Covering Your Bases

When starting any company you need to be able to tackle all the obstacles you will be running into BEFORE you start your business. A business plan helps you understand your business and is actually more important for your own knowledge, than any business you may be presenting it to. But you need to ask the right questions about your business in order to answer all the relevant questions. Here are some of the key questions you must ask AND ANSWER before you even begin to search for a company to help you executed a business plan.

A) Is your product or service marketable?
B) Are you a commodity (product)-based brand or marketing driven brand? That is to say, do retailers or consumers by the product because of the product, whether it is superior to the competition, or because the price is less (product driven), or, do they buy your product because you have created an inherent value through marketing the product through advertising and promotions, such that the consumers gain a feeling of value even before they buy it?
C) Who are your competitors and why are they succeeding?
D) How are you going to make your value more significant to your consumers such that you can gain competitive marketing share?
E) What are your selling tactics?
F) What is your marketing strategy?
G) How much money do you need from a capital standpoint to get your product off the ground.
H) What is your planned return-on-investment (ROI)?
I) Is your product patented, unique or proprietary?

These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself when you are in the strategic planning phase of your product launch. Get yourself small start-up capital in order to get the consulting you need up front so you can eliminate the majority of your mistakes before your business starts. Don't wait until you are too late and already in the game when the dollars are high and the stakes are high. Again, remember, your business plan is first and foremost important to help you understand your business better. When you fill in all the areas that are required in a business plan, you will be forced into answering these questions. Remember, this is a good thing. To find out the appropriate format, Google "Business Plans" or, "Business plan format" on the web and it will be easy enough to find.

I hope the above article provided you with some insight into what it takes BEFORE you take the leap into the world of the entrepreneur. Again, good luck!