Small Business Solver.com

Choosing Revenue Streams

All businesses have one common driving factor and that is to stay liquid. For small businesses it is the do or die for the company; make enough money to last from month to month or shut down the business. In order to achieve this, most businesses develop multiple revenue streams. Logically, any business owner will tell you to spend your time on the activities that make the most money. So how do you figure out which revenue streams are the most lucrative? The next model will guide you on how to make all of your revenue streams comparable so that you can objectively analyze which revenue streams you should focus your attention on.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Make sure that you are spending your time moving the right part of your business forward.

What Should I Spend Money On?

Money: while you cannot underestimate its power you must acknowledge what a strong hold it has on your company and your decisions. If you run out of cash, you are out of business. It can negatively affect your work/life balance by controlling you. It can also positively affect your way of life if you become successful. Knowing how to manage you money is just as important as making it as this next model will show you.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Every penny you save increases the chance of success, so watch the dollars from the beginning.

What's the Right Business Model?

Everyone wants to sell directly to the final customer. We are used to seeing consumer packaged goods companies do this, and we are familiar with all of their advertising. We understand this business model, so we think that that is the only way to proceed. But this is not the only business model. And in many instances it is not the best business model. This module is for small business owners who know they have a great idea, but don't know the best way to sell it. You could be an existing company who is looking to expand how they are delivering their current product or service, and changing the business model may allow for growth. Either way, this module will outline the options and help you decide which way to move forward.

WHY THIS MODEL?: This will save you both time and money. There are many ways to deliver a product/service, the right business model makes sure you are selling your product/service the right way.

How To Structure a Business

What should a business' inner workings look like? When does it make sense to be a sole proprietorship, parternship, LLP, non-profit, or corporation? Who should run a company? These inner workings should be set up for the future growth of the company and this model will help you come up with an action plan surrounding how to structure and transform your business as you grow.

WHY THIS MODEL?: As you grow, the business structure needed may change.

Creating Your Vision

Start your business vision with a five year plan because it will ensure you have a driving force and a growth plan in place. Dream big too! Here is the time for you to set not only business goals but values that will be a root for your business. Do you want this to become a family empire? Is this your reason for living? Will your business become a legacy and make a difference in the world? Get inspired and be as creative as you want; this is your vision. Dare to dream.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Figure out your end goal to help make sure you start in the right place.

Increasing Price

Most small businesses are unsure of how to properly price their product or service. At the beginning it is even more difficult, as you aren't doing it yet and are anxious to get initial sales which often forces a start-up to reduce their preliminary pricing. But your price is too low if no one complains about the price. So when you realize that you are below the market and not making as much as you want - you will look to increase your price. This cannot often just be changed as customers would feel ripped off as they got it at the lower price point before. This module is the process to help you increase your price.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Once established, you may re-evaluate your pricing and find it difficult to change.

Action Plan

Move forward. That's the key and the difference between successful entrepreneurs and unsuccessful ones. An entrepreneur should be strategic, but should also be focused on tasks. Doing this at the same time can be very difficult. This module will help you organize your strategy and execute it.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Plan how you will strategically move forward.

Competitive Analysis

If you are reading this now, then you are probably a business owner who has been in the business for a while and needs to reassess your competition. You could be trying to brand your product and need to gather foundational information in order to make a good decision. Finally you might be just entering the market and want to determine whether your business has a chance to succeed. It is important not to get blindsided by competition you were not prepared for. For instance, music stores did not account for online music downloads and quickly lost their share of the market due to this. Use the following model to manage your risk and determine your business' advantage by analyzing your competitors.

WHY THIS MODEL?:First thing to do when thinking about how to handle the competition, is to figure out what they are doing.

Dealing with Competition

If you are just starting up a business and going after an existing market or are a company trying to penetrate an existing market with a new solution, you will need to understand how to deal with your competition. Learn how to maintain a positive relationship with a competing company through the various stages of your business' growth such as when your business is insignificant, when it starts gaining market share and when it appears on everyone else's radar. Your competition is any business whose sales you could potentially take away. This model will help prepare you for meeting your competition either through customers, suppliers, industrial relations or in person.

Regulations

The government impacts business tremendously. One regulation or new license requirement can dramatically change how a business operates. Make sure that you know about the key pieces up front about stucturing your business, overview of tax time, and things that you just can't do. See the following webpage for all your updated answers for the Canadian government: www.canadabusiness.ca.

WHY THIS MODEL?: You need to understand the regulations at the start or you won't be in business for long.

Tax

There are many different types of tax that an entrepreneur has to understand. Mostly they don't have time for sorting through all of the tax details - so this module highlights the Canadian tax deductions that all small business owners should know about and how to record them. As long as you start collecting this information upfront, you can ensure that when tax season comes along, that you are prepared and able to minimize how much you owe.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Once you open your business, you have to start thinking about the administrative parts.

Customs

Any company that is bringing goods into the country or shipping out of the country has to be worried about customs. There is a lot of extra paperwork and costs involved, including the amount of time that needs to be invested in learning. Here are the key components and venues to move forward all in one spot: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca

WHY THIS MODEL?: If you are importing or exporting, you will have to understand customs from the beginning.

Cash Flow

Cash is king especially when it comes to small businesses that rarely have the credit line or bailout investors lined up to help them when times are rough. Maintaining a good cash flow management process means tracking how much cash is moving in and out of the business. It can be as simple as watching your bank account balance to being as complicated as figuring out a 12-month projection. Cash flow management is important as there comes a time in everyone's business when they are close to the red line. Without a good understanding of the cash flow situation, it is difficult for a company to make decisions about investments and committing to partners, suppliers, and customers. Use the following model as a basic concept surrounding cash management planning.

Do You Need Investors

Does your business need investors? Generally, entrepreneurs do not want to report to others, which is why they started their own business to begin with. Yet simply refusing to find investors is not a smart strategy for your business. On the other hand, being able to recognize when you need investors is smart and will take your company further.

Projecting Sales

Many entrepreneurs leave projecting sales as one of their last steps before writing a business plan or even after they have already started the business. However, it is in good practice to figure out whether there is a market for your business prior to starting up.

WHY THIS MODEL?: When preparing to grow, figure out how many more sales you can expect.

Get Cash Into Your Business

Cash is king. Allowing your customers IOUs can increase the amount of business. If your customers don't pay you, you have just wasted your time and haven't gotten anything out of it. This could be time and ivestments that could have been spent on a customer who can pay. How do you get cash into your business? These are best practices for accounts receivables in good and bad scenarios as well as a model to help you monitor your outstanding payments. This is good for any smal business owner who has experienced a few NSF cheques, is worried about cash flow, or wants to protect themselves.

Keep Cash In Your Business

Cash is king. How do you reduce your existing costs? There are strategies to help reduce the amount of outgoing cash and this will increase the chance that your business will be successful. A start-up business that is frugal at the beginning usually has a stronger business model in the long run.

Minute Marketing Plan

For businesses, marketing and success go hand in hand. If you have a quality product or service you should be marketing it. If your next door neighbour doesn't know you have your own business then you aren't marketing. It's a one time deal either; you need to continuously market your company and products but never lose sight of the fact that a marketing plan is supposed to make you money. A common misconception is that you are throwing money away. You should always be thinking about your return on investment for every marketing dollar. In other words for every dollar you spend you should at least match it in profit (not revenue). Many forget to monitor the return, which could result in a loss if the kind of marketing you are doing is not successful. Catch this sooner than later to minimize your losses.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Figure out the best way for you to market your product/service.

Visibility

People do business with people they know. If someone doesn't know that your business exists or what your business does, they will not buy from you. So how do you make sure that the right potential customers hear about you? Wait for word of mouth? Absolutely not! You need to actively promote yourself and your business. Where do you start? This model is for a new business who wants to get the word out about what they do, or an existing business that realizes that they don't have as many new potential customers as they'd like. It is time to focus on visibility in your company.

WHY THIS MODEL:?When planning your marketing you should focus on making sure your customers know that you exist.

B2B Marketing

Business to business (B2B) means any business where the next customer is another business rather than an everyday person (consumer). A good example would be how Teflon sells to clothing manufacturers rather than the customer who is purchasing the clothing itself. B2B is a huge part of the economy although business to consumer (B2C) is the most well known type of business out there. Marketing for B2B is different than B2C because you are focused on developing a relationship with the other business rather than trying to get noticed by consumers through advertising. The following marketing model can be used for any business that serves a B2B market or wishes to pump up their sales.

WHY THIS MODEL?:Business to business marketing is different that what we are used to seeing. How this is done differently should be thought about from the start.

Social Networking

Social media is everywhere and everyone is talking about how this can be used (and revolutionary) for business. However, it is not for everyone. It is for businesses whose target customers also use social networks regularly and it is for businesses who have the time to do this properly. So how does this all work? Figure out if your product or service could use social networking and some of the best ways to go about this.

WHY THIS MODEL?:Social media is something all businesses are starting to use. As a small business it is an advantage to plan to use this from the start.

Business Development

How do you decide where to move forward? How do you use partnerships to grow your customer base or improve your product or service? Business development is really any practice in your business that is focused on strategically improving upon what you are doing. This is for all small businesses who wish to grow and create a family empire.

WHY THIS MODEL?: You need to grow and focus on business development.

Negotiating

Negotiation occurs when two or more parties come to terms on an agreement. The agreement often results in compromise with some give and take from both parties until they are satisfied with the arrangement. Likely, the two parties have conflicting goals and a compromise is necessary for both of them to benefit. The best way to look at negotiation is to settle on an agreement where both parties are significantly better than without an agreement. Everyone can benefit from learning how to negotiate. Business owners specifically will benefit from gaining negotiation skills as they will be dealing with customers, suppliers, employees and partners. Whether or not you make money, and how much money you make is largely related to negotiating. In fact, in many instances you don't close the sale without good negotiation skills. For an entrepreneur, you will be negotiating costs with your employees and suppliers and price with your customers. No business can run without negotiating power.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Negotiating is required in sales at all stages of business.

1 Page Business Plan

The first sale is often the hardest because it is just that: your first. Each business should cater to a different customer and offer different benefits. Even if you have a proven sales track record in the past you're going to need to customize your pitch.

WHY THIS MODEL?: A one page business plan can explain to possible partners what it is they need to know about working with you.

Networking for a Difference

Networking is a great marketing tool that helps to establish or solidify business relationships. However, simply attending every networking event possible is not going to do you any good if you don't have a strategy behind it. Your strategy will save you time and money by cutting down on how many networking events you attend but making the most out of the ones you do go to.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Networking can be for more than just customers. Use it for all contacts that you are looking for.

Time Management

If you are always busy, but never seem to move forward. This module makes you take a look at your day, all the work you do, and it helps you restructure your daily tasks to become more efficient. Time management skills will help you get more done in a day.

WHY THIS MODEL?: Time is money, especially at the start when everything has to be done at the same time.