Volume 3 Issue 1
July 15, 2004     
This Newsletter is about Small Business. I'm Craig Jennings and. I'm a professional coach who works with small businesses. I thought this might be interesting for you and I plan to publish monthly. Alternatively, please click here to unsubscribe.

Mission
Observation
Tricky truths
Click here to get a really slick goal worksheet
Mission:
To help you become more you successful, whether you own a small business, are self-employed, or are planning a venture.
Observation:
The small-business workplace is an extraordinary opportunity. You (and I) truly have the opportunity to create the business we want. We answer only to ourselves, and we're fulfilling the American Dream. We account for 51% of the businesses in the USA, and produce 47% of the output. Some 640,000 of us take on a new business every year.

Tricky Truths:
If you own a small business or are planning to, there are a few tricky truths you may be looking at.

The enthusiasm for small business startups is high and getting higher – but the success rate is low – 4 out of 5 are gone in 4 years.

So why do so many small businesses fail?

The SBA offers three reasons:

  1. Inadequate capital
  2. Inadequate experience
  3. Inadequate planning

For the next year, I'd be writing a small-business newsletter designed to meet conditions #2 and #3. (Sorry I can't help with the capital!) I'd be looking at all the issues around building a small business that bedevil the entrepreneurs Why can't you get good help? Why is everything urgent? Why are you working twice as hard and making half as much?

And there are the other issues's should you incorporate, write a business plan, hire your dumb brother-in-law because he'll work for next to nothing, and so forth.

Here's an abbreviated outline's the real deal runs 5 pages.

  1. Envisioning the business – plan no small plans around mission and vision.
  2. Creating the business – goals, corporations and incorporation, finance.
  3. Marketing- strategy and tactics.
  4. Writing your business plan – not easy, not hard either
  5. Building your human resources – choosing, training and managing
  6. Using experts – accountants, attorneys, consultants, coaches
  7. Market research – should you?
  8. Protecting intellectual property – copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets
  9. Setting up your office - computers, phones, other equipment, people-needs

Are you still with me? Here’s a bonus – I’ll send you an idea for a self-assessment that surprises most entrepreneurs, and helps small businesspeople decide where to do it themselves, and where to ask for help. Just send an e-mail to craig@craigjennings.com.

Who am I to be coming on like this? If you’re on my mailing list, we should have met in class or in public – but I’m an entrepreneurial junkie (7 businesses in my lifetime) and a professional small-business coach.. I talk with 20 or more small business entrepreneurs every week. Check me out at my website at www.craigjennings.com. Or end it all now by emailing craig@craigjennings.com with REMOVE on the subject line.



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