Creating wealth is generally not something you hear a negative person talking about. Negative people are usually complaining about something, someone or someplace, frequently their own place. That's right the place where you live should be the first place you improve. Creating wealth with a positive mindset doesn't mean that you have to be born with a positive mindset, it means that change is possible. For most maybe that change could be buying real-estate after all we all need a place to live and if your currently renting check into various programs that are available to first time home buyers, that can be the beginning step in creating wealth.
No one who has been successful in their plan for the creation of wealth was born perfect. There are no perfect people, not even those who were born into a financially secure environment. People have the ability to make changes for the better each and every day until the day we die.
A positive mindset allows you to believe that your dreams can be your reality. You could start by asking yourself what can I do to become successful? Start with small steps learn to love a sport that you can participate in, hopefully one that doesn't require a large outlay of cash or a sport that is expensive to participate in if that is what you prefer. Search until you find something physical to do even if it is just hiking or taking nature walks. Creating wealth with a positive mindset means that if you are negative in your thoughts or have developed expensive habits that can be detrimental to your lifestyle, like gambling or addictive behavior, you will need to change. And in a lot of ways participating in an exercise program or sport is a good place to start.
Creating wealth with a positive mindset does not mean sitting or lying around all day only thinking about creating wealth because that is all you think about, sorry it just doesn't work like that. You need to take action in one form or another. Maybe Creating wealth means first getting and keeping a job, then sticking with a budget that allows you to save enough money to work for yourself and therefore able to save more money to invest in your financial security.
Maybe it will mean going back to school to learn a special skill or trade, or to get that degree. Learning is more easily accomplished with a positive mindset. Continuing you or your spouse's education may become necessary if your desire to create wealth is a commitment you both share. Going back to school may not be as much fun as you thought it was going to be the first time, but creating wealth requires sacrifice. If you don't go back to school how will you earn more money to save and invest? A positive mindset makes it possible to develop strategy with the big picture in mind.
The positive aspects of continuing your education may be you will have more money in just a few years. But remember creating wealth with a positive mindset starts with a plan to change and act. Always keep in mind that there will be stumbling blocks along the way establish your goals and strive towards them and you will become invincible.
Fred Huber is owner of http://www.truehomebusinessprofessional.com/ and writes on a variety of subjects related to home business.. To learn more about starting your own home business visit: http://www.truehomebusinessprofessional.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fred_Huber
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
4 Tips For Writing a Killer Business Plan
So you've decided you need to write a business plan - now what? Where do you start? Here are four quick tips that will help you get going right away. The main thing is to GET STARTED. Here's how:
A business plan is in essence a creative writing project. You want the plan to be an interesting read, not a long pedantic discussion. When you're approaching lenders or investors, you have to put on your marketing hat and make your company's future sound exciting.
So write your plan as an exciting description of the opportunity you see that lies ahead. Are you excited (you should be!). Then let that excitement shine through in the narrative of your business plan. You want to infect the reader with the same excitement you have, don't you?!
WRITE YOUR PLAN IN A STYLE THAT FITS YOUR INDUSTRY AND YOUR OWN STYLE
The business plan for a sports bar company would sound much different than a plan for a bank. Make your plan sound like you; put some of your personality and philosophy in the plan, so after reading the plan an investor or lender would feel as though he/she knows you.
BE ENTHUSIASTIC IN YOUR APPROACH
When you talk to entrepreneurs about their company, they usually get so enthusiastic that they almost wear you out. Then you get their business plan and it reads like the operations manual that came with your DVD player. The purpose of the business plan is to create excitement in the minds of the investors, in other words to activate the area of their brains devoted to greed. If you can't be enthusiastic about your business plan who can?
AVOID GETTING MIRED IN INDUSTRY JARGON
Internet companies, medical companies and computer companies all tend to dwell on minute details about their technology and don't adequately develop the business reasons why they are going to make money for themselves and the investors. Explain the technology in layman's terms and then focus on why your company will make money and how it will make money.
BE OPEN ABOUT THE RISKS AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITIES
There are downsides to every business venture, recognizing those risks shows that you've considered all the alternatives. In the discussion come up with how your company will react to certain risks. That demonstrates smart management.
A CD ROM CAN'T REPLACE YOUR MIND!
More and more entrepreneurs are relying on business plan writing software. These products are sometimes helpful in formatting the plan and creating the financial schedules, but they can't formulate your strategies for you. The heart of the business plan is explaining how you are going to sell more of your product or service than your competitors, and operate your business at high enough profit margins to generate a superior rate of return for investors.
The CD-ROM you might purchase has no idea how to do any of this. It's spent nearly all of its life on a shelf, in a box. How exciting is that?
The main idea here is that, to engage the reader of your plan, you need to share your sense of excitement about the opportunity. Yes, you will have lots of analysis, SWOT, financials and the like, but you want to make sure that your reader is engaged and interested from the first paragraph - so get excited, already!
Henri Schauffler, The CEO Coach, has dedicated the last 20 years to helping small businesses like yours to Outmanage, Outhire, Outsell and Outprofit All the Competition. For a FREE business assessment and tune up to see exactly how you are doing in all Eight Essential Areas for Business Success, go to http://www.QuickBizQuiz.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Henri_Schauffler
A business plan is in essence a creative writing project. You want the plan to be an interesting read, not a long pedantic discussion. When you're approaching lenders or investors, you have to put on your marketing hat and make your company's future sound exciting.
So write your plan as an exciting description of the opportunity you see that lies ahead. Are you excited (you should be!). Then let that excitement shine through in the narrative of your business plan. You want to infect the reader with the same excitement you have, don't you?!
WRITE YOUR PLAN IN A STYLE THAT FITS YOUR INDUSTRY AND YOUR OWN STYLE
The business plan for a sports bar company would sound much different than a plan for a bank. Make your plan sound like you; put some of your personality and philosophy in the plan, so after reading the plan an investor or lender would feel as though he/she knows you.
BE ENTHUSIASTIC IN YOUR APPROACH
When you talk to entrepreneurs about their company, they usually get so enthusiastic that they almost wear you out. Then you get their business plan and it reads like the operations manual that came with your DVD player. The purpose of the business plan is to create excitement in the minds of the investors, in other words to activate the area of their brains devoted to greed. If you can't be enthusiastic about your business plan who can?
AVOID GETTING MIRED IN INDUSTRY JARGON
Internet companies, medical companies and computer companies all tend to dwell on minute details about their technology and don't adequately develop the business reasons why they are going to make money for themselves and the investors. Explain the technology in layman's terms and then focus on why your company will make money and how it will make money.
BE OPEN ABOUT THE RISKS AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITIES
There are downsides to every business venture, recognizing those risks shows that you've considered all the alternatives. In the discussion come up with how your company will react to certain risks. That demonstrates smart management.
A CD ROM CAN'T REPLACE YOUR MIND!
More and more entrepreneurs are relying on business plan writing software. These products are sometimes helpful in formatting the plan and creating the financial schedules, but they can't formulate your strategies for you. The heart of the business plan is explaining how you are going to sell more of your product or service than your competitors, and operate your business at high enough profit margins to generate a superior rate of return for investors.
The CD-ROM you might purchase has no idea how to do any of this. It's spent nearly all of its life on a shelf, in a box. How exciting is that?
The main idea here is that, to engage the reader of your plan, you need to share your sense of excitement about the opportunity. Yes, you will have lots of analysis, SWOT, financials and the like, but you want to make sure that your reader is engaged and interested from the first paragraph - so get excited, already!
Henri Schauffler, The CEO Coach, has dedicated the last 20 years to helping small businesses like yours to Outmanage, Outhire, Outsell and Outprofit All the Competition. For a FREE business assessment and tune up to see exactly how you are doing in all Eight Essential Areas for Business Success, go to http://www.QuickBizQuiz.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Henri_Schauffler
Think You Don't Need A Business Plan? Think Again
Most people only write business plans during their business school courses or when they're trying to raise venture capital for a start-up. However, the business planning process is critical at all stages of business growth.
Here are 10 of the best reasons why your business needs a business plan.
1. To establish meaningful business milestones. Your plan must outline the most important long-term milestones that will determine the success or failure of your business. You must differentiate the important milestones, such as when your business will hit $5 Million in annual revenues, versus the short-term tasks of redesigning your company website.
2. To force you to analyze your competition. Many business owners regard their competitors with scorn. It's easy to dismiss your competitors as unsophisticated and to insist that "they don't know what they're doing." But you ignore your competition at your own peril. It's important to realize that all companies have competition in the form of either direct or indirect competitors. Understanding your competition is the first step in articulating your company's competitive advantages to your target customers.
3. To state previously unstated assumptions. The process of actually sitting down and composing the plan helps to unearth previously unstated assumptions. After writing all of your assumptions down and vigorously assessing them, you will then be poised to test them. The most successful businesses base their decisions on cold, hard data. And the first process in this step is to state and then state your assumptions.
4. To explain your revenue model. How exactly does your business make money? Where does most of it come from? Do your revenue streams follow the 80/20 Rule? These are critical questions to answer - in writing. Documenting the revenue model helps to address any and all challenges associated with the model.
5. To force you to become THE expert on your market. What are the most important challenges facing your industry? Is the market growing or decreasing in size? What is the size of the target market for your product/service? To become the leader in your market, you must know these answers like the back of your hand. Drafting - and updating - your business plan will force you to gain this expertise.
6. To uncover fresh opportunities. The process of business planning forces you to stop focusing on the immediate operations of the business and view your business from a new, more distanced perspective. As a result, you will likely find new ideas for operating and marketing your business.
7. To strategically focus your resources. Your business plan provides a useful roadmap. Without a business plan, you will likely modify short-term strategies without a perspective on your long-term milestones. It is essential that you stay focused on the long-term milestones that are most important to the success of your business. Your business plan clarifies where you should marshal your resources, time, and money in order to achieve those milestones.
8. To expertly position your brand. Drafting your business plan forces you to define and re-define the role of your business in your marketplace. The business planning process allows you to succinctly describe the business and position the brand to your target market, as well as to new and existing employees, partners, and investors.
9. To attract and retain employees. An excellent business plan is necessary to attract and retain world-class talent. Your business plan must inspire employees and management staff that your business is poised to become a market leader and achieve phenomenal success.
10. To accurately forecast your company's future needs. Your business plan must provide guidance from a short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term perspective. An excellent business plan provides a roadmap for all of your staffing and financial needs, and thus helps to ensure that you grow rapidly but without major bottlenecks and hiccups. To ensure smooth expansion, it is important to continually update your business plan to account for your company's growth and the evolving competitive challenges in your marketplace.
The author is associated with Growthink, a leading business plan consulting firm. Since 1999, Growthink's business plan consultants have assisted businesses in all ranges of development (start-up, middle-market, and Fortune 500) and across all major industries with their growth and financing strategies.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=P._Kennedy
Here are 10 of the best reasons why your business needs a business plan.
1. To establish meaningful business milestones. Your plan must outline the most important long-term milestones that will determine the success or failure of your business. You must differentiate the important milestones, such as when your business will hit $5 Million in annual revenues, versus the short-term tasks of redesigning your company website.
2. To force you to analyze your competition. Many business owners regard their competitors with scorn. It's easy to dismiss your competitors as unsophisticated and to insist that "they don't know what they're doing." But you ignore your competition at your own peril. It's important to realize that all companies have competition in the form of either direct or indirect competitors. Understanding your competition is the first step in articulating your company's competitive advantages to your target customers.
3. To state previously unstated assumptions. The process of actually sitting down and composing the plan helps to unearth previously unstated assumptions. After writing all of your assumptions down and vigorously assessing them, you will then be poised to test them. The most successful businesses base their decisions on cold, hard data. And the first process in this step is to state and then state your assumptions.
4. To explain your revenue model. How exactly does your business make money? Where does most of it come from? Do your revenue streams follow the 80/20 Rule? These are critical questions to answer - in writing. Documenting the revenue model helps to address any and all challenges associated with the model.
5. To force you to become THE expert on your market. What are the most important challenges facing your industry? Is the market growing or decreasing in size? What is the size of the target market for your product/service? To become the leader in your market, you must know these answers like the back of your hand. Drafting - and updating - your business plan will force you to gain this expertise.
6. To uncover fresh opportunities. The process of business planning forces you to stop focusing on the immediate operations of the business and view your business from a new, more distanced perspective. As a result, you will likely find new ideas for operating and marketing your business.
7. To strategically focus your resources. Your business plan provides a useful roadmap. Without a business plan, you will likely modify short-term strategies without a perspective on your long-term milestones. It is essential that you stay focused on the long-term milestones that are most important to the success of your business. Your business plan clarifies where you should marshal your resources, time, and money in order to achieve those milestones.
8. To expertly position your brand. Drafting your business plan forces you to define and re-define the role of your business in your marketplace. The business planning process allows you to succinctly describe the business and position the brand to your target market, as well as to new and existing employees, partners, and investors.
9. To attract and retain employees. An excellent business plan is necessary to attract and retain world-class talent. Your business plan must inspire employees and management staff that your business is poised to become a market leader and achieve phenomenal success.
10. To accurately forecast your company's future needs. Your business plan must provide guidance from a short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term perspective. An excellent business plan provides a roadmap for all of your staffing and financial needs, and thus helps to ensure that you grow rapidly but without major bottlenecks and hiccups. To ensure smooth expansion, it is important to continually update your business plan to account for your company's growth and the evolving competitive challenges in your marketplace.
The author is associated with Growthink, a leading business plan consulting firm. Since 1999, Growthink's business plan consultants have assisted businesses in all ranges of development (start-up, middle-market, and Fortune 500) and across all major industries with their growth and financing strategies.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=P._Kennedy
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