No one plans to fail, but many businesses fail to plan.  We can help you develop strategies to reach more customers and get your ideas the exposure they need.

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Before You Get Started...

So what do you know?

We all jump into business because we think we have a great idea.  The truth is that most of our ideas really are great, but without doing the homework first, it’s nearly impossible in this competitive age to turn these ideas into profitable businesses.

Before you rush out and put your hard earned cash behind your enthusiasm, take a little time to learn how to guarantee your investment.  When I studied entrepreneurship at Mt. Hood Community college, my mentor, Chuck Knocke (who had founded Sylvan Learning) defined entrepreneurs as calculated risk-takers—not speculative risk takers.  Doing your homework takes the gambling out of it and tells you exactly what the odds are. You need a business plan.

Learn more about business plans

Conduct research studies

Don’t assume you know what your customer is thinking.  Once, when writing a business plan for a nightclub, my partner and I couldn’t agree on a name.  His name had too much of a drug connotation and mine, while being great in my mind, made him think of a gay bar (which wasn’t our intended audience).  We were both certain we knew what was best, and both wrong.  I created a survey of 26 potential names and took it to a local college where our target audience hung out.  They overwhelming picked a name neither of us would have chosen.  We wanted a name that was seen as representing a certain ambience, and the survey pick clearly indicated the choice of our potential customers.

These types of surveys are inexpensive, usually costing you little more than your time.  What you will get back will be invaluable

Other methods of validating your concept are to spend time on Google, go to the library’s reference section, or if you have a website, develop, online polls, online surveys, and even an online forum.  Sparklit offers software for all of these services.  Check out there site for more details.

Become a voracious reader

As I mentioned above, going to the library can really help you win the game of business.  Reading anything you can get your hands on will make a difference when it comes to making smart decisions.  Here is a short list of some things to take a look at.

Any “How to” books written about your industry.  The chances are someone else has had a similar idea and you can learn from their mistakes.  Entrepreneur magazine offers a great selection of these.

Sign up for your rival’s mailing lists and newsletters.  Read everything they put out.  When you are open for business, what they choose to emphasize with their ads may clue you in to how your businesses are similar, what challenges they face, and who they are trying to attract.

Read what your customer’s read.  See if there are popular magazines for what you offer.  Also read trade journals to get ideas from businesses similar to yours in different markets.  I subscribe to about a dozen, most of which are free.  Get all the ideas you possibly can.  We’ll talk about organizing them in a later issue.

Read books on specific areas you wish to improve.  Our Powell’s Bookshelf offers you up to 100 books on business and personal growth.