- Recognizing business opportunities,
- Integrating personal and business planning goals,
- Making decisions based on the "best available" information, and
- Developing self-reliance.
"Entrepreneurship, The Art of Succeeding in Business" contains four sections that will progressively help you understand the challenges and opportunities associated with starting a business.
The first section consists of six chapters that introduce you to the world of entrepreneurship. It will help you understand why you will be the most important reason that your business succeeds or fails. It will also challenge you to consider if you have the motivation and personality needed to successfully start and operate a business.
The second section is the Business Plan Development Guide. This 12-chapter guide sets forth a structured process that provides you with an opportunity to establish realistic business goals, develop sales forecasts, and estimate the potential income of your business. The process begins by having you focus on why you decided to start a business and why your business has (or does not have) a chance to succeed. The Business Plan Development Guide will help you assess your personal strengths and weaknesses and help you set goals that will meet both your personal and business priorities.
The Business Plan Development Guide walks you through a process of:
- Identifying potential customers and evaluating what they look for from a business like yours;
- Identifying and evaluating other businesses that serve similar client needs and thus, will be your competitors;
- Showing you how to use the customer and competitor data to identify a market niche for your business and to project your business’ sales potential;
- Developing a Marketing Plan and Financial Plan, including how to project profitability and manage your cash during the start-up phase; and
- Developing a Plan of Action, a step-by-step process for implementing your Business Plan.
The third section of the book is a series of practical discussions of issues related to operating a business including business structure, licenses, taxes, accounting, and developing effective communication skills. This section provides practical advice based on the author’s business experiences.
The fourth section of "Entrepreneurship, The Art of Succeeding in Business" contains a completed Sample Business Plan for use as a reference during the development of your own Plan.
