How to Write a Business Plan

Many potential start-up businesses are daunted by the prospect of writing a business plan. But it is not a difficult process - and a good business plan focuses the mind as well as helping to secure finance and support.

The business plan will clarify your business idea and define your long-term objectives. It provides a blueprint for running the business and a series of benchmarks to check your progress against. It is also vital for convincing your bank - and possibly key customers and suppliers - to support you.

1.       Executive summary

• The executive summary outlines your business proposal. Although it is the last section to be written, it goes on the first page of the business plan. It will be read by people unfamiliar with your business, so avoid jargon.
• The executive summary highlights the most important points and should sum up your product or service and its advantages, opportunity in the market, management team, track record to date, financial projections, funding requirements and expected returns.

2.       The business

• Explain the background to your business idea, including the length of time you have been developing the business idea in its present form, work carried out to date, any related experience you have, the proposed ownership structure of the business.
• Explain what your product or service is. Make it clear how it will stand out as different from other products or services, your customers will gain through buying your product or service, the business can be developed to meet customers' changing needs in the future

3.       Markets and competitors

• Focus on the segments of the market you plan to target - for example, local customers or a particular age group.

Sales Forecasting Method

Properly forecasting sales helps you plan and prepare for the months and years ahead, allowing you to control costs and focus on successful growth strategies. A good sales forecasting methodology also helps your business run more efficiently. The most practical method for forecasting sales is to base your projections on historical sales results and your past experience. The right sales forecast method for your business is the one that is closest to your actual sales results within a reasonable margin of error.

Step 1

Gather your company's past income statements. Go back several years. Sales data from your income statements over the last five to 10 years has more predictive power than just using last year's sales to forecast this year's sales.

Step 2

Calculate the sales growth rate from year to year. Divide the current sales by the prior year's sales. For example, if your sales this year were $487,000 and last year's sales were $412,000, the sales growth rate is 18 percent ($487,000 divided by $412,000). Repeat the process for all other years in the series of sales data. You should have five year's worth of sales growth rates if you go back five years.

Step 3

Compare the sales growth rates year to year. Plot the sales growth rates using a spreadsheet for visual representation. Ideally, your sales growth rate should increase over time.

Step 4

Analyze various factors that impact sales to gain a better understanding of why sales grew or slowed from year to year. Determine the cause and effect relationship of variables, such as customer demand, worker productivity, advertising and promotion. For example, hiring an additional salesperson has an impact on sales. Demographic trends, such as an influx of consumers with high household income, can also have an affect on sales. Greater advertising and promotion affects sales, as well.

Step 5

Identify external factors that affect sales. External factors include the general economic environment or macroeconomic trends, such as unemployment, interest rates, consumer sentiment and inflation. Other macroeconomic trends include the level of competition. A greater number of competitors can potentially depress your company's sales, which you must forecast into your sales projections.

12 Kunci Pendelegasian Tugas Yang Efektif

Delegasi merupakan salah satu keterampilan manajemen terpenting dan bagian integral untuk mendapatkan hal-hal yang dilakukan secara efisien. Pendelegasian yang baik akan dapat menghemat waktu, mengembangkan individu, meningkatkan keterampilan serta memotivasi tim secara keseluruhan.
Manajer yang baik harus memahami dan menerapkan pendelegasian dengan penuh tanggung jawab. Dan efektivitas pendelegasian manjadi kunci efisiensi fungsi organisasi sehingga ia dapat memfokuskan energinya pada tugas-tugas prioritas.
Berikut 12 langkah untuk pendelegasian tugas/ kerja secara efektif :

Menentukan Tugas

• Identifikasi pekerjaan dalam prioritas kita yang dapat didelegasikan 
• Putuskan tugas-tugas mana yang akan didelegasikan 
• Pastikan daftar tugas tersebut memenuhi kriteria untuk didelegasikan

Memilih Orang / Tim Yang Tepat

• Fikirkan siapa yang dapat membantu, bersedia, dan tertarik dengan tugas yang akan kita delegasikan 
• Apa alasan kita mendelegasikan kepadanya