Don’t get me wrong; a business plan is a useful tool. We write them for two reasons. Reason 1: It helps us as small business owners assess risk on paper so we can make an informed decision about the viability of the business. Reason 2:  Financial institutions want it to assess how risky you are as a potential borrower. A business plan is fiction. It is a fabrication; a story of what could be. I often hear entrepreneurs say when pitching a business plan, “Our numbers are very conservative”. No, your numbers are not conservative. They are fiction. They have not happened yet. It is all “Pie in the Sky” thinking. By its nature, a business plan is optimistic. No one ever comes into to the bank with a business plan that shows how the business fails in nine months.  Once you commence operations, all bets are off. Your business is in a constant state of flux. Customers, marketplace, and technology are continuously evolving. Your business plan needs to be continuously updated to reflect the changing business environment.

Here are some resources to help you draft your business plan:
SBA: How to Write a Business Plan
NSBDC's: Business Plans made Simple
SCORE's: Business Planning Templates and Tools
Seth Godin's: The Modern Business Plan
The Funding Roadmap: The Business Plan Reinvented

Operating Hours Sign Failure

I wanted to eat lunch at a Chinese restaurant that I have been to before. The restaurant serves its food buffet style. The food is good and so is the price; A perfect spot for a quick lunch. When I arrived at the restaurant, I was greeted by a sign on the door that said that the operating hours of the restaurant were 11am until 11pm, Monday through Friday. The time was 11:30am, clearly within their hours of operation. I was supervised to find that when I pulled on the door, the deadbolt was still locked. I looked in the tinted windows and thought at first that this restaurant had gone out of business. There was no activity to be seen. No people, no greeters - the lights were even off. Then some motion caught my eye. It was the golden lucky cat figure that the restaurant has in the waiting area. The lucky cat was waving its paw - someone had to have turned it on. Perhaps the owners of the restaurant had forgotten to open their doors or they had lost track of time. With my face pressed against the window, I scanned the interior for additional signs of life. The buffet steam tables sat in the back of the establishment and a you could note steam coming off of the heated water. There was steam, but no food. A couple standing nearby told me that they had been waiting since 11am for the anticipated opening. They had not seen anyone either. They should open soon, I thought, I sat down at an outside table under the front patio of the business. While I waited, I observed. More than a dozen potential patrons approached the restaurant in anticipation of the same quick lunch that we were hoping to eat. Each one of them did the same thing that I did: they tried the door, pointed to the sign where the operating hours were posted, and pressed their faces to the glass to see why there were incongruences between the sign and the locked door. They all saw the lucky cat just as I did. I was fascinated by the duplicate behavior and the disbelief the potential patrons had when they found the information on the door to be untrue. I decided to wait until noon to see if the place would actually get it together and open for lunch and to observe how people continued to act towards the sign on the door. Just before noon, a large family approached the door. Their behavior was identical to everyone else’s. To my surprise, a man dressed as a cook came to the door. Instead of opening the door, he made hand signals to the family that he needed more time before they were to open. The family pointed to the sign on the door in protest. They were annoyed that he would not let them in and soon left. At noon I left as planned. As I counted the people who tried to eat at this restaurant today, my count came to 15. Each of them including myself had expected to eat at the restaurant. All of us left disappointed. Those 15 people could be the profit margin for the day for that business. How many of them will post on their Facebook page a negative comment about this experience? How many will never return?

The Importance of Signs as Brand Promises

We as consumers are exposed to hundreds of signs every day. What is amazing is that we believe what we see on a sign. We take them literally at face value. We are so used to being directed that we rarely question if the information is correct. Signs are brands. A brand is a promise of an expected product or service. We all expected that the brand of this restaurant was that they were open at 11am. They were not. They lied. Their brand lied and broke the brand promise. Now the only brand promise we have is that their brand is unpredictable. Unpredictability in the marketplace does not fetch a premium price. It gets what is leftover, because that is what it deserves. No one should have to beg a business to take their money. A business should make it easy for customers to transact with them. If the business was having a problem that day, they needed to communicate that with their customers. A simple piece of paper that said "Sorry, we are opening at 12pm today" would have been sufficient. That would have preserved their brand with the 15 of us and kept their brand promise; even if we would have chosen to go elsewhere for lunch. A sign is a brand promise. Customers will hold you to your sign. It is your unwritten contract with them. Don’t break promises to your customers. This restaurant will need more than a lucky cat to help them survive if this is the way they keep their brand promise.


Photo: Steve Snodgrass, Creative Commons License, Some rights Reserved

The National Export Initiative:
Double U.S. Exports in the next 5 Years
On March 11, 2010, US President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order which formed the National Export Initiative (NEI). NEI has the broad goal of improving conditions that directly affect the private sector’s ability to export. President Obama’s plan has the goal of doubling exports from US companies in the next 5 years. The NEI calls for removal of trade barriers and advocacy assistance directed especially at small businesses to help them overcome the barriers of entering new export markets.

The National Export Initiative: U.S. Priority Markets
There are several emerging market countries that the NEI has identified as priority export targets for US products. These countries include: China, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The NEI has put together a series of videos about doing business in these markets. All of this excellent information is contained in the Federal portal for international trade: Export.gov.  Visit the International Trade Administration’s YouTube Channel for over 50 webinars about doing business in regional environments.

The Trade Information Center
For additional information or general trade questions, you may contact the Trade Information Center (TIC) at: 800.872.8723 (1-800-USA-TRAD(E)), or send an email to: tic@trade.gov The TIC operates between 8:30 AM & 6 PM EST.  You can get answers to your exporting question topics including: Tariffs, International Documentation, Logistics, Free-Trade Agreements, Country-Specific regional Information, Trade Data, and General Export Information.

U.S. Export Assistance Centers
The Commercial Service has a network of U.S. Export Assistance Centers that house export and industry specialists. These centers are located in more than 100 U.S. cities and over 80 countries worldwide. These trade professionals
provide counseling and services to assist U.S. businesses in exporting their products and services. They can assist in: Assessing market potential for your product or service, develping and implementing a market enrty strategy, and identifying potential trade partners in foreign markets. 
  

Indonesia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrBuHAIsK-4&feature=relmfu

The Small Business Google Search Nightmare.
One of my clients is a local handyman. He came in to talk with me about marketing his business more effectively. He was concerned because his clients weren’t finding his business online. I typed the search term “handyman las vegas” into Google. The Google search returned 2.2 million results! We don’t even have 2.2 Million people in Las Vegas. My client was also not pleased to see his closest 25 competitors fighting it out on the first page of Google’s search results. He asked me how it was possible for a small business to compete against so many similar businesses. Our conversation led to a discussion on Differentiation. 

What is Differentiation? Be Different – Be Better
Differentiation is strategically deciding to make your business different from your competition, while at the same time making it better as well. Differentiation allows companies that sell similar products to justify pricing fluctuation between brands. For example, Texaco, Shell, Citgo, and Chevron all sell gasoline. They all charge differently for their product. Why? Because each product has been differentiated from the other. In Las Vegas, the most expensive gas comes from Chevron, then Texaco, Shell and finally Citgo. Citgo is sold exclusively at 7-11 convenience stores. One of the ways that Citgo is differentiated from Chevron is that you can buy a Slurpee and a BigBite hot dog while you are pumping gas. At Chevron, Texaco, and Shell you can’t. But you probably can purchase a car wash. Many Chevron, Texaco, and Shell stations are paired with car wash services. This is something that you will rarely see at a 7-11. You have to be able to set your business apart from your competition and then be better.

5 Tips on How to Be Better Than Your Competition
1. Make differentiation part of your overall marketing strategy
2. Know your customers and give them what they want and need
3. Don’t try to compete head-to-head with a rival. Find your niche instead
4. Add value in all areas of your business: Operations, Finance, and Marketing
5. Branding helps you remember your promise to your customer 

_ Life Without Square: The Hassle of accepting Credit Cards
Dealing with the hassle of taking credit cards was something small business owners used to dread.  A merchant account had to be set up with a bank or financial institution.  The merchant was charged a monthly service fee.  The fee was sometimes as high as $50 a month.  In addition to the fee, business owners had to rent or purchase credit card processing equipment.  This also included purchasing consumables such as paper and ribbons for the receipt printers.  This often proved expensive for the small business owner.  Thanks to a San Francisco based company called Square, the hassle of taking credit cards is now over.

How Square Works: Everyone Can Accept Credit Cards Via Mobile Devices
Square was created by Jack Dorsey, one of the founders of Twitter. Square's mission is to remove the barriers for small business owners to accept credit cards.  Square is simple.  It is elegant and easy to use.  The most important feature of using Square is that your clients feel secure with the transaction.  Square allows you to accept credit card payments on your Android, iPhone or iPad with the free square card reader device.  Square will send you a free Square card reader to plug into the audio port of your mobile device.  You can sign up and install the app in just a few minutes.  You can then begin accepting credit cards!  Your customers can review their purchase on your mobile device and even have a tip added to the bill.  After their credit card is swiped, they sign a signature line on the screen with their finger.  Customers instantly receive an electronic receipt via text or e-mail, which makes them feel secure about the transaction. Square charges one simple rate: 2.75% per swipe for MasterCard, Visa Discover and Amex.  Unlike most credit card processors, square charges no monthly fees.  The funds are deposited into your bank account the next business day.

Square Lets Small Business Owners Accept Credit Cards Via Mobile Devices
Even if you run the one person micro business, you have a need to accept credit cards from your customers. PayPal made it easy to accept payments online. Square now makes it easy to accept payments in person with a mobile device. Expect to see Square being used by your hair stylist, gardener, babysitter, or anyone you currently pay in cash. All you need is a mobile device and a bank account to accept payments. Square is making the process easy and fun as well. Small Business owners: get one of these now and get set up to take credit card payments. Your future sales may depend on it.

Visit http://www.squareup.com to order your Free Square Card Reader

Did you get an E-Book reader or a tablet device for Christmas this year? A Pew Research Center survey indicates that ownership in tablet devices and e-book readers increased from 10% to 19% during the 2011 holiday shopping season.

Tablet and E-Book Reader Benefits
One of the main benefits from using a tablet device is its accessibility. You can keep it on the coffee table or use it while walking up and down the stairs at your home. You can use it while lying in bed or while on the couch just as easy as you can use it on a plane. The ability to instantly turn on these devices coupled with Wi-Fi access to your network makes this device a replacement for 90% of what you use your laptop for. Most people use their laptops to access the internet, read email, and create and edit office documents, and spreadsheets. The rise of streaming media from companies like Netflix and Amazon has pushed the traditional Television viewer to seek more and more entertainment online. The iPad is an amazing entertainment device. You can stream movies, play games and check your social media channels from wherever you are.

When I showed my 86 year old Father the iPad, his first comment was that the clarity of the screen was incredible. He was pleasantly surprised that he could read an e-book without his glasses on. I had a similar experience showing the iPad to my wife’s grandmother, who is also in her 80’s. Within 2 minutes she had mastered the touch interface and was playing Angry Birds. I frequently see parents hand their 2 year old child an iPad with a learning game. Touch technology enables users who do not use computers to quickly adopt a new technology. This technology is here to stay. Recently, I attended the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I was impressed with the degree to which tablets were being incorporated into everything from cars to refrigerators.

 

Entrepreneurs Should Consider Adding Tablet and E-Book Reader Technology to Their Business
Entrepreneurs should consider adding a tablet to their office and personal workflow. Email is a breeze. Web browsing is fun again. The tablet is great for reading books, newspaper, and reports. The iPad can also create and edit office documents with Pages, edit spreadsheets with Numbers, and presentations with Keynote. All of these Apps sell for $9.99 each in the iTunes App Store. During my evaluation of the iPad, I concluded that the only thing that I can’t do on the device is graphic design. I use Adobe Creative Suite to create and edit graphic files. This is not something that the iPad tablet can do for now. Or so I thought. I was wrong. Adobe has created an entire suite of Touch Apps for the iPad and Android tablets. The technology incorporates 6 creative Apps: Adobe Photoshop Touch, Adobe Proto, Adobe Ideas, Adobe Debut, Adobe Collage, and Adobe Kuler. Photoshop allows users to edit photos, Proto allows rapid prototyping and creation of wireframes for websites and mobile apps, Ideas is a vector design application that allows Illustrator functionality, Debut is a presentation app that designers can use to present full-resolution native Adobe graphic files, Collage lets you create mood boards and inspiration pieces, and Kuler lets you create and navigate in a world of infinite color themes.This presents a huge paradigm shift in the design process. It will allow designers to work in a whole new way: More efficient, connected and mobile. All of the Apps sell for $9.99 each and can be found on the Android Marketplace as well as the iTunes app Store.  


The Future for the Tablet and E-Book Reader Market
The future for tablets is great. Touch technology has enabled us to create and use technology in new mobile ways. The tablet is game-changing technology and every small business owner should consider ways to streamline their operations with these advances.

Pew Research Study: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2176/tablet-computers-ebook-readers
Check the Adobe Touch Apps out here: http://www.adobe.com/products/touchapps.html?promoid=JFQGR

We are proud to welcome the 2011 National District Export Council Conference and Exposition to Las Vegas, Nevada.
This is a conference that focuses on core international trade skills and content. If you have ever wanted to get into the export business, then this is the trade show for you!

This years DEC conference will highlight:

12 Educational Track Workshops
•financial assistance programs
•grants
•logistics-compliance
•market expansion
•innovative new product needed
•alternative energy evaluations & opportunities
•new tools to increase sales and company performance
•successful exporters interactive panel
•region specific evaluations: Americas, Pac Rim and Europe/Africa
Export Grants Track featuring SBA’s new $30 million STEP program and more.

Best of the Best Export University 101, 201, and 301 Includes Certificate!

Outstanding Keynote Speakers from the private and public sectors and subject matter experts on panels and conducting workshops and seminars.

DEC leadership meetings focusing on the most important international, national, and local best practices, policy,reorganization, budgets and legislative issues.

NEW THIS YEAR is a full exposition hall featuring 30 exhibit booths exhibiting products and services  from the public and private sectors and the U.S. Census Export Pavilion.  Attendees will also receive limited free access to USATrade OnLine.

International Pavilion with Consuls and foreign trade representatives to discuss doing business in, and sending products to, their countries. Countries confirmed are Azerbaijan, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Armenia, Turkey, Thailand, Uruguay, Lithuania, Italy, Romania, United Kingdom, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Kenya, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, El Salvardor, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia,EU and Poland.

One-on-one private meetings with U.S. Commercial Officers with expertise in Algeria, Central America, China, European Union, India, Israel, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Germany and Vietnam.

To Register: http://www.decconference.com/members/decconference

We will have over 20 Resource Partners from Southern Nevada present to answer any questions you may have about starting and managing a small business. This event is FREE! Please register at: http://snbrn.eventbrite.com

What happens when a small business owner tries too hard get potential customers to "follow" them on Twitter or "like" them on Facebook? Their Social Media Strategy becomes rancid. Just like rancid food, rancid Social Media stinks and potential customers as well as existing clients want to get away from the stench. Social Media is about transparency and a grassroots effort to connect with your customers. I follow someone on Twitter who uses some sort of service to promote her business posts. The problem is that the automated service she uses, posts the same dozen posts over and over again each day. Sometimes the posts repeat every few seconds. This amounts to hundreds of posts a day and her followers feeling like her Social Media is rancid and not genuine. If you use a service to promote your business, you run the risk of ruining the process and driving away the very people that you wish to attract. You then end up with thousands of "Zombie Followers" & fans that don't care about you or your business. You have to ask yourself if you care more about the number of followers you have, or do you care about the quality of the followers you have and your ability to connect with them. Social Media is a grassroots effort to connect and communicate with our clients. Build your Social Media following the natural way: Give your followers great content and they will come back.

As a Business Development Advisor with the Nevada Small Business Development Center, I get to help my clients turn their ideas into a viable business. Here are success stories from a few of my clients: The Brazil Store, Pasta China, and Las Vegas Errands.

If you think about it, $500 is not a huge amount of money. The average car repair is around $500. The average family with 2 vehicles pays about $500 for gas every month.  You can purchase an iPad for $500. You can buy an outfit for $500, or purchase a round trip airline ticket for $500. $500 a month x 12 months = $6000 a year. Now if you look at adding $6000 a year to your income, it doesn’t seem like much. However, it really is.

Ask yourself the question: What would a consistent extra $500 mean to my financial state of health at the end of the month?  If you could afford a $2000 mortgage payment instead of a $1500 mortgage payment, where would you live? Chances are, you would be able to move into a more upscale neighborhood. If you could afford a $500 car payment, what type of car could you drive? Would it be a step up from what you are driving now? $500 a month could pay for private schooling for your children. $500 could pay for expert music, sports, or artistic training. $500 could pay for private tutoring for your kids.

Lets talk about Debt. How much is your consumer debt costing you in monthly payments? Would $500 cover your payments to the credit card companies? How about student loan debt? Could $500 make a big difference in paying back the debt you borrowed for college?

The truth is: $500 goes a long way when you look at what it can do for your lifestyle.

How do you make the extra $500 a month? A small lifestyle business can fairly easily generate $500 a month.  You have to find something that you love and go for it. You don’t need an expensive office. You can work from home.  You don’t need employees. You can do this yourself. Leverage technology. We are in a connected world. You can run your venture from your smart phone. All you need to sell is $17 a day worth of your product or service to make this work.  You can do this. You can sell $17 a day of something.  Figure it out. Be resourceful.  

Welcome to the world of upward mobility.

(Photo: David Boyle in DC, Creative Commons License, Some rights reserved)

As I was finishing my undergraduate degree in the late 90’s, I asked a question: Why did college textbooks have to be so expensive? I started to brainstorm with a colleague about the possibility of an affordable electronic device that could be loaded with all of your textbooks for college at a reduced price. We did some research and realized that there were Palm Pilot and Pocket PC devices already in the marketplace, but no one seemed to be working on a project involving books. There seemed to be an opportunity in the market. We went to work on creating an electronic device that could be loaded with books targeted to college students. We got legal counsel, prepared non-disclosure agreements, and worked on an interface design. We needed a prototype. We found an electronics engineering student at the University joined our team and began making the prototype. Just as the prototype was finished, Sony announced a new ebook device that would hit the market in 90 days. We were crushed. The funny thing is that the device failed. The market wasn’t ready for an ebook reader yet. It took nearly a decade for ebooks to be accepted into the mainstream.

Bindrup’s Advice: Be on the lookout for emerging trends, but don’t get too far ahead of the curve.
(Photo: Dimitar Nikolov, Creative Commons License, Some Right Reserved)

You might be one of these unprepared people. Lets face it. We are trained in our K-12 school system to be employees. Our school system was created to supply workers for the industrial revolution that could read, write, and do math in order to work in the factories that were powering our economy at the time. We were not trained to think outside the box. We were trained to be compliant “worker bees”. We also don’t teach financial literacy in schools. A student is lucky to get out of high school with one business class. That will not prepare you to start and run a small business. Most entrepreneurs don’t even know the basics of accounting. A well-rounded practical education for a potential small business owner should include: Accounting, Finance, Marketing and Management training. These skills are vital in order to run a successful small business venture. If you have never run a business before, you are at a disadvantage in all areas. Get help from knowledgeable advisors. Visit with a Small Business Development Center, or SCORE Advisor. It’s Free!

Bindrup’s Advice: Use business advisors and mentors to help you along the way or don’t quit your day job.

The bank and potential investors don’t care about how much you "believe" in your new business. They know that most small business owners are delusional about the level of profitability they foresee in their business. One of the questions from a potential investor is "Have you sold anything yet?" The only way to prove that your business concept is valid is by sales. In business, nothing happens until somebody sells something. Your constant goal as a startup is to focus on sales. Forget about everything else. A small business owner should spend all business hours on sales. Handle accounting and other administrative tasks after business hours and on weekends. Focus on driving sales. It is the only way that you can prove value in your business. If you cannot prove that there is demand for what you are selling in the first six months of operations, your business is sunk. It sounds appealing to a potential investor that you have generated $15,000 in sales during your first month in operations, or that you have sold 124 units out of the trunk of your car before you even got the business going. Sales prove value.

On October 15, 2010 Raj Tumber from SCORE and I delivered a seminar on Social Media Marketing at the Nevada Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (NCET) Entrepreneur Expo at the SouthPoint Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada - We had over 70 people attend this workshop and we were pleased at the continued success of the NCET Entrepreneur Expo.