Business Plans

Used to identify the key strengths and weaknesses of your company as well as any threats and opportunities, a SWOT analysis can help to work out what your business strategy should be.
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When it comes to writing a business plan, there is one single golden rule that dwarfs all others – your business plan must address each of the key concerns of your potential backer.
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Our comprehensive 2500-word guide on how to write a business plan serves as an outline for anyone who is thinking of starting their own business or improving an existing business.
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Good planning is important for both startups and established businesses, and a financial plan is no exception.

So to help you get your financial plan right we asked Robin Booth of Brixx.com to outline the 6 steps you need to take to develop a coherent, holistic financial plan for your business. (more…)

Writing a business plan is an important step in the business start-up process. And, if you want to raise funding for your new business, you simply must produce an up-to-date business plan to show potential backers.
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Financial reports are standardised measures of a business’ financial health. They are a necessity for publicly traded companies, but this does not mean that they are only useful for large organisations.

If you know what to look out for, these financial reports are great tools for businesses of all sizes, so Robin Booth of Brixx.com, the financial forecasting app, explains what the function of the three main financial reports. (more…)

When you decide it’s time to get your business started, you’ll find the first piece of advice given by most experts is to “get a business plan written”.

And they’re right; that is the first step to turn your business dream into a reality. But many people find it the hardest step to make. (more…)

Every business owner can learn valuable lessons from studying how successful businesses are born and grow. Looking out for, and replicating, key drivers of success in other businesses, can help to drive our own business forward.

However, vital insight can also be gained from business failures. In many cases, what we can learn from terminal business mistakes can prove even more illuminating than what we can glean by following the high-flyers. (more…)

So, how do you do forecast sales realistically?

Every startup benefits greatly from making a cash flow forecast. But if your business hasn’t opened its doors yet, how is it possible to estimate the kind of sales you will get in your first month, let alone year of trading? We asked Robin Booth of Brixx.com to explain. (more…)

How can I forecast my cash flow when the business doesn’t even exist yet?

That’s a question most new startups wrestle with as they are planning their new business. It may seem to some to be an impossible task, so we asked Robin Booth of Brixx.com to show how you can produce a cash flow forecast for a new business. (more…)

Marketing your business should be fun and simple. Surely there can be no better way to spend a day than working on something which is going to help you achieve your objectives more quickly?
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Life can be great when you’re running your business as a one man band. You get to escape the shackles of employment including a boss telling you what you do and when.

Of course there are downsides, such as the loss of a regular salary and other employment perks. And the most serious of these is how you would continue to earn money if something happened to you or your business.
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Market research is often assumed or anecdotal. A few good words here and there, enthusiastic leads, handshakes and happily resolved issues from existing customers can lead to the pleasant feeling that you know your market.

However, if your business is to thrive, you really need to develop a deep understanding of your customers. To help you to do this, we’ve asked Robin Booth to explain the steps you need to take. (more…)

In a previous article, I described the differences between short term and long term planning. A challenge to both types of planning is how much detail to go into.

I’ve seen accountants trying to create perfect 30 year financial models based on the level of detail they use for tracking the day to day running of the business.

Needless to say, they quickly find an already large job turning into a mountain of work. When the time comes to update the plan (1-12 times/year depending on the organisation) the battle to ensure accurate detail in the plan needs to be taken up again.

So how do you get the right level of planning for your business? (more…)

Thinking about your business in different ways affects how you plan for the future, opening up some new avenues, but making others potentially harder.
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Planning ahead is important. It helps you to understand where you want to get to and how you’re going to get there.

However, financial planning can be a bit of a mystery for many small business owners. So to help demystify it, we asked Robin Booth of Brixx.com to answer the questions business owners often ask about financial planning;

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Restructuring a business can be a turbulent time; you may be juggling legal issues with disgruntled employees, expansion plans with uncertain investors or faced with frustrated customers.
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According to Bloomberg’s infamous, mythical study, 8 out of 10 businesses fail in their first 18 months. In this guide, we explore not just having a financial plan – but understanding the discipline of testing it.
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As you start up your business, the need for a well thought through business plan is clear.

Even if you are just going to be you sitting in your spare bedroom selling things over the internet, you need a business plan to understand how you are going to market your products or services and actually turn a profit.
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When you are launching a new business, it’s fair to say that planning your finances isn’t the most exciting aspect of of being a startup. However, it is a crucial part of understanding whether your business has a chance of succeeding
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One of the most useful bits of advice that established entrepreneurs give to people starting their own business is this: ‘cash is king’.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in and how profitable it is, if you run out of cash, your business will struggle to continue. If you can’t pay suppliers you’ll have nothing to sell, and it’s a quick, vicious circle from there to insolvency.
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Many of the world’s most successful business people became that way with help from a key figure in their lives.

When you have a mentor or a coach, you are involving someone else in the decisions you need to make to grow your business. They will help you stay focused, on track, and get the most out of yourself.
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If you’re starting-up or running a small business the ability to put together a persuasive business proposal will really help you to succeed.
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