hi I’m Evan Carmichael welcome to
another edition of ask Evan today I’m
answering a question from one of my
readers Ari
is asking for help in writing a business
plan for a furniture store for the
business and as well for raising capital
so thanks for the question
a very common question about how to
write a business plan and we got to
created an entire guide on how to do it
but in terms of being able to quickly
answer your question in the video I’ll
do my best quickly if especially going
for investors the most important thing
they’re gonna look at is your executive
summary so after you’ve written your
entire business plan you go back and you
write an executive summary that is we
owned one to two pages that quickly
explains what it is that your business
does because if an investor looks at it
and they don’t understand what you do
your entire business plan is going into
the garbage so coming from the venture
capital world that’s the only thing to
look at the beginning and that’s your
entryway in if you do well in the
executive summary then they’ll read the
rest of your plan if you don’t do well
then they’re going to you know not
respond to you or throw your business
plan away so make sure you spend a lot
of time on that executive summary and
you write it after you’ve written your
entire business plan and that it’s in
plain English so should be something
that anybody can understand that
somebody can quickly pick it up they’re
not in your business and they can say
hey this is a good idea this is
something that I’m going to put money
into I believe in it so it’s got to be
something that’s in plain English and
your grandmother can understand it’s
called out to the grandmother test in
the venture capital world and so have a
second set of eyes look at it who’s not
in your business who can quickly tell
you hey this makes sense or I’m not sure
what this part means so first part the
executive summary the next thing that an
investor is going to look at is your
financials so how much money can you
make from this right if I give you I
don’t know how much you try to raise if
I give you $10,000 or $100,000 what’s my
return going to be right so you want to
have financial statements that are
detailed at the back and you’re making
estimates so it has to be reasonable I
try to find out some information from
other furniture stores to do some
research online to see what is
using a bowl so that you know you’re
able to turn a profit and pay your
investor back right you have to be able
to explain every single number on that
balance sheet and an income statement
the projections that you make coming
forward so that if somebody asks you it
looks like you know what you’re doing
because you actually do know what you’re
doing so financial is a second and then
the third thing is going to be your
management team so a lot of people come
to people looking for money and they
have no startup experience they’ve never
run a business before and so that makes
it a little more risky right if you’ve
never done anything on trail before this
is your first venture and you come to me
asking for money that makes it hard for
me to say yes I wanted to somebody who’s
done this before so as much as possible
you want to show your related experience
I don’t know what you’ve done in the
furniture business before if you had
other businesses before you want to make
sure you’re definitely highlighting
those experiences and then if you are
weak in certain areas see if you can
either bring on a partner or bring on an
advisor so somebody who is just lending
their name to your business and giving
you some advice they don’t necessarily
have to have any ownership or equity in
the company but that will help short
routine a little bit more so if an
investor looks at it they’ll be able to
say okay well you don’t have all the
experience but these experience people
are connected to you those are the three
most important things in terms of
investor point of view when you’re
building the business point for yourself
that section is not as important it’s
more about how you’re actually going to
make things happen so you start with
your research and you figure out what
your niche is going to be how are you
going to send out from your competition
and what opportunity do you see in this
furniture business so what’s so special
about your furniture business against
all the other furniture businesses that
are out there so you have to make sure
you really had that unique value
proposition or unique selling
proposition so that when people come to
your store they want to buy from you
versus going to everybody else around
you right so what is it that’s so
special about you then you want to make
sure you’re having a clear Operations
plan together so how are you going to
make things work right how are you going
to source your furniture are you
building it yourself are you bringing it
in from other suppliers
what’s your markup going to be
what are all your costs going to be and
you want to make sure that you have a
sound financial plan even if it’s not
for an investor just for yourself but
you have to know that you can make money
doing this and put together some
projections for how much you think
things are going to cost and how much
you think things are going to how much
you’re going to make and usually things
cost a lot more than you think they are
and you make a lot less than you think
you’re going to especially in the first
couple years so make sure there’s some
buffer in there right if you’re you’re
projecting it you’re barely going to
make some money especially in the first
couple years then you might want to you
know rethink the business idea or find
other ways that might help generate some
income for the company because chances
are it’s going to be a lot longer and a
lot harder than you think it’s going to
be at the beginning and that’s that’s
part of the fun and the challenge of
being an entrepreneur it’s very common
so the plan if you’re writing for
yourself just has to make sense the
asset has to explain what it is that
you’re doing how you’re going to run the
company and the more planning you do up
front the easier it’s going to be for
you once you get into it because when
you start your business and you open
your furniture store you have costs that
are coming out every month right you
have your location you have you know
staff you have to buy your furniture
that’s real cost is coming out of your
pocket every month so if you just start
it up your chances of success are going
to be a lot lower than if you take the
time to really plan it out as much as
you can you can’t planned everything
without getting you know started but as
much as you can you plan for it so that
when you get started you’ve given
yourself the best shot of success the
other thing I really try to do on top of
your business plan is going try to find
somebody who has some experience in the
furniture business and that’s some if
your plan makes sense where I get their
perspective on and ask them what they
would do you can find somebody who’s
retired you’re obviously not going to go
up to your direct competition say hey is
this a good idea or not but find
somebody who has some experience in this
business and just get their their
thoughts their experience their wisdom
on it and they’ll probably poke a few
holes and give you some things that you
hadn’t thought about before and a lot of
entrepreneurs like helping other
entrepreneurs if they really feel like
you’re eager and keen and you’re going
to take their advice people are often
open to having
a half an hour coffee with you to
discuss and I give you some free advice
so don’t don’t fear reaching out to
people and getting their opinions so
you’d write your plan make sure it makes
sense if you’re going to be doing it for
investors make sure you have that really
strong executive summary management team
and finances but then after it’s all
done and before you launch go and try to
find somebody who has a little bit more
experience in the field and get their
perspective on it just a quick read over
the plan and see what advice they might
have for you before you actually start
and start spending a lot of money to
build this thing up so hopefully that
helps for those of you watching if you
like the video please give it a thumbs
up below
makes want to do more for you and if you
have a question about this video or you
have a question about your own company
or business I’d love to hear from you
one of the comment under the video I
always read those and I try to respond
to everybody so thank you and we’ll see
you on the next episode
another edition of ask Evan today I’m
answering a question from one of my
readers Ari
is asking for help in writing a business
plan for a furniture store for the
business and as well for raising capital
so thanks for the question
a very common question about how to
write a business plan and we got to
created an entire guide on how to do it
but in terms of being able to quickly
answer your question in the video I’ll
do my best quickly if especially going
for investors the most important thing
they’re gonna look at is your executive
summary so after you’ve written your
entire business plan you go back and you
write an executive summary that is we
owned one to two pages that quickly
explains what it is that your business
does because if an investor looks at it
and they don’t understand what you do
your entire business plan is going into
the garbage so coming from the venture
capital world that’s the only thing to
look at the beginning and that’s your
entryway in if you do well in the
executive summary then they’ll read the
rest of your plan if you don’t do well
then they’re going to you know not
respond to you or throw your business
plan away so make sure you spend a lot
of time on that executive summary and
you write it after you’ve written your
entire business plan and that it’s in
plain English so should be something
that anybody can understand that
somebody can quickly pick it up they’re
not in your business and they can say
hey this is a good idea this is
something that I’m going to put money
into I believe in it so it’s got to be
something that’s in plain English and
your grandmother can understand it’s
called out to the grandmother test in
the venture capital world and so have a
second set of eyes look at it who’s not
in your business who can quickly tell
you hey this makes sense or I’m not sure
what this part means so first part the
executive summary the next thing that an
investor is going to look at is your
financials so how much money can you
make from this right if I give you I
don’t know how much you try to raise if
I give you $10,000 or $100,000 what’s my
return going to be right so you want to
have financial statements that are
detailed at the back and you’re making
estimates so it has to be reasonable I
try to find out some information from
other furniture stores to do some
research online to see what is
using a bowl so that you know you’re
able to turn a profit and pay your
investor back right you have to be able
to explain every single number on that
balance sheet and an income statement
the projections that you make coming
forward so that if somebody asks you it
looks like you know what you’re doing
because you actually do know what you’re
doing so financial is a second and then
the third thing is going to be your
management team so a lot of people come
to people looking for money and they
have no startup experience they’ve never
run a business before and so that makes
it a little more risky right if you’ve
never done anything on trail before this
is your first venture and you come to me
asking for money that makes it hard for
me to say yes I wanted to somebody who’s
done this before so as much as possible
you want to show your related experience
I don’t know what you’ve done in the
furniture business before if you had
other businesses before you want to make
sure you’re definitely highlighting
those experiences and then if you are
weak in certain areas see if you can
either bring on a partner or bring on an
advisor so somebody who is just lending
their name to your business and giving
you some advice they don’t necessarily
have to have any ownership or equity in
the company but that will help short
routine a little bit more so if an
investor looks at it they’ll be able to
say okay well you don’t have all the
experience but these experience people
are connected to you those are the three
most important things in terms of
investor point of view when you’re
building the business point for yourself
that section is not as important it’s
more about how you’re actually going to
make things happen so you start with
your research and you figure out what
your niche is going to be how are you
going to send out from your competition
and what opportunity do you see in this
furniture business so what’s so special
about your furniture business against
all the other furniture businesses that
are out there so you have to make sure
you really had that unique value
proposition or unique selling
proposition so that when people come to
your store they want to buy from you
versus going to everybody else around
you right so what is it that’s so
special about you then you want to make
sure you’re having a clear Operations
plan together so how are you going to
make things work right how are you going
to source your furniture are you
building it yourself are you bringing it
in from other suppliers
what’s your markup going to be
what are all your costs going to be and
you want to make sure that you have a
sound financial plan even if it’s not
for an investor just for yourself but
you have to know that you can make money
doing this and put together some
projections for how much you think
things are going to cost and how much
you think things are going to how much
you’re going to make and usually things
cost a lot more than you think they are
and you make a lot less than you think
you’re going to especially in the first
couple years so make sure there’s some
buffer in there right if you’re you’re
projecting it you’re barely going to
make some money especially in the first
couple years then you might want to you
know rethink the business idea or find
other ways that might help generate some
income for the company because chances
are it’s going to be a lot longer and a
lot harder than you think it’s going to
be at the beginning and that’s that’s
part of the fun and the challenge of
being an entrepreneur it’s very common
so the plan if you’re writing for
yourself just has to make sense the
asset has to explain what it is that
you’re doing how you’re going to run the
company and the more planning you do up
front the easier it’s going to be for
you once you get into it because when
you start your business and you open
your furniture store you have costs that
are coming out every month right you
have your location you have you know
staff you have to buy your furniture
that’s real cost is coming out of your
pocket every month so if you just start
it up your chances of success are going
to be a lot lower than if you take the
time to really plan it out as much as
you can you can’t planned everything
without getting you know started but as
much as you can you plan for it so that
when you get started you’ve given
yourself the best shot of success the
other thing I really try to do on top of
your business plan is going try to find
somebody who has some experience in the
furniture business and that’s some if
your plan makes sense where I get their
perspective on and ask them what they
would do you can find somebody who’s
retired you’re obviously not going to go
up to your direct competition say hey is
this a good idea or not but find
somebody who has some experience in this
business and just get their their
thoughts their experience their wisdom
on it and they’ll probably poke a few
holes and give you some things that you
hadn’t thought about before and a lot of
entrepreneurs like helping other
entrepreneurs if they really feel like
you’re eager and keen and you’re going
to take their advice people are often
open to having
a half an hour coffee with you to
discuss and I give you some free advice
so don’t don’t fear reaching out to
people and getting their opinions so
you’d write your plan make sure it makes
sense if you’re going to be doing it for
investors make sure you have that really
strong executive summary management team
and finances but then after it’s all
done and before you launch go and try to
find somebody who has a little bit more
experience in the field and get their
perspective on it just a quick read over
the plan and see what advice they might
have for you before you actually start
and start spending a lot of money to
build this thing up so hopefully that
helps for those of you watching if you
like the video please give it a thumbs
up below
makes want to do more for you and if you
have a question about this video or you
have a question about your own company
or business I’d love to hear from you
one of the comment under the video I
always read those and I try to respond
to everybody so thank you and we’ll see
you on the next episode
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