck with my out-of-the-gate offering. I am free to change it up, switch it up and do whatever it takes to help my book be awesome.

I designed my original cover myself, with the help of Fanye L.O.'s brilliant photo manipulation artwork. Fanye's work is fantastic, mine, however, was not. So I enlisted the help of Susan's cover designer, Dale Pease. I was also able to incorportate some reviews into the cover. I almost wish I could have a couple different covers that I could rotate through to include all the great endorsements. (I promise that's not my pride talking--that's gratitude!)

Behold my new and improved cover for BECOME! (Thank you Dale! Thank you Susan!) And stay tuned . . . DESOLATION (book two in the Desolation series) is coming soon!

This is just one of the reasons why I love being an indie author. Can you limit to just one thing? If you can--tell me!

Ali Cross is the sensei of the writer's dojo where she holds a black belt in awesome. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, two sumo dogs and four zen turtles.

She's the author the young adult urban fantasy novel BECOME, and a member of the Author's IncognitoExecutive Committee.
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