Small Business Coaching On Business Planning For The Rest Of Us [Part 2]

By Allison Babb

Entity: What's your business entity - sole proprietorship, LLC, C etc. My advice is to skip the sole proprietorship completely. Why? Because I believe that your business should be completely separate from you. If your business = YOU and something goes wrong, all of your personal assets are at risk. See a qualified business attorney to set up an entity that is a good match for you.

Target Market: Who is your target market? "Everyone" is not the answer by the way. If your target market is everyone, you're on a path to business failure. It is important to specifically decide on the group of people to whom you will target all of your marketing efforts.

Offerings: Basically, how will you deliver your product or service to people. Is it one service or a variety. I'd recommend that you brainstorm to make it more than one. Having just one thing to offer is a mistake I talk about in my upcoming 7 Biggest Mistakes book.

Financial Goal: What's your financial goal for your business - gross and net. How much money do you want to see your business bring in annually?

Pricing: How much will you charge for each product and service?

Sales Per Month: How many sales per month (for each product or service) will you need to achieve your annual financial goal for your business.

Expenses: What will your expenses be (most importantly marketing and then there are other things like web site, email, fax, computer, medical insurance, product creation, memberships, licenses, etc.)

Support System: What is your support system (groups you will join, mentors or coaches you will have, administrative help, people with expertise you don't currently have such as tax advisors, CPA etc.) and the cost of each.

Becoming a solo entrepreneur is fine but building a business all by yourself is a recipe for failure. Sure, you start of doing everything yourself, but you will burn out if you don't start looking for support as your business grows. Who can you turn to when you have questions? Who is your sounding board for new ideas? Who can you discuss things with if you run into problems or roadblocks?

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Allison Babb is an author, speaker and Small Business Coach to solo entrepreneurs. Allison publishes the "Small Business Success" weekly Ezine on how to create a steady stream of clients for your small business at: www.GreatSmallBusinessAdvice.com

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