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Posts Tagged ‘business plans’

Introducing Ethos Cleantech- The Revolution Has Begun

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

2010 has been an incredible year for Ethos 360. We’ve been fortunate to have experienced double digit growth every month along with cementing our position as the leader in business planning and small business consulting. The credit for the success rests squarely on the shoulders of our amazingly talented staff, their devotion to perfection and the good fortune to work with the greatest clients. It’s been a whirlwind year so far and we’ve decided to expand our brand by creating the first business plan company devoted solely to cleantech.

Let’s define “cleantech”. Cleantech (or clean technology) can be used to describe any product, service, or process that

  • Provides superior performance, productivity, or efficiency
  • At lower costs
  • While greatly reducing or eliminating energy consumption, waste, or pollution

In addition to business plan writing, Ethos Cleantech will provide start-up and existing cleantech businesses with tax incentive procurement and primary market research. More details will be coming soon.

Please visit Ethos 360’s cleantech practice at www.ethoscleantech.com to learn more, and watch the website and our offerings evolve. Once again we are taking the leadership role in being at the forefront of entrepreneurialism along with embracing the hottest industry segments in their infancies.

This is the tip of the iceberg and this iceberg is pretty big.

Seeking A Grant? The Business Plan Is A Prerequisite.

Friday, March 26th, 2010

So you want to look into getting grant funding to start you new business do you? Well the first thing you will need is a business plan.

After you have done some research on your new business idea, you will have a better idea of the specifics of the business. Next it is worthwhile to try to articulate all those great ideas on paper, in the form of a business plan.

At this stage it is not a bad idea to carry around a small pad of paper and something to write with everywhere you go, or your favorite high-tech gadget that can record your thoughts. Your ideas will be percolating in your brain even when you are working on other things, and you never know when you will get a good idea, so be ready for it.

A business plan can help you get funding for your business, will explain how you will market your new service or product, and much more. Even before that, however, it can show the new business idea for what it is, in all its glory and warts. Then you can decide if you still want to proceed with it, make some changes to it so that success is more likely, or perhaps try again with another business idea. This paper step can save you a lot of time and frustration when you actually have to go out and provide the new service or begin to manufacture the new product for the first time.

The United States Small Business Administration has a branch called the Office of Small Business Development Centers. These centers can be found in each state, and they offer free or low-cost help with all aspects of starting a new small business, including help with writing a business plan.

A business plan needs to show your methods for running the business. For example, who will be involved in running and working in the business and what expertise they bring to the endeavor. It will show how you plan to sell your product or service, what the product is exactly and what all the steps are that are necessary to manufacture it. Or, in some cases, what specific service will you offer in full detail, and money particulars focusing on what it will cost to bring the product or service to the buying public. Basically, what it will bring in terms of revenue.

Banks and charitable organizations will want to look at your business plan and see if it is a sound investment. A business plan will also offer the entrepreneur peace of mind, because you will have gone through every aspect of the business, and you know how it will work, how much you can make from it, and how much it will cost to start and continue operating. After the business plan is written, you will have a pretty clear idea if your business has a good chance of succeeding or if it won’t work.

I know it seems like a lot of work, but trust me you will be glad you put in the extra effort in the end!

Business Planning Ethics

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

The journey of finding the right business planning consulting firm can be long and arduous. Most entrepreneurs do not have the time or resources to craft a business plan that is both detailed and professional. The SBA states that it takes approximately 400 hours to create a document that properly entails the critical elements of a successful business plan. It is no wonder that first-time and serial entrepreneurs rely on the skill set and expertise of a company to aid them in the business planning process. However, many clients do not realize that they are being taken advantage of by hiring certain firms. Creating a streamlined business plan should be a step-by-step process that is never rushed or forced.

Today, a myriad of firms in the business planning niche exist to capitalize on the high-speed expedition of delivering business plans. Every entrepreneur must know prior to working with a business planning consulting firm that a document of the highest caliber cannot be hurried; it takes time to digest the concept and understand the most effective approach prior to writing the content and developing a sound financial model. It is extremely important for entrepreneurs to carefully read and understand the philosophy behind every business planning consulting firm. Questions one should ask him or herself prior to retaining the company’s services include:

  • How will my business plan be created and what approach is used to create it?
  • Who will write my business plan and what is their experience in this field?
  • What is turnaround time in completing the first draft of my business plan?
  • Who will oversee my business plan (i.e. a project manager or business planning consultant)?
  • Will I have fill out a questionnaire to begin the process?
  • Will the company provide real-world critique and suggestions during the process?
  • Does the company employ a large team of writers and financial modelers to write my plan or are a select few involved in the process?

The answers to the aforementioned questions will help the client (the entrepreneur) make an informed decision when it is time to hire. Ethos 360, for example, has founded an ideology that is based on growing and sustaining the entrepreneur. The company was formed to provide small business owners and entrepreneurs with a single point of contact to receive honest, objective answers and next-step coaching. Anyone purchasing a business plan should focus on hiring a firm that values integrity, honesty, and cultivating strong client relationships.

It is unfortunate that a lot of businesses look past the actual concept of a business, and instead focus on the end-result: a “finished” business plan and a profit. Rather than taking the time to really understand the business itself and the creator behind it, business planning companies have utilized a team model approach that is impersonalized and lacks consistency. Companies like Ethos 360, have first handedly seen and experienced the result of imperfect business planning models and their impact on not only the document, but the client. Ethos 360 has chosen to infiltrate this niche industry by ultimately putting the client first; throwing out antiquated strategies that rush the process; and leading clients forward to prepare for anticipated growth in their own business.

A business plan is more than a product or service, but a collaboration of the client and lead consultant that results in a seamless, organically crafted tool that will essentially serve as one of the most valuable documents in the origin, operational, and growth stages of a business.

How To Shop For Business Plan Writing And Small Business Consultants

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Small business consulting and business plan writing is a very personal endeavor between the entrepreneur and the company they are working with. It can quickly prove frustrating for an entrepreneur perusing the internet looking for a reputable company that will make a good fit. Hundreds, if not thousands, of small business service providers promote their experience, reputation and methodologies to make working with them as enticing as possible.

How do you know the company you choose is the right one? How do you know the company is going to deliver on their promises? How do you, as a small business entrepreneur, find peace of mind? While anyone can create a fancy website, receive an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau (at least for a few months) and put up a couple of testimonials  only the BEST companies who consistently produce high quality deliverables, coupled with excellent customer service, survive and thrive long term. The “fly by night companies” quickly develop a bad reputation and exit the small business planning market segment.

We recommend checking out the prospective companies BBB record, how long have they been in business, are the testimonials on their site of “real” companies, and follow your instincts during the initial consultation. Does your first contact with a company get you an aggressive sales pitch or a consultant who listens to you, asks questions and addresses your specific needs? Does the person you’re speaking with have experience being in your shoes or working with entrepreneurs who have been in your situation? Or are they just trying to make a sale? Remember to follow your gut because you’ll be spending quite a bit of time with the employees of the company you choose. Make sure you do your research first and ask ALL your questions before committing.

Successfully working with a small business consultant and/or business planning company is an intimate process where expectations need to be addressed at the onset and the parties involved MUST be able to communicate effectively. Based upon our personal experience not every potential client is a good fit for us or vice versa. We have a corporate philosophy and process we adhere to. Potential clients must work within our process for the best possible outcome for us and them. We don’t attempt to put a round peg into a square hole. It just doesn’t work.

If a potential client isn’t a good fit for Ethos 360, we recommend other small business consulting and business planning service providers we know that have strong reputations within our industry and are well established along with having solid track records of delivering high quality services and products. We have nothing to gain from these referrals besides the peace of mind knowing that the entrepreneur will be in good hands as they continue their search for the company that’s the “right fit”. This ultimately saves the entrepreneur time and money along with avoiding the potentially business killing mistake of working with the wrong company.

Below is a list of companies we recommend to entrepreneurs who don’t fit into our wheelhouse. Some focus on one aspect, such as small business consulting or business planning, while others combine these services, along with additional complimentary ones like capital raising and investor relations. Some even offer investment banking and high level institutional investor introductions.

In no particular order:

Growthink- www.growthink.com

Butler Consultants LLC- www.financial-projections.com

Capital West Advisors- www.capitalwestadvisors.com

Cayenne Consulting- www.caycon.com

Venture Archetypes- www.venturearchetypes.com

The Best Business Plan Co.- www.thebestbusinessplan.com

International Business Partners- www.ibpconsultants.com

Entrepreneurs- Modern Day Visionaries

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

If we take the look to carefully at businesses nowadays, we will inevitably realize a clear global tendency: entrepreneurs are taking over the industry. And they are doing it fast!

And there is a perfectly good reason for that, which is easily explained by the revolutionary characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.

They are what I like to call business visionaries instead of the common and partly misleading tag of business owners associated with them.

Industry visionaries, as their name implies, differ from the broad conception of business owners in that they have a clear vision, an exact picture of how a business or online opportunity is going to behave at any given time and under most circumstances. And that is due to the fact that they are willing to learn and take action as they go and also because most of them work on a business that is not in their field of knowledge or expertise. Entrepreneurs are constantly stepping out of their comfort zone and innovating different business models every day.

In the current modern day commercial industry, visionaries excel in taking an ordinary business and making it perform in an extraordinary way. How? Well, take a look at the following points:

1. Entrepreneurs do more with less. They use leverage to achieve success.

2. They have long and short term goals. They live by those objectives and finally create a genuine mission statement.

3. Visionaries aim at developing systems that will work on autopilot. Automation is vital to any modern day business.

4. They are not afraid of looking beyond risks and seeing the big picture. They will compensate for lack of experience on certain fields with innovation and creativity, leveraging existing business opportunities or programs.

Even though most Internet marketers will consider themselves entrepreneurs, in essence, many work against the very same principles that define visionaries. Just like with everything else in life, there are things that will get people closer to becoming real entrepreneurs and things that will not.

- You should always work towards doubt avoidance.

Take action and make decisions. Be a leader! What worked for somebody might not work for you, but you will never know until you try it.

- Incite curiosity and learn as you go.

If you are in affiliate marketing, then innovate! You are part of an existing system with hundreds of people in it. Make unique videos with interesting animations, offer free gifts of real value and finally make your offers more attractive than what your clients or prospects expect.

- Work positively for a bigger and better industry instead of fighting over a small market.

We finally want to become business visionaries and not only self proclaimed business gurus. Share knowledge and show the advantages of your business instead of pointing out bad things regarding other programs. Help your colleagues without hesitation and you will achieve success online.

Even after stating all of the above, modern day Internet marketers will still embrace misleading concepts regarding their own business, mainly because of fear of taking risks and standing out from the rest. That is very unfortunate since true entrepreneurs are unique in their niche and should ultimately possess an educated global judgment. Visionaries can tell the difference between improving a not so effective marketing method, from pointless persistence. As you have probably noticed, in modern day businesses, we should avoid destructive waste of time and effort, and focus entirely on succeeding with techniques that are of second nature to us to finally generate and, most importantly, KEEP as much profit as possible.

These are some examples of steps that entrepreneurs should take as soon as they get their business going:

1. Billionaire bloggers – visit these blogs to get a glimpse of their mindset, and get inspired. Visit billionaire Mark Cuban’s blog here  www.blogmaverick.com.

2. Selected www.Twitter.com streams – follow a few, high standard and knowledgeable visionaries and follow their blueprint.

3. Read, write and make videos – doing this correctly, will never compromise the quality of your service or deteriorate your business image in any way.

4. Ask questions and get mentoring – ask your mentor or business tutor as many questions as you want and do not be afraid of doing so. Get everything off your chest and start without doubt; otherwise you will literally choke later on.

These are a few steps that will provide a correct learning curve to becoming real business visionaries. There are many more, but these will definitely start you off in the right direction.

Entrepreneurs should know that wanting something to happen is not enough, it will not magically come to life without the proper hard work and dedication. To become part of the exclusive visionaries group, marketers have to develop their skills consistently every day. Statistics say that people who do this show a much higher rate of success (80-90%) than the average business owners we see every day.

So, true entrepreneurs and visionaries aspire to great things, they transform themselves and are always willing to learn and are never afraid of taking the necessary steps towards innovation. Again, read, get informed, make videos, use the amazing power offered by web 2.0 and only then take real action. But do it today! The world is in need of more and more visionaries every single day and it is entirely up to us to either embrace the idea or simply look the other way. If I can do it, so can you.

To your success.