Tag: ideas

  • Business Plans for Newcomers – Part 1

    I cannot tell you how many times, I have heard of newcomers turned down for loans simply because they could not produce a business plan. In our lending systems, as covered in a past blog, it is customary to ask for a business plan. In many cases, lenders will not even look at your business…

  • Demographics for Small Business: market segmentation and counting customers

    The last couple of entries have focused on stories of entrepreneurs who have either not cared about customers or who believed that the entire world was a prospective client base. While these strategies may work for some entrepreneurs, generally speaking, we need to have some understanding of the size of the market and what we…

  • #waystokillanidea – It is too expensive.

    Ways to Kill an Idea – #4. It is too expensive Here is part 4 on my blog series of how to kill an idea. I’ll quickly recap three ideas from a recent conference that motivated me to write these posts: 1. Fail fast, fail forward. 2. Do not be afraid to think big. 3.…

  • The Customer is always right….Except when he isn’t…

    As part of my continuing series on markets and customers, I would like to tell you about another entrepreneur who was determined to change his customer. Unlike Bob from the last blog who was content to live with his books, this entrepreneur, Luis, has been fighting to convince customers that he was right and they…

  • Demographics and Your Business Plan

    The term for some of you may conjure up images of university classrooms and painful modelling excercises. For others, the term might imply some kind if research to do with population, but most certainly nothing to do with your business plan. What if I told you that demographics should form the basis of your ENTIRE…

  • Part III: So Who Needs a Business Plan?

    Part III: So Who Needs a Business Plan?

    So Who needs a business plan? These days, if you are seeking financing of any form, you probably require one. Do you need a business plan to ensure the success of your business? I would say no. Don’t get me wrong, business planning can be a very valuable exercise. For some personality types (you know…

  • #waystokillanidea – We Have No Time.

    Ways to Kill an Idea – #2. We Have No Time. As I wrote previously, at a conference I hosted, we focused on 3 key ideas: 1. Fail fast, fail forward. 2. Do not be afraid to think big. 3. Do not say no. We are too often quick to say no, even when it…

  • Part 2: Why Businesses Fail

    Part 2: Why Businesses Fail

    Since 1980 onward, business plans have become standard staple in lending and investing. They provide, or so their supporters will argue, a standardized way to look at a business. Business plans require entrepreneurs to actually “plan” and they are the road map an entrepreneur uses from start-up through to a full -scale operation. So why…

  • Do I need a Business Plan? (Psst … You May Not) Part 1

    Do I need a business plan? I cannot tell you how often I get this question. Early in my career, I was an avid supporter of Business Plans. Not the business plan itself perse, but the planning process. Planning, in itself is crucial to the success of a business-or so I thought. However, over the…

  • Ways to Kill an Idea – It Can’t Be Done

    Ways to Kill an Idea – It Can’t Be Done

    Ways to Kill an Idea – #1. It Can’t Be Done I recently hosted a conference on immigrant entrepreneurship, which was meant to drive home three key ideas: 1. Fail fast, fail forward. 2. Do not be afraid to think big. 3. Do not let your immediate response to a new idea be “no”. Obviously, there…