Time To Put It To Use

A few weeks ago I wrote about what Pete Cashmore of Mashable and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook could teach a young entrepreneur in “Learn From The Experts.” These two men have definitely made something of themselves following a few key rules, and it is about time for me to flee the nest to put those tips to use.

These two men have taught me to think long term when developing a business plan. Not only does show investors that you have a well thought out plan, but it helped me to see the big picture. By envisioning the whole process, it allowed me to tweak ideas and think of new ones.

The second and main thing these two entrepreneurs taught me was to dream big. My business plan includes ideas that I never thought I would be capable of coming up with. I have completely taken my beginning idea and ran with it. Sometimes it can be difficult for me to be as creative as I want, but I pushed myself very hard for this project and I am glad that I dreamed big.

As a graduate student, I have done my fair share of researching different techniques for being successful and it seems that two keys to have are creativity and persistence. As long as you have these traits you will survive. There are many bright minds out there, but they don’t have the motivation to make something of themselves. And I’ll be honest, there are a lot of times that I just want to quit, but where’s the fun in that?

In addition to following these tips, you should pay special attention to certain sections of your business plan. Entrepreneur.com says the business concept, market overview, and financials sections are the most important and I completely agree with them. The business concept section will give the investor an idea of what your product/service is. It is where they get to know you. Secondly, the market overview helps to investor to understand if there is a market for your idea. If there isn’t any room for growth in the market, then the investor isn’t going to be interested. Lastly, the investor needs to know what kind of money you are looking for. By providing him with your financial section they will know exactly how much is needed to start your business.

I have constantly taken these techniques into account while developing my final business plan. So many factors go into the development of a business plan; what to do, what not to do, how to word it, how to make it look, etc. On top of that, the people you hand your business play to have already viewed many other business plans, so you have to make yours stand out.

Just remember that your idea is great and that you can reach your goals with persistence.

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Sources:

http://www.allfacebook.com/what-every-entrepreneur-should-learn-from-mark-zuckerberg-2010-06

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219592

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/38290

http://billingsleykatie.blogspot.com/2011/10/learn-from-experts.html

http://www.betadaily.com/2010/02/07/professional-business-plan-writer/