How to start your own business national job fair

Free! Seminar Here Tonight

www.BizLaunch.ca

How to Start Your Own Business

What we’ll cover in this seminar

• Business planning• Goal setting• Developing systems• Hiring great people• Using technology• Legal stuff• Creating a strong brand

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Million $ Rules

• Develop excellent products and services• You must persevere• You must plan• Never stop doing research about the market

needs• You need great systems to grow a business• Hire the best possible people

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Million $ Rules• You must build a brand• You must develop great

relationships with your suppliers, customers and employees

• Setting goals is absolutely necessary if you want to be successful

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Great Products and Services

• Develop products or services that satisfy your customers’ needs

• Find something somebody is doing and do it better

• Develop products and services that you can sell globally

• Develop products and services that you are proud of

• Keep improving your products and services

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To Build a Successful Business• You must persevere – never

give up• You must believe in yourself• You must learn to trust your

gut• You must learn to focus• You must be prepared to

listen and learn• Being passionate about your

business is not enough

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Know Your Industry

• Do market research• Know your strengths and

weaknesses• Know who your competitors

are• Know their strengths and

weaknesses

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Get Good Advisors

• Accountant – find somebody that understands you and your industry

• Lawyer – use a lawyer for contracts and agreements

• Banker – find a banker you can communicate with

• Business advisors – find advisors that can give you specific advice for unique challenges you may have

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To Succeed in Business You Need

• Mentors – find people that you can go to when you have business questions

• Inspiration – hang around with people that are positive and motivated

• Networking skills – learn to network with the right people

• Training – never stop learning and train your employees more than your competitors do

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Set Goals

• Write down your goals – use a whiteboard so that you can regularly look at your goals

• Ensure that your goals are specific• Ensure that your goals can be measured• Put numbers to them• Choose goals that stretch you but are attainable• Commit to achieving your goals

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Business Plan

• Develop a business plan• A business plan helps keep you on track and

focussed• A business plan answers the what, when, how

and where• It should be updated regularly• It can help you raise finances

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Develop a Business Plan

• What market research have you done? Market analysis

• What do you know about your industry? Industry analysis

• How are you going to market your products and services? Marketing plan

• How are you going sell your product or service? Sales strategy

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Develop a Business Plan

• What tools are you going to use to promote and when? Promotional plan

• How much are you going to spend on marketing? Marketing budget

• How are you going to manage and operate the business? Operations plan

• How many people are you going to employ and what will they do? Employee plan

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Develop a Business Plan Con’t

• How much will you charge for your products and services? Pricing

• How much do you need to sell every month to survive? Break-even sales

• How much money will you need to keep the business running? Cash flow forecast

• How much profit will you make each month? Income statement projections

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Develop a Business Plan Con’t

• How much will the business be worth at the end of the year? Balance sheet forecast

• How would summarize this into 1 or 2 pages? Executive summary

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Develop Business Systems

• Develop systems, policies, and procedures to help you manage your business on a daily basis

• Good systems help you ensure that your customers get consistent products and services

• Systems enable you to delegate better• Systems enable you as the owner to focus on

growing the business

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Develop Business Systems

• Develop systems for the following– Sales– Marketing– Administration– Staff policies– Delivery and

distribution– Accounting

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Develop Business Systems

• Once you have implemented good systems:– Your business can really grow as you can

extricate yourself from the business and hand over your duties

– You can replicate your business model– You can sell your business

• You need good people to manage and operate the systems

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Employ the Right People

• To build a successful business you need good people

• Develop a list of the people you need to help you achieve your goals

• Find good people through networking, online resources, and other methods

• Develop a good interview process• Check references

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Employ the Right People

• Develop clear job descriptions• Find people with a great attitude• Don’t be afraid to employ people that

are brighter than you• Train your people regularly• Develop a great working environment

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Legal Protection

• Get legal advice on how to structure your business as it grows

• Trademarks - ensure that you register your company name and any other product brand names

• Legal agreements – as your business grows getting proper legal agreements makes business sense

• If you have unique products patent them

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Technology

• Use technology to help you grow your business• Use computers to increase your productivity and

efficiency• Use technology and software that is scalable• Develop an internet strategy• Use online resources

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Build a Brand

• If you really want to build a successful business you need to build a great brand

• A brand is a promise of the value a customer will receive from your business

• Your branding includes– Your logo– Your slogan– Your colours

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Build a Brand

• Your brand is about:– What makes your product or services unique– Your customer service– What benefits your customer gets by buying

from your business• Branding helps build trust and credibility• Branding helps build value in your business

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Spend 80% of your time marketing and selling,

it’s the only way to build a million $ business

Manage Customer Relationships

• Spend time with your customers

• Develop great relationships

• Turn customers from:– Prospects– To customers– To raving fans

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Monitor Your Cash Flow

• To build a successful business you need to monitor the inflow and outflow of cash in your business

• Develop annual expense budgets

• Develop annual sales budgets• Develop annual departmental

budgets

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Grow Carefully

• Focus on business vision and goals• Don’t grow your business too fast• Learn from your mistakes• Don’t give up • Canada needs us to build successful businesses

to create jobs

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THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING

To register for the next BizLaunch seminar in your

area go to

www.BizLaunch.ca

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