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Every business needs to have a written business plan. Whether it’s to provide direction or attract investors, a business plan is vital for the success for your organization. But, how do you write a business plan?

SBA.gov recommends that a business plan includes;

• Executive summary – a snapshot of your business.
• Company description – describes what you do.
• Market analysis – research on your industry, market, and competitors.
• Organization and management – your business and management structure.
• Service or product – the products or services you’re offering.
• Marketing and sales – how you’ll market your business and your sales strategy.
• Funding request – how much money you’ll need for next 3 to 5 years.
• Financial projections – supply information like balance sheets.
• Appendix- an optional section that includes résumés and permits.

However, getting started can be difficult to do. So, here’s a seven steps in writing a perfect business plan.  Read More…..

As a recent transplant to Seattle, Tara Reed was sitting in her new apartment, staring at the blank walls. “I’d started to get interested in fine art, and it struck me how annoying and labor-intensive it would be to find art I liked for my new place,” she says. “For food, music, fashion, movies, I could just tap an app and get a personal recommendation. But the fine-art world hadn’t caught up to that.” So, Reed, who now lives in Detroit, helped it catch up: She launched Kollecto.  At first I thought it would be more service-­based, like video-chatting with an art adviser, but I overestimated how comfortable my customers would be talking about art,” she says. “You know what you like and don’t like, but that doesn’t mean talking to a professional isn’t scary.” Reed, who worked in marketing at Microsoft and Foursquare, didn’t know a lick of code, but she used a patchwork of existing tech to create a more comfortable way of shopping: It’s a (very nonjudgmental) bot that walks users through a survey, and offers curated selections of art based on their tastes. Read More….

Branding is often labelled as a woolly service. Admittedly, it is a bit soft. Many marketing activities can be judged on what has been created or resulting figures.

A brand, on the other hand, is a mix of thoughts and feelings. It is the impression you want to give. This in itself makes it a difficult thing to understand and cultivate.

That said, after interrogating and rebranding many small businesses over the last few years – and directing a small business myself – I understand the value of branding.

Often it’s good practice to start by working backwards. Ask yourself how you want people to perceive your business, then break down the fabric of what you already have to find the attributes that may give your desired perception. Look at how other powerful small brands are perceived and apply this logic.  Read More….

Driving a startup company from infancy to IPO has taken on mythical proportions in the tech industry. Many dream the dream of launching the next Google or Facebook.

It has never been so promising for anyone with a great idea and a burning desire to succeed, to make it big, and in the process, change the world – or at least a market — in a relatively short period of time. However, for every famous story like Facebook, there are dozens of not-so-glamorous, and unfortunately, not-so-successful stories.

Taking a company from the startup phase to a potential global powerhouse can be both daunting and rewarding. Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or undertaking your first investment, the following key lessons may help you navigate the path from startup to market leader. Read More….

As you get your outreach going, you’ll quickly realize that many of things you and your company do can be applied across all three categories. Early success may be a good example. If your company is off to a great start, being the number one in something or the fastest growing something else is something you can put in your ads, on your website and include in media outreach. Positive reviews, especially from credible sources such as news outlets, are good for that too. Movies rely heavily on these two cross-platform message types — “The Times Says Four Stars!,” “The Number One Comedy of 2016!,” or whatever.   Read More …..

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you have new business ideas all the time. Entrepreneurs like you and I see the world as a place that can be constantly improved—we know we could make products and services that make things better.

The problem is, not all of our ideas are great ideas. They might seem like good ideas at the moment, but not all of them are worth turning into real businesses.

After all, starting and running a business is a big commitment. It’s a ton of work and isn’t something to be taken lightly.

So, how do you figure out if your ideas are any good? How do you separate the good ideas from the bad ones? Read More….

Instagram has become the go-to tool for those who want to take their visual and social marketing to a new level. One of the fastest growing social networks on the web, it now has  500 million monthly active users, an increase of 100 million since just a year ago.

Instagram marketing is growing exponentially. According to this page, about 30 percent of mid-sized or larger U.S. companies are using the platform to advertise these days. The number is expected to rise to 70.7 percent in 2017.

The smart marketer knows that they need to strike while the iron is hot, building their brand now before the crowd gets too heavy to see through. But you can’t do it through creativity alone. Read More….

The mistakes people make in selling their businesses stay with them long after the check has cleared and their new life has begun. They may have a considerable financial cushion, but because their wealth came from building something from nothing, they had a deep attachment to the company. It was their livelihood and their path to wealth, but it was also a part of who they were. Not managing the sale as best they could continues to gnaw at some of them.

For small-business owners seeking to sell in what remains a strong environment for mergers and acquisitions, the lessons learned by those who have gone before them can be instructive. Read More….