Now he’s writing the business plan for his newest venture and he feels confident that he’ll secure the $4 million in funding he’s seeking. “As to the receipt of the funds, I’m not worried. With a good plan and good management, money is always around.”

Bruce’s new startup is a modern-day barter organization called BarterPX. It’s a website that allows users to easily post their goods and services and exchange them amongst a large member community. According to the website, bartering produces new business and allows users to expand their markets. At the same time, it conserves cash — instead of spending money to purchase needed goods and services, users can trade their own goods and services, keeping cash in their businesses for other purposes.

Bruce has been working on the BarterPX concept for a few years, and has been going at it full time now for about six months. A quick glance at the website reveals a vibrant trade community, using modern technology to barter goods the way it was done centuries ago.

In the past, Bruce has written business plans for businesses that were already up and running. “Sometimes you just need to re-focus to grind some more profit out. Those programs really help you get a new perspective,” he comments. For this current business, though, he has a different goal for the plan he’s writing. For a startup, he says, “The properly written business plan tells you how much capital you’ll need, and everything else is inaccurate, unsubstantiated guessing.”

Business Plan Pro is to credit for some of his successes, according to Bruce. “Every single time I have ideas and brainstorms, they pay off big when I use the software. The process of answering all [of the software's] inquiries really opens you up to some opportunity you’ll miss otherwise.”

Crafting a business plan isn’t easy. For Bruce, as for a lot of “idea people,” it’s the financials that pose the biggest hurdle. “For me the hardest part is the balance sheet. I’m an entrepreneur, not an accountant. I can do a balance sheet, but it takes days of detailed work that I rarely do. What a relief to enter the numbers and it happens,” he says, describing how Business Plan Pro handles the calculations in the balance sheet based on numbers the user inputs elsewhere.

When asked what he thought the most exciting part of being an entrepreneur was, Bruce’s answer was telling. “Exciting, are you kidding? Doesn’t everyone like 90 hours of work a week, biting their fingernails over payroll for a year, worrying about sales forecast, competitors, advertising cost, staffing…?”

“Well I love all that, but this is not for the thin-skinned. It gets in your blood like speed for a NASCAR driver. I’ve never sold a business and not had a huge emotional response — a sense of sadness and joy. It’s about more than the money, but it is always about the money.”

His obvious enjoyment of the process aside, Bruce is quick to point out that there are challenges, especially when dealing with investors. “You better be ready when you’re talking to venture capitalists. Business Plan Pro really helps — a lot!”

While not everyone may have the entrepreneurial spirit that Bruce Mayberry clearly has, he has some good advice for anyone starting down the entrepreneurship path. “More is lost by indecision than the wrong decision. The human mind is a powerful thing; so is hunger. Get out there and make it happen!!!”

“Are you even collecting testimonials?”

Don’t panic if the answer is NO. Most of us aren’t as diligent as we can be in the collection process.  The main reason I hear is that people feel they need to ask for them.  While this certainly is one way, there are some other ways I find work extremely well.

1) RECAP – My favorite way to capture a strong testimonial is when someone has shared a success with me verbally.  When this happens to you, ask them right then and there if you could quote them for a testimonial.  When the answer is yes, take 2 minutes to type out the testimonial as you heard it.  Put it into an email to the source along with any other info you require (like a result or the link to their site, etc).  Ask them to confirm that this is correct and “ta da” you have your testimonial.

2) FEEDBACK FORMS – Once you have finished working with a customer, send them out a feedback form regarding the experience.  Add questions, like “how would you describe this experience to a friend” or “what is the biggest result/benefit you received?”  When you get some great responses, go back and ask if you can use this as a testimonial.

3) TESTIMONIAL PARTIES – I love connecting people so the idea of a testimonial party really appeals to me.  I got this idea from John Jantsch with Duct Tape Marketing and can’t wait to try it out.  Consider renting a videographer and asking individuals to record a structured testimonial or asking the videographer to approach attendees and capture testimonials.

4) PHONE IN TESTIMONIAL – Do you have an extra extension you can set up on your phone system, or perhaps just have individuals leave a voice mail message on your phone.  Either way your message or instructions can direct them as to what type of information they need to include and then you can either transcribe or use as audio samples on your site!

Capturing Killer Testimonials
Okay, so now you know how to collect them.  My next question to you is how strong are your testimonials?  Those that simply say you’re great or your product is great are what I call  “VANILLA”  or washed out testimonials.  Avoid run of the mill and aim for RESULTS and testimonials that point out what makes you different or better than others in your industry.  In order to garner stronger testimonials, you need to ASK for this type of information.  Consider encouraging your sources to share the following:

Why they chose you
What they were expecting
What they ended up getting
How that helped them and/or exceeded their expectations.
Why would they recommend others should work with you?

Answers to questions like this will get you some KILLER TESTIMONIALS!

Types of  Testimonials

While text emails are great, these days it’s becoming a no-brainer to add audio and video testimonials as well.  The technology has made this super easy.  Digital Recorders and VOIP phone systems will conveniently record in MP3 or WAV formats.  Inexpensive Digital Video Cameras are on the market to record your own video testimonials and services from companies like BizBoxTV have made it cost effective to get nicely produced videos as well.  When your product or service is emotion based or complex, I highly encourage you to use audio and video!

WHERE

Of course your testimonials should go on your website.  But I hope you don’t hide them under some lame tab called testimonials!  Be creative.  Pepper them throughout your website, or rotate them in your header or along one side.  At the very least, change the name of the tab, to “What OTHERS have to say”

Remember to also use your testimonials in promotional pieces and sales presentations.  Why not add them to your email signature or even to your business card?  The opportunities are endless and remember: we always gain more credibility when OTHERS say we’re great!

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget-minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought-after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

When she first began exploring locations for her cafe, she says, “I was told by my commercial realtor that the developers would not even look at an offer unless I had a business plan. Being of the strong mind that you don’t re-invent the wheel, I went on the Internet to search programs that offered business plans.”

Peloquin needed to get the business plan together quickly, as there were several other businesses interested in the property she had her eye on. She had never written a business plan before. “Instead of taking time, which I didn’t have, trying to figure out what a business plan is even supposed to look like, I Googled business plan software.” And that’s when she found Business Plan Pro, and discovered how helpful it was.

She says the planning process provided a lot of insight into her business. “As I was going through I realized how much detailed information I really had to get to be better prepared. I also realized that it was going to actually cost twice as much as I had thought!”

Her cafe hasn’t even opened yet, but Peloquin is already going back and fine-tuning her business plan. “I have already had to go back a couple of times to adjust numbers when I would look at the final outcome and see where there could be a problem in prices I had set. I was going to be paying too much for some supplies, which led me to get new suppliers and allowed me to achieve the margins I needed to make to be successful.”

Now a big fan of business plans, Diana would hate to think of what would have happened if she hadn’t written one. “If the developer hadn’t required that I have one I wouldn’t have made one, and I now realize this could have led to a huge disaster.”

Peloquin believes there’s no substitute for having a concrete plan when you’re starting your business. “Until you have everything in writing in front of you, you don’t know everything you should know.” She adds that Business Plan Pro made the entire process painless for her to accomplish. “I was amazingly impressed by how easy it was to do and how very professional the finished business plan was,” she says.

“I feel that doing a business plan gives you a great idea of how your business is going to work. You will be amazed by everything you learn about your industry.”

Melodie Ellis

“I guess I was tired of dealing with politics… When you work for somebody else sometimes it can seem like no matter what you do you’re not going to be able to make things better,” Melodie remembers. But she had learned that things are different when you are your own boss. “When you have your own business, you can change everything by your actions.”

Five years later, 14 contractors now work for Melodie, and Learn Piano in Your Home caters to over 200 students, providing private lessons not just in piano, but also in voice, guitar, drums, brass instruments, and more.

“As I started to grow, I saw the need to write a business plan,” says Melodie, but since her business was so small and she had such limited time at her disposal, it wasn’t a huge priority. “What really motivated me to do it was that I  wanted to apply for a grant.” As a member of the National Association for the Self-Employed, she was eligible to apply for a $5,000 Business Development Grant. Applicants are required to meet certain criteria, including submitting a business plan.

Melodie knew she would have to do some research. She bought a few books to help guide her through the plan-writing process, but says they weren’t nearly as helpful as she had hoped they would be. “I found them to be very theoretical and not practical at all. I didn’t get anywhere with them. I understood the concepts, but when it came down to putting it all on paper… the books were just really poor at trying to help me do that.”

Next she hit the Internet, looking for some business-planning software to help. “And that’s when I found Business Plan Pro. It was definitely worth it, because it allowed me to put everything together and it made it all practical and very real.”

One of the challenges Melodie faced in writing her plan was the fact that her business had been in operation for several years prior to putting the plan together. “I had to go back and think through things very concretely. I hadn’t always paid attention to the numbers or tracked them that carefully…  I had to get all those numbers from my history and somehow incorporate them into my plan. And that can be hard when you don’t have an MBA,” she says with a laugh.

In the end, Melodie’s hard work paid off. “I know that the fact that my business plan was well put together was definitely a major factor in getting the grant,” says Melodie.

“One of the most helpful things about the software was that, at the beginning, it asks you the question about whether you’re an existing business or a brand new business, and it tailors the plan based on your answer,” Melodie comments. She had tried other tools but found that they didn’t make this distinction, and in fact seemed to be based on the assumption that business plans were only for start-ups. That made the process harder for her, trying to fit details about an ongoing business into a start-up format.

“Just that one choice made all the difference in the world.”

I say this is terribly true today in the universe of electronic communications where, I point out, it is we that don’t give any respect. In our typing and our composition we are lazy, slovenly, careless, thoughtless, nonchalant — in short, downright disrespectful — and we don’t seem give a whatever about it…until we get no respect ourselves. Then we’re upset.

• We misspell names of people and businesses.
• We incorrectly name businesses and organizations.
• We ignore capitalization of proper names and trademark names.
• We misquote people, using incorrect words.
• We type famous quotes, but attribute them to the wrong people.
• We don’t check our sources to see if they are real or a hoax.
• We post and publish incorrect links.

Yeah, yeah, so what? Who cares? You know, you know what I mean.

Businesses can’t be so cavalier. Their success depends on enforceable copyrights, brand name identification, proper use of product names, tag lines, quotes, successful SEO, correct URLs, etc.

To start with, misspelling someone’s name is just plain rude. Our names, our choice of spelling, our inclusion of middle names, initials, nicknames are an integral part of how we present ourselves to the world, and how we see, hold, and validate ourselves. When you misspell or incorrectly capitalize someone’s name you are directly insulting them. In my opinion they have every right to be angry.

A misspelling could mean a reader couldn’t find a volume, and an author doesn’t sell a book. A misspelling could mean an innocent person can be harassed for the financial dealings of some ne’er-do-well.

For bloggers and online authors, misspelling other peoples’ names can alienate those folks, and the important trackbacks, reciprocal links and mutual admiration referrals and recommendations may never materialize for you.

When someone reviews our Business Plan Pro product but calls it, say BizinessPro Writer, we lose customers. It can, and will happen to your product as well. When you refer to a product or company or website, check to be sure you are using the correct name.

Ignoring capitalization of letters in names can cause confusion, and possibly a loss of copyright protection. For instance, we all know that Twitter is the proper name of a social communication network, and twitter is a bird song. The soft drink is spelled Coke, but coke is a narcotic and a coal derivative used in making steel.

As another example, take jello. Jell-O [note the capitalization now, if you haven't before] is the protected trade-name, but it has become a generic word for any type of gelatin-based dessert. Go to the store and you’ll see Knox, Royal, a local private label maybe, but to the customer they are all jello and they don’t care which one they buy. You can be sure that Jell-O cares.

Adobe’s Photoshop is well on its way to becoming an eponymous term. Now anytime someone makes a casual remark about manipulating pictures, they say they photoshoped it, regardless of which digital image editing software program they actually used.

It costs businesses billions annually in marketing branding efforts to keep their brand names visible, unique, known and purchased. But lazy, thoughtless, careless typing works everyday to negate the value of your marketing efforts.

No end of trouble, misinterpretation, bad feelings, feuds, lawsuits, destroyed public images and reputations have come about because of misquoting. Something as small as a single letter or two (could, would, should) can change the entire meaning of your business’ publicly made statement of concern to one of callous indifference, and the survival of your company.

Many quotes from literature and famous people from years past have slipped into our vernacular. They are often misquoted and misattributed. Brush up your Shakespeare by Michael Macrone has an entire chapter on popular phrases which people think came from the Bard, but did not. “The long and the short of it” “Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn’d” “Fool’s Paradise” are just few.

This problem is certainly not limited to age-old authors. “Play it again, Sam” – was a line never spoken by Ingrid Bergman or Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. “Houston, we have a problem.” This is a misstatement of the actual communication between the Apollo 13 astronauts and Mission Control in Houston. Your credibility suffers when you incorrectly quote, or assign the words to the wrong person.

Recently, the U.K. mainstream media was caught not checking their sources adequately. They printed quotes from an elegy for Michael Jackson, from a Twitter post ostensibly by Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. The tweet was actually by a Twitter impostor, a case of identity theft. A significant lapse in due diligence. It damaged the public position of the Foreign Secretary, and discredited the reputation and trustworthiness of those media.

Posting bad links is sloppy and unnecessary. At best, it irritates readers who get the 404 Errors, or end up on a page that has nothing to do with the original publishing. Worse, a bad link loses customers/visitors/business at the intended link. If the author gets affiliate or click-through revenue, publishing a link without checking its accuracy is like throwing money away.

It is time we electronic digital communicators put some polite respect back into our writings. Use spell checkers, proof read, double check and spell correctly the names of people, businesses and products. Don’t assume you’ve got it right. The power of the Internet is just a click away.

After all, if you expect to be respected, you have to show the same respect to others.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

Technology, these days it is something we cannot live, breathe, or function without. Right now is the best time to be an entrepreneur and tackle your next big idea and dive in head first, to take advantage of starting your own business. Fifty-years ago your contacts remained in your regional and even local area. Today the vast number of people you can reach, communicate with, and do business with is global.

So what is “The Big Idea?” When we hear this we think, well it is something that doesn’t exist anymore, all the big ideas have already been created, and we are programmed to think that we have to work for the “Big Man,” instead of harnessing that idea ourselves. The problem is there actually is an absence of big ideas in an entrepreneur’s world. Even if you have all the access to all of the tools you could possibly need to launch, build, and grow your business, that business will not succeed if you see impossible-to-solve problems everywhere you look. Let’s take for example, Kevin Greaney, the CEO of Children’s Progress, a company that helps teachers and school administrators evaluate how kids are doing in the classroom. He harnessed his idea and believed in the opportunities of his company:

“We were already very interested in student assessment and student achievement. I had managed several small businesses in the educational field. My partner Eugene Galanter and I each had some strong opinions about the players who were already out there, these big for-profit publishers who controlled most of the market. They were doing their version of assessment: these big standardized, bring-a-number-two-pencil, fill-in-the-bubble tests.  We knew that those kinds of tests had been developed in 1906, and they really hadn’t changed since then. We felt very strongly that those tests were just boring, that they didn’t really tap into the mind of a child being tested, and that they didn’t really tell the instructor much. We felt we could build a better tool because we were using principles that weren’t, you know, a century old. So we were pretty excited about student achievement, even before we formally started the business.”

Kevin Greaney’s Big Idea had to do with harnessing technology and using it to improve student achievement. My Big Idea mixed top businesses with top-tier sports and helping those companies enjoy the sporting events that I enjoy so much as well. The most important thing to remember about your Big Idea is to love it, in a way you want to be married to it. If you wake up every morning and the first thing you think about is music, check out the latest on new business ideas that connect with music. Research it, harness it, and make it your own. Always remember to add your niche to any idea that you have, stand out and be different. Love something and it will not fail, do not look at a closed door but rather finding a way to always keep it open, and the world is your oyster.

_________________________________

When Robert Tuchman started his first business, Tuchman Sports Enterprises (TSE), he did so with no money and no investors and ended up on the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing privately held companies.

Now President of Premiere Global Sports, Robert continues to guide his company as well as writing the series “The Show Must Go On” for ESPN.com,  a monthly column for Entrepreneur.com called “Young, Fearless, and Fed Up” as well as a column called “On-Site” for Incentive Magazine, an industry trade publication for incentive and meeting planners. He is the author of The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live, a sports travel book as well as Young Guns, The Fearless Entrepreneurs Guide To Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own.

www.youngbusinessexecutives.com

My mother will be using her blog to talk about the experience of writing a cookbook. She’s newly retired and this will be her first “I’ve got to stay busy” project.

As I was going through the different sections of the blog she needed to customize, I told her she was going to need to write an “About” page.

“About what?”

“About you,” I answered. “You want to give people an idea of who you are. Why you’re writing this blog. They will want to know why they should trust your information.”

This morning, as I was catching up on some of my blog reading, I noticed this post by Lisa Barone on “Crafting a Killer About Page” at www.smallbiztrends.com.

It goes through some really useful tips on how to make your About page stand out and creating a bases of trust between your customers and your business.

“Your About page is what allows people to get to know you. It’s your introduction and their chance to look behind the curtain to see what lies beneath. You wouldn’t go to a party and stand around not introducing yourself, so why commit the same act on your site? Don’t forget your About page.”

To her very good advice, I would add that you should also make a note to check your About page and update it, at the very least, yearly. It can be as simple as updating your profile picture or adding some new exciting information about your business, product or service.

Fantastic advice for either a personal blog or a business one. And as always, make sure you read the comments to get even more great advice.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager

Legal Summer combines the use of proprietary technology and an extensive database of law firms to provide the services of a personal assistant to law students who are looking to further their careers, but who have limited time to devote to the search. It helps law students identify possible job/internship opportunities based on location, and gives students the ability to email their customized cover letters and resumes with a single mouse click.

When opportunity knocks

Amoa considers himself a “situational entrepreneur,” and says, “When I started law school and began applying for internships, I realized the process was time-consuming and that was the point I started to think of ways to make the process easier. Time and chance happen to us all, and once the opportunity came knocking to start my own business, I had to seize the day by following my passion.”

He admits that starting a business while attending classes at the University of Illinois College of Law was not easy. But, he says “I was able to overcome the challenge with the help of Business Plan Pro. I had this ‘aha!’ moment and I wanted to bring my idea to reality. Business Plan Pro definitely helped me organize my thoughts into a well-written plan which continues to serve me to this day.”

The business got off the ground without a business plan in place, but it wasn’t long before he saw the need for one. “I decided to just plan as I went along but soon realized that a business plan was essential to the success of my business,” said Amoa. “I had a lot of ideas and was full of passion, and the plan actually helped me to keep a steady pace instead of the ‘trying to see what works’ approach.”

Fortunately he was no stranger to business plans. As an undergraduate Business Administration major, Philip had learned all about the plan-writing process. “But the main difference in using Business Plan Pro was that Business Plan Pro had some really helpful formats and tools. The software prompted me to consider things I hadn’t thought about. It was also easy to arrange my ideas in a coherent fashion.”

Extending its reach

LegalSummer.com is continuing to grow. Currently they have started expanding to law schools across the country, giving law students “a fast, effective means of researching and applying for internships/jobs. We have an application tool that saves them a lot of time and we will try to reach as many students as possible.”

For Amoa, who worked for a large corporation prior to starting law school and then becoming an entrepreneur, there is a great deal of satisfaction that comes with owning his own business. “The most exciting part about being an entrepreneur is taking an intangible idea or thought and nurturing it until it becomes a reality. I enjoy the art of putting together a team of skilled people and convincing them that they can bring this intangible idea to life.”

When he graduates from law school later this year, Amoa will have quite a choice of careers to pursue. And future lawyers will have him to thank for making their career stepping stones a little easier to navigate.

Rachel and her guest Katie Couric being seen on national television with their products can only mean good things for Nuts About Granola. So congrats again, Sarah and company!

Don had left the ranch and moved to the East Coast after getting his MBA in Agribusiness, leaving his brothers, Brent and Gary, to manage the business. In 2002, Brent was approached by a neighbor who wanted the Bartons to take over his walnut shelling and packaging operation. Until then, the family had been involved only in the growing and harvesting of walnuts, but not processing. It was a logical step, but also a big one. Still, Don agreed when Brent suggested he come back to California and run the new arm of the family business, GoldRiver Orchards.

Securing Loans and Planning for the Future

While most of the funding for the new venture came from internal sources, the company did need to seek funding to purchase some new equipment. To write the plan the bank required for the loan, Don bought his first copy of Business Plan Pro. “It provided an excellent template to allow us to think critically about the business–not just in terms of the financial forecast, but also in terms of our intended markets, our competitive set, and how we would build a brand.” The business plan Don created using Business Plan Pro was presented to the bank and secured the loan in excess of $1 million. And business has been even better than he had planned. “I’m happy to report that our initial assumptions were conservative, but we never underestimate the value of planning.”

Don recently upgraded to Business Plan Pro Version 11. “We plan to build a new processing plant in time for the 2013 crop. As we begin the planning for the land purchase and build-out of the new facility, I thought it would be important to update our business plan with an eye on the new facility and its implications–both financially and in terms of sales volume–to our existing business.”

He quotes Dwight Eisenhower, when he says, ” ‘Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.’ We at GoldRiver Orchards could not agree more.”

There were a couple of challenges that came with writing the original plan for GoldRiver Orchards. One was figuring out how to incorporate “a long-established business culture on the ranch into the brand-new–and just evolving–business culture of GoldRiver Orchards. A second challenge was to cast our vision over the upcoming five-year period and try to envision where GoldRiver would be by the end of that five years. Many of the goals set in that plan have not only been achieved, but exceeded. Other goals have been set aside owing to the changing marketplace.”

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Don Barton

In the years Don was away from Barton Ranch, he worked in marketing at several large companies, including Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. and The H.J. Heinz Corporation. He finds many benefits to working for himself. “You’re learning from your own mistakes and seeing a direct correlation to the cost of those mistakes. You set your own work schedule and work hours. You are able to establish the tone and culture of your organization, and pass those values along to your employees.”

Those values run unusually deep at GoldRiver Orchards, when you consider that it is located right next door to the ranch that has been home to much of Don’s family. Recently Don’s son Josh joined his uncles, Gary and Brent, on the management team at Barton Ranch, making him the fifth generation involved in running that side of the business. Among the mementos of family that can still be found on the ranch is the small house that Don’s father was raised in. “It has housed at least three different families of Bartons throughout its history and is a living testament to the family’s roots on this land and our heritage as farmers.” One of the largest walnut trees in the country can also be found on the ranch. It’s the sole survivor of the original walnut crop P.F. Barton planted. “It’s healthy, thriving, and still productive after all of these years. And, as you might imagine, it gets a lot of tender loving care and personal attention from our family members.”

In his final comments, you get the sense that the spirit of P.F. Barton is alive and well at GoldRiver Orchards, and in Don Barton. Talking about the rewards of entrepreneurship, he says, “Best of all, you have the unique opportunity of being a pioneer–of building something that you hope and expect your grandchildren and great grandchildren will someday be a part of.”