2.1 | DEVELOP THE RIGHT ATTITUDE
MAKING THE MOST OF YOURSELF
Before writing a business plan, finding finance and launching forth, entrepreneurs must have the right attitude. As an entrepreneur, you must PREPARE YOURSELF and YOUR MINDSET.
Those who think, "I can't do that" or "I'll never be able to do that," will create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A great entrepreneur will shift their mindset to realise there's no reason why they can't achieve something.
They believe, "I CAN do that!" Consequently, they continuously prove themselves right.
The right attitude and balance between self-belief and caution are vital tools for entrepreneurs. To achieve that balance:
Believe you can achieve your goals
Don't race forward with blind arrogance; be prepared by minimizing the risks involved to maximize confidence.
Listen to your instincts. They can protect you from making poor decisions.
The bottom line? If you don't have confidence and belief in your business idea, why should anyone else? As an entrepreneur, your greatest ally is yourself.
Not all entrepreneurs have self-confidence from the outset. By gaining experience, polishing their skills in weaker areas and working for others in a variety of roles, they elevate their confidence. Indeed, knowing that you have the ability to take on any task and do a damn good job is a great confidence booster, just as success is itself.
Confidence helps entrepreneurs to get on with it, rather than moping about rejection or a temporary set-back; it helps them stay focused. And having FOCUS is a crucial entrepreneurial tool.
Finally, the most successful, confident and focused entrepreneurs have something else in common: their attitude to failure. This is one incredible way that many entrepreneurs have boosted their self-confidence, by removing the fear of failure or, as I have, by removing the word completely from my vocabulary.
If you want to be successful, you need the courage to risk failing. Doing nothing means you'll avoid failure, but it will also mean you'll avoid success.
FAILURE? WHAT'S THAT? FAILURE IS FEEDBACK.
I believe, there is no such thing as failure; there is only feedback in business.. Any successful business person who is still successful today will know this to be true. Whatever the outcome of a situation, there will always be a great deal of value within it.
A business that closes will have taught the owner far more about business and what not to do than if they'd never started up. Mistakes and 'failures' are learning experiences.
It is far better to try and get feedback (or 'fail') than not bother trying and always wonder, "what if?" With that realization, you can make BIG things happen and learn an incredible amount on your journey toward success.
2.2 | TURN A VISION INTO ACTION AND RESULTS
VISION
I believe there are certain critical success factors for entrepreneurial brilliance. I call these my 10 Golden Rules. You'll find them sprinkled among the Business Tools and you can watch them here. The first of these is VISION.
It's easier to be passionate about the future if you can visualise where you want to go and how you are going to get there. Like all journeys, you need a map.
Vision is about having a clear understanding of where you are going which is absolutely vital in business.
What unites truly successful entrepreneurs is that they all have a VISION of where they want to get to, and they all take ACTION to take them there.
Reaching one horizon always reveals another.
FROM VISION TO ACTION
The second and third of my GOLDEN RULES are ACTION and RESULTS.
Action is the bridge between Vision and Results. Action involves figuring out how to get from where you are now to where you want to be. What ACTIONS will you need to take? Where do you go from here? Write it all down.
Commit to paper your goals and the required actions to achieve them.
Simply by creating a vision and actions in your mind and putting pen to paper, you've already taken the first step towards being extremely successful. And, in my experience, reaching one horizon always reveals another.
CREATE AN ACTION PLAN
Ask yourself, what do you want from this business? Create a clear and concise vision and document a 90-day Action Plan. Outline in detail everything you intend to do over the next 90 days. This gives you a picture in your mind of what you're trying to create and what you need to do. It gives you instant milestones to work for and focus on.
The more resource and research you put in to your idea, the better. Detail everything: from organising stationery, and organising contact with the bankers, to VAT and planning your website - all the things you have to do. The Starting Up business tool will provide you with information on the key areas to deal with (and add to your action plan).
Link your Action Plan back to your Business Plan and monitor it, ticking off your milestones and your actions as you go.
Planning for your success is as important as achieving success. So that, when you achieve success you know exactly how you got there.
ACHIEVING RESULTS
An idea is just an idea until ACTION is taken to turn that idea into a reality. Your business plan and action plan will provide you with the maps you need to realise each goal within that idea. But there's little point taking action that isn't driven by results. By focusing on results-orientated tasks and strategies you can create a blueprint for your long-term business success.
Being RESULTS-FOCUSED is vital to turn your VISION into CLEAR ACTION. Where entrepreneurs win over others, is in the energy and focus they put into their ideas. Being results-oriented brings clarity to the goal for everyone involved.
To summarise:
VISION. Create a vision of where you want to get to. Make it real in your mind and on paper.
ACTION. Entrepreneurs and Ultrapreneurs make things happen. Plot the tasks and actions that need to be taken to reach your goals and make your vision real. Actions speak louder than words.
RESULTS. Set yourself goals that involve achieving tangible, specific and measurable results. Take action towards achieving those results.
Finally, REWARD yourself and those involved, as you achieve your objectives. You deserve it.
2.3 | PREPARE A BUSINESS PLAN
WHY WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN?
Before starting up, an entrepreneur needs to create a plan, a vision, a dream.
A business plan (and the accompanying action plan) is a crucial tool for entrepreneurs to:
Guide them in the right direction
Provide a benchmarking tool to focus on tangible and specific results
Help prioritise tasks and manage goals more effectively
Attract investment
Reach the final goal, which could mean selling the business in year three or floating the company.
BUSINESS PLAN RULES
The main RULES for writing a winning business plan are:
Make it clear and concise and include hard facts. Excite the reader. Give them something real and viable to believe in and invest in. Investors have limited time to browse through pages and pages.
Think maximum impact and minimum fluff. I personally believe a good business plan can be written in three pages.
Reveal your passion, drive and determination, plus a clear snapshot of your business.
Know your market, your figures and forecasts and the risks involved. Be aware of competition and be able to provide evidence to support your claims. Get to know your figures inside out. Imprint them in your mind so you can explain them without referring to paperwork. This is key; not only when it comes to attracting investment, but also for your own peace of mind. Know your start-up costs, and how much is coming in and going out of the business at any one time.
Outlined below are the key areas you need to figure out and include in your business plan.
How much money/investment you'll need. Be precise.
Where you'll get it from: friends and family, the bank, business angels, venture capitalists, investment fund managers, via a government grant/loan scheme?
What you will spend it on and why.
What the ROI (Return On Investment) will be. This is what fuels an investor's interest and is what gives you the impetus to grow.
How you have overcome/will overcome any identified risks such as competitors, negative consumer trends or internal risks such as poor planning or management?
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR BUSINESS PLAN:
Background: What you have done (and how) up to this point. What have you already invested in terms of time and effort. Reveal your experience, what you have sacrificed, and what you are prepared to do to drive the business forward.
Snapshot what your business will do and how it will operate.
Detailed financial forecast for your business with a profit and loss account and cash flow analysis. Click here for our Business Tool on successful sales.
Information about the market you are entering and analysis of your business's position within that market. Include market research from credible sources that underpin statements about the shape, size and potential of the market. Also include competitor analysis, plus tasks and timescales for entering certain markets. Explain how you are going to win customers. Give milestones and steps you'll be taking to achieve them. Click here for our Business Tool on marketing.
Supporting evidence. Substantiate claims for your own peace of mind as well as any potential investors.
In the Business Tool Turn creativity into commerce, you'll find out how to pitch successfully and how to use what you've put into your Business and Action Plans into action... literally.
2.4 | REALITY CHECK: BUSINESS PLANNING
HOW PREPARED ARE YOU? READY TO LAUNCH?
Are you completely aware of the effort it will take, pitfalls you'll encounter and what you'll have to sacrifice or change in order to start your own business? Do you know the pros and cons of going it alone? Have you assessed the risks and do you have a plan for how to deal with them?
Have you envisaged your destination and created a route planner to get you there?
Have you moved the goalposts to "dream big" while remaining realistic and focused on the here and now?
Have you spent time nurturing your self-belief and confidence? Do you believe in yourself and have the confidence to take your idea forward?
Have you spent time planning the costs and financial risks involved?
Have you spent time studying the market and the competition?
Have you spent time looking into suppliers including the services of accountants and web designers? Have you seen references, client testimonials or examples of their work?
Have you figured out your end game: going public, selling up, succession to a family member?
Are you ready to embrace continual learning? Never think you know it all in business.
Have you removed the word failure from your vocabulary and replaced it with feedback?
If you would like to submit your idea to me, keep checking my website for information on the upcoming Enterprise Challenge where you can win the chance to pitch your idea to me directly.