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Writing A Business Plan - continued

In last week’s Business Insights video, Franchise Direct CEO Sean McGarry discussed the first two components in creating a successful business plan. In this week’s installment, he addresses the subject in more detail, and specifically talks about the operation of the business plan and its funding elements.

Download Business Insights #7 or view in the player below.

The operational side of the business plan deals with how you are going to deliver the product or the service, and in particular questions like, ‘What is the equipment you’re going to need?’, ‘Are there specialist, key-skills you’re going to have to identify?, and Who are your suppliers?’. “These are issues that are going to have to be dealt with in the operational plan,” Sean says. Financing is the final element of the business plan, though Sean admits that financing is the first thing that many banks and investors examine. “You will have to clearly set out the funding that’s needed to start this business,” Sean says. Sean warns against a common mistake that entrepreneurs make: underestimating your total funding. He urges entrepreneurs to set up a realistic cash plan that will clearly set out how much cash is coming in and how much cash is going out in the first months of your business. “The one thing you’re going to recognize in your first few months of business is that cash is king. If you run out of cash, it’s all over.” With this knowledge, plus Sean’s advice from last week, you should now have everything you need to create a successful business plan.

More good news today that the franchising industry is on the up.

It is not only seniors or veterans who have found a lifeline in franchising during the recession. Laid-off corporate executives and victims of the Wall Street credit crunch are also turning to franchising, it seems.

Reuters has told the story of David Ambinder, a former senior vice president of global support services with Lehman Brothers with 25 years of experience on Wall Street. Laid off a few months before Lehman Brothers collapsed, Ambinder decided to begin a second career in franchising, with Mr Handyman.

“It’s very exciting to build a business; for me it’s the right move,” says Ambinder. “People aren’t going to be moving and they are going to need their homes repaired. I feel there’s a niche for it.”

The story quotes a number of other businessmen across America who are finding real success through franchising, despite the gloom around the state of the economy. It also reports that interest in franchising is peaking. Take Jim George, CEO of Snip It, a child hair-cutting franchise based in Natick, Massachusetts.

“January was our best month in the number of inquiries in the past seven or eight months,” he said.

Finally, the article singles out business coaching franchises, IT franchises, digital imaging franchises and senior care franchises as industries on the move.

Times may be tough, but it’s reassuring to see the franchising industry looking so resilient at the moment.

Over the last two months, we have discussed various ways for franchisees and entrepreneurs to make their business work better. We’ve discussed how to spot a recession-proof industry, tips for making your franchise run on less money, as well as ideas for bringing out the best in your employees. One attribute we may have omitted: the importance of positive thinking.

While there’s no scientific theories or facts and figures to prove that positive thinking will have any effect on your annual profit margins, in these difficult times, some entrepreneurs are finding that a fresh personal approach can reap many dividends.

This article charts the evolution of positive psychology as practiced by Martin E.P. Seligman, who created a masters degree at the University of Pennsylvania for people interested in the concept. A number of big businesses have employed its graduates as consultants, and gradually, entrepreneurs have looked to positive psychology for career guidance.

At the heart of positive psychology is the need for entrepreneurs and business-people to thoroughly analyse themselves and their own business abilities. From there, business people can begin focus solely on doing what they do best, which is the key to all positive thinking.

The story focuses on CargoWise EDI, an Illinois-based software company serving the freight-service industry. They brought in David J. Pollay, head of The Momentum Project, whose mantra for entrepreneurs is “negativity is just not necessary.”

Pollay sat down with the executives of CargoWise and gave them a chance to articulate their feelings about the management of the company:

They recalled when they were at their best. They thought about the company’s wider purpose: creating jobs that support hundreds of families; cooperating while doing something they enjoy; producing useful products that facilitate commerce. None of it was groundbreaking, but employees didn’t usually articulate these things. They talked about negative forces that were beyond their control and vowed not to be derailed by them.

Positive thinking can work and it might be the X Factor that brings a fresh approach to your business. If you’d like to discover your own business strengths, take a survey on this website. And in the mean time, stay positive.

Green franchises have come along and garnered a lot of buzz in last year or so. Even at a time when economic concerns may be overshadowing entrepreneurs’ desire to save the environment, green franchises have lost none of their luster.  Green pizza franchises are even popping up — as the Franchise King recently blogged. The truth is that ecological problems are not going away and the green market still remains an excellent sector for franchisors and franchisees to corner.

Did you know becoming a green franchise is easier than it looks? One franchise in the Franchise Direct network that personifies the green philosophy is Flip Flop Shops, who began franchising a year ago. Buoyed by a novel franchise concept (they’re, not surprisingly, a shop that sells flip-flops), Flip Flop Shops utilise an environmentally-sustainable approach to franchising. They promote products made from recycled products and their shops themselves boast natural cork floors, water-based paints, and more efficient lighting, to name a few things.

“As a new retailer, we want to do a good job of being brand ambassadors for manufacturers,” Darin Kraetsch, CEO of Flip Flop Shops told Franchise Times magazine. “We want to attract people like us, who are proud and passionate about the concept.”

The Franchise Times article also points out other things that franchisees can do to increase sustainability, such as using alternative fuel sources. While Kraetsch admits that going the extra mile to create a more environmentally-sustainable workplace does bring extra costs, it has a number of stirring upsides, including access to the growing ‘green’ market. For executives like Darin Kraetsch, a sustainable approach to business pays for itself.

Many entrepreneurs and small-business people are beginning to think similarly.

Fitness franchises have always proven to be one of the most stable franchise investments. Recession aside, America’s love affair with physical fitness is showing no signs of abating. Interestingly, a new slice of the sector is experiencing great growth: youth fitness franchises.

It’s an interesting development. Certainly, the bedrock of fitness franchises has for a long time been young professionals, people whose careers are too demanding for a jog in the park every evening. And while America has no shortage of sports and activities for young people, youth fitness franchises have an enjoyed an upsurge in popularity precisely at a time when concerns about childhood obesity are at a heightened state and at-home activities like the internet and gaming are becoming more integral to young people’s lives.

Adults who’ve become reliant on gyms for staying fit are turning towards fitness franchises aimed at young people to keep their children healty and active. These fitness centres are perfectly-tailored to young people, and stress fun as well as fitness. And, gradually, the industry has taken off. Entrepreneur magazine certainly noticed this trend: they described youth fitness franchises as one of the fastest-growing business opportunities in America recently.

Read this article to see how the trend towards youth fitness centres is changing lives in suburban Maryland. For prospective franchisees seeking a new franchise for sale, Franchise Direct brings you a number of outstanding youth fitness franchises, including My Gym. For entrepreneurs looking for the next big market, youth fitness franchises might be the business opportunity for you.