When you are planning on opening a business there are many
things that you have to take into account that could affect your failure or
success. One of the biggest things that most people might see as insignificant
is the detail, effort, and importance put into the business plan. The likely
hood of you succeeding as a business and getting funding is much, much higher
the better and more detailed your business plan is. According to SmallBusinessTrends.com
(2010), people who complete detailed business plans are nearly twice as likely
to successfully grow their businesses or obtain capital as those who didn’t
write a plan or whose plan was poorly executed. Below are two experts that all
potential business owners could learn something from prior to opening their
business. In my eyes, these experts have been very successful in their endeavors,
which have made them some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 31,
1958 where he got an early start as an entrepreneur at the age of 12 when he
sold garbage bags door-to-door in his neighborhood (ABC.Com, 2013). Mark
went on to graduate from Indian University in 1981 with a degree in Business.
After he got his degree, he made a move down to Dallas, Texas where he started
his first company called “MicroSolutions” which grew into a $30 million dollar
company (Forbes.com,
2013). Mark then went on to sell MicroSolutions to CompuServe a few years later,
which enabled Todd Wagner and himself to start AudioNet, which later became
known as Broadcast.com (Forbes.com,
2013). After selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999 for billions of
dollars, he went on to purchase the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks basketball franchise
(IMDB.com, 2013). Mark is
a high successful entrepreneur and has invested in many start ups including
Mahalo, JungleCents.com, motionloft.com, filesanywhere.com, Naked Pizza and
140Fire.com (ABC.Com,
2013).
Marks past success, abilities, and current ideals are
something that make him a very successful entrepreneur we can learn a lot from.
Mark is person that is constantly looking for new investments and will invest
in something if he believes he can add value to it or if they can help him in
his business (Forbes.com,
2013). Based on research done on Forbes.com, below are the key components of
which Mark believes you should include when preparing your own business plan.
- Be as creative as possible! The amount of creativity put into the business plan affects the end outcome and the number of investors interested.
- List how the investors would make money or how your company would add value to theirs.
- Be sure to state who, what, when and where your product or service is needed.
- Include a financial outlook or track record. If you don’t have one yet, provide projected costs and estimates.
- Tell your investors where you plan to be and how your company much your company could potentially grow over the next few years.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump was born June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York. At
the age of 13, Trump was sent to New York Military Academy where he became a
star athlete and a student leader by the time he graduated in 1964 (Biography.com, 2013).
Trump then went on to college at Wharton School of Finance at the University of
Pennsylvania where he graduated in 1968 with a degree in economics. After
college he started his business career in an office that shared with his dad,
Fred, whom he worked under for five years (Trump.com, 2013).
After working for his father, he entered the real estate business that has
allowed him to become the man he is today. Trump is owns many prestigious
landmarks, hotels, and buildings, he is a world-class golf-course developer, a
best selling author, and has a successful television production company.
According to YahooVoices.Com
(2013), after researching Trumps past speeches, books, and ideals here are some
key tips for a business.
- In order to be successful a business must have a plan. Without a business plan the company will fail because it has no direction or focus.
- Be creative and be open to new ideas and concepts.
- Don’t be afraid to fail because failure is inevitable. Learn from those failures, don’t let it happen again, and come back stronger.
- Negotiation is key. Stand your ground and negotiate. If you don’t get what you want or if you think it’s unfair, walk away.
- Find your passion. Do what you love and love what you do.
- Know whom your target market is and if they have money.
Although, the above tips are not the only things that you
should pay attention to when making a business plan, they will help you mold
your business plan into something even more successful. Both Mark Cuban and
Donald Trump have had their fair share of failures and successes; therefore,
taking and learning from their tips will allow you to become successful and entice
investors to become a part of your company.
A few questions to my readers; What are some ways that this helped you?
Are you are going to apply this to your company?
References:
ABC.Com. (2013). Biography of Mark Cuban. Retrieved on
August 6, 2013, from; http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/bios/mark-cuban
Biography.com. (2013). Donald Trump. Retrieved on August 6,
2013, from; http://www.biography.com/people/donald-trump-9511238
Forbes.com. (2013). At Age 25 Mark Cuban Learned Lessons
About Leadership That Changed His Life. Retrieved on August 6, 2013, from; http://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2013/03/28/at-age-25-mark-cuban-learned-lessons-about-leadership-that-changed-his-life/
GlobalSports.com. (2013). Mark Cuban Image. Retrieved on August 6, 2013, from; http://www.goglobalsports.com/file/pic/photo/2012/04/d8b40de693cd3088a32607c268642463_1024.jpeg
Launchmag.co. (2013). Business Trend Image. Retrieved on August 6, 2013, from; http://launchmag.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/business-plan.jpg
Weddingwoof.com. (2013). Donald Trump Image. Retrieved on August 6, 2013, from; http://www.weddingwoof.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/knauss-trump-portrait1.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment