Developing a business plan to create a solid business structure

“Developing a business plan is one of the most important exercises a business owner can do; it forces us to think thru the minefields before stepping on a landmine.” ~ Business executive Ted Stearns.

Image Source: Squaremartinimedia.com

No business has ever prospered without a well-written business plan backing it up. Some are drafted on the back of a napkin, others are hundreds of pages long. Regardless of its size and impact, it is always rewarding. But what makes it more valuable to business owners is its background story, that it was created with a combination of hard work, risk taking, and extensive planning.

The following are a few simple reminders that will encourage investors to draft a plan before spending substantial capital, time, and effort in their investment.

Managing cash flow
Not all business owners are accounting graduates, or at least excellent in mathematics. However, many of them have succeeded in their venture because they created opportunities and resources that helped them manage their company’s monetary system. Delegation is a key to solving this problem. There are hundreds of excellent accounting gurus out there who have the skills and credentials to put up a reliable cash flow management strategy.

Image Source: Bplans.com

Growth projections
Projections are necessary to determine the feasibility of a certain business project. However, these have to be conservative in nature and must veer away from overestimation. There is much truth in projections that do not promise big numbers.

The team
Businesses invest in people, not ideas. Successful businesses are brainchildren of forward-thinking people—those who have unique capabilities to pioneer innovations and accelerate growth. Hence, building a strong workforce is a staple for every company.

Image Source: Eventbrite.com

More ideas on and insights into financial management and corporate decision-making can be found on this website.

Thwarting the Idea Crushers

Have you ever thought about what Fred Smith and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? Both have created billion dollar juggernauts while their college professors called them crazy. Not to pick on teachers, however, I cannot think of the last professor who has taken their own idea and turned it into a billion dollar company lately.

Idea Crushers, they are all around us, they sit with open ears waiting for a good idea to come around so they can flex their intellectual genius and obliterate it. Yesterday I was discussing a business idea with a friend. In about 3-nano seconds this friend started to explain to me how and why this idea would not work and how it would take insurmountable challenges to implement it. I’m not entirely sure what the underlying reasons were but they seemed to find joy in taking a Scud Missile to my idea.

Now, I have enough confidence in my abilities and experience with taking ideas and exploiting them. Sometimes I will even use their pessimism as fuel to prove them wrong; that always brings a smile to my face.

The term Idea Crushers is what I use to describe individuals who whether knowingly or not take joy in crushing aspiring ideas. They are black holes; the gravitational collapse so intense that no good idea can ever escape.

They may be colleagues, friends and most of the time family who want to thwart you from making a blunder and being financial mistake. On the flip side they could be jealous, either consciously or unconsciously, of your initiative and success. Or they could be the type that fails to see worth in any idea until it is main-stream.

The Yongle Dadian couldn’t contain a list of all the companies that have launched into the stratosphere that have, from the very beginning been bombarded, attacked and attempted to be derailed with perhaps well intended criticism, still, negative viewpoints, yet they survive and thrive.

If you have Idea Crushers in your life, and we all do from time to time, here are some ways that you can prevent them from detonating a nuclear bomb on your dream:

1) Don’t discuss your idea with Idea Crushers until you have a proven concept. Ideas are like new born babies, immediately you have to care and shelter them. Wait until your idea has time to grow roots.

2) If you do find yourself engaged in a conversation the an Idea Crusher, while explaining your idea, disassociate yourself from emotion; ground your reasoning on logic, make sure the principles governing your rational are based on logical arguments rather than subjective emotionally reasoning.

If the negative comments from the Idea Crusher causes you to question your dream and doubt starts to enter into your mind and you find your once white-hot idea has digressed into uncertainty and hesitation, guess what, they have succeeded.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Keep your dreams close to your heart and only share them with trusted friends who will inspire you to go out execute upon them.