How to Think About and Write Your Business Plan

In this interview with Dave Lavinsky, of BusinessPlanVictory.com, we discuss the ins-and-outs of writing a business plan. We also cover many of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make when writing their business plan.

If you have the good fortune to get your plan in front of a high powered investor or banker, don't screw it up! It just takes one little mistake to disqualify you...

Don't be a casualty... listen to this interview and prepare your business plan the right way, the first time!

Including:

• Who needs a business plan, and who doesn't. (Learn what kind of business plan you should build - for YOUR business needs.)
• How to simplify the process of writing your plan. Most people spend weeks writing their plan, but you can write it in just a couple days.
• The NUMBER 1, MOST IMPORTANT THING to keep in mind when writing your business plan.
• The tools and techniques you can use for researching your plan, writing your plan, and getting it out into the world.
• How to strike the perfect balance between past accomplishments and current opportunity. (And what to do if you don't have past accomplishments to brag on...)
• How to get your plan in front of investors who will give you money.

And so much more!

You can listen to this interview right from here, or download it to your computer.

Common Business Plan Mistakes with Dave Lavinsky (1 hour 14 minutes)

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Dave's business plan template has helped entrepreneurs raise over $1 BILLION in funding!

I've arranged a very special discount, only for my listeners. For a short time, get the $97 business plan template product for just $1. Click here for details:

Business Plan Victory.com.

The Principles and Mindset of Launching a Successful New Business - with a senior ambassador from SCORE - the government-funded non-profit helping entrepreneurs with business startup.

In this interview with SCORE's Carl Woodard, we cover the principles of launching a new business from scratch, including:

• How to discover a potentially profitable market, and what criteria should be considered before running with any idea you may have for a business
• What one thing you should do prior to writing a business plan
• How to greatly increase your odds of startup success
• What financeers and banks expect from a business plan, and which ones they actually fund!
• Are you going to be a good entrepreneur? Learn the skills and traits that most successful entrepreneurs possess.
• The 3 most important areas of knowledge you must have to run a business.
• How bank finance managers choose what business to fund, and which ones to ditch. (HINT: It is NOT necessarily the one with the 100 page business plan...)
• How much money you should raise prior to beginning serious operation.
• How to get help writing your business plan, funding your company, researching your market, and more.
• How to hire your team - an important lesson that every entrepreneur who wants success needs to learn.

Carl Woodard is a wealth of small business knowledge. This interview is worth hundreds of dollars of value - yours for free today.

Business Victory Club members receive valuable interviews like this on a regular basis, along with a weekly business building lesson. Learn more about the business victory club here.

You can listen to this interview right from here, or download it to your computer.

Launching a Successful Business with SCORE's Carl Woodard (1 hour 18 minutes)

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Members of my Business Victory Club get a 52-week, step-by-step business startup lesson series, and learn how to beat the odds when starting their business.

Includes a step-by-step process to research your market and write a business plan.

To learn more about Business Victory Club, click here.

In the early 2000's, I was a successful Internet consultant. I had a thriving consultancy, and I was making pretty good money. But it wasn't meant to last... the dot-com bomb destroyed the cashflow of most of my clients...

Which in turn destroyed my business.

So with nothing to lose, living on a home equity line of credit, I moved to Southern California to make my mark on the world.

I spent several months looking, every day, for a new job. But SoCal was going through the same thing, with thousands of resourceful techies flooding the market - and they were willing to work for less money...

I finally found an entrepreneurial opportunity that I could live with. It involved a very low guaranteed salary, but the promise of a huge bonus if I could turn around the fortunes of a small direct marketing division of a strange little operation in a Century City high rise.

The overall business was run by two Israelis, who were combative, secretive, and hard-to-understand. This was my first (but not last) business deal with folks from the middle-east - and I learned that they do things a little differently than we did in the Mid-West.

In the area where I grew up, we made an agreement and shook hands on it. Done deal.

With these guys, the handshake was just the start of negotiation. (Nothing really wrong with that way of doing business in-and-of-itself, but if you don't know going in... you won't come away with a pleasant experience.)

So I slaved away, day and night, taking the company from $0to $80K/mo in only 6 months. I killed myself to get that big bonus... literally going into debt financially, emotionally, and in my relationship.

But all the pieces were in place, and with solutions of technology, human engineering, and creativity, I did it.

And then my boss told me that plans changed.

The company was throwing all resources into another project,and I had to help them launch an Internet business to get my bonus. 

So I was off to the races again. Working even crazier hours to reach their never-ending series of deadlines and modifications. I was working myself crazy, and ruining my relationship.

Three months later came the low-point of my professional career.

I found myself in the office - a high rise in Century City - at 3AM in the morning. I had been at work for 19 hours. A plane was leaving in 5 hours - and my fiancee' and I were supposed to be on that plane - on our way to get married.

My "boss" held a check in his hands that meant financial life-or-death to me. But he would not hand it over until I finished his special little project. I was a hostage to him for that check...

At one point, after countless requests were fulfilled, tasks accomplished, and minutae completed, I blew up. I found myself in a face-to-face screaming contest with my boss. I was at my wits end. He was screaming at me. I was screaming at him.

I turned to the side and threw my pen at the wall. He thundered, "NOBODY throws things in MY office! How DARE you disrespect me?"

I glared at him, with my bravest face on, and said "Well, I just did. What are you going to do about it?"

His defeated reply: "Nothing..."

Although it was never said, we both knew I would never be back.

Finally at 5AM, the project was completed. He made me sign a non-disclosure, a non-compete, and a privacy statement. Then he handed over my life-blood - the check.

I made the plane (barely) and got married as planned.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons from that experience, but none more important than these:

• I vowed on that day NEVER to allow ANYONE to hold me hostage for money again. My wife made a pact with me that she would never fault me for taking self-respect over cash. (Funny how that actually makes you more cash in the long run…)
• I vowed that I would NEVER treat people the way I was. A handshake is what I work on to this day. (In fact, if a client insists on signing a contract prior to an engagement, or if I get a funny feeling, I won't work for them. Trust is now my main currency...)
• I learned that I need to make my own fortune - financially and otherwise - and I dedicated my life to that task.

My Business Victory Club is the culmination of that life objective. I have created a repeatable process that gives me the surest shot to start with _nothing_, and turn it into a profitable business.

In just the second lesson, you’ll learn how to start making some immediate money. Soon afterward, you learn the most reliable way that I know of to prove if a market is profitable.

You’ll learn everything that I have learned over the years. 

http://www.smallbusinessvictory.com/club/

I hope you're paying attention... life's lessons can be forgotten. Life can be hard sometimes - but it can also be sweet. You only need to pay attention, and apply the lessons you learn in a dedicated way.

When viewed from this frame - Failure is Success. The more you fail - and learn from your failures - and apply it to your life - the more likely you are to achieve your version of success.

Leave with this quote in your mind:

"History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heart-breaking obstacles before they truimphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats." - B.C.Forbes 

Sincerely,

Travis

PS. Does it seem like the story of your entrepreneurial career has been: fail, fail, fail, fail?? If so, you might be interested in weaving a new story for yourself:

http://www.smallbusinessvictory.com/club/

What it is, how it works, and what you need to be prepared

If you have ever considered raising venture capital for your business, then this audio will be valuable.

In this interview with venture capitalist Brad Feld, we start with the basics, like

What is venture capital and how is it different from angel investors or private equity?

What kind of investments do venture capitalists look for?

What is the best way to approach and engage a venture capitalist?

In addition, Brad discusses:

• How does a VC think about investment opportunities?
• What can you say to a VC to give you the best opportunity for a hearing?
• Does a VC invest in "ideas" or "people"?
• What kind of VC should you approach? What kind of VC is likely to be interested in your idea?
• What kind of businesses do VC's traditionally invest in?
• Why you need a business plan - and why you will probably NEVER show it to a VC!
• The importance of your financial model, even though it will definitely be wrong...
• The only 4 possible responses you can get from any VC that you approach.

VC's like Brad Feld move fast! They get approached by a lot of people, and review a lot of ideas. Learn how to increase your chances for a favorable outcome - the tiny steps that must be taken if you want the attention and interest of somebody like Brad Feld.

You can listen to this interview right from here, or download it to your computer.

This interview has been disabled for public download. It is now accessible only to Startup Victory members. Click here to learn more about Startup Victory.

Members of Startup Victory Club get a step-by-step 52 week training series on implementing the 7 Steps to Startup S.U.C.C.E.S.S. method of starting a new business. Including valuable sections on writing a business plan and raising money for your business.

 

To learn more about Startup Victory, click here.

This is a blog entry by Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and founder of many tech-based companies.

Mark is a polarizing figure. He is loved and hated for his antics as a sports owner.  I've been a fan of his blog for a long time, and his series of posts titled "Success and Motivation" had a big impact on me.

So, I'm posting part 1 here, with the hope that you'll read it, get hooked, and cruise over to his blog to read the rest. If you are like me, you'll really be able to relate with Mark's situation. He started out with nothing, just like us, and through hard work and self-education, became one of the richest men in the world.

This really is good stuff.

Success and Motivation

- by Mark Cuban 

I did it too. I drove by big houses and would wonder who lived there. What did they do for a living? How did they make their money? Someday, I would tell myself, I would live in a house like that. Every weekend I would do it.

I read books about successful people. In fact, I read every book or magazine I could get my hands on. I would tell myself 1 good idea would pay for the book and could make the difference between me making it or not.

I worked jobs I didn’t like. I worked jobs I loved, but had no chance of being a career. I worked jobs that barely paid the rent. I had so many jobs my parents wondered if I would be stable. Most of them aren’t on my resume anymore because I was there so short a time or they were so stupid I was embarrassed. You don’t want to write about selling powdered milk or selling franchises for TV repair shops. In every job, I would justify it in my mind whether I loved it or hated it that I was getting paid to learn and every experience would be of value when I figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up.

If I ever grew up, I hoped to run my own business some day. It’s exactly what I told myself every day. In reality, I had as much doubt as confidence. I was just hoping the confidence would win over the doubt and it would all work out for the best.

I remember being 24 years old, living in Dallas in a 3-bedroom apartment with 5 other friends. This wasn’t a really nice place we all kicked in to move up for. This place has since been torn down. Probably condemned. I didn’t have my own bedroom. I slept on the couch or floor depending on what time I got home. I had no closet. Instead I had a pile that everyone knew was mine. My car had the usual hole in the floorboard, a ‘77 FIAT X19 that burned a quart of oil that I couldn’t afford every week.

To make matters worse, because I was living on happy hour food, and the 2 beers cover charge, I was gaining weight like a pig. My confidence wasn’t at an all time high. I was having fun. Don’t get me wrong. I truly was having a blast. Great friends, great city, great energy, pretty girls. Ok, the pretty girls had no interest in my fat and growing ass at the time, but that’s another story….

I was motivated to do something I loved. I just wasn’t sure what it was. I made a list of all the different jobs I would love to do. (I still have it.) The problem was that I wasn’t qualified for any of them. But I needed to pay the bills.

I finally got a job working as a bartender at a club. A start, but it wasn’t a career. I had to keep on looking during the day.

About a week later I answered a want ad out of the newspaper for someone to sell PC Software at the first software retail store in Dallas. The ad was actually placed by an employment agency. The fee was to be paid by the company, so I gave it a shot.

I put on my interview face, and of course my interview suit, which just happened to be one of my 2 polyester suits that I had bought for the grand total of 99 dollars. Thank god for 2-fer, 2-fer, 2-fer madness at the local mens clothing store. Grey Pinstripe. Blue Pinstripe. Didn’t matter if it rained, those drops just rolled down the back of those suits. I could crumple them. They bounced right back. Polyester, the miracle fabric.

I wish I could say the blue suit and my interview skills impressed the employment agency enough to set up the interview with the software store. In reality, not many had applied for the job and the agency wanted the fee so they would have sent anyone over to interview. I didn’t care.

I pulled out the grey for my interview at Your Business Software. I was fired up. It was my shot to get into the computer business, one of the industries I had put on my list!

I remember the interview well. Michael Humecki the Prez, and Doug (don’t remember his last name), his partner double-teamed me. Michael did most of the talking to start. He asked me if I had used PC software before. My total PC experience at the time was on the long forgotten TI/99A that had cost me 79 dollars. I used it to try to teach myself Basic while recovering from hangovers and sleeping on the floor while my roommates were at work. They weren’t impressed.

I was trying to pull out every interview trick I knew. I went through the spiel about how I was a good salesperson, you know the part of the interview where you are basically begging for a job, using code phrases like “I care about the customer”, “I promise to work really, really hard” and “I will do whatever it takes to be successful”. Unfortunately, I was getting that “well if no one else applies for the job, maybe” look from Michael.

Finally, Doug spoke up. He asked me. “What do you do if a customer has a question about a software package and you don’t know the answer?” All of the possible answers raced through my mind. I had to ask myself if this was the “honesty test question” you know where they want to see if you will admit to things you don’t know. Is this some trick technology question and there is an answer everyone but me knows? After who knows how long, I blurted out that “I would look it up in the manual and find the answer for them.” Ding, ding, ding…Doug just loved this answer.

Michael wasn’t as convinced, but he then asked me the question I was dying to hear: “Would you not go back to the employment agency at all, so when we hire you we don’t have to pay the fee?” I was in.

What does all this mean? Nothing yet. It was just fun to tell. You have to wait till part 2, if you care, and if there is a part two. Right now, it’s much more important that I go play with my daughter.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Dear Internet Friend,

In this post, I share the secret of using a Big Difference to build a successful business. It’s a simple secret, and it works universally, no matter what business you’re in.

But before getting into it, I want to make…

An Important Announcement About This Blog

I like to think of what I write to you as if I was writing to a friend. Which means - The only information I’ll ever send to you, is the same info I would be comfortable sending to my closest friends.

Business is a tricky thing – or it can be – and there is alot of information out there.

Seems like everybody with a computer is a published guru… How do you know what to listen to? How do you know what to ignore? If you spend all your time learning new techniques or business theories, you’ll never spend time doing what is important – working on your business.

I don’t pretend to be a business guru. I’m just a small business owner like you - trying to find that secret magic sauce to being successful. But every once in a while I run across a concept so powerful that I must send it on. Or I cross paths with a guru that can be of value – and I'll record an interview for you to download.

So with that thought in mind, I hope you’ve noticed - my mission is to respect your inbox and send only the most valuable information I have. That’s why you only hear from me once a week with a video or interview. I don’t have a "publishing schedule". I only want to bring valuable, actionable information. I promise that as long as I’m hitting the "send" button, I’ll never send junk. If you ever start to hate the info I’m bringing to you, removing yourself is as easy as clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any email.

But if you decide to stick around – I’ll do my best to bring you information that you can use to make your business better – right away. For example, today I’m going to show you…

How To Use A Big Difference To Build a Successful Business

Here is a letter that I would write my best friend… if he was asking for the one thing that makes him successful in his life (personal and business), it is an easy thing for me to identify…

Dear Brandon,

Why do you think your wife loves you so much? Even I wonder sometimes because you can be a real bonehead.

But you’re a funny bonehead. And you’re compassionate. You are a true friend and you’ve supported her through thick and thin for 12 years.

In other words – you are YOU. You’re different than everyone else. You just happen to be different in a way that your wife loves you for.

Now, I will switch gears on you completely and bring it back together later.

So… why do you think your waterfall construction business has been successful these last 8 years? When others like you have failed?

Lord knows it’s not because of your good looks…

It’s because you offer a high-end, specialized service, and you have positioned yourself as the guru of the field with artistic integrity.

In other words, you promoted YOU. You have an eye for nature. You make friends in an instant. You always deliver on your promises.

What am I trying to get at?

Since you’re the kind of guy with more brawn than brains, I’ll try to spell it out very simply.

The driving factor of your success is that you are different from your competitors in a Big way  - in your field, you stand out like a sore thumb.

In business, you need to stand out from the competition to be successful. You must be different from others to succeed! If a consumer doesn't see you as any different than the next guy, what incentive do they have to use your product/service? None.

What is a Big Difference? How can you get a Big Difference? Here are a few of the ways that I define the Big Difference:

1.  Your Big Difference must be obvious – if Joe Schmoe cannot tell the difference between you and the next guy, it is not obvious enough.

2. Your Big Difference must be simple – one definition of "simple" is that it is easily overlooked. Don’t feel like you need to have some kind of clever ingenious difference – just be better at customer service, or cheaper, or more expensive, or heavier, or more artistic, etc…

3. Your Big Difference must be relevant to your customers. If you’re different in a way that doesn’t matter to the person buying your product/service… it doesn't matter. In other words, your Big Difference must make sense in the context of your market.

4. Be a little crazy… the big players aren’t crazy – they already made it, now they are trying to play it safe. Here’s a quote from Ted Turner (inventor and founder of CNN) about winning the America’s Cup sailing race when he was just a kid. "I moved with speed. I plotted, schemed, and planned, and did crazy things…When you're little you have to do crazy things, you can't just copy the big guys."

Here are some ideas on how to develop your Big Difference:

1. Write it down on paper – it is easily communicated? It is amazing but when you write it down on paper it either pops out and makes sense or fizzles away to nothing. You'll need to be able to communicate your difference down the road anyway, so this step is critical.

2. Be a leader, be a bit of a rogue – this is your business. It should reflect your personality. Unless you just purchased a McDonald’s franchise, don't feel like your business needs to be like the next person's.

3. Tie your big difference into the greatest benefit a customer receives when doing business with you. The best differentiation is directly related to the benefit you offer your customer. For example:

If you sell jewelry from Thailand the benefit is exotic and unique jewelry, and the Big Difference could be a 5 year guarantee. Or, that you only sell the brilliant red rubys from a certain province of Thailand. (I don’t even know if rubys are found in Thailand…)

If you build websites for people the greatest benefit is a presence on the Internet, and the big difference could be that you specialize in direct chat inside the website. Or, you can be a professional copywriter and provide compelling content for the site.

4. A Big Difference is NOT EASY – If you think that your Big Difference is going to be really difficult to implement and maintain… then you’re probably on the right track.

Here is a diagram and excerpt from one of my favorite business books, “Jump Start Your Business Brain” by Doug Hall:

Quadrant 1: These ideas are hard to execute yet offer customers the same old stuff. These are an expensive waste of time and effort. Many high-technology research and development efforts end up as quadrant one ideas.

Quadrant 2: These ideas are easy to execute yet offer customers the same old stuff. Some executives call these "low, hanging fruit." The reality is these are commodity efforts that become huge organizational distractions. In addition, they are often "pitched" to the organization as something more than what they truly are, resulting in dramatic failures versus expectations.

Quadrant 3: These ideas are easy to execute yet offer customers a Dramatic Difference. These are great ways to make quick money; however, they must be pursued with great efficiency as they are usually short-term opportunities. As soon as you realize strong results, the competition will copy.

Quadrant 4: These are the ideas that offer the potential for sustainable growth. They are difficult to execute yet offer Dramatic Differences. They provide benefits to customers and barriers to competition copying. If you have a vision for long-term growth, this is where your vision should be focused.

Here is the last thing to take away: A Big Difference gets you noticed by the customer. Without being different, you are just another buzzing sound in the back of a consumer brain. Get a Big Difference – and get noticed, remembered, and acted on by your customers!

Now go shout your Big Difference out to the world!

Looking forward…

Travis

PS. In future posts, I may cover the best way to communicate your big difference. I.e., how to say it, where to put it, for greatest impact and effectiveness. Let me know if you’re interested in this topic…