Are You Struggling With Developing a  Business Plan?

• If you are a small business owner who is struggling to write a business plan, help is here. Planning is one of the most important, yet often underestimated, parts of starting a business. In fact, many businesses fail from lack of research, goals and a thorough plan. The business planning process requires a lot of time, work, and effort, though.

Understanding your customers and prospective customers is at the heart of producing products and services that users want to consume. The true difference between brands that excel and produce products that people want to buy again and again (not just the one-hit-wonders of the world), is that they are keeping the user at the center of their design, product development, and marketing strategy. They’re also staying relevant and keeping trends, global insights, and social patterns top of mind in their strategy.

• Yes, it's one of those "Catch-22" situations; you can't get a loan unless you have customers, but you can't start your business and get customers without the loan. If you can show that you have some strong customers lined up, that might make a good impression on the lender.

An “elevator pitch” is a 30- to 60-second spiel about your business. It’s what you would say if you only had an elevator’s ride worth of time to tell someone about your business. Its purpose is to deliver a powerful explanation of what you do before you lose the full attention of your audience. Yes, speed is important here, but more important is the quality and the impact of the information you are providing in so short a time.