Founded After Forty

Glenda Shawley

Description

Founded After Forty by small business expert Glenda Shawley takes you step by step from discovering your 'why' and vision to launching your business and keeping the momentum going. It covers finding the right business model and business fundamentals as well as practical considerations such as making the time for running a business.

Part 2 looks at the mechanics of starting up: legal considerations, identifying the target market, choosing the right route to market, developing the brand, making a profit, and mapping the customer journey.

Part 3 gets you started with marketing, staffing, managing the business and the launch and beyond.

The guidance in the book is supplemented with examples from existing business owners who didn’t always get it right first time. Each chapter finished with topics to think about as well as key actions that need to be taken.

There is an accompanying downloadable workbook which builds on the key activities in the book to help you create your own unique business plan.

Table of contents

Introduction

How will this book help?

Being realistic

How to use this book

Part 1: Before you start

Chapter 1: What’s your ‘why’?

Why is it important to understand your ‘why’?

Getting to your why

You have a ‘why’ but do you have a business?

What would success look like to you?

Connecting to your vision of success

Start with the end in mind

Chapter 2: Choosing a business model that is right for you

Franchising

Network marketing

Buying an existing business

Starting from scratch

Is running a business right for you?

Deciding what’s right for you

Chapter 3: Some fundamentals of business

Basic principles

Business planning

What problems should you be prepared for?

Chapter 4: Finding time for your business

Avoiding bright shiny objects

Establishing priorities

Managing your priorities

Avoid procrastination and perfectionism

The Power Hour

Automating tasks

Getting help

Creating work-life balance

Part 2: Developing the plan

Chapter 5: Legal considerations

Your trading status

Registrations and licences

Protecting your assets

Health and safety

Employment law

Trading regulations

Managing data and communications

Taxation

Insurance

Chapter 6: Understanding your target market

What is a narrow and deep niche?

Profiling your ideal customer

Why will your ideal customer need you?

Time for some research

Conducting research

Avoiding common research mistakes

What competition do you have for customers?

Finding your position in the marketplace

Chapter 7: Your route to market

Taking on premises

Working from home

Running a mobile business

Flexible solutions

Online

Chapter 8: Developing your brand

What is a brand?

How are our perceptions of a brand formed?

Developing your brand

Pulling your brand together

Designing your brand’s identity

Finalising your branding

Applying your visual branding

Implementing your branding strategy

Staying on brand

Chapter 9: Making a profit

Demystifying the jargon

Establishing your costs

Setting your prices

Know your worth

Planning finance

Budgeting

Producing your cash flow forecast

Dealing with cash flow problems

Working out your break-even point

Raising finance

Taxation

Tracking progress

Chapter 10: Putting your customer at the heart of your business

Mapping the customer journey

Awareness

Interest

Evaluation

Purchase

Reflection and relationship building

Making the journey work for you

Part 3: Getting started

Chapter 11: Promoting your business

Understanding your prospect

Crafting your message

Choosing your voice

Testing

Choosing your tactics

Marketing regularly

Chapter 12: Getting help

What kind of help could be useful?

Outsourcing tasks

Are you the right person for the job?

Employing staff

Interns and work experience

Finding a sounding board

Chapter 13: Managing the business

Passwords

Organisation

Data protection

Your business environment

Managing business performance

Getting over your excuses!

Specialist advice

Chapter 14: Launching the business

How will you launch?

The soft launch

Deciding upon your guest list

Going for the big razzmatazz

Bring in the professionals

Invitations and publicity

Make it memorable

How will you promote your business at the event?

Dealing with the media

Maximising your return on investment

Chapter 15: What next?

Dealing with slow growth

Building on success

Tweaking the business plan

Good luck

Appendices

Meet the contributors

Sujets

• Recherche d'emploi
• Recherche d'emploi
• Recherche d'emploi
• Entrepreneur
• Business
• The Women
• Economics
• Woman
• Middle age
• Entrepreneurship
• Women
• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Careers
• Job Hunting
• Entrepreneuriat
• Emprendedor

Informations

• Publié par: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Date de parution: 10 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781910056820
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in Great Britain by Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2017
© Glenda Shawley, 2017
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN (print): 978-1-910056-46-2
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-910056-47-9
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author.
For my family, David, Pippa and Andrew… my forever ‘why’
Acknowledgements
Writing a book has been a long-held dream but without a push from my tribe, most notably Carole Ann Rice and the members of Fabulous Women and Marvellous Men, it would probably have remained just that, a dream. Thanks for giving me the push I needed.
Thank you to all the contributors in the book who gave of their time and experience so generously to take the book beyond the theory and into the real world. Thank you also to my ‘test’ readers whose feedback has helped shape the book for the better. I owe a debt of gratitude to all my clients over the last 24 years, without you I would not have a business or the motivation to keep on learning. Thank you.
Special thanks to my publisher and coach, Alison Jones, without whom this book would probably still be a work in progress. Thanks Alison for the insights, encouragement and gentle cajoling which have got me to the finish line. And thank you for the professional team that you have pulled together to turn my words into the finished book.
Finally thanks to my family. To Carol for the comprehensive and honest feedback that only sisters can give. To my niece Jenny and brother-in-law John for all their support. To husband David for the love, encouragement and compromises that have allowed me to run my business for the last 24 years and to write my book. To daughter Pippa who sets the writing bar very high. To son Andrew whose need to get on to his film set at 6.30 every morning got me out of bed at the crack of dawn to write this book. And last but by no means least to my wonderful parents for their ongoing love and belief in me, and Dad thanks for teaching me never to split an infinitive! Thank you.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
How will this book help?
Being realistic
How to use this book
Part 1: Before you start
Chapter 1: What’s your ‘why’?
Why is it important to understand your ‘ why ’?
Getting to your ‘ why ’
You have a ‘ why ’ but do you have a business?
What would success look like to you?
Connecting to your vision of success
Start with the end in mind
Chapter 2: Choosing a business model that is right for you
Franchising
Network marketing
Buying an existing business
Starting from scratch
Is running a business right for you?
Deciding what’s right for you
Chapter 3: Some fundamentals of business
Basic principles
What problems should you be prepared for?
Chapter 4: Finding time for your business
Avoid bright shiny objects
Establish priorities
Managing your priorities
Avoid procrastination and perfectionism
The Power Hour
Automating tasks
Getting help
Creating work-life balance
Part 2: Developing the plan
Chapter 5: Legal considerations
Your trading status
Registrations and licences
Protecting your assets
Health and safety
Employment law
Trading regulations
Managing data and communications
Taxation
Insurance
Chapter 6: Understanding your target market
What is a narrow and deep niche?
How do I find the right niche?
Profiling your ideal customer
Why will your ideal customer need you?
Time for some research
Conducting research
Avoiding some common research mistakes
What competition do you have for customers?
Finding your position in your marketplace
Chapter 7: Your route to market
Taking on premises
Working from home
Running a mobile business
Flexible solutions
Online
Chapter 8: Developing your brand
What is a brand?
How are our perceptions of a brand formed?
Pulling your brand together
Designing your brand’s identity
Finalising your branding
Applying your visual branding
Implementing your branding strategy
Staying on brand
Chapter 9: Making a profit
Demystifying the jargon
Establishing your costs
Setting your prices
Know your worth
Planning finance
Budgeting
Producing your cash flow forecast
Let’s look at an example:
Dealing with cash flow problems
Working out your break-even point
Raising finance
Taxation
Tracking progress
Chapter 10: Putting your customer at the heart of your business
Mapping the customer journey
An extract of a customer journey map for Fabulous Women and Marvellous Men
Making the journey work for you
Part 3: Getting started
Chapter 11: Promoting your business
Understanding your prospect
Crafting your message
Choosing your voice
Testing
Choosing your tactics
Marketing regularly
Chapter 12: Getting Help
What kind of help could be useful?
Outsourcing tasks
Are you the right person for the job?
Employing staff
Interns and work experience
Finding a sounding board
Chapter 13: Managing the business
Passwords
Organisation
Data protection
Your business environment
Managing business performance
Getting over your excuses!
Specialist advice
Chapter 14: Launching the business
How will you launch?
The soft launch
Deciding upon your guest list
Going for the big razzmatazz
Bring in the professionals
Invitations and publicity
Make it memorable
How will you promote your business at the event?
Dealing with the media
Maximising your return on investment
Chapter 15: What next?
Dealing with slow growth
Building on success
Tweaking the business plan
Good luck
Postscript
Meet the contributors
Introduction
If you are the reader I have in my mind’s eye you are not a natural entrepreneur. If you were you would have several businesses, and probably a few failed attempts, under your belt by now. But whilst you are not a natural entrepreneur you do have a deep-seated desire to run your own business, to take control of your own income generation and to set your own retirement date.
You’ve probably raised a family to a stage of relative independence or maybe you’ve had enough of the corporate career. Maybe you can see the writing on the wall as your organisation is left behind by the technological revolution or perhaps someone younger starts shaking up the status quo and you recognise that it’s time to move on. You may have realised that your retirement pension is not going to allow you the lifestyle you crave or perhaps the thought of a life without work scares you silly. Or maybe you’ve always wanted to see if you could run a business and it’s now or never.
However, there’s still a little voice inside your head asking, ‘Can I do this? What do I need to do to make it work?’ So this book is for you.
I’ve been there. In 1991 I was made redundant from my management career in Marks & Spencer. I’d always wanted to run my own business; redundancy was the push I needed. I’ve made many mistakes and learned a lot along the way. I’m still learning. Business isn’t a constant. The marketplace is always changing, customer demands vary, new entrants change the competitive landscape, new technologies change the way we work. These are the challenges and opportunities that entrepreneurs thrive on. Are you up for the challenge?
How will this book help?
For years people in my network have been telling me I should write a book, but what book to write? Earlier this year I did some research and people said they wanted a how-to guide with examples from real people. People like them. Not multimillionaires, not gurus, but people they could relate to, people who were running small, locally based businesses on their own terms. They told me they didn’t want another ‘how to make six figures online whilst you sleep’ type book. They wanted something that would lead them step by step through the process of starting and establishing a business locally. By locally I mean not online and not global. It might be hyper local… drawing customers from a radius of a couple of miles, or it might be a rather more flexible interpretation of what local means.
Whilst many of the steps in the book can apply to any business of any type, run by a person of any age, I have assumed that my reader is 40+, is based in the UK and wanting to run a business which is not primarily online. That doesn’t mean that the business doesn’t have an online presence, or that it doesn’t sell via the internet at all, but it does mean that the internet is not where the main revenue comes from. As a more mature entrepreneur you have life experiences on which to draw but you don’t want to waste time or energy making mistakes if you can help it.
I have tried to lead you gradually through the process of developing your business idea, planning for success, starting up and then the first few months of your business. In doing so I’ve used my own experience and some basic business principles illustrated with some real life examples from a varied selection of business owners. Most of the contributors acknowledge the mistakes they’ve made along the way and we’ve tried to share those in the optimistic hope they will help you to