Seven Steps to Starting Your own Business

by Palo Alto Software

Question

I’d like a basic outline for the fundamentals of how to start my own business. Please include some insight on financial management, legalities, literature that may come in handy, etc. Thanks!

Answer

What is interesting about this question is that, while many businesses are indeed created after much thought and planning, probably just as many are started on the fly; the guy who has had the itch to go solo but gets fired from his day job before actually doing so is apt to just wing it and hope for the best.

By the same token, there are many companies that start out planning to be one thing and end up doing something quite different. This is not to say that forethought and planning are a waste of time when starting a business; that’s certainly not true. Rather, it points out one of the fundamental laws of successful entrepreneurship –be flexible. For example, a 15 years ago Microsoft had no Internet strategy at all. Seeing the folly of that, they shifted much of their focus almost overnight. That’s a good lesson for all of us.

That said, here are the seven steps to starting your own business:

Step 1: Personal evaluation.

Begin by taking stock of yourself and your situation. Why do you want to start a business? Is it money, freedom, creativity, or some other reason? What skills do you have? What industries do you know about? Would you want to provide a service or a product? What do you like to do? How much capital do you have to risk? Will it be a full-time or a part-time venture? Your answers to these types of questions will help you narrow your focus and pick a business.

Maybe you don’t know what kind of business fits your goals. If that’s the case, there are many places to get business ideas. Do some online research. Look through the Yellow Pages. Go to trade shows. Buy industry magazines. Check in with the Small Business Association. Read the business section of the newspaper.

Step 2: Analyze the industry.

Once you decide on a business that fits your goals and lifestyle, you need to evaluate your idea. Who will buy your product or service? Who would be your competitors? You also need to figure out at this stage how much money you will need to get started.

Step 3: Make it legal.

There are several ways to form your business ––  it could be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or a corporation. As I have discussed several times previously, although incorporating can be expensive, it is well worth the money. A corporation becomes a separate entity that is legally responsible for the business. If something goes wrong, you cannot be held personally liable.

You also need to get the proper business licenses and permits. Depending upon the business, there may be city, county, or state regulations as well as permits and licenses to deal with. This is also the time to check into any insurance you may need for the business and to find a good accountant.

Step 4: Draft a business plan.

If you will be seeking outside financing, a business plan is a necessity. But even if you are going to finance the venture yourself, a business plan will help you figure out how much money you will need to get started, what needs to get done when, and where you are headed.

Step 5: Get financed.

Depending on the size of your venture, you may need to seek financing from an “angel” or from a venture capital firm. Most small businesses begin with private financing from credit cards, personal loans, help from the family, etc. As a rule of thumb, besides your start-up costs, you should also have at least three months’ worth of your family’s budget in the bank.

Step 6: Set up shop.

Find a location. Negotiate leases. Buy inventory. Get the phones installed. Have stationery printed. Hire staff. Set your prices. Throw a “Grand Opening” party.

Step 7: Trial and error.

It will take awhile to figure out what works and what does not. Follow your business plan, but be open and creative. Advertise! Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. And above all, have a ball! Running your own business is one of the great joys in life!

SOURCE: http://help.bplans.com/seven-steps-to-starting-your-own-business/554/

TIME AND TIDE WAITS FOR NO MAN

It is quite easy to postpone even when we claim to be passionate about our dreams. Every human being no matter how unreasonable the person might be did have some dream of a sort. The challenge is that we mostly entertain the notion that the time is not yet right for full action if we take any action at all. What is your definition of the right time? Until you are able to clearly define what the right time means to you, it will take some time if not a lifetime to be able to initiate a move to action. 

The sad truth is that, no one can move to the fore from some idealize spot in the future that has not yet arrived. If you are to make progress in your situation, it is essential to start from where you are now. Nobody is saying you are going to be excellent at it just from the word go. Though it may not be perfect, it is enough to take you from the ground and get you moving towards your goal.

As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles, starts with just one step and the other step follows as it continues like that till the final destination is reached. In fact, you cannot but make full use of what is already available to you in small way. After all, God is in the details. Wishing for more, or feeling resentment because you don’t have more, will only waste your precious time. However, time and tide waits for no man. You might be tempted sometimes in such s situation to rely on procrastination as a solace and still waiting. But procrastination might comfortable only for a short while and the consequence of not acting will last a lifetime. 

Don't loose sight of the fact that there is no guarantee and there will never be a guarantee that your actions will be effective even if it does happen in the future. Yet you are certain to not be effective if you take no action at all. The time is now and not in the future. Give yourself a chance and open yourself to the fullness of your possibilities. Step positively forward using what you have, from where you are right now. Gently and thankfully accept where you are. And tap into the unique richness that has always been yours and patiently waiting to be launched out.

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CEEREA 2011

Overworked? 4 Signs You Need to Recharge

Take a cue from endurance athletes: Here are four ways to tell you're about to hit a performance wall.

By Jeff Haden |  @jeff_haden   | Nov 11, 2011

 

Sometimes it’s obvious we need a break, but in most cases we figure it out too late. When you work double-digit hours and Sundays are no longer a day of rest, feeling overworked can become the new normal. Even so you’ll eventually hit a wall, and when that happens it can take days and even weeks to recover the enthusiasm, creativity, and motivation you’ve lost.

Fortunately a few of the same techniques endurance athletes use to detect the need for additional recovery can be used to indicate when you need to recharge your work batteries. Where elite athletes are concerned, chronic overtraining can actually defeat the fitness purpose and result in decreased stamina, power, and speed; sometimes the harder they work the slower they get.
The same thing happens to us when we’re overworked. We put in more hours to compensate… and get even less done. So how can you tell the difference between feeling overworked and really overworking yourself?

I asked Jeremiah Bishop for some simple techniques anyone can use to avoid hitting a wall. Jeremiah is a professional mountain bike rider for Cannondale Factory Racing. He's a twelve-time member of the U.S. national team and is to mountain bike racing what an NBA All-Star is to basketball (except he’s currently not out on strike).

Here are ways to ensure you stay at your professional best:

Check your resting heart rate. Every day, before you get out of bed, take your pulse. (There are plenty of free apps that make it easy. Some even log results.) Most of the time your heart rate will stay within a few beats per minute. But when you’re overworked and stressed your body sends more oxygen to your body and brain by increasing your heart rate. (The same thing happens when athletes overtrain and their bodies struggle to recover.) If your heart rate is up in the morning, do whatever it takes to get a little extra rest or sleep that night.

Check your emotions. Having a bad day? Feeling irritable and short-tempered? If you can’t put your finger on a specific reason why, chronic stress and fatigue may have triggered a physiological response and sent more cortisol and less dopamine to your brain. Willing yourself to be in a better mood won’t overcome the impact of chemistry, and in extreme cases the only cure is a break.

Check your weight. Lose or gain more than a percent of body weight from one day to the next and something’s wrong. Maybe yesterday was incredibly stressful and you failed to notice you didn’t eat and drink enough… or maybe you failed to notice just how much you actually ate. Lack of nourishment and hydration can put the hurt on higher-level mental functions (which may be why when we’re overworked and feeling stressed we instinctively want to perform routine, less complex tasks.) And eating too much food—well, we all know the impact of that.

Check your, um, output. Urine color can indicate a lack of hydration (although sometimes it indicates you created really expensive urine after eating a ton of vitamins your body could not absorb.) The lighter the color the more hydrated you are. Hydration is a good thing. Proper hydration aids the absorption of nutrients and helps increase energy levels. If your urine is darker than usual the cure is simple: Drink a lot of water.
The key is to monitor each of these over a period of time so you develop a feel for what is normal for you. Pay special attention on weekends and vacations, and if you notice a dramatic change, especially a positive one, that’s a sure sign you need to change your workday routine.

Don’t say this sounds like something only elite athletes need to worry about. We all want to be the best we can possibly be, no matter what our profession, and whenever we slam into the workload wall we are far from our best.

And don’t say you don’t have the time to take a short break or get a little more sleep. You owe it to yourself to find a way.

Eventually your mind and your body will hit a wall and make you, so why not do take care of yourself, and improve your performance, on your terms?
 

SOURCE: http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/overworked-4-signs-you-need-to-recharge.html 

Young, Fast-Growing, and Adding a Social Mission

Nikhil Sethi graduated from Northwestern University last year with an engineering degree, a job offer from Microsoft, and a decidedly "that was yesterday" attitude. He moved to New York, got an office in Start-up Alley, and hired 22 people in two weeks to help him break into the advertising industry. Today he's 23 years old, and his company Adaptly—which has amassed $2.7 million in investment—is reportedly on track to generate $10 million in revenue this year. While Adaptly works primarily on social-media advertising campaigns for traditional businesses—and is not even two years old—it's taking a step usually associated with more mature companies: building in a social mission. The structure is simple; Adaptly is taking on a second string of clients: social enterprises and non-profits. For instance, after Japan's catastrophic earthquake, Adaptly's targeted advertising drove 3,000 targeted donors to the American Red Cross in two days—for a cost to the organization of less than $1,000. That's in part because when Adaptly takes on a non-profit client, it matches the client's budget dollar-to-dollar. Esha Chhabra spoke with Sethi about starting a company in the classroom, building a social mission into his start-up, and teaching non-profits some business sense.

So, tell me, how did you hatch the idea for Adaptly?
In college. We were engineers used to developing these kind of tools and this posed a challenge with an engineering solution. So we built it in our spare time. We locked-up in a room, loaded up on caffeine, and started working on it. Then, we took it to business incubators until we received funding for it.

What was it like starting-up in college, before you got into an incubator?

This is actually funny because the project started in a class at Northwestern where business school students come together with engineering students and collaborate. The business school students looked at the market intelligence and told us that this was a bad idea, not a good market, and not likely to be profitable. But we had a gut feeling telling us that it was worth pursuing. So, we did. And I think I got a C-minus in the class.

But at a time when many companies already have a social media expert, how do you compete?
The social space is vast. There are the paid advertisements. Then there are the social-media experts who'll be managing organic content on Twitter and Facebook accounts. I got a lesson from a nine-year-old in social media that summed it up. Either you can play a bad football game with a full stadium or you can play an awesome game in an empty stadium. So, you have to strike a balance between the paid and the organic—they're two peas in a pod. And we help with that.

 

When did you build in the social mission?
I saw that social online was an environment that had global activity, but so many of the social-media platforms were separated from one another. So, how does a change-maker plug into the approximately two-billion people online who are tuned in but disconnected? These are platforms that are toppling governments, so it was only natural to think about how we could help these change-makers. So we built a tool that would let these organizations take an ad online, in print, or in film, and expose it to these mass audiences in a smart, strategic way.

The difference between working with non-profits and working with for-profits?
Non-profits usually don't have the budgets of for-profits. But I tell them that sometimes a product, put out by a company doesn’t resonate with people but a message, like what non-profits are generally focused on, does resonate and very strongly. So, you don’t need large amounts of money to get traction for a campaign. For example, $5,000 for an ad on a social-cultural issue goes much further than a $50,000 one for a traditional for-profit print.

What would you say is the biggest mistake non-profits make in the online social space?
People tend to think that if you build a Facebook page, they’ll come. Then you’re just focusing on the organic content and that’s one sided. Rather, they should think about online much like they do about TV, print, and radio. It’s more holistic and you’ve got to think about the various other platforms online.

Do you have to be a programmer to start a tech-based venture?
No, not necessarily. In fact, there are so many resources available these days to get the basics. You don't have to go to school for four years and become an engineer.

What's your goal for the next few years?
Become a trillion-dollar company and help all these great organizations along the way.

SOURCE: http://www.inc.com/eshhttp://www.inc.com/esha-chhabra/social-media-advertising-with-a-social-mission-adaptly.html a-chhabra/social-media-advertising-with-a-social-mission-adaptly.html

Startup or Start School? The Degree Debate

By: Adam Toren

It's a perennial question among entrepreneurs: Is it better to get a degree and then start a business, or does it make more sense to forego college in favor of entrepreneurship? This question has always been challenging as those who've been to college typically claim doing so was helpful for running a business, while entrepreneurs who didn't go write it off as wasteful. But today, as the nation's youth battle sky-high levels of unemployment, the chances of landing a job out of school have gotten even slimmer -- making the question of what to do after high school all the more pivotal. When I needed to make this decision, times were considerably different. As I recall, the most difficult economic dilemma facing the U.S. was whether to sign the North American Free Trade Agreement. Still, my family was very supportive -- even though I didn't head off to college like so many of my peers. 

For me, figuring out what to do after high school was simple. I had experienced some early success in running businesses -- my brother and I started out in eleventh grade selling imported stereo equipment and magic kits to fellow classmates. So, I decided to go with it. But, of course, I would continually hear from teachers and counselors that I was making a mistake. Advocates of higher learning often point to statistics about the differences in the lives of those who graduate from college vs. those who don’t get a degree. For example, workers with a bachelor’s degree earn, on average, more than 60 percent more than non-degreed workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment rates are also significantly higher among people without degrees, at nearly twice the rate of degreed wage earners. Add to that the numbers that suggest people with degrees are healthier, live longer and are generally happier, and the case for college seems pretty solid. There’s something those statistics don’t take into consideration though. As detailed in a recent New York Times article, 2010 graduates who took out loans during school left college with an average of $24,000 in debt, according to FinAid.org publisher Mark Kantrowitz. 

The heavy burden of student loans, coupled with the high unemployment rate among recent graduates, shouldn't be ignored. A college degree is by no means a guarantee of success as an employee or entrepreneur. To make it as an entrepreneur, you need drive, determination and a true passion for what you’re doing. With those qualities, just about anyone with the money it takes to attend college and four years to work on a business could make amazing things happen. Just look at me. I didn't go to college and during that time I managed to buy and sell two businesses, each for a considerable profit. So rather than winding up jobless with a mountain of debt, I was ahead of the game. But before you conclude that I’m set against college, hold on. There are some very good reasons for a would-be entrepreneur to pursue higher learning. 

For one thing, the value of networking during school cannot be denied. Graduates who have gone on to be successful entrepreneurs often credit their time in college with helping them make incredible connections. Some found business partners, while others made friends with people who were able to help them with their entrepreneurial ventures in other ways. To be sure, I’ve built a Rolodex of contacts many would envy. But in fairness, it has probably taken me longer to do so than someone who was surrounded by hundreds of like-minded people in college for four straight years. Additionally, college provides learning experiences beyond the classroom. To be successful in school, you have to learn to balance work and personal time, meet deadlines and follow through on commitments. These skills are also valuable to entrepreneurs. I learned them from my grandfather who guided my early entry into entrepreneurship at the age of 8, but if someone hasn’t had that opportunity, college can be very helpful for teaching these lessons. Then, of course, there’s the education itself. 

While you won’t learn all you need to know to be a successful entrepreneur in a classroom or from a book, everything from business basics to sales and negotiation are taught in university programs. Some schools even help you startup a small business while in school. Would I have learned as much attending college as I did in "the real world?" I don’t think so. But it is possible to come out of school with a reasonable grasp of important entrepreneurial skills. Further, having a degree -- particularly in the field that your business is in -- can offer a level of credibility. When you're dealing with bankers and investors, for instance, having more knowledge of the industry you're working in will only serve you. That wasn't true for me, but I can see how it could help. So what’s the answer? Should an aspiring entrepreneur attend college or not? To a large degree, it’s a matter of your own abilities and expectations. 

If you don’t have drive, determination and perseverance, for instance, no amount of higher education is going to help you make it in the business world. Personally, I don’t have any regrets about not attending a university, and I don’t think my decision to forego school has hurt me. But if you think you may need a bit more time to prepare and make connections, attending college is a worthy option. In the end, it all boils down to personal choice. And following your heart and your gut will often lead you down the right path. 

Jump to Comments Adam Toren is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, investor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com. He is co-author, with his brother Matthew, of the forthcoming Small Business, BIG Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right (Wiley, Sept. 13, 2011). He's based in Phoenix, Ariz.

SOURCE: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220171

http://www.entrepreneur.com/video/220296#ooid=A3eThzMjp16huctnnk1j1SiHdBuq14h2

Does College Matter for Entrepreneurs?

BY Carol Tice


Does college get entrepreneurs ready for success? Or, is starting a business straight away a viable alternative for those who don't want to slog through four years of higher education?

This question came to mind after recently perusing a small-business-focused infographic from the credit-card comparison site CreditDonkey. Among the fun facts about entrepreneurship in the graphic: Just over half of business owners have a college degree, according to recently released survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

This stat is particularly interesting because it would seem that entrepreneurs, on a whole, tend to have more education than the general public. Of the American labor force, fewer than half of workers don't have a degree -- 25 percent have only a high school diploma while another 19 percent attended but didn't graduate from college, according to the Census Bureau.

It may be a chicken-and-egg question, but I'm betting that somewhere along the way the egg cracked and yoke got all over the place.
Entrepreneurs tend to be mavericks, and perhaps many rebel against the structured environment of spending four years sitting in classrooms. A new scholarship program for entrepreneurs even encourages promising would-be business owners to quit college to work on their ideas full-time.
Related: Startup or Start School? The Degree Debate

Further, business owners are fairly old on average -- nearly 50, a 2009 Network Solutions report found. That means many graduated high school decades back -- in an era where there were more opportunities workers could pursue without a four-year degree.

But the reason why more seem to pursue higher ed may have more to do with the amped-up support structures for entrepreneurs at colleges and universities these days. College-student entrepreneurs today can often take advantage of plentiful campus-based resources, including incubators, mentoring and connections to possible funders. Over time, I'd expect the percentage of owners who graduate to increase, as younger entrepreneurs may be more drawn to use campus resources to launch their ventures.
Related: The Top 50 Entrepreneurship Programs 

Also, as business relies increasingly on technology, advanced degrees may give an entrepreneur an edge.
One final interesting tidbit: roughly half of all small businesses are home-based. That's a lot of dens and kitchen tables being used for business activity. Surely there's a few entrepreneurial opportunities in that fact.

Do you think a college degree is important for entrepreneurs? Leave a comment and let us know.

SOURCE: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220306

Pros and Cons of New Grads Starting a Business

It's a brave new working world for recent college grads. Find out if entrepreneurship is a good option for you as we weigh the pros and cons. You're a graduate. You have a framed document that says you're qualified to work in your field. You could apply for jobs at established companies and small businesses. You're different, though. You crave the excitement and control of entrepreneurship. You want to start a business.

We live in a world with an uncertain economy that's driving people toward self-employment -- particularly young grads who can't find work. However, starting a business straight out of college comes with pros and cons. Here, we explore those and open up a conversation for graduating students thinking about business ownership.

Pro No. 1: You have the time (and energy!) to fully devote to a startup.
Most college students, when they graduate, have more time than their seasoned counterparts to devote to a newly formed business. This allows graduates to start and become immersed in a business without feeling adverse effects elsewhere in their lives (like with their spouse and kids, or at an existing job).

The long work days and lack of sleep also won't have the same effect on someone who's used to spending nights cramming for tests and writing long papers. The discipline you gained in school will carry through to your business.

Also, the stakes often aren't as high. Graduating students typically aren't trying to pay off a mortgage or support a family, which means that the business revenue can stay in the business to help its growth.

Con No. 1: You may have a difficult time securing financing and business credit.
One of the most important aspects of starting up is securing financing in some form or another. Sometimes that comes via personal investment, other times through angel investors, and often it's accomplished through a business line of credit. As a new graduate, you may have a harder time securing that financing if it involves an investor or lender.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, had his best friend contribute $1,000 to help launch Facebook. According to "The Facebook Effect," by David Kirkpatrick, Eduardo Saverin later contributed $20,000 more before Zuckerberg was able to secure a $500,000 investment from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Know what resources are available to temper the energy you put into your business idea.

Of course, you can start a business with little to no overhead. Online, service-based businesses tend to require little more than a website and Internet connection to run.

Pro No. 2: You aren't yet jaded by many, many years spent inside a corporation.
For many potential entrepreneurs, years spent working for a corporation can lead to feeling jaded about business in general. This is usually because of all the red tape, which can make employees feel overly regulated or governed instead of open, able and creative.

New graduates often don't carry the same baggage about business and instead feel excited, hopeful and anticipatory about their business ventures. They have the mindset of "anything is possible" and can take leaps of faith without worrying as much about hitting bottom. Remember to carry that initial spark into the years that follow the launch of your business. That zest for success, and the fearlessness that accompanies launching ideas and putting big things out into the world, is something that can be tough to maintain for a long period of time.

Con No. 2: Starting a business means taking on roles you may not want.
When people think about owning their own business for the first time, they might picture working from home (or the beach), schmoozing with other business owners, and cash flowing in to help pay the bills. Unfortunately, that's usually not realistic -- at least, not for a long while.

Becoming a business owner means you're not only the leader of the company, but you're also the sales team, the marketing department, the billing and collections department, and the receptionist. Essentially, you become every aspect of the business until the business can start hiring.

Before you start up, ask yourself if stepping into each of those roles is appealing and if the benefits of owning the business outweigh having to do those tasks for an undetermined amount of time.

Pro No. 3: Starting a company will provide you with amazing life and business experience.
Even if your business doesn't survive, launching a company is an amazing experience that will bolster your resume. You can't understand the blood, sweat and tears that go into building a company until you've actually built one -- and you can't understand the value of a customer until you see how difficult it can be to acquire one. Business ownership will also teach you more about yourself, and other people, than any psychology course ever could. It forces you to truly examine how people think and what the motivations are behind the actions they take. Regardless of where you go in your life and career, that is powerful information to learn.

Con No. 3: 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first five years.
Starting a business doesn't equal instant success. It's going to take some time before the business starts earning revenue and you can bring home a paycheck. Even if the business starts off strong, there are no guarantees of its future success. When you consider the statistic that nine out of 10 businesses fail in the first five years, you can see why it isn't exactly a "safety net."

Even though that statistic might be sobering, you also need to be fearless if you decide to start a business. Avoiding the fear of failure, which can be paralyzing, will help you keep your eye on success so that thoughts of failing don't slow you down.

Resources for young entrepreneurs
If you do decide to start a business after college, here are several amazing resources for young entrepreneurs:

• Young Entrepreneur Council
• Under30CEO
• Retire@21
• YoungEntrepreneur.com

Image from Shutterstock.com /  Jason Stitt

Erin Blaskie started her first company at the age of 21. Today, her firm BSETC supports hundreds of businesses around the globe with their Web and graphic design, social media, Internet marketing and administration. Erin is also an active blogger and the author of "How to Become a Passive Revenue Powerhouse." Follow her on Twitter: @ErinBlaskie

SOURCE:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220673

How to write a Business Plan

What Is a Business Plan? 
by Tim Berry

usiness planning is about results. You need to make the contents of your plan match your purpose. Don’t accept a standard outline just because it’s there.


What is a business plan?
A business plan is any plan that works for a business to look ahead, allocate resources, focus on key points, and prepare for problems and opportunities.
Unfortunately, many people think of business plans only for starting a new business or applying for business loans. But they are also vital for running a business, whether or not the business needs new loans or new investments. Businesses need plans to optimize growth and development according to priorities.

What’s a startup plan?
A simple startup plan includes a summary, mission statement, keys to success, market analysis, and break-even analysis. This kind of plan is good for deciding whether or not to proceed with a plan, to tell if there is a business worth pursuing, but it is not enough to run a business with.

Is there a standard business plan?
A normal business plan (one that follows the advice of business experts) includes a standard set of elements, as shown below. Plan formats and outlines vary, but generally a plan will include components such as descriptions of the company, product or service, market, forecasts, management team, and financial analysis.


Your plan will depend on your specific situation. For example, description of the management team is very important for investors while financial history is most important for banks. However, if you’re developing a plan for internal use only, you may not need to include all the background details that you already know. Make your plan match its purpose.
What is most important in a plan?
It depends on the case, but usually it’s the cash flow analysis and specific implementation details.

• Cash flow is both vital to a company and hard to follow. Cash is usually misunderstood as profits, and they are different. Profits don’t guarantee cash in the bank. Lots of profitable companies go under because of cash flow problems. It just isn’t intuitive.
• Implementation details are what make things happen. Your brilliant strategies and beautifully formatted planning documents are just theory unless you assign responsibilities, with dates and budgets, follow up with those responsible, and track results. Business plans are really about getting results and improving your company.

Can you suggest a standard outline?
If you have the main components, the order doesn’t matter that much, but here’s the outline order we suggest in Business Plan Pro and LivePlan software:

1. Executive Summary: Write this last. It’s just a page or two of highlights.
2. Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc.
3. Product or Service: Describe what you’re selling. Focus on customer benefits.
4. Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc.
5. Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management responsibilities with dates and budget.
6. Management Team: Include backgrounds of key members of the team, personnel strategy, and details.
7. Financial Plan: Include profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet, break-even analysis, assumptions, business ratios, etc.

View an expanded business plan outline
We don’t recommend developing the plan in the same order you present it as a finished document. For example, although the Executive Summary comes as the first section of a business plan, we recommend writing it after everything else is done.
What can help me write a business plan?
It can be helpful to view real sample business plans to get ideas for your own business plan.
This free fill-in-the-blanks business plan template follows the format that is preferred by the SBA and lenders and can be a useful guide when writing your plan.
As mentioned before, reviewing a standard business plan outline can also be a good starting point.
If you are looking for additional help, a tool like LivePlan or Business Plan Pro is a good option.

About Tim Berry

Founder and President of Palo Alto Software and a renowned planning expert. He is listed in the index of "Fire in the Valley", by Swaine and Freiberger, the history of the personal computer industry. Tim contributes regularly to the bplans blog, the Huffingtonpost.com as well as his own blogs, Planning, Startups, Stories, Up and Running, and Planning Demystified. His full biography is available at timberry.com.

SOURCE: Bplan.com  / http://articles.bplans.com/writing-a-business-plan/what-is-a-business-plan

10 Words and Terms That Ruin a Resume

10 Words and Terms That Ruin a Resume

By Charles Purdy, Monster Senior Editor

Your resume needs an update -- that is, if your resume is like that of most people, it’s not as good as it could be. The problem is language: Most resumes are a thicket of deadwood words and phrases -- empty cliches, annoying jargon and recycled buzzwords. Recruiters, HR folks and hiring managers see these terms over and over again, and it makes them sad.  

1. “Salary negotiable”

Yes, they know. If you’re wasting a precious line of your resume on this term, it looks as though you’re padding -- that you’ve run out of things to talk about. If your salary is not negotiable, that would be somewhat unusual. (Still, don’t put that on your resume either.)

2. “References available by request”

See the preceding comment about unnecessary terms.

3. “Responsible for ______”

Reading this term, the recruiter can almost picture the C-average, uninspired employee mechanically fulfilling his job requirements -- no more, no less. Having been responsible for something isn’t something you did -- it’s something that happened to you. Turn phrases like “responsible for” into “managed,” “led” or other decisive, strong verbs.

4. “Experience working in ______”

Again, experience is something that happens to you -- not something you achieve. Describe your background in terms of achievements.

5. “Problem-solving skills”
You know who else has problem-solving skills? Monkeys. Dogs. On your resume, stick to skills that require a human.

6. “Detail-oriented”

So, you pay attention to details. Well, so does everyone else. Don’t you have something unique to tell the hiring manager? Plus, putting this on your resume will make that accidental typo in your cover letter or resume all the more comical.

7. “Hardworking”

Have you ever heard the term “show -- don’t tell”? This is where that might apply. Anyone can call himself a hard worker. It’s a lot more convincing if you describe situations in concrete detail in which your hard work benefited an employer.

8. “Team player”

See the preceding comment about showing instead of telling. There are very few jobs that don’t involve working with someone else. If you have relevant success stories about collaboration, put them on your resume. Talk about the kinds of teams you worked on, and how you succeeded.

9. “Proactive”

This is a completely deflated buzzword. Again, show rather than tell.

10. “Objective”

This term isn’t always verboten, but you should use it carefully. If your objective is to get the job you’ve applied for, there’s no need to spell that out on your resume with its own heading. A resume objective is usually better replaced by a career summary describing your background, achievements and what you have to offer an employer. An exception might be if you haven’t applied for a specific job and don’t have a lot of experience that speaks to the position you’d like to achieve.

source: http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/10-words-ruin-resume/article.aspx#.Tr2H1ypMMUw.blogger

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