Financing A Business Idea

There still seems to be a good deal of mythe about the availability of money for a business idea. No matter how wonderful you think your idea might be, there is no pot of gold sitting there waiting for you to come and collect. Grants are not all that common, they come with strings attached and they usually require a fair bit of work to get. Loans also require a fair bit of work. Anyone who has money to lend will want to see that you have thought your idea through thoroughly. That usually means writing a Business Plan. They will also want to see that you are willing to assume some (if not most) of the risk yourself.

Whether it's a bank or a private lender, chances are they will be thinking about the same criteria while you're busy pitching your idea to them. It goes something like this:

1) How quickly can I expect to be repaid?

2) Is the managment team competent? Do they have advisors/mentors/coaches?

3) Have the owners invested in this business themselves? If so, how much?

4) What can I expect to recover if this idea fails?

Be prepared to answer the hard questions if you expect someone else to give their money and be prepared to let them stick their nose in your business.







S

Business Success Program

There is an air of excitement at the Business Advisory Centre today as we finalize preparations for the launch of the Business Success Program scheduled to take place at Victoria Hall on Monday, November 29th.

More 100 people are planning to attend and hear first hand the details about a program like none other in the province of Ontario. A true example of business helping business.

We can't wait to host and we hope to see you there!


S

Not Enough Hours in Your Day?

Scheduling your priorities into your planner helps. Discipline to focus and stay on task helps. However, I think getting a handle on what you're really doing with your time may be the best starting point. Kind of like keeping a food diary to study your eating habits. This would be a time diary to track what's eating your time.

Yes, I'm suggesting that you write down everything that you do and how long it takes you to do it. Keep your diary for a week. Don't judge anything at this point. You're trying to capture everything that you normally do so you can analyze it honestly later.

At the end of the week, take a look at what you've been doing and then start to categorize your activities. Some activities will immediately reveal themselves as being big timewasters. My suggestion is that you create a few categories for these....

Delete - any activity that doesn't contribute to the big picture. Stop doing it!

Deminish - streamline your routines (ex: check emails twice daily not as they arrive).

Delegate - does it have to be done by you or does it simply have to be done?

Delay - can it wait until later (stop giving your attention to stuff that can wait).



Hint: revenue generating activity is the most important task of any business!

Happy Streamlining!

What Makes Your Business Remarkable?

Ideas spread when people choose to tell other people.



Why would I want to tell others about you?

because.......

- I feel smart alerting others to what I've discovered

- I want you to succeed

- I will benefit financially by telling other about you

- your service works better if more of my friends use it

- your idea will make people happier and healthier

- you asked me too and you're hard to refuse

- I like sharing fun and your idea is alot of fun

- I'm in awe of your idea and the only way to repay you is to share with others



I'm sure you can think of other reasons.

You need to make your idea Remarkable if you want others to remark about it.

How Well Do You Know Your Customers?

Can you name your top 5 customers? (top 10?)

Can you identify the challenges they face?

Do you know what else is on their plate?

Do you know what they say about you?

How often do you ASK your cusomters for feedback?

In our buinsesses, we can often identify our top selling products and spout details about the latest innovations but do we really know what's driving it all. Getting curious about your customer is essential.

I recently read a statisitc that said owners of million dollar companies understand financial numbers really well but owners of multi-million dollar companies understand their customers really well.