Being a Successful Business Manager Entrepreneur A Guide

Being a Successful Business Manager- Entrepreneur A Guide for Preliminary Decision Making for People Considering Starting Up a New Business or Making a Major Change in an Existing Business

Business Creation, Attraction, Retention, Expansion • -- Evaluate Community • -- Plan, initiate and carry out community changes • -- Assist manager-entrepreneurs considering § Creating a new business in the community § Moving a business to the community § Strengthening an existing business

Feasibility analyses of new business ideas should be as realistic as possible. Failed businesses do not benefit communities, and they certainly do not benefit their owners and employees.

Persons who start new businesses and make big changes in existing businesses need the skills and attributes of both managers and entrepreneurs. These people need to be manager - entrepreneurs.

Managers direct the use of a business’ physical, financial and human resources to accomplish the goals toward which a business is directed.

Managers need: ----- Production skills. Marketing skills. Organizational and human resource skills. Financial skills.

An entrepreneur seeks out opportunity, sizes up its value, then seeks out the resources to take advantage of it.

Passion Creativity Risks Entrepreneurs need: Passion for what they do. -- Creativity and ability to innovate. -- Willingness and capability for taking risks. --

Both managers and entrepreneurs need: -- Initiative. -- Abilities to work well with and influence others. -- Ability to take charge of things. -- Perseverance. -- Abilities to organize and plan.

Personality Traits of Manager. Entrepreneurs (How well do they fit you? ) (Worksheet 1)

Personal and Family Considerations for Manager-Entrepreneurs (Worksheet 2)

Entrepreneurs tend to be creative people. Lots of Ideas. Often more than they can carry out.

• New or Expanding Business. • Lots of Ideas for Products. • Can’t do them all. • Focus, Focus!!

• Focus, Focus!! 1. 2. • 3. Make a list of products. “Check” those you know you can produce. “Check” those you are pretty sure you can sell. • --Look for “double checks. ” (Worksheet 3)

• Market before you produce! • Marketing is everything you do to ready your goods and services for the marketplace. • Marketing is about customers • and customer needs • –not about products. • Products are planned and produced only to meet the needs of customers.

• Market before you produce! • • Think about customer needs. Think about – o Product Characteristics o Competition o Place (where are customers, competition, products? ) o Pricing o Packaging o Promotion (Worksheet 4)

Positioning Your Firm How your firm is perceived by customers relative to their needs and relative to competition is referred to as your position in the marketplace.

A Position to Avoid • Stuck in a commodity market where • Firms are “price takers” • Firms Must reduce prices to compete • Small firms are disadvantaged • No room for any firm to “shine”

A Special Niche for Your Firm Different from competitors in minds of customers Insulated from price competition

How to make your firm different (special) • • Special quality Special selection or variety Special processing Special service Special information available with products Special location Special convenience (Worksheet 5)

• Product Pricing • Estimate - - - • Price at which you will sell product • Quantity of product you will sell • Expected annual revenues from sales. (Worksheet 6)

Estimate Costs of Production 1. List all steps in production process. 2. Develop cost estimates for each step. • Check with input suppliers. (Worksheet 7)

• Estimate Costs (cont. ) • Consider costs of capital items. • Consider variable costs. • Include reasonable rates for family labor (including your own). (Worksheet 7)

Estimating costs of production can be complicated. You may have to redo the job several times to complete preliminary estimates

Compare • Expected Revenues • And • Expected Costs (Worksheet 7)

So you still think your idea is a good one? Then it is time to develop a comprehensive business plan!

Developing a Comprehensive Business Plan This will take 50 or more hours and is best done over a 10 to 15 week period.

Developing a Comprehensive Business Plan is a lot of work. But you are considering risking o your life savings. o Your kid’s college educations. o Your marriage? ? HELP IS AVAILABLE!

The purpose of this Guide for Preliminary Decision Making for People Considering Starting Up a New Business or Making a Major Change in an Existing Business Is to help you decide if you are ready to develop a full comprehensive business plan related to your business idea.