“Ultimate Business Planner” is a Windows based software tool that significantly eases the burden of writing a formal business plan. It guides you through each business-planning step quickly and easily.
“Ultimate Business Planner” is a Windows based software tool that significantly eases the burden of writing a formal business plan. It guides you through each business-planning step quickly and easily.
Published Jun. 14, 2011
Though my wholesale building supply business is profitable, I can’t help feeling we’re not operating up to our potential. As the company’s leader, what can I do to give us the needed push?
Are workplace conflicts sapping energy from your small business? Daniel Kehrer gives top tips to calming workplace conflicts.
Workplace conflicts can sap energy from any small business. Whether it involves employees, vendors or contractors, getting such issues resolved is critical to smooth sailing. Business managers overall spend an estimated 40 percent of their time dealing with conflicts both big and small.
About the Author
Daniel Kehrer, Founder & Managing Director of BizBest Media Corp., is a nationally-known, award-winning expert on small and local business, start-ups, content marketing, entrepreneurship and social media, with an MBA from UCLA/Anderson. Read more of Daniel's tips at
www.BizBest.com, follow him at
www.twitter.com/140Main and connect on LinkedIn at
www.linkedin.com/in/danielkehrer.
Published Jun. 1, 2011
Ramon Ray discusses how to better understand and use technology to grow your business.
Owners bought this business from their employer and have 26 employees!
Manchester
NH
United States
My Successes
When David D'Amore had the opportunity to buy his employer's auto body business, the banker who wanted to help him sent him to SCORE for help with his business plan and financial planning. Shep Bartlett has a history of helping with these kinds of transactions; however, the deal became complicated when the existing owner suddenly died. Together, Shep and David worked with lawyers, bankers and the estate to keep the deal alive and ultimately carry it to a successful conclusion.
Today, David and Susan run Mid City Body and Frame together, with Susan managing the front office and David out on the shop floor.
What's Great About My Mentor?
"It was amazing how Shep Bartlett found solutions to some of our start up problems"
As President of Portland Transmission Warehouse (PTW), John Bradshaw is part of seven-decade family tradition that began when his father, Gene, opened a general automotive repair facility in Oregon’s largest city. Over the years, the Bradshaw’s began specializing in automatic transmissions and, later, retail and wholesale parts distribution. John felt that PTW was still evolving as a small business. There were always new issues, concerns and ideas where he felt he could use some special expertise, a different perspective, and good advice. Those needs led John to Portland SCORE.
Portland
OR
United States
My Successes
John joined PTW at his father’s request after college and brief stint as a lawyer. “It was different work from being a lawyer,” John recalled. “Every day had something different—inventory, operations, sales and marketing; you name it. Dad and I took night courses to build our business management skills and keep the company growing.”
PTW enjoyed continued growth, expanding from its original 1,000-square-foot building, with apple boxes for shelves, to a 32,500- square-foot warehouse storing more than 75,000 parts. The Bradshaw’s commitment to their employees and customers helped the company weather an unexpected financial crisis following Gene’s death in 1990, and a market downturn in 2000.
“Sometimes, you learn more from losing than from winning,” John says.
The Bradshaw family is also proactive in the community, having sponsored Portland’s popular annual “Spring Classic” car show since 1982. John has served on the Portland Small Business Advisory Committee, the Central Eastside Industrial Council, and the Governor’s Small Business Advisory Committee. Ross is following his father’s footsteps, collecting an impressive list of his own community service activities.
Small wonder that PTW has earned a number of well-deserved awards, such as the 2003 Small Family Business of the Year from the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University; the 2004 MassMutual National Family Small Business of the Year; and the SBA’s 2007 Oregon Family-Owned Business of the Year.
John is first to admit that while the accolades are nice, he’s prouder of PTW’s investment in its customers, employees, and community—including spreading the word about SCORE.
What's Great About My Mentor?
John went to Portland SCORE where he began working with a team of volunteer mentors to address concerns such as inventory management, information technology upgrades and establishing a Web presence. SCORE mentors also served as a sounding board for John and his son Ross, who now serves as PTW’s general manager.
So impressed was John with SCORE’s services that he became one of their biggest supporters, recommending the Portland office and its services to customers, prospects and participants in his company’s regular seminars.
How SCORE Helped
John says, “SCORE is a means by which we can help the community. We give flyers from Portland SCORE to our sales staff to distribute on their visits and include them with our invoices. The more, we can spread the word about this great organization, the better it is for everyone.”
Starting with a weekend repair business, Tom now has opened his own shop with employees in Hudson
My Successes
A mechanic for 30 years with Lowell Regional Transit Authority, motorcycles have long been Tom Vayo’s passion. Bush Hill Cycle works began in 2003 with Tom fixing bikes on weekends in his Hudson, N.H. garage, but zoning issues and a desire to have a real shop of his own in which to pursue his interest full-time led him on a path that ultimately put him in touch with SCORE counselor John Post.
Tom knew what he wanted to do, but needed help focusing on the business aspects. John prodded him with questions regarding the industry’s culture, the atmosphere he wanted to create with the shop, competition, staffing, pricing, products and services to be offered and more, helping Tom analyze these factors and make intelligent decisions. Several months were spent fleshing out cash flow. Ultimately, Tom found and purchased on old motorcycle shop in Hudson, financing the deal with a home equity line.
Tom cleaned up the place, opening it in 2005 as a shop where motorcycle enthusiasts of all types are welcome and comfortable. With his wife, Laurie, as finance guru and customer service contact, Bush Hill Cycle Works specializes in repairs and routine maintenance of motorcycles new and old, foreign and domestic, in addition to stocking many parts and accessories. Sales have increased each year, and even after more than four years, John Post continues to get together regularly with Tom and serve as an advisor.
Bush Hill Cycle is doing so well they are considering moving to larger space.
What's Great About My Mentor?
“John has provided great ideas, helped develop our business plan and keep it updated, assisted immensely in our financial projections, and put us on course for profitability and success. He’s stuck with us from the beginning. SCORE is one of the only places a little guy can go to get good advice from experience businesspeople—and it’s free.”
How SCORE Helped
“(Score Counselor) John (Post) has provided great ideas, helped develop our business plan and keep it updated, assisted immensely in our financial projections, and put us on course for profitability and success."
Published May. 8, 2011
All entrepreneurs should write a business plan, but if you are trying to raise investment
capital, a written plan that conveys your vision to potential investors is a must.
The truth is that many successful businesses were started without business plans. While that may be fine for the likes of a few people, it’s generally not a good idea. If you're going to start a business, the smartest approach is to write a business plan.
The Business Plan
A business plan provides you with a comprehensive, detailed overview of all the aspects of your business. This overview is the skeleton of your business—the underlying structure that provides the basis of your entire operation. Prepared in advance, a business plan allows you to review the pros and cons of your proposed business before you make a financial and emotional commitment to it.
There are three reasons to create a written business plan:
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