If you want to run/own your own Business, the best way to
start, is to create your Business Plan. Sit and write/type down your idea.
Write down all the steps it will take to make your idea work, put them into
order, and start to organise your Business Plan. Writing down a plan/idea is
being constructive and putting your idea into writing, is a positive step to
making your business real. You need to list all the steps it takes to start
your business, then write down the way you are going to run your business (your
procedures), your networking/marketing plans/strategy, your bookkeeping, your
goals and values, a mission statement, etc., put it all down in writing. This is
your working Business Plan. You will look at this document often, updating it
as your plans change and they will, as you learn more and more about running
your business. Your Business Plan should be one of your first tools you create,
to help you run your business.
Searching the Internet you will find
lots of templates and details available about Business Plans, lots of people
have written steps that you need/can follow to write up your plan, details that
you need to include. Do Internet research about Business Plans and you will
find it is not a difficult task but rather an easy task to complete and it is
one step closer to running your own Business. I think this is a task that puts
people off starting their own businesses, they think it is difficult but once
started, it soon becomes easy.
You can find
templates for Business Plans on the Internet. You need the following within
your plan:
· Goals, Values and Objectives
· Mission statement, logo, company bi-line
· Procedures/structures on how you are going to run your business, how you will do your
pricing, how you will invoice your clients, how will you collect overdue
payments, how will you do your marketing, networking plans, what you will do
when a potential clients contacts you, , how will you approach transcription
work, typing, data entry etc. Copies of your company documentation (invoices,
statements, forms etc.,). How will you work with a subcontractor etc.,
· Marketing strategy
· Networking strategy
· Advertising strategy
· Products and Services, what services will you
offer clients, will you offer products like EBooks for sale on your website!
· Pricing Structure/Budget
· Skills, Training, Education, Resources
· Target/Niche Marketing - which type of clients
are you going to market your services to? How are you going to approach
clients?
· Company structure, how you are going to run your
company. How will you do your invoicing, banking, statements, how will you do
your books, approach clients, actually run your business
· Contacts,
keep database of all your contacts and clients. Build this up over time
· Company
Debt Collecting, procedure. You will come across clients who do not pay on time
or simply don’t want to pay and you will need a procedure in place of what you
are going to do to recover payments for work you have done.
· Executive
Summary, this sums up your business plan and is the most important piece of
information within your plan, this is what you want the Bank Manager to read,
is it sums up your whole idea of running your business. Make it interesting,
highlight the major structures of your business, stress important points, this
part must grab attention and basically sum up your whole business.
Determine your budget, you will need to
advertise your company, you will need to do networking and marketing. Know how
much money you have available to do this. Starting up a secretarial business
does not cost too much if you already have the computer/office equipment you
need. But you will need to advertise and market your company and attend
networking events and joining business groups can cost you but it is part of
owning your own business. You need to take these steps to grow your client
database and get your company known in the corporate world.
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