On top of what I said in the video, I would like to add that the bailout plan gives more power to the federal government. I believe the power should be with the people, and not the government. The whole point of the revolutionary war was because of a government that had too much power. The government should fear the people. The bailout plan is allowing the government mess around in the business world. What happened to the concepts of a free market?

I know that there are arguments as to why it was quote "a good idea" like, with out the bailout plan the stock market will crash, and that could cause us to fall into a depression, and unemployment could skyrocket. Well my response to that is, we have systems to keep the market from crashing. Lets say we did fall into a great depression, well the money that was used in the bailout could have been used to created jobs. Hello?! Does anyone remember The New Deal! That's what Franklin D. Roosevelt put into effect to help against unemployment.

Honestly in my opinion I believe the media used scare tactics, to make us think everything was worse than what it really was. The Media is more about ratings than the actual news. But that's another story.

Please give me your responses to this. It would be much appreciated. I want to hear what you have to say, either if you agree or disagree with me. Give me facts and points please.

• Executive sponsorship: A senior manager or executive who's willing to go on record to say, “Disaster recovery planning is so important that we need to complete it by this date.” In other words, you need to find someone who's willing to put their money where their mouth is!
• Budget: In the early stages of a DR project, you need money for a project manager, technology experts, process experts, or supplemental help for departments as they divert resources away from their usual business to the DR project. In the later stages of the project, you spend money on technology improvements that you need to support recovery objectives.
• Project manager: You need a strong project manager for a multidisciplinary project that can involve dozens of people or more, such as disaster recovery planning. You can have a part-time or full-time project manager, depending on the number of people and activities involved.
• Subject matter experts: You need experts in the business processes that the organization has in play, particularly those processes that earn revenue or service customers. You also need technology experts who understand the IT applications and infrastructure that support those processes.
• People with writing skills: Later phases of DR projects require people who can write processes and procedures in a way that anyone can understand. You never know who might end up on a disaster response team.

A typical DR project can take anywhere from three months (for the smallest organization) to well over a year to complete. How quickly you get a DR plan in place depends on how high a priority you need to make it and how much extra money you have available for outside help. If you really don't have a good handle on the amount of resources that you may need for your project, here are a couple of suggestions:

• Hire a consultant. Bring in an experienced DR consultant, just for a short term engagement (no more than a few days), to have a look around and give you some thumbnail estimates on project sizing. A consultant who says he or she needs a month to give you these estimates either doesn't understand that you want only rough estimates or just wants the billable hours.
• Develop an interim DR plan. You should develop an interim DR plan, anyway, but by writing this plan, you can get additional exposure on the number of critical processes, systems, suppliers, and so on in your business. That information can help you estimate the size and scope of the real DR plan.

This business proposal plan is a through document that outlines the viability of your business, in order to get a business loan, it is essential that you have a plan drawn up, before attempting to see the bank manager. The importance of a business plan cannot be underestimated, it is absolutely important that you present a business plan when applying for a business loan. This plan will incorporate repayment methods.

You should still have a business plan even without outside funding for your business, with a business plan it puts you in control of your business. You can use the leverages to properly develop and maintained your business to greater financial benefit; a business plan can also help you stay completely focused on the direction in which you want your business to be going.

About two years ago I started looking into the prospect of having my own business, so I started painstakingly doing my research, gathering data on all available finance packages, and collaborating information that I need to know about business loan, nowadays, many companies don't want to lend funding because of the credit crunch, and the economy not doing as well as it should.

However, if you have a good credit history, and fulfil all the criteria that the lenders are looking for, you are then in with a chance. But they will not lend where great risk is apparent, unless you are offering them something worthwhile in return, I was not put off by the difficulties I was encountering, instead I shopped around, looking for the best deal that would suit my circumstances.

I got my entire document together that I needed to put to the lenders, along with some identification. I took with me Bank statement, credit cards details, wage slips, and passport for Identification. And other outstanding debts, my business plan was going to be the main criteria that the lenders would look for.

I pack a lot of information into my business plan, covering budgeting, revenues, sales and marketing, drawings and repayment details, equipment and office set up. Key players and their level of experience, I felt confident that my business plan outline all my business specifics, and I knew beforehand what the lenders were looking for, I knew there must be a way of obtaining a good business loan with a low APR.

I was desperate, but unsurprisingly unafraid of the eventual outcome, finding out the right information is a simple matter of looking in the right place, even though your mind tells you to surround yourself with a circle of close knit friends, stuck by their enthusiasm to support you no matter what happens, I decided to struck out for gold, and stick to one golden rule that business people always remember, is not to mixed pleasure with sharing your business. I got my business loan and started up a hair salon.

One thing is for sure, whether you have the next great product or provide the best service for something, you need a plan to continue forward. The biggest mistake many new and potential entrepreneurs make is that they think they do not need a plan.

Many believe you only need a plan if you are applying for a loan or trying to get funding from Angel investors or Venture capitalists. That is the furthest thing from the truth. A plan gives you one, the detailed outline and direction you need and two, whether or not your business idea is viable.

Not all business plans have to come in the form of a professional looking, straight out of Harvard style template. Your plan is for you and those that will be helping you with your business.

Here are some helpful questions you need to ask yourself. Start off by answering some simple questions about your business. This will allow you to get your ideas on paper and a clearer picture of what you are trying to accomplish.

1. What are your business ideas?
2. Does your idea address a need?
3. Why is your product or service different from one that already exists?
4. Who is your market and how big is it? (this question will require some research)
5. What role are you going to play in the company?
6. Do you need to hire employees? If so, what is their role?
7. How will customers pay you and how much do you charge?
8. How much money will you need to get the business off the ground?
9. Where are you getting this money from?
10. What are your milestones? In other words what items mark the fact that your business is heading in the right direction>

If you can answer those 10 questions, honestly and thoroughly, then you are on your way to a solid plan. In fact if you detail those questions enough, you will have your plan already in place.

By: Michael C. Podlesny

According to the information mentioned above, it is proposed to improve the quality of human resources by increasing training activities related to to enterpreneurship development.

Training Objectives

To give the knowledge about Business Plan and how to make it effectively, in order to develop Small Business.

Training participants

Small business managers and entrepreneurs.

Training materials

The business plan usually contains of :

1. Title :

2. Mission Statement :

• A clear statement of the company's long-term mission.

3. Team Work :

• Names of key management, including CEO
• Previous accomplishments to show these are people with a record of success
• Summarize number of years of experience in this field

4. Market Summary :

• Describe market in the past, present, and future:
• Review those changes in market share, leadership, players, market shifts, costs, pricing, or competition that provide the opportunity for your company's success.

5. Opportunities :

• Describe problems and opportunities related to the business development:
• State consumer problems, and define nature of product/service opportunities created by those problems.

6. Business Concept :

• Summarize key technology, concept or strategy on which the business is based

7. Competition :

• Summarize competition faced in the market and outline the company's competitive advantage

8. Goals & Objectives :

• Statement of the five-year goals
• State specific measurable objectives
• State market share objectives
• State revenue/profitability objectives

9. Financial Plan :

• High-level financial plan that defines financial model, pricing assumptions, and reviews yearly expected sales and profits for the next three years.

10. Resource Requirements :

• Summarize technology requirements, personnel requirements and resource requirements (financial, distribution, promotion, etc.)

11. Risks & Rewards :

• Summarize risks of proposed project
• Estimate expected pay-off, particularly if seeking funding

As a start up company, it defines your business. It outlines in specific and clear details every aspect of your business. A business plan is essential to obtaining financing for your company whether it is for starting a business, obtaining additional financing, or applying for a grant. External funding requires an up to date business plan that includes both an Income Statement with the Profit and Loss statement.

If you are looking to purchase a business, a business plan evaluates the future success of the business. Writing a formal business plan, you are evaluating the business' past and projecting future success of the business. It shows the lender your capacity to repay.

A business plan is part of a process. It's about your company and the desired results. It defines goals and objectives, outlining the actions necessary to obtain them. Review your business plan regularly to determine results, follow up and new planning. New services, products or future expansion of your business are evaluated, and details who, what, when, where, and how you expect to achieve them.

There are several software programs, which can help write a formal business plan or there are companies who will do the work for you. Preferably, you can write it yourself. Writing your own business plan takes research and time.

SCORE, Counselors to America's Small Businesses has many how-to and business tools online at Score. They offer free online mentoring services and templates for business plans; The Small Business Association at Sba has a wealth of information on writing your business plan. There is an online interactive Business Planner at Canada Business which is a question and answer format.

Your business plan needs to be simple, realistic, and complete or it will be difficult to implement. It should be easy to understand and act on. Objectives should be concrete and measurable with specific actions and dates. Sales goals, budgets, milestones, start and completion dates, who is going to do what, and expected costs of each. Your business plan also needs to include exit strategies. Exit strategies detail backup plans in the event goals and objectives are not obtainable as planned.

Writing a business plan is about committing to future action. The time spent researching and writing a plan for your company will lead your business in the direction you want it to go.

Firstly, starting is not a thing to do for the wavering personalities and the weak of heart, you have to be prepared to work long hours, change your time schedule and work with other people not to mention work out a business plan if you want to be able to budget carefully. A lot of people work spontaneously without sitting down and doing a plan in hard copy. That might be good for very small businesses where there is little or no spending, like freelance teaching. In the long run, having a plan will help the entrepreneur know how much money he has available and how much he can invest into other projects.

One has to think of working from home or at an office space. Today is quite an advantage to use your own living space and set up a desk, computer and copy machine so that you can operate from your own personal space. Again this depends on whether you are disciplined enough to set aside the necessary hours to work out of your home near the coffee machine and not get up and every other hour for a drink or a chat on the phone.

I would also speak to other people in your discipline to ask how they coped with working form home for new ideas and on how to save and improvise.

The financial squeeze is on in 2008 and, just as many homeowners begin to feel the pinch, business feels it too. New business, in particular, may find credit hard to come by as we approach financial meltdown. A rigorous and well-constructed Business Plan can smooth the path in obtaining the financial injection to fuel your ambitions. This is an uncomplicated guide in how to go about identifying the content required, and then composing the words to appropriately describe your business. The assembled plan must be robust enough to withstand scrutiny and acquire the investment needed to build your dream. Done properly it can then act as the framework for consistent success.

What is a Business Plan?

In very simple terms, a Business Plan is a statement of where a business is now, where it wants to be and, how it intends to get from here to there.

Why do you need a Business Plan?

In a financial sense, a Business Plan is needed in order to convince your investors that the business is sound, the management is rational and the ambition is prudent. Operationally, a Business Plan will assist in ensuring that dreams can materialise, rather than remaining mere hopes.

Who needs a business plan?

In my opinion, every business or service requires a Business plan. From a large Multi-national company down to a sole-trader and across all sectors of industry, including service sectors such as local government, a properly constructed Business Plan can often be the difference between success and failure.

When is a Business Plan necessary?

Certainly, if you are looking to secure investment, right at the beginning of any venture. However, it is never too late to plan properly.

Where should a Business Plan be retained?

A properly constructed Business Plan will become a dynamic and constantly referred-to document. If it sits on a shelf gathering dust, it has not been properly constructed.

How do you create a Business Plan?

Ok, so having understood what it is and what its purpose is, the tricky bit is drafting it. However, you can make it as simple or as complicated as you like. What follows is a simple methodology which you can use, especially if this is your first attempt.

Step One

Begin with the end in mind. You need to define your business and identify where, or what, you want your business to be? This is best described in a simple statement; it used to be referred to as a "Mission Statement" but, that phrase is a little tired now. Simply call it your "Purpose" or, "Main Aim". The importance of this is that it can be shared with all staff, who then can all identify with the ultimate goal. An even better way of achieving staff "buy-in" is to involve them in the process. This may be determined by the size of your organisation but, even if it is very big, run a competition for ideas and suggestions. It does not necessarily have to provide what is eventually used but, it will generate ideas and you will have sparked some interest.

Example : Atom plc employs a workforce who are professionally and operationally trained, to forge vibrant working partnerships with our customers and, to deliver an efficient and effective service - the best!

Optional additions to Step One

If you wished to expand on this aspect of the Business Plan you could include and develop any of the following items : Vision; Core Values; Differentiators or Unique Selling Points.

Step Two

Where are you now? In other words, record what is the current state and performance level of your business, or service? Describe your business and provide some background. However, in order to develop some meaningful data upon which you can draw to create positive momentum, I believe that a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) Analysis is very productive. This has to be an honest appraisal if you want genuine success. Apart from, perhaps, focussing the mind the purpose of this exercise will not become fully apparent until you move on to Step Three. In the meantime, do not hold back on your SWOT Analysis, it can be transformational!

Example : Strength - Experienced, dedicated, committed and professional staff; Weakness - Management & staff have little experience of commercial environment; Threat - Loss of key staff; Opportunity - Revised Structure with multi-skilling & flexibility.

Optional additions to Step Two

If you wished to expand on this aspect of the Business Plan you could include and develop any of the following items : Management/Organisation structure, Historical Profile, Core Business, Situation Analysis, Organisational Culture.

Step Three

Identify your Key Objectives. Your Key Objectives should be designed to achieve your Main Aim or Purpose. If any of them do not help in achieving that then, I would suggest, they do not qualify as a Key Objective. There only needs to be about 10 to 12 Key Objectives. Any more and you are starting to set yourself up to fail. In order to assist you in identifying what your objectives should be, you ought to be able to use the SWOT Analysis - if you have done it properly! Make note of your strengths, as you do not want to compromise them, rather you want to build upon them. However, if you look carefully at the items identified as Weaknesses and Threats, the chances are that your Key Objectives will either be very apparent or, will become much clearer. In other words, each of the identified Weaknesses and Threats should be addressed by a Key Objective. Equally, it would be very useful if, at least some, of the Opportunities were able to be accommodated within your Key Objectives.

Example : to develop, implement and maintain a comprehensive training programme that enables professional and personal development.

Optional additions to Step Three

If you wished to expand on this aspect of the Business Plan you could include and develop the following item : Critical Success Factors. This is a statement of what may be an essential event, happening or occurrence which could define your chances of success. By including it, you will demonstrate to any investor that you have a good "handle" on your business.

Step Four

This is arguably the hardest part, as we are talking detail but, at this point you need to draw up your Action Plans. This is where the detailed actions are documented that will pave the way forward. As they can be very detailed, not everyone reading the Business Plan will be that interested in the micro-aspects so, often, the Action Plans are contained in appendices to the main Business Plan. It is essential, however, that the Action Plans are designed to achieve each of your Key Objectives. On that basis, you could have an Action Plan designed specifically for each Key Objective. Alternatively, you could have Action Plans designed around various aspects of your business. For example, you could have a Finance Action Plan; a Marketing Action Plan; an IT Action Plan; an Operational Action Plan etc. Alternatively again, you could define them as High Priority, Medium-term Priority or Long-term Action Plans, such as in the example below.

Example : High Priority Action Plan; Task 2 - Training; Purpose - Create an Organisational Training Plan; Deliverable Outcome - A workable plan capable of sustaining a well-trained workforce.

Optional Additions to Step Four

If you wished to expand on this aspect of the Business Plan you could include and develop the following items : Marketing Strategy, Competitor Analysis, Risk Analysis, Financial Projections. I would suggest that each of these but, in particular, the latter are critical if you are using the Business Plan to secure financial investment. Each will help to demonstrate that you know what you are doing, you have considered all issues which may impinge on any likely success and, that you have thought things through carefully. The projections need to be realistic, not idealistic!

Accomplishment

Having followed that simple 4-step process, illustrated in the uncomplicated diagram below, you have got the raw ingredients of a Business Plan.

Identify the Main Aim

▼

Undertake SWOT analysis ► Specify Key Objectives

▼

Draw up Action Plans

You can then embellish the plan with as many of the other ingredients as you feel appropriate; knowing your business will help you to decide what is, and is not, appropriate. The plan can, not only, secure the financial investment that you require but, can be used as the blue-print for achieving your success. For example, the Action Plans can be used as agenda items in management meetings to plot progress. Specific individuals can be assigned responsibility for each plan, or items in them, and they can be asked to report on progress at meetings. If you have properly followed the simple process described earlier, successfully completing the Action Plans will automatically achieve your Key Objectives, which will in turn accomplish your Main Aim. The examples I have used above are intended to illustrate this very point.

Ethos

The size of your organisation or business will determine how effectively this can be achieved but, the most productive of Business Plans are those that are constructed with optimum staff involvement, so that they "buy-in" to the ethos of your business. I mentioned how they may be involved in determining your purpose; involving them directly in the SWOT Analysis and establishing the Key Objectives can reap rich dividends. The planning process must be undertaken honestly and with a genuine desire to make it a living breathing document. It does, however, need annual reviews for instance to ensure that it remains valid and relevant. Paying lip-service to the process, concept and content will merely consign the output to the trash-bin. A complete waste of time, money, effort and resource. Now, tell me a business-man who would knowingly do that?

Do not fall into this trap with the market…

You want to be able to sell your product to as many people you can in that market. If you narrow, your market so it is so small you will never make the sales to build your business. The better market to sell to should look like this…

At the same time, you are working on getting your small business off the ground you have to think of how much you can produce of the product you are selling, and work accordingly. People go out of business because they do not plan.

The worse thing you can do is if you are a small company and you sell more products then you can make…

Your business will fail if you cannot get your product to the people you want to sell to. The best thing to do is to start small. Sell local and grow your market as you grow your business. If you think these simple ideas in mind as part of your marketing strategy your business will be very successful.