October AAB meeting

Posted by: womenallaboutbusiness | November 22, 2009

October AAB meeting

All About Business October meeting was GREAT! we offered a Small Business Workshop by Kalimah Jenkins (www.kidzmealclub.com) here is the outline from the meeting:

Small Business Seminar

1. Is entrepreneurship really for you?
1. Risks
2. Self discipline
3. Self motivation
4. Can work in isolation
5. Able to change direction/make decisions rapidly and without advice
6. Not bothered by change
7. Leader
8. Willing to work all hours of day and night to get it done
9. Multitasker
10. Are you a builder or maintainer
11. 2. Company Structure/Taxes
  1. DBA
  2. Corporation
  3. LLC
  4. Partnership
  5. Assumed Name Certificate
  6. Shareholder’s/Partnership Agreement
  7. EIN
  8. Tax Election
  9. 3. Product or Service? Benefits/Detriments of each
    1. Patent
    2. Trademark
    3. Copyright

Reference — http://www.uspto.gov/smallbusiness/

4. You’ve decided on your product/service, now what?
1. Feasibility – Market Survey
  1. Do people want what you’re selling
  2. Is there a market for it
Planning – Business Plan http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html
1. It’s important for your vision
2. Write your own even if you don’t need financing
Financing – have a good amount of your own
1. No matter what your idea, no one is going to give you money if you don’t have any of your own
2. You must have projections for the bank
Location selection
1. How much space do you really need
2. What is the square footage price
3. What is the CAM; what is included in the CAM
4. Is it a gross or net lease
5. What kind of space do you need? Destination or class A
6. Other leasehold expenses
7. Personal guarantees
8. Kick out clauses
9. TI dollars/Build out
10. Signage considerations
Demographics
1. Who is your customer specifically
2. It’s not everybody
Marketing/Branding
1. Systematic plan of attack
2. Combination of business activities intended on bringing in customers
3. Existing customer referrals
Advertising
1. Single component in the marketing process
2. Paid persuasive message by a sponsor
3. Ad Placement
4. Web Placement
5. Value Added Services
6. 5. Merchant Services
  1. Retail
  2. MOTO
  3. Qualified rates/midqualified/nonqualified
  4. Leasing v buying
  5. 6. Bank Accounts
    1. Keep it separate
    2. Are you using a software like QuickBooks?
    3. Web Design/Graphic Design
      1. Website
      2. SEO
      3. Rack cards
      4. Flyering
      5. Car ads
      6. referrals
      7. Printing Services
      8. Common business Mistakes
        
        a.       Failure to market
        
        b.      Bad leases/contracts
        
        c.       Failure to invest in education
        
        d.      Trying to do things too cheaply
        
        e.      Trying to do it all yourself; not outsourcing
        
        f.        Undercapitalization/not having the money upfront
        
        g.       Serial entrepreneurs
        
        h.      Not really having the time or being afraid to take the plunge
        
        i.        Going down with a sinking ship
        
        j.        Failure to invest in self
        
        k.       Customer service issues
        
        l.        Presentation (business cards, mistakes, not fully versed, cannot articulate concept)
        
        m.    Not setting a budget
        
        n.      Not listening to others who know