Expert Views on Business Plans & Which Advice I Will Follow

Expert Views on Business Plans & Which Advice I Will Follow

My last blog talked about the importance of a business plan from two experts in the field.  Each one of them had different views on how to put a business plan together. McShea believes an entrepreneur needs to have an intense business plan in order to succeed. Hsu believes that an entrepreneur needs to have a simple plan, and not to spend too much time on writing a plan.   Hsu believes one should put that time and effort into your business, and your customer base.  Hsu believes that you should a have plan, but not the old thinking of a 100 page business plan. 

            I agree with Hsu, and I am taking the advice of that he is giving. I am putting a plan into place because I need to see where my company is going.  I have decided to invest a lot of my time into my customer, and making sure I am bringing them the customer service needed to survive, and the correct product to the market they will buy.  I want to make sure my investors will see the return on the investment with my company.  Also, I would like my potential investors to see that I know my market, understand the importance of marketing, and that I will spend marketing dollars smart, and not frivolous.  In my business plan I will make sure that my investors understand the marketing section, and finance section of my business plan.  I think if an investor understands my go to market plan, and how money I expect to make selling our product they will think of my company as a great investment.

            I have learned a lot on how to put a business plan together, and I am currently using this important information in finalizing my business plan. I think one important aspect I will make sure my business plan talks about the business, and how it will make money.  I will not waste valuable time on the fluff of the business plan, but the meat.

Is a Business Plan Important

I have always been taught that you have to have a business plan in order to make it as an entrepreneur.  I have been taught if you do not have a plan you do not have way.  I still believe in order to have a successful business you need you have some type of plan, but it does not have to be the old 40-150 pages that use to be the standard for a business plan. There is an article that has two experts debate the importance of having a business plan and why it is not important to have a business plan. David F. McPhee, partner at law firm Perkins Coie says absolutely, and Will Hsu co-founder of MuckerLab says absolutely not.

The two experts were asked a few questions that pertain to why you should or shouldn’t you have a business plan.  Both experts have valid points, and actually both experts are somewhat saying the same thing but in different ways.  McShea says having a business plan can help a person realize if their idea is really worth starting because a lot of business ideas sound good until a person actually writes it down. McShea believes that a person can save a lot of money by writing this down, and save on payroll or investments.  Hsu believes the best way to get started is take your product to the market, and let your customer base and target market let you know where you need to go.  Hsu believes that an entrepreneur should not waste valuable time on putting a business plan together, but take that time talking to customers and finding how to improve their product and pricing for the market.  I believe both experts have a valid point because some people can get tied up on the small details in a business plan, and this can keep a person off track on the ultimate goal, which is to start up a successful business. 

McShea believes that having a business plan will attract investors, while Hsu feels having a simple plan, but being able to show your bottom line will be more attractive to investors.  Hsu feels that an investor wants a plan that will be 10-15 pages, and not the usually 40-page business plan.  Hsu feels that investors do not want to get caught up in the fluff of a long business plan.  I agree with both McShea and Hsu when it comes to a business plan.  I believe in K.I.S.S, keep it simple stupid.  I agree with McShea that every new business needs a business plan, and I agree with Hsu that it needs to be simple, and not to spend so much time on a plan that you do not spend the needed time with your customer. 

Importance of SEO

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The Importance of SEO As A Musician

Many musicians may not understand the importance of search engine optimization or for short SEO.  I have dealt with a lot musicians that feel once they have a website up and going they are going to start to see their fan base skyrocket.  But in reality this was just the first step.  I ran across an article that gives musicians nine steps to help on how to utilize search optimization.  One of the steps is the most common, and probably the most popular step, and this is the use of social networking.

Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace are great support for musicians, and these sites are a great way for musicians not only to promote their music, but to also network with other musicians, and people in the music industry.  Another important step is the use of keywordsfor their website.  An important fact that musicians need to know is that they really need only 5-10 keywords, and not much more.  I know a lot of artist wants to use as many keywords as possible, and they think this will help get them more visibility, but in fact this can end up hurting their exposure.   Along, with using keywords, artist should make sure they use real words.

Some of you may be thinking, what are real words?  Well, real words means when an artist post content to their website such as music videos to use real words.  Google can only read real words, and not videos, so this means you have to insert some form of content with your music videos.  One more important step to help get more visibility to your website is the use of analytics andstatistics.  This will allow you to be able to track how much traffic you have visiting your site on a daily basis. There are plenty of free tools that will allow you to be able to keep track of this information.  Also, it is very important to know these numbers, because this can help in securing a deal or even better you can secure sponsorship because you have so much traffic going to your website.  

Kellie B.