Type of Business

Five Inconvenient Truths About UK Business Plans

I am a business advisor so I talk to a lot of business owners and it constantly astounds me how many do little or no planning. In the UK business plans are still not considered core tools for running a sound business. Without a plan, or at the very least an income, expenditure and cash flow forecast, it is very difficult to know how well your business is currently performing, let alone where it is headed.

Writing a business plan need not be a huge chore, there are plenty of good software programmes around, which usually include ready made business plans, to give you a head start. There are also plenty of professional business plan writers eager to assist. So why is it that the following five truths still prevail?

1. Many UK companies simply do not have a business plan

Not having a plan is like walking around in the dark without a torch. You may get where you are going but it will take longer and you will probably trip over several times on route.

I recently helped a business move from being loss making to making a good profit. All I had to do was forecast income and expenditure figures. It immediately became blindingly obvious that, unless my client put up his prices, he would continue to fail. A small price increase, against existing client accounts, soon sorted out his problem.

If he had an active, simple financial plan, which he could easily have put together using a good business planning software programme, he would not have got into difficulty in the first place and would have saved money by not needing my services.

2. Start-up businesses are often too optimistic in their income forecasts

We all tend to be over optimistic. There are plenty of high profile, high value projects that ended up with a price tag many time greater than the initial budget forecast - the building of the Channel Tunnel or the Millennium Dome (now the O2 Arena in Greenwich) are just two examples. Getting input from professional business plan writers is one way to deal with this problem.

Having an active plan also means that you can monitor actual performance against your plan and take action if you see that things are going off course.

3. Business owners do not know what is in their business plans

This can happen when professional business plan writers are brought in. The plan they create is fabulous, it secures the funds the business needs, but all too often the business owner never really understood what was in their plan, so it is of little ongoing use and their business risks going off track. If you hire in professional business plan writers ensure you understand what they have said about your business and that you know how to monitor your performance against your plan.

4. Start-up companies do a bad job of identifying their target markets

Perhaps one of the most tricky elements is identifying your target markets. It is not necessary to do lots of research but it is important to think deeply about what you know about the people who will buy your products and services. Who are they? How old are they? How wealthy are they? Where do they live? What do they like and dislike? Where and how to they currently buy similar services and products to those you will be providing?

If you have worked through the above questions and based your marketing strategy and sales forecasts on what you discovered, your plan will be stronger. If you also devise mechanisms for monitoring performance, based on the knowledge and assumptions behind your forecasts, you will have a much greater chance of improving your sales forecasts and marketing strategies, as your business develops.

5. Once UK business plans are written they just collect dust somewhere

Too many UK plans are filed on the 'don't bother to read this ever again' shelf. A business plan is a tool for managing your business performance. It needs to be kept up to date and used as a monitoring tool. If you took the wise decision of investing in good software to write your plan, you will have built in monitoring tools as part of the package. This makes it easy to monitor actual income, expenditure and cash flows against your plan, which is essential if you want to avoid unwelcome surprises or even failure.

In the current economic climate it is essential for all businesses to have plans and all UK business plans should be live documents. Time invested in developing your plan is only of value if you use your plan as a monitoring tool to help you manage your business. This is even more important in the current challenging economic climate.

Why You Need a Business Lawyer to Help You Start Your New Business

You've decided to start a new business. Congratulations! Where do you go from here? Do you hire a business lawyer or do you need an accountant? An accountant will certainly help you with your taxes when you are ready to do so. But how do you decide what kind of entity you should be? You've heard of limited liability companies, but you're not sure this works for your business. Everyone seems to have an S-corp. Is this what you need? What you really need is to find a good business lawyer. A good business lawyer will help you understand the myriad decisions you will need to make for your business and will help you to start off on the right track.

Depending on the type of business you have and the number of investors in your business, you will need to talk with a business lawyer about entity formation, copyright or trademarks, insurance and other ways to protect your personal assets. The money you invest in a good business lawyer at the beginning of your business, will save you significant money down the line. Here are a few ways a business lawyer can help you:

1. Entity Formation. In California, we like to advise our new business owners to form an LLC - a limited liability company (unless this is not available for your type of business, such as a licensed contractor). The main reason is simple: experience shows that most small businesses will not hold annual meetings and keep minutes. Failure to keep up corporate formalities as a corporation can have devastating effects. A creditor can "pierce the corporate veil" and a court could find you personally liable for the corporation's liabilities. With an LLC, the failure to have meetings and keep minutes is not considered a reason to pierce the corporate veil in an LLC. A good business attorney will talk with you about the type of entity right for your business and assist with setting up the company correctly.

2. Trademarks. If you work hard to come up with a name or design a logo, don't you want to protect it? By filing for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, you can protect that name or logo. And a business lawyer will help you to understand the important of doing this first - rather than waiting until you have established your business. The worst thing you can do is spend a lot of money marketing your brand, just to find someone else has registered that name - or a similar name before you.

3. Contracts. Contracts for each small business is a must. Some people feel that they can download contracts from a website, but do you know who wrote the contract? Do you know who it was written for? What state law applies? It is not a good idea to start your business with a contract from the internet. Let a good business lawyer prepare the contract you need for your business. Intellectual Property. Is your business a media, design, or another type of creative business? If so, you will find it much easier to deal with trademarks and copyright protection registrations if you have a lawyer. Even if your attorney does not normally handle intellectual property, they will have referrals for you so you can find the right intellectual property specialist for your business. Normally, these will be people the lawyer has worked with before and can recommend based on prior experience.

4. Insurance. Insurance is required for a business, but it is not enough. You need to have a business entity to protect your home and personal assets. Hiring an attorney for your small business may not seem to be a requirement if you're not facing any legal battles. This is not true! You want an attorney who is familiar with you and your business, so if you do end up in a legal mess, they'll be able to smooth it out. Hopefully, before it ends up in court.

5. DBA. Some people use a DBA for their business name. This is good to have and a business attorney can help you with the filings required.

It is crucial for new business owners to hire a good business lawyer to assist them in setting up their business. You want your business to be successful, so be sure to start off with the advice of someone who understands what your business needs.

How To Start An Online Business and Some Online Business Ideas

With the state of the economy and thousands of people around the globe losing their jobs every day alternative sources of income are becoming more and more popular. The purpose of this article is to direct you to the right information that will teach you how to start an online business. Also I am going to leave you with some online business ideas as well as tell you things that you should avoid.

The internet is growing at a phenomenal rate every single day. There are over 700,000,000 people that have access to the internet daily. So with all the online businesses in existence we have only just scratched the surface of this incredibly fast growing behemoth. There will always be plenty of room for anyone that wants to learn how to start an online business. I hope this article helps inspire you to come up with some online business ideas of your own.

I have been on the internet marketing for approximately 2 years now and I am here to tell you that it gets more exciting every single day. I can hardly contain myself when I think about all that is going on with the internet and the changing economy. I know people become apprehensive and afraid when they think about the state of the future economy however I cannot help but be ecstatic. The reason for this overwhelming feeling of euphoria that I experience daily is not only a positive attitude which helps by the way, but the knowledge that the economy has always gone up and down usually in 7 year cycles give or take a few years. Also is my belief that where we are going is exciting and filled with unparalleled opportunity. Let me explain.

What we are going through I believe is what is called a paradigm shift. The world we live in has been and continues to become an information based society. The way we communicate is almost instantaneous in most cases due to technology and the internet. We can talk to people anywhere in the world in mere seconds with our computers and an internet connection.

That is the beauty in learning how to start an online business. Here are some of the benefits.

Unlimited Income Potential

Absentee Ownership

Freedom To Live Anywhere And Anyway You Want To (provided you have internet access)

Inexpensive Start Up Costs

Some Of The Best FREE Training Available If You Know Where To Look

You Control Your Time And Income

Easily Work From Home

Unlimited Supply Of Prospects

These are just a few of the benefits. There are many more of course as you will find out for yourself if you decide to head out on your own internet adventure. The possibilities are unlimited. You never know from day to day who you are going to meet. The world you experience on the internet is so much bigger than the world we go out into as a general rule. You can go anywhere in the world you choose in a moments notice. You will meet people all across this huge planet of ours. Below are some online business ideas designed to get you thinking about what you want to do and maybe come up with some ideas of your own.

Choose Your Niche

The first thing you need to do in your endeavor to learn how to start an online business is decide what your niche is going to be. There are 1,000's of things you could possibly do online. Affiliate marketing, network marketing or MLM (multilevel Marketing), eBay, ClickBank. ClickBank deals in all digital products such as e-books etc. You can sign up for an account and become an affiliate of the different products they promote. You could also create your own product. My personal niche is network marketing because I like the walk away income potential. The hottest things that sell on the internet are software and e-books.

Find The Proper Training And Support

The next thing you will need to do is find the right place to put your trust in for the correct training and support to help you learn how to start an online business. You can Google online marketing training. Just be very careful because I know this is hard to believe but there are those who just want to make money off you and do not care about your success. However there are many good marketers. Here are some things to watch out for

Wild crazy income claims: Make $12,248.56 in3 days etc.

No real product behind the promotion. Get details of the product and how it will be used

No congruent message. They use gimmicks to get you to click on their ad and when you get there what they are selling you is something totally different than what they lead you to believe.

No good iron clad guarantee. I know this is questionable however anyone serious business person should be willing to stand behind what they are selling 100%.

No testimonials. This too is something to watch for because there are those who get paid to give testimonials

The main thing to remember is that you have to do your due diligence to find that one individual that you feel comfortable with to train you. Go to a lot of sites and you will eventually see the ones that are good over and over again. See if their testimonials are verifiable. When you decide on one then stick with that one until you learn what you need to before going on to another otherwise you will end up with tons of e-books and courses that you download and none are used and you are even more confused than when you first started out. Keep everything you download saved to a file with that programs or the trainers name.

Another Thing To Remember is do not opt in to every offer you see that promises you to make a fortune online especially in an incredibly short period of time, not that that can't happen but that it is unlikely. Any business takes time, work and some investment. The internet is no different however you can start a business easier online than offline with a very small investment if you get the right training from the correct source and the rewards of owning an internet business as opposed to an offline business are phenomenal. You can start an online business and succeed. Like any other business it is a skill that can be learned. Realize that it will require some investment just like any other business also.

Do not make an investment in hosting for your website, when you are ready, or any other tool in learning how to start an online business that you are not sure you can keep. Once you start don't give up and just keep at it and I promise you will make money if you do what they tell you to do, but don't start opening 100's of e-mails from tons of offers you have opted into and get discouraged and not do what they ask you to do and then blame the teacher. Follow a system and you will be successful. Also support from your spouse is essential if you want to be successful in your efforts to learn how to start an online business.

I will have more articles that will further expound on what I have already written with more ideas and do's and don't's in your endeavor to start an online business.

What we are going through I believe is what is called a paradigm shift. Go to http://www.taketheleap.com/define.html for a fantastic explanation of a paradigm shift. The world we live in has been and continues to become an information based society. The way we communicate is almost instantaneous in most cases due to technology and the internet. We can talk to people anywhere in the world in mere seconds with our computers and an internet connection.