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Starting a Business

Forecasting Your Sales

Developing your sales forecast isn’t as hard as most people think. Think of your sales forecast as an educated guess. Forecasting takes good working knowledge of your business, which is much more important than advanced degrees or complex mathematics. It is much more art than science. Whether you have business training or not, don’t think [...]

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How to Survive the Dragons’ Den

The Dragons’ Den on BBC 2 pits entrepreneurs seeking funding for their businesses against a panel of celebrity investors. Aside from the entertainment, there are a number of valuable lessons that can be taken from the programme. Below are the Top Five Lessons to be learned from previous participants’ pitches. 1. Prepare a thorough business [...]

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Estimating Unknown Expenses

How do you estimate specific costs for a new business? How do you predict expenses? Normally you need some experience. If you have no idea, then you might think again about starting this business. Maybe your team should add somebody who does have experience, and can make estimates. Here is why. In the real world, [...]

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No Money? No Problem!

Is it possible to start a business without money or security? Anything is possible and most companies were started from someone’s ideas written down on paper and financed by those who saw merit in the plan. Still, realism is important. This depends a lot on the specifics of the business. Some businesses are relatively easy [...]

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Find Your Best Path to Start

I’ve spent many years as an entrepreneur and working with entrepreneurs. I understand and sympathise with the urge to create something, to build your own and make it work. This is a fabulous thing when it happens. I’ve also seen the disaster of the business start-up that absorbs more money than it should, and optimistic [...]

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Estimating Realistic Startup Costs

Businesses spend money before they ever open their doors. Start-up expenses are those expenses incurred before the business is running. Many people underestimate start-up costs and start their business in a haphazard, unplannned way. This can work…but is usually a harder way to do it. Customers are wary of brand new businesses with makeshift logistics. [...]

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Simplify Your Sales Forecast

Forecasting is usually easier when you break your forecast down into components. As an example, consider a forecast that simply projects £1,000 in sales for the month, compared to one that projects 100 units at £10 each for the month. In the second case, when the forecast is price x units, as soon as you [...]

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How to Get Your Business Funded

Contrary to popular belief, business plans do not generate business financing. True, there are many kinds of financing options that require a business plan, but nobody invests in a business plan. Investors need a business plan as a document that communicates ideas and information, but they invest in a company, in a product, and in [...]

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Cover Your Bases

This is the great, and terrifying, thing about becoming an entrepreneur, that you really don’t know how the venture is going to turn out. Certainly Bill Gates had no idea when he dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft that he would become as successful as he did. By the same token, the florist who [...]

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The Right Business for You

Chosing a start up idea If you want to work for yourself, but don’t have a particular business in mind, you’re probably wondering what kind of business you should start. Fortunately, the answer is always the same: Start a venture you know intimately. Know the ins and outs of the business Don’t fall into the [...]

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