Business Plans Kit for Dummies (With CD-ROM): Steven D. Peterson, Peter E. Jaret

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

While Business Plans For Dummies covers the strategy of putting a business plan together, Business Plans Kit For Dummies covers how to put a business plan to work! This kit covers business plans for every stage (and every type) of business: e-business, sole proprietorships, small businesses, service companies, high-tech companies, non-profits — even business plans for middle managers and restructuring a company. It emphasizes methods for obtaining funding and sources to tap for capital, and explains how to formulate business plans according to the planned business model — bricks-and-mortar vs. e-business. It also includes updated terminology and jargon from the business planning and venture capital industries, and shows you how to gear specific plans for businesses in different phases of development (i.e., startup, expansion, etc.).

From the Back Cover
The painless way to turn your business plan into a well-oiled machine

Create business plans that'll bring you success — with this essential guide! Hey, entrepreneurs! Got a great idea but don't know where to take it? Relax, and let two experts show you the fun way to turn your ideas into gold. From attracting funding via proven methods to tapping secret sources for capital, this step-by-step companion puts your business in the fast lane to profitability! all this on the CD-ROM Valuable forms and materials, including: Business plans components chart Costs and overhead checklist Plus tons of online resources! Plan Write for Business, Quick Insight, and Business Plan Pro trials plus PlanMagic Business demo PC running Windows 95 or later; Power Macintosh running System 7.6 or later. See About the CD Appendix for details and complete system requirements.

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How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Wedding Consultant & Planning Business: With Companion CD-ROM: John Peragine

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Weddings are big business. The Association of Bridal Consultants estimates that consumers spend a whopping $46 billion on their weddings every year. In 2008 the average wedding cost about $32,000, and many couples spend more than that! Today’s bride is spending more money than ever before to ensure that her wedding day the single most important day of her life is planned to perfection. Once reserved only for the very rich, today’s brides and grooms-to-be, often busy with dual careers yet wanting to make their wedding uniquely personal, are turning to consultants for help to help save time, money, and considerable stress planning a wedding. More people are finding that a good wedding consultant is a great source of information, ideas, and contacts for the bride-to-be. Hiring a wedding coordinator could help ensure that the wedding day turns out to be far more spectacular than the bride ever envisioned. They provide guidance on etiquette, invitations, planning and directing the rehearsal and ceremony, even arranging transportation and accommodations, and help you manage your time with all the details. Wedding coordinators may also assist in locating a site for the ceremony, shopping for the wedding gown and wedding accessories, and even arranging for childcare. As such, professional wedding consultants are compensated well for their knowledge, talent, time, and expertise. A wedding consulting and planning career makes an ideal home based or part-time business. You don t need an office. Start-up costs are low. And you don t need any costly special equipment. All you need is a calendar, a good organizer, a desire to succeed, and the tips for success in this book. A consultant’s primary function is to help a couple learn, implement, and manage all the necessary tasks required to host a successful wedding event. Here is the manual you need to cash in on this highly profitable segment of the service industry. An average wedding using a coordinator costs about $20,000. Some coordinators charge an hourly rate ranging from $50 to $150. According to many wedding coordinators, the average wedding takes about 30 to 40 hours of coordinating, ending up earning between $1,500 and $3,000. Creating a dream wedding requires imagination and energy, a concern for detail, and a love of organization to make certain that things run smoothly. You will help couples decide on a budget and help them stick to it. You will also help them select the wedding dress, set trial hair and make-up appointments, confirm wedding day appointments, prepare and confirm wedding reception toasts or speeches; update life, house, and car insurance policies; complete change of name and change of address paperwork; open joint bank account (if desired), determine who will return groom’s formal attire, location, caterer, entertainment, wedding cake, and "going away" wardrobe. You will learn how to prepare for and run a successful wedding including determining realistic costs, helping with the guest list, setting the wedding date, organizing the wedding ceremony and the reception, acquiring bridesmaids’ and groom’s attire, ordering invitations and other stationery, and dealing with the gifts and "thank-you" messages. This new book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the business side of the wedding planning and consulting. If you are investigating opportunities in this type of business should begin by reading this book, picturing yourself producing the perfect wedding. If you enjoy meeting people and planning parties, this may be the perfect business for you, but keep in mind this business looks easy, but as with any business, looks can be deceiving.

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Strategic Planning For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)): Erica Olsen

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

If you’re starting a new business or planning your business’s future, there are plenty of things you should take into account. Strategic Planning For Dummies covers everything you need to know to develop a plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage — no matter what business you’re in.

Written by Erica Olsen, founder and President of a business development firm that helps entrepreneurial-minded businesses plan for a successful future, this handy guide covers all the basics, including:

• How a strategic plan is different than a business plan
• Establishing a step-based planning process
• Planning for and encouraging growth
• Taking a long-view of your organization
• Evaluating past performance
• Defining and refining your mission, values, and vision
• Sizing up your current situation
• Examining your industry landscape
• Setting your strategic priorities
• Planning for unknown contingencies

If you’re in business, you have to plan for everything — especially if you intend your business to grow. Whether you’re planning for a small business, large conglomerate, nonprofit, or even a government agency, this book has the planning specifics you need for your organization. Step-by-step, you’ll learn how to lay the foundations for a plan, understand how your plan will affect your business, form planning teams, discover what your strengths are, see where you are, and, finally, plan where you’re going. And there’s much more:

• Learn to analyze business trends that will determine your business’s future
• Set measurable, realistic goals that you can plan for and achieve
• Make strategic planning a habitual part of the organization
• Prioritize multiple strategies that you can implement simultaneously
• Set a defining vision for the organization that guides all your planning and strategy

This friendly, simple guide puts the power of strategic planning in the palm of your hand. For small businesses that can’t afford to hire strategic planning consultants, it’s even more imperative. Careful, constant planning is the only way to handle an uncertain business future. With this book, you’ll have all the step-by-step guidance you need to ensure you’re ready for anything that comes.

From the Back Cover
Define your company’s mission, vision, and values

Develop and execute your strategic plan for solid business growth

Need help setting a vision for your business or planning for an uncertain future? Don’t worry! Strategic Planning For Dummies shows you how to build and sustain a competitive edge, analyze markets and trends, and plan for future growth. With this friendly guide to business planning, you won’t fly blind into your company’s future.

Discover how to

• Establish a step-by-step planning process
• Select a planning team
• Prioritize future opportunities
• Develop solid strategies
• Execute your plan

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Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook: Michael Allison, Jude Kaye

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

A complete and flexible guide to strategic planning —specifically designed for nonprofits

Strategic planning is one of the most powerful management tools available to help your organization do a better job —if you know how to use it. This comprehensive book/disk set shows you how to create and implement an effective strategic plan using a simple, seven-phase process that covers everything from defining your mission and setting your course to initiating, monitoring, and streamlining your plan.

The workbook is designed for nonprofits of all shapes, sizes, and budgets, and can be easily adapted to fit any time frame. The package comes with field-tested worksheets, checklists, and tables in both print and disk formats, plus a sample case study that demonstrates strategic planning in action from start to finish. Filled with real-world insights, planning tips, and useful pointers, this accessible guide is a must for every forward-thinking nonprofit professional. Topics covered include:

• How to construct clear mission and vision statements
• How to conduct SWOT analyses and program evaluations
• How to assess client needs and determine stakeholder concerns
• How to set priorities and develop core strategies, goals, and objectives
• How to write and adopt a solid strategic plan
• How to develop a user friendly annual work plan
• How to establish planning cycles, evaluate progress, and update strategies.

From the Publisher
This comprehensive book/disk set shows you how to create and implement an effective strategic plan using a simple, seven-phase process that covers everything from defining your mission and setting your course to initiating, monitoring, and streamlining your plan. The workbook is designed for nonprofits of all shapes, sizes, and budgets, and can be easily adapted to fit any time frame. The package comes with field-tested worksheets, checklists, and tables in both print and disk formats, plus a sample case study that demonstrates strategic planning in action from start to finish.

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Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use (Memo to the CEO): Hugh Macarthur, Orit Gadiesh

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Review
…the authors argue rightly that the very best private-equity firms…have transformed the world s financial markets. –The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2008

Private equity firms are snapping up brand-name companies and assembling portfolios that make them immense global conglomerates. They’re often able to maximize investor value far more successfully than traditional public companies.

How do PE firms become such powerhouses? Learn how, in Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use. Bain chairman Orit Gadiesh and partner Hugh MacArthur use the concise, actionable format of a memo to lay out the five disciplines that PE firms use to attain their edge:

· Invest with a thesis using a specific, appropriate 3-5-year goal

· Create a blueprint for change–a road map for initiatives that will generate the most value for your company within that time frame

· Measure only what matters–such as cash, key market intelligence, and critical operating data

· Hire, motivate, and retain hungry managers–people who think like owners

· Make equity sweat–by making cash scarce, and forcing managers to redeploy underperforming capital in productive directions

This is the PE formulate for unleashing a company’s true potential.

From our new Memo to the CEO series– solutions-focused advice from today’s leading practitioners.

Order Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use (Memo to the CEO): Hugh Macarthur, Orit Gadiesh form Amazon.

Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat (Agora Series): Michael Masterson

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Whether you’re thinking about starting a new business or growing an existing one, Ready, Fire, Aim has what you need to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavors. In it, self-made multimillionaire and bestselling author Masterson shares the knowledge he has gained from creating and expanding numerous businesses and outlines a focused strategy for guiding a small business through the four stages of entrepreneurial growth. Along the way, Masterson teaches you the different skills needed in order to excel in this dynamic environment.

From the Inside Flap

If you had the opportunity to work where, when, and with whom you wanted—all while getting paid very well—would you take it? Self-made multimillionaire and bestselling author Michael Masterson did, and with Ready, Fire, Aim he’ll show you how to do the same.

Whether you’re thinking about starting a new business or growing an existing one, Ready, Fire, Aim has what you need to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavors. In it, Masterson shares the knowledge he has gained from creating and expanding numerous businesses and outlines a focused strategy for guiding a small business through the four stages of entrepreneurial growth. Along the way, Masterson teaches you the different skills needed in order to excel in this dynamic environment.

While some of the concepts covered may seem novel, all of them have been proven to work time and again. Among other things, you’ll discover:

• Why selling is your first business priority and the one thing you should never stop doing

• The handful of numbers that are critical to every business

• When to cut your losses short and when to let your winners run

• The front-end/back-end method of doubling profits easily

• Why having a Plan B is as important as Plan A, and when and how to create it

• The difference between pushers, thinkers, organizers, and sellers, and how to attract the ones you need for your business

Over the course of his remarkably successful career, Michael Masterson has helped start and develop dozens of multimillion-dollar businesses, including one whose revenues exceeded $135 million and another still growing at $300 million. Now, with Ready, Fire, Aim, he’ll show you how to make your way to the top by designing powerful marketing campaigns that will regularly outsell your competitors; implementing innovative operational procedures that will reduce costs and hassles; and using the revolutionary power of the Internet to reduce customer complaints and increase profits.

To start and grow multimillion-dollar businesses over and over again you have to master certain skills. Ready, Fire, Aim reveals what those skills are and shows you how to quickly master them. Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, this remarkable guide for entrepreneurs gives you a blueprint for business and financial success that will allow you to enjoy life to its fullest.

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The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World: Peter Schwartz

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Presenting a revolutionary approach to developing strategic vision in business and in life, a guide for managers, entrepreneurs, and investors explains how to apply creative and intuitive skills to corporate practices. Reprint.

From AudioFile
Author and president of an international consulting firm, Peter Schwartz presents lessons in thinking for the future. Schwartz offers scenarios from the oil industry that can be applied to all aspects of life. His first-hand accounts, originally developed for Royal Dutch/Shell, are invaluable tools for creative thinking in one’s personal life and in business. Schwartz’s methods will enable anyone to think more creatively. These tapes offer lessons not found elsewhere. E.L.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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The Quest for Global Dominance: Transforming Global Presence into Global Competitive Advantage: Vijay Govindarajan, Anil K. Gupta

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this rousing call to arms, the authors business school professors at Dartmouth and the University of Maryland, respectively lay out three persuasive reasons why corporations need to increase their global presence. First, global opportunities and threats can appear anywhere, so it’s best to be firmly entrenched worldwide; second, simply having a “foreign” office doesn’t count as a true global presence; and third, success around the globe means hiring the most talented people available to fuel what the authors call your “knowledge engine.”

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
“…rousing call to arms.” — Publishers Weekly, August 6, 2001

“…this is a very practical and highly readable book.” — Economic Outlook & Business Review, November 2001

“Rich with stories, lessons and concepts, The Quest for Global Dominance is a blueprint for companies that wish to keep pace with the advance of globalisation today…” — Business Monthly, September 2001

In this rousing call to arms, the authors–business school professors at Dartmouth and the University of Maryland, respectively–lay out three persuasive reasons why corporations need to increase their global presence. First, global opportunities and threats can appear anywhere, so it’s best to be firmly entrenched worldwide; second, simply having a “foreign” office doesn’t count as a true global presence; and third, success around the globe means hiring the most talented people available to fule what the authors call your “knowledge engine.” (Sept.) (Publishers Weekly, August 6, 2001)

“Rich with stories, lessons and concepts, The Quest for Global Dominance is a blueprint for companies that wish to keep pace with the advance of globalisation today…” (Business Monthly, September 2001)

“…this is a very practical and highly readable book.” (Economic Outlook & Business Review, November 2001)

Order The Quest for Global Dominance: Transforming Global Presence into Global Competitive Advantage: Vijay Govindarajan, Anil K. Gupta form Amazon.

Simplified Strategic Planning: The No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast: Robert W. Bradford, Brian Tarcy

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Future success? or future shock? Only companies that plan ahead will survive the changes in business today–and tomorrow.

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The One Page Business Plan for Non-Profit Organizations: James T. Horan Jr.

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Review
“I’ve never seen a better way to deploy an organization’s purpose and plans than with this brilliant, simple, straightforward approach to planning.” — Frank Tiedemann –Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland

“Our One Page Plan has helped turn some ’social justice good-hearted souls’ into better organized managers.” — H. Dennis Smith –Northern Illinois Food Bank

“Our One Page Plan saved our agency! We were in deep financial trouble, our accountants had lost control of our books and our government contracts were not paying us. We created a very clear, concise plan using The One Page Business Plan that resulted in discipline and structure that got us back on track!” — Dan Macallair –Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice, San Francisco

The edition of the One Page Business Plan Series has been specifically designed for Non-Profits. If you are responsible for founding or managing a non-profit organization… this book was written just for you! Now you can easily write a draft plan on a single page in less than two hours. Thousands of non-profits have already successfully written and implemented One Page Plans with this simple and effective planning methodology. This special version of The One Page Business Plan has been called “The One Page Promise” because it helps directors, boards, management and volunteers clearly define and live up to their promises at organizational, departmental, project and program levels… all in fast, easy to communicate and actionable terms!

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