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NEWS
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How to Write a Business Plan |
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While it may sound complicated, a business plan is nothing more than an organized outline of your idea of how your business is going to function. And experts agree: you need one.
“A business plan is like a road map,” explained James Jacobs, the retired president of a Dallas-based financial services firm and a SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) advisor. “It’s a road map that helps you identify where you want to go and how to get from point A to point B.”
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A business plan should include a variety of pieces and some will be more detailed than others depending on the kind of business you’re running and your reason for writing the business plan.
There are certain pieces of the business plan that are must-haves:
- Executive Profiles
- Business Summary
- Marketing Plan
- Income and Expense Projections
There are several resources available to assist you in creating a business plan. Business plan templates abound on the Internet, many for free. SCORE offers a comprehensive, free plan on its web site.
There are also a variety of books on the subject available at the bookstore, library or from your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
There are also business plan software programs — starting at round $100 — that will walk you through the process by asking you questions and generating a formal business report. The software is particularly useful for the financial portions of the plan.
“Unless you have a background in finance, that part of the business plan can be most difficult,” said Dolores Stammer, Regional Director of the New Jersey SBDC at Centenary College in Hackettstown, N.J.
Stammer strongly advised that future business owners approach the financial part of the business plan by breaking down their total sales expectations into individual sales.
“Once they see how many of something they need to sell in a week, they often realize their total revenue projection is impossible,” she said.
Knowing why you’re writing your business plan is also important, Stammer said.
“If you’re writing it because you’re going to apply for a loan, then you need to be very specific in the financials,” Stammer told BusinessNewsDaily. “If you’re writing it to keep yourself focused on your goals, then you should be clear about what those goals are.”
Regardless of who will eventually read your business plan, it’s essential that you know it intimately,” Jacobs added. “Be confident. Know your plan inside and out. And, don’t just do it once. You should be reviewing your business’ strengths, weaknesses, opponents and threats [what business strategists call SWOT] once a year."
Source: www.businessnewsdaily.com
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Four Tips for Avoiding Business Failure |
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There’s an oft-repeated statistic claiming that half of all businesses fail in the first year. That’s a myth. But the truth is not a whole lot more soothing. Fully 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first five years, according to the Small Business Administration. To survive, a new business owner needs to avoid some of the common blunders known to derail many an entrepreneurial dream. Who better to learn than from those who have failed?
“When aspiring entrepreneurs listen to people who have successfully or unsuccessfully weathered those storms and dealt with those blows, that's when the real lessons are learned – from people in the trenches who have fallen as many times as they've succeeded,” said Scott Gerber, a serial entrepreneur and syndicated small business columnist, whose forthcoming book, “Never Get a ‘Real’ Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke,” is all about what he learned from his failures.
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Gerber and small business consultant Denise Beeson offer a few tips on how entrepreneurs can prepare to make the “largest investment” of their lives.
#1 Don’t forget to have a reserve fund: Emergencies happen. Money put into a reserve fund can pay for unexpected expenses. “Also, when opportunities occur, that reserve fund can provide additional capital to buy inventory, raw materials or hire labor,” Beeson said.
#2 Stop trying to be original: “Every aspect of a business does not, and should not, be revolutionary or unique,” Gerber said. “I always say, those that set out to revolutionize the wheel will be run over by it.” Entrepreneurs need to stick to the basics and learn to be unoriginal in some ways in order to become profitable, he said.
#3 Don’t base your business model on the belief you’ll get funding: “No one will invest in your idea,” Gerber said. “Nowadays, no one is looking to invest in an unproven, revenueless startup. Investors only want to put money into proven businesses with real clients and real revenue with strong, proven managers. Your business needs to get to that point before you seek any sort of investment dollars.” Gerber suggests focusing on generating revenue and profit instead of seeking outside funding.
#4 Don’t sit around and wait for customers: Set aside a portion of the day to sell. “A business will not be successful unless prospecting for new clients occurs daily,” Beeson says. “The market is dynamic so clients come and go. The sales activity should be a part of each day.”
“Too many aspiring entrepreneurs believe they can just launch their business into the world and from that day forward they will be on the road to easy street. It just isn't so. Markets change. Demand changes,” Gerber said. “And an entrepreneur's world changes – almost entirely – on a nearly daily basis.”
Source: www.businessnewsdaily.com
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Russia Seeks Ukraine Assets as EU Focuses on Greece |
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May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s proposal to combine its gas export monopoly, OAO Gazprom, with the Ukrainian state energy company is part of a strategy to lock in assets while Europe focuses on Greece, according to Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed uniting Gazprom with NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy at an April 30 meeting with Ukrainian premier, Mykola Azarov. Russia already agreed to give Ukraine as much as $45 billion in gas subsidies and talks have begun on closer ties in nuclear energy, aviation and agriculture. Russia’s second-biggest lender, VTB Group, is ready to lend Ukraine $500 million if asked, Putin also said.
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“The European Union is focused on Greece, so Russia is taking its chance,” Berlin-based Rahr said in an interview yesterday. “This is pushy. It’s Putin’s way of negotiating, of showing that Russia is on the winning side.”
Gazprom, the world’s biggest gas company, cut supplies to Ukraine twice in the last four years over price disputes at a time when political ties between the two nations were strained, reducing flows to Europe. Ukraine moves about 80 percent of Russia’s Europe-bound gas through a Soviet-era transportation network. Gazprom meets about a quarter of European gas needs and is aiming for a 32 percent share.
Russian relations with Ukraine have warmed since President Viktor Yanukovych took power in February. His predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, had sought closer integration with Europe and wanted to lead Ukraine into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a move Russia opposed.
‘A Joke’
The Ukrainian opposition sees menace in Putin’s plans. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who lost to Yanukovych in the presidential election, said the proposed merger “could be seen as a joke if a large-scale plan to eliminate Ukraine as an independent state wasn’t being implemented every day, right in front of our eyes,” according to her website.
Unifying the two companies would erode political support for Yanukovich in central and western Ukraine, said Igor Kurinnyy, an analyst at ING Groep NV.
“The biggest difficulty in tying Gazprom with Naftogaz is the political upheaval that such a deal would cause in Ukraine,” he said in an e-mailed note. “Any pro-Western Ukrainian government would likely attempt to nullify it.”
‘Rusty’
Rahr in Berlin said Putin’s economic and political moves shouldn’t be interpreted as strong-arming Ukraine, since both countries will benefit from the deals.
“Yanukovych is in favor of opening his markets for investment from Russia and other countries, but he also has his demands and a price he will ask for, such as access for Ukrainian companies to energy exploration in former Soviet republics, including Russia,” he said.
Ukraine needs the gas subsidies to stabilize its economy, and Yanukovych has proven himself a good negotiator, Rahr said. The gas deal was struck in exchange for extending a lease for Russia’s “rusty” Black Sea Fleet at the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol, he said.
Russia’s subsidy allowed Ukrainian lawmakers to approve the 2010 state budget with a deficit of 5.3 percent of gross domestic product, opening the way for the next payment of an International Monetary Fund Loan. Russia’s shortfall will widen to at least 6 percent of GDP this year, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says.
The extra spending, while in line with Russia’s strategic goals, makes the world’s biggest energy exporter “more vulnerable to oil price swings,” said Alexander Morozov, an analyst with HSBC Bank in Moscow. A decline to between $40 and $50 a barrel may cause a “serious blow” to Russia’s economy and could topple the nation into recession at the planned level of spending.
‘Not Helpful’
EU leaders, concerned that Greece’s fiscal crisis may spread, have been involved in almost three months of debate on whether and how to rescue the nation that is on the brink of default. Euro-region ministers agreed on May 2 to a 110 billion- euro ($146 billion) rescue package to stop the worst crisis in the euro’s 11-year history from spreading.
The EU is preparing a “macro-financial assistance” of 610 million euros to Ukraine and seeks “very substantial” financial cooperation with the country, Angela Filote, spokeswoman for Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, told reporters in Brussels on April 30.
Statements that say “this region needs to choose between Brussels and Moscow are not helpful,” she said.
Don’t Rush
EU countries including Slovakia and Bulgaria were affected when fuel shipments to Europe were cut off for the first time in three years in January 2009 during the pricing dispute.
Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet after the May holidays next week to discuss merging the companies, Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller said, adding that Gazprom is ready to consider asset swaps.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said yesterday “it’s too soon” to discuss details of the plan. “There’s no room for rushing on this.”
Ukraine’s Azarov said today it’s “a very attractive offer” and “no European country would decline an offer like this.”
Still, “If we are talking about Ukraine’s participation as a minority holder, this needs a calculation of pluses and minuses” and “we first of all need mutually profitable forms,” he told reporters in Kiev.
An asset swap is more plausible and would “almost certainly” involve Naftogaz getting equity in gas production in Russia and investment in the transit pipeline, Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial Corp., wrote on May 3. Russia would regain some control over the delivery system that brings gas to its customers in Europe in return, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Levitov in Moscow at mlevitov_at_bloomberg_dot_net
Source: bloomberg.com
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Metinvest decided to sell Eurobonds |
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Metinvest made decision of selling Eurobonds. Since today it is planned to invest from US$ 500mln to US$ 1bln. Business analysts say that Metinvest can expect the most successful Eurobonds issuing in 2010.
April 26 in Paris Metinvest begins road-show placement of Eurobonds, announced Friday the agency DebtWire (part of Financial Times holding). Meetings with investors will also take place in Moscow, Zurich, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Boston and end in New York on May 5. Underwriter of the issue were BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, ING, Royal Bank of Scotland and "VTB Capital". Metinvest not commenting officially neither the amount of the planned fund-raising, nor the size of the coupon rate. Investment bankers interviewed by Kommersant said that in conversations with managers Metinvest stated intention to draw on $ 500 million to $ 1 billion for five years. The main purpose of raising funds - payment of existing debt. In 2010, Metinvest must pay banks about $ 600 million
Metinvest unites enterprises that can produce annually 10 million tonnes of coking coal, producing 40 million tonnes of iron ore, smelt 10.8 million tons of steel. In 2009, revenues totaled Metinvest $ 6.1 billion, EBITDA - $ 1,4 billion, net profit - $ 340 million, the ultimate beneficiary of 25% +1 shares Metinvest BV is the owner of "Smart holding" Vadim Novinsky, others - businessman Rinat Akhmetov.
It should be noted that Metinvest - not the first company that comes to the foreign market borrowing capital. In April, for three of the Ukrainian issuers placed Eurobonds: April 15, "UkrEximbank" sold the securities by $ 500 million to yield 8.375% per annum, 21 April 91% of the holders of Eurobonds "Myronivsky Hliboprodukt" to a $ 250 million agreed to exchange them for new securities by 10.25% per annum, and on 22 April DTEK placed eurobonds in $ 500 million at 9.5% APR.
Source: Kommersant
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Azarov vs small and medium businesses |
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As it was announced today by Kommersant: Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will refrom simplified tax system.
Azarov is one of the most unpopular political person for small and meduim business in Ukraine. In fact, when it becomes clear that Azarov will lead cabinet of ministers of Ukraine - local businesses became worrying about their future.
Azarov was a prime minister already. His leadership issued a new word to Ukrainians - "Azarovschina". It means disrespect to businesses in general, huge tax pressure in particular, laws violating by tax officers. There are many other side affects, which are described by this word, but they didn't impact business and investments.
So, question is: Did Azarovschina returned with Azarov and will it impact businesses and current investments ?
First steps of new cabinet of ministers of Ukraine stated that yes, indeed, Azarovschina returned. Undre promises of economical growing was masked new tax policies for small and medium businesses: decreasing level of cash in economy will be done through new rule which will force tax applying for some kinds of banking transactions which allows to take cash from banking account.
Well, in fact normally tax is paid during paying for products or services and indeed that's not a time for special worries yet - Ukrainian businesses have wide range of instruments to avoid this, but ... just a bit of discomfort: Why I should use complicated way of cash obtaining instead of simple transaction to my debit card ?
However next step will have more significant influence. It was announced today 23rd of April, 2010 that since year 2011 simplified tax system will be revised. This will impact all private enterpreneurs and SMB segment. At least they will be forced to stop their businesses or make it less attractive for investing. Anyway, business models which are including private enterpreneurs potentially should be revised.
Concluding this article: Yes,Azarovschina returned. Yes, businesses will be impacted.
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