Book Description
Entrepreneur's Notebook propels you on a whirlwind tour of the start-up process. It is an invaluable reference for new and experienced entrepreneurs that includes chapters on a wide range of topics, from entrepreneurial team building to business plans to financing. This excellent book provides an incredible amount of practical information that will help you make smarter decisions and avoid costly mistakes. The author, Steven K. Gold, is an accomplished entrepreneur who has co-founded and led five early-stage ventures. As an investor and mentor, he also advises many entrepreneurs and young companies. He earned his B.S.E. in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.D. from Brown University Medical School.
Customer Reviews:
Nice Guide for Beginners.......2007-06-16
The author writes a nice overview of the entrepreneurial process. It's basically for novices but it does a good job for this audience. The only problem I have with this book is that it is too basic and is therefore non-unique because it is so low-level. Regardless, I must say that for the right audience, it does a fine job over giving the big picture.
If you are advanced or aspire to become advanced, I would recommend "The Startup Company Bible for Entrepreneurs" but only for high-tech entrepreneurs. Even this author has recommended it.
A Must-Have for Entrepreneurs.......2007-05-14
Steven gives great illustrations to drive home his insightful advice for entrepreneurs. As he's "been there, done that," we can take his advice to heart in the hopes of becoming a success like him!
Exellent Book.......2007-05-11
Great book for getting ready to open a new business. Would refer to anyone thinking about opening a business.
Brief and to the point.......2007-04-27
This is a delightful little book that contains a wealth of useful and helpful information and ideas on starting a small business and ensuring that it is viable and succesful. The book is well written and easy to follow and interesting to read.
This is a must read for entrepreneurs, particularly budding ones as the information the book provides is very practical and can help you avoid making costly errors. The book covers a wide range of topics including the start-up process, marketing the business on a small budget, cash-flow forecasting, among other things.
The book is an excellent companion for the entrepreneur that is well worth having.
Invaluable advice for the budding entrepreneur.......2007-03-04
This book does a terrific job of presenting some of the most important issues entrepreneurs face when embarking on new ventures, touching on topics such as the business plan, funding, team building, and cash flows. Using simple, yet stunningly accurate models of the entrepreneurial process, Steven Gold distills complex subjects into simple, practical, take-away messages. The classification of entrepreneurial personalities (professionals, pragmatists, and inventors) is something I think we can all relate to. I find the metaphor which compares building a new company to making "stone soup" equally compelling. There are countless books out there for budding entrepreneurs, but this one is no fluff. It gets right down to the nuts and bolts so you can concentrate on your business.
Book Description
Don't Just Plan-Zero In on a Winning Business Model!
Before you write a business plan, before you start marketing, before you look for funding, you should develop the most important tool in your business arsenal: a business model. A great business model sets amazing successes apart from failures.
Don Debelak reveals how to create a winning business concept, develop a business plan around it, and turn it into a successful business venture.
Whether you're starting a new business or looking to revitalize an existing operation, you'll learn:
- What a model is, why it's important, how it works and how it can improve your business
- How to maximize your chances of success with an easy-to-use scoring system
- How to use your business model to increase your chances of receiving funding
- Strategies for using your model to write a business plan that really works
Take your business to the height of success with this can't-miss strategy.
Book Description
The easiest, most effective way to write business plans—revised and updated
Business Plans Made Easy,Third Edition, is the latest incarnation of this essential guide for creating a high-impact business plan. Revised and updated, it not only shows you how to write a business plan, but also how to use it, who should see it, and how and when to update and revise it. New information on personal investment planning and information technology has also been included, and an added “expert advice” section at the end of each chapter gives helpful hints and tips.
Customer Reviews:
A BP book that doesn't focus on small business financing. Refreshing to read it........2006-09-01
Informative, well done, and well written. A great book to add to a library of entrepreneurial tomes. The author seems to know his stuff, and he is very even-handed when it comes to presenting the subject matter. Good business plans are the ones that are beaten up and re-written after tough questions are asked by their authors, potential investors, business partners, and customers. A good business plan is a living document that changes as time moves forward - even after the business has been started.
Most of the books that I have read on business plans are geared toward helping their readers put together a business plan in order to qualify for a bank loan for start-up money. While the author here does that as well, he also lets his readers know that a business plan can be written in order to create a road map to success when starting a business, when seeking financing for business growth, when seeking working capital for a business, when seeking a business partner, or when seeking capital for an equipment loan.
The message is that the writer of a business plan should concentrate on why the business will provide a compelling solution to a significant problem, and why the new company will be successful instead of other companies. The author points out that a writer of a business plan should read analysts' reports, attend trade shows, understand the competition, and get to know potential customers BEFORE she writes the plan.
My favorite part of the book was the section where the author covers what is involved in doing market research. He provides some resources to use and some how-to's on what to do when doing one's research. It is pointed out that industry analysis is critical in preparing a sound business plan. An industry on the rise means the new business has potential. An industry going down hill is probably one in which you don't want to start a business. See the Industry Analysis Worksheet at page 119 of the book.
The book is broken into 4 sections: (1) Before writing your plan, (2) Writing your plan, (3) Enhancing your plan, and (4) Six sample business plans. See the Table of Contents to see a more in depth outline of the book and the titles for the six sample plans.
I would have liked the book better if the sample business plans had not been so clean. They were well done, and well-written, but didn't really make me feel like I wanted to use any one of them to help start a business. Maybe they needed a little more personal feeling or reasoning in them? I don't know. But they do not detract from the book. They help it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to prepare a business plan. 5 stars!
Book Description
This lively, easy-to-use edition has been updated with new proven techniques, hints, and tips for creating bankable business plans and getting results.
Customer Reviews:
Great Sample Business Plans.......2007-05-02
I have to infrequently write business plans to support new initiatives, and this book is PERFECT. It is a simple format, and includes many sample business plans to get you started right away.
If you need to write a business plan FAST - and want to have a great reference book to help you through the process - this is your book!
In addition, the following book also had great sample business plans.
"Business Plans That Work for Your Small Business (CCH Business Owner's Toolkit series)"
Pleasant Surprise.......2000-03-28
When you are in marketing, you have to stay on top of every aspect all of the time. So many business/marketing plan books are either not complete, current, too technical or not technical enough! I took this book out from my local library, and I like it so much, I am purchasing it. I find it easy to read -- the layout is wonderful including special tip boxes throughout that address everything from plan pitfalls to buzzwords. (One does need to learn the current lingo after all -- it is changing so fast.) There are also solutions to basic questions like: Should I go for venture capital or look for strategic partnerships? Top all this off with a helpful listing of Small-Business Friendly Banks. Like I said, this book is a pleasant surprise.
Book Description
-Learn how to analyze the market -Know how to gauge the success of your advertising -Understand how to plan strategically
Customer Reviews:
A book intended for very small or start-up businesses!.......2006-09-04
I enjoy reading books about writing business plans and how to do the research necessary to write business plans. This book definitely fits the bill. It's short, sweet and has all the content to help a wanta-be entrepreneur or small business owner do the necessary market research to aid her in writing a sound business plan or to do strategic planning for that business.
The chapters in the book are titled as follows:
1. Why research your market?
2. Laying the groundwork
3. Setting your research direction
4. Secondary data: what's available?
5. Finding the secondary data you need
6. Primary data: you're already surrounded by it
7. Internet market research
8. Primary data: your survey methods
9. Writing a questionnaire
10. Analyzing and interpreting your data
11. When you need to hire a professional
12. Everybody ought to have a plan
13. The beginning
14. Accessing market research data
I would have liked the book better if the chapters had been organized as follows:
12. Everybody ought to have a plan
1. Why research your market?
2. Laying the groundwork
3. Setting your research direction
4. Secondary data: what's available?
5. Finding the secondary data you need
6. Primary data: you're already surrounded by it
7. Internet market research
10. Analyzing and interpreting your data
13. The beginning
Appendices
8. Primary data: your survey methods
9. Writing a questionnaire
11. When you need to hire a professional
14. Accessing market research data
I think chapters 12 and 1 should have been combined into one chapter. If that had been done the book's audience would have been better addressed and introduced to the book. I'm not sure it was necessary to include Chapter 11 at all since the book is geared toward an audience that should have no reason to need to hire a professional - and probably wouldn't want to pay for it even if there was a need.
I was disappointed with Chapter 7. It was too basic and I didn't know what the author was talking about at pages 63 and 64 when he compared search engines to pay-per-click search engines. They are the same thing!
All in all, this book has content! And content is king! I think someone who is involved in creating a new business plan will do himself or herself a favor by getting this book and reading it. Don't expect this book to explain all there is to know about market research. That subject is best covered in a different book for a different audience. 5 stars!
good book for beginners and as a refresher.......2004-09-14
I took a variety of marketing courses in college but forgot some of the basics on marketing research. A project was coming up soon on the subject, and I need to have something to refresh my memory. This book was very helpful in that regard. It is an easy, quick read to give you a good overview or refresher of the field.
A good introductory book.......2004-09-11
For uninitiated readers who know little about the subject and how to do a real market research, this is a VERY good title. The case studies at the end of each chapter clarifies ideas covered before. This book contains good tips on how much a market research could cost for a small business, and has names and addresses of Canadian resources as well.
Book Description
Does strategic planning seem too overwhelming? Strategic Planning Made Easy is designed to take the confusion and difficulty out of planning. This practical book is a self-guided and cost-effective resource that will help bring focus to your activities and grow your organization. If you need a roadmap for your organization to make vision a reality, this is the resource for you.
The book presents an integrated, market-focused strategic planning process. The three main concepts - developing your mission, reaching your market, and establishing your measurement - are developed through 12 practical steps. Each step contains appropriate content, thought provoking questions, relevant examples and worksheets. An enlarged One-Page Strategic Growth Planning Map is provided at the end of the book and is used to summarize and visualize the plan.
This book is designed to stand alone or to be used as a reference guide in conjunction with the online, interactive MyStrategicPlan.com. Companies can build their plans quickly and efficiently, leading to increased growth and unparalleled success.
Chapters include: Market-Focused Strategic Planning, Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Core Values, Broad Objectives, Internal and External Assessment, Target Customer Groups, Value Creating Strategy Specific Goals, Functional Tactics, Financial Assessment, Strategic Scorecard and Implementation
Customer Reviews:
Opinions without research or supporting facts........2007-09-21
I was very excited when i saw this book. It looked perfect. The Benefits were clearly labeled on the book's cover, and it was written by 3 business school professors. But when I got it, I found it was all hype, all "You Can Do It" statements about the 'need to plan'. All these ideas were justified with stories about the winners in business. So, heres' the way the book works. (1) Find the business success stories; BestBuy, Papa John's Pizza, Dell. (2) Now, write over and over again about how "strategic planning is critical". (3) Now, state how "The winning businesses always planned strategically."
That's the reasons why you need to plan.
But any thinking person knows you need to test your ideas against the businesses that failed. And that never happens. There isn't one example that shows a business that failed.
Here's two examples from the book:
1) Papa John's Pizza: "The founder started making pizza in the back of a tavern. Customer's loved it. The founder focused SOLELY on making pizza's. The founder never changed his focus. And that's why he has 2,800 restaurants in 49 states."
That's all the author's provide. Here's what i would have expected.
Data from SBA.gov on how many Pizza restaurants were started the same year as Papa John's, and why they failed. The reason that's important to me is most of these other pizza restaurant owners aren't idiots. I'll bet they had a strategic plan too. Why didn't theirs succeed?
But the author doesn't give that. He just finds a successful business, and then says "They planned strategically."
2) Best Buy: "The founder had a single focus on providing music to his customers. This grew into 2,000 stores." And that's about all we get on an analysis of Best Buy. But there were other companies that had the same strategic focus. Specifically, Tower Records. The author implies the executives of Tower Records didn't have a strategic plan. Or if they did, they didn't have the correct one.
Yet, their solution just tells you how to write a business plan, with references to doing "correct competitive analysis." That's the equivalent of telling a 1850's gold prospector "Go to California, buy an ax, and pick out the plot of land that has the gold. Then, put your effort into digging out the gold."
-
This book is just another book on "How to write a business plan."
Only the author's have dumbed it down so it resembles the "Who Moved My Cheese" writing style.
The best way to verify my review is to read the 1st chapter yourself. It's available on Amazon.com. If you like that, you'll like the book.
But for me, I need more hard facts on why the proposition will work, and not just a bunch of spurious correlations to justify obvious ideas.
This book will help you write your new company's business plan.......2006-04-27
Pretty good book! I'm not sure whether the title should have been "strategic planning" or "business planning?" It doesn't matter though, because they are basically synonyms. If you are looking to start a business or your business is already started and needs some help, then read this book. Entrepreneurs should read this book. They won't be disappointed.
I don't think the subject of business growth was as important as the authors seemed to make it. The topic of the book was strategic planning - not how to strategically plan for significant company growth. However, planning will typically cause faster than normal growth if that is what a business owner seeks. So the subject of "growth" was certainly proper to include in this book.
The book is broken into 15 chapters. It is well organized and logically presented. My favorite chapters were:
4. Defining the future
7. The playing field (assessing the market)
8. Taking a hard look at yourself
9. Running the numbers
10. Evaluating resources
11. Strengths/weaknesses
15. Getting it in writing
I also think the inclusion of Chapter 14 entitled "Change" was wonderful. I would have liked the book better if it had focused more on business planning in general and thus emphasized the need to tackle "change" when doing strategic planning for an existing business. But to do this would require some structural changes to the book, and it's really not necessary.
Average customer rating:
- Presents a Practical Tool for Making your Strategy Become a Reality
|
Strategic Planning Made Easy for Nonprofit Organizations
Howard W. Olsen , and
Nancy D. Olsen
Manufacturer: M3 Planning, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
 Nonprofit Organizations & Charities
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Systems & Planning
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0974834343 |
Product Description
Does strategic planning seem too overwhelming? Strategic Planning Made EasyTM for Nonprofit Organizations is designed to take the confusion and difficulty out of planning. This practical book is a self-guided and cost-effective resource that will help your nonprofit organization bring focus to its activities, clarity to its mission, effectiveness in reaching its market and ways to measure progress. If you need a roadmap for your organization to make vision a reality, this is the resource for you. The book addresses the specific planning needs and desired outcomes of nonprofits. Through thought provoking questions, relevant examples and worksheets, the book guides nonprofits through the planning process. This book is designed to help executive directors and their boards build and execute their strategy through a cost-effective, self-guided process, leading to effectively fulfilling the organizations purpose. The 12-step planning process guides you in developing a workable plan for your organization. An enlarged One-Page Strategic Growth Planning Map is provided at the end of the book and is used to summarize and visualize the plan. This book is designed to stand alone or to be used as a reference guide in conjunction with the online, interactive MyNonProfitPlan.com. Organizations can build their plans quickly and efficiently, leading to increased growth and unparalleled success. Chapters include: Market-Focused Strategic Planning, Sustainable Comparative Advantage, Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Core Values, Broad Objectives, Internal and External Assessment, Target Constituents and Stakeholders, Value Creating Strategy, Specific Goals, Functional Tactics, Financial Assessment, Strategic Scorecard and Implementation
Customer Reviews:
Presents a Practical Tool for Making your Strategy Become a Reality .......2006-02-12
As a leader of a nonprofit organization with no time to waste on esoteric exercises, I found Strategic Planning Made Easy for Nonprofit Organizations to be an easy-to-understand and ready-to-use tool that helped me assemble a comprehensive plan that is immediately usable, strategically focused, and completely aligned to my target audiences. As I progressed through the chapters, I realized that developing a strategic plan is a fluid process, requiring the organization to view the plan as a living document. To be sure, developing a comprehensive strategic plan that truly moves an organization forward to accomplish its goals and mission is necessarily a complex process, but Strategic Planning Made Easy for Nonprofit Organizations proves that it doesn't have to be complicated.
Average customer rating:
|
Strategic Planning Made Easy
Samuel G Woinsky
Manufacturer: distributed by American Institute of Chemical Engineers]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Chemical
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B0006QEABS |
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- Foundations of IT Service Management: based on ITIL (English version)
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