A List for the Small Business Owner's Informational QuestIn November 2003,
entrepreneur.com put together a fairly comprehensive list of "
40 government resource sites you can't live without." The list is grouped into 6 catagories:
- Business Basics
- Business Opportunities
- Government Branches and Agencies
- Legal Aid and Information
- Money Matters
- Research and Business Development
I would say that it's at least two months worth of blog material, :o) but that's just me.
FYI - The Small Business Development Center's website is listed under the Business Basics section. The local New Mexico network for the SBDC can be viewed at
www.nmsbdc.org.
This is not an SBDC-sanctioned site. The content on this site does not reflect the opinion of the SBDC.
Gallup COC "Person of the Year"
"I think Prakash ... has a very bright future ahead of him."Congratulations to Prakash for being selected as the
Gallup Chamber of Commerce "Person of the year." According to an
Independent report, the "(Chamber) board felt that (Prakash) Sundaram best met the qualifications set up by the selection committee - leadership, success, volunteerism, admiration (from peers and family) and his value of contribution to the community as a whole."
Stay tuned for the UNM-Gallup SBDC's "2004 Business of the year" award, next week.
This is not an SBDC-sanctioned site. The content on this site does not reflect the opinion of the SBDC.
Viral MarketingWhat explains the success of a lot of internet companies now and in the beginning of the internet, i.e. hotmail, yahoo, blogs, etc.? The companies make use of a well thought out viral marketing program. The company will design features to make their product or service seem indespensible to users and their acquaintances. The users will become evengelists for the product.
MarketingSherpa.com says that "Viral marketing is the ability to get consumers to tell each other about your product, service or Web site … so you can spend less money on advertising. It's also known as 'pass-along', 'friend-tell-a-friend', and 'evangelism' marketing."
I admit to having been caught up in the pandemic, from the indespensable
Treos to the classic
IKEA. Who can totally explain what make somethings
uber chic, like cabbage patch dolls or web-based email? According to Reid Walker of
reid-on.com, the viral marketing program, also known as a "replication strategy," had become a core strategy for internet companies to develop their markets. The strategy is making great use of the techniques of internet design to hook users and their "converts." What Mr. Wallker believed was marketing professionals would be asking "What is your 'replication strategy?'"
What has infected you?
Venture Capital Grade Business PlanAccording to
Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources, "if the (business) plan is done properly and completely, it will probably take 150 to 300 hours of intense work." This might sound like a lot of work but the business plan does need to be thorough. The venture capitalist wants to know if the business is viable taking into account every aspect of the business from a thoroughness of the market analysis and stratagy to the competency and strength of the management. "Before committing their funds for what will probably be at least five years, most venture capital investors will want to be certain the (business) plan has been carefully thought through..."
With the high level of competition for the scarcer venture capital, the venture capitalist will spend little time on a business plan. He will most likely read only the executive summary portion of the business plan. In addition, as a rule of thumb, a company should have the potential to be worth at least $30 million within three to five years to be of interest to the venture capital investor.
Because there are many reasons for doing a business plan, there are different types of business plans. A business plan should help put your business ideas to paper. The business plan will help identify problems and issues with a venture. The "venture capital" busines plan is the highest level to which any entrepreneur's business plan should strive to attain. The venture capitalists have set base standards of profitability, performance, competency for their venture capital dollars. While these standards my not be relavant to every entrepreneurs business, the standards are available to entrepreneurs to benchmark their business' performance.
The Challenge of Self-EmploymentThe ultimate challenge of self-employment is managing yourself.
*How effectively & efficiently you use your time
*Focus
*Determination, persistence and vision
*Self-confidence and how you come across with those you interact with
*Energy
*Knowledge
*Wearing many, many hats
I relish the challenge, and the freedom, and the opportunity. But, it isn't easy, and at times, it seems frightfully impossible. It takes immense faith and persistence to stay the course. And sacrifice.
And yet, I recommend it highly - if you have the stomach for it. The rewards can be immense.
Ian Christie, www.boldcareer.com
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Conceptual ModelIn the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's conceptual model for enterprise development shows the relationships between nine conditions of the national entrepreneurial framework and the national economy. There are nine conditions that are measured. The United States have rated well in many categories according to the 2002 report. The
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) offered several conclusions for the rating for the US.
- Entrepreneurship Education Needs to Target Women
- Entrepreneurship Education Over-emphasizes Venture Capital - A very small amount of businesses are funded by venture capital. Less than three percent of a new businesses are funded by venture capital. Despite the reality, a lot the entrepreneurial education available in the US stresses the venture capital component of entrepreneurship.
- Development of the Informal Investment Education - In Europe, the emphasis in entrepreneurial development is the development of a network of informal investors. The potential entrepreneur has the better potential to access angel investors (strangers, friends and family) than accessing venture capital
- Unrealistic Portrayal of entrepreneurial Culture in the Media
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Information WorkshopToday, The BIA held an informational seminar about the programs they have available to assist in business creation for Native Americans. The Katasse Consulting Group from Alaska is going throughout the country giving seminars to lenders and business support professionals about the different BIA programs available.
The BIA has three programs Loan Guarantee, Loan Insurance and Insurance Subsidy. The BIA program is an alternative to the SBA loan guaranty programs and they should be considered when trying to obtain a commercial loan.
By the way, the BIA does not have a website because of litigation. This is a great disservice to people who want to know more about the programs. Hopefully, the situation will be settled soon.
This is not an SBDC-sanctioned site. The content on this site does not reflect the opinion of the SBDC.Sirolli Institute Enterprise FacilitationOn the other side of town, the
Sirolli Institute gave an informational workshop to the community. The Sirolli Institute is working with the
New Mexico Economic Development Department to host a pilot "Enterprise Facilitation" project in New Mexico. Gallup is a potential location. According to this week's Journal
article, the communities must commit resources to the demonstration project. The community is "required to recruit a widely representative local management board of at least 50 volunteers who are passionately committed to the community, believe in the intelligence of the local population, believe in private enterprise, and are willing to share their networks and resources to assist local entrepreneurs with developing business ideas." Sirolli's requirements aside, a community must be large enough for to have enough of these type of people to commit to the effort to make a real difference.
The Sirolli process seems basically like a program of network development for communities who have trouble with networking already for whatever reasons. I won't say catch twenty-two, but didn't President Clinton have kind of the same idea with the USDA AmeriCorps program in the mid 90's?
I admit that networking is totally important for the development of entrepreneurs and their small businesses. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2002 report, in a survey of over 7,000 American households, 28 percent of low income respondents said they knew entrepreneurs. Of the respondents who identified themselves low income and as entrepreneurs themselves, 58 percent said they knew entrepreneurs. Compared to the 68 percent of both middle income and high income entrepreneurs who responded that they knew entrepreneurs.
This suggests that the low income entrepreneurs are making their own inroads into the network of entrepreneurs. The low income entrepreneur will know other entrepreneurs at a comparable rate to his middle and high income counterparts
The Sirolli program could make networking easier and better quality. A program could help the nascent entrepreneurs (people who are in the process of business planning) have access to a quality mentoring system. Back to Gallup -- a lot of the business planning we do is for micro businesses. These businesses do not generate many jobs at the outset and the operations are small. An ambitious program like Sirolli might leave these "less sexy" entrepreneurs to the wayside in search for larger enterprises.
This is not an SBDC-sanctioned site. The content on this site does not reflect the opinion of the SBDC.
Powerpoint's Limitations on CreativityI suppose January is the month to look back at the past year check yourself for things you would want to do better and resolve to become better.
I have seen quite a bit of discussion on the web about how presentation software is limiting the creativity of the presenter. I admit to using templates for past presentations. The templates are bulleted lists. The slides are pretty much the same. I understand the frustration with presentation software limitations. In the past, i have used flipcharts and whiteboards to enhance my presentations.
In 1998, writer,
Doc Searls, demonstrated the limitations of architectual design software by comparing it to the creative process of an architect in an article,
It's the Story, Stupid.
Previous presentations of mine went well and I am confident that the content was substantial and terrific. I could definitely include more features in my PowerPoint presentation using HTML. Everything said. One resolution for 2004 is absolutely to improve presentation material when possible.
Web-Based Business Planning Program from CanadaThe
Canada Business Service Center provides a web-based
Interactive Business Planner to help you complete a business plan for virtually any business, on-line.
The program will ask you to fill in fields to complete the different parts of the business plan. The program is similar to most other business plan software programs but it is on-line. You are able to edit and store the information in cyberspace until you are ready to print. It is a really neat program and it is also available in the French language (oui, oui).
eProBiz.com - A Small Business Virtual Resource CenterIn 2001, the
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program awarded a
$70,000 grant to a Montana entrepreneur to do a feasibility study to determine the best way to provide small business counseling services to rural businesses. This "interactive, web-based resource center would have not only been able to assist small business owners in creating a detailed business plan, but would also have automatically completed all forms necessary for submittal to a federally guaranteed loan program."
The results of the feasibilty study and subsquent SBIR funding yielded the
ItsSimple.biz website.
Some of the information on the website is still specific to the State of Nevada, but there is a lot of good business templates from the different organizations like the SBA, SCORE and the Women's Business Information Center ("standardized issues," I don't know). The website is basically a web portal to access the different content from other providers. I was
so hoping for a web interface to help me not only "create a
detailed business plan, but also
automatically complete
all forms necessary for submittal to a federally guaranteed loan program." :-)
I don't know how feasible such a project would be. I do know that there are all types of businesses with different requirements and a one-size-fits-all approach would attenuate the effectiveness of the business plan because of the unique circumstances of each business.
---HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!---2003 was a great year, my first year at the SBDC. It has been a great experience. I am totally psyched for the new year.
I wish you all the best for 2004 with abundant prosperity, health and happiness.
This is not an SBDC-sanctioned site. The content on this site does not reflect the opinion of the SBDC.
