Category do a SWOT plan

Entries 18 Total

Why Your Small Business Needs A SWOT

Mar 17, ’10 7:30 AM

As a small business owner, or entrepreneur, you have no doubt heard of a SWOT analysis. But with a heavy workload, is it really necessary for your small business to complete a SWOT analysis? In my experience, it is an absolute must to do a SWOT analysis for your small business. A SWOT analysis is…

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Which intention did you have for your small business?

Apr 25, ’08 4:12 PM

I recently spoke with one of my readers about his small business, when she all of a sudden declared she felt like a business failure. I was somewhat surprised by her statement as I thought she had established a nice little business, was making enough money and had a good work/life balance. She explained that…

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No Business Plan Needed To Start Small Business!

Jan 13, ’08 1:28 PM

Two professors, Julian Lang and William Bygrave, from Babson College in the US have found that the business performance of businesses started, with or without business plan, was unaffected. This finding is not entirely surprising, since I believed for a long time, that getting too hung up about business plans can be a great waste…

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When to ignore your critics!

Nov 19, ’07 11:52 AM

An here I include the so called business gurus - just ignore them.Can you imagine what happened when Alexander Graham Bell announced he wanted a phone in every house - Western Union called it an "electric toy" and "totally out of the question";Henry Ford said he wanted one car in every family - most felt the horse was here to stay.The same happened to me still in 1995, when most people thought the internet was going to disappear faster than it had arrived - I remember the abuse very well. So why do people get so negative about other peoples business ideas: Lack of Vision is probably the biggest reason;Envy is another big reason - driven by the inability to take a risk themselves and the fact that they can't bear to see others succeed;Genuine concern for your well being - they thing your are taking too big a risk, you are naive, and so on.Take advise on certain techniques on how to run your business, but do not take advise on if you should start a business or not.

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Q & A: What questions should I ask my accountant before I start my business?

Nov 1, ’07 9:29 AM

Choosing an accountant/CPA is probably one of the most important decisions to get right, because you are unlikely to have an accountant's grasp of taxationcompany lawdealing with the tax authoritieswide range of knowledge about small business.You need to make sure you find an accountant/CPA who concentrates on small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants before you make any appointments.Another aspect is size, make sure you are not "one among millions" sort of speak, smaller accountants practices are often more in tune with your small business needs, because they are a small business too.Here are some questions I would be asking when starting out with a new business venture: Should I start my business as a sole-trader, partnership or limited liability company?Can you help me to find and raise finance? (Read about bootstrapping first!)Will you help me with setting up my cash-flow forecast?When do I need to register for VAT (UK), GST (Australia) or when do I need to charge sales tax (US)?Am I ready to start trading, or should I wait?Do I need to choose my financial year and trading year end date?Are you going to do my bookkeeping and accounting work?Will you work online with me, so we both can be up-to-date with my business progress?Will you deal with my employment issues, pensions, annuities and insurances for me?Will you help me to understand more and more of these issues myself, and will you be available for advice if and when I need it?There are many more issues to consider and they depend on your business, that is where your accountant will help you too.

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Q & A: What are successful cost-cutting solutions in small business?

Oct 18, ’07 11:49 AM

Let me give you some pointers here, but please remember you can always do more on the cost-cutting front in any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.... Or have it done on a results basis, doesn't cost you time and gets you money back.Do credit control - get your money in lower your bank overdraft cost and charges.This is only a short list of what you can do, but it's a start.

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Bookkeeping for Small Business

Oct 12, ’07 6:33 AM

More important than that, you will learn new things about your business: You may have higher (good) or lower (bad) sales, than you expected?Your cost in your business may be higher (bad) or lower (better) than you expected?Your cash-flow may be better or worse do to the above two points?You may need to outsource some business processes to lower your fixed cost structure, to make your business more recession proof or just more profitable?You may need to ramp up your sales and marketing activities for your small business products or services?You may also have to adjust your SWOT analysis and your business goals?You will be surprised how creative you can be, once you know about and understand a problem in your business plan.... There is no excuse not to do it, all the tools are available for free, for anyone.If you feel the initial process of business planning is too much for you, than get your accountant or bookkeeper to help you to set your cash-flow fore-casting, SWOT analysis with you, doing it online will give you strategic advantages, like you can work with your accountant or bookkeeper in real time in different places, this lowers your cost, no time wasted and is good for the environment.I would like to make one more point here, the aim of all this planning is not to get it spot on - no, the aim is to understand what is happening in your business, that is why you should be doing it.

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Managing A Small Business In A Recession

Oct 10, ’07 6:01 PM

The government set out it's plans to get small business owners to pay more tax, they increased capital gains tax by 90%.... Keep your fixed cost down, make sure you have reserves, keep up with your credit control, here I had to help him with most answers.I've been talking about "bootstrapping" or "cost-cutting" for a long while now, with business planning as an additional tool, to combat any surprises.

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Planning Your Small Business And Start-up

Oct 2, ’07 1:09 PM

For me small business planning centers around some very basic questions and I always aim to answer those first: How much is my business going to cost to set-up?What are the monthly running costs of my start-up?Is anyone willing to buy what I have to sell?What other problems or challenges does my business face?What are my best selling points or strength?You may thing that these are all very basic questions and you would be right - but can you really answer them for your small business?... Even if you have no staff to begin with, it will help you to make the right decisions and stay focused.Strength and Weaknesses are "internal" factors where you need to be honest with yourself and write down what you do well and what you do badly - writing it down is almost therapeutic - enabling you base future decisions on these facts, building on your strength, while avoiding your weak spots.Opportunities and Threats are all about "external" factors and deal with issues like your unique differentiators for your products and services in the market place, as well as your competitors, red-tape, funding issues, etc. Again just writing them down will move you forward.Last but not least I find it helpful to have a "Mission Statement" for my business, what do I want to achieve, so my customers, partners and others understand what my business is all about.The "Goals Statement" is more personal, I write down why I run my small business or why I want to start a business.

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Small Business Bootstrapping Techniques

Oct 1, ’07 9:02 AM

To put is simply, bootstrapping is the art of running a small business with no or very little money and/or funding.So if you are thinking about starting your small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses, but are worried about if you can be successful, worried about failing, worried about giving up your job, etc. than bootstrapping is for you.Especially if your aim is to build a personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, working from home, creating an income and keeping it small and manageable, then bootstrapping is definitely for you.... Cash-flow, SWOT, list of goals and they are in business.Bootstrapping is the lowest risk strategy to start a business, you can start your business with a Small Business Infrastructure for about $20 / £10 per month, get ready in peace find customers in your spare time and build your business on the side.Bootstarppers don't follow the herd, they use unconventional thinking to move forward and succeed.Bootstrappers focus on their business goals, outsource and build networks to grow their small business.It is never too late to start with bootstrapping even if you have been running your small business for years.

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