Understand The Essential ‘Why They Buy’
By Tim Berry
Close your eyes. Step away from the daily routine. Answer these questions. Why does anybody buy what you're selling? What do they get out of it? Do you fill a need? Do you offer identifiable benefits? Some 30 years ago... Read More »
Video: 5 Fundamental Principles of Business Planning
By Tim Berry
Through the decades, what I recommend for real business planning has changed a lot; but these five fundamental principles of business planning remain constant, from then straight through until today. And for lean business plans as well as formal traditional plans. Read More »
Planning and Paradox
By Tim Berry
Business planning is full of paradox. Here are some interesting examples. Business plans are always wrong, but nonetheless vital. Wrong because they're predicting the future and we're human, we're fallible, so we don't get it right. Vital because we need... Read More »
Business Plan Software Then and Now
By Tim Berry
I was shocked, over the weekend, to discover that it’s been more than 10 years since I posted The Future of Business Planning Software here on this blog. I wrote then: As time goes on, more people are going to use planning as process to manage their businesses better. More will see the power of regular plan... Read More »
Business Planning is not Accounting
By Tim Berry
The picture here represents the legendary Stargate, a science fictional gateway between two dimensions. There was a 1994 film starring James Spader and Kurt Russell. I often use it to illustrate the difference between planning and accounting. Planning begins today... Read More »
A Simple Cash Flow Spreadsheet Anybody Can Use
By Tim Berry
If there’s just one formal business skill every business owner should have, it’s understanding and forecasting cash flow. It’s not intuitive because it’s not the same as profits; but it’s vital. We spend cash, not profits. It’s one of the most important pieces of every lean business plan. Here’s my recommendation for a relatively simple... Read More »
10 Marketing Plan Essentials for 2016
By Tim Berry
(Note: I posted this last week on the SBA Industry Word blog as 10 Essentials of A Marketing Plan in 2016.) Clearly, technology has changed marketing a lot. We fast forward through ads on television and block them on our devices. We have amplified word of mouth in social media. We pour over analytics and metrics.... Read More »
The Only Startup Metrics that Matter
By Tim Berry
I like this a lot. In The only startup metrics that matter — Medium, Josh Elman, who has had upper echelon stints with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, writes: “One of the things that I felt working on each of these is that we never looked at numbers or metrics in the abstract — total page views,... Read More »
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