RedPlanet

The play, Death Of A Salesman, is a tragedy not only in the liberal sense of the Greeks, who thought that any play that was serious and dignified was tragic, but also because the main character of Willy Loman qualifies as a tragic figure.The stories of monarchs are stirring, but the story of the common man Willy Loman is more stirring because his problem of “having the wrong dream” is more alarming because it can happen to anyone. For a man to marry his mother such as Oedipus did is much more remote than for a common man to make the wrong career choice.Willy Loman works hard to provide for his family and to give his son Biff a good start in life. Willy believes that if he keeps selling he will be liked and, therefore, rich. Willy says “…It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it – because personality always wins the day.”. Willy has been selling himself by putting on his personality everyday of his whole life. Charlie tells Willy that “The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you’re a salesman, and you don’t know that.”.If Willy had sold his carpenter work he might have been more successful, but, instead, he has been suffering a downward spiral by trying to sell his personality. The irony is that he has wasted his life by trying to sell the wrong product. He worked so hard to gain wealth “…on the basis of being liked!…”. that his own family suffered.When Willy Loman finally realizes to sell the real self (not just the mask), by actually dying for the money, he is not there to share the joy. Willy says “Oh, Ben, I always knew one way or another we were going to make it, Biff and I!”. This is true and tragic irony.The true value conflict for Willy Loman is that of materialism versus inner happiness. Willy Loman could have had inner happiness had he chosen to follow his heart, by doing carpentry work and living in the country, instead of chasing after money for its own sake and living in the city to do it.Willy did have the wrong dream. Working with his hands, as Ben says, is “Not like an appointment at all. A diamond is rough and hard to the touch.”. Willy needed to work at something, such as carpentry, that he could put his hands on. He needed to create, but was stifled by his environment. He would have been much happier working with his hands and living where the earth was open and clean.We can learn a lot from the play Death Of A Salesman. It is so important to do what you love to do. Make sure you’re selling the right product or service and also be proud of it. Do your due diligence including checking out the forum and calling the owner before you sign up. If you’re working at home it’s important to have the right tools, programs, and services at your disposal so that you can really enjoy what you’re doing. You don’t need to “die trying”.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

If you are just starting a company and looking for funding, or looking for additional funding for growth, you will need to develop a traditional business plan. Creating a business plan is a business hurdle that entrepreneurs seem to dread. Do you do it yourself? Do you hire someone to do it? How do you get it done quickly, but without spending too much money on it? Will what you do yourself be adequate to get funding?In this article I will discuss the pros and cons of do-it-yourself business planning versus having a business planning consultant do it for you or with you.The Do It Yourself Business PlanParticularly if you are seeking capital of less than $200,000, consider creating the plan yourself after taking a class or reading some books or getting some coaching for someone who has written successful business plans.Consider taking a three-hour business planning class through SCORE or the local Small Business Development Center. Even if you decide afterwards not to write your own plan, you will have a much better idea of what you want out of the process and what to expect.There are some good reasons for an entrepreneur to do the business plan:First of all, because you can. If you’ve read sample business plans and find their accounting jargon intimidating, you are not alone. But as long as you can clearly get your message across and have other people such as you accountant look at the plan before it goes to lenders or others, you can do this work yourself. It is in learning the business planning process that you develop analytical thinking skills necessary to run your business with an intimate understanding of your own business model. Going through the planning process is an invaluable business experience. You need to know the plan inside and out and really understand the variables involved. You are the one who will be asked the tough questions by potential investors or lenders, such as “What will you do if only half your expected revenue comes in?” or “What will you do if you find out that direct mail is not working for you as your primary marketing tool?” Outsourcing the Business Plan ProcessEntrepreneurs are fire fighters. One of the most important jobs of an entrepreneur is to manage time, and do those things that you are best skilled to do. Many entrepreneurs decide to hire someone else to do their business plans, often because they have an urgent need for the funding and can’t afford the learning curve to be able to develop a high-quality plan that will meet the needs of lenders or investors.In addition, if your funding requirements are more than $500,000 my recommendation is to get some professional help with this project, even if you do some of it yourself.Some reasons to consider hiring a consultant: - It will get done! Business planning is done much faster with someone who knows the process. Every entrepreneur has good intentions about getting plans completed, but months later they still haven’t done all the work. Planning should be high priority work, but it is hard to get to when customer calls and employee problems require immediate attention. The sooner the plan is completed, the sooner funding can be attained. And the price of hiring the consultant will be small in comparison with the increases in growth and profitability of the business. - It will get done in a way financial professionals will respect. Business planning is done better by someone who knows how finance people look at plans and what they will and won’t question. Once you’ve been through the business plan process many times, you know what it takes to get funding - what to emphasize and what to play down. - The consultant’s objectivity will allow for non-emotionally-based projections and expectations for the business. A consultant will be much more objective in the process and question your assumptions, making it less likely that the business will have problems after the funding comes in. No matter what, don’t let a business planning consultant talk you into putting any information into your plan that you aren’t comfortable with. If it doesn’t look right to you, it probably isn’t. It is your business, and you will be stuck with the plan long after you’ve paid the consultant’s bill. Make sure it is the plan that you want, one that matches your goals and objectives, and captures the way you look at business and the spirit of your company.If you do decide to hire a business planning consultant, here are some of the important questions to ask to make sure you get the greatest value from your investment:- How many business plans have you written for my type of business? How many of them were funded? - How much time will you need of mine during the planning process? - When will the plan be completed, and how many drafts should I expect to see and have the opportunity to comment on? - Will you be writing the plan yourself or do you have associates who do the work with you? - Will there be an opportunity for you to present the plan or for me to present the plan to my other advisors before the final draft is done? - How do you work in collaboration with my partners and advisors so their input is taken into consideration during the writing of the plan? - Do you do the market research and the financial spreadsheets, or are those things done separately (and charged for separately)? - Does your price include revisions or customization for certain types of funding (to include different information needed by investors versus lenders)? - Does your price include coaching to prepare me to talk with lenders or make financing presentations? - Will I have an electronic version as well as a hard copy version of the final plan (so I can make changes later if I need to)? The Optimum Solution: A Blended ApproachAt best, the planning process should not be at either end of the spectrum, but squarely in the middle. In my experience, plans that win funding come from a true collaboration between a skilled consultant/facilitator and the entrepreneur’s team of employees and advisors.A business planning consultant can act as a coach, first assessing the job to be done, and then recommending who is best to do it. The business plan should be a compilation of work between the vision and goals of the entrepreneur, the technical understanding and expertise of his or her accountant and other professionals, a consensus of employees or others, and the research and writing abilities of the business planning consultant. The consultant should meet with all parties involved, talk about what is needed for the plan, and use all the resources available to get the work done as quickly and cost effectively as possible. It is the consultant’s responsibility in the process to take all the pieces and make the final plan into a readable, accessible document that will stand up to investor/lender scrutiny.My final caveats:Don’t pay more than a few thousand dollars for a plan unless you are looking for capital of well over $1 million. I have heard more than a few horror stories by people who have hired university professors assuming they are the experts (they aren’t) and paying tens of thousand of dollars for a poorly written or incomplete plan. Ask your banker for business planning consultant recommendations, or better yet, talk with someone who had a good experience having a business plan written for them. It is reasonable for a consultant to expect you to pay half of the fee up front and the other half at the completion of the plan. And you can’t hold the consultant responsible if you don’t get funding based on the plan - too much is based on your own credit and management skills. Don’t expect to get a finished plan that is a roadmap of everything you need to do to have a successful business. That isn’t the purpose of the business planning process. A traditional business plan is intended only to document your strategies for the business very briefly - but well enough to get funding. If you are hoping for something that will tell you how to market or how many people you need to hire, you will have to start with a deep strategic planning process, and probably buy lots of consulting time to get you going. Don’t expect a great a business plan from a poor business model. If your costs are too high to make your business profitable, the business planning process will help you discover that. Then it will be up to you to make the hard decisions about changing your costs structure to make the business work. The business planning consultant is a skilled professional, not a miracle worker. A good business plan can help you highlight your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, but it cannot make an unworkable business model into a thriving business. And one final thought: Don’t go on to start a business or make changes in your current business if everything in the business planning process tells you it won’t work. Things don’t get better out in the real world if they don’t work on paper. Deal with the weaknesses - get more training, consider product redevelopment, or have a home-based business to reduce costs until you can sustain the rent for an office. Businesses fail finally because they’ve run out of money. If your plan tells you that you can’t make enough money to make the business work for the long run, pay attention to that reality.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

From online auctions to pets, personal trainers to search engine consultants, these seemingly unrelated business ideas have one thing in common: They are among the hottest small business areas in 2005.For someone wishing to build an exciting one person/family operation with little up-front money, there’s been no better year than 2005.Online Affiliate MarketingDid you know that big companies such as SONY, Gateway, Weight Watchers and Amazon.com will pay you for promoting their products? If not, then welcome to the exciting world of affiliate marketing.A little while ago these brand-name companies, and thousands like them, discovered that they could greatly increase their corporate earnings by paying a commission to people (”affiliates”) who direct customers to their sites. When a customer buys a popular item from one of these sites the company pays the affiliate (you) a commission. These commissions can go as high as 50% - 75% of the actual sale. The commissions are high because the numbers of sales are greatly increased. The companies have enlisted the online community as their sales representatives.In 2004 this business exploded. Entire networks sprang up solely to administer these company’s affiliate programs and commission payments. People were making so much money that tax ids had to be captured to appease the IRS. As big as this was in 2004, all projections have 2005 being much bigger as more and more companies get involved.The startup costs for this business is the price of a home computer and an Internet connection. Since many people already have these items, this is an especially attractive side job or career for the “work at home” crowd. All the information to start this type of business can be found by searching for and reading the many available documents. Alternatively, there are some very good resources available that have compiled the pages and pages of pertinent information into a “how to” guide.One of the most challenging aspects of this business is how to advertise these companies and their products. There are many ways to do this, but the idea should be to get as many people as possible to the company’s sites. The more people you get to a company’s site, the more sales you will generate, and that translates to commissions. Again, a clever entrepreneur will be able to find a lot of options by reading whatever they can find on the Internet. If you’re strapped for time because you already work full-time or are busy with kids, you can get tips on how to place free ads from several sources. Guides exist that can show you how to place up to 200 million ads online for free. There’s nothing like free advertising.If you don’t mind working largely by yourself, then online affiliate marketing could be the hot job for you in 2005.Online Auctions – eBayOne business area that has so far been “recession-proof” is the huge online-auction marketplace. And in this land eBay is the undisputed King-Kong.At the end of 2003, eBay boasted 95 million registered users who traded almost $24 billion in goods. With numbers like these it’s easy to see why so many entrepreneurs are setting up shop on eBay.Perhaps it was put best by Janiece Smith in her remarkable eBay book How an Overworked, Traveling, Soggy Sandwich Eating Dental Hygienist Made $11,212 a Month Online. Says Smith, “Where else can you start a business with virtually no money, and have access to 86 million+ proven buyers right from your own home?”. Smith continues, “You can work as much as you want, whenever you want, from any location, all the time generating cash profits 24 hours a day”.Apparently Janiece is not the only one who sees eBay as a cash cow, as many people are turning to this online juggernaut as an easy way to make extra money. In fact, an ever-growing number of people have jettisoned their regular job and are now supporting themselves entirely from their eBay business (400,000 according to Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay).It’s been estimated by some that eBay will continue to grow 25%-35% per year for the foreseeable future, making this business hot not only for 2005, but for many years to come.Search Engine OptimizationIs your business really online if nobody knows you’re there? Companies have been finding out that they can spend a million dollars on their website, but if it’s not visible, it’s worth nothing. That’s why search engine optimization has become crucial for companies to survive online. And since few of these companies have the in-house expertise to do it themselves, search engine optimization consultants, or SEO consultants as they are known in the industry, have become virtually indispensible.Almost 85% of people online use search engines, according to several marketing services. And CEOs want to ensure that these people are able to see their company’s listing. This can only be done using search engine optimizers which provide the algorithms and technology to increase a site’s visibility.Today, an SEO consultant, armed with a search engine optimization software package can command top-dollar for their services. This is because the up front consulting cost is easily recouped by the increase in sales due to higher online visibility.And as a final indication of how hot the search engine optimization field is, there are places where you can get a complete Web Site Promotion Business Plan that explains step-by-step how to setup and run one of these companies.This is one of those rare times where one can witness a niche industry going supernova.Dog Obedience TrainerPets have become an integral part of the family. In fact, many pet owners consider their dog or cat like a child or family member. This helps explain why the pet business is now a multi-billion dollar industry.How popular are pets? Well, new figures just released from the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) show that pet ownership is currently at its highest level, with 63 percent of all U.S. households owning a pet. Americans own approximately 73 million dogs and 90 million cats.There are many areas where people are tapping part of that multi-billion dollar revenue. Areas such as pet gifts, parties, travel accessories, nutrition, health insurance, dental products and toys are all very popular. However one niche area has clearly become a hit with dog owners … Dog Obedience Trainer.Dog training schools are generally quite expensive, so many owners are turning instead to private obedience trainers. This works well for the owner since in most cases the trainer will work with the dog at owner’s home. As a dog obedience trainer you would be expected to stop the dog from fighting with other dogs, curb aggressiveness, stop the dog from jumping on people, etc.Daniel Stevens, a professional dog trainer and author of some excellent books, says “You don’t need some 12-week dog obedience training plan where you do almost the same thing each week. This is not the most effective way of training your dog because your dog switches out of learning mode”.What makes this an especially attractive career choice is the minimal upfront expenditure required. All a person needs to start this business is a knowledge of current dog training techniques. This is easily attainable by studying one of several books on the subject.Advertising for your new business could be as simple has hanging home made flyers on supermarket bulletin boards or leaving cards at local veterinarians, groomers and pet stores. You could also opt to get a complete Business Plan that explains step-by-step how to setup and run one of these businesses.A true opportunity for a pet lover in 2005Nutritionst, Personal TrainerWith millions of people eager to lose weight and get in shape, a nutritionist and personal trainer is one of the fastest growing fields in the health and fitness industry today.It used to be that only athletes used nutritionsts and personal trainers to help them reach the top of their sport. Today however, all types of people - from the young to senior citizens - are using these consultants to help them learn how to lose weight, excercise and eat right.With the escalating costs of health care insurance, many employers are now making employees pick up a greater share of their premiums, and offering discounts to those who are in good shape and at their ideal weight. All of this means more and more people are seeking out nutritionsts and personal trainers to help them achieve their goals.Someone wishing to start a business in this sizzling industry has to be knowledgeable about eating right and excercising properly. There are classes you can take to learn this information, but expect to pay several thousand dollars in tuition fees. This makes this business more costly to start than some of the others mentioned in this article. You could also teach yourself this information by reviewing of one several resources for this industry.With an ever-aging population growing larger everyday, this is a business that should be hot well past 2005.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

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