Business Plan Creation & Upgrades
Business Plan Creation
Whether you are a new start-up company with no business plan or a mature company that does not have an up-to-date, formal business plan, we can create one for you that makes your company look good when visiting the bank for your lending needs. Besides making you and your business look good, the business plan we create will be more robust than that – it will be a tool for you to use to monitor progress, hold yourself accountable, fully understand the inner-workings, interrelationships, and dependencies of your business, and ultimately control your business’s fate.
Start-up Services
If you are interested in starting your own business, we can help you get started with your business plan development, your bank relationships, and establish your merchant and tax account. We can also help to obtain start-up capital, set up a legal business structure, obtain a Federal Employer Identification Numbers, satisfy business licensing requirements, find the right accountant, find the right attorney, establish an internet presence, develop business collateral, help you identify where to get help, and help you understand how to follow government rules.
SBA Consulting
Starting a new business, especially a business that needs funding right from the start, can be extremely challenging. Sometimes it may seem like there is no hope to obtain funding, and although it is never guaranteed that you and your business will qualify for funding, we can help you pursue all of your lending options, and more. We can help you with the multiple services SBA offers to help small businesses grow, SBA loan program selection, how to prepare your loan application, find small business loans, grants, government grants, and research grants for small businesses.
Business News
Top 10 Reasons Most New Businesses Fail
If you just opened your business or if you are thinking about starting a new business, you will need to know why many new businesses are expected to fail within the first year. Even for those established businesses, owners should also be aware of these causes, especially if your business has been growing, because you may have started off right on the right path, but you may have gotten off-track over time.
The U.S. Small Business Administration released statistics that report only 7 out of 10 businesses remain open after 2 years, and only 50% are still open after 5 years. These statistics only apply to businesses that have hired at least 1 employee and the statistics are not available for sole owner home businesses, but it almost guaranteed that the failure rate would be even higher.
The top 10 reasons most businesses fail are:
1. Failing to Have a Business Plan in Place
2. Not Creating Measurable Goals
3. Poor Customer Service
4. Inadequate Funding
5. Charging Too Little
6. Insufficient Value Proposition
7. Insufficient Record-keeping
8. Neglecting Your Own Health and Emotional Well-being
9. Not Realizing There Is Lack Knowledge or Expertise
10. Not Feeling Passionately About The Business
Westlund Consulting can help! We create business plans tailored to specific businesses that have measurable goals, explain profitable price points, and clear value propositions. We also help you organize your financial records with your banks, help you organize your business records through software training, and increase the likelihood of your business funding being approved. Westlund Consulting’s services will give you extra time to attend to your customer service and the peace of mind to attend to your personal health and emotional well-being.
Top 10 Reasons To Have A Comprehensive Business Plan
1. Business plans are designed to define a purpose to show how results will impact the business bottom line. You are in business to make money, and business plans help move businesses from start-up to profit status.
2. A well-written business plan helps forecast the future, even when the future is not well known.
3. For those businesses hoping to raise capital or get start-up funding, a business plan is critical. Funding sources will not consider investing in a business without seeing a formal business plan that outlines the future potential of the business.
4. Good business leaders know that a well-written business plan provides day-to-day operational support. Organizations that stay the course of their business plan have a higher chance of success. When the business plan is used as a road map it helps leaders stay focused on business growth, mission and goals.
5. Business plans determine the best ways to allocate scarce resources, such as budgets, inventory, etc.. A business plan helps leaders avoid pitfalls that may lead to failure.
6. A business plan helps clarify business market position and growth potential. Great ideas can end up bogged down in unnecessary changes resulting from poor planning or consideration. Business plans help decipher, organize, and plan some of these ideas before they result in failures.
7. A comprehensive business plan will include a marketing element. Marketing research data helps leaders target their markets and know how those markets can best be leveraged to help build and promote their business brand and services.
8. For start-up businesses, a detailed business plan is critical if success is to be maximized. Business plans channel energy, money and time in a focused direction to help to assure success. A good idea can be capitalized on even more with the use of a business plan that shows where money should go, and how long it will take before a business idea can shows profit.
9. While the main purpose of a business plan is to help businesses move from start-up to success, a business plan is also indispensable as a tool for future development and growth. The right decisions today help ensure tomorrows success. The business plan clarifies these opportunities and moves businesses in the right direction.
10. A business plan demonstrates a formal seriousness to investors, employees and others involved in the development and growth of the business. Having a formal business plan means that the owner(s) have taken the time to thoroughly map out what the business is and what it will be in the future. This crucial step is an important element that most start-up businesses do not recognize, which often leads to failure.