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Business plans kit for dummies
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Table of Contents
From the Book - Third edition.
Part 1. Building a strong foundation for your plan
1. Starting your planning engine
Understanding your starting position
Committing to the business-planning process
Identifying target audiences and key messages
The anatomy of a business plan
Establishing your plan's time frame
Preparing for the real world
2. Generating a successful business idea
Brainstorming business ideas
Identifying business opportunities
Doing your first reality check
3. Defining your business purpose
Knowing what business you're in
Giving your company its mission
Setting goals and objectives
Exploring values and vision
Putting your principles into practice
Part 2. Developing your plan's components
4. Understanding your business environment
Zooming in on your industry
Defining your customers
Defining and addressing markets shifts
Sizing up your competition
Greening your business
5. Charting your strategic direction
Assessing your capabilities against the opportunties and threats you face
Defining your business model
Charting your future
Outlining an exit strategy
6. Describing your business and its capabilities
Introducing your business
Describing your business capabilities
Changing your business focus
Staying focused on what you do best
7. Crafting your marketing plan
Marketing at a glance
Analyzing your market situation
Setting marketing goals and objectives
Defining your position and brand
Targeting your efforts
Designing marketing strategies
Planning your internet footprint
8. Tallying up your financial situation
Decoding financial terminology
Putting together an income statement
Creating your balance sheet
Constructing a cash-flow statement
Forecasting and budgeting
Part 3. Tailoring a business plan to fit your needs
9. Planning for one-person business
Having what it takes to succeed in a one-person business
Tailoring a business plan to fit your one-person enterprise
10. Planning for a small business
Recognizing the importance of a plan
Preparing your small business plan
Keeping an eye on the business horizon
Growing, or not growing, your small business
Keeping it in the family
11. Planning for an established business
Purpose-driven planning
Planning to raise capital
Planning to grow your business
Planning in times of trouble
Charting a turnaround
Planning for a merger or sale
12. Planning for a nonprofit organization
Running a nonprofit like a business
Organizing to do good work
Keeping the books
Marketing and promoting your nonprofit
13. Planning in an online world
Avoiding the well-traveled bumps on the cyber highway
Ironing out pressing planning issues
Creating an online customer profile
Building an internet business
Adding an internet extension to your brick-and-mortar business
Part 4. Making the most of your plan
14. Putting your plan together
Making a list and checking it twice
Locating additional resources
Assembling your planning team
Targeting your plan to key audiences
Fitting the pieces together
Planning ahead
15. Putting your plan to work
Organizing your company around your business plan
Getting team buy-in
Nurturing tomorrow's leaders
Keeping your plan current
Part 5. The part of tens
16. Ten signs that your plan may need an overhaul
Costs rise, revenues fall
Sales figures head south
You don't meet financial projections
Employee morale sags
Key projects fall behind schedule
New competitors appear
Technology shakes up your world
Important customers defect
Business strategy does a 180
Growth is out of your control
17. Ten ways to fund your business plan
Your own pocket
Friends and family
Prospective customers
A bank loan
A commercial line of credit
Equipment leasing
A small business administration (SBA) loan
Deep-pocket partners
Venture capital
Angel money
18. Ten ways to evaluate a new business idea
Is this something I really want to do?
Is this something I'm capable of doing?
Does it tap my personal strengths?
Can I describe it in 25 words or less?
What's the closest thing to it in the marketplace?
Does it meet a need or solve a problem?
Does it take advantage of a new opportunity?
What's the biggest drawback or limitation?
Will it make money : and how fast?
Am I willing to remortgage my house?
19. Ten questions to ask before you finish your business plan
Does the plan realistically assess your business idea?
Does the plan adequately describe your customers and what they want?
Does the plan establish specific timelines?
Do the financials add up?
Does the plan spell out specific goals and objectives?
Will it guide and inspire employees?
Is the writing clear and jargon-free?
Is the plan concise?
Does your strategy allow for the unexpected?
What would your competitors think?.
From the Book
This book contains computer software in the form of a CD-ROM.
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ISBN
9780470438541
9780764553653
9780764553653
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