No matter how informed you are about your business, there is always someone out there that can help shed a little more light into the darker corners of your business. Even when you are not aware that there are dark spaces that needed illumination. Over the past month I have been researching some of the basic principals that the experts in my previous blog stated were important in order to put together a business plan that was effective for investors as well as myself. There are definitely several principals that I needed to be able to wrap my mind around in order to get on track. The idea that having a niche, and knowing the in’s and out’s of that niche, was a very important notion for me. I always had the idea that the people that would be supporting me would not know the business as well as I did, however it is more likely now that they will know the business just as well as I do if not better. This means that the execution of my work needed to definitely be above specs. Nothing else would even matter if this were not true. What would drive clients to my business? Everything hinges on the level of expertise my business could provide. This directly related to the five-point focus that Mr. Lavinsky pointed out.
Mr. Dave Lavinsky is a graduate of UCLA’s MBA program. He has worked with many companies developing over 100 business plans for many well-known companies. However his point alone did not fully clarify the information to the point of true understanding. It was not until I referred back to the other expert’s information that I was fully able to see what it is that they were both saying in the clearest and simplest forms. Mr. William A. Sahlman’s ideas were not of the same strict guidelines, however the principals were similar. Execution is Mr. Sahlman’s main focus.
In that simple idea that execution is what separates the amateur from the professional, Mr. Sahlman and Mr. Lavinsky had stated the same key point. It is only when you know your business niche so well that you can plan and maneuver you business like a ship on the sea that you will be able to execute as skillfully as the captain of such a powerful vessel. So based on that realization I was able to adjust two things. First thing was to narrow the scope of my business to the initial genesis of the idea. That was providing other writers with the assistance needed to make successful short films out of their written work. The next step was streamlining my company to be able to do this without a large overhead. This could only be accomplished by employing people that are experts in their field and on an as needed basis and keeping the actual day-to-day employees to a minimum. This allows us to calculate the amount of money needed to pay employees on a month-to-month basis. This was a very important factor however it was not the most important factor for our investors. Knowing who is involved is important however it is more important in my opinion for an investor to know how the company plans on making money. So the break down on monthly sales seems to be the most important factor to me. If the figures seem feasible there then I would want to know if the team in place had the skills to pull off the numbers being projected. I also referred back to the theory of the golden circle, so in closing I will leave you with this video as it
helped to change the way I do business and the way I put my business together. Knowing your niche inside and out is only the beginning knowing why you do what you do is the ultimate goal of all that what to transcend just being another company in a sea of companies that do what you do.
References:
Lavinsky, D. (2010). Two Paths –Which Will You, Choose. Retrieved November
21,2011http://www.growthink.com/content/two-paths-which-will-you-choose
Lavinsky, D. (2009). Business Plan Milestones –How are they essential to your
success. Retrieved November 21, 2011
Sahlman, W. (1997). Harvard Business Review. Retrieved November 21, 2011
Sinek, Simon. (2009). How great leaders inspire. Retrieved December 16, 2011
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how
