Archive for the 'River West' Category

How To Write A Business Plan In Five Steps.

Saturday, August 19th, 2006

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People often ask “What makes a good business plan? Or, “How do I make my plan attractive to lenders and investors?”.

The simple answer is that lenders and investors (I’ll call them “readers” from here on out) are looking for “good deals”. A “good deal” is one that offers the reader a reasonable rate of return for the risk assumed. The complete answer is that you should write a plan that a reader will want to read and then get it to reader(s) who are looking for your type of project and levels of risk and return. This article deals with the first part of the equation - how to write a business plan that readers will want to read.

Readers want plans that clearly, accurately and completely allow them to make an initial determination about the project. Here are the steps needed to write that plan:

To paraphrase a real estate expression, the three most important things about a business plan are research, research and research. While other things are important (even critical), ultimately your plan will live or die on the quality and completeness of your information. For that matter, you’re about to risk your time and financial future on a project - how much information do you want to have? Step one:

1. Become expert in your project. Learn everything possible about:

a. The customers to whom you will sell (your market).

b. The competition.

c. The actual costs of operating your business (get quotes).

d. The actual results of similar projects.

e. Your industry.

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f. The project’s physical location(s) and it’s impact (if any) on the project.

g. The people who will be key to the project.

(You are welcome to use as a guide the questions that we use with FundablePlans to query a business plan. It is available via e-mail at http://www.fundableplans.com/how-to-do-a-business-plan.html )

If you’ve followed the above, you’ve now got a mound of research - sticky notes, web pages, reports, quotes, etc., etc. But, what does it all mean? Step two:

2. Analyze. (Hopefully) when you first got the idea for your project there was a sense of excitement and a feeling that “this is a sure winner”. Now is the time to see if your feelings were well founded. With a critical eye, do a “SWOT” (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis on your project. Determine what you are able to do to capitalize on the S and O and minimize the W and T.

Steps one and two may have changed somewhat your “sure winner” feelings - which is good. (If not, you either have hit upon the next “sliced bread” or you need to redo the preceding steps). Presuming that your research and analysis shows a worthwhile use of your time and money (and that of your readers) move to step three:

3. Forecast. This is where the “rubber meets the road”. Using your research and analysis you will now tell your readers that “this is what will happen to the money”. You’ll do it with accounting forecasts called “pro forma” statements. Provide either three or five years of statements with (generally) the first year done monthly, the second and third done quarterly and (if included) the last two years done annually. In all events, include:

a. Operating statements.

b. Cash flow forecasts.

c. Balance sheets.

Optionally include:

d. Various ratios (loan to value, debt service coverage, etc.)

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In addition to the above, you should usually include a “Source and Use of Funds” showing the sources of the initial capital and on what it will be spent.

By this point you’re either sure you have a winner (differing from “a sure winner” in that you recognize the obstacles but are prepared to work through them) or you are going back to the drawing board to rethink your project. If you “have a winner”, step four is:

4. Write the plan. Obviously, you need to be able to use good grammar and spelling. You should be clear, concise and complete. Fill your plan with compelling facts gleaned from your research. Do not avoid the W and T from your SWOT analysis, rather, describe in detail how you will deal with them. Avoid platitudes and your own opinions - everyone knows that you like the idea, readers need facts to determine if they like it. Try to keep your answers as short as possible while still giving complete information. With the exception of the Executive Summary, keep your answers somewhat dry and factual - “short, sweet and to the point”.

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The Executive Summary, on the other hand, is where you “sell the sizzle”. It is here that you make the claim that yours is a dynamic project that deserves full consideration. You need to compel your reader to read your plan and tell them why you are excited about the project.

There are likely as many ways to compile a business plan as there are authors of them. A sample outline is at http://www.fundableplans.com/sample_business_plan.pdf . (It requires Adobe Reader to view and includes our logo which is not included in our plans.) You will want to attach to your plan copies of documents referenced in it and historical data on the business (if it is not a startup).

You’ve now done the lions share of the work leaving only step five:

5. Review and revise. The review should be first by the author(s) and then by trusted advisors - the more people that you can get to review your plan the more likely you are to find any problems before they are found by a reader.

Follow the preceding steps and you will have a business plan that will get read and, hopefully, funded. If you have questions about business plans, please feel free to contact me using the below e-mail link.

About the Author

Dave Miller is a business consultant and the creator of FundablePlans.com, an online business plan builder at http://www.fundableplans.com . He can be reached at dave@fundableplans.com .

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Effective Risk Management

Friday, July 21st, 2006

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Risk is embedded in every opportunity a business faces. And poor risk management can result in large financial costs, or even failure. Risk points can emerge anywhere: small scale project delays, the misguided actions of an employee, or a fire in an inventory warehouse.

This article will help any small business owner or manager better understand what risks are out there, and more importantly, how to better control them.

First, I ll explain why a systematic analysis of risks is important and illustrate a simple risk management architecture. Then, I ll talk about how I helped companies better identify and manage a variety of risks.

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What is Risk Management?
Simply, risks are threats to your business or project. They are situations or events that can affect the outcome of your decisions and actions. Therefore, risk management is the identification, evaluation, and mitigation of risks to a business or project.

Why is Risk Management Important?
All businesses exist for one clear reason: To make a profit. Poorly managed risks have tangible and dramatic effects on the bottom line. Therefore, sound risk management is important to ensure that your business can overcome any problems and continue to grow profitably.

Threats to a small business or project can come from a variety of sources. In 2002, The Risk Management Standard categorized risks into four areas: Financial, Operational, Strategic, and Hazard. Strategic risks can emerge from competitors, customers, or markets of a company. For example, the technological features of a companies product may become obsolete. Operational risks can affect how the company operates internally. Systems such as IT, material procurement, and accounting responsibilities can be compromised by employees. Financial risks can hinge on financial market performance, such as foreign exchange fluctuations. The last type- Hazard risk- can be the most damaging. Events like natural disasters, manmade disasters, and crime can permanently disable a company.

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How to Build an Effective Risk Management Strategy
An effective risk management strategy must be systematic and robust. It also must be straight-forward, and simple to implement.

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An effective risk management strategy will have three stages:
Identify
Evaluate
Mitigate
During the Identify stage, owners and/or senior managers need to thoroughly examine the business from many different perspectives. All risks facing all areas of a company need to be identified. This should be done with as many people involved as realistically possible to give a complete picture.

During the Evaluate stage, each risk is given a probability of occurrence and a severity of occurrence ranking (This can be done with a simple 1 to 5 scale; 1 being rarely occurring and minimal damage ). This allows senior management to more clearly understand the extent of potential damage.

During the Mitigate stage, the resulting risks are controlled through a variety of methods. For example, traditional insurance is one way to remove hazard risk. Financial risks can be managed through capital market hedging transactions. Operational risks are minimized by clear check and balance procedures and management oversight within the company. Strategic risks can be minimized by better documentation, such as protecting intellectual property rights.

How I Have Managed Risk
My experiences have given me a clear appreciation for the importance of systematic and robust risk management. What I talk about next is how I identified, evaluated, and mitigated various risks at three different companies in three different industries.

While I managed a Midwestern real estate portfolio for Cohen-Esrey, risk emerged in several areas. The easiest risks to identify and mitigate were the hazard points, such as fire and water damage for an apartment building. More complex issues, such as Slips and Falls on icy steps required us to put traditional insurance in place with a covenant that said employees would also work to minimize any liability by removing snow in a timely fashion. Other problems and solutions were less clear cut. At one point we had issues with employees walking off with tools from the property workshops. To mitigate this problem, we restructured our recruitment and selection process. Vendor relationships also became a liability issue. Only clear communication on a timely basis minimized such vulnerability.

Although most small businesses won t encounter the risks I mitigated at HSBC brokering financial derivatives, the experience built my appreciation for risk. Our team worked on behalf of many global banks hedging financial market risk. Although the market place conventions and contracts were similar, each transaction was done for a different reason. We analyzed the interest rate environment, advised traders as to how to better hedge their risk, and then brokered very large transactions. These experiences instilled in me the importance of understanding and transferring risk.

Managing a Customer Relationship Project for Reuters is where my risk management became a formalized business process. My job was to coordinate and implement a CRM initiative that stretched over 10 months and included staff on several continents. To better understand what issues would affect the timetable and budget, the team put together a Risk Matrix. This illustrated three key issues: what each risk point was, its potential occurrence and severity, and who was responsible for mitigating it. At every meeting the team would review the Risk Matrix and identify any future risk points. As with most projects, communication is key, and this encouraged a high degree of communication and accountability.

Risk is embedded in every opportunity a business faces, and poor risk management can have profound effects on the outcome of any business endeavor.

Putting an effective risk management system in place is the first step for a small business owner, who can then confidently exploit new business opportunities.

About the Author

Adam C. Park is a business development consultant based in Chicago, USA. He has written articles concerning Effective Team Management, Deeper Cultural Understanding, and Improving Customer Loyalty. He can be reached at acpark@comcast.net.

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Blog- A Method Of Interaction For Real Estate Business

Monday, July 10th, 2006

The blogging cavalcade is accelerating as real estate has begun to realize the advantages of blogging. Will blog become next to email in significance for real estate trade? Will real estate blogs enhance your Chicago homes for sale? Let us strive to know the matter. With real estate blog you could promote your Chicago homes for sale product. The posts are classified in series of their existence. A blog can be a wonderful mechanisms for getting new ideas and concepts.

real estate companies having significant turn over have already employed world wide web and some other technologies in their popularization. This gives a window of option for small real estate entrepreneurs to adopt blogging and acclimate it to the small business environment. Explore, if blog can do something for you or not. If you want to publish your blog; you merely have to press selected buttons.

What does Chicago homes for sale blogging extend to small business? As compared to web sites Chicago homes for sale blogging is economical. As compared to web page, blogging is less high-priced way to put up your company’s name on the web. Restyling the weblog is a much faster process than contacting a web designer with modifications or doing the coding and uploading.

By blogs you might put up your case in front of a larger audience in real estate industry. It is an indomitable benefit for Chicago homes for sale representatives and acumen workers. You need not be completely dependent on Chicago homes for sale blogs. Chicago homes for sale blogging may be less efficacious in comparison to web sites. The e-commerce may not regularly implement Chicago homes for sale blog as there are selected restrictions in it. So if you begin Chicago homes for sale blogging and display your real estate survival quite soon, you ve better chances of accomplishment in real estate market.

Finally, the thought to launch a Chicago homes for sale blog counts upon your proficiency to commit to internal methods. In this specific situation technology doesn t substantiate the entry. While installing software and own blog you will be able to make use of a low-cost hosted service comprising no technology devotion. Do you think your Chicago homes for sale blog is completed?

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