Starting a small business is an attractive choice for most people primarily because of the autonomy it can afford. However, a small business could very easily fail because of lack of anticipation for potential problem areas. This is where business plans will come in handy.

How do you make business plans for small business?

A business plan, which acts like the resumé for the whole firm, defines your business by identifying your goals. Basically, a it has three components. It can be used as a communication tool to appeal to lenders or potential investors and convince business partners and employees to stick with the new venture. It can show if the venture has the potential to make a profit or not, and allows you to know if the potential problems of actually launching the business are solved.

It can also be used as a tool for management. It can help in tracking and evaluating the venture’s progress by establishing timelines or milestones. In this way, you can compare your projections to your actual accomplishments.

The business plan can also be used in planning or a guide through the various phases of your new business venture. It can help identify obstacles you need to avoid and think of alternative ways. In this way, business owners can give their employees a picture of where their business is going to foster to give a broader understanding.

Here are tips in making good plans for small business.

1. They should be clear and detailed to be easily understood by and thus attract potential investors.

2. Check out sample plans of businesses that turned out to be successful. See if the library near you has a copy of Sharon Fullen’s How to Write a Great Business Plan for Your Small Business in 60 Minutes or Less. Samples can help beginning business owners to know what they want have to cover in their own business plans, and can also give ideas on how to make a plan to attract bankers or potential investors.

3. To keep with developments in a growing business, good business plans also need to reflect that it is still a work-in-progress.

4. Include all the financial information related to the venture, as well as expense projections and other information related to the company’s future.

5. Use business plan software or a template so that you can just fill in the necessary information. This type of software can be accessed in most libraries, or these may have books with business plan templates.

6. As some new business owners choose to do, hire an expert to review the business plan before looking for potential investors.

Entrepreneurs should not think that making plans for small business as a chore. The tips mentioned above will help in writing it all easily, but they should keep in mind this document will also help them keep focus on their business goals for a long time.

By: Ewen Chia

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

TOP TEN TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS FINANCES
Always work on the basis that you’ll need more than you actually do.

You often only have one chance of raising money so remember that when working out your figures. If your figures are too conservative, it could have a huge impact on the future of your business.
The bank is not the only place to get money.

Having said that, don’t go anywhere near Loan Sharks but always keep in mind that other resources can be available.

Cash Flow
If you’re having a problem with cash flow, contact all the people that it may affect,
Customers and suppliers. Try to re-negotiate term where possible but make sure that you
can afford the new payment terms. This will help to maintain trust.

Never give credit
You haven’t made a sale unless you have received the money for it! Never give credit would be a hot tip but if you do go down that route check out references from other suppliers. Also make sure that payment conditions are included in the bill of sale.

Keep the important people in the know
Banks, Inland Revenue etc will be more sympathetic if you keep them informed. Even if that means just dropping emails to people or giving them a quick ring. Keep those contacts open.

Chasing those debts
Make sure you have a procedure in place for chasing non-payers. This could be a an invoice followed by a ‘phone call and then another invoice including an admin’ charge if this is what you want to do.

Forecasting

Forecasting and estimating for your business is essential but remember that it need to be Realistic. It’s sensible to forecast monthly but if things get tight this can be done either monthly or daily if necessary.

Records

Despite being a tedious task keep a record of everything!!!! Telephone calls, receipts, orders, payments, bank statements. EVERYTHING. Track all money coming in and out of your business. Utilise one of the many software packages that are available.

banks
Even if you do not get your funding from a bank, you will still need to use one. However everybody is in the market now to get your custom so make sure you shop around for the best deal. Read all the small print so you know when any low interest rates are due to end. It does not good business sense to be loyal to any bank. Always get the best deal you can.

Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate
Negotiate on everything – interest rates, payment dates, minimum/maximum orders. Etc.It never hurts to ask and “if you don’t ask you don’t get!

By: Helen Dowling

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

Any business, irrespective of what category of industry it caters to, requires an accounting department to deal with all the nitty-gritty of the financial aspect of the business or industry. Accounting is the most vital aspect of a business and if you are running a real estate company you must undertake real estate accounting to deal with the accounting work of your business. Now one of the difficult parts about handling the accounting work of a business, whether it is real estate accounting or any other, is that one needs to be qualified to do this job. Accounting is not a work that just anyone can handle and that is why it is all the more important to get a professional to handle this work. Now real estate accounting is something that is very different from all the other accounting works.

So it is important for you to make sure that the accountant that you are hiring to take care of your work knows everything about real estate accounting. Real estate accounting is entirely different from other accounting works and that is why they need specialization. It is not about the size of the business, rather it is all about how efficiently you manage your real estate accounting that will give you the results. If you are not very confident about handling the accounting work of your real estate business, you can get software from the market to do the job. However you must remember that it is always better to get the services of a trained and qualified professional to help you in this. The real estate industry is very big and there is ample opportunity for business owners to do successful business.

Real estate accounting requires tedious, meticulous and arduous task on the part of the accountant and he also requires lots of extensive knowledge about the whole thing to do the work successfully. Some of the things that a real estate accounting professional will have to take care of include the need to keep a proper record of the various financial transactions that will be undertaken by the real estate company in a financial year. The most important task of the accountant will be to help the company in calculating the amount of annual tax. Paying taxes timely is one of the things that will ensure that the business runs smoothly without any hassles. The accountant must make sure that no details of any of the financial transactions are missed out.

Now if you are hiring a real estate accounting professional you must make sure that you hire him only after doing a proper background study about his credentials and capabilities. The professional must be able to look after every aspect of the business like management, utility and maintenance of all the financial resources of the company so that this is utilized in a fruitful manner. Real estate accounting has been undertaken by many business owners operating in this industry and they have been immensely benefited as a result. Real estate accounting professionals must ensure that all financial aspect of the business is properly taken care of.

By: Alvis Brazma

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress

Although you’ll no doubt have done a lot of solid preparation before going into business and no one with any sense starts a new venture lightly, there are one or two very obvious points that so often get forgotten as to have become cliches; one would think then that there would be little need to point them out, but disturbingly small business start-ups are still leaving the sensible side of their brains at home when they launch into the business world: with this in mind here are probably the five most often forgotten essentials to remember right from the start.

1. Call in the professionals. An accountant should not be an afterthought for your business. Certainly in the first few years of trading they’ll not only take action to save money later, but an accountant for a small business should be one of its main business advisors. The help and advice given now could save you a lot of money long term.

2. Plan for success. When the banks and other investors asked you for that business plan, you probably lost sleep over getting it just right, so, although looking at it now seems a horrible reminder of all that stress, why waste it. You worked hard on its content so use it. Update it regularly and often and it will act as a guide to keep you moving in the right direction.

3. This little business went to market. Marketing isn’t always the first thing on the list of ‘must dos’ when a small business starts up, but it certainly should be. Even the basics often get neglected. Competitor analysis for instance, do you know who your competitors are and what they are doing to compete with you? Will they respond to your appearance on the scene? What about your customers, what do you understand about their habits? Budgeting for marketing and starting before you open your doors is the only way a small business will survive.

4. Profit from the rest. New businesses run-up bills even before they start trading and when they do start to trade it is important to remember that your turnover it totally different from your profit, far too many new businesses confuse the money coming in with the money that’s left once the very many bills and overheads have been settled. If you do need to put money into the business it should always be to increase your profit rather than the turnover and knowing the difference between the two is so much more than a lesson in semantics.

5. Get technical. If a website was not the first thing you started to plan once the business looked set to begin then it should have been the second. There is absolutely no way that a small business in the 21st century can expect to survive without a web presence, but it is not enough to simply have a website, any business looking to succeed needs a competitively placed site that is visible to its customers. If SEO is something that you’ll need to Google then get an internet marketing firm on board to help.

By: Leo Thomas

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content