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The Importance Of Goals In Evaluating Investments

Gary Spirer — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:40:26 +0000

Realistic goals. You need to have realistic goals and standards

One of the main challenges that I find with a number of people who come in to me or others is they have an idea, but they really don’t break it into steps that they can implement in business. People want to see how you are going to execute your idea or growth plan or any proposal. They are going to do two zillion. But you have two employees and one just came off the boat. How are you going to do this? The person looks at you, “Well, we’ll get this and we’ll get that and a little of this and a little of that,” like a Jackie Mason joke. And then he’ll do this and she’ll do that, and, I say, that’s the door. People sell condominiums, mausoleums, lots, fast-moving worm and shrimp farms.

Specific goals with benchmarks, milestones and deadlines

Lack of focus lack of resources lack of demonstration of sustainable competitive advantage lack of need to have – demonstrable on going demand consistent source of supply distribution channels & associated expenses operating people new products; innovation marketing plan.

Steps to create the best elevator speech

Steps To Faculty — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:48:47 +0000

The elevator speech is often a difficult one. Geting the attention of others while their minds are distracted takes some skill and a very good well-trained voice that can influence others in a relatively short amount of time (10 minutes). If you are charged with the task of creating an elevator speech, do not panic. There is a simple way to polish up your skill in this area and give an excellent elevator speech. Take a look.

Step 1. Be heard

Your image and voice must be seen and felt. To be powerful and full of confidence in terms of context and depth of knowledge of the subject thus influence responses. The Power of influence normally starts from the non-verbal symbols and imagery from tone of the voice to the audience thus making the meaning of messages clear. The voice should not be a trailing tone but a full voice with emotion.

Step 2. Arouse immediate attention

Use the decisive factors like of suspense and use a hooker technique to begin the speech. The attention span of humans has been measured to be between 30 seconds to one minute. That is all you have to create an image that is appealing to the audience. After this period, the human mind always wanders away from the speaker. It is this time to keep the audience alert to your message and add more content as well as context depending on the agenda of your speech.

Step 3. Give the PowerPoint catchword

In the first keynote point, state a message in one sentence and then support it with two sentences. Be sure you are concise.

Step 4. Create a short story line with use of visual imagery

In addition, engage the audience by questions suspense on key expectations for memorable discussions. Create a challenge for the audience and an answer reflective of your solutions or lack of answers to difficulties to key issues of convert to audience.

Step 5. End the speech with suspense

This involve invitation to the audience to participate actively by active listening skills and audience involvement skills in form of a dialogue stance and end your speech with a cliff hanger or a phrase that they will never forget. For example, if you state guess how much of his life savings to Tom when he did not invest in this stock fund. This has more of an impact if you are giving a speech about investments than the phrase Tom decided to invest elsewhere and lost 2% of his money.

Remember, great speeches always energize the audience. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

Steps to get your business plan written by professionals

Steps To Faculty — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:02:41 +0000

Do you need a business plan? Have you tried unsuccessfully to get one written alone? If so, then you need to know that you are not alone. Nearly all business owners must write a business plan at some point. But if you are short on time or experience let someone who knows how to get a business of the ground through a well-crafted business plan help you. Take a look.

Step 1 Score at SCORE

SCORE.ORG is the first step in getting either a sample of a business plan or someone to help you write one. SCORE.org was created as a nonprofit to hyelp new and established business owners learn all aspects of business by industry including writing a business plan. The service is free and all you need to do is ask and you shall get the help you need.

Step 2 Get a business plan on a budget

If you are starting out and seeking a first round of funding, then you may not have too much money to spend only on getting your business plan perfected. However, you still need to invest some money to ensure that the plan is professionally written and includes standard features, such as charts. Then consider Biz Central USA (Bizcentralusa.com) a company that charges only $350 for writing a comprehensive business plan within a two week period. The y have offices nationwide and can help anyone struggling with a business plan.

Step 3 Upgrade

If you have a business that is between 1-3 years old and need a second round of funding, then you may want to consider a company that can truly understand the needs of your business. Try The Business plan (thebusinessplan.com). Slighly more expensive than Biz Central USA (plans begin at $800), the company offers more detailed projections, which is critical for second round funding presentations.

Step 4 Get it done faster

If you are strapped for time and need a plan in under a week, then try masterplans.com. THe company has been around for ten years and has real and legitimate customer feedback from customers around the globe lauding their quick service and in-depth product delivery.

Step 5 Look for experience

If you need a custom written business plan then try Ethos 360 (ethos360.com/business-plans). The company consists of a groups of professional business plan writers with proven experience in nearly every industry. What is special about this company is that they write your business plan from the eyes of the party who will read it. That makes a big difference when you are seeking funding or looking to expand your business.

Remember, the business plan is the heart of your business development. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

How do you create the right mindset for creative business ideas?

Steps To Faculty — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:05:24 +0000

You know, being creative is a mind-set; it is about having a certain fearlessness in a world where we are all constantly being told that we should not do this or that we should not do that. What I am about to tell you may not seem earth-shattering, but it is a sad fact of life that so many people in our society never become all they could become because they allow their fears to overwhelm them; if you want success, you need to be able to grasp for the brass ring. In light of all this, I have a few key steps that can allow you to create the mind-set you need to be a creative businessperson.

Step 1 You have to realize that you will fail periodically

So many people get knocked down by failure and never get back up. If you want to succeed in becoming a creative person, you have to recognize that failure is part of the equation; there has never been a businessperson who has gone through life without a few unfortunate failures along the way. With that in mind, don’t let failure break your spirit; many great people have failed their way to great successes and those who have never failed have probably never achieved much, either.

Step 2 Surround yourself with positive, energetic people

This seems so simple – but we all know that there are people in our lives who drain our energy rather than replenishing it. If you want to be creative, you have to be around people who are fun-loving, high energy, pleasant, risk-takers and people who make it a point to enjoy life each day. The key to a creative life is to be around those who are simply not afraid to push the envelope and who embrace change.

Step 3 make a promise each day to be one percent better than you were the day before

Have you ever noticed that people tend to nudge off course slowly, almost imperceptibly, over time? When we gain weight, we rarely gain large amounts of weight all at once but we gain it, bit by bit, over many weeks or months until, one day, we cannot bend over to tie up our shoe-laces. If you want to be a creative person, you have to make a point of being a better person each day. That means learning one new skill a day or making it a point to learn one single new tid-bit of information each day; maybe it means stepping out of your comfort zone in one new area each day so that you become acclimated to doing something differently from what you have done before. Do those simple things and you become a little better each day – and that, in the end, will make you a person with the right mind-set for creativity.

We all want success; we all want greatness; we all to be a bit better than we are. The way you get there is by adopting a certain mind-set; you just decide that you are not going to be afraid anymore and that you are not going to let your fears control your life. Successful people step outside their comfort zones because they have learned that being uncomfortable is part of the price you must pay in order to become more comfortable in the long-run.

How do you take an idea and turn it into a mass-marketed invention?

Steps To Faculty — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:39:12 +0000

So, you have your new idea; now you need to turn it into a mass-marketed item that will bring wealth and notoriety. In some ways, marketing an idea is more difficult than actually coming up with the idea in the first place; it certainly requires a different set of skills. In this article, we will explore how you can turn your idea into something great.

Step 1 know people

When you first conceived your grand idea, you saw a need for a particular product – a need shared by other people. Whenever you start advertising a product, you need to make people aware of the fact that the item you have is an item that will serve their personal interests and concerns – and that means discussing common, everyday occurrences that can be made so much easier if they will simply buy your invention. A good way of summing things up is to take something we all endure – it could a common household chore or household plumbing problem – and explain how that problem can be made to go away with your invention.

Step 2 explain your own reasons for creating the invention

Clearly, your invention came from somewhere; new ideas are invariably the products of necessity. When you start out marketing something that is new, offer your own narrative; draw closer to your audience by talking about yourself and a problem you struggled to overcome. If you have invented something, the best thing you can do is to explain to people how that invention has changed your life for the better; when people see how it has helped you, their interest will be piqued. After that, you can start discussing how the invention can help them, too.

Step 3 Emphasize the great deal they are getting

This step can be illustrated by an example: let us say that you have come up with something that can do many different household tasks in short order; clearly, to find the tools necessary to do all of those various tasks otherwise would cost a considerable amount of money. Thus, the best way to make your advertising pay off is to stress how you are saving your audience, your prospective customers, an awful lot of money by giving them something that can overcome so many of their problems in one fell swoop. If you cannot emphasize the gains they will receive (especially financially), your great idea is not going anywhere.
Mass-marketing a new idea is so critical to success; many wonderful inventions never took off because they were poorly marketed, and many mediocre products have found a widespread audience because they, literally, created a need. The key to marketing your new invention is to make it abundantly plain why that invention is going to improve people’s lives; the three steps above can only help in this regard.

Start up your business: how do you find that “big idea?”

Steps To Faculty — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:30:12 +0000

For any entrepreneur, finding an idea that he or she can sell to the public is arguably the most important thing anyone can do; if the idea is not solid, the venture will surely fail. Fortunately, there are a few steps that a person can take to come up with the idea that will work for you. One you have that figured out, your pathway to success becomes much easier.

Step 1 What are you good at?

Entrepreneurs who are successful at developing ideas are people who identify the things they do best and then find out if there is a need out there for their services; you cannot hope to meet the needs of your customers satisfactorily if you are offering a product you lack the skills to develop to the full. As a result, you have to identify what your talents are and how you plan on cultivating those talents even further.

Step 2 What price are you willing to pay for success?

Some ideas are harder to put into motion than others. For example, if you are a talented craftsman and looking to help people refurbish their homes, you need to ask yourself what sorts of tasks you are prepared to take on and what sorts of tasks you are not prepared to take on. If you are a single parent, offering some services – or even just an additional aspect of a service – can be too much to bear because of the time it takes away from being with your children. Likewise, if the idea you have in mind is one that will require a great deal of travel and physical exertion and you are not at a stage in your life where you want that sort of activity, then you are going to have to modify your idea to suit what you are willing to sacrifice for the good of the start-up.

Step 3 knowing what you want will help you know what other people want?

Finding the “big idea” for your prospective business does not have to involve going out and conducting costly market research. Instead, a good thing for all entrepreneurs to do is to ask themselves the following: what sorts of things do you wish were available to help you do a particular task faster? What sorts of services do you wish were available for people who lead your busy lifestyle? Maybe you have found that you wish there was a tool on the market that could get at those hard-to-reach places in the nooks and crannies of your basement; maybe you wish that there was someone around who could write up a template for a resume for a person who has been out of work for awhile. If you have talent in these areas or in other areas, then you have the beginnings of a start-up business.

At the end of it all, what you want in any “big idea” is for an idea that you can actually carry into practice and that you can actually find a market for; big ideas never come to any good if no one is interested in them. Follow these three simple steps and you will be amazed at the success you find.