THE REAL PURPOSE BEHIND BUSINESS PLANNING!

21 Question Success Plan

Presented by: Bob Voss

Background of Presenter-Bob Voss• Entrepreneur and BizOwner who has started and run 5 businesses!• Inventor of Optical Code Technology; 2 patents!• Wrote over 20 formal Business Plans used to raise a lot of money

($6,000,000) from local “angel” investors!• Business Entrepreneur Faculty at DCTC (15 years)• 2006 DCTC Instructor of the Year! (Voted on by students)• 2008 National Business Entrepreneur Instructor of the Year (over

1000 colleges)!• Taught a 3-credit business plan class 57 times and graded over 1400

business plans!• Creator of the 21 Question Business / Confidence Plan

Do I Really Need a Biz Plan?.......YES!• Creating a Business Plan helps in the success of your new business!• Creating a Confidence Plan confirms you are starting the right

business for You!• For first time BizOwners, creating a Confidence plan is the best

education they can get on their specific business! (SCORE Webinars and Workshops, and Mentors!)

• Creating a confidence plan gets you “comfortable” with all the financial aspects of your business!

• Creating a CONFIDENCE Plan shows you are truly committed to the business!

• BUSINESS PLANNING IS NOT SOMETHING YOU DO ONCE, IT IS SOMETHING YOU DO ONCE A MONTH!

WHY I CALL THIS A “CONFIDENCE” PLAN

• How do we become confident in anything?• Bob definition of confidence is based on the definition of insanity!• Bob definition of confidence: “Doing the same thing over and

over again and KNOWING you are going to get the same great results each time!

• You can’t be good at something if you only do it once!• Business Planning is not something you do once, it is something

you do once a month! (USE THE RAP SHEET)

A “Traditional” Business Plan1. Executive Summary2. Background information3. SWOT analysis4. Competitive Analysis5. Marketing Plan6. 3-5 years of financial projections7. Management Team8. Appendix

Story Behind the 21 Question Business/Success Plan™

• In 2010 I was “forced” to put my business plan class on-line• A traditional business plan format didn’t fit into the D2L platform• I had an “epiphany”! Why not just have students answer questions

and post the answers into the drop box?• This solved the problem, and in addition, why not have the

students answer the exact questions bankers and investors were going to ask anyway?

• Created the 21 Question Business Plan™ book for my business plan class. ( I am a capitalist!)

Perfect for First-Time Business planners!

* You don’t have to “write” your plan, you answer questions with highlights and bullet points!1) You answer specific questions instead of trying to figure out

what a traditional business plan topic means!2) You can use “The Interview Assignment” to help you answer

the questions!3) Answer questions 9, 11,12, 17, 18 and you will have all the

information to complete a year of financial projections!

The 21 Question CONFIDENCE Plan

Q’s 1-5: You and your business idea

Q’s 6-8: Research, Competition, Competitive Advantage

Q’s 9-12: Prices, Margins, First Year Sales

Q’s 13-16: Getting Known by your Customers

Q’s 17-20: Financials

Q 21: What PROOF do you have?

START WITH A GOAL-THE PRE-PLAN SHEET!

Part #1-Questions 1-5 YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS IDEA:Q1: How would you describe your business idea? (Do this

question LAST!)Q2: Why are you starting this business?Q3: Why are you the right person to start, run and own this

business? Q4: How is the business organized? (2 answers)Q5: What goals do you want to accomplish in the first 12

months of the business?

Part #2-Questions 6-8 RESEARCH, COMPETITION, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGESQ 6: Why is this a good business to start? Q 7: Who is your competition? Q 8: What are your competitive advantages?

LET’S ANSWER A QUESTION OR TWO!

Part #3-Questions 9-12

SALES, PRICES, AND MARGINS

Q9: What do you charge for your products or services?

Q10: What is your “attitude” about your prices?

(Only question I have never been asked!)

Q11: How much do you make on what you sell?

Q12: What do you estimate your first year sales will be by month?

Part #4-Questions 13-16

GETTING KNOWN BY YOUR CUSTOMERS

Q13: How would you describe your target customer?

Q14: What marketing tactics are you going to use to get known by your target customer?

Q 15: When people see your marketing messages what do you want them to remember?

Q 16: What are you going to do on a very regular basis to constantly and consistently get new customers?

Part #5-Questions 17-20 FINANCIALS Q17: What are your start up costs? Q18: What is your monthly overhead? Q19: How many sales do you need on a monthly basis to

breakeven? Q20: What are the highlights of your first year

projections?

USE SCORE™ WEBINARS AND SPREADSHEETSACCESS THE “PROJECTION SMART-START UP” Roger Sherping

Part #6-Question 21

IT’S ALL ABOUT PROOF!Q21: What proof do you have that your business will succeed?

This question will make or break your business plan!

This question, more than any other, determines if your business is going to succeed!

In a highly competitive marketplace, whoever has the most proof…….WINS!

The Real Purpose of a Business Plan!The real purpose of Business Planning is to get the plan “inside” of you so you will have confidence the new business will SUCCEED!1. The process is more important than the plan itself!2. You must speak your plan for the plan to become real!3. Presenting your plan to others is critical! (Get a SCORE

Mentor ASAP!)

Business Planning is not something you do once it’s something you do once a month-The RAP Sheet!

RESOURCES FOR NEW BUSINESSESFree one on one counseling

SCORE counseling www.score-mn.org

Free assessments to help you in the start up process:Am I Ready to Start My Business? Go to www.bizownertraining.com

www.sba.gov Thinking of Starting a Business

Free educational webinars:www.score-mn.org over 30 webinars availablewww.bizlaunch.com New free webinars each week!

Free website for your business:www.minnesotagetonline.com

Free State of Minnesota resources:www.mn.gov/deed/businessguidebooks

THANK YOU

BOB’S CONTACT INFORMATION

• Cell Phone 612-202-6627

• College E-Mail rvoss@nwhealth.edu

• Biz E-Mail: bvoss@bizownertraining.com

www.bizownertraining.com