Thoughts on Business Plans

In the last post we talked about the views of Donald Trump and Paul Grants on business plans. In this follow up post I will be talking about my thoughts on their opinions as well as what we can learn from them.

Based on what Donald Trump had said, we need business plans for direction and focus and Mr. Trump is correct. Through business plans we learn things that we may not have considered if we tried to start a business without any plan whatsoever.

You can’t just say, “We are going to start a clothing business,” and end it there. In a business you have to think about the necessary expenses that it will take to start that business. For example, you need to consider how much trademarks for your clothing line will cost, the cost of salary for yourself and your workers, marketing costs, how much you will charge and so many other things. Without planning ahead you will run into money issues that you didn’t expect and even possibly legal problems.

With this kind of information from Mr. Trump, I know that when I am working on my business plan to take it seriously and to try to be as accurate as possible. The more accurate you are the more prepared you can be to start a business plan.

Now we can find out what to take from Paul Grants words. We see that Mr. Grant values business plans a bit less than Trump did. However he emphasizes their need nonetheless but in a different light.

 To Mr. Grant, business plans are a sort of trust builder between you and possible investors. He also states that the good news is that since he finds a fair deal of investors merely skim through the business plan; you don’t have to necessarily do a 100-page business plan.

With this information I know that I actually need to attempt to keep the business plan relatively short, while keeping the needed information in it. Staying accurate and including information that investors want, while keeping the business plan as short as possible, we can give investors all the information they need without overwhelming them with info that they don’t need.

With all of this info in mind there are 2 sections of a business plan that I feel is necessary to push more focus to, the executive summary and the business financials.


Sources:
http://www.businessplaninfo.org/popularlinks.html
http://www.biography.com/articles/Donald-Trump-9511238
http://thefundinggame.co.uk/aboutus.aspx
http://www.sba.gov/content/business-plan-executive-summary
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/businessplans/a/bizplanfinanc.htm

Donald Trump's & Paul Grant's views on Business Plans

In this post we will be focusing primarily on the business side of information. I will be talking about a few popular business people and their knowledge and feelings about business plans.

The 2 people I will be talking about are Donald Trump and Paul Grant. So without further ado, let’s get started.

Donald Trump – 

Born in 1946, Donald Trump grew up in Queens, New York. After being sent to a military academy at the age of 13 and graduating at the age of 18 he went on to earn a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from said college in 1968. After college Donald decided to join his father’s real estate company. After that, Trump went on to become the business mogul we all know, from building Trump Tower in 1983 to building his net worth to an estimated $2.7 billion dollars by March 2011.

Donald Trump on business plans – He tells us that with a business plan there is a direction and a focus and that without a business plan, you are bound to fail.

Paul Grant – 

Paul founded and ran a London catering business for seven years, marketing towards corporate and retails customers primarily. He assists small businesses in the early stages and is also the associate director of BA Capital Ltd. and Bergstrom Capital. Paul is also the founder of The Funding Game; a seminar series that helps starting small businesses learn to get started on the correct financial path.

Paul Grant on business plans – Paul Grant has said that, “although huge amounts of time and cash are spent churning out detailed business plans for potential investors, I found that very few were getting read.” He goes on to ask, “So does that mean you don’t have to write a business plan when seeking investment for your business?” He then answers, saying, “Sorry – I wish I could say yes. Investors still want to see some reassuring figures and words that demonstrate you have thought through your market, the need you are trying to meet and how people will find and pay for your services. But here is the good news: your plan does not need to be the soul-searching, nine-month, 100-page ordeal it was for me – and for many entrepreneurs seeking funds for their new ventures.”

So we see from 2 different points of view that business plans are key components that investors are looking for. With Trump a business plan is key because, in his view, you will completely fail without one. With Grant however the business plan is a key component merely because it reassures investors that you in fact know what you are talking about.

I hope you have gotten some useful business information from this post. Until the next one, have an animated day.

Sources:

Paul Grant Info - http://thenextwomen.com/2010/08/26/why-business-plans-are-not-as-important-as-you-think

Paul Grant Bio - http://thefundinggame.co.uk/default.aspx

Donald Trump Info - http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1634723/ten_donald_trump_business_tips_for.html?cat=3

Donald Trump Bio -

http://www.biography.com/articles/Donald-Trump-9511238?part=2

Paul Grant Pic - http://www.giftwarepro.com/pictures/gallery/The%20Funding%20Game/Paul%20Grant.jpg

Donald Trump Pic - http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/donald_trump.jpg