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by Rick Baker
On Jul 8, 2010
As promised, I'm writing to provide a summary of content for a mini business plan. By "mini business plan", I mean something much more like an executive summary than a detailed MBA-style document. I mean paperwork designed to be well-received by potential funders.
As a first step, I am forwarding what Guy Kawasaki recommended for a business plan executive summary. The following is an excerpt from his book, ' Reality Check', pages 33-34.
1. Problem. What pressing and important problem are you solving or opportunity are you addressing?
2. Solution. How are you solving this problem or tapping this opportunity?
3. Business model. Who are your customers and how will you make money?
4. Underlying magic. What makes your company special?
5. Marketing and sales strategy. What is your go-to-market strategy?
6. Competition. Whom do you compete with? What can you do that they can't? What can they do that you can't?
7. Projections. What are your financial projections for the next three years? What are the key assumptions and metrics to achieve these projections?
8. Team. Who is on your team? Why are they special?
9. Status and timeline. Where are you now and what are your major, close milestones?
Guy Kawasaki thinks these are the most-important things potential investors want to know. And, investors have a very-limited interest in things outside these topics or an avalanche of details at the early stage of discussion.
Guy is not that keen on using Powerpoint, however, when it is used for 'funding pitches' he recommends a 10-slide limit.
I think it is better to start with brevity...and build content carefully. I'd suggest writing out answers to Guy's questions under each of the 9 topics. Then you can add (selectively add) more details. I suggest limiting the entire mini business plan to 4-1/2 pages...1/2 page for each of the 9 topics. Less is better. And, I suggest leaving white space on each of the pages...make sure about 1/3 of each page is white.
I'm suggesting the white space for 3 reasons: (1) it makes it easier for you to highlight most-key points, (2) it makes it easier for the reader to write notes, and (3) it will stand out from the stuff written by others, signalling you have your pen under control.
And when this is coupled with a quality personal presentation it confirms you have more to say but don't want to bog others down with unnecessary or untimely details.
Later, when you prepare a presentation you can make it align with the mini business plan. If you use Powerpoint then you can have one slide for each of the 9 topics.
I have written a number of blogs that cover similar territory, using different words. We ask a lot of questions during our strategic planning training...starting with questions like those discussed yesterday.
For example, please visit the series on "7 Powerful Answers". That series is an example of our "CEO Thinking”. When you visit my blogsite – www.activestor.ca – go to the Search tool and type the words “ powerful answers”…that will take you to the blogs.
You could consider our Spirited questions after you have answered Guy's questions. [or vice-versa] Our questions require more interpretation than Guy's...that is, our questions were designed for one-on-one discussion while Guy's were designed for a book.
I hope this helps.
Rick
by Rick Baker
On Jun 29, 2010
Dale Carnegie, in The 5 Essential People Skills, educated us about assertive curiosity. Assertive curiosity is a multi-faceted concept, described in 10 elements. www.DaleCarnegie.com
If we want to summarize these 10 elements in a single word then that single word would be ‘passion’.
You may recall, I was asked, “How can we build passion into our workplace?”
Here is another answer: building a culture of assertive curiosity is a way to build passion.
Dale Carnegie Trainingsuggests 10 elements for building assertive curiosity at our workplace:
- Remember assertive curiosity is an emotional as well as an intellectual experience. Assertive curiosity is more about passion than about gathering facts. It is about teaching ourselves how to learn in ways that are meaningful, memorable, and effective. It is about conveying to your co-workers an excitement about learning.
- See yourself as both a student and a purveyor of real knowledge. Gather information from within and outside your field, striving to have leading-edge knowledge. Be dynamic about it, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Become an authority. Be comfortable saying, “I don’t know” [which is a mark of true authority] and couple that with an intention to find out.
- The operational/interactive component of assertive curiosity involves listening, questioning, being responsive, and remembering each human being is different from every other. Find the best in people. Ask the right questions and want to hear the answers. Seek the opinions of others. Find out what people think.
- Assertive curiosity involves being curios about and interactive with people without having a fixed agenda. Adjust to accommodate others’ interests. Be confident enough to understand other people’s ideas may be better than your own. Be a patient teacher. Share information about yourself in order to inspire others to share their personal information. Share your dreams.
- Work at having an appealing personal style. Be theatrical. Be interesting.
- Develop a fine sense of self-deprecating humour…to attract and engage others. Remember, both curiosity and humour thrive on the pleasure of surprise.
- Recognize what other people want to learn and also what they need to learn. Then, be creative as you work to spark their curiosity. But, be sure to have no agenda and have no expectation.
- Your company culture, as a whole, must support assertive curiosity. You must have visionary leadership coupled with tangible resources throughout you organization.
- Assertive curiosity should be mentored by senior management. Make curiosity a factor in employee performance appraisals. Provide training about curiosity. Reward curiosity.
- Build fun into your workplace.
If we work on these 10 things then we will ignite passion at our workplace.
by Rick Baker
On Jun 24, 2010
After reading that blog, one of my friends wrote, asking, “Considering the state of the marketplace over recent years, how can we build passion at our workplace?”
My immediate reaction was to comment that there is evidence of a groundswell of change…a change for the better…a move toward better values and better business practices. My point was the groundswell will make it easier to build passion into our workplaces.
But that may only be theory.
So, I made a decision to sketch out some practical suggestions on how we can build a culture of passion around our workplaces.
Here’s where I am at…
The SVP TEST [yes, a little double entendre around the French words for ‘please’]
The SVP TEST consists of considering our work options and the actions we are about to take and asking 3 questions:
- Will this work engage my personal Strengths?
- My Innate Talents?
- The Knowledge I have gained around my innate Talents?
- The Skills I have gained around my innate Talents?
- Will this work provide sufficient Value to all affected by it?
- To clients?
- To people at our company?
- To allies?
- Does this work strike my Passion chords?
- Will I enjoy doing it?
The more YES answers the better!
We will not want to get overly analytical about this and we can not expect perfection. Some, perhaps many, things we must do at work will not receive a full set of YESes.
We must recognize: the more YESes the higher the likelihood of building a Culture of Passion at our workplace.
We must work to expand our YES answers as we take our SVP TEST.
by Rick Baker
On Jun 17, 2010
Recently, I was chatting with a business friend and he felt family businesses had better values than other businesses. To be more specific, we were discussing bait-and-switch and other deceptive marketing tactics employed by some businesses. My friend made the point his family business does not engage in that sort of marketing.
That got me thinking.
My family company is a member of our community’s Centre For Family Business [CFFB]. www.cffb.ca
Every month the CFFB members meet, have breakfast, network, enjoy a family business presentation, and receive education from an expert. The 3-hour sessions, which I spend with my son Jack, are my favourite business experiences. So, I look forward to the sessions.
Now that I have relayed my pro-CFFB thinking, I suppose I may be a little biased…favouring family businesses?
Regardless, I am wondering if family businesses have better values than other businesses. Could family businesses serve as ‘role models’ and ‘mentors’, helping other businesses create and sustain better values?
The question is important to me because I believe Values are the starting point for business success. I mean Personal Values.
I believe business success follows a path like this:
Values ► Culture ► Communication ► Value
V-C-C-V
Where:
Values = the personal Values of the Leaders of the business
Culture = the business Culture the Leaders of the business demand/accept
Communication = how well the business Leaders communicate the Culture
Value = the Value the business delivers to one and all, but especially to its Clients
Again - I am wondering if family businesses have better Values than other businesses.
I am going to give that more thought.
More on family business values in future blogs…
by Rick Baker
On Jun 13, 2010
Recently, I posted 3 blogs about ' People Networking' [ #1, #2, #3].
After posting the blogs, I asked some LinkedIn friends to look at the blogs and provide their feedback about what I had written and provide input about what they thought I ought to write next.
I notice a few readers 'rated' these blogs…and, overall, they were rated rather low. [I have dealt with that as best I can by (1) committing to improve my writing and by (2) recommending to some other friends they should use my blogs as a remedy for their insomnia.]
Back to People Networking…
First: to my LinkedIn friends who provided their thoughts to help me and others…Thank You!
Here is a summary of the LinkedIn-friends feedback I received about People Networking:
- I agree with your analysis of the two extremes of networking. When I began networking, I definitely fell into the latter group, i.e. the ones who go into a shell. You don't mention the third type of networker, i.e. the one who actually knows how to network, but I assume you will cover that in future instalments.
I don't necessarily disagree with the inner-directed questions to ask yourself, but I'm not sure it's the best place to start. For one thing, when it comes to the first type of networker who grabs everyone to explain to them why they should be clients, many of them would give themselves a 10 as networkers, even if they are really a 2. The self-assessment won't work, in other words, if you don't first know what a good networker does.
For me, my turnaround came when I realized that networking is not about what you can do for me. It's about what I can do for you. As soon as I changed to an outer-directed focus, I came out of my shell. There was nothing to cringe about if I focused on how I can help the other guy.
- Yes I agree but I think it is deeper than that.
You concluded: "Networking is meeting new people and re-meeting people in a business or social context."
I would extend that beyond "meeting" to "developing a relationship with". A relationship can be, as you said, both social and business, but it goes beyond meeting which is often one-way (you introducing yourself to them) to a two-way commitment where you learn more about each other and start looking for ways to add value to each other. This builds trust over time - which from my perspective is the ultimate goal of networking. Once trust is established, an opportunity may present itself.
- Great way to drive traffic!
- I agree with your description of the two extremes of networking, the proverbial shrinking violets on the one hand and the gregariousness personified on the other hand. As a former shrinking violet, what works for me is to understand that effective networking starts and ends with providing value. It's not about me, it's about what can I do for someone, something, the world. Doing this consistently establishes credibility and provides the basis for a productive relationship that engenders trust. For me, meeting and re-meeting people in a business or social context is not a satisfactory goal, it is only a tool. The goal of networking, for me, is to develop relationships based on providing mutual value.
- I'm not sure I agree with your definition of networking. Simply making and remaking contacts doesn't really add value. A network consists of a series of connections. The stronger those connects the better the network.
In your example you explain that networking starts by looking at your own personality and development. I don't think that's where people should start. I think people should network with the intent of helping the other person. Help them smile, help them learn something, help them meet someone that is better able to help them. I would much rather network with someone that is more interested in what other people have to say than someone that knows how to nod at the appropriate time.
In business I work on a simple axiom - people buy from people. Regardless of whether it is offline or online the idea of helping others will take you much further than polishing your presentation skills.
This confirms:
- My LinkedIn friends who provided feedback understand others have a wide range of ways of approaching networking: some are shrinking violets, some are gregariousness personified, some people think they are excellent at networking when really they are not, and some other folks are excellent at networking.
- The friends who provided feedback think my definition 'Networking is meeting new people and re-meeting people in a business or social context' is not sufficient because it does not capture the goal/intent of networking. My friends believe the goal/intent of networking is
- helping the other person and/or helping the other person smile and/or
- providing value and/or
- it's not about me, it's about what can I do for someone else and/or
- adding value and/or
- making strong connections and/or
- developing relationships based on providing mutual value and/or
- even more than building relationships it is growing a two-way commitment and building trust over time
- My friends who provided feedback had differing views about my statement regarding the starting point. I had stated:
So, the first Networking step is spending some time thinking about oneself:
- What are my interpersonal strengths?
- What are my interpersonal weaknesses?
- Have I educated myself and learned enough about 21st Century networking?
- What do the results of my past-actions tell me about my networking skills?
- On a scale of 1-to-10, how do I rate my networking talent?
Overall, it seems the friends who provided feedback are at least a little uncomfortable with the starting point I suggested.
So, in my next blog in this series - blog #5 - I will make [and discuss] some adjustments to my definition of People Networking and I will revisit 'the starting point'. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions about these things then please let me know.
by Rick Baker
On May 6, 2010
I have written about P=2S+O©,..a philosophy and a template to help create good habits for problem solving:
P=2S+O presents ideas about a mindset for problem solving and it provides a simple template, which can be carried in a binder or briefcase…as a daily reminder and a daily tool for problem solving. P=2S+O provides an introduction of How To solve problems.
Many experts have provided education on the topic of problem solving. One of my favourite authors for this topic is Dr Edward de Bono. www.edwdebono.com
Below is an excellent example of the calibre of help Dr de Bono can provide.
Before providing a quick introduction to de Bono’s idea, I want to mention my son, Jack, recently purchased for me an original signed edition of de Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’, (1985).
de Bono suggests we should approach problems from 6 different directions. He suggests we use a mind picture - putting on six thinking hats [like our teachers used to say…except six of them]. Each hat represents a different way of approaching the decision.
A summary of those six de Bono thinking hats…I have copied these directly from pages 31 and 32 of the book:
| White Hat |
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White is neutral and objective. The white hat is concerned with objective facts and figures. |
| Red Hat |
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Red suggests anger [seeing red], rage and emotions. The red hat gives the emotional view. |
| Black Hat |
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Black is gloomy and negative. The black hat covers the negative aspects - why it cannot be done. |
| Yellow Hat |
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Yellow is sunny and positive. The yellow hat is positive and covers hope and positive thinking. |
| Green Hat |
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Green is grass, vegetation and abundant, fertile growth. The green hat indicates creativity and new ideas. |
| Blue Hat |
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Blue is cool, and it is also the color of the sky, which is above everything else. The blue hat is concerned with control and the organization of the thinking process. Also the use of the other hats. |
There are some interesting consequences of putting on 6 different hats when we make decisions and solve problems. If nothing else, the six-thinking-hat mind exercise allows us to better understand others’ perspectives. And that, on its own, is a rather important skill.
More on Six Thinking Hats later…
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