All posts by Dan Boudreau

Dan Boudreau has devoted the last 20 years to coaching and mentoring regular folks into the captivating world of business. He authors and facilitates lively, transformative workshops on the topics of entrepreneurship, business planning, and training for trainers. He has inspired thousands of entrepreneurs to become successful business owners and leaders. Launching into his first venture in 1980 with barely enough knowledge to fill the back of a beer cap, he has embraced (and survived) the wide spectrum of business ownership, from single owner home-based enterprises to ventures employing more than 300 workers. Dan's top mission essentials are: laughing, loving, and learning. Armed with the business planning process as a teaching tool, Dan empowers ordinary women and men to create the financial stability and lifestyle they dream of. He is most proud of being acknowledged and appreciated by peers and friends for his ability to bring entrepreneurial ideas to fruition with a nod towards his warm, engaging personable style. In 2006, Dan compiled his knowledge (and bruises) into his first book, Business Plan or BUST! In writing this book, he combined his practical experience as a business owner with his expertise as a lender for an economic development agency, and tossed in his unique brand of wit. The end result: A refreshing perspective and practical style that makes the time-worn topic of business planning easy, fast and fun! When Dan takes those occasional days off from navigating the business world you might find him stuffed into a floating toothpaste tube sometimes referred to as a kayak (rarely right side up), or perhaps coaxing disturbing sounds from his guitar. His ultimate relaxation always involves fresh air, clean water and beaches—from botched attempts to outsmart fish in the rivers of northern British Columbia to flopping around in the waves or practicing applied inertia on just about any tropical sandy beach…

Entrepreneurs Can Be Unreasonable

entrepreneurs_unreasonableAnyone starting a business will encounter speed bumps along the way. There are always plenty of reasons not to start a business, but entrepreneurs push past the obstacles, get the business plan done, and do it anyway. That’s because they defy the restraints of rationality and instead choose to be “unreasonable.”

Here are a few of the challenges that life might toss into the path of a fledgling business.

  1. Bad Economy. No matter how tough the economy gets, people still need to eat, drink and live; which means there are always opportunities to serve. If you believe in the old adage of “buy-low-sell-high” the depths of an economic dip should be the best time to start a business. When the economy gets ugly, entrepreneurs get unreasonable.
  2. Lack of money. It’s hard to stay enthusiastic about starting a business while struggling to pay for food, shelter and clothing. Yet owning a successful business is the best way to get beyond basic survival worries. If poverty is holding you back, perhaps you just need to get unreasonable, start your business plan and get your business going anyway.
  3. Raising a family. The first few years of child-rearing will seriously reduce the amount of time and energy available for building a business. Recently I visited an amazing home-based retail store, owned by a mother of two pre-school children. The mother built the business while managing two pregnancies and raising two infants. That’s just plain unreasonable, yet she did it anyway.
  4. Divorce. There’s nothing quite like a prolonged marital breakup to throw a kink into a business plan. It’ll drain your time and nuke your bank account. Yet, entrepreneurs will usually find ways to redirect some energy toward starting a business.
  5. Burnout. This is the most deceptive roadblock of all, because it quietly erodes our ability to reason. Like slowly boiled frogs, we are unaware of the problem until it’s too late and we’re cooked. If life and work are wearing you to a frazzle, you may have to get unreasonable to make the needed changes to your environment.
  6. Self-limiting beliefs. Do you hold yourself back with limiting or negative thoughts? Something within the entrepreneur enables her to keep her eyes on the prize, and to focus on the business no matter what obstacles block the path. Absolutely unreasonable.
  7. Good Economy. When faced with the perceived uncertainty of owning a business, a lot of rational people will toss the business plan and opt instead for a job – which creates the illusion of security… until it comes to an end. Yet some businesses are best started when the economy is booming. Or is that just unreasonable?

If you wait for government to solve your problems, or for the economic stars to line up perfectly, or to win the lottery, or for life to remove all barriers from your path – you likely never will start that dream business.

Businesses thrive not because entrepreneurs have perfect lives, but because they choose to build their enterprises while wading chest deep in the river of life.

You can start your business today wherever you are, with whatever you have, right now. It might be a matter of choosing to be unreasonable and simply getting on with your plan.

Related Articles:

Business is More Than a Crap Shoot

Champions Will Get You Out of the Crab Bucket

Choose the Right Business Opportunity for You

New Business Deal Breakers

new_business_deal_breakers-001No matter how brilliant a business idea might be, no matter how eloquent the business plan, certain deal breakers will stop it in its tracks. Deal breakers are the secrets you would rather not share with your business analyst or banker, though you probably should.

If you are preparing your business plan in order to apply for a loan to start or grow a business, here are some common deal breakers you should know about:

1. Inadequate Equity. You have undoubtedly heard gripping stories about folks who wangle 100% financing without investing a dime of their own. Those tales make great fodder for talk shows and infomercials, but lack of equity is usually a deal breaker in the real business world. Unless you’re borrowing from love ones, business start-ups should plan to bring at least 20% equity to the deal.

2. Cards & Toys. This means ballooned credit card balances and a backyard bursting with toys, such as boats, bikes, and skidoos. There is nothing wrong with owning toys if you can afford them; it’s the high interest loans with outstanding balances and endless minimum payments that break the deal. It’s easy to fall into the “cards & toys” trap when you are doing well financially. The problem usually surfaces following an unplanned reduction in earnings, often triggered by an injury, an illness, or loss of a job.

3. Fantasy Forecasts, Unrealistic Cashflow. Would you invest in a new venture without the seeing sales and cashflow forecasts? Financial projections are your cheapest form of self-defense and an opportunity to impress lenders that you know or do not know your business. Loading your business plan with pie-in-the-sky sales projections and fictional cashflow forecasts are unlikely to help entice rational investors to a deal. Conservative sales and realistic expenses are necessary building blocks for credible financial projections.

4. Looming Liabilities. Liabilities can arise from many places, often not related to a business deal. For example, legal battles and bitter marital break-ups do not endear one to potential lenders. Any business opportunity will lose its luster in the shadow of legal strife. You will need to have a stellar strategy for all liabilities.

5. Ten-Bell Credit Rating. A 10-bell pepper will peel the gums off your molars; a 10-bell credit rating will undermine even the best business plan and have your banker reaching for Rolaids. In this highly leveraged, consumer frenzied world, it’s easy to end up with a financial black eye. Negative credit ratings can occur from not paying bills, making late payments, or attempting to sweep that old student loan under the carpet. When it comes to accessing money to get your business started, financial skeletons will spook potential investors.

If you’re planning to pitch your business plan, take time to scan your state of affairs for anything that will make you less attractive. You will find it easier to entice investors or lenders once any deal breakers have been dealt with.

Related Articles:

Are You Starving Your New Business?

Three Keys to Clear Financial Communications

Seven Foolproof Ways of Going Broke

Seven Secrets to Forecasting a Rock Solid Cash Flow

Cash Flow is an Entrepreneurs Lifeline

Running a Business Is Like Riding a Snowboard

A couple years ago I tempted fate by tackling my first snowboarding lesson. I was 51. Though my future was in doubt for the entire incident, I survived. Whether from repeatedly landing on my head or from the hot toddies that followed, I felt compelled to apply the lessons of snowboarding to running a business.

  1. A rider becomes one with the snowboard; an owner gets immersed in the business. Neither business nor snowboard will run smoothly until you learn some skills and tune into the conditions. Until you reach that point you might look like a newborn calf – gangly, uncoordinated and off-balance.
  2. Snowboarding and business are both learned by doing. A bit of theory is nice, but the real thrill comes from getting out there and doing it. No amount of theory compares to a real ride down the mountainside or a day of running your own business.
  3. Fitness and flexibility are important. This seemed quite clear as, from a variety of unflattering positions I observed skilled snowboarders flying over jumps and loving the airtime. Ah yes, I thought, I really should have stuck with the cardio program. It’s also easier to withstand the rigors of business ownership when you’re fit.
  4. Dignity may abandon you at times. Why is it that people love to see skiers and aging snowboarders do face-plants? Furthermore, why is there always a crowd handy to cheer when you blow it and land in a heap? One gains a disturbing sense of humility while skidding to a stop on elbows and tailbone at the feet of the entire T-Bar line up. Make a mistake in business and the crowd will probably laugh – you might too once you get over the pain.
  5. Snowboarding and business are risky. Friends and family get concerned and start reciting horrifying statistics of bruises and injuries. Everybody knows someone who has hurt themselves snowboarding or who has lost everything they own in a bankruptcy. Things don’t always turn out the way you plan. In fact, if you don’t land upside down occasionally, perhaps you aren’t trying hard enough. Your survival depends upon your ability to assess and manage risk.
  6. Snowboarding and business are both manageable. The secret to success is to start by learning the basics, like standing upright and controlling your direction. Until I learned to use the edges of my snowboard, I changed direction by landing on various body parts and by careening off trees and unsuspecting skiers. You bump into some of the nicest people on the hill… and in business.

Whatever else can be said, snowboarding and business ownership will both get you outside your comfort zone and present opportunities to learn.

Ready to hit the slopes of business ownership?  Get started on your business plan today. We’ve got free resources and tools to make your business planning fast, easy and fun.

See you on the slopes!

Prove Your Business Case: Selling Laptops to Polar Bears

The purpose of business planning is to prove or disprove your business case.

Scary as that might sound, it’s as simple as making sure your business will draw enough customers to pay enough money for your products or services to enable your business and you to survive and perhaps even thrive.

What’s proof to some may not be proof to others. While absolute proof is hard to come by, there are many ways to strengthen or weaken your business case. The stronger your case, the more confident you will be in your business idea. Your confidence will come about as a result of a number of things you do. The important thing is to use building blocks that make sense to you, and to those you may be trying to romance with your business plan.

Newbies tend to experience uncertainty at the beginning of any business venture. A business plan provides an opportunity for you to gain confidence in your ideas. In other words, prove it to yourself and you will be in a better position to convince others.

Here is a glimpse of how it works. Imagine you have $100,000 and I am trying to entice you to invest it in my hot new business idea; selling laptop computers to polar bears.

When I first mention my business idea, you might think I’m crazy and set your browser to block my emails.

If I back my claim up with letters of support from the Northern Polar Bear Association, you might be curious enough to want to know more.

If I show you written orders for 20 laptops, signed by furry bad-breathed polar bears, you might start returning my phone calls.

If I increase the number of orders to 100 and include a couple of long-term contracts with established retailers in polar bear country, you might take me more seriously. You might even Google me, my ancestors, polar bears (your misdirected search for “bare laptops”, proves to be nasty!).

If I provide you with credible financial projections that detail how you can earn a staggering return on your investment over the next 18 months, you might consider the case “proven” and lunge for your chequebook.

The business plan is an opportunity to build your business case, step by logical step. By the time you get through it you will either have proven your business case, or not. Prove it and you may be ready to go into business. If you can’t prove it, don’t give up your day job just yet.