Business Plan Tips: Part 2

Hello again. In my last post I looked at some expert opinions in the world of business planning. I looked at Donald Trump and the professionals at GrowThink.com  for sources of business plan information. Now it is important to look at the advice of these individuals and how to apply it to my plan or to your plan.

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Donald Trump had a few key pieces of advice that I examined in the last post. The first was to find your passion. This idea is arguing that successful businesses and business plans come from an individual that is extremely passionate about the project. This has already been implemented in the book I am writing, The Official Fantasy Football Bible. I am extremely passionate about sports, particularly the NFL, and the game of fantasy football.

Trump also stresses the importance of finding the right target market. He talks about the intense study and research period that must take place before selecting a target. I have already undertaken a main portion of this process. Looking at websites that host fantasy football leagues was a major source of target market generation in this plan. I was able to look at specific demographic and social traits of individuals who were playing the game.

The fine people at Growthink.com stressed a high level of protection concerning intellectual property when forming a business plan. I intend to keep the content of this book in the book and in my mind. The only things that will be showed to possible investors, literary agents, or publishers will be a general outline of the work and one sample chapter. This way people can see what the project is about without me giving away all of the content within the book.

Once again, in anything you do it is important to look at the people who have done it before and see if they offer any advice. There is no supplement for experience so it always helps to do your research. AS it pertains to business plans, looking at the advice of the professionals and learning how to apply that to your plan can be the difference between success and failure.

Business Plan Tips from Experts

In my recent studies I have been looking at the business plan and it's importance to entrepreneurs and their start-ups. The are many ways in which people can create massive success for their new companies and many ways in which they can get killed even before they get started. While researching business plan strategies, I felt it was important to look at experts in the field. If you want to do anything successfully, it is always a great start to look at people who have already done so. That is the exact method I used when studying business plans.

One of the greatest business minds in the past few decades is Donald Trump. Trump has had his hands in many different types of businesses including hotels, sports, writing, and speaking (plus many more). With every plan that Donald has, there are certain strategies he keeps consistent.

Here are a few different things that Donald Trump does to ensure success in his ventures:

• Find your passion- this seems like a pretty basic concept but there are thousands of people making the mistake of starting companies in fields of little to no interest to them. It's important to love what you do because it will inspire enthusiasm every step of the way. It will add an extra element to your venture that makes the business less likely to fizzle out and fall by the wayside. 
• Find Mentors- Donald feels it is extremely important to surround yourself with smart people, and lots of them. Past experiences is such a huge indicator to future successes and at some point, there is only so much research you can do on your own before you start reading in circles. The best way to really find out how to do things is from first hand info from people who have done those things. 
• Find your target- Trump stresses extensive research into the target market area of the business plan and how to get the attention of that target. It is extremely important for new businesses to narrow down their target as much as they can and figure out the best ways to reach that market. 

One of the best resources for business plan writing comes from a group of authors on GrowThink.com. They offer an abundance of resources from experts in the field of business plan writing. Here are a few of the tips they had on their website on proper ways to approach business plan writing. 

• Use clean and clear writing- The main reason they feel this way is because they say a business plan should be able to be read an understood by just about any literate person. You never know who will have your plan in their hands, therefor the concepts should be easily accessible to everyone. 
• Protect IP- your intellectual property plays a major role in your business plan proposals and it is important to protect that property. Just because you are handing someone your business plan for review doesn't mean they cannot take your entire idea, patent ideas, or trade secrets you may have. Be careful! And protect your stuff. 

Whether who is giving the recommendations for a business plan, it is important to know that they have done it before. Looking at the past successes and failures of other startups helps the entrepreneur shape their business plan in the best ways they can.