Page 11 - How To Avoid Going Bust In Business

That’s service, and that’s why they keep coming back.

5: The establishment cost. What will it cost to set the business up? That includes
the cost of carrying it through to break even.
6: The regulatory environment. More and more these days local and central
government officials are imposing restrictions and obligations on businesses.

What are the necessary permits you need to have before you can start? How long
will that process take? (A lot longer than you expect). What are the costs?

I recently read of a couple who invested a lot of money in equipment and general
set-up costs and then discovered that they needed a permit from the local authority.
It took six months to get that piece of paper. Their finances were, by then, stretched
to vanishing point. They will be lucky to make to the second year in business.
Before you start your entrepreneurial journey, it might pay to do a quick “Preliminary
Business Plan”. This is where you outline some of the opportunities and threats,

but not in detail. It’s a plan for a plan.

Here’s the PBP I prepared for this book:

Preliminary Business Plan for this book
The Problem: Many beginning business owners may have a great business idea,
but lack the essential skills to get it off the ground and see it through to success.
Once they get going they are lucky to survive even the first year, let alone make a
long run success of it.
The solution: Write a book based on my own experience in running various sorts of
businesses over a 40 year business career. Some successes. Some failures. Lots
of lessons learned that can help a new business become successful. If economic
storm-clouds gather how to avoid going under.

The path to the market: Amazon? Google AdWords? Further work required to
refine a profitable marketing strategy, including a keyword analysis.

In particular, a study of successful book promotion strategies.
The competition: Probably hundreds of business success books. Explore present
offerings. Analyse their strengths and weaknesses.

The Outstanding Point of Difference. I have had a whole raft of business
experience in a wide range of fields from journalism, advertising, real estate, tourism
and business services.

I’ve also been described as having more ideas than a dog has fleas . . . an epithet
that was meant unkindly but which I wear with pride.

All of which means I can write from a position of practical experience, as distinct from
the many academics who have “studied” business. I’ve lived it, and done it. And still
do. And bear the scars.
One way or another I suspect it will need some fizz, some pizazz to get it noticed.