You Do NOT Need a Business Plan to Start a Business
Doug Richard is not a fan of iron-clad business plans that owners and management teams follow to the bitter end.
Why? Because business plans are most often written before a company is successful, and often before it is in business. They are written in hopeful ignorance and are based on best guesses. Business plans serve a useful purpose once a business is making money and raising revenue, but they have a very limited usefulness, if any at all, before a business is up to speed.
If you are just starting your business, or have a business that seems to be less than wildly successful, start your business planning as follows:
- Identify your customers and their needs.
- Identify the products and/or services you will provide to meet these needs.
- Identify how people will learn about your products and services.
- Identify how and where they will pay you for your products and services.
- Identify who will help you to achieve these objectives.
Read full article: http://www.businesszone.co.uk/blogs/doug-richard/doug-richard-blogs/you-do-not-need-business-plan-start-business
Free Resources
Survey results – biggest SME concerns in 2010
Last month EnterQuest carried out its latest subscriber survey of small business owners to identify the issues that are causing the most concern in the year ahead, irrespective of which party will form a new government. We also asked for views about business owners’ own abilities and weaknesses, where they might require support, and who they preferred to turn to for help and advice.
The headline results reveal that business owners are most concerned about tax, business rates, red tape and business costs – with 80% of respondents saying they were quite concerned or very concerned about each of those particular issues. Respondents were least concerned about finding skilled/qualified staff and IT/technology issues. The weakest reported skill was in sales and marketing, with one in three business owners saying they were quite weak or very weak in this area.
In descending order the ten business issues that survey respondents reported they were fairly concerned or very concerned about are as follows:
| Area of concern | Reported as concerned |
| 1) Tax and business rates | 81% (with 53% very concerned) |
| 2) Red tape and admin | 80% (with 49% very concerned) |
| 3) Business costs | 79% (with 48% very concerned) |
| 4) Consumer spending | 65% |
| 5) Support from bank | 64% |
| 6) Access to credit | 61% |
| 7) Competitors | 54% |
 Employment regulations |
48% |
| 9) Finding skilled staff | 26% |
| 10) IT and technology | 25% |
Read full article here: http://www.cobwebinfo.com/site/article_detail/item13698/?link_466=13698
Free Resources
The benefits of having a virtual FD for your business
Edward Tudor, member of LGBA provides an insight to having a virtual Finance Director support your business in the following video:
Free Resources
Economic Outlook – 70 per cent of managers expect business insolvencies to increase
This Economic Outlook is the third of the CMI’s new series of research papers examining managers’ views on the economy. It presents the findings of the CMI’s Economic Outlook Survey, which is conducted on a six-monthly basis to provide insights into the impact of the economy on UK organisations, managers’ expectations of future economic performance, and the actions being taken by managers to steer their organisations through the challenges they face.
This paper has been written by Professor Lord Eatwell, Chief Economic Adviser to CMI.
Key findings
- business confidence has plummeted; 70 per cent of managers expect business insolvencies to increase
- 81 per cent of UK managers are in favour of tax breaks for skills, and everything possible should be done to protect investment in this area
- Most UK managers still feel very insecure about the future and UK businesses are struggling to regain a competitive footing
Download the full report here: http://www.managers.org.uk/sites/default/files/u28/Economic_Outlook_April_2010.pdf
Free Resources
