Wealth and Wisdom

It’s impossible to avoid hearing about the economic crisis. Every time you turn on the TV you hear about the Dow dropping another 100 points. Every time you turn on the radio you hear about how another major company is going under. The headlines about the impending doom can feel like they are crushing you.

In this time of crisis everyone keeps turning to Uncle Sam. Will congress bail out the automakers? Will Obama raise taxes? What is our government doing to save us?

They are missing the point

If you want to survive this economic storm you need to take matters into your own hands. It is in times of crisis that the greatest fortunes are made. In most cases it is by resourceful entrepreneurs who look up and see a need that isn’t being met.

Get your financial house in order

• You must have an emergency fund. This is not negotiable. If you can’t go several months without a paycheck you are putting your family at risk. Slash your spending now.
  • It makes you desparate: Why is this bad? When you are desparate you make stupid mistakes and have fewer options.
  • Loosing your job is stress enough. The last thing you need is to worry about losing your house!
  • It gives you power: It gives you the confidence to spend a few weeks finding the right job. It gives you confidence when you interview (again, desperation is never good). It gives you the time to get your own business up and running.

If you are an employee be indispensable

It doesn’t matter how much they like you or how good you are at your job. What matters is that you do one of three things:

1. Bring in business (sales or marketing).
2. Create new products.
3. Manage costs.

Wait a minute, my job is important. They couldn’t function without a ___________(fill in your job title). Friends, it may hurt to lose a good employee but they will survive. Remember, they are worried about going out of business. No matter how good you are unless you can offer them salvation (like a top notch salesman) you are expendable.

What if I’m already in sales? Then get better. Now is the time to become the best. Read books by the experts. Build a plan to develop your customer and gain market share. Companies will lay off salesmen, but the rainmaker is the last one to go.

If you are an employee sharpen your resume and strengthen your network

Even if you are a top notch employee you need a backup plan. Be prepared to move quickly if things go south. As for the network you need to build it before you need it. For more on networking read a guest post I did Network Your Way to Job Security.

Start a side business

Believe it or not recessions are one of the best times to start a business. Opportunities still exist but the competition is much more fierce. A small start up often has a lower overhead, is more nimble, and offers much more service and flexibility.

One great resource I’ve found is Brian Tracy’s CD program 21 Great Ways to Start and Build Your Own Successful Business.

Entrepreneurs…go back to basics

Ok, sales are down. What do you do? Most businesses panic and do stupid things. Managers often look for advanced sales techniques or new systems to save the day. This won’t help.

Look at what a coach does when his team is slumping. Does he teach new advanced skills? No, he goes back to basics! The same thing thing applies in business. For more on this read my post recessionproof your sales.

Sunday I reviewed Dan Boudreau’s book Business Plan or BUST! Overall I was impressed with how Dan managed to go in depth while making the book easy to read. I was also impressed with the tools and forms that accompanied the book.

As Dan says “a Book That Makes Business Planning Easy, Fast and Fun!”

Are you tired of watching your investments sink into oblivion? I know I am. I firmly believe that owning your own thriving business is the ONLY way to be immune to the ups and downs of the economy and be 100% in control of your financial destiny…

You can start your own business right now, wherever you are, with whatever you have, and succeed!But, let me tell you…success in business will ONLY happen if you have a well thought out plan.

Order Business Plan or BUST! today, Tuesday, November 18th on amazon.com.

Wealth and Wisdom readers will get hundreds of dollars worth of FREE bonuses that will skyrocket your business to the next level!

For more information and to view the entire FREE bonus gift offer, please go to

http://businessplan.riskbuster.com

A while back I received a request to participate in the launch of a book on business plans. At first I was a bit leery. I tend to favor short business plans that focus on your key metrics (customer and market based). Also, I am always considering our community at Wealth and Wisdom. I get approached by people all the time but rarely find someone that I would be willing to work with.

Then I got a copy of the book and started reading it. I was surprised at how thorough a job Dan Boudreau did with his book. It was 400 pages of crafting a business plan. The end result is an in depth 25 page business plan that is more than adequate for any company. The other thing that impressed me was that Dan included a fast track business plan. This 7 page document is perfect for most entrepreneurs.

Other business planning tools have come up short

One frustration I’ve had with other business planning books and tools is that they always come up short. Often they don’t give you enough detail to build a business plan. One book I read said to do market research but didn’t include any tools or instructions. Needless to say I didn’t do the market research!

Another frustration is that the books and tools are inflexible. Unless it can be easily adapted to your market and needs you are wasting your time.

Business Plan or BUST! gets around this with the sheer scope of detail it provides. While this can initially be overwhelming in the end it will be needed. He takes you by the hand and goes through it step by step. This begins in the planning stage as he provides tools and the process to prepare for your business plan.

While I found this to be comforting I can see how it would frustrate others. I’m analytical so I’m looking for details. A pragmatic may be put off by how far in depth Dan goes. That being said, by the end of their business plan even the most pragmatic entrepreneur will be thankful for the depth of information and tools. Also, Dan writes in a way that is down to earth. This is written by an entrepreneur not an academic trying to impress you with his extensive vocabulary!

Other tools

Dan’s website includes tools and forms to help make your business planning easier. What this means is that you won’t have to create them from scratch. This is a huge timesaver.

He also has a blog that provides great info. It provides great info from an angle I see nowhere else.

What about the one page business plan?

One area I see lacking is a one page business plan. Many entrepreneurs don’t need financing and their markets, products, and services shift quickly. Others have several micro businesses and a full fledged business plan (for each) would be overkill. In these cases what is needed is a one page plan that focuses on the market, marketing strategy, and the customer. It is a living document that is used to frame day to day decisions.

This is an area that Dan plans on addressing in the next edition of Business Plan or BUST!, but I would not recommend waiting. It is a minor deficiency and a one page plan can be easily written.

Business Plan or BUST! is an excellent resource for the one page plan. You can pick and choose what sections of the book are applicable. The final document may be one page but you still need a lot of supporting information, forms, and documents. You basically distill a mid length-market focused-business plan to one page.

When is the book available?

Dan is launching Business Plan or BUST! at Midnight (EST) tomorrow. As part of the launch Dan is offering 20 free gifts to Wealth and Wisdom readers. This offer (and the launch website) will only be available for 24 hours. I’ll send out a post when it is live so you can all participate.

Hurricane Ike recently ripped through Houston. While we were blessed to escape with little damage we did need to replace our roof. I won’t go into how poorly our insurance company-Allstate-treated it’s policy holders. This post is about how our roofer grew his business by doing the right things.

What are the right things?

• Offer a fair price for your service: Their price was fair and their service was the best. They exceed your expectations and leave you feeling like you got a deal. That is a powerful combination.
• They did not take advantage of the situation: They could have used the hurricane as an excuse to charge a premium. Their customers were at their mercy but they didn’t take advantage of us.
• Be fair and honest: I knew I could trust the owner. I watched how this company treated my neighbors and saw that they were forthright.
• Be trustworthy: The owner and this company consistently showed integrity. It was apparent in the people he hired and the work they did.

The end result is that they are doing most of the houses in my neighborhood. And this isn’t due to a lack of competition. Most of us (myself included) had planned to use other roofers. Juan started with one roof that he got as a referral. Basically one neighbor had a roofer friend at church but he had his crew committed. He recommended Juan. From that one job he will end up with over 50 customers in my neighborhood alone. All of this was done with no advertising.

Contrast this with the competition

The competition came in quickly and landed a lot of roofs…then disappeared. Like most of the roofers they follow the storms. This meant that their crews were still in Florida and Louisiana working and wouldn’t be in Houston until next year. Once they got their sign in your yard it was almost impossible to get them to return your call.

As a result I see their signs disappearing and Juan’s signs going up all over the place. By the time they can react Juan will have replace most of the damaged roofs.

Where does that leave Juan when the storm damage is repaired?

Juan already is lining up renovation work. I know of three people on my block alone who are having him update their kitchens. I will have him do some trim repairs around my house as is another friend. Once his crews are done with storm damage they will have over a year of backlog.

And all of this by word of mouth.