Business Expert

You’d never dream of setting out on a trip without a specific destination in mind, yet many of us start businesses without a clear idea of where we’re headed, or what we want our company to look like in the future. If you want your business to succeed, it’s important to define exactly what success will look like for you and for your company.

The road map for your journey — the picture of your ultimate destination — will be set forth in your vision statement. Vision and mission statements are closely related and have similarities. Essentially, your mission statement is the “what” your business is all about; the vision statement is the “where” your company is headed.

A vision statement is a short, memorable and inspiring word picture of your company’s ideal future. A well-thought-through, carefully crafted vision statement will give shape, direction and continuity to your company’s future. It will inspire actions that will lead you in the right direction and discourage unproductive ‘short-term thinking.’

Without a vision statement, circumstances may take you where you never intended to go. Anne is a talented artist who began her business five years ago designing beautiful, unique websites for high-end real estate developers. She loved her work and looked forward to each day at the office. The business prospered and Anne soon had more work than she could handle alone. She hired a subcontractor, then another. Today, Anne plays the role of a project manager, supervising others rather than doing the creative work that is her passion. The company appears successful and provides a good living, but Anne is unfulfilled, has little enthusiasm and no longer enjoys running her business. There are no easy solutions. Setting out with a clear vision of what she wanted her company to become could have prevented her current dilemma. Creating a vision statement is a worthwhile investment of your time and energy.

Your vision statement should:

• Be short and memorable

• Describe in simple, very specific, powerful language what you want your company to look like in the future

• Identify clear direction and promote laser-like focus

• Be positive and inspiring, and generate pride and excitement in employees and team members

• Encourage you to keep going through the tough times

Creating Your Vision Statement:

We recommend that you first establish your mission statement, keeping your beliefs and core values in mind. This will provide the foundation for writing your vision statement. Crafting a vision statement can be done on your own, or you can brainstorm as a group with other key people in or associated with your business. It will take time, but it’s a rewarding and fun project.

Take a large sheet of paper, or use a flip chart, and describe your desired future. Imagine that you’re looking at your business as you’d like to see it five years from today. What is it like? Where is it located? What sort of a building? What does it look like? Are there employees? How many? What is the annual revenue? Who are your biggest clients? What is your role in the company? Envision everything, down to the smallest details, exactly how you would like to see it. Record it all. Remember to consider your exit strategy. Be outrageously creative and think big!

As you brainstorm, beware of the following vision killers:

• Thinking too small

• Fear of ridicule — what others may think or say

• Focusing on negatives and potential problems

• Thinking ‘inside the box,’ doing things the way they’ve always been done

• Apathy — content with the status quo

• Procrastination

Pulling It All Together

Review your descriptions, keep them all in front of you and begin to condense them into a clear and powerful statement of no more than one or two sentences. Refine and rewrite it. Make every word count!

It’s a good idea to occasionally review your future vision of the business, and make sure this is still the direction you want to go. Adjusting or changing your vision statement is easy, but without one, you significantly decrease the possibility of reaching your goal.

Don’t underestimate the power of a clear, well-written vision statement to guide you in the direction you want to take your business and your life! Don’t postpone this project. Set a date and time now to create your vision statement, keep it where you can see it often, and start moving towards your desired destination!

People presumes that making Powerpoint presentations are very time consuming. If you are given a task of presenting data to your employer or your clients – who are your audiences, you need to work fast to prepare your presentation including compiling all important data into your presentation. There are several ways to organize these data which audiences find it easy to understand. It is crucial when especially you want to close your sales or give a business proposal, or even look for business solutions that meets clients’ needs.

Before you start making one presentation, you should summarized all the related information before you deliver it to your audiences. Remember, simplicity is the main rule of effective presentation. Please use simple slide designs to avoid create confusion among audiences. You can even use plain white background for your slides. Avoid complicated slide designs that could distract your audiences’ attention.

Therefore, you can only include related graphics on your Powerpoint presentations. If you are promoting a product, then you should include pictures of the products. Cleverly arrange the pictures on your slides so that you can capture audiences’ attention. For example, i prefer to put one product picture in one slide to allow clients to experience and discover the product visually.

One of the main reason your clients buy your products because they have the clear view of the potential of your products. You may include few words for the product description on your slides but I prefer to put two-to-three short lines to describe the products. Make sure the text-contents fonts and colors match the background picture.

You can use animation effects to enhance your presentation especially during the appearance of the text-contents and pictures. Normally, I use “Dissolve In” or “Ascend” animation effects for the text-contents and pictures to appear.

Concurrently, charts and graphs are included in these business presentations. You can have mixtures of text and content layouts in your presentation slides. I suggest that you do not mix bullet-texts with chats and graphs together. For example, insert three dimensional charts and graphs to show your annual profits to your employer. If you are using bar graphs, maximize the use of color effects in every bar graphs. Most business presenters use primary colors in their graphs. If you are using plain white backgrounds for your presentation, dark colored charts and graphs are chosen as the foreground objects of the slide presentation.

Poor financing is the number two reason small businesses fail, falling right behind poor management. Sufficient funding is paramount to the success of small businesses, and small business grants can be the answer to the problem. If business owners have the necessary knowledge about how to find and properly request grants, they have a better shot at creating a successful business that will be open longer and prosper.

There are over 300 different grants and loans available for small businesses that are just starting out. The grants range from $25,000 up to $1,000,000 depending on the size and projected success rate of the business. There are also grants available to help small businesses grow or expand. Grants are not the same as loans because they do not have to be repaid. A grant is considered free money, as well as an investment to promote the success of small businesses and the U.S. economy. Money for grants comes from income taxes. Obtaining a small business grant does not require credit checks or deposits, even if the owners have experienced bankruptcy in the past.

There are a number of helpful websites that send small businesses government grant packages for free, excluding the cost of shipping. These packages include information on how to find grants, how to prepare a grant request, and how to apply for grants pertaining to a specific business. Some of the providers are Government Funding Solutions, Grant Master, and Grant Wizard.

It is important to be familiar with the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) rules for receiving grants before beginning the process of obtaining one. Although the SBA does not provide grants to small businesses, they do provide helpful suggestions and resources on how to find grants.

In order to qualify for a small business grant, individuals must first become familiar with the 13 CFR 143 document that lists all of the requirements to be eligible for a grant. This document includes information on the pre-award and post-award periods and defines all aspects of applying for a grant and states who is eligible. The CFR is the primary source of rules and regulations for small business grants and must be read before starting the grant writing process.

After reviewing the requirements, prospective business owners must write a grant request. There are professionals who will write a grant proposal or the individuals may complete it themselves. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance is a helpful site that links individuals to resources about federal grants for small businesses. Afterschool.gov gives helpful tips on how to write a small business grant and, although it is geared toward grants for after school programs, includes helpful information for grant writing in general.

Additionally, there are many well-established government and private organizations that provide grants to small businesses. The Department of Justice’s Ten Grant document gives access to grant opportunities for those conducting research in support of law enforcement. The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has several grant opportunities for small business owners. They offer about $125 million to businesses that are based in a community setting with special attention to training programs. The Department of Transportation is another organization that offers small business grants. They offer grants to any business willing to help resolve the growing problems with the federal-aid highway program. The Department of Education has a program called e-GRANTS that locates electronic grants online. They have a detailed list of grants available and the necessary applications to fill out. There are a variety of grants available for different groups, all of which have detailed descriptions and contact information. Other organizations that provide small business grants include the EPA, the National Cancer Institute, NOAA, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.