business guidelines

BUSINESS DEFINITION

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Economic system in which goods and services are exchanged for one another or money, on the basis of their perceived worth. Every business requires some form of investment and a sufficient number of customers to whom its output can be sold at profit on a consistent basis.

TIPS FOR A SIMPLE BUSINESS PLAN

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Your business plan is like a road map to long-term success. Have you ever been in a situation where you didn't have a map to find your destination and got lost wasting precious time and money? Well, the same can happen to your business if you don’t plan out your business strategies.

Why you need a business plan. It gives you a clear direction where your business is heading. Many business owners just jump into creating a business without researching and making a concrete plan. Inevitably, they soon find that they are out of money andhave no time or clear strategies how to market their business. Here are 8 simple steps to creating your own business plan (this is by no means a comprehensive plan but a primer to get you started):

1. Name of your business

create a name or reevaluate the name of your business. Does it integrate well with what you are selling? Is it easy to spell and remember? Is it a name that canbe well branded over time? 2. Vision - what will your business look like 5 years from now? Think of how you may want to expand it to include other branches or extra employees.

3. Mission statement

this defines what your business really does, what activities it performs and what is unique about it that stands out from your competitors. 4. Goals and objectives - clearly define what you want to achieve with your business. Make sure they are quantifiable and set to specific time lines. Set specific goals for each of yourproducts or services.

5. Strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, threats (SWOT) –byanalyzing these characteristics in your business, you will get a clearer idea of what it will take for you to not only to survive but also prosper.This could include such factors as: - your companies own changing industry- the marketplace which may change due to social and economic conditions.- competition which may create new threats and/or opportunities.- new technologies which may cause you to change products or the process in how you do things.
Evaluating your SWOT will help you to: - build on your strengths- resolve your weaknesses- exploit opportunities- avoid threats Doing this analysis will help you create a more realisticstrategic action plan.

6. Strategic action plan
this is the most critical step of your business plan, because without it, your business will not get off the ground. This should include your sales and marketingstrategies.
7. Financial plan
a business can operate without budgets, but it is clearly good business practice to include it. With budgets, you will be more likely to achieve your business objectives, you will makemore-reasoned decisions and you will have better control of your cash flow. For any period, a cash flow statement would include: - The cash and credit sales (or accounts receivable) expected to be received during the period.- The anticipated cash payments (for example, expenses for purchases, salaries, utility charges, taxes, office expenses etc.) - A description of other incoming and outgoing cash, with a calculation of the overall cash balance. This will assess how much money is on hand to meet your financial obligations - what cash has been received and what has been paid out. Knowledge of this cash flow cycle will help you predict when you will receive funds and when you will be required to make a payment been paid out. Knowledge of this cash flow cycle will help youpredict when you will receive funds and when you will berequired to make a payment.
8. Measuring and evaluation
you wrote your business plan and set the goals with the intent of achieving them. So now break them down into measurable pieces and monitor the results regularly. A plan that cannot be measured is almost always destined for failure. Celebrate your wins and recharge yourselfto accomplish your next goal. Decide beforehand what constitutes a real serious loss and what loss will be acceptable. If you find your goals are unrealistic and unattainable, adjust them, but realize that it takes hard work to achieve them, so don't give up easily. Conclusion:Now that you have a business plan, make it a part ofyou by knowing and understanding it clearly. Build upon itcontinuously and refer to it often, so you remain on track tobuilding a profitable business.

BUSINESS PLAN

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Here are five good reasons why you should write a business plan:
1.To test the feasibility of your business idea.
Writing a business plan is the best way to test whether or not an idea for starting a business is feasible, other than going out and doing it. In this sense, the business plan is your safety net; writing a business plan can save you a great deal of time and money if working through the business plan reveals that your business idea is untenable. Often, an idea for starting a business is discarded at the marketing analysis or competitive analysis stage, freeing you to move on to a new (and better) idea.

2. To give your new business the best possible chance of success.
Writing a business plan will ensure that you pay attention to both the broad operational and financial objectives of your new business and the details, such as budgeting and market planning. Taking the time to work through the process of writing a business plan will make for a smoother startup period and fewer unforeseen problems as your business becomes established.

3.To secure funding, such as bank loans.
You're going to need both operating and startup capital to start a new business and you have no hope of getting any money from established financial institutions such as banks without a well developed business plan. And established businesses often need money, too, to do things such as buy new equipment or property, or because of market downturns. Having a business plan gives you a much better chance of getting the money you need to keep operating or to expand. .

4.To make business planning manageable and effective.

A business plan is essential if you're thinking of starting a business, but it's also an important tool for established businesses. Viable businesses are dynamic; they change and grow. The company's original business plan needs to be revised as new goals are set. Reviewing the business plan can also help you see what goals have been accomplished, what changes need to be made, or what new directions your company's growth should take.
5.To attract investors.

Whether you want to shop your business to venture capitalists, or attract angel investors, you need to have a solid business plan. A presentation may pique their interest, but they'll need a well-written document they can take away and study before they'll be prepared to make any investment commitment.Be prepared for your business plan to be scrutinized; both venture capitalists and angel investors will want to conduct extensive background checks and competitive analysis to be certain that what's written in your business plan is indeed the case.Writing a business plan is time-consuming, but it's essential if you want to have a successful business that's going to survive the startup phase. If your business doesn't have one, maybe it's time to start working on one. The process of writing a business plan can do wonders to clarify where you've been and where you're going.

CREATE A BUSINESS WEBSITE

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1. Does your small business website have a professional appearance?
Your small business website design needs to look professional. Cookie-cutter website templates and/or home-made websites stand out like sore thumbs, and do nothing to encourage anyone to do business with you. Unless you are an experienced website designer, you should hire one to design a small business website for your company.

2. Does your small business website provide 'real' content?
The endless sales pitch approach is vastly overdone and an instant turn-off for visitors. People come to your small business website to see information about your business, and your products and/or services. They are already interested. So provide more relevant, additional content for them. For instance, if you offer bookkeeping services, additional information on keeping records or tax tips are great value-added content. If you sell tiles, provide not only detailed information on your product lines, but how-to information on installation.

3. Does your small business website make it easy for people to do business with you?
Somewhere on your small business website, you need to have a page that has your full contact information, including your mailing address and your phone number(s). It's not good enough to just have an e-mail address, especially one that starts "webmaster@". Carrying contact information on every page is even better.

4. If you have an ecommerce site, do you provide adequate online payment options for your customers?

If you want people to buy your product, you have to make it easy for them. Invest in a good shopping cart, and make sure that you offer payment options such as credit cards and other online payment options, such as Papal. People don't want to have to bother to print off and mail in a form and a cheque.

5. If you're selling a product or service online, does your small business website address your visitor's security concerns?

Customers are concerned about transmitting personal information, such as credit card numbers, over the Web. You need to not only have the appropriate technology (such as SSL) in place, but let your potential customers know about it, by putting your Secure Site certificates in prominent locations, and having a page that addresses your visitor's concerns, such as a FAQ.Now your site showcases your business, and the products or services you offer in a way that makes doing business with your company attractive. What's next? Signage; showing the prospective customer the path to your small business website's door. Click to continue onto page 2... How do you show prospective customers the path to your small business website's online door? Primarily through good search engine placement, which means spending time on search engine optimization and search engine submission. Look at your small business website and ask yourself:
6. Have you built search engine optimization into your small business website's pages?

You need to give every page of your small business website the best chance of ranking well in the search engines. Search engine optimization means that every page of your site has title tags and meta tags that are appropriate in terms of the keywords you have chosen for that page and that you've used each page's keywords or phrases the ‘right’ number of times throughout each page

7) Have you put any effort into search engine placement?

The Web is full of spiders that constantly search for new and updated pages for the search engines. However, as there are millions of pages online, just putting up your small business website and waiting for the spiders to find it is not wise.While I'm sure you've seen those ads that offer search engine submission to "hundreds" of search engines, this kind of automatic search engine submission is not effective. What works is taking the time (or paying someone else to take the time) to manually submit your small business website pages to a selection of the top search engines and directories.Some businesses also find that pay-for-search-engine-placement search advertising is an effective way to attract the customers they want.8) Does your small business website have adequate web hosting?While there are some free web hosts out there, many visitors will turn up their nose at your site when they see that your business is using one. The assumption is that a quality business will have quality website hosting.Using a free or 'inexpensive' web hosting service can also cause you problems because of excessive downtime - periods of time when no one can access your small business website at all. Finding The Best Website HOsting Service, tells how to find the kind of quality web hosting that you need to draw and keep site visitors.Making Sure You Create a Business Website That WorksThe purpose of a small business website is to provide your potential clients or customers who use the Internet access to your business, and make doing business with you, rather than someone else, an attractive proposition. If you can answer "yes" to the eight questions in this article, you have a small business website that will be well on its way to bringing in those leads and sales you want.

TIPS FOR SELLING ON EBAY

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I’ve recommended eBay before as a great way to test a new product. For a growing number of entrepreneurs, though, eBay is their sole storefront. The beauty of eBay is that it lets you get into e-commerce without having to go through the trouble and expense of setting up an e-commerce site of your own. These seven eBay selling tips will help you get started selling on eBay successfully and get on your way to becoming an eBay Power Seller.

1. A picture IS worth 1000 words. It’s old-fashioned, but people still like to see things before they buy them. For successful eBay selling, make sure any products you list on eBay are accompanied by professional quality photographs.

2. Do your eBay research. When selling on eBay, before you list a particular product, spend some time researching other similar products on eBay and following the bidding process. This will help you gauge the interest for your product and help you determine how much your product might be worth.

3. Learn all about shipping. Shipping is under the control of the eBay seller, but some methods of shipping are better than others when you're selling on eBay. You want to find the best method of shipping for your product in terms of expense and reliability and then specify that shipping method in your eBay listing. (And don’t forget to include the shipping cost in your shipping information for potential buyers.)

4. Pay as much attention to the writing of your eBay listing as to your picture. For selling on eBay, you need a powerful eBay listing. And the trick to writing a strong eBay listing is to combine search engine friendly phrasing with concrete details about the product in a way that will entice people to bid on your product. Take the time to craft your eBay listing just as you would any ad.
5. Offer a full slate of payment options, including credit cards. The more payment options you, as an EBay seller, offer prospective bidders, the more bidders your product will attract and the more successful your selling on eBay will be.

6. Focus on getting positive feedback first. Feedback really matters when you're selling on eBay. If you have a consistent record of positive feedback, prospective buyers will both bid more often and be willing to pay higher prices. So you may want to hold back on placing higher priced products until you have a successful track record as an eBay seller established.

7. Be business-like.
Act professionally, provide the kind of superior customer service that will build your reputation, and make sure that you’re following all the business rules that apply, such as registering your business and properly charging and remitting taxes. Selling on eBay is just like any other business; to become an eBay success, you need to follow the rules and provide the kind of customer satisfaction that will translate into increased eBay sales.

BUYING A FRANCHISE

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1) Lower Failure Rate

When you buy a franchise, you are buying an established concept that has been successful. Statistics show that franchisees stand a much better chance of success than people who start independent businesses; independent businesses stand a 70 to 80 percent chance of NOT surviving the first few critical years while franchisees have an 80 percent chance of surviving

2) Help with Start Up and Beyond

You get a lot of help starting your business and running it afterwards. Many franchises are, in fact, turnkey operation. When you buy a franchise, you get all the equipment, supplies and instruction or training needed to start the business. In many cases, you also get ongoing training, and help with management and marketing. Your franchise will reap the benefit of the parent company’s national marketing campaigns, for instance.

3.Buying Power

Your franchise will benefit from the collective buying power of the parent company as the franchisor can afford to buy in bulk and pass the savings along to franchisees. Inventory and supplies will cost less than if you were running an independent company.2.Star Power Many wellknown franchises have national brand-name recognition. Buying a franchise can be like buying a business with built-in customers.3.Profits A franchise business can be immensely profitable. (Think of MacDonald’s and Tim Horton’s, for instance.)

TYPE OF BUSINESS

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1. Retail or wholesale type of business?
Where do you want to be positioned on the supply chain? Retail businesses sell goods directly to consumers, usually in small quantities. Wholesalers buy goods (often in large quantities) from manufacturers or importers and then sell them to retailers and other distributors.

2. Franchise or independent type of business?

Many established companies offer franchises, which are basically copies of their companies. If you buy a franchise, you are buying the right to sell the parent company's goods and/or services in a specific area. Besides paying a franchise fee, you will also have to pay royalties and perhaps additional fees to the franchisor. You will also be expected to abide by the terms of the franchise agreement, which will often lay out exactly the way you will do business. An independent business is one that you create and nurture on your own. Starting a independent business allows you the control and freedom that you won't get from a franchise

3. Product or service (or mix of both) type of business?
If you're not a trained professional, the key to deciding whether to focus on products or services when you're thinking about starting a business is determining where your true talents lie and what you most enjoy doing.Would you be happiest telling someone how to do something, doing something for them or offering them the products they would need to do the job themselves?DO NOT base this decision on whether or not you enjoy selling or are good at it। No matter what type of business you start, you will be involved in sales।Now you've made three decisions about the type of business that you actually want to start। There are two more decisions to make that will make choosing a business to start much easier. Winnowing through business opportunities and finding the right business to start becomes much easier when you know exactly what you're looking for. The previous page of this article led you through three decisions to narrow down your Choices . Two more decisions you need to make to determine what type of business is the most suitable for you are:

4. Storefront or non-storefront type of business operation?
If you have decided to start a business selling products, you need a storefront of some kind, whether bricks-and-mortar, such as a retail store, or virtual, such as an e-commerce site। Many successful businesses have both, expanding their customers beyond their locale. Others "borrow" a storefront, so to speak, by getting their products distributed by other businesses, selling their products through markets and fairs, or by using available e-commerce venues. (Selling on eBay is one example of this.)If you have decided to start a business selling services, you may or may not want a storefront. Many different services are actually performed at a customer's home, from cleaning through landscaping. While you would still need an office (either in your home or elsewhere), an actual storefront is unnecessary.

Some services can be offered over the phone or the Internet, such as the services offered by Virtual Assistants or some business coaches। These businesses often depend on virtual storefronts (business web sites) to attract clients। Learn more about business web sites in How To Build A Web Site That Works।Another option is to use your home as a storefront. While B&Bs are the obvious example of this, there are many other services that can operate successfully as home-based businesses, from travel agents through hairdressing. (Note: If you are considering this, be aware that home-based businesses are subject to Zoning bylaws and may or may not be allowed in your particular area. See Before You Start A Home-Based Business for more information.)

5. In which industry/topic?

To make it easier on yourself, choose an industry or topic that you are not only interested in but have some expertise or experience। Otherwise, you're going to have to spend a lot of time and money educating yourself that you could be putting into your new business, or worse, making costly mistakes because you don't have the necessary knowledge.And The Winning Type of Business Is...Now you're ready to look for a business that fits the bill. Let's suppose, for instance, that you've decided that you want to start a business that's retail, independent, product based, has a storefront and is related to gardening. Then the businesses that you might start (or look to buy) would include nurseries, garden shops, or a business specializing in gardening-related products, such as greenhouses or hydroponics equipment.You can see that this still gives you a really broad range of choices, but has narrowed these choices down to the types of businesses you are most interested in owning or operating, as opposed to wandering through the whole bewildering array of possibilities. Once you've broken it down this far, it's time to let research be your guide, searching for the "matching" business opportunities in your area, and if none exist, Doing The Market Research that will show you specifically what type of business in the topic area or industry you're interested in has the most potential.The next step? Business Plan, of course. You'll need one if you're trying to get any kind of financing, but a business plan is also a great way to test the feasibility of a business idea before you spend a lot of time and money on it.